"Mr. Scott," he began without preamble, "What do you know about the new Cat superdreadnaughts?"
"Very little, sir. I have heard that they are the biggest thing in space ... although I don't believe they have more than one in service right now. The other two of that class were photographed by a photo-recon skeeter out of the Gorgon a week before we lifted ship. I saw the prints."
"What about armament?" asked the Flotilla Gunnery Officer, Wilson.
Scott shrugged. "We know very little about that. Mr. Horowitz could tell you more. I understand they mount some kind of new cyclotronic rifles."
"That's correct, sir," replied Horowitz. "I don't know exactly how the things work, but I could guess that they detonate the heavy metals used for fuel in atomic powered vessels."
"Range?" asked Lieutenant Orsov laconically.
"No information ... but I would be willing to guess that it is not more than fifty miles no matter how tight their beam. There would be far too great a voltage loss."
"Mr. Blake," said Hartnett, "How good are you on the skeeter-boat?"
Blake looked perplexed, but he answered with some pride that he was considered quite passable.
"I'll bear that out, sir," said Scott drily. "Mr. Blake is something of a hotshot pilot."