Through Time, Darkly

[Vogel]

Doyle suppressed a wince; if only what they said was true. But from what he'd seen, it couldn't have been farther from the truth. The Alliance had neither the time nor the resources to do much more than tweak the drives for the Sleeper Ships and then cash in their luck. As Rockford had told him, the military and political elite had created a miniature ship with similar equipment to save their own skins; everybody else was forsaken. They helped the Sleeper Ships escape, and as such their last mission was over.

Then again...

... He hitched a ride on Rockford's ship. His fighter, latched to the surface like a fly, managed to make the initial jump with him. Had that really occurred? Maybe he survived the blast, then hitched the ride, and perhaps everything else was a delusion?

But even if he had, he'd have arrived when Rockford did, which was to say hundreds of years prior to the "current" date.

His head was beginning to ache. He knew what he saw, he couldn't forget.

"I wouldn't know," he finally said, "But why weren't other Alliance ships, and maybe even some Coalition ships, brought with?"