The Rogovon task force didn’t really qualify as such, but Andrew couldn’t complain about the percentage of their combat strength the rebels had been willing to commit. There were none of the strike cruisers and even larger battlecruisers that were the capital ships of space, but there were five cruisers of smaller classes, and a number of frigates of the transition engine-bearing classes, some of which had originally been designed as scouts but were now modified with additional weaponry. All had been fitted with Zhygon’s improvised access keys. Borthru commanded them all from the cruiser Krondython. But the whole array was backup for one frigate-sized converted merchantman. Borthru was clearly not a happy camper, hanging well back out of probable sensor range. “Why don’t we follow you more closely, so we can provide support when necessary?” he grumbled from City of Osaka’s comm screen. “After all, we’re concealed by the maximum countermeasures our technology can manage.”
