Turning to the shorter man, whose compact, athletic body revealed its owner's excitement no less plainly for standing tautly at attention, Arlen looked deeply into guileless dark eyes that met his squarely. "Danner, Yancey's ship's docked on the military lock reserved for Third Corps. He's due to lift at 1100 today. You'll arrive at 1000, seize his ship as soon as he finishes fueling it, and detain Yancey and his crew at Fifth Corps' Headquarters.
"Keep your detainee separated from his crew, and strive to gain your objective without alerting anyone in Third Corps' Headquarters of your action. I may send you written orders later, to lend the man bearing them, four of your crewmen: Myron, and three others both tough and trustworthy. Make certain that Yancey's afforded no opportunity to warn Norman, who's on duty in Ministry Main Habitat until 1600 this afternoon. Yancey's as savage as the leader he's served so willingly for the past fifteen Earthyears, and he'll oppose you with force if you afford him the least chance. I trust that you can assemble your full crew before 0930, even though your men are on leave?"
"Myron's rounding them up now, sir. He knows where to look, never doubt." Yancey. Wouldn't I love to give that bastard what he's got coming! Not today, though, if I can avoid skewering a living blot on Columbia's honor. No way will I sully my own. This operation's a bold, delicately timed strike. Arlen expects it to go off smoothly. Yancey won't get his comeuppance today, damn the luck . "We'll be ready, sir."
"I'm counting on that, Danner. Well. See that your crews refrain from slipping any hint that any action might be pending, gentlemen. Good luck."
Returning to his office to find Carey awaiting him, Arlen gestured his stocky, broad shouldered subordinate into his inner office, and without preamble, issued commands. "Carey, I order you to relieve Marcel of his ship without Dexter's knowledge. You'll descend at New London at 1000 this morning, dock next to Marcel's vessel, and seize it from whoever's guarding it. You'll then call Marcel out of Dexter's headquarters, where Marcel and his crewmen will be using simulations of lifeboat flight to train recruits. You'll tell him you bear him a message from me to be hand-delivered to him aboard your ship. You'll present him with orders informing him that I've confiscated his vessel, and require that he accept your escort to Fifth Corps' Headquarters. You'll take him into custody.
"Have your lieutenant lift the ship you seize. You'll convey Marcel here, aboard yours. Dock both vessels at Ministry Locks Two and Three, which I've reserved, and then deliver your detainee into Ford's custody at Fifth Corps' Headquarters. I doubt that Marcel will offer any forcible resistance, but rest prepared to compel obedience. Treat your prisoner politely but firmly. Here's the datapad you'll hand him, and a startup-code bypass. Once you've turned your detainees over to Ford, you'll return accompanied by your crew here to my office with no loss of time whatsoever, where I'll employ you in a new capacity."
Although the recipient of those startling commands failed to conceal his shock, he unhesitatingly accepted the orders, snapped a salute, and departed.
As Arlen noted the time--0605--his mobile face creased into a scowl. Simon and Gordon should have been here five minutes ago, he reminded himself as anger surged. A dull thud assaulted nerves already on edge, as the door slid open, and the tardy pair strode past the aide who showed them in before letting the panel close behind them.
No sign of sharp annoyance showed on the face again gone expressionless. "I've orders for you, gentlemen. Two second-class military ships, readied for flight, rest on Military Locks Sixteen and Nineteen. Immediately upon leaving here, both of you will assemble your crews, man those ships, and fly with no loss of time to the Ice World. Simon, you'll relieve Evan. Gordon, you'll relieve Lacey. Call in here when you've docked, to inform me of the time of your arrival. Remain on duty there until you receive further word from me."
Arlen watched the surprise fleetingly animating both faces metamorphose into fear that both men strove to conceal. His face creasing into a black frown, Gordon verged on objecting, but the cold rage that leaped nakedly into Arlen's eyes drove any such notion from the spacer-captain's mind.
As soon as the door closed behind the pair, the autocrat turned to Dahl, and spoke curtly. "Step across the hall, and tell Neville, who's here early, that I need the loan of Hoffmann to watch my board for fifteen minutes."
Startled, the man thus peremptorily adjured hastened to obey. Did I piss him off some way? he speculated worriedly. Neville got here three hours early. Does the Commander-in-Chief intend to involve his top civilian administrator in a military coup? Hardly! So why … His gut churning, the aide returned with his replacement.
