Sky , in order of my mention of your name,” she said calmly, her manner command alert. “Make your separation distance at 4,000 miles. Once you are in position, we will all depart for the north pole of the Moon. Our ship navigator will feed vector angles to you. Move at top Magfield speed. Execute!”
In seconds the four smaller ships had moved to surround the Blue Sky .
“Captain Yamaguchi, we are in position,” Baraka said from the Louisiana , his red-lit image filling part of the comlink holo on Bill’s right. Baraka wore a vacsuit and helmet, like all his sailors.
“Captain of the fleet, same for us,” Leonard called from the attack sub Minnesota . The bald man’s image showed him also wearing one of the vacsuits delivered to his sub. Like Baraka, his image was red-lit as he stood in the CIC of the sub.
“Captain,” called Learned Escape from the Talking Skin . “My ship is oriented as commanded.” The Alien who spoke in bands and dots of color also wore a clear vacsuit, with his speaker/vidcam unit on his left shoulder.
“Me too Captain Yamaguchi!” chittered Builder of Joy, the image of the giant squirrel showing him in his own vacsuit and sitting within the front pilot space of the transport Tall Trees .
Lofty Flyer touched her Navigation pillar top. “Vector angles transmitted to control tablets of the submarines and to the transports,” the brown-furred squirrel lady chittered softly.
“Life Support is fully operational,” called Wind Swift the scaled kangaroo.
Bright Sparkle tapped the top of her control pillar. “All fusion reactors now operating at full output,” she said.
Jane nodded. “Time Marker, move us out at one-tenth lightspeed!”
The yellow electrical nimbus that surrounded the black-skinned walking snake expanded outward. “Both Magfield drive engines activated. We depart at maximum speed,” his shipmate hissed.
The true space holo lost Earth and its orbiting satellites. An image of a white full Moon filled the holo as Bill’s ship curved out on the Moon transit vector.
The star images blurred as the Blue Sky moved toward the Moon at 67.1 million miles per hour. While such a trip would take only 13.14 seconds at full Magfield speed, still it took a while to move up to full one-tenth lightspeed, then time to slow down. Within a minute, though, they had arrived above the north pole of the Moon. Below them lay the crater Rozhdestvensky and dozens of similar ice-filled impact craters. In his comlink holo, Jane leaned forward as she scanned her dozen ship status holos.
“Navigator, orient our ship’s nose toward the Lagrange 5 orbital position,” she said firmly. “Crew and fellow captains, my analysis of the incoming vector of the Collector ships indicates those ships will pass on that side of the Moon, within 10,000 miles of the Moon’s surface.”
“That puts them within range of our lasers,” Bill commented.
“And vice versa,” Jane said. “We have just less than four hours before these ships arrive. Time for a final weapons report. Weapons Chief, I can see from my own Weapons holo duplicate that all is fine in your department.” She looked to her comlink holo, which still carried the images of the four other captains. “Captains Learned and Builder, I know your ship lasers are functional. What is the load status for your MITV torpedoes?”
The near-human form of Learned looked thoughtful. “ Talking Skin presently carries nine torpedoes, each outfitted with five multiply independently targeted thermonuclear warheads. Maximum yield of each warhead is three megatons.”
The brown fur of Builder of Joy stiffened as his excitement showed. “ Tall Trees can let fly with eight torpedoes! Our nose laser is at full power. We will fly about them like a bee around a flower and sting them where it will hurt!” chittered the Aelthorpe alien.
Jane smiled at the enthusiasm of the brave squirrel man. While smaller than most humans, the flying squirrel had enough
In seconds the four smaller ships had moved to surround the Blue Sky .
“Captain Yamaguchi, we are in position,” Baraka said from the Louisiana , his red-lit image filling part of the comlink holo on Bill’s right. Baraka wore a vacsuit and helmet, like all his sailors.
“Captain of the fleet, same for us,” Leonard called from the attack sub Minnesota . The bald man’s image showed him also wearing one of the vacsuits delivered to his sub. Like Baraka, his image was red-lit as he stood in the CIC of the sub.
“Captain,” called Learned Escape from the Talking Skin . “My ship is oriented as commanded.” The Alien who spoke in bands and dots of color also wore a clear vacsuit, with his speaker/vidcam unit on his left shoulder.
“Me too Captain Yamaguchi!” chittered Builder of Joy, the image of the giant squirrel showing him in his own vacsuit and sitting within the front pilot space of the transport Tall Trees .
Lofty Flyer touched her Navigation pillar top. “Vector angles transmitted to control tablets of the submarines and to the transports,” the brown-furred squirrel lady chittered softly.
“Life Support is fully operational,” called Wind Swift the scaled kangaroo.
Bright Sparkle tapped the top of her control pillar. “All fusion reactors now operating at full output,” she said.
Jane nodded. “Time Marker, move us out at one-tenth lightspeed!”
The yellow electrical nimbus that surrounded the black-skinned walking snake expanded outward. “Both Magfield drive engines activated. We depart at maximum speed,” his shipmate hissed.
The true space holo lost Earth and its orbiting satellites. An image of a white full Moon filled the holo as Bill’s ship curved out on the Moon transit vector.
The star images blurred as the Blue Sky moved toward the Moon at 67.1 million miles per hour. While such a trip would take only 13.14 seconds at full Magfield speed, still it took a while to move up to full one-tenth lightspeed, then time to slow down. Within a minute, though, they had arrived above the north pole of the Moon. Below them lay the crater Rozhdestvensky and dozens of similar ice-filled impact craters. In his comlink holo, Jane leaned forward as she scanned her dozen ship status holos.
“Navigator, orient our ship’s nose toward the Lagrange 5 orbital position,” she said firmly. “Crew and fellow captains, my analysis of the incoming vector of the Collector ships indicates those ships will pass on that side of the Moon, within 10,000 miles of the Moon’s surface.”
“That puts them within range of our lasers,” Bill commented.
“And vice versa,” Jane said. “We have just less than four hours before these ships arrive. Time for a final weapons report. Weapons Chief, I can see from my own Weapons holo duplicate that all is fine in your department.” She looked to her comlink holo, which still carried the images of the four other captains. “Captains Learned and Builder, I know your ship lasers are functional. What is the load status for your MITV torpedoes?”
The near-human form of Learned looked thoughtful. “ Talking Skin presently carries nine torpedoes, each outfitted with five multiply independently targeted thermonuclear warheads. Maximum yield of each warhead is three megatons.”
The brown fur of Builder of Joy stiffened as his excitement showed. “ Tall Trees can let fly with eight torpedoes! Our nose laser is at full power. We will fly about them like a bee around a flower and sting them where it will hurt!” chittered the Aelthorpe alien.
Jane smiled at the enthusiasm of the brave squirrel man. While smaller than most humans, the flying squirrel had enough
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