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He zeroed in on the age-streaked body of the Invidious'DropShip. "That's our key to getting off this planet," he told Lori. "We have to figure out a way to take her, and then use her to take the starship."
"If the starship is still there to be taken. What are they doing? It looks like they're loading her."
Grayson agreed. He was at the very limit of resolution for the Locust'soptics, but it appeared that a number of people were moving up a ramp into the DropShip's holds. Vehicles seemed to be loading crates or containers of some sort, and there was an air of purposeful activity that Grayson knew marked preparations for a launch.
"We'll have to hurry if we want to catch a ride on THAT one," he said. "Looks like they're pla
"We'd have to do something quickly anyway. In another 60 hours it'll be daylight."
"And then 30 standard days until it's dark again." He pulled at one ear thoughtfully.
They were rapidly ru
* * * *
The temperature within the cavern of Thunder Rift was somewhat warmer than the near-zero chill outside. The thunder for which it was named had not yet begun, but a steady spatter of milky droplets trickled from the mass of ice and snow that could be faintly made out at the Rift's opening far above. The steady, rhythmic patter of droplets falling into the black water below filled the cavern with cold, wet echoes, and the promise of the roar of an avalanche of water when the Thirday thaw began.
For the past 20 hours, the remnants and tatters of the First Trellwan Lancers had been wandering in from the dark and cold in a ragged stream. Grayson had Lori and Sergeant Ramage moving among them, taking a census and trying to bring some order to the confusion. Fires burned along the shores of the lake, each with its own cluster of men and women in Militia fatigues or, rarely, the green of the Royal Guard. Beyond the warm glow of the fires, sentries moved among the predawn shadows, watching for the approach of the enemy.
So far, the Lancers could muster a Waspand the Locust,and radio contact had been made with the Stinger,which was just now coming across the ridge north of Gayal. The combined strength of the two combat companies was 51 men, while 23 astechs from the support company had made it through. Also present were the vehicles the refugees had arrived in — five armed HVWCs, a pair of HVTs, and half a dozen scout hovercraft.
It was hardly a well-equipped fighting force. Most of the combat troops had brought their weapons, but the group had almost no food. Many did not have cold weather gear and were half-frozen by their trek up from Sarghad in open-topped hovercraft. Ammunition was in short supply for the projectile weapons, and backpack chargers for the handful of laser weapons would have to be charged off the hovercraft power plants, for there were no portable generators at all.
Renfred Tor had arrived aboard one of the hover transports. He walked with Grayson along the lakeshore some distance away from the campfires. The movements of individuals near the fires cast gigantic, misshapen shadows across the waterworn surfaces of the Rift walls.
"Lori tells me you have an idea for how we can take the Invidious"Grayson said. He was wearing a cold weather jacket over his Guards uniform, but he kept his hands tucked into its pockets. Grayson had no gloves, and the air temperature was low enough to freeze his fingers. 'Tell me about it."
Tor crossed his arms and looked down at the sand. "It's possible, but it won't be easy."
"I was sure of that, too. I got a good look at the spaceport coming up."
"The problem is, we can't just fight our way through the 'Mechs they have lined up on the port tarmac. Once we get aboard the DropShip, it's going to take two standard days to reach the jump point."
"You're saying they would warn the Invidiousbefore the DropShip got there."
Tor nodded. "As soon as the DropShip lifts off with our people aboard, someone in Duke Ricol's forces is going to radio the Invidiousand let the stationkeepers up there know that we're coming. They'd have two days to prepare for us, or they could simply jump to some other system."
"What if the Invidiousis still crewed by Hendrik's pirates?"
"We can't count on that. Hell, we don't even know whether Ricol came in at the zenith or nadir jump points, but I doubt that he'd leave a potentially hostile starship just floating there, undisturbed."
Grayson paced the wet sand with Tor, thinking. Every star system had two jump points, the zenith point above the star's north pole, the nadir point below the south. The distance of the point from the star depended on the star's mass. For a class M2 red dwarf like Trell, the jump points were located about seven-tenths of an astronomical unit out — a hair over 100 million kilometers. A DropShip travelling from Trellwan to the jump point at a 1G acceleration would make the trip in two-and-a-half days.
"Where is the Invidious,Tor?"
"Nadir point"
"And your crew?"
Tor sounded less certain. "Most of them should still be aboard. At least, there weren't that many ship handlers among the bunch of Hendrik's people who came aboard, so they'd need my people for stationkeeping, if nothing else."
"So, Duke Ricol could have put his own people aboard, but your crew is probably still there."
"Unless he spaced 'em." There was bitterness in his voice.
"They won't have had reason to do that. Not yet, anyway." Grayson decided to change the subject "It looked like they were loading people and cargo aboard your DropShip at the port. Any idea what that might have been?"
Tor shrugged. "No idea at all. They could be loading food and loot from their raids on Sarghad. Or maybe Ricol plans to ship Hendrik's people back to Oberon." He spread his hands, exasperation pulling at his long face. "There's just no way to tell from up here!"
"Hmm, yes. But I think I know how we can work it so that we can find out what's going on, and pick up a ship for ourselves in the bargain."
Grayson and Tor continued their hike along the shores of the black lake, absorbed in plans and calculations. In the cavern, the meltwater dripped ever faster from the ceiling, the spray reflected in the firelight like falling stars.
BOOK III
26
Local dawn was only hours away. High, cold streaming clouds already reflected Trell's bloody light from below the eastern horizon, and the spaceport was emerging into faint visibility after days of gray predawn light,
Grayson Death Carlyle confronted his command. There were 59 combat troops now, and 28 in the technical support company, all the men who had managed to escape from Sarghad. They'd brought with them stories of riot of green-coats burning homes and shooting Militiamen, or Militia forces fighting back and being dispersed by the arrival of Kurita 'Mechs. They watched Grayson now with expressions ranging from hope to despair. Behind them the Waspand the Stingercrouched in silent deactivation The Locust,with Lori at the con, patrolled beyond the mouth of the Rift, standing sentry.
"I'll say it again!" Grayson raised his voice and caught the faint echo from the rock walls behind the assembly "Our one hope is to get off this planet, and the only way we can do that is to take that DropShip!"
There were mutters and grumbled conversation, but most returned Grayson's direct stare with stu