"We sure did, sir. But the funny thing was the meson guns didn't shoot back at us, the way I thought they would."
"Yeah," Coeur agreed, "that Is odd. With a 200-meter blast radius, they wouldn't even need to come close to hit you."
"Couid it be that all the guns are disabled?" Mercy asked. "That's what I figured."
"I suppose It's possible. But I saw a display panel Inside the depot that Indicated at least one 200-glgajoule deep site was still functional *
"Displays can be wrong," Drop Kick offered.
"Maybe, but ifs no use worrying about that now—we'll just assume the meson guns are Incapacitated for some reason and leave It at that. Anyway, we've got bigger problems right here in the camp."
"Don't tell me the rebels are fighting each other..." Mercy began.
"No," Coeur said, "the rebels are fighting with the church. When Tom sprung Physic and me, she also picked up Cardinal Vazquez, and now Lemos and Vazquez are really going at It over how to get rid of Kilalt."
Drop Kick drew back, surprised.
The cardinal Is here?" he asked.
"She sure Is," Coeur said, "and now I've got to see if I can straighten her and Lemos out. Care to tag along?"
"Sure thing," Drop Kick said, following Mercy as she In turn followed Coeur and Physic toward the large canvas tent that served as Lemos' headquarters. "Maybe we can talk some sense Into them."
Yeah, Coeur thought, I'm sure the powered armor will help us Sound a lot more convincing.
* * *
As it happened, Lemos and Vazquez had decided to take a break in their discussions when Coeur and Physic returned to the tent—a fact made obvious by the lack of vociferous name-calling overheard from a distance. The general and cardinal had gotten points nailed down while Coeur and Physic were away, however—points that Vega Tom filled Coeur in on just outside the entrance to the tent.
"Basically," Tom said, "Lemos wants to rush the Defense Ministry with his men and kill everyone In sight—"
"Hm," Physic quipped, "sounds like one of your proposals."
"Physic," Coeur warned, "let her finish."
"Sorry."
"Right," Tom said, with a quick sour glance at the doctor, "Lemos wants to rush the building, but Vazquez is alraid he'd kill too many civilians—and priests—if he did that. She figures it would be better to use the ship's boat radio transmitter and appeal directly to the people to overthrow Kilalt."
"That was my idea," Coeur said, "but there's a catch I didn't realize earlier. Kilalt has better radio-jamming equipment than I expected. To be effective, Vazquez would have to broadcast from right in the middle of the Federal District, and drown out his signal."
"While," Drop Kick observed, "coming under fire from the army loyalists and the nightjacks. Not fun."
"No, not fun at all,"
The sudden arrival of Newton interrupted further comment. Mindful of the need to stay off the radio, and therefore keep the rebel position concealed from the nightjacks, Newton had padded over from the G-carrier in preference to calling Coeur on her communicator.
"Begging your pardon. Red Sun, but there is a messagefor you from Gyro. She has expressed the desire to speak with you at your convenience,"
"Doesn't sound like much of a crisis."
"I'm afraid that I can't speak to that, sir. She didn't elaborate."
"All right," Coeur said, glancing Into the tent and seeing that things weren't getting back under way yet. "I'll go call her back on the lasercom. The rest of you stay here, though, and try to calm them down if they start to kill each other."
"Yes, sir," Drop Kick said, flexing a mighty servo-driven arm.
"But without breaking any arms or skulls,"
"Yes, sir."
Thirty seconds later, Coeur was back inside the G-carrier with Newton and pulling up a chair to the Hiver's communications station.
"Red Sun to Hornet. Come in, please,"
"Red Sun, this is Hornet," Gyro relumed. "You must have gotten my message."
"Roger that; what's up?"
"Sir, I've been thinking. Newton just informed us that Drop Kick's mission was successful, and that must mean the meson gun sensors have been disabled. If that's true, then, sir, I wonder if It might not be time to have Hornet lift off the back face of Elojo and make some kind of positive contribution to your work down there."
"Yeah, I thought about that," Coeursaid. "Idon'tsee why not, now that there's less chance you'll be blown away,"
"Very gooa. Sir. Vou know what we were thinking. Crowbar and Snapshot and Sixer and me, was that we've got a pretty powerful radio up here on Hornet, probably powerful enough to jam Radio Soledad, or something like that."
