Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: August 8, 2024
The planetary government was in process of destroying all the machinery by which Kandar had been governed, as if to make the Mekinese improvise a government anew. They would make many blunders, of course, which would be resented by their new subjects. There would be much fumbling, which would keep the victims of their conquest from regarding them with respect.
With unlimited favorable fortune, Mekin might actually send ships to hunt the Isis instead of asking questions on Kandar. But Bors made a mental note. The more time that passed before Mekin knew what had happened, the better. So a ship or two or three might be detached from the fleet and sent back to hang off Kandar.
He immediately suspected that the Mekinese would have a ship down somewhere, to blast the fleet of Kandar if it should dare to resist. In fact, he said positively that such a cruiser was waiting word to fire fusion-bombs." Bors blinked again.
As a result of the warnings, the flagship was found to have been somehow equipped, by Mekin, with a tiny, special microwave transmitter which used a frequency not usual on Kandar. It was, in effect, a radio beacon on which enemy missiles could home. Also, the lead ship of a cruiser-squadron had been mysteriously geared to reveal its exact position, course and speed while in space.
He'd fought in the battle off Kandar, he'd destroyed a Mekinese cruiser off Tralee, another in the Mekinese system itself and a squadron off Meriden. But he had never seen a Mekinese fighting-man face to face. Filled with such hatred as he felt, he meant to do so now. A space-boat came up from the ground. The Horus trained weapons on it.
"The continued existence of our fleet, and the fact that it defeated a Mekinese force, is common knowledge on at least five planets all of them now in revolt against Mekin." The king's expression had reached the limit of reaction to disaster. It did not change. He looked almost apathetic. "Mekin," he said dully, "sent a second squadron to Kandar to investigate the rumors of defeat.
All of them passed to its rear. For the fraction of a second it was visible as an object instead of a speck. That object swelled. It went by. Bors's voice, relayed, said, "Coup! You're out of action. Right?" The skipper of the ship just up from Kandar said grudgingly, "Hell, yes! We threw fifteen missiles at it, and missed with every one! This is magic!
Probably most of them didn't believe what was happening. Perhaps four ships, out of the entire grand fleet, escaped. Later, of course, there was embarrassment all around. King Humphrey the Eighth landed on Kandar to assure his people that they were no longer in danger. He was embarrassed because he was a victor in spite of himself.
He would want to hold a cabinet meeting before he issued orders for the destruction of a space-ship that was only technically and not actually an enemy. Kandar had received an ultimatum from Mekin. An answer was required when a Mekinese fleet arrived off Kandar. Until that moment there was, in theory, no war.
He relaxed. Gwenlyn tried to read. She did not succeed. She was excessively nervous. Bors was not. The fleet re-formed itself well out from Kandar. It made for a rendezvous over a pole of the gas-giant planet which was the fourth planet from Kandar's sun. It was almost, but not quite in line with that yellow star toward the base, from which the Mekinese flotilla would come.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking