Scarf tapped Drummer's chest with his forefinger, "you've got more'n a thousand of my best troops for occupation duty on the Terminals. They're mine and I'm gonna lead them when they go into action. I'm moving in over my on-site troop commander, that's all. What's more, I understand you've reassigned some of my troops to this wagon. That's fine with me. I'll just move in with them, and assume direct command until they're back with the main group. Entirely proper for me to do this as chief of their Service."
Brad thrust his hands into his pockets to hide the fists they had formed. His mind worked furiously on the new threat.
"Our plans are complete, Scarf," he said. "If you remain, we expect you to follow orders from the Fleet Commander."
Scarf, sure of his victory, showed his pleasure.
"Sure, sure," he said, a grin creasing his face, waving the proviso away with the back of his hand. "Anything the boss says. It's your show. I understand."
Taking Drummer's silence as acquiescence, Scarf pivoted in the small space and squeezed out of the compartment. He barked at the guard to escort him to the officer-in-charge of the troop detachment.
Drummer issued the launch order. One following the other, the warships catapulted off of their launch tracks, rose swiftly into space, and formed up behind mine sweepers Scamp, Varlet and Scalawag. The battle cruisers Dragon and Tiger, guarded by destroyer screens and support ships, turned toward Point Icarus.
Three million kay ahead, the Slingshot terminals appeared as just another unblinking light in a runnel of multicolored jewels.
Slingshot had always been real to Brad; in the deepening crisis for humankind's survival its purpose was profound. It had been so to him as far back as he could remember.
Brad keyed the Slingshot complex closer on a nearby computer screen. Generally familiar with the schematics of the Slingshot stations, he was overwhelmed by the two enormous cones and their peripherals, which configured the Terminals' hoppers. Each terminal, almost three kay across its base, formed an intricate maze of interlocked spars, beams, panels, conduit and modules.