The clash, which could be resolved as soon as Thursday, is testing the balance of power not just between Republicans and Democrats, but also between rival Republicans in the House and the Senate and between environmentalists and the chemical industry, all of whom have dug in to defend their views.

Talex is the place where all have begun; it is the place where the great Somali nationalist, Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, had dug in to defend the country from the British colonialists.

The vast bulk of the Chaos legions arrayed against them had dug in to defend their cities on the primary world, but intelligence reports had picked up hints of an unknown mass of defence established here.