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Gerswin glanced over at Alvera, discovered the tech was studying the screen,
his hands resting on the edge of the console, unmoving.
"... fiela Gyros . . . cor Janus ..."
"... Imperial target . . . heads away ..."
The whispers from the comm monitors took on an added loudness in the
comparative silence of the center.
". . . field Janus . . . nir nulla trahit . . ."
"Imperial EDIs outsystem ..."
"... releasing and commencing beta . . . evasion ..."
"... diversion when appropriate . . . when appropriate ..."
The lighting level dropped further, to emergency levels, and the gravfield
dropped toward the null point before surging momentarily to almost two gees,
then dropping to a stable one gravity.
Through it all, Gerswin kept his eyes on the representational screen, watching
as the simulated punch laser impacted the Newparran patroller's screen image,
and as the images of the tachead bursts began to blossom on the screen, and as
the course line of the Fordin veered left, then angled back.
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The red blip that had represented the Newparran patroller flared brightly,
then vanished.
"Target termination complete," announced the major as the gunnery lights
returned to normal.
As the former devilkid watched the silent kill of who knew how many men and
women, he shook himself, almost like a wet coyote, but he continued to watch
the screen. The Fordin's course line again shifted, this time toward the sixth
planet, presumably for the two satellites rather than for the gas giant
itself. Better the sixth than the seventh, which was a third of the way around
its orbit from the Imperial battlecruiser, reflected Gerswin.
Since there were no blips, hostile or otherwise, he wondered about the reason
for the course switch.
In the meantime he noted that the fourth green blip, the Krushnei, had
appeared on the system farside, outsystem from where another Newparran
patroller raced toward the Saladin. The Kemal remained out from the Fordin and
remained on a more direct in-system course.
Less than two standard hours since he had come on duty, and the Fordin had
been attacked and had destroyed the attacker. After thinking a moment, he
corrected himself. The Fordin had simply attacked and destroyed the unnamed
Newparran patroller which had tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the Imperial
quarantine.
He pulled at his chin. Even before contact, the two ships had been poised to
destroy each other.
As he wrestled with the implications, he continued to watch the
representational screens, to listen to the comm bands and to wait as the
Fordin began to slow in her approach to the nearer satellite.
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"Pleutfiere, Empire sur transit Gyros ..."
"New Jerusalem, Faust has struck. Michael has been cast down. .EDI tracks
indicate course shift
..."
"Trahison! Couvrey des plaques! Comprennez? Des plaques de Janus et de Gyros
..."
"... norstada nil . . . premiere , . . Gyros ..."
"Cadet Gerswin, Chief Alvera. Specs for maximum surface damage on Gyros,
centered on the landing traps and the linear accelerator."
"Stet," answered Alvera.
Gerswin said nothing. He looked sideways at the tech, whose movements were
slower now, not quick or jerky.
"Hellbumer?"
"Not much else. Not enough sealing power in a tachead. Probably take an above
surface burst, about five kays. Maybe two. Depends on terrain and separation."
Gerswin opened his mouth to ask why, but remembered his earlier conversation
with the major and shut his mouth without saying a word.
"Good thought, Cadet," murmured Alvera in a voice low enough not to be heard
beyond their consoles. "Good thought."
Gerswin sighed silently and began to run the problem off on his own console.
As he finished, he saw Alvera was waiting.
"Let's compare."
Gerswin shrugged and studied Alvera's solution. Both had recommended two
mid-class burners with a five kay separation and a three kay burst height.
"Looks about the same," he commented to Alvera.
'"About identical." Alvera raised his head and touched the transmit stud.
"Cadet Gerswin, do you concur?"
"My solution is identical to the chief's. Major."
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"Do you concur?" There was an edge to the velvet voice.
"Yes, ser."
Gerswin and Alvera sat side by side, neither looking at the other nor talking,
but silently viewing the screens and the symbols as they changed.
Gerswin listened to the intermittent transmissions whispering from the comm
link, like ghosts about to flee at morning light.
The Fordin shuddered faintly, once, twice.
"Burners away."
This time the representational screen showed nothing, nothing except the
number two followed by a single symbol, both next to the disc labeled "Gyros."
Gerswin shifted his weight, beginning to feel stiff after nearly three hours
hunched before a single console.
"Cadet Gerswin, prepare the specs for a similar interdiction pattern for
Janus. Key seven for background. Chief Alvera will verify before you
transmit."
"Yes, ser."
Another set of hellbumers? For what? Another dome and burrow mining and heavy
industry settlement on an isolated satellite? For perhaps five thousand, ten
thousand people?
Despite his deliberate pace, the equations were easy. Three hellbumers-there
were two lines of steep hills separating the landing traps, the accelerator,
and the comm complex-at a height of one point five kays.
Alvera nodded.
Gerswin transmitted.
"Do you concur. Chief Alvera?"
"Yes, ser."
Gerswin listened as he waited for the Fordin to complete her creeping approach
to Janus, or for his watch to end. But the comm bands were less active now,
only a distant garbled whisper or so.
". .. got ..." Michael . . . out Gyros . . ."
"... field . . . trahit . . . Demetros ..."
The blinking of a green blip caught his attention, and he concentrated on the
representational screen. The blinking green was the Saladin. Had been the
Saladin, Gerswin realized as the light flared red and white and vanished, to
be replaced with a subscripted line at the bottom of the screen.
"Major said this one would be nasty," muttered Alvera.
Gerswin did not even shake his head. He didn't pretend to understand. If the
Christers had control of most of the ships and the government, why were they
attacking Imperial quarantine
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searing the launch and port facilities on Janus and Gyros when they belonged
to the Istvennists, who weren't attacking the Empire?
The Fordin shivered three times, so slightly that Gerswin doubted whether
anyone else noticed, wrapped as they were in their own concerns and the
interest in the fate of the Saladin.
"Burners away."
He checked the time. Not too long before Lieutenant G'Maine^as due to relieve
him.
The course line on the screen changed again, showing the Fordin returning
toward the original in-system destination.
Gerswin noted that the red dot that had totaled the Saladin was still headed
out the system jump corridor toward the incoming Krushnei.
Given the lag times, they might not know the results of that confrontation
until he was back on watch. He shook his head. In-system maneuvering time took
so much longer than the between-system jumps.
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