Coeur sat suddenly upright, astonished.
"Damn," she said, "why didn't I think of that?"
"Sir?"
"Your Idea about the radio—Ifs Just what we need. With Homefoverhead, we could broadcast Vazquez' radio messages all over the city and say to hell with Ki la It's jamming."
"I don't knowif I follow all that, sir," Gyro said, "but If s sounds do-able. Should we lift off, sir?"
"Roger that, as soon as possible."
A pause followed, during which Coeur thought about signing off, but didn't.
"Say, Gyro," she said, "you haven't been hiding any secret telepathic powers from us, have you?"
"No, sir. Must be a coincidence us both thinking about the radio."
"Yeah, probably. Anyway, it's just as well," "Who's that, sir?"
"Because there are no psionic Institutes left for you to study at They all got blown up." "Oh, right"
"Anyway, I wonder If youcould patch me through to Deep Six; there's a little project I'd like him to work on while you're moving into orbit..."
Although Miranda Vazquez was presently distanced from the power of the spiritual office Kilalt had usurped, she retained a personal magnetism and aura of authority that even General Lemos was forced to respect. Heedless of the general's superior numbers, she stood alone on the strength of moral argument— an argument that appealed to increasing numbers of Lemos' men and threatened to Incite a minor civil war within the Imponsero Phalanx,
And that's just what we don't need—a hft between our two best allies, Coeur thought as the meeting In General Lemos' tent reconvened. She took a seat in one of the few chairs available to the rebels. Chairs had also been provided for Ceneral Lemos, his two senior aides, Tom, Physic and Drop Kick—though the latter elected to remain standing lest his armor crush his chair. Cardinal Vazquez also chose to remain standing, offering her chair to Brother Anthony, and she became the meeting's center of attention as she stood in her glittering ecclesiastical robes.
"Look, Your Holiness," Lemos began, "I don't want to sound uncooperative, but your plan is ridiculous, I can't afford to detail the men It would lake to guard you and the spacer radio If you took it downtown Soledad!"
"Nevertheless," Vazquez replied, "you will, if you have any feeling for how the future will remember us, and any sense of responsiDllity for the lives you would otherwise throw away in a frontai assault on the Ministry,"
"This Is ridiculous," Lemos said, slapping his thighs and looking at his aides. "Why am I sitting here listening to this nonsense?"
"If I might interrupt" Coeur said, moving forward on her Chair, "l think I may have a solution to this problem."
"Oh?" Vazquez asked.
"Yes. General Lemos, we know that the power of Kilalt is slipping away in the city, yet he retains the loyalty of no less than a dozen nightjacks and at least a battalion of troops. If the people of the city—and I mean the entire city, not just downtown Soledad—could be made to hear the cardinal's voice, then surely the majority of the population that still supports herwould rise up in force against Kilalt."
"Well, of course," Lemos said, "but you've said yourself that the radio lacks that kind of power."
"The ship's boat radio, yes. But not the radio of my starship Home t."
"But I thought your Horne
t was hiding behind the moon," Lemos said skeptically, "hiding from the gun that shoots through rock."
"Not any more," Coeur said, activating her personal communicator, "Hornet, this is Bed Sun. Are you receiving?"
"flight here," Deep Si* replied. "We've moved Into a geostationary orbit above your position."
"Good. Stand by."
Coeur then shut off her communicator and looked at Lemos.
"Now, general, I've got a little demonstration. Could somebody get us Radio Soledad on a local receiver?"
Lemos nodded, letting one of his aides switch on a battered old radioset. Whistling static and pops issued fro^t the speakers, but eventually the soldier dialed in by far the most powerful local signal.
"...People of the city are advised to remain indoors for their own safety, since His Most Sacred Holiness, Saint Kilalt, has Informed us that a host of demons has beset the city In opposition to his coming. Further, all inter-district travel will be banned until further notice, and factory workers are advised that all federal District plants will remain closed until further notice, due to demonic infestation..."
