How many people lost? asked CEO Gladstone. Her voice was very quiet.
Yani glanced quickly at Morpurgo but answered the question himself.
Around twenty-three hundred, he said. But rescue operations are currently being
carried out, and there is some hope of finding survivors of the Draconi. He smoothed his tunic and went on quickly. This should be weighed against confirmed kills of at least a hundred and fifty Ouster warships. Our own raids into the migration clustthe Swarm have resulted in an additional thirty to sixty destroyed craft, including comet farms, ore-processing ships, and at least one command cluster.
Meina Gladstone rubbed her gnarled fingers together. Did the casualty estimateour casualtiesinclude the passengers and crew of the destroyed treeship Yggdrasill, which we had chartered for the evacuation?
No, maam, Yani responded briskly. Although there was an Ouster raid in progress at the time, our analysis shows that the Yggdrasill was not destroyed by enemy action.
Gladstone again raised an eyebrow. What then?
Sabotage, as far as we can tell at this time, said the Colonel. He prompted another Hyperion System diagram onto the callup.
General Morpurgo glanced at his comlog and said, Uh-uh, skip to the ground defenses, Yani. The CEO has to deliver her speech in thirty minutes.
I completed the sketch of Gladstone and Morpurgo, stretched, and looked around for another subject. Leigh Hunt seemed a challenge, with his nondescript, almost pinched features. When I glanced back up, a holoed globe of Hyperion ceased spinning and unwound itself into a series of flattened projections: oblique equirectangular. Bonne, orthographic, rosette. Van der Grinten, Cores, interrupted Goode homolosine, gnomonic, sinusoidal, azimuthal equidistant, polyconic, hypercorrected Kuwatsi, computer-eschered, Briesemeister, Buckminster, Miller cylindrical, multicoligraphed, and satplot standard, before resolving into a standard Robinson-Baird map of Hyperion.
I smiled. That had been the most enjoyable thing Id seen since the briefing began. Several of Gladstones people were shifting with impatience. They wanted at least ten minutes with the CEO before the broadcast began.
As you know, began the colonel, Hyperion is Old Earth standard to nine point eight nine on the Thuron-Laumier Scale of
Oh, for Chrissakes, growled Morpurgo, get to the troop dispositions and get it over with.
Yessir. Yani swallowed and lifted his pointer. His voice was no longer confident. As you know I mean He pointed to the northernmost continent, floating like a poorly done sketch of a horses head and neck, terminating jaggedly where the beasts chest and back muscles would begin. This is Equus. It has a different official name, but everyones called it that since this is Equus. The chain of islands running southeast here and here is called the Cat and Nine Tails. Actually, its an archipelago with more than a hundred anyway, the second major continent is called Aquila, and perhaps you can see its shaped something like an Old Earth eagle, with the beak here on the northwest coast and the talons extended here, to the southwest and at least one wing raised here, running to the northeast coast. This section is the so-called Pinion Plateau and is almost inaccessible due to the flame forests, but here and here to the southwest, are the main fiberplastic plantations
The disposition of troops, growled Morpurgo.
I sketched Yani. I discovered that it is impossible to convey the sheen of sweat with graphite.
Yessir. The third continent is Ursus looks a bit like a bear but no FORCE troops landed there because its south polar, almost uninhabitable, although the Hyperion Self-defense Force keeps a listening post there Yani seemed to sense he was babbling. He drew himself up, wiped his upper lip with the back of his hand, and continued in a more composed tone. Primary FORCE:ground installations here here and here. His pointer illuminated areas near the capital of Keats, high on the neck of Equus. FORCE:space units have secured the primary spaceport at the capital as well as secondary fields here and here. He touched the cities of Endymion and Port Romance, both on the continent of Aquila. FORCE:ground units have prepared defensive installations here Two dozen red lights winked on; most on the neck and mane areas of Equus, but several in Aquilas Beak and Port Romance regions. These include elements of the Marines, as well as ground defenses, ground-to-air and ground-to-space components.
High Command expects that, unlike Bressia, there will be no battles on the planet itself, but should they attempt an invasion, we will be ready for them.
Meina Gladstone checked her comlog. Seventeen minutes remained until her live broadcast. What about evacuation plans?
Yanis regained composure
crumbled. He looked in some desperation toward his superior officers.
No evacuation, said Admiral Singh. It was a feint, a lure for the Ousters.
Gladstone tapped her fingers together. There are several million people on Hyperion, Admiral.