The shuttlebay doors hissed closed and I walked back towards Officer Country. By now, the Lieutenants and crewmen who were in the know would have secured their assigned compartments, preventing any spies from reporting to their superiors. I’d run enough drills, even counter-boarding drills, to keep them from realising that this was anything else, until it was far too late. I just had to deal with a particular loose end myself. It wasn’t something that I could trust to others.
I swung past the communications room and inspected the three crewmen on duty carefully. Crewmen were not normally allowed to carry weapons without special permission — something that I was counting on for the other starships — but the Master Sergeant had trained them and the Senior Chief was sure that they were trustworthy. I locked the communications console anyway and restricted the ship to internal communications only. A warning now could do terrible harm to our cause.
Heinlein’s books had taught me how to proceed. I’d built up cells on each of the starships in orbit, the ones assembled for the invasion of Williamson’s World. I’d determined that that invasion would never be launched, although it was quite possible that the plans had been shelved for the foreseeable future anyway. The cells would, in turn, infect the trustworthy crewmembers on the starships — with hardly any links to me — and prepare to seize control. Heinlein’s attack on Earth worked in our favour. There was so much confusion that no one would notice anything out of the ordinary until it was too late, I hoped. Orders had been streaming out of EarthStar One for days now, only to be countermanded seconds later, much to my relief. Devastator had been ordered to prepare for a flight to Heinlein — perhaps to retaliate for the retaliation — and I’d feared they would order us to accompany her, before I was ready to make my own move. It would have disrupted my plans considerably.
I glanced down at the timer one final time and stepped into Officer Country. I’d been in this particular cabin before, back when Jason Montgomerie had been Political Officer, but I had tried to avoid it ever since Deborah had taken up the position. In theory, a Captain had the right to inspect any part of his ship, but in practice not even a Captain would dare to irritate the Political Officer that much. Jason’s collection of expensive wines had gone with him, presumably helping to console him for the loss of his position, and I had no idea what Deborah had moved in herself. I keyed the door chime and braced myself as the hatch hissed open. This wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Captain,” Deborah said, looking up from a datapad. There was a faintly mocking tone in her voice. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Doubtless,” I said. I judged that no one had given her any advance warning at all. It shouldn’t have been possible — everyone who knew in advance had had ample opportunity to do far worse than tell her — but who knew how the human mind worked? Some of the men who’d ordered the carnage on Heinlein liked spending time with their wives, mistresses and children. They were even kind to dumb animals. “Do you have a moment?”
She smiled in triumph. “I always have a moment for…what?”
Her face went deathly pale as I drew my pistol and pointed it directly at her head. She’d probably never even seen a gun before she’d taken up service with the UNPF, let alone had one pointed at her. The Master Sergeant’s drills had included threats to shoot us or pistol-whip us if we didn’t learn fast, but no one dared use those methods with ordinary infantrymen. They might even sue the UNPF for their treatment if they found that they’d been tested beyond their means. Deborah probably believed the nonsense the UN used as anti-gun propaganda.
“Stand up,” I snapped. An unpleasant smell told me that she’d wet herself in shock. I saw an argument forming in her mind and gestured with the muzzle. “On your feet, now!”
She obeyed, shaking. A large dark stain marked her uniform. She’d had it expertly tailored for some reason beyond my comprehension and it was now ruined. Her staff would probably have to tell her that it was now unusable and that she would have to buy a new one. I pitied them. Jason had had no servants, but Deborah had brought two maids with her, and both of them had shown signs of mistreatment. The Doctor had told me, in confidence, that Deborah seemed to enjoy hurting them.
“Do as you’re told and you won’t be harmed,” I said, softly. I wanted to scare her — I wanted to hurt her — but I pushed that aside. “Turn around and face the wall. Place your hands on your head, now!”
I stepped forward as she complied, pulling out the small pair of handcuffs I’d recovered from the Master Sergeant before he left on his mission. A moment later, I’d snapped them on her wrists and sent her falling to the deck. I doubted that she could escape, but just to be sure I pulled out a small needle and injected her with a heavy sedative. I’d considered killing her at once, but we might need her later, although I doubted it. Besides, we could always kill her later.
“Bitch,” I muttered, as she collapsed into a heap. The sedative was normally used for serious injuries or accidents where there was only a limited supply of oxygen. She’d be out for days unless someone injected her with the antidote. “Just stay there and…”
“No,” a new voice said. “You stay there.”
“Muna,” I snapped, irritated. I spoke harshly to cover my shock. How the hell had she gotten behind me? I must be growing old. The Master Sergeant would laugh his head off. So would everyone else, for that matter. “What are you…?”
I turned. She was pointing a laser pistol directly at my head. “Don’t lift your pistol,” she said, her voice deadly calm, although her hands were shaking. “Please, Captain; put it down on the deck, gently.”
There was no choice, but to comply, I realised. “Muna,” I said, softly. “You don’t understand…”
“I think I do,” Muna said, coldly. “You came here to put her out of commission, but you didn’t kill her. You sent the Marines away on some mission for you personally. You’re either planning to go renegade or you have something more ambitious in mind.” She saw my expression. “Captain…what are you planning?”
I sighed. “Listen,” I said, far too aware of the laser pistol in her hand. There was no dodging a laser beam and it would be lethal if it passed through my head. The Master Sergeant’s words of contempt for the weapon echoed through my mind and I almost smiled. It didn’t matter how crappy a weapon was if it were being used by someone who knew what they were doing, did it? “This war is going to destroy us all.”
“Maybe,” Muna said. Her voice seemed to grow even colder. “And yet you’re planning…what?”
“We can take the starships and Earth’s defences,” I said, carefully. I wanted — needed — to convince her. “We can force the United Nations to come to terms with the colonies…for God’s sake, Muna, how long do you think it will be before we are ordered to destroy an entire planet? How long do you think it will be before Heinlein hits Earth hard enough to kill the entire population?”
“I don’t care,” Muna hissed. There was a bitterness in her tone, something emerging from her veneer of discipline. I’d never seen her lose control before. “You’re committing treason!”
“Why does treason never prosper?” I asked. I had to reach her somehow. “Because if it prosper, none dare call it treason! How many have to die before you will act?”
“You don’t understand,” she said. “What do I care if the whole damned population of Earth dies? What do you know about my past? I was born into a tribe that thought I was nothing because I was a baby girl! I was sold to my first husband when I was seven! Raiders killed my husband when I was nine and they took me as a whore — oh, but I was no longer virgin by then. My husband took me at once and what did he care how badly I was hurt? They used me and abused me until I ran to the UN Compound and they took me in. They were the only people who helped me!”