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."It all happened so fast.""So you froze, and four men are dead." Galway's words were harsh, but his anger was quicklychanging to apprehension.The blackcollars had the initiative now as the attacker always did andhis Security forces weren't responding nearly fast enough.They'd trained for this sort of thing, ofcourse, but no one had taken it seriously for years.Could they get organized in the heat of battle?Galway wasn't sure.One thing he was sure of, though: allowing his men to be tied down defending the Hub was aninvitation to disaster.He had to stop the riot, and fast, before the blackcollars pulled whatever elseaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr rthey had planned."Sergeant, what do we have in the air?""All eight spotters are up, coordinating the ground action.The mob's pretty well fragmented now,and each group has at least one stolen weapon.Mobs are starting to form outside the other gates, too,but so far we're holding them back."And coordination was about all the spotters could do; they lacked the sophisticated firepower forpinpoint attacks that could hit the rioters without tearing up the surrounding neighborhoods.But therewere ships on Plinry that could accomplish that."Call the 'port.I want their patrol boats immediately.""All six of them?" Grazian sounded doubtful."That'll leave the 'port undefended.""They've got their fence, don't they? Besides, clearing out the rioters with those boats won't takelong.If they get nervous they can always ask the Ryqril to take a couple of Corsairs up.""Yes, sir." A pause."I have the 'port duty officer now; channel three."Switching his phone, Galway gave the orders.They came in low over the city: six sleek aircraft, heading in from the north and displacing thestubby Security spotters that moved up to give them room.From his lonely tree-crowned hill twoklicks east of the city Trevor Dhonau counted them as they appeared, nodding in satisfaction.Galwayhad called the 'port patrol boats into the fray a bit sooner than he had expected, but that was all right:Dhonau and Terris Shen, the other Swatter, had been in position for nearly an hour.Squatting behind the sights of his twin-tube rocket launcher, his game leg stretched awkwardly tothe side, the old blackcollar permitted himself a moment of mild regret.It had been so long in coming,this last act of defiance, and he wished he could see it through to the end.But someone had to takeSwatter duty, and better him than someone with two good legs.Idunine could keep you alive a longtime, but for damaged tissue other treatment was needed and the collies' refusal to supply that wasjust one more score that needed settling.The moment passed, and Dhonau actually smiled as he picked up the trigger grip and thumbedoff its safety.All of them had had a price to pay, and if his was to be heavier than the average that wasmerely a comsquare's duty.Certainly Lathe had done his share without flinching.Dhonau wincedinside as he thought of Lathe's lonely vigil as their contact man, the patient wait in that highly visiblerole for the long-shot contact that had finally happened.He would be a good successor, Dhonau knew.He just hoped there would be enough pieces left after tonight for Lathe to pick up.Almost time.The patrol boats were settling into position over Capstone, hovering on gravs asthey sought the rioters.Dhonau waited until they were nearly stationary, and then gently squeezed thetrigger grip.With a burst of sparks and the sizzle of water dropped on a hot griddle, the tiny surface-to-airmissile shot from the leftmost firing tube.Shifting aim, Dhonau fired again.The result was all Dhonau could have hoped for.A blue-white sun burst dead center on one ofthe boats, which yawed wildly in dying reflex before plummeting to the ground.A second craft,maneuvering frantically to avoid its flaming companion, backed directly into the path of the secondmissile.It didn't even have time to fall, but disintegrated instead in midair as a secondary explosion ofits fuel and armament momentarily lit up the sky.A third patrol boat swung dangerously near theground, impelled by the force of the explosion, and was just regaining equilibrium when a missile rosefrom Shen's position to the southwest, bringing it down for good.It had all happened so quickly thatonly then did the thunderclaps from the explosions finally reach Dhonau's hill.The old blackcollar grinned as the sound washed over him.Three down in the first salvo betteraaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr rthan he'd expected.The other three boats were buzzing around like hornets now, seeking theirattackers, but Dhonau wasn't particularly worried yet.The boats, though of Ryqril manufacture, werecopies of pre-war Terran design, and Dhonau knew that their sensors couldn't simultaneously handleboth narrow- and wide-angle detection.Concentrating on the rioters in Capstone, they couldn'tpossibly have tracked the missile trajectories.A basic problem with stealing someone else'stechnology, Dhonau reminded himself dryly: the original owner always knew too much about it.Two of the boats had shifted to a standard search pattern now, the third rising to a high-altitudeposition where it could watch the whole area.An unimaginative approach, and potentially expensive:it could cost them one of their low-flying boats to locate each Swatter position.Dhonau reloaded histubes, waiting for the searchers to move closer.But as he watched, one of them broke sharply from itspath, swinging in a tight circle off to Dhonau's left.Shen had been spotted.The other Swatter knew it, too, and two missiles flashed out in quick succession.Both explodedharmlessly in midair, caught by bursts of laser fire.Dhonau cursed under his breath even as he swung his firing tube around and squeezed the trigger.It would give his position away, but he had no other choice.With both tubes empty, Shen would be asitting duck for several seconds before he could reload.The missile arced toward its target and Dhonau's gut-feeling that the collie crew wereessentially rookies was confirmed.Concentrating on Shen's defenseless position, they completelymissed the arrow climbing up their exhaust until it was too late [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]