Theshuttles dodged another ball of fire. The fire crackled as itwhizzedby us. The shuttles landed behind the barricades. I jumped out ontothe sand and heard the rat-a-tat-tat of weapons. The blue boltsdidn’t explode with a loud bang – more like a soft plot –, butthey did plenty of damage. One of Belen’s security people ran upand saluted. When all that was going on I would have forgiven himifhe forgot about the salute. Sweat poured down his red face andplopped into the sand. But his voice was calm.
“Goodto see you, sir. I’m Lt. Bainbridge.”
“Needsome help, Lt.?”
“Yes,sir, we do. We’ve been under attack for about five days. Wecouldn’t match them so we kept retreating.” He looked toward theocean. “We can’t retreat anymore.”
“Weshouldn’t have to. Not now. Who’s your commandingofficer?”
“C
