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He paced back and forth in the control room. He almost did not wait to make sure. Almost. But he had never seen a Mekinese fighting man face to face. He'd gone into exile with his uncle when that unhappily reasonable man let Tralee surrender rather than be bombed to depopulation. He'd served in the Kandarian navy without ever managing to be in any port when a Mekinese ship was in.

I'm sure we've sent four shiploads of food back to the fleet, besides the passenger-ship we'd rather have missed. But there's still something to be done. To confuse Mekin and keep it busy, and therefore off Kandar's neck, we have to start trouble elsewhere. From now on we are pirates pure and simple." And he headed the Horus for the planet Cassis, which was another victim of the Mekinese.

The grand fleet will get to Kandar in five days, four hours, twenty minutes! My Talent on the Sylva is sure of it. It's Talents, Incorporated information!" "We haven't any time to spare, then," said Bors. "Bors!" panted Morgan's voice. "There were three ships of our fleet hanging about, on watch for Mekinese. They expected one. Twelve came. The observation-ships attacked.

And if we are discovered to be alive, and certainly if we offer to fight, Kandar will be exterminated as a living world, to punish us and as a warning to future victims of the Mekinese." "Yes, Majesty," Bors said through tight lips. "But may I point out " "I know what you want to point out," the king broke in irritably.

The technicians of Mekin would set to work instantly to duplicate them. Once they were considered possible once they were recognized they could be achieved. The combat efficiency of the Mekinese fleet would be increased as greatly as that of the fleet of Kandar had been, and the overwhelming superiority of numbers would again become decisive.

Everything was to be destroyed before the conquerors came to ground. The destruction would bring hardship to the citizens so the story admitted but the Mekinese would bring that anyhow. And they shouldn't profit by what Kandar's people had built for themselves.

Can we all have this before the Mekinese get here?" "I hope so," said Bors's voice. "We're trying hard, anyhow. Will you report to ground?" "Right," said the speakers in the ship which had just fired fifteen missiles without a hit or interception. "Off." And then the compartment doors opened again and the normal sounds of a small fighting ship in space began again.

You'll have my written order to distribute the bullion in the Treasury to all the cities, to be shared as evenly as possible by all the people. The Mekinese can't blame you for obeying an order of your lawful king before they unlawfully seize the kingdom!" Captain Bors said curtly, "Majesty, the first of the four liners is in. Two more will arrive tomorrow and the last at sunrise the day after.

They would use the supplied data-tables to compute firing constants for given ranges and relative speeds. They would, of course, return to formation to permit other ships the same practice with the new method of missile handling. Bors read the letter from Talents, Incorporated. It gave an exact time for the breakout of the Mekinese fleet.

"I'll give you fifty men," he said. "I think you'll be killed, of course. But if you live long enough to convince them that the fleet's been destroyed, you'll be of service." "What," Bors asked, with a trace of humor, "can possibly be done about the fact that we wiped out a Mekinese fleet instead of letting it exterminate us?"