I saw tears in her eyes. “Pierre didn’t try to use me; he didn’t try to rape me. He had me checked by the doctors and…I could never have children! My husband had seen to it that I would never give him the healthy boys he craved. The raiders hadn’t cared what happened to me. They kept me on and taught me how to read and write, and then he called in a favour and got me a place at the Academy. The United fucking Nations saved my life. If I’d stayed there, I’d be dead by now, or wishing I was.”
Her hand trembled, but she held the pistol steady. “I believe in the United Nations,” she snapped. “What do I care how many people suffer? I just wish they’d destroy the cursed place I was born and seed the land with salt!”
I found myself looking for words and failed. I hadn’t known — I had never realised — just how bad Muna’s life had been. I had thought I’d known, but I hadn’t understood, even though the Senior Chief had hinted at it…God, it felt like centuries ago. I couldn’t believe it. She was going to kill me and everything would come to nothing. Kitty would take over, I hoped, but I’d never see it. Would we win, or would we merely prolong the war?
“It won’t make any difference,” I said, slowly. “Muna, we can do something to avenge you…”
“What would it matter?” Muna demanded. “Could you give me back everything I’ve lost? I have no family, but the United Nations. I have no chance of ever having children of my own. I have nothing!” Her voice hardened. “I’ll wake her up and use her to get the warning out. The UN will react in time to prevent your forces from taking EarthStar One” — she saw my surprise, for she smiled — “oh come on, John, where else would you send them? I can nip everything in the bud.”
“You won’t,” I said, with absolute confidence. It no longer mattered anyway. “You’ll just cause a civil war instead of a quick and relatively bloodless takeover…”
“So what?” She asked, and pointed the gun directly at my forehead. I tensed and prepared to spring aside, even though I knew it would be futile. I even considered trying to jump her. “John, goodbye…”
She crumpled to the ground. I threw myself to one side a second later, but nothing leapt at me. I saw her body on the ground and, standing behind her, Sally, holding a stunner in one hand. I was never so relieved to see anyone in my entire life. I almost laughed aloud in relief.
“I thought that you’d been delayed,” Sally said, dryly. She bent down and checked Muna’s body, not gently. “I never thought that she would betray you like that.”
I ran my hand though my hair. “Never mind that at the moment,” I said, grimly. “She’s young and strong, so she’ll be out of it for only another half hour at the most. Get a pair of crewmen and put them both in the brig, separate cells, and make sure that neither of them are carrying anything dangerous. Once that’s done, join me on the bridge.”
“Yes, sir,” Sally said. She turned and left the cabin, but paused in the hatchway. “What did she say to you anyway?”
“Never mind,” I said, shaking my head. There would be time to deal with Muna later. I didn’t want to kill her, or sent her to Botany. There had to be another option, somehow. I checked my timer and frowned. The first mutinies should have begun by now. “You go deal with he, and then meet me on the bridge.”
I’d envisaged telling Muna the truth after securing Deborah, but now I’d just have to wing it. Lieutenant Carolyn Lauderdale, a member of the conspiracy, had been left in command of the bridge and she smiled in relief when she saw me. I was just as relieved to see her. I’d been having nightmarish visions of security forces on the bridge leading my people away in chains, but everything was normal.
“Report,” I said, as calmly as I could. “Have we picked up any coded pulses yet?”
“Only from three cruisers,” Carolyn said, grimly. I winced inwardly, although I knew that seven minutes wasn’t really long enough to secure a ship, even with the Marines cooperating. The three cruisers that had secretly identified themselves as under our control had had the bridge crew thoroughly subverted. The others would take longer to secure. “Captain?”
“We wait,” I said, coldly. The icon for EarthStar One hung in the display, taunting me. Was it under our control, or had something gone badly wrong? I felt a feeling in the pit of my stomach I couldn’t quite explain. “Concentrate on…”
“Captain, I’m picking up a message from the Marines,” Geoffrey Murchison reported, quickly. “They’re saying…”
“Put them on,” I snapped. There was no need to worry about secrecy any longer. “Erwin, this is John.”
“John, they had troops in place waiting for something,” the Master Sergeant said. I could hear shooting in the background and cursed under my breath. Even Marines couldn’t take the entire station against armed opposition. There were only twenty-one of them, after all. “They’ve got us pinned down.”
I swore again. If they failed, it had all been for nothing.
“Erwin,” I said. I found myself grasping for words again. I’d thrown their lives away — for nothing. “I’m sorry…”
“Stow it,” he snapped. “Just make damn sure that all of this is worthwhile.”
The connection broke. A moment later, the icon representing EarthStar One flickered… and vanished.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
With the handful of a few exceptions, there were few who could claim to be truly loyal to the United Nations — indeed, the institution actively discouraged loyalty. Officers and men served for their pay checks and little else, while their political masters treated them as serfs and used them as expendable slaves. Discontent was widespread throughout the system, yet it required a rallying point before it could become a serious threat.
“They took a nuke,” I realised, in shock. I’d known that the Marines carried scuttling charges for captured freighters, just in case the crews decided to try and take them back, but the Master Sergeant hadn’t mentioned taking one along with him to me. I hadn’t thought that one would be necessary, but he’d obviously had different ideas. Had he known that suicide was the only solution…or had he merely planned for all eventualities? “Why did they even have troops onboard?”
“It must have been the Heinlein assault,” Sally said, stepping onto the bridge. If anyone thought it was odd that a mere Ensign was addressing a Captain in such a manner, they said nothing. “If that panicked the people on EarthStar One, they might well have uploaded more security forces without telling anyone.”
And twenty-one good men died in the blast, I thought, coldly. The Master Sergeant’s sacrifice had bought us the time we needed, but at a fearful cost. Earth’s mighty defences were useless now, at least until we could board them and replace their control processors, and we would have a free hand, as long as nothing went badly wrong. I glanced down at the display and saw that seven starships had definitely fallen into our hands, along with two of the troop transports. The Marine transports were already on their way from Mars, but we couldn’t trust the Infantry. Luckily, most of them would be in stasis tubes and wouldn’t know that anything had changed until it was far too late.