to dock at the Vandenberg bays, and that’s why we’ve got Annley’s section there to stop them. What do you do if you can’t hold them, Mike?” Sirocco asked, looking down at the front row.
“Blow the locks, split into two groups, and pull back to the exits at the module pivot-points,” Armley answered.
“Right. The other-yes, question?’
“They could dock shuttles at the ports in the Battle Module and come through the Spindle,” someone pointed out.
“Yes, I was about to come to that,” Sirocco replied. He lifted his head a fraction to address the whole room again. “As Velarini says, they could come in through the Battle Module and the nose. The Battle Module is the main problem. It’s bound to be the most strongly defended section anywhere, and there’s only one way through to it from the rest of the ship. Therefore we assault it directly only if all else fails. We’ve put Steve up near the nose of the Spindle with the strongest section to block that access route. Steve’s
task is to stop any SD’s getting out and, more important, to stop Sterm and his people from getting in if things go well and they realize they can’t hold the rest of the ship. What we have to prevent at all costs is Sterm and Stormbel get/ ting in there and detaching the module so that it can threaten the rest of the Mayflower II as well as the planet
Yes, Simmonds?”
“It could still detach, even without Sterm”
“That’s a gamble we’ll have to take,” Sirocco said. “Sterm will hardly order them to fire on the rest of the ship if he’s in it.”
“Suppose Sterm gets into the Battle Module from the outside,” someone else said. “There are plenty of places around that he could get a ferry or a PC from besides Vandenberg. He’s only got to hop across a couple of miles. It wouldn’t need a surface shuttle.”
Sirocco hesitated for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.
“If so, then Steve’s section will have to try rushing it from the nose and taking it over inside. But that’s only as a last resort, as I said.” He looked across at Colman, who returned a heavy nod.
“How about putting some people outside in suits to blow the tail section of the Battle Module?” Carson suggested from the second row back.
“We’re looking into that. It will depend on how many people Steve can spare. Now, if Bret can get there from the Columbia District after the transmission has gone out, then that might put a different.. .” Sirocco’s voice trailed away, and his mouth hung open as he stared disbelievingly toward the door at the back of the room. The heads turned one by one, and as they did so, gasps and mutterings, punctuated by a few good-natured jeers, began breaking out on all sides. /
Swyley moved farther ‘into the room and paused to survey the surroundings through his thick, heavy-rimmed spectacles, his pudgy face cloaked by his familiar expressionless expression. Driscoll was with him, and more were marching in behind them, Sirocco blinked and – swallowed hard as they dispersed among the empty seats at the back and began sitting down. Harding, Baker, Faustzman, Vanderheim.
Simpson, Westley, Johnson-all of them. They were all back. “We heard you could use some help, chief,” Driscoll announced. “Couldn’t leave it all to the amateurs?’ Ribald comments and hoots of derision greeted the remark.
Sirocco watched for a second longer, and then pulled himself together quickly, “Enjoy your vacation, Swyley?” he inquired with a note of forced sarcasm in his voice. “Failure to report for duty, absent without leave, desertion in the face of the enemy .. . the whole book, in fact. Well, consider yourselves reprimanded, and sit down. There’s a lot to go over, and we’re all going to need some rest today. The situation is that-” Sirocco stopped speaking and looked curiously at the figure that he hadn’t noticed before
-an unfamiliar face by the side of Swyley, who was still standing. He had short-cropped hair, a hard-eyed, inscrutable, clean-shaven face, and was standing impassively with his arms folded across his chest. “Who’s this?” Sirocco said “He’s not from D Company,”