Part 6 (2/2)

He got up to leave, and with the sincerest of respect, lied to her.

”Your decision will be mine, Priestess Selan.”

VI

The s.h.i.+p used by Selan in her trips through the system was little larger than the usual scout cla.s.s but it had been completely refitted for her purposes. She'd had a special acceleration couch built in to allow her to survive the stress of s.p.a.ce travel. And Thane noted that the large visiscreen would be ideal for watching the battle. And the communications system was larger than usual. It might do for his purpose.

They stayed well back from the restricted area where the whole Onzarian fleet was...o...b..ted. On the screen images appeared--twenty-three Cla.s.s I cruisers, each with its own fleet of cruiser escorts, scouts, disrupter carriers, tenders and screen amplifiers. Swarms of independent tactical squadrons. Controlling all of them, ready to put them into instant action, was the battle-control cruiser, with its tracers, its receivers, its computers, its nearly automatic message center--and Candar and his staff.

Thane turned to the tracer that had been installed. Selan was by his side. He switched on its galactic screen. The Darzent marshalling was now almost complete. A few flashes of light still crossed the screen, crossing countless light years at each jump, pausing, and then a vault through more light years. As Thane and Selan watched, the flashes changed direction. The marshalling was complete, and the a.s.sembled might of Darzent was on its way. Thane found it hard to believe that even the fleet waiting before him could cope with all the force of Darzent.

The Darzent fleets had started from points spanning the whole Galaxy.

With each flash of lights they converged, arrowing toward the Onzarian Confluence. Thane could imagine the watchers at similar screens in each s.h.i.+p of the battle fleet. Eyes becoming, grimmer, nervous smiles appearing and disappearing on faces, hands clenching on instruments.

And the waiting.

The flas.h.i.+ng lights approached closer. The lead group of lights appeared, ten light years from the tiny orange circle marking the confluence. There was a pause--somewhat less than a second--and the lights appeared on the circle. Thane spun around to the visiscreen.

The lead battle squadron of the Darzent Fleet had appeared there simultaneously, surfaced in s.p.a.ce. Seven of the battle cruisers fired as one, and were joined by all the firepower of their escort s.h.i.+ps.

The disrupter blasts, joining together, created a blinding sun in empty s.p.a.ce. It was there. It was gone. And then just dead, empty s.p.a.ce again, but without the slightest hint that the lead squadron of the mighty Darzent Fleet had ever been there. Thane quickly looked over at the galactic map to see if they could have managed to get back into warp-line drive. No, there were no lights below the circle of the confluence. But another light was approaching from above, still ten light years away. Thane turned back to the visiscreen just as the second division of Onzar's fleet opened fire on the surfacing Darzent forces. Again utter annihilation.

The battle continued, with more surfacing squadrons, more eruption, disappearing suns. Thane turned away, losing interest in the well-planned slaughter. Here, a pa.r.s.ec away from the Onzar system, they were well outside the intersystems communication jam. Selan's horrified attention was still completely on the battle. Thane stepped back into the communications section of the scout and flicked the powerful s.p.a.ce set into life. Static from the now almost constant disrupter blasts ripped and crackled across the hum of the set. There was just a chance, he considered, that he could get the relay station at Kadenar.

He worked rapidly, setting the frequency, the directional beam, the gain control. It was only a question of time before the detector would pick up the clear beam on the Onzar fleet, even in the midst of battle. At last it came through.

Across s.p.a.ce, the automatic code responder finally could be heard.

Thane gave his own code and said, ”A direct to Garth. Top urgent.”

”That code has been changed,” the mechanical voice replied at once.

”Give current code.”

”But I've been out of touch,” Thane said, ”and this must go through.”

”That code has been changed,” came the same, unvarying reply. ”Give current code.”

It was no use. With the mechanical monitor working he'd never get through. And of course they would have changed his code, after his disappearance and reported death. He began to talk rapidly giving his instructions. He couldn't get through to Garth, but there was the chance that someone would see the recording in time to act. d.a.m.n the mechanical efficiency of Liaison!

Now Selan was all he had to depend on. He started back to the forward compartment hoping that Selan had at last made her decision. The battle was still going on and lights were still flas.h.i.+ng down the galactic screen to sudden, unwitting death. The bulk of the Darzent fleet had been destroyed and Thane saw that Candar had changed his tactics. Now, instead of disrupters, he was using concentrated, high-power Stoltz artillery.

After destroying the ma.s.s of their power, Candar was going to bring in the staff s.h.i.+ps, with the fleet admirals as captives. It would immobilize whatever power Darzent had in reserve while Candar turned on the Allied Systems. Already, confused and blinded Darzent s.h.i.+ps were drifting in s.p.a.ce, with Onzar wrecker tugs swarming in on them.

Thane turned to the old priestess Selan. ”Don't you see the crisis that is shaping? Don't you see what Candar intends? When this is done and he has re-powered, he'll turn on the Allied Systems. They'll fight back of course, but the war will make a shambles of the whole Galaxy.

Don't you see?”

She turned slowly and looked at him. Her eyes seemed older, much more tired than they had before. ”I have seen it, Roger Thane, and this cannot be repeated. It will not happen again. It is against all my training and belief and the tenets of the faith, but I, as Priestess of Keltar, will take it on myself to attack the temporal power.”

<script>