"SD Gottesman - Firepower" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gotlieb Phyllis)

murmur from the crew." He lolled back in his chair and breathed easier under his
chestful of medals.
"They don't know," said Voss. "When they find out--!"
"Stick to your shorthand, son," snapped the Admiral. "When they find out they'll
keep on carrying out orders very much the way they always have. They're picked
men on this ship. Now take this down: General Order to all Lineship Commanders.
By authority of the Admiral you are empowered to govern any and all citizens and
subjects of All Earth. An emergency has arisen which makes it absolutely
necessary to eliminate opposition to this program. Your direct superior is your
Wing Commander, who is responsible only to ranking members of the Headquarters
Wing. A list of proscribed persons will follow
The Admiral lit a cigar with an unsteady hand "Code that," he said. "Send it in
twenty minutes."
"Anything else?" asked the secretary. "How about the Wing Commanders? Are you
coming clean with them?"
Fitzjames stared at the metal ceiling. "Take this: Confidential Memorandum to
Wing Commanders. From Admiral of the Fleet Fitzjames. You are hereby notified
that the Headquarters Wing of the fleet has voted to take over power from the
hands of the Executive Committee of All Earth. You are on your honor as officers
and gentlemen to support this move by your brothers in arms. You will continue
to patrol your regular sectors, having dispatched details to attend to the
physical acts of taking power. No planet must be left under a Colonial Governor
acting by right of a charter from the Exec All Earth. Details follow. Report to
Stupendous immediately in code. We are seizing Venus as a base."
"Right," said Voss. "So go ahead and seize it."
"We're on our way," said the Admiral heavily.
Depending on where you were to see the affair, the seizing of Venus was either a
trivial or a Jovian episode. From space, for example, all there was to see was
the bulk of the lineship slipping its length into the clouds above the dawnstar
and vanishing from sight. But from the city of Astarte, principal freight port
of the planet, it was vastly impressive.
Above the towers and loading peaks of the yards there appeared the most gigantic
of all the spaceships in the universe, covering the town like a roof over its
roofs.
There were a couple of smoke bombs dropped into the streets and a few
old-fashioned radios exploded under the power of the monster ship's sending
tubes that announced that the city was taken and would be hostage for the rest
of the planet's good behavior. Landing parties went down by lighter ships to
establish order and arrange several necktie parties in which the Colonial
Governor had the stellar role, minor parts being taken by his subordinates and
clerks. Venusian natives w ere warned off the streets; henceforth none but the
Earthborn could show their faces by daylight. Plans were announced to transport
the verminous natives to the Darkside District. All this took exactly six hours,
Earth time.
A BRIEF RESUME of the life of Alexander Hertford III, Captain of the Fleet and
Commander of Patrol Wing Twenty-Three would include many revealing facts
relative to the situation of the moment.
As he lay comfortably sprawled on a divan aboard his lineship Excalibur, a
capital fighting vessel of standard offensive and defensive equipment, he was a
fine figure of a man in his uniform of purple and gold. The collar was open,