Robert Nolan, founder of
Nolan Mining Enterprises and a friend and colleague of Richard
Starlight, and his second-in-command Beowulf Denn filled out the number.
On two viewscreens were stationary images of Oritz Konig on Mars, and
Steve Cliff en route to the Moon from the Asteroid Belt. The time delay
for Konig was a little more than fifteen minutes, and for Cliff was
about 22 minutes, so they could not actively participate in the
discussion. Both, however, had vital reports to make and Richard was
prepared to present them by videotape at the right time.
Richard continued. "We all expected that our three Starmen would be
back with us in two days for the Reception of Honor. That will have to
be postponed. Most of you know at least something of the reason why,
but this urgent meeting was called to make sure that everyone is
brought up to date and, more importantly, to take counsel on a course
of action."
Richard summed up what had been learned about the pirates after the
liberation of Mars up to the point of the Starmen's departure from
Oritz Konig's office.
"Our conclusion is that, although we have 542 men in custody in Eagle
City, including their captain Troy Putnam, several dozen pirates are
still free. It would have taken a large facility to prepare the ships
and house the men used in the assault on Mars, and it is virtually
certain that a sufficient force for maintaining this operation was left
at their base.
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