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would try to reanalyze more solutions while she attacked. But from her present
data the one shot would have to destroy it-there would not be time for a
second.
 Shall I start the Music of War now? The acting First Officer asked.
Rawlon turned to the young Kraaqi officer.
 Turn it up as loud as it ll go!
 Where s the HomeFleet? Rawlon shouted.
Curja had just returned to his station, his wounds hastily bandaged.  No sign
of them, Admiral.
The Kraaqi battleship lurched under more direct hits. Around the bridge, the
lights dimmed, replaced by the eerie red glow of the emergency lighting. From
two control stations, sparks exploded as the Kraaqi officers jumped away.
 Get me Tarlog.
 The ships of the Hrono are being hammered, sir. They are taking heavy
losses. Curja looked up from his station.  The Hrono flagship s comm systems
are down. It s engines are off-line and her shields are buckling. Tarlog
cannot reply.
Rawlon slammed his fist down.  The T kaan are going to stop us. We can t break
through these battleships!
At that moment, a bright flash appeared to the left of the T kaan battle
groups that were attacking them.
Scores of ships appeared out of the familiar flash-the Hrono Home Fleet
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emerged unexpectedly from
their hyperspace jump.
A cheer went up from the Kraaqi around Rawlon.
 About time, Rawlon grumbled. He stood.  Order Admiral Trakam to smash the
T kaan battleships-use every hybrid weapon. Send orders to our fleet to swing
around behind his attack.
Rawlon pointed decisively at the viewscreen.  On to the Great Horned ship!
Before them the red tracers of the hybrid weapons of the Home Fleet lit up the
stygian blackness.
Numerous T kaan ships began exploding.
 How many Kraaqi ships still have their use of the hybrid weapon? Rawlon
asked.
Curja s fingers danced over his controls.  Four battleships...and five
cruisers.
Rawlon growled under his breath, and spoke.  It will have to be enough. Send
word to the MotherShip-
we attack!

Rok s fighters leaptfor the frigates under a thick hail of blaster fire.
Kraaqi fighters began exploding under direct hits from the heavy weapons.
 Attack! Rok roared into his comm.
A cloud of T kaan fighters approached the small formation of brave Kraaqi. The
tracers from the combined blaster fire or each group streaked through the
blackness, crisscrossing between them. Still in their tight phalanx formation,
the deadly Kraaqi fighters closed, Rok s fighter leading the way.
 Now! Mother shouted.
Kyle and Jaric banked their groups away from Rok s group and attacked. A
blizzard of blaster fire greeted them as they kicked the rudder of their
ships, trying to avoid the deadly fire. Their fighters answered as they fired
simultaneously.
Two T kaan frigates reeled from direct hits.
Kyle pushed his ship toward the left-most frigate and fired his last two
torpedoes. Jaric followed, firing all his blasters. The frigate s shields
buckled, and the ship exploded. The other frigate, its systems off-line from
the initial hits, began to drift in space.
 Yahoo! Jaric shouted with glee. In the next instant, he was diving his ship
down hard as a hail of blaster fire pummeled his shields.
 All fighters, break and attack in pairs. Draw their fire! Kyle ordered.
Mother kicked her engines into overdrive and leapt past both Kyle and Jaric
and through the small gap left by the crippled frigates.
Even as she did it, alarms screamed inside her circuits. A cruiser sent a
salvo towards her as she tried to twist out of the line of fire, but Mother
took two direct hits. Her shields buckled and her primary power
grid fell for the third time that day, but her backup grid did come up
immediately.
But she had no shields now.
She shuddered violently from several direct hits as T kaan fighters attacked.
Five Hunter fighters hammered her with a deadly salvo as they raced past and
now turned for another attack. Mother felt the blows penetrate her hull, she
felt the damage to several internal systems. Worse, a small section of
long-term memory flickered with damage. Instantly, she began copying its
precious contents to another section of memory before it was lost forever.
More direct hits struck her from behind as she tried to avoid the Hunters now
in hot pursuit. She fired a volley from her main guns, destroying one and
partially damaging two. The Hunters broke off their attack and turned- but in
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seconds they reformed for another run.
More alarms now screamed from the latest direct hits.
 Guardian. My starboard engine has broken loose from its moorings. It is
overheating. You must push it back into place or a massive explosion will
occur in ninety-five seconds- an explosion that will destroy me. I must
endeavor to get shields back up while I fight off the Hunters.
Guardian stood, silent and obedient, his seven-foot frame moving with
surprising quickness in response to Mother s orders. He had been assisting the
Fixers with repairs to the main power grid one level above the engine rooms.
As he entered the starboard engine room, there were only forty-nine seconds
left.
Fixer3 was already there, trying to push the huge engine frame back into place
with its minuscule form.
Guardian s sensors immediately detected the extreme temperatures emanating
from the engine. As he stepped beside the smaller robot, he noted that Fixer s
hands had already melted to the overheated surface.
With one motion, Guardian pulled the Fixer away. The little robot s arms were
stiff, unmoving; its hands had melted into a metallic blob.
 My arms are not functioning, Fixer reported calmly.
 The intense heat has fused the internal circuits and destroyed your servo
motors, Mother said from the overhead speaker.
 The engine will explode, Fixer reported.
 Stand back, Guardian ordered calmly.
Guardian placed his metallic hands against the red-hot surface. Even as he
bent his huge frame and powered every internal servo motor, he felt the
circuits in his hands go dead. Melted. He pushed harder, but the engine did
not move.
Suddenly the image of Becky displayed to his near-term memories. Her image had
been occurring with a regular frequency this last hour. And no matter how
often it happened, after he had studied the familiar visage, taking in every
curve of the face, every layout of the blonde hair, he would erase it from his
near-term memory, only to have the image return seconds later. The image was
there again, and
Guardian felt a surge of power inside his body.
Guardian did not understand.
But for some reason, as he bent his body this time, as he strained every joint
and motor, the engine began to move.
The circuitry inside Guardian s arms sizzled and fused with a sickening
staccato of sparks from the intense heat.
Fixer stared at the giant robot, and sent the visual images to Mother.
Mother focused a small portion on this incoming signal, and noted that only
twenty-one seconds remained before the coming explosion.
Like some mythological god, Guardian flexed and drove his being into the
Herculean task before him.
His metallic back and shoulders strained behind his outstretched arms, driving
them forward-stepping forward on one leg while the other stretched back behind
him, he pushed with all his metallic might. Now even more than Atlas, the
mythological god of old, he held the entire universe in his grip as he pushed
against the massive engine.
Tiny drops of liquid metal raced down Guardian s hands and across his forearms
as the searing heat caused them to glow a dull and deadly red. The massive
engine jerked with a sudden movement that placed it closer to its original [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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