"Stand by for a change of course. Be with you in a moment."
There was a moment of surprised silence, and then: "Aye, sir."
Hartnett turned to his aide. "Reach me that space-bag, will you Ward? That's the one. Fish out Code Book 6589 and the A chart. That's the deal."
Hartnett's staff and all of the _Darkside's_ officers not actually on watch assembled in the wardroom on the Commodore's orders. The Flotilla had already come about and was heading sunward, its steady acceleration of 3 Gs aided by gravity. Already, Greys had been packed away in deference to the rising temperature, and all hands were clad in fiberglass shorts and jumpers.
The assembled officers rose when the Commodore entered the room and he waved them back to their seats, taking a chair at the head of the mess table.
"Mr. Scott," he began without preamble, "What do you know about the new Cat superdreadnaughts?"
"Very little, sir. I have heard that they are the biggest thing in space ... although I don't believe they have more than one in service right now. The other two of that class were photographed by a photo-recon skeeter out of the _Gorgon_ a week before we lifted ship. I saw the prints."
"What about armament?" asked the Flotilla Gunnery Officer, Wilson.
Scott shrugged. "We know very little about that. Mr. Horowitz could tell you more. I understand they mount some kind of new cyclotronic rifles."
"That's correct, sir," replied Horowitz. "I don't know exactly how the things work, but I could guess that they detonate the heavy metals used for fuel in atomic powered vessels."
"Range?" asked Lieutenant Orsov laconically.
"No information ... but I would be willing to guess that it is not more than fifty miles no matter how tight their beam. There would be far too great a voltage loss."
"Mr. Blake," said Hartnett, "How good are you on the skeeter-boat?"
Blake looked perplexed, but he answered with some pride that he was considered quite passable.
"I'll bear that out, sir," said Scott drily. "Mr. Blake is something of a hotshot pilot."
"Good enough," returned Hartnett. "We'll see when we near Station 9." He looked over at Blake. "Do you think you can land a skeeter there and take off three passengers without arousing the Cats?"