Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 27, 2025
"They aren't as savage as the Xochitl locals were when Haulteclere took it over. You've been there; you've seen what Prince Viktor does with them now." "We haven't got the men or equipment they have on Xochitl," Valkanhayn said. "We can't afford to coddle the locals." "You can't afford not to," Harkaman told him. "You have two ships, here.
They met President Pedrosan and the council of Syndics in a spacious and well-furnished chamber near the top of one of the medium-high buildings. Valkanhayn was surprised; in a loud aside he considered that these people must be almost civilized. They were introduced.
They don't even command, really; they just preside over elected command-councils." Finally, they had both of the more or less commanders on screen. Valkanhayn had zipped up his shirt and put on a jacket. Garvan Spasso was a small man, partly bald. His eyes were a shade too close together, and his thin mouth had a bitterly crafty twist.
It was a completely trivial and irrelevant claim, but the story was that it would be supported by King Konrad of Haulteclere. Immediately, Baron Rathmore, Lord Valpry, Lothar Ffayle and the other Gram people began clamoring that he should go back with a fleet and seize the throne for himself. Harkaman, Valkanhayn, Karffard and the other Space Vikings were as vehement against it.
"Well, here; we don't know anything about this Zaspar Makann," the confidential secretary and spokesman of the Duke of Bigglersport began. "No, you don't," Otto Harkaman told him. "I suggest you keep quiet and listen, till you find out a little about him." "Why, I wouldn't be surprised if Dunnan was on Marduk all the time we were hunting for him," Valkanhayn said. Trask began to wonder.
A moment later, another; Valkanhayn was pounding the desk in front of him with his fist and yelling: "That was one of ours! Find out who launched it; get his name!" Missiles were coming up from the planet, now. Valkanhayn's detection officer was trying to locate the source.
"Then what will you do?" "I came out here after Andray Dunnan, didn't I?" he asked. "I'm afraid Ravallo and Valpry, or even Valkanhayn and Morland, won't be as interested in Dunnan as you are." "Then I will interest them in him. Remember, I was reading up on Hitler, coming in from Marduk? I will tell them all a big lie. Such a big lie that nobody will dare to disbelieve it."
Now it was time to take a count of his own ships, and then begin thinking about the Battle on Marduk. The Black Star was gone. So was RMNS Challenger, and RMNS Conquistador. Space Scourge was badly hammered; worse than after the Beowulf raid, Boake Valkanhayn said. The Viking's Gift was heavily damaged, too, and so was the Corisande, and so, from the looks of the damage board, was the Nemesis.
Three thousand hours had passed since the first warning had reached Tanith, that made five thousand since Viktor's ships were supposed to have left Xochitl. There were those, Boake Valkanhayn among them, who doubted, now, if he ever had. "The whole thing's just a big Gilgamesher lie," he was declaring.
Harkaman was drooling over the mass of historical material he had found. Spasso was jubilant. Nobody could call this chicken-stealing. He kept repeating that as long as he was able to say anything. Khepera, he conceded, had been. Lousy two or three million stellars; poo! Beowulf was bad. Valkanhayn and Spasso had both been opposed to the raid. Nobody raided Beowulf; Beowulf was too tough.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking