That led to spontