"The target asteroid has been located. Proceed with the
destruction of the sats." The sats were small, unmanned electronic
satellite observers, distributed throughout the Asteroid Belt to aid in
research and navigation. They monitored movement in the Belt and
provided constantly updated information on the location, speed, and
direction of major asteroids.
The four ships moved into pre-determined areas in the quadrants around
a small, heavy, black, iron asteroid that was speeding smoothly along
on its course.
Crass stood on the deck of his ship and gazed out at the small
asteroid. He spoke as if to himself. "There it is, the first of five
surprise packages for our beloved Mars." The pirate leader waited
patiently for the pilots of the four companion ships to report back. He
expected that their assignment would take about 45 minutes-maybe as
long as an hour. The first report came in 42 minutes later.
"Mr. Crass, this is Slant. We located three sats in quadrant two and
destroyed them all." The other reports came in only moments later. A
total of fourteen sats had been located within 600 miles of the
asteroid where Crass was waiting, and all had been destroyed. Crass
opened the intercom on his own ship.
"We're clear. Go to it."
Over a dozen space-suited men spilled out of the airlock.
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