"Understood."
"Of course," Coeur pointed out, "Drop Kick will be In charge of the mission, but I doubt he can fly his tank Into the meson gun Chamber."
"Understood, I'll make sure nobody gets hurt Inside." "Well, try anyway. Red Sun out "
The assault on the meson gun proved to be antlclimactk. The hidden entrance. In the floor o' a desolate mountain valley, was unguarded. Once Inside, Drop Kick's Marines and Tom's pirates found powered elevators obligingly waiting lose rve them. These, in turn, took the spacers down two kilometers to the last of Mexit's functioning mesonguns, and the 2S0 technicians huddled fearfully around the perimeter of Its cavernous 300-meter-dlam-eter cavity. The handful of nightjacks they found were in a state of electronic catatonia and were easily neutralized.
Frightened by the extinctlonof the depot Intelligence that had so long ruled their lives, the technicians offered no resistance and were peacefully herded to the surface. In shifts, the G-carrier, ship's boat, and then Hornet herself—after unloading Its own payload Into the arms of Cardinal Vazquez—began transferring these people to shelter in the city.
"Well, that is some gun," Coeur said later in the afternoon, looking up at the weapon with Red Eye, whom she'd brought back from Soledad to take charge of It.
"Yeah," the sergeant said, staring at ll through a gallery window, "I'd have to give you that. What is she, 50,000 tonnes?"
"Actually, 70,000 tonnes," Coeur said, "with a discharge energy of 200,000 megajoules and infinite traverse."
"And you want me to take charge of it."
"As far as you can, yes. When Hornet goes back to the Coalition, I'm going to take Drop Kick with me, so there'll be no excuse that I didn't have a guard on Tom. You and the rest of the Marines I'm going to leave here, though, to get this gun In working order."
Red Eye stood quietly, regarding the huge weapon.
"Sir, is that really practical? It would lake at least 1,000 men to run this facility properly—to get the power plant back to full power and get proper maintenance going."
He paused to lake a breath.
"In addition to which, I'm not a commissioned officer. Surely the Coalition won't approve of leaving a gunnery sergeant In charge of a planet smasher like ihaL"
"Well, we can fix that," Coeur said, touching controls on her forearm to activate the audio recording function of her vac suit's computer, "Ship's log, RCS Home!: As of this date, the 2nd of Taurus, 1202, Gunnery Sergeant Yorgl Waling, call sign "Red Eye," has been given field promotion to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant In the RCMC, with atf rights and privileges pertaining thereto."
Coeur then shut off the recorder.
"Wait a minute," Red Eye said, "can you do that?"
"Well, I Just did. I suppose it's another matter whether or not the Marine Corps command will accept It, but I think they will if they have any sense. After all, a commissioned officer should be in charge of Mexit Station."
Again, Red Eye was silent.
"Wait a minute, sir—aren'twe getting ahead of ourselves?Thls isn't really our property, is rt?"
"Actually, yes it is. I talked with Vazquez earlier at the Church of the Holy Sacristy—she's moved the capital there, for the Interim—and she's agreed to loan us the gun In exchange for technical assistance."
"Oh, right, like we won't be busy enough trying to keep the gun running."
"Oh, don't worry. We've got a handle on the manpower problem. Physic says Gremlin and Fubar should recover completely inside a week,. In addition to that, you'll have all the rest of Tom's crew to help you look alter the gun and train new gunnery technicians from the city,"
Red Eye laughed. "Okay, sir, I'll stop arguing. Any other Impossible things you want to assign me before you go?"
"No, that ought to do It lieutenant."
"In case anyone asks, what Is the status of Tom’s old crew? Are they still covered by thecharges against her, or are you summarily dismissing them?"
"By the powers vested In me, I don't know. But they won't be going anywhere. Keep an eye on them until an official Coalition vessel shows up with instructions. Some court somewhere will decide, but those people are needed right here and now, and not on Ra just to be arraigneo."
"Yes sir.*
"Anyway, don't worry about legalities. This whole situation's so weird there are no regs for it anyway. Just make sure you get this gun running, and don't be afraid to use it on any unlriendly powers that try to assault Mexit If you can do that nlne'llgetyou 10 the Assembly will authorize construction of a forward naval base here, and then you'll have more help than you'll know what to do with."
