No, obviously the enemy was organized—an unforeseen circumstance. Obviously the captain was not alone. Obviously his men included at least some of these slipstick boys—and he would command the loyalty of them all, since he was somewhat of their ilk himself.
No, an officer must seek the most advantageous position from which to deliver his ultimatum.
He must use Hot Rod itself to control them. If Hot Rod itself were actually sabotaged, then the plan must wait until he could have it repaired. He doubted it was hurt.
The flare had thrown off all original sequences—but perhaps that was to his advantage.
To Chauvenseer he snapped: "This is the detail of our immediate operation. Get four of our best men besides yourself. Have each of them come separately and unobtrusively to the south polar lock, where I will meet them. I will bring Smith with me.
"Have each of the others take his assigned post for Operation Ripe Peach—but order them to take no action other than to prevent anyone on board from doing anything unusual that might be an enemy operation—until I alert them that Operation Ripe Peach is operational.
"Their orders will, of course, come on our personal radios, Security Band 2Z21.
"Execute!" he ended, saluting smartly.
As the Security squad moved, with individual secrecy, towards their various posts, Captain Andersen was considering that Elbertson would probably snap out of it as soon as he had had coffee and a shave. The man had probably been severely affected by the drugs he had been given. He would make no further reference to the incident of erratic behavior, unless it continued.