The Morcai Battalion Read Online Free PDF

almost gone. I estimate two more hits will finish him.”
    Dtimun watched the sleek starship bear down on the Rojok, so quickly that the enemy ship couldn’t possibly get out of the way in time. “I understand his motive,” he said. “A laudable last resort, but a hollow victory. Helmsman, hard about and prime main batteries!”
    “Aye, sir.”
    Dtimun dropped into the command chair with his long fingers barely touching the master weaponry control panel. It was going to require precision timing, this maneuver. If he fired too soon, the second Rojok vessel would have time to destroy the Earth ship. If he fired too late, the spray pattern would destroy both ships.
    The Morcai began to bear down on the Rojoks like a flash of light, and the stars around her seemed to be speeding in the opposite direction in her wake.
    “I register a scan,” Komak said quickly. “The Rojok has spotted us.”
    Dtimun’s fingers tensed on the firing switch. “If he changes course,” he said tightly, “I may cost the human his ship. Helmsman, take me in on a deflect pattern, close range. Time will allow me only one shot. I want the best I can manage.”
    “Yes, Commander. Leaving over now on deflect course. Engines ahead, full-drive.”
    Dtimun focused his huge eyes on the screen. His long fingers curled around the firing switch. Out in space, the Rojok grew like a suddenly inflated balloon, filling the viewscreen.
     
    Holt Stern sat quietly in his chair, watching the Rojok flash toward the Bellatrix , with a deceptive numbness in his chest. The bridge already had the feel of a morgue as each crew member spent his last seconds in stonelike aloneness, untouching, unspeaking. Stern clenched his teeth to hold back the fear. At least, he thought ironically, the headache would die with him. And then, the Rojok ship filled the viewscreen…
    The Rojok came screaming in toward the Bellatrix . There was a final surge of power as Higgins ordered the astrogator to throw the throttle wide-open. Then, quite suddenly, a ball of green mist enveloped the enemy ship.
    It took Stern precious seconds to realize what was happening. In a mind yielded to death, thought came slowly.
    “Full about!” he barked at the astrogator, praying the man would recover fast enough to make the maneuver. A split second’s delay, and the Bellatrix would go up in atoms along with the Rojok.
    “Aye, sir!” The astrogator’s thin, trembling hands seemed to hit the switches in slow motion.
    Stern felt the huge starship vibrate like a running heart with the sudden braking. She bolted under the pressure, as if torn apart between time and speed. Then, with a recovery that was nothing short of miraculous, she began to turn and inch away from the doomed Rojok ship. In seconds that were centuries to her crew, she pulled away with a rippling burst of speed just as the Rojok ship exploded in silentfireworks out in the eternal night. The shock wave that came in her wake was enough to rattle the scanners on the bridge.
    “God!” Stern breathed in mingled relief and gratitude.
    “Sir, we’ve got the megatrons back in working order, now,” Higgins said quickly. “Not nearly up to par, but I think we’ve got enough charge to hit the other Rojok.”
    “Lock on target and fire at will!” Stern told him.
    “On target, Captain. Megas away!”
    Stern watched the blue bolts fly into the second Rojok with boyish excitement. The resulting explosion was no less enjoyable than the first had been, and the colorful display produced nothing more than a light jar to the Bellatrix . Stern leaned back in his chair with a long, shuddering sigh.
    “Good work, Higgins,” he told his exec. His eyes went to the astrogator and fished for a name, and was surprised when he couldn’t find it. “What’s your name, son?” he asked.
    The astrogator gaped at him. “Why…it’s Crandall, sir.”
    Stern nodded. “Crandall. Good man.”
    “We’re lucky you spotted the first attack in time,”