d'Alembert 09 The Omicron Invasion by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Author:E.E. "Doc" Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780586043424
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD
Published: 1984-08-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Freedom Raid

Realizing they had a lot of distance to cover to reach the slave camp and alien base, the Empire team spent some time looking around for a different mode of transportation. The groundcar, while comfortable, was entirely too slow and too limited to serve as a reconnaissance vehicle. After a short search they found something more to their purpose: a copterbus trapped in the ruins of an old storage shed. It may have been a part of the city’s public transport system, judging from the insignia on its sides, but it had been in the shop for repairs when the aliens began their bombardment and had been overlooked in the ensuing chaos. Fortier and Ivanov, having the most complete knowledge of these devices, examined the vehicle carefully and pronounced it nearly fit to fly. A couple hours’ work was all they needed to get it into working order again, and the team was off on its mission into the heart of alien territory. Even at the copter’s top speed the journey was several hours long and the five team members spent that time looking nervously out the windows on all sides, alert for any sign of enemy activity. They remembered how quickly the aliens had spotted the H-16 when it was orbiting Omicron and they wanted to be prepared to defend themselves if they should be spotted again. About halfway along the route to where their maps said the Long River valley was, they flew over a large town that had survived the bombing intact. On impulse Jules ordered that they stop here and pick up some supplies.

“We don’t know what we’ll be facing when we get there, and I’d like to be prepared for any trouble,” he reasoned, and Lady A agreed with him. They found some food that hadn’t been ransacked by marauders fleeing to the countryside, but just as importantly they came across a construction supply company. The company stocked explosives, detonators and fuses, and the team greedily loaded themselves up on those commodities. Facing an enemy with superior firepower, they would need all the explosive force they could carry to make the battle more even. Feeling more securely armed, the group took off again toward the alien camp. They flew at an intermediate altitude that was an awkward compromise of necessity—high enough to minimize the risks of being seen or heard from the ground, but low enough, they hoped, to slip in under the watchful gaze of the alien sensors that were scanning the skies for signs of imperial retribution. They hoped to get some aerial view of the enemy’s layout without being spotted themselves; if they knew what the obstacles were, they could make better plans to overcome them. Miraculously, their luck held. The aliens, so alert for ships coming from off the planet, paid almost no heed to anything that happened on Omicron itself. It fit the pattern the group had witnessed before, a casual disdain of any defense or offense the local humans could throw against them.

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