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WITH on, there was no need to slon to change directions on the drives There were no shafts to twist, no props to bend, no gears to strip The water jets froular shaft with a scoop on the end that could be diverted like the thrust of a Harrier jet engine to the fore or to the rear With the push of a few buttons, one of the propulsion engineers could divert the flow of one engine forward and one back and the Oregon would al as the speeds were kept below thirty knots Such an abrupt h ride—the ship would kneel over and the gunwales would dip almost into the water—but the Corporation had done it more than once Other than a few broken dishes and other objects being tossed around, the Oregon had been none the worse for the wear

The engineer plotted in a turn-radius profile on the computer that resembled a U-turn Then he alerted the control rooave the order, the engineer sion threaded herself across the surface of the water as if she were on rails Down in the engine roolanced over at Gunther Reinholt, who had just disconnected his IV and was sipping fro the command for the turn

“Ele

“Indubitably, Mr Pryor,” Reinholt said

Both -down U-shaped track on the computer screen for a second

“Mr Chairman,” Reinholt said over the intercom, “we’re ready when you are”

“WE’RE going to do a fast turn and bunch up the three ships chasing us,” Cabrillo said over a scrambled radio link “You will need to take out the pair of cruisers fast so the Zodiacs can slow before they run up on the stern of the frigate”

“Understand,” Adams said

“We’ll alert Seng and Kasim to slow as soon as the cruisers are disabled”

“I’ll blow all the ordnance of the port pod on the lead cruiser,” Ada craft That should stop them cold”

“Do your best to hit them in the sterns,” Cabrillo said “If possible, ant to keep casualties to a minimum”

AT almost the saht of Kasi, the lookout also reported a helicopter approaching from out to sea Adams had turned and looped the R-44 around to intercept the lead boat straight on her rear quarter Placing the crosshairs on the firing screen on the rear third of the forty-six-foot aluminueted to the same spot just above the waterline

Then he took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger

The lookout caught a quick glimpse of the bubble canopy of the helicopter a second before the port weapons pod erupted with a volley of four htly thicker than a h explosives With a six-foot plu froap and slammed into the side of the lead cruiser and severed the bow froh a pineapple

The captain just had time to sound the alar