"Pie in the Sky, sir," Red Eye said, "by-and-by,"
"Yes," Coeur chuckled, "I suppose that's getting ahead of ourselves. Right now, why don't you go find WhU Bang and start a survey of the gun to see what's beat up and needs servicing. Snapshot Newton and Crowbar should be getting to work on a battery of sensor drones in the meantime, and we'll see that those get linked up to the depot's microwave comm net before we leave so you'll have some direcl-fire capacity."
"Yes, sir," Red Eye said, saluting and then walking off to find Whiz Bang.
Coeur remained behind, looking up at the fearsome gun. Flying over the city earlier. In Hornet, she'd seen the craters the weapon had left In the city—some as wide as 100 meters, full of rubble and soil melted into glass.
And if kjBed Uu, she thought, remembering the particularly dense wreckage she'd seen in the crater of the Defense Ministry, wreckage that rescue workers were stM sifting through in the dangerously intense sunlight of the afternoon. The/11 probably dig her out of that mess before the evening, and then we'll have a swell night.
Since Zorr wanted to bury V-Max this evening, right in the camp where he'd died—and which the spacers were still using as their own base—people would already be In a somber mood. Finding An-Wing, Coeur supposed, would only make it worse.
Ves, well, they wouldn't call it the Wilds if it weren't dangerous. At least now this gun will be doing something cons tractive.
Coeur's pensive thoughts were interrupted, however, when she heard the cla tterof armored feet running toward her from the opposite direction Red Eye had gone. It was Widget, and she was excited.
"Sir," she puffed, "news. An-Wing's alive."
"What? How?"
"Didn't get all the details, sir, but I thought you'd want to know assoon as we heard. Physic's got her tight now, at the same hospital with Fubar and Gremlin."
Shocked by the news, Coeur didn't take the time to discuss It further.
"Right," she said. "I'll take the Cramer.*
"Yes, sir, Ifs already warmed up."
Coeur spared one last glance at the meson gun. Dwarfing the destruc tive power of the gods that the men of her own world had imagined millennia before, perhaps it was more than a god of destruction.
Perhaps it could be merciful as well.
The story was so unbelievable Coeur still didn't believe it when she'd heard It twice. But the proof was there, before Coeur, Physic, Widget and Masaryk. Picked up from the rebel camp, In a bed of old St Bemad Ine's Hospital, was Liu An-Wing, with no more serious Injury than a fractured collarbone and a broken leg, "Let me get this straight" Coeur said. "You didn't know how to fly the holy grav barge, but you managed to talk the pilot Into turning on the contra-grav asplit second before the building blew up."
"I told you I'm good," An-Wing replied, a trifle smugly, propped up comfortaoly In her bee. "The field let us drift down gently, but then it cut out a few meters above the ground, and we crashed Into the crater*
"Lucky girl," Masaryk said. "I'll bet you just wanted to get a nifty arm-sling to match mine."
"Hmph," An-Wing said, looking down at the sling on her own right arm. "But mine will be black," she chlded, with the hint of a smile. "Someone has to light the way for you fashion-challenged. I'm curious about something, though, Did the search parties ever find Kilalt?"
"Yes," Physic said, "as a matter of fact they did. Found
a nightjack too, damped onto his shoulder, but they were both dead"
"Good," An-Wing said. "8ecause you wouldn't believe some of the things I had to tell him to keep him there In the building,.,"
"Like what?"
"Oh, like..," An-Wing began, but then thought better of It. Appreciative of the sudden feelings of the Aubani, she supposed they might not take kindly to the story she'd cooked up about Oriflamme invading them.
"...Oh, let's just say things that people who know me well know I really don't mean. But It was hard work, believe me,"
"And much appreciated," Coeur said. "What you did was selfless and heroic." Coeur moved closer to the bed to offer An-Wing her hand. "Thank you."
"Well, lets not get too sentimental," An-Wing said, thought she did accept the handshake. "I still think Oriflamme has the most right to this planet."
"Sure," Coeur said. "And if the Assembly agrees to that then more power to you."
Politely, An-Wing nodded.
