He gestured to Percival, who was clearly trying to wake up from his unwanted slumber. The bruise on his face suggested that someone had knocked him out.
“We’ll take him into custody,” Neil said. Admiral Walker would probably want to deal with him personally. Neil didn’t care. He might never have known Percival personally, but the bastard represented everything that was wrong with the Empire, from power without accountability to corruption and decadence. “We don’t want someone to damage him before we can decide what to do with the bastard.”
He smiled. Judging from the damage someone had inflicted on the Admiral, it was clear that Admiral Walker hadn’t been the only person he’d managed to offend. If he’d been winning friends and influencing people at his usual rate — if Walker’s stories were to be believed — he’d be lucky to survive long enough to stand trial.
“That leaves the others,” he said. “How many other high-ranking officers are here?”
“Commodore Roosevelt is down on the planet,” Redfield said. Neil grinned, remembering his last meeting with Stacy Roosevelt. If it hadn’t been for her connections, she would have been shot for gross incompetence; even with her connections, she would never see command again. “Captain Quick, the Admiral’s former… aide was relieved of duty. She was sent to her quarters.”
“Good,” Neil said. He shook his head. “I think you had better go to your quarters, at least until we have this station firmly under control.”
It took thirty minutes to confirm that the station was occupied, once the Blackshirts had been surrounded and disarmed. Neil had expected trouble, but once he’d started to pump the air out of the gym they’d become very reasonable very quickly. The Blackshirts had marched out with their hands held high and had been searched and stripped, before being transferred to one of the freighters which would provide transport to the prison world. There were so many Blackshirts on the surface now that it probably rated as a first-stage colony — or would, if there had been an equal number of women on the surface. There were no female Blackshirts — and the others who had refused to join the rebellion were sent to the other side of the planet.
“We searched the station,” a Marine reported. “There is no sign of Captain Quick.”
Neil frowned, puzzled. The station’s internal sensors were superb, far superior to anything they’d deployed outside the station. It should have been impossible for anyone to hide for long, even if they knew enough about the sensor network to circumvent it in some compartments. His mind drifted back to the report of a gunboat jumping out of the station — a risky trick that could have torn the station apart — and wondered if she had been on the ship. It would have been a ballsy stunt, but doable.
“Leave it for the moment,” he said, finally. Tracking down one officer wasn’t a priority for the moment. “We have other fish to fry.”
Four hours after the station had been declared secure — and the planet had surrendered at gunpoint — Colin was welcomed onboard the station by the Marines. The Colonel showed him around, allowing him a chance to inspect Admiral Percival’s quarters before introducing him to some of the surrendered officers. All of the battle stations had surrendered, although their senior officers couldn’t be trusted. They’d been separated from their men and transported onboard the prison barge. Colin had no idea what would become of them in the future — although he would have to decide it soon enough — but it didn’t matter. Manning the stations was the important issue for the moment. Percival’s fleet might have been smashed, but the Imperial Navy was far from defeated. It might take them a few months to put together a more powerful force, yet Colin knew that one would be on the way sooner or later.
The Marines had, at his request, assembled most of the station’s officers and men in one of the big shuttlebays. Colin remembered, in a sudden flicker of déjà vu, speaking to his men following the first mutiny. Then, he’d spoken from the heart, telling them that the mutiny might fail and that they might all die for his cause. Now… now, whatever else happened, the Empire’s faith in its own superiority wouldn’t survive, even if the Popular Front was destroyed. The next rebellion might topple the Empire completely.
Or perhaps the Empire will reform of its own accord, he thought, as he stared out over the waiting ranks of personnel. And maybe the horse will learn to sing.
“There isn’t much I can say that wasn’t said in the message we introduced into the Interstellar Communications Network,” he said. Whatever else happened, whatever else he did, he wasn’t going to try to bullshit them. They deserved better than that. “We intend to force the Empire to reform, to break the stranglehold of the Thousand Families and create a new order that will allow each and every one of us to rise to the level we deserve, rather than the level determined for us by birth. We will give the worlds the right to determine their own affairs and remove the stain on our honour caused by the frequent crushing of rebellions. I invite each and every one of you to join us.
“I wish I could promise you a victory, but the truth is that we are far from the end of our war,” he added. He’d cribbed the next line from one of the banned history books he’d read while in the Beyond. “All we have done here is merely the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. The Imperial Navy is strong and the Thousand Families will feel sure that they are fighting for their own survival. There will be others who will believe that the Empire’s ultimate purpose justifies any amount of repression and who will fight us, not for evil reasons, but out of a deep concern for the future of the human race. There is no guarantee of victory.
“If you wish to join us, please make your intentions known to one of the Marines,” he concluded. “If you wish to remain with the Empire, you have a number of possibilities. We can repatriate you to the Empire or transport you to an isolated world in the Beyond that is capable of feeding and housing you until the war is over, one way or the other. We will not punish you for choosing to believe that the wording of your oaths is more important than the sentiment behind them. We all swore to uphold the Empire, yet who is the true enemy?
“Whatever choice you make, I guarantee you one thing. We will attempt to accommodate you as much as possible.”
He saluted them and turned, leaving the compartment before they saw just how much his choice of words had affected him. He’d dreamed great dreams, yet part of him had never quite believed that he would make it, that he would be caught and killed long before he reached his goal. And now his old tormentor was his prisoner and the sector was effectively in his hands. No other world in the sector could stand against him now. Given a few months, he could use the sector to add to his industrial resources, putting together a creditable challenge to the entire Empire.
But the Empire would know that as well, he knew. They’d send the Imperial Navy to reclaim or destroy the lost worlds. And the Popular Front would have to defend them. It was strange, but true; their strength was also their weakness. The rebellion had taken worlds now and had to fight to keep them, which would keep their forces tied down in their defence. The tactical situation had changed, but perhaps not improved.
“Let me know what they decide,” he said, to the Marine. He had three other visits to make. “I want to see Percival.”
Penny came back to awareness slowly, more aware of the dryness in her throat and the throbbing in her temples than she was of her surroundings. She could feel that she was lying on a bunk, with something wrapped around her wrist. A restraint, she wondered, before realising that it felt too light to be a restraint. Her eyes opened suddenly and she realised that she had been left in an unfamiliar compartment, one that seemed to throb with energy. She sat up and nearly collapsed as her head suddenly swam, a wave of dizziness passing through her skull. Memory returned and she realised that she had been stunned. Wherever she was, it wasn’t Percival’s station.