Listening to this rambling monologue clearly upset General Lemos, and caused both Vazquez and Brother Anthony to make the triangular sign of the Defender on their chests. But the litany came to a sudden stop a moment later, replaced first by loud static, then by a hymn, and a message from Cardinal Vazquez, clearly recorded earlier.
"Peop'esof Soledad, I greet you inihenameof God, the Holy Spirit and the Holy Defender, Recently, we have been troubled by a great evil, which from the time of iU ancient origin has threatened to forever divide us from each other. It is not the will of the Blessed Defender, however, that we should harbor ancient enmities In our breast. We are the people of the Gty of the Defender, and we must remember that no enemy will drive us away from unity In His body.
"Praise be to the Defender,"
"Why, tnafs me," Vazquez said, astonished, as the message ended and static returned to the radio.
"Yes," Coeur said, lifting up her communicator again, "recorded before Kilalt came to power. Thanlt you, Sixer. You can shut off the EMS jammer now. Red Sun out."
"Very good, sir. Home! out."
A moment later, the static subsided, letting the original program of Radio Soledad come back on the air.
"...I don't know what that was, but my engineer assures me it was probably some son of freak atmospheric effect—a low-pressure cell or something, But back to the news. His Most Sacred Holiness, Saint Kilalt, has found the souls of several criminals captured on Enea Avenue to be possessed by demonic spirit, and therefore scheduled their publk Immolation for 0500 this morning...."
"Enough," General Lemos said. "Shut that off."
The aide closest to the radio quickly obliged.
"So," Lemos then said to Coeur, "that was your ship that did that."
"Yes, sir. And you can be assured that It knocked RadloSoledad off the air all over the city—from the Lomarlca Hills to the Marina District—and replaced it with that recorded signal from Cardinal Vazquez. But of course, that could Just easily be a live broadcast from the cardinal, or anything else we want."
"All right," Lemossald, leaning back in his chair, "all right, I can see that you're correct. Captain. Ifs time for Vazquez and I to cooperate more closely."
Vazquez nodded politely.
Lemos continued, "So where do we start?"
'The way I see It," Coeur answered, "we've got two problems. Kllait will have to be brought to justice, and the depot will have to be destroyed, both to take away Kltalfs base of power and to prevent its weapons from falling into unfriendly hands. Ideally, I'd like these two missions to go off simultaneously—tomorrow night If possible—so that'll limit who's available for each task. My people, and Tom's, can probably handle the depot, but as far as Kilalt goes, I think you'll have to take the lead on that one,"
"Absolutely," Lemos said. That's best, since we'll have the authority to declare a new government after we take down Kilalt."
"Actually," Coeur said, "I was hoping you and Cardinal Vazquez would cooperate In forming that new government"
"Of course," Lemossaid. "I'm sure that would be the willof the people,"
"For my pan," Vazquez offered, "I must admit that I allowed too much distance to come between the general and myseil during my earlier time in office. This time, I'll see that that doesn't happen."
Coeur nodded. "Of course," Coeur said to Lemos, "I don't think we'll necessarily have to take all our troops to the depot Since you still have nightjacks to deal with, I don't think it would hurt to leave at least a couple of Marines here with fusion rifles."
"Whatever you think Is appropriate," Lemos said, "We'll certainly make use of whatever you can spare."
"Agreed," Vazquez said, "Yet I can't help but wonder about something. Even if I do manage to rally the people on the radio, and the general successfully leads an assault on the ministry, what' s to keep Kilalt from simply escaping the city In one of his flying vehicles?"
Yeah, Coeur thought sighing, that Is a problem. But, fortunately, she'd already given It some thought.
"Actually," she said, "I've thought about that. The way I figure it, what we need Is some sort of lure to keep Kilalt tied to the city."
"A lure. Captain?"
"Yes, specifically the junior technarchs."
Suddenly, Physic wheeled on Coeur.
"Are you kidding? After the way they disobeyed your orders before?"
"Actually, that's what I'm counting on. Practically everyone in the city knows I trust them about as far as I could throw them, which Is why nobody ever suspect I'd sent them on a mission myself."
