Return From Satan

Leaving the safety of the hurricane, Muddlin' Through rises slowly and rides a stratospheric current between the worst weather below and boiled-off vapors re-condensing into vast, sky-darkening, turbulent masses above. Her radar and other detectors penetrate the condensing masses as she approaches space. Anderson conveys that major natural events ceaselessly occur in Satan's cataclysmic environment and I have tried to re-convey this idea through succinct summaries.

Having disposed of nineteen pursuing robotic destroyers in the Satanic atmosphere, Muddlin' Through must fight three robotic cruisers orbiting incautiously close in inadvisably tight formation with attention directed outward, mistakenly expecting an attack from space. (Falkayn has not only utilized the turbulent planetary environment but also bluffed his enemy.)

While Muddlin' Through is still in the atmosphere, she fires three of her four nuclear missiles and destroys two of the cruisers. The third cruiser successfully deploys a counter-missile but is badly damaged by a near miss from Muddlin' Through's last torpedo. The damaged cruiser and the command battleship, now crewed by just one Shenn, retreat on hyperdrive. Muddlin' Through has won. She returns to space but stays near the planet with systems throttled down to conceal her continued existence from the retreating ships.