Having gestured Dahl into the inner office, Arlen closed the door. Smiling for the first time that day, he invited the subordinate whose trim person signaled acute uneasiness to be seated. "I'm sure you realize that I've initiated a chancy strategy," he remarked with calculated candor. "When I recruited you into my service, I told you I had need of a man who keeps a cool head in a crisis. Well, today I've precipitated a crisis, and need every cool head at my disposal. I'm confiscating Yancey's ship. Danner will accomplish that chore at 1000 today. Do you know any of the men forming Yancey's crew?"
Relief surged through the subordinate sitting stiffly erect. "Yes, sir. Three of them served under me, several Earthyears ago: hard cases, but able. Yancey lost half his crewmen in the final battle on Main World of Gaea, fighting his way to his ship after Signe stormed Norman's headquarters. He filled out his crew with those men, and two I've never met."
"Do you know his original six spacers?"
"By sight--and reputation, sir." Hesitating for a microsecond, Dahl weighed the wisdom of volunteering an unsought response. Deciding in the affirmative, he added evenly, "Their brutality equals Yancey's--and Norman's. Norman preferred men of that stamp. He distrusted my stomach for matching it, with good reason. I'd never have been granted command of one of Norman's ships, if he hadn't lost two vessels with all hands, and three captains as well, to Signe's assaults. He did know he could trust me not to skim a take for myself off the fortunes in precious metals I constantly transported for him--loot from all over Gaea. That's chiefly what I did for Norman."
Having been reassured initially by the smile and the compliment, Dahl now impulsively ventured that unsolicited self-justification out of an intuitive sense that Arlen despised both Norman and Yancey. That conclusion generated an overmastering urge to dissociate his own self from a horde of former colleagues who, less troubled by scruples than was he, flocked to serve under a commander who willingly raised a perpetrator of war crimes to the rank of senior captain.
Unerringly divining the motivation behind that flagrant breach of protocol, Arlen condoned the infraction, out of satisfaction with the sentiment prompting it. "Do you feel you could trust your back to your three former crewmen?"
"Yes, sir." Kinesic evidence of which Dahl remained unconscious, but which Arlen read with ease, fully supported the vehement verbal affirmation.
"At 1030 today, you'll call those men out of Danner's custody, in Fifth Corps' Headquarters, and hand him my written order directing him to lend you Myron, Lieutenant, and three additional spacers from his crew. You'll repair with those seven men to Simon's vessel, which is docked on Military Lock Nine, and lift promptly at 1100. You'll fly to Dunn, descend on the lock next to Courtney's first-class military ship, which is commanded by Yukio. You'll seize the vessel, and order two of Danner's spacers to board Yukio's ship.
"You'll then proceed with your five remaining crewmen to the shipworks where Yukio will be arranging for a delivery of a large consignment of spare parts to Fourth Corps. You'll summon the Captain to the main office, and deliver him orders from me, to accompany you. You'll take him into custody, and prevent his contacting Courtney. My orders will require that Yukio call his lieutenant from your ship, and instruct his second officer to carry on. Give your prisoner tactfully to understand that it'll be to his advantage to preserve a manner designed to avoid prompting the man he calls, to raise Courtne
y.
"If any of Yukio's crewmen show up with him, bring those men along. Leave the others there. Notify Danner's spacers when you've lifted, and order them to escort your ship. Fly your detainees, in Simon's ship, to the military locks reserved for Fifth Corps, and deliver the men you hold to Danner. Leave your three Third Corpsmen in his custody. Return here, to man my board. I'll provide you with the startup-code for Simon's ship, and a bypass to use on Yukio's."
Arlen just trusted me with a role in the action--gave me temporary command of an Earth-armed ship! Fierce joy illumined Dahl's hard-bitten face before the man managed to master his expression. "Yes, sir!" he breathed.
"Handle this chore as well as you have your other duties, Dahl, and you'll captain a ship for me, shortly--assuming that all goes today as I plan."
My aching old wounds, he means that! "You can count on me, sir." Emotion that Dahl tried, but failed, to conceal, revealed itself via numerous nonverbal cues.
