he said.
“I only hope the cyborgs do not launch any more,” Osadar said.
“Let’s worry about one problem at a time,” Marten snapped.
Without another word, Osadar clicked toggles on her board. Soon, the meteor-ship shuddered. It continued to do so as the big missiles launched from the outer surface.
-57-
The hours passed as the cyborg torpedoes built up velocity. The Zenos continued their advance to combat. Finally, the two sets of projectiles neared proximity. One after another, the Zenos detonated. After the sixth big missile blew its thermonuclear warhead, only two enemy torpedoes survived. One accelerated at half its former speed. The last one homed in on the Meteor-ship
“Warm the main laser,” Marten said.
The fusion core increased power. On the ship’s surface, a large focusing mirror began to move. The calibration took five minutes of careful preparation.
“Fire!” said Marten.
Fusion power surged through the coils. Coherent light flashed through the focusing mirror. A thick beam of laser-light stabbed through the darkness of space. It struck the torpedo. The torpedo jinked out of the path of destructive light. It took another three minutes of calibration and retargeting. Then the laser stabbed again. Again, the torpedo jinked. At the third attempt—
“It detonated!” shouted Nadia.
Marten cursed softly under his breath. But the distance was too great for more than minor x-ray damage. Those x-rays burnt out a point-defense cannon and two space marines who had disobeyed orders and remained on the surface.
“What were they doing out there?” Marten shouted.
“Boredom,” said Omi.
“That’s two casualties we shouldn’t have taken.”
“It will be a lesson to the others,” Omi said.
“I want that other torpedo,” Marten said. Two dead space marines. He had a feeling they were going to miss those two soldiers before this was through.
“The laser is ready,” Osadar said.
“Kill it,” Marten said.
The laser fired, and the enemy torpedo didn’t jink out of the path of killing light. Maybe the blasts from the Zenos earlier had damaged a critical component. Whatever the case, they slagged the last torpedo of the first cyborg salvo.
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Cassius read the shock trooper’s report in his wardroom while lying on an acceleration couch. The writing style was simplistic, but certain insights impressed Cassius. For the next hour, he recorded his musings. Then he listened to the musings three times. Afterward, he began to implement a supplement to the invasion tactics of the initial landings.
Marten Kluge…if the impossible happened and the preman survived the asteroid-landings, he was going to have a grueling interview with the Homo sapien. There would be some life-lessons learned, maybe the last things this Marten Kluge would ever experience.
Deciding it was time to close that file and subject in his mind, Cassius concentrated on the approach to the asteroids. On more than one occasion, he’d likened his mind to a computer. He could close a file and open one at will, completely concentrating on the problem or subject at hand. When he closed all the mental files, he went to sleep.
After studying the probable attack sequence, Cassius went to sleep. He awoke six and-a-quarter-hours later to a klaxon. First showering, eating and donning his uniform, he hurried to the bridge. He seethed with impatience and kept clenching and unclenching his fists. This was the battle of his life. This would determine many things.
It was survival of the fittest in a war of extinction. Cassius barked a harsh laugh. Then he strode onto the bridge and entered his shell. He activated his holoimages and began to study the situation. At last, it was the time for truth.
-59-
“It’s like a blizzard,” Marten said in awe.
It was quiet in the command center as the people watched their screens. The
Each missile was three times the size of a Zeno. Behind them came another wave, the giant Orion-ships and more missiles. Behind that were the majestic Doom Stars, two of them. The third Doom Star approached from a different angle.
“Look,” said Nadia.
An equally thick blizzard of objects detached from the rear asteroids.
“They’ve gone hot,” she said.
On the many screens, the cyborg-torpedoes turned from blue to red.
Time then passed in agonizing slowness, one hour, two. Before the third passed, a quarter of the Luna- launched missiles detonated.
They were x-ray missiles, one of the deadliest in space combat. Each missile’s onboard AI targeted a single enemy craft. Then a thermonuclear warhead exploded. The mass of x-rays and gamma rays traveled up special targeting rods. Those rods concentrated the rays into a coherent beam that shot at the various targets. As the rods concentrated the x and gamma rays, the nuclear explosion obliterated its own missile and its various components. The shape-charged warhead ensured that the blast all went ahead, instead of in a ball of force in all directions. This protected the rearward missiles from friendly-fire damage.
“Eighty-three percent devastation,” declared Osadar several minutes later.
Marten watched as torpedo after cyborg torpedo went from red, to blue and then often winked away. The x- rays destroyed many torpedoes, but not all of them. Those torpedoes—the surviving cyborg devices—now detonated. They were cruder than the x-ray missiles, and depended upon electromagnetic pulse and heat damage. The Highborn-launched objects were hardened against such attacks, but twenty-seven percent of them succumbed to the cyborg explosions.
Then lasers began to beam from the rearmost asteroids.
“No,” Nadia whispered. “They’ll destroy the remaining missiles.”
“Don’t count on it,” Marten said.
“How can the Highborn stop it?” Nadia asked.
Her answer came two minutes later. The one-million kilometer-range ultra lasers of the
