Part 2 (1/2)
The strike group included four Heavies besides the flags.h.i.+p, with twelve Mediums and twenty Lights. They slanted down in a jerky evasive course while pictures flashed on screens to be compared with the actual terrain.
Ground fire, chemically propelled missiles, erupted ahead of them and the small craft went to work intercepting it. They were down to a hundred miles, then fifty, streaking along the jagged surface so close they seemed to sc.r.a.pe it. This was point-blank range; as the computers raced with the chaos of fire and counter-fire, human senses could only register a few impressions--the bruising jerks, the shudder of concussions, white streaks of rocket-trails, gushers of dirt from the surface, winking flashes of mid-air interception.
Then the Heavies were on target. The flags.h.i.+p jumped as the ma.s.sive salvo leaped away--not chemical missiles, but huge s.p.a.ce torpedoes propelled by Pulsor units like the s.h.i.+ps' drives, directing their own flocks of smaller defensive missiles by an intricate network of controls. The small stuff, augmented by fire from the lighter s.h.i.+ps, formed momentarily a visible tube down which the big stuff streaked untouched.
The whole crater seemed to burst upward, reaching out angry fingers of shattered rock as they ripped by, rocking and bucking with the blasts.
Tulan's viewer swivelled aft to hold the scene. Secondary blasts went off like strings of giant firecrackers. Great black-and-orange fungi-like clouds swirled upward, dissipating fast in the thin atmosphere. Then Tulan spotted what he was looking for: three small s.h.i.+ps flas.h.i.+ng over the area, to get damage-a.s.sessment pictures. There was still a lot of ground-fire from farther out, and it caught one of the three, which wobbled crazily then disappeared in a flash which blanked out the viewscreen.
”Intelligence!” Tulan shouted. ”Casualties?”
Intelligence was listening to his earphones and punching b.u.t.tons. ”Two Lights lost, sir. Slight damage to seven more and to one Medium.”
”All right. Get a telecopy of those pictures as soon as you can; we certainly hit something. Maybe a Heavy or two.” He relaxed, aching, and reflected that he was getting a little mature for actual combat.
The pull-back went on, drawing only the local ground-fire now that the enemy had been taught his lesson. Groups of s.h.i.+ps lifted almost constantly. The final position was an oval forty by sixty miles, held almost entirely from the sky. The last evacuees straggled in like weary ants, and when the radio reported no more of them the last fifty s.h.i.+ps lifted together and ran the gauntlet with slight losses.
Tulan pulled the Force away for rest and repair. Group Two was idling at extreme radar range, making a convincing blip, and he designed some false messages to be beamed toward it with the expectation of interception. The impression he wanted to give was that Group Two was the Force that had been bombarding Coar, coming in now to join him.
Actually, the latter fleet was farther away, hidden in the sun and, he hoped, unsuspected.
Things were going according to plan except for one puzzling item: there was no message from Sennech's small garrison on Teyr. All he could get from the planet was a steady radar scan, which might mean that Sennech's colony had been conquered by Coar's.
He'd been hoping to get certain supplies from Teyr, and now he took a strong detachment in close to the planet to find out what was wrong. The threat finally raised an answer. ”This is the Chief of Council. What is it that you want?”
”Chief of Council? What are you talking about? I want the Garrison Commander.”
”I suppose you're Admiral Tulan. There's been a change here, Tulan; Teyr is now an independent planet. Your garrison, with Coar's, comprise our defense forces.”
Tulan stared at the planet's image. ”You're at war with Coar!”
”Not any more, we aren't.” There was a chuckle. ”Don't sound so shocked, Admiral; we understand you're in mutiny yourself.”
Tulan slapped the microphone onto its hangar. He sat, angry and bewildered, until he remembered something, then buzzed Communications.
”Get me that connection again. h.e.l.lo? Listen. I have sixty thousand troops in transports, with almost no food. I intend to land them.”
”They're welcome as noncombatants, Admiral. They'll have to land disarmed, in areas we designate, and live off the country. We've already got more refugees than we can handle.”
”Refugees from where?”
”Haven't you been in contact with Sennech at all?”
”No.”
”Oh.” There was a thoughtful pause. ”Then you don't know. There's bad radiation in the atmosphere and we're hauling as many away as we can. We can use your s.h.i.+ps if you're finished playing soldier.”
Tulan broke the connection again and turned, fuming, to Jezef. ”We'll blast our way in and take over!”