"You know, there's just one thing I wonder about," Widget said. "What happened to Craylord, Kilalt's lieutenant?"
"Wasn't he blown up with W El Armis?" Masaryk asked, "I thought he was in a trash bin In her berth."
"He was," Widget said, "but some of Tom's men found the trash bin—thrown clear by the explosion—and Craylord wasn't in It. The hasp was broken, too, as if it had beenforced open from the inside."
"Wow," An-Wing mused, warming to the allure of further conspiracy, "you don't suppose he could have gotten away? Captain, that could be dangerous, a key lieutenant of Kllalf s loose In the city..."
That's enough," Coeur said, resting a hand on An-Wing's good shoulder. "One cloak or dagger at a time. All you need to worry about now Is getting better."
"But.,."
Trust me, there will be plenty of intrigue left when you're back up and around. Anyway, even If he was an autonomous machine, he's two meters tall and looks like a skeleton. If, by some chance, he did survive the blast, he probably couldn't move around unnoticed."
An-Wing nodded, and a silence fell upon the room, now turning yellow with the glow of sunset through polarized glass.
"Say, Captain," Physic said, "Isn't V-Max's funeral going to be soon?"
That's right," Coeur said, glancing at the chronometer on her vac suit's forearm, "Widget, Bela, we'd better get going If we're going to be there."
"Right," they agreed.
"I suppose I'll have to stay here," An-Wing said.
"Yes, you will," Physic agreed, "as will I,"
"You sure about that, doctor?" Coeur asked, "Someone could cover for you,"
"If It's all the same, sir," the doctor said, "I'd rather stay."
And from the look In Physic's eye, Coeur knew what she meant. V-Max and Tom were the two people in Armis' crew who knew—from the outset—what effect the HFII virus would have on Ra. In Physic's mind, lhey were both mass murderers— regardless of the patriotic motives behind the slaughter of the Hivers, or the heroic deeds they had performed Since on the Coalition's behalf. It was not surprising that Physic would want to skip V-Max's funeral.
"You know what you have to do," Coeur said. "I'll see you later."
Physic nodded, and Coeur departed with her group.
Makes me wonder i! I should skip it myself. Coeur thought But a life Is a life, and if people should respect the lives of Hivers, then I should respect V-Max's. Hegaveit up for his comrades and the people of this wo/1d, and I can acknowledge that, no matter what other mistakes he mode. How do I know—maybe he was even trying to make up for what he did. It's not my place to judge.
Not far from the tent city that had been set up for the former depot slaves at the edge of the rebel camp was the place where V-Max had dieo, and this was the place Tom chose to bury her friend and comrade-in-arms.
As Coeur expected, the funeral wasn't pleasant, but at least It was brief. Given Tom's relationship to V-Max—Coeur and Drop Kick knew from their earlier time aboard W it Armis that the two pirates were intimate—Tom thought better of delivering the eulogy and left that to Vink instead.
"...What it all boils down to," Vink said, "is that we came out here with Tom for a reason, to get our freedom from a government wefelt was coming under too much Influence from foreign powers. Of course, that also meant we had toleave the friendship of our countrymen behind, but that didn't mean we didn't care enough about our country to risk our lives for It. Pete Heron here—V-Max—risked his life for that cause wherever we went, and it Is best that we remember he died In the service of that cause, so this city that's nibble today could live on and be free tomorrow.
"And that's all I've got to say."
"Company," Tom said, "salute."
The other 13 pirates executed a crisp salute which was marred only slightly by the wavering of Carl Becker, who was crying openly. The body of her cousin was as yet unrecovered from the ruins of the Defense Ministry. Tom engaged the winch that lowered the sheet metal casket of V-Max into the earth. TheArses and Marines, meanwhile, stood a few meters back In respectful silence—out of their environment suits and back Into regular body sleeves—though they did not salute, "All right, guys," Tom said afterward, when the casket hit bottom, "let's go ahead and cover him up."
' That the pirates did, with quick shovels of dirt, and the ceremony wasofficlally concluded. Tomwentdownonone knee at the side of her friend, and rather than remain close by, the rest of the pirates and most of the Arses drifted away with cautiously soft steps.
