Vorgens returned the smile. ‘Thank you, sergeant. We’ll need all the luck we can get.”
The control center was a half-level above the officers’ quarters, and just under the dreadnaught’s main turret. like every compartment in the mammoth groundcar, the control deck was cramped and low-ceilinged. In addition, it was crammed with computer units, communications equipment, and a tight semicircle of control desks, where tech-specialists could keep in constant touch with every part of the vehicle, and with every vehicle in the Mobile Force.
Vorgens climbed up the ladder from the level below, nd silently took the commander’s seat at the half-circle of control desks. In the dim, greenish light from the viewscreens he could see that most of the crew was uncertain, anxious. The battle was about to begin, and a new, totally untried commander was in charge,
“I want my instructions processed automatically by the master computer and relayed immediately to the rest of / the Force,” Vorgens said quietly.
The computer and communications men nodded and ‘ began setting up their instruments to carry out the Star Watchman’s commands.
“Computer ready, sir,” called out the tech-specialist.
“Communications ready, sir.”
Vorgens nodded. On the desk before him, he could see a pair of green lights signaling what the men had just tofd him.
For a moment, he hesitated. Looking up at the men around him—all of them staring back at him—Vorgens suddenly realized that every one of them was a complete stranger. Even Mclntyre he had known for less than a week.