"Thank Hoffmann, and dismiss him. Man the board for me until it's time for you to leave. Show Evan and Lacey in here the moment they arrive."
As Dahl strode out, radiating satisfaction, the shrewd judge of men predicted with flawless accuracy, He'll succeed, or die in the attempt. You needn't fear that Dahl will desert you in mid-struggle, Arlen. Well. Relax for two hours. Calm your mind, and maintain your cutting edge. Seating himself at his terminal, the initiator of a daring undertaking concentrated on a scholarly work of military history.
When Evan and Lacey arrived together, at 0815, Arlen deliberately allowed his satisfaction to show. "I commend your promptness, gentlemen. Evan, Galt's in space, returning from O'Neill aboard Flynn's ship. Gelett and Regan remain on duty in the O'Neill Group. Flynn's due to arrive at 1510. You and I will intercept Galt and his captain as they leave the vessel. You'll take Flynn and his crew into custody, and detain them in Fifth Corps' Headquarters until I release them. Flynn's hotheaded, and fanatically loyal to Galt. Don't give him the least opening. Try to avoid the use of force, but don't hesitate to use force if no other course lies open to you. I'll handle Galt."
"I'll handle Flynn, sir." Evan spoke with quiet confidence.
Nodding, Arlen turned to Lacey, whose compactly built body projected a keen readiness for action. The Captain's ruggedly handsome face failed to hide its owner's satisfaction at the thought of playing a key role in a strike leveled against this superior's rivals. "Wassel and his crew are on leave," Arlen informed him. "At 1015 today, you'll proceed to the military locks reserved for Second Corps. You'll deliver orders from me to whoever's on guard: orders stating that I'm borrowing Wassel's ship, and that you're having a man move it to Ministry Lock Nineteen. I'll issue you a bypass.
"Once you gain control of the ship, you'll raise Galt's Lieutenant Commander. Inform Marlenn of my orders, and your intent to obey them. You'll then proceed unaccompanied to the lock where you'll change the access code of the vessel to one I'll provide. You'll insert into the port a locking device I'll give you, thus preventing any use of a bypass. You'll leave the ship there, collect your men, and meet me at 1100 at the Fourth Corps' military lock where Otis's ship is docked next to Brant's--just why, I don't know. Otis is scheduled to be on duty elsewhere.
"You'll seize Otis's ship. Assume that the Captain will be aboard with all his men. You'll have your lieutenant, and three spacers whom you trust implicitly, lift the vessel into a high orbit around Columbia. Tell Rafael to await orders from either you or me. You'll deliver Otis and his crewmen to Fifth Corps' Headquarters, where you'll leave them in Amin's custody. You'll then lift your vessel. You, and in a dire extremity, Rafael, will carry out any command I may see fit to issue during the course of the day, directing you to attack any ship, including the one bearing Galt home."
"Yes, sir." No slightest hesitation shaded Lacey's acceptance of orders that, if obeyed in their entirety, would inevitably precipitate a mutinous uprising guaranteed to spread like a virulent epidemic to include bloody civil strife. Arlen knows he can trust me with the ultimate responsibility! the maturely cognizant spacer-captain congratulated himself as his pride inflated. Well, I won't fail him. Galt had better weigh the odds with exceeding care--damn his gall! Arlen's a statesman. Galt doesn't cavil at hiring assassins, evidently. Arlen sure as hell never took Leon out, and Galt never spent so much energy suborning our devious Minister of Internal Security for no reason. Backstabbers, Roylott and Galt both!
Arlen sensed his subordinate's implacable determination: a trait that distinguished Lacey. This weapon won't turn in my hand , he exulted grimly. "I'll enlist the backing of Carey and his crew, and seize Brant's ship myself, while you're boarding Otis's, Lacey. Then I'll deal with Courtney."
Having seen the two men out, Arlen noted the time: 0835. Briskly, he informed Dahl, "I'll sit the board while you eat a hot meal. I know damned well you skipped breakfast."
Arlen's habitual consideration for his subordinates still possessed the power to shock his aide, who replied, "Yes, sir," and withdrew, having failed to conceal his amazement from the man whose ironic eyes followed the Captain's departing back. Norman failed utterly to breach the armor with which Dahl surrounds his core of innate decency , the dictator reflected contentedly before turning his mind to the orders just issued.