"I must admit," Newton said to Coeur, as the others walked away, "I've always found funerals rather confusing. Would It not be more availing to place him out In a cultivated field so he might contribute to the nitrogen cycle?"
"Er...some people think so, yeah," Coeur said, hoping Tom didn't hear that, "but maybe you'd better move along, Newton."
"Very good, sir. I will return to working on the sensor drones with Crowbar."
Coeur remained behind, however, after Newton padded away.
"Would you like me to leave?" Coeur asked Tom, softly, "No," Tom said, drawing a deep breath and rising back to her feet, "Stay. You've lost a friend like this yourself, I know."
Coeur supposed Tom meant Darien.
"Yes," Coeur said, walking closer, "although I don't think Darien and I were as close as you and V."
"I don't know about that," Tomobserved. "Hedld give his life for you."
"That's true, he did," Coeur snapped, surprising herself with the bitterness of her reply. She momentarily thought to apologize for the vehemence of her response, but decided to let it go "I noticed," Tom said, switching to another thought, "that your doctor wasn't here,"
"No, Physic had other duties."
"Maybe she was just being polite," Tom offered. "It probably would've been hard for her to keep from spitting on his grave,"
"Well," Coeur said, after a thoughtful pause, "you did hurt her pretty bad. You hurt all of us, in fact, when you killed all those Hivers—and Scissor. He was a member of my crew, just like Badger and Gaffer, or Katzel and V-Max." Or Darien. But Coeur cut off the thought there. Too much unfinished business.
"So what do you want I should do?" Tom asked. "Kill myself in front of her?Vand I did what we thought we had to—and now I'll pay for it But I'll pay that debt to the Coalition, not to Dr. Takagawa."
Coeur merely blinked, saying nothing.
"Oh, forget it," Tom said. "Forget I said that. She's got a right to be angry, you've got a right to be angry—we've all got a right to be angry. At leas: V's dead now, and he doesn't have any of this crap to worry about"
"Tom, look, for what its worth, I'm not happy that Vs dead. What you did at Ra was wrong, but I don't think you or V-Max was evil. You two had a belief, and you went a little too far standing up for it."
A little too for, yeah, Coeur thought, listening to the understatement in her own words, oi in mass murder and attempted genocide. But I'll leave the court on Ra to thrash that out "You're right. Maybe I should just enjoy a little freedom
while I still have it"
"Well, to be fair," Coeur said, "I wasn't planning to lock you in your stateroom for the whole trip. It'll be enough, I think, to have Drop K'ck guard you, and Physic Implant a homing tracer in you in case you try to run away."
"How about that," Tom said.""« be a regular Napoleon at Elba."
"Well, sort of," Coeursaid, "except you're not going to escape from this Elba."
"Perish the thought," Tom said.
"And," Coeur went on, "the accommodations are probably a little nicer than Elba. Aside horn you and me and Drop Kick, all there'll be are the gunners and Physic, Sixer and Crowbar, which means there'll be a lot more room and supplies per person."
"Sounds swell. Fatten me up for the firing squad,"
Coeur gave Tom a sharp look.
"Tom, you don't knowwhat's gonna happen.The court could be lenient, given the way you helped us here and at Sauler, and your sunendering peacefully."
But Tom only shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. Maybe on your world, Red, but not on Ra. The law there's pretty strict."
To this, Coeur couldn't really give much of a rebuttal. She'd seen the way Ra had manhandled Physic's ex-husband, August Delpero—holding him without a writ of habeas corpus and grilling him without an attorney present—and he was only an accessory to Tom's crimes, and not a pirate, to boot.
"Yeah," Tom went on, "V-Max caught a break, all right. At least he died here, fighting for something worthwhile, instead of in front of a firing squad."
Well, perhaps, Coeur thought, Though the discussion was taking a turn toward the morbid, and she elected not to respond. Instead, she turned her head slightlytofookoff to theeast, opposite the sunset Up there, she was gratified to see, was Orion, the great old constellation she remembered from heryouth, not so different in appearance than it had been in the summer sky above the Arizona desert so long ago. Even90years later, and 60parsecs awayfromhome, the constellation was still very much tiiesame, with its arms only slightly bent by Coeur's change in perspective.
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