Beam Operators suddenly found themselves without
telemetry, Command Posts burst into flames.
14 The missiles poured in seemingly without opposition. Shipyards
thousands of years old that had built untold numbers of sleek,
beautiful spaceships disappeared in the blazing fire of nuclear and
conversion bombs. What was left North's Beam Operators finished. They
swept around the capitol one time, and when they left, there was only
devastation in their wake. It would be many, many years before even
half of what had been here could be rebuilt.
15 Now, there was only the run home, but now the enemy had had all the
time he needed to overcome his confusion, and draw on his reserves.
Two-hundred ships now blocked their retreat, one-hundred stood again in
a double wall ahead of them with fifty lined out on either side, ready
to swing in on their flanks. The Morning Star was relatively undamaged.
16 "Form a spearhead," ordered North, "on me, the most damaged ships on
the inside, the rest on the outside. We're going straight through!"
17 Shortly before they hit the wall, the center began to pull back,
making an indentation into which North's spearhead seemed to fit.
"They're learning!" North cursed, "They're learning!"
18 The next few minutes light danced across their screens and several
times The Morning Star was rocked by near misses. Only once did they
take a serious hit in engineering, but then they were through. The
enemy had done his best, but it wasn't good enough.
19 North lost two more ships, but they were now running for home.
"We're in pretty good shape," North ordered, "Fall back! Protect the
stragglers. Keep them off their tubes."
20 Without being ordered to do so, every ship that was not seriously
damaged followed suit, letting their less fortunate sisters move ahead
of them. Some-