desire to know where he was, he had just given the information to them. He knew
that.
“Looks like we’re staying,” Josh said.
The sirens had stopped. Damon edged over, chanced a look out the scarred window,
trying to see through the opaque slashes and the light diffraction. Something
stirred, far across the docks, one furtive figure, another. The com overhead
gave out a burst of static as if it were trying to come on and went silent
again.
vi
Norway
Militia freighters scattered, stationary nightmare. One of them blew like a tiny
sun, flared on vid and died while com pickup sputtered static. The hail of
particles incandesced in Norway’s path and some of the bigger ones rang against
the hull, a scream of passing matter.
No fancy turns: dead-on targets and armscomp lacing into them. A Union rider
went out the way the merchanter had, and Norway’s four riders rolled, whipped
out on a vector concerted with Norway and pulled fire, a steady barrage that
pocked a Union carrier paralleling them for one visible instant.
“Get him!” Signy yelled at her armscomper when the fire paused; it erupted over
her words and pasted into the spot the running carrier turned out to occupy.
They forced Union to maneuver, to dump G to survive it. A howl of delight went
up and sirens drowned it as helm jerked control away and sent their own mass
into a sudden turn, comp reacting to comp faster than human brains could at such
speeds… she hauled it back and paralleled the quarry. Armscomp ripped off
another barrage right down the belly array and whatever came of it, scan started
to show a field peppered with haze.
“Good!” the belly spotter shouted into com general. “Solid hit…”
There were wails as Norway half-rolled and swung into a new zig. Merchanters
leaked past them, headed out as if they were a tableau frozen in space: They
were doing the moving, whipped through the interstices of that still-standing
race and went after the Union ships, keeping them zigging, keeping them from
gathering room for a run.
Feint and strike: like their entry… a ship to draw them, attack from another
vector. Tibet and North Pole were headed in to intercept, had been coming from
the first moment scan image had reached them: longscan had just revised their
position, set them as much closer, reckoning they would go at max.
Union moved. That scan had reached them in the same instant; shifted vector
right into the fire they were laying down, Norway, Atlantic, Australia… Union
lost riders, took damage, going rimward in spite of fire, going at Tibet and
North Pole. There was a ringing oath over com, Mazian’s voice pouring out a
stream of obscenity. Twelve carriers left of the fourteen that had come in, a
cloud of riderships and dart-ships, bore away from station and into their two
outrunners that were distance-blind and alone out there.
“Hit their heels!” Porey’s deep voice came through.
“Negative, negative,” Mazian snapped back. “Hold your positions.” Comp still had
them in synch; Europe’s command signal drew them unwillingly with Mazian. They
watched the Union fleet pass their zone of fire, heading for Tibet and North
Pole. Behind them, a flare of energy reached them: static that cleared… “Got
him!” com echoed. Pacific must have taken out that crippled Union carrier some
minutes back. There were other things possible across the system, that they
could lose track of. Could lose Pell. One strike could take it out, if that was
Union’s intent.
Signy flexed a hand, wiped her face, keyed to Graff, and he took up controls on
the instant—they were dumping velocity again, pulling maneuvers in concert with
Mazian. Protests garbled over com. “Negative,” Mazian repeated. There was a hush
throughout Norway.
“They haven’t a chance,” Graff muttered too audibly. “They should have come in
sooner… should have come in—”
“Hindsight, Mr. Graff. Take it as it falls.” Signy dialed up general com. “Can’t
move out of here. If it’s a feint, one ship could come in and wipe Pell. We
can’t help them… can’t risk any more of us than we’re already about to lose.
They’ve got an option… they’ve still got room to run.”