The grandfather of all fireworks shells burst over the dying city.
"Nuclear!" somebody yelled. "The blast wave..."
"No!" Turtle snapped. "There will be no blast wave. Nor any sound."
"But..."
"That was a Guardship breaking off the Web. They're here."
"How could they be?" Midnight demanded. "You said it would take months."
"It didn't. One must have been at P. Jaksonica. Or near enough to summon quickly. People, get back in the bunker. And pray it isn't I Primagenia."
— 13 —
WarAvocat stared at the wall. The data painted a grim picture. "Communications. Anything from V. Rothica station?"
"Affirmative, WarAvocat. A warning loop on a STASIS emergency band. General broadcast. Not a beam or pulse."
"Been a long time," WarAvocat said to First WatchMaster while awaiting data sufficient to determine the number of soldiers to waken.
Overhead, the Deified fussed and bickered, ignored.
"Move ship toward station," WarAvocat directed. The visual showed the big wheel naked of shipping.
"Planetary-based insurrections seldom intrude upon off-planet operations," Kole Marmigus observed from above.
"This one has. Probe?"
"There are people alive in there, sir. We're not yet close enough to distinguish their loyalties."
WarAvocat cast a sharp glance around.
"I'll handle that, sir," First WatchMaster said.
"Let it go."
"I can't let my people smart off to their superiors."
"Forget it." WarAvocat's gaze locked on the wall. It was bad down below. "Access. Hall of the Soldiers. Warm one regimental combat team for surface action."
A voice called, "WarAvocat, a small vessel just left station. Looks insystem. A miner or something."
"Very well."
Probe added, "There's nothing alive aboard it, sir."
"Headed this way, sir."
"Very well." A gnat. "We'll need people to clear the insurrectionists off station. Deified. Any advice? We've not boarded a station in my memory."
The Deified had access to everything Gemina knew. Also, it was politic to consult them occasionally.
"That miner is accelerating at nine gravs, sir," First WatchMaster noted.
"Very well."
Kole Marmigus said, "We suggest a battalion for the assault, WarAvocat."
"That many?"
"There are corridors and passages to be held behind the shock force." The Deified vanished. Station schematics replaced him, tactically significant points marked by red dots.
"More complex than I anticipated." Strate accessed Hall of the Soldiers and ordered appropriate forces warmed.
"Thirty seconds to impact, WarAvocat."
"Very well. Put the show on the wall. Split it with one view an approximation of what they'll see from station."
Two views appeared. One portrayed the wheel of the station, a slim sliver of distant moon, and the onrushing miner. In the other a huge, dingy white, slightly flattened lozenge crawled across the starscape, the miner dwindling toward its immensity.
"Ten seconds to impact."
"Battle screen maximum," WarAvocat ordered.
In the exterior view the Guardship vanished behind an oily shimmer
"Five seconds to impact. Three. Two. One."
Both views died in a storm of light.
Then in the exterior view the Guardship ploughed through the nuclear fury. The great terror had not so much as shivered.
WarAvocat chuckled. "For a second, there, they were cheering over yonder." His humor vanished. "Let's take it before they purge the data banks."
"Are we taking prisoners?"
"I see no point, beyond SOP for interrogation. Deified?"
The Deified held their tongues. Thumbs down for the heroes of V. Rothica.
VII Gemina launched the assault battalion, then turned and followed other assault craft already headed for Merod Schene.
— 14 —
Jo Klass composed herself before leaving her cabin for the social compartment dividing the suite. Commander Haget waited there, seated at attention. She supposed he was uncomfortable too, but she did not commiserate. The man was insufferable. He dealt with everything according to regulations.
Or tried. There were none to govern this. He was going crazy without precedents and rulings.
"Good morning, Commander."
"Good morning, Sergeant. The others will join us momentarily."
The STASIS people shared a similar suite on another deck. They were as enthused about the morning meeting as Jo was. Pointless. They could report if something happened.
Degas and AnyKaat, who practiced the quaint old custom of marriage, knocked and entered. AnyKaat was the more outgoing. She was a lumpy, overly wide-bottomed, stringy-haired dishwater blonde in her late twenties. She had washed-out blue eyes, a ready smile, and was too cheerful for her profession. Jo liked her. She was not sure about Degas.
Degas had wavy black hair, olive skin, dark eyes, and was two centimeters shorter than AnyKaat. He did not talk much. He was a technical sort, more at ease with things than people. He had a fawning manner that made Jo feel he was trying to excuse himself for being or trying to sneak up on something.
Jo suspected AnyKaat was grateful for this chance to travel. She seemed to be the only real volunteer. Degas had come to keep up with her. Era Vadja might have come under orders.
"Good morning," AnyKaat said, brightly.
Commander Haget responded with a calculated nod.
"Era?" Jo asked. She did most of the talking. Haget apparently considered even Era Vadja, a Canon reserve light Colonel and second assistant STASIS Director at P. Jaksonica 3B, beneath direct notice by one as exalted as himself.
Sometimes Jo wanted to bust him one.
AnyKaat shrugged. "Sticking his nose in somewhere. He'll turn up."
Haget frowned. Punctuality was one of his fetishes.
"Anything to tell?" Jo asked.
AnyKaat shook her head. But Degas growled, "There's a thing called Hanhl Cholot that's going to turn up with broken bones if he don't keep his hands to himself."
"Don't fuss yourself," AnyKaat said. "I'll handle him."
Jo had had her own encounter. She thought of asking for details but Era Vadja came in. Without knocking. Haget reddened.
"Sorry I'm late. Seeker was on the move. Thought I'd better stick."
Haget's mood shifted. "What happened?" Neither monster had moved before. The methane breather could not, of course.
"Not much. It went and stood in front of Messenger's door for twenty minutes. Then the krekelen's for ten. Then it went home."
Haget grunted. "Circumstantial confirmation of WarAvocat's hypothetical connection. How do we find the lie of it?"
Vadja said, "I got the feeling Seeker was not friendly toward Messenger. For what a feeling is worth."
"Worth as much as anything on this job."
Jo wondered if she had been chosen to balance Haget. She had gotten into it occasionally because she had a tendency to improvise.
Someone knocked. Commander Haget pointed the STASIS trio toward Jo's room. "Answer it." He retreated into his own cabin.
Jo gasped when she found herself face to face with Hanhl Cholot. "What are you doing here?"
He tried to grab her. His face darkened when she retreated.
Then he froze. The color left him. He stared. Jo noticed his pupils. He was on Jane.
Haget's eyes were steel. "Your manners still lack polish, Cholot. Maybe we should have concentrated on them more."
Degas came out, popping a fist into a palm. He wore his best STASIS scowl.
"You will forget you entered this suite. You will forget you saw anyone here," Haget said. "In fact, you will return to your quarters and stay there. Do you understand? Or do you require instruction more direct than what you got at P. Jaksonica?"