"True. But even so, self-sacrifice Isn't exactly what I'd call typical behavior from the technarchs. How'd you talk them Into it?"
"Actually," Coeur admitted, "I haven't. But they're sensible people. I'm sure they'll see reason."
* * *
"Captain D' Esprit you've got to be kidding! I refuse to have anything to do with this plan!"
"Hold on a minute, Uu. You haven't let me explain....*
"Oh no," An-Wing replied, "I've heard enough. This Is probably just a harebrained scheme to get us killed once and for all."
In thesmall tent that Tom had secured for the Junior technarchs, Coeur stood patiently beside the central pole, deliberately steeling herself against an escalationln rhetoric. Sitting on a single cot the Junior technarchs presented a strange pair—on the one hand An-Wing a t enseyoung woman In her tattered tunic and culottes, and on the other hand Masaryk, a disheveled young man with one arm in a sling and a distracted expression suggesting more than anything the desire to be anywhere else. Yet Coeur could not afford to think of them as eccentrics any more. Now they might very well be vital to the success of the entire RC enterprise on Mexit "I don't know, Uu," Masaryk said. "I'm sure the captain wouldn't have made the suggestion unless she thought It was Important."
"Oh, right," An-Wing said, "just agree with her!"
"Actually," Coeur observed, "Bela's correct I wouldn't have made the suggestion unless I felt It was Important Somebody has to go to Kilalt and convince him that he has a good reason to stay In the city—somebody that he, or at least his advisors, can believe is opposed to me."
"All right, then," An-Wing said, "just suppose we went along with this crazy Idea. What would we have to offer Kilalt?"
"I don't know -whatever seems reasonable. You could tell him there's another Oriflammen ship coming to Mexit, and he could escape the planet, or tell him Oriflamme would like to support him in a bid to take over the planet. It doesn't really matter, as long as he buys It,"
"Well, now," Masaryk said, lifting his good hand, "that seems reasonable, Liu, After all, we did inconvenience the captain earlier when we went to see Brak, Maybe we owe her one."
"I don't know about that, Bela. If you do this, I don't want It to be because you owe me one. I want you to do it because It's the right thing to do for the future of the Coalitio
n."
The Junior technarchs were silent for a moment, thinking.
"Give us a moment," An-Wing said finally, "I'd like to talk this over with Bela myself."
"Very well," Coeur agreed, backing through the tent flap and returning to the darkness of night In the camp.
Clveri her experience with the technarchs' felstlness, Coeur expected a loud argument would shortly Issue from the tent, so she moved a polite distance away to let them have their privacy. No such commotion ensued however, and An-Wing popped her head out of the tent a moment later to summon Coeur back inside.
"That was quick," Coeur said. "Have you made a decision?"
"Yes we have," An-Wing said, "although Bela Isn't entirely happy with it"
"What's that?" Coeur asked, noting Masaryk's dour expression.
"I shall go on this mission," An-Wing said, "but Masaryk will not Both you and he are correct that this mission is Important to all the Coalition—including Oriflamme—but it would be irresponsible to risk any further injury to him."
Coeur was stunned, but managed to keep her expression neutral. This was not at all the sort of self-sacrifice she expected from An-Wing—though neither could she deny that An-Wing was full of surprises.
"I hadn't visualized getting you two into any unnecessary danger," Coeur said. "We figured we'd plant a wire on you and use that to warn you when an attack was imminent, so you could take cover,"
"Nevertheless," An-Wing said, "ifs Uiis way or no way."
Coeur glanced at Masaryk. "You sure you're all right with this?"
"I've got to admit that I'm not, but if It's a choice between running the mission with Liu or not running it at all, I think you'd better take the former."
"All right, then," Coeur said, offering a hand to An-Wing. 'There'll be a planning meeting In a couple of hours, before daybreak. We'll work out the details then."
"Very good," An-Wing replied, accepting Coeur's handshake. "I'll be there."
Coeur did not press An-Wing for more of an explanation.
Is it loyalty to Oriflamme or Bela, she wondered, walking out of the tent and back to her mates In the G-carrier. Or does she figure she owes me one? Oh well, whoknows. It's likeMestrovicsaid—we'te all on the same side.
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