31 ''She's equipping herself with leap!" said
North, "And, building her own fleet! She intends to break out.
If this thing gets loose in the shipping lanes, or in the
outer colonies she'll make the Mountain Of Glory incident look like a
fist fight! She'll destroy thousands of ships, not a hundred."
32 "What do you suggest?" asked Morn.
33 "For now," explained North, "you and I go in to minimum ranges for
our bolt projectors, and start throwing bolts at it. We'll never hit
it, but I'm in hopes we'll hit one of the ships it's working on, make
it come after us. Then, we'll bait and hit it. Maybe we'll get lucky.
34 If we can lure it far enough out of system, maybe we can put up a
real fight. Above all, never let it get you in its cross point. She's
got four forward beams to our three. Three astern to our two. She's got
bolt projectors and a beam on both sides. The only safe angle of attack
is from top to bottom.
35 After we've lured her far enough away, Gray Mountain will take his
fleet in and vaporize every cripple and ship it's working on, leave her
nothing to rebuild, but do it in one pass and run for it! Get out to
deep space before it can overtake. Don't wait around!"
36 "It sounds practical," agreed Morn, "and it's the best we've got
right now. Let's set up for it. We'll separate and go to the far side
of the system. Draw it as far away from you as we can. Remember how
fast it is. Make positively sure we've got it far enough away before
you go in. If it spots you, we'll do our best to delay it, until you
finish your mission."
37 Gray Mountain nodded. "Just don't get vaporized," he pleaded, "I
don't want to be the only thing between that and open space. I've got
plans for the rest of my life!"
38 Gray Mountain shot a glance at North, which Morn didn't miss. So
this was one of North's rebels, he thought. North picked good men. It
would take them several hours