A Fumbled Mission

"The Only Game in Town."

Everard and Sandoval fumble their mission to North America. Their task is to prevent the Mongol expedition from returning home across the Pacific. All that they need to do is to destroy the ships - but then there would have been no story. Instead, they try to overawe the Mongols and make them turn back. But, if the Mongols had turned back and returned home, then the Patrolmen's job would have remained undone.

The fumbling is caused by their uncertainty and disquiet about what they have been ordered to do. They try to exert minimal force even at the expense of, apparently, forgetting their objective. But none of this matters because they go through a harrowing process which does end with Everard destroying the ships while rescuing the captured Sandoval. The Danellians are concerned only about the outcome which they must have known all along.