Donald J. Pfeil by Through the Reality Warp

Author:Through the Reality Warp
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-07-06T13:44:22+00:00

FOUR

I

The time for raids was over.

For a year the revolutionaries’ combat boats had been picking away at the edges of the Lorian Empire, occasionally diving in for a quick attack on one of the central planets, capturing Lorian Navy vessels whenever possible, destroying those they came upon but could not capture. With the exception of the last fight, which the revolutionary fleet had engaged in to rescue Billiard and Santha, the insurgents had been careful to avoid a pitched battle with the Lorian fleet. His younger officers had been pushing Billiard for more action, for a drive toward victory, but Billiard had resisted, insisting that they had to wait until their fleet was fully ready. Meanwhile for a year Billiard had fretted about what might be happening back in his own universe as Lorian scientists under Redhat control developed and perfected their energy-drain device. Finally, Billiard decided, the time had come for a thrust right into the heart of the Lorian world.

The God of Lori, knowing that something had to be done if he was not to lose power to the revolutionaries or to his own people, sick of the unending war of attrition, assembled the Lorian Battle Fleet in one mighty unit. Taking personal command, he led it into space now to seek out and destroy once and for all the revolutionary forces which for two years had been harassing his outposts, disrupting his commerce, killing his soldiers, and giving the once-peaceful Goromi ideas about attempting another invasion.

Reports of the gathering of the Lorian Battle Fleet had led to something of a showdown between Billiard and Admiral Koppett. Once messages from the various planetary undergrounds and from his own space units confirmed that the God of Lori was going to gamble everything on his fleet’s ability to destroy Billiard’s combat forces in one final battle, the Earthman knew it was time to decide the course of the revolution. The God had numbers on his side, but the fighting force Billiard had built was second to none in equipment and fighting ability. He recommended to Admiral Koppett that they meet the Lorian fleet in open battle.

To Billiard’s great surprise, the admiral refused permission.

Billiard’s entire strategy, in terms of the revolution and in terms of his ultimate goal as an agent of Earth, was resolved in that meeting with the admiral. In the space of a few minutes, several possible plans of action were narrowed to one. In that moment, the ultimate control of the revolution passed from the admiral to Billiard, even though the older man would not become aware of that fact for some time.

II

Billiard was uncomfortable in the vastness of the battle cruiser after spending a year that seemed more like a decade—and would have seemed a century, had it not been for the action he saw—leading combat raids in his own smaller boat with Santha at his side. He experienced a few moments of self-doubt as he climbed into the command shell near the center of the

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