Yancey. The name reverberated within Arlen's inner awareness. I heartily wish I could order that thrice-accursed mass murderer to stand trial before a military tribunal! he railed silently. But that's impossible. He might well emerge unscathed, given the imperialistic fervor animating so many high-ranking officers. I'd lose more than I'd gain--weaken my grip on four of the five military corps, perhaps fatally. So the callous brute will likely never be called to account for annihilating five Gaean stations packed with unarmed civilian families.
Nor will Norman. I can't risk more than rendering that bastard ineffectual. He and his veterans bear the aura of war heroes, to the uncritical among the general populace, and the greedy among our leaders. And if I ignored protocol--used my dictatorial power to order Yancey spaced--I'd not only precipitate an incendiary crisis in all five corps, I'd lose the political support that enabled me to outmaneuver Galt. I'd end overthrown--hand Galt on a silver tray what I've thus far prevented his gaining. Chagrin burned like bile within the Commander-in-Chief's vitals as he drew that conclusion.
Exerting his power of will, he forced his mind onto less galling avenues of thought. As he cast back over his reason for launching this hazardous maneuver, a sharply etched portrait shimmered on the screen of his interior vision. Adrienne's assessment cuts through to the essence , he admitted ungrudgingly. More accurate than Amin's, her prediction. She has listened well and judged sagely, over Earthyears of entertaining the top echelon of our leaders--gambled on her judgment, and won far more than she has lost. She routinely makes shrewd investments. Sharp, the mind behind that lovely face. I wonder whether Amin … Likely he charmed her into it. I hope so--he needed a break from unrelenting work. Well. You'd better apprise Fulke of the imminent arrival of detainees.
When his aide returned, Arlen rose. "I'm going to my quarters, Dahl. I'll be back by 0930. Here's the private call-code for my residence. It takes me only five minutes to arrive there. No action's due to start until 1000, but if some unforeseen problem arises, raise me at my quarters. If I'm in transit, do what you think best until you can reach me."
Five minutes later, the Commander-in-Chief strode through the door of his spacious private dwelling. Advancing to the center of the living area, he called out a summons. As always when he surveyed this alternate domain where he lived his private life, at some level below the plane of his consciousness he savored satisfaction in the pleasing simplicity of design that subtly masked both the rarity and the costliness of the furnishings.
A gasping cry fell on his ears. Even as the sound impinged, he enfolded in his arms the lovely woman who darted out of a bedcabin to hurl herself into his embrace.
A faint fragrance tantalized the husband crushing his wife aga
inst his sleek black uniform. When he released her, she smiled tremulously up at him, her piquant face only imperfectly concealing the fear and distress tormenting her. Soft hands reached to his collar, and smoothed two slight creases in the band of stiff fabric encircling the base of his neck. Deftly, the woman adjusted the cloth where the pin securing the silver insignia denoting rank produced a pucker. "Arlen, I've worried all morning…" An unwonted huskiness tinged the voice normally lilting.
Heedless of the disorder he wrought in the fashionable coiffure, the autocrat stroked deeply waving dark hair as he murmured an all-but-inaudible endearment. Still holding his wife close, he spoke again, aloud, employing a tone that admitted of no refusal. "Karyn, Oliver awaits you and Tiryll at my private lifeboat lock. He'll fly you and the boy to my great-aunt's quarters at Dayton. You'll leave at once. Lana expects you. I'll raise you there later today. You undoubtedly won't hear from me before 1700 at the earliest. I know better than to tell you not to worry, but don't overdo it. I'll emerge from this venture in a far stronger position. Safer."
The lens of tears filming violet eyes distorted the image of lover and husband filling the woman's field of vision. Ripples appeared, as the moisture she sought to control faultily refracted the light. Blinking back the drops threatening to spill, Karyn imprinted anew in her memory every bold line of the well-loved face of the man who for the past eleven Earthyears had formed the central focus of her existence. Living the sheltered life common to aristocratic wives in a male-dominated society--a life filled with comfort and leisure, but hedged by restrictive prohibitions--she nonetheless knew all too well the magnitude of the danger prompting his sending her out of the capital. "Arlen…I'll live in fear until I know it's over, and you're safe," she confessed softly.
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