'Of course I do,' she said, scorn and self-confidence mingling in her voice in a manner I was beginning to find quite irksome. 'We spent enough time booby-trapping the service tunnels to stop the rebels getting in, didn't we? Why can't your people get out the same way?'
'It sounds plausible,' I said, having spent enough time running around the undercities of various worlds to be well aware of the sprawling nature of the infrastructure almost certainly underpinning Fidelis. 'Are there any maps we can consult down here?'
'There should be,' Orten said, and went off to converse with a nearby aide.
I turned to Gries. 'I've been down service tunnels before,' I said, 'and they tend to be a bit on the cramped side.' I tried to picture him and his men squeezing through the conduits I used to play in as a child[14], and failed dismally. 'Perhaps you'd better stick to your original proposal, and leave the Basilisks to a local strike.'
'Indeed,' Gries agreed. 'A two-pronged assault, underground and overground, would seem to be the best strategy. Once our forces are committed, the combat squads and the Thunderhawk can divert to back us up.'
'Sounds good,' I agreed.
'Then we can begin as soon as you've selected a team to accompany you,' Gries said, and I realised too late what I'd backed myself into. It goes without saying I'd never intended to lead the assault on the Basilisks in person, but knowing what Gries believed about me, which was essentially that my inflated reputation was justified, I could belatedly see why he'd made that assumption. Of course now I couldn't back out without alienating the Astartes I was supposed to be liaising with, and undermining my authority in front of the governor, so I'd just have to make the best of it. At least, I thought, things couldn't get any worse.
'I'll take care of that,' Mira said, butting in again with all the casual arrogance of a rich brat born to rule a planet. She nodded coolly at the Astartes captain. 'We'll be ready to move in half an hour.'
IN THE EVENT it was closer to an hour before the PDF were able to get themselves organised, by which time we'd received the encouraging news that both combat squads had reached their objectives without taking any casualties, and that the prowling Thunderhawk had got the rebels stirred up like a stick in an ants' nest. At which point I found myself in a thoroughly unwelcome conversation with the governor's daughter, who seemed unable to grasp the idea that anyone else's authority could exceed her own.
'I'm sorry, my lady,' I said, exerting all the diplomatic skills I possessed to suppress the impulse to say something far more direct, 'but I cannot in all conscience permit you to accompany us.'
Mira looked at me with the sort of expression I imagine she normally reserved for a ladies' maid who'd run her bath at the wrong temperature. 'I'm leading this expedition,' she said tartly. 'Live with it.'
'It's you continuing to live at all which concerns me,' I said, deciding that subtlety was clearly wasted on her. 'The battlefield is no place for a civilian.' Especially if their presence was liable to put me in any danger, which hers almost certainly would.
The governor's daughter drew herself up to her full height, which was roughly level with my chin, while still somehow contriving to look down her nose at me. 'I happen to be colonel-in-chief of the Household Regiment,' she said, waving a hand in the general direction of her embonpoint, which was jutting determinedly in my direction. 'Or can't you recognise a military uniform when you see one?'
'As a rule,' I said, biting back the obvious rejoinder about her garish costume. 'But the title of colonel-in-chief is generally considered an honorary one.'
A faint flush began to spread across her cheek, followed by a petulant frown. No doubt the sensation of not getting her own way without question was an unwelcome novelty. 'How much actual military training have you done?' I asked.
'My usual duties don't leave time for that sort of thing,' the girl admitted reluctantly. 'But I've been out on the walls a few times.' She hefted the lasgun she'd picked up from somewhere, with more confidence than I'd normally expect to see in a civilian, and I had to concede she handled it as though she knew what she was doing. 'And I've been using guns on hunting trips since I was a child.'
'In very few of which, I imagine, the game shot back,' I replied sarcastically. I turned to DuPanya, who was hovering nearby with the squad of troopers who'd escorted him to meet the Thunderhawk. Despite their ridiculous getup, they all looked as though they could handle themselves well enough, which was no more than I'd have expected: on most worlds, the household troops guarding the governor tend to be the cream of the PDF, or at least the curds left behind after the Guard tithes have been met. I'd have felt a lot happier undertaking this fool's errand with proper Guardsmen to hide behind, but at least this lot would be the best available. The majority were keeping their expressions studiedly neutral, but a few were making no secret of how much they were enjoying the spectacle of their colonel-in-chief meeting unexpected resistance. 'Can't you talk some sense into her?'
'Not often,' DuPanya admitted, sounding almost proud of the fact. 'And her rank might be honorary, as you say, but she does take it seriously. After all, it makes her the most senior officer in the regiment.'
'Fine,' I said, greatly cheered by the realisation that in that case I could legitimately shoot her if she got too annoying. 'But we're running out of time to debate this.' Gries and his Astartes had already left the command bunker, and would be halfway to the gate by now. If we were going to be in position before the enemy realised their artillery batteries were the Reclaimers' real objective, and be ready to launch our own assault at the same time, we'd have to get moving; otherwise we'd arrive to find our target on high alert, instead of having the advantage of surprise.
'Then stop wasting it,' Mira said. She turned and gestured to the troopers, most of whom were carrying satchel charges in addition to their usual weapons. 'Move out.'
'Stay where you are,' I snapped, freezing the squad's first shuffle of movement to instant immobility. I turned back to Mira, with my most intimidating commissarial expression on my face. 'You're staying behind. Live with it.' As I'd anticipated, having her own words thrown back at her didn't go down at all well.
'Correct me if I'm wrong, commissar,' she replied, pronouncing my title in tones which would have frozen helium, 'but I was under the impression that your position is purely an advisory one, outside the normal chain of command.'
'Technically, that's the case,' I admitted, masking my sudden unease.
'But our advice is generally heeded by the officers receiving it.' Because if it isn't we're entitled to shoot them, which inclines them to listen.
'Then consider me advised,' Mira said, turning to beckon to the soldiers once more. 'Move out.'
Well, I could hardly gun her down in front of her father and hope to continue a productive working relationship, and there seemed to be every possibility that the enemy would do the job for me in any case, so I simply shrugged with what I hoped looked like casual indifference. 'Duly noted, colonel,' I said dryly.
FOUR
AT FIRST, TO my carefully concealed surprise, things seemed to be going well after all. Too naive or arrogant to appreciate the dangers of taking point, Mira led from the front, which clearly sat well with the troopers accompanying us, striding confidently through the echoing underground labyrinth as though we were simply out for a stroll rather than heading deeper into enemy territory with every step. That was fine with me. Apart from the callipygian spectacle she presented from that angle, she was certain to draw the fire from any enemies who might be lurking down here, or trigger any booby traps they might have set, in good time to warn the rest of us.