Poul Anderson wrote some excellent military sf without specializing in that particular sub-genre. (If he had specialized in military sf, then I would not now be "appreciating" him.)
David Falkayn confronts a Captain Tryntaf. In the later period of Empire-Roidhunate conflict, Bryadan Arrowswift commands a cruiser called Tryntaf. So did Captain Tryntaf Fangryf-Tamer become a hero to have a cruiser named after him?
Swooping past the planet Gorrazan, Tryntaf launches twenty six-male Fangryf-type gunboats commanded by Uroch the Lucky. Speeding above wrinkled mountains, shining seas and verdant plains with occasional low, rounded buildings, the gunboats evade approaching Gorrazanian warships, shooting down most of their missiles. Forcefields and armor absorb most missiles or energy beams that connect although one gunboat falls. Uroch, already fully informed of local planetology, evades a second opposition force by leading his escadrille between peaks, through a canyon and back into space. Gorrazanians crash or lose their enemy. Returning to atmosphere, the gunboats hide in a hurricane which brings them to their target where the remaining defenses are easily swept aside and multiple megatons transform Folkmoot installations into a glassy crater.
The gunboats fight their way back to Tryntaf which rejoins the fleet which in turn eludes the Terrans and returns home: "...the stuff of epic." (p. 315)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I like well done military SF, first as written by Jerry Pournelle and, later, in addition, by S.M. Stirling, both singly and as a co-author with either Pournelle or Dave Drake. Their works are not all about blood and gore, but also examines ideas on what causes wars and conflicts. And how they could be resolved or avoided. I esp. like the five THE GENERAL books written by Stirling with Drake.
I think the Tryntaf met by David Falkayn was most likely different from the Tryntaf whose name was used centuries later by a Roidhunate cruiser. And given surprise and speed, I can see a raid of the kind led by Byradan Arrowswift succeeding.
Ad astra! Sean
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