67 They were entering the system when
Communications suddenly got very busy. "Communications! " asked North,
"What's going on?"
68 "I don't know, sir," the man replied. "It's something from Fleet
going directly down to the Doctor and it's scrambled. I can't break it."
69 "Don't even try," snapped North.
70 A few minutes later the Officer jumped and began recording
something. "Priority orders from Fleet," he announced, "coming through."
71 When the orders came to North's screen he was bewildered. They said
for him to cease all motion, to stand in place and await orders. North
quickly issued the orders and the vessel slowly stopped. For several
long minutes there was silence, then Communications began receiving
again. "Message in your private code, sir."
72 North turned on his decoder and the message began to appear.
"Commander Northern Star," it read, "vessel Lord's Vengeance. Fleet is
aware of the condition of yourself and your ship, but an emergency
has arisen. The automatic communication's relay in the system between
station seventy-six and seventy-eight has gone dead. The leap class
destroyer 'Eyes Of God' went out to investigate. It reported entering
the system and sighting an unidentified vessel of large size, then all
communications was lost.
73 You are four days away. The nearest other ship is ten days away. We
will not order you on this mission in your present condition, but we
will accept your volunteering. End transmission."
74 "Sir," cried communications, "we've just picked up a signal from a
star drive destroyer that's approaching us. It says it's been ordered
to pick up our wounded and will meet us on the way to our leap
coordinances. What in the name of Hades are they talking about, sir?"
75 "Navigation," ordered North, "we've got to leap