第139页
"You will, however, wait," Voro told him.
There was silence over the COM.
"Wait" was a word one dared not speak to a Lekgolo pair on the verge of battle.
"You shall wait for me to join you," Voro said. "For I shall lead this assault."
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← ^ → CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
2040 HOURS, NOVEMBER 3, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ SLIPSTREAM SPACE NEAR ZETA DORADUS SYSTEM \ ABOARD UNSC PROWLER DUSK
"Enable stealth protocols," Commander Richard Lash ordered. "Prepare for transition to normal space."
"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Commander Julian Waters turned to the Dusk's bridge officers. "External power sources off-line," he said. "Lock ablative baffles. Secure engine dampers."
Lieutenant Bethany Durruno at her NAV station crosschecked the calculations for the slipspace-to-normal transition. "We're almost there, sir. Thirty seconds."
At the OP-SENSOR station. Lieutenant Joe Yang said, "Rigged for dark and silent running, sir. Five points confirmed."
Lash personally rechecked everything on the display by the captain's chair. All shipshape. So why did he have a feeling everything was about to hit the fan? Answer: in his short tenure as commanding officer of the Dusk, imminent disaster had been the norm. He expected no less this time.
"Go to normal space," he ordered. "Start the clock."
Waters set the chronometer and said, "Time on mission: fifteen and counting."
Lash glanced at his old-fashioned spring-and-gear wrist-watch, a gift from his dad when he'd graduated from OSC. "Keep it wound, Son."
He checked: it was indeed wound tight.
The bridge lights dimmed to red as the ship's power shunted
to the Shaw-Fujikawa translight drive's particle accelerator, and it ripped a hole back into the normal three dimensions of interstellar space.
The trio of blackened viewscreens sparkled with stars. One point of light was unusually bright. The main screen centered on this star, and astronomical parameters streamed alongside Zeta Doradus. Elliptical orbits traced of the six innermost planets.
"Positive fix on stellar references," Lieutenant Durruno said. "We're slightly off target, sir. Three million kilometers."
"Move us in," Lash ordered, "one-third full ahead on intercept course for the fourth planet. Tell Lieutenant Commander Cho in Engineering to start recharging the Slipspace capacitors."
"Aye, sir," she said.
She bit her lower lip, and Commander Lash knew that meant she was nervous, too… sensing something amiss already on this mission.
The Dusk skimmed through space, black on black; only a telltale flickering of the background stars gave the slightest indication that anything was there.
Waters glanced at the chronometer and whispered, "Sir, thirteen minutes to go. Barely time to close on the target while running dark, let alone gather a detailed analysis."
Time was never on Commander Lash's side. Either there was too much time and his crew waited days or weeks stealthed or, as was now the case, they had to rush and balance gathering accurate data with remaining hidden. It was a hell of a choice: The fate of thousands' lives and eight other ships depended on this. On the other hand, if the Dusk were detected, no intel would get back. Not to mention, they'd all be dead.