Velmeran had no idea who the third member of his group was; he hoped that it was one of Baressa's pilots and not his own. He had to overtake that second fleet and stop it short; if it caught up with the first group, his students, now tired and quickly reaching the limits of their endurance, would be outnumbered and vulnerable. There were enough stingships with this second group to be effective, especially against pilots who might be growing inattentive and careless. "Valthyrra Methryn, do you have packs out yet?" he asked a final time. "Two packs just moved into starflight and can reenforce your pilots in perhaps two minutes," Valthyrra responded. "Another two packs can be there within another minute." "Listen. I am going to try to get this second group of warships out of starflight before they join the first," Velmeran explained quickly. "We will have a greater advantage if we can keep them apart. Send these two packs to reenforce me. Send the next two to relieve the packs already in battle." "Anything you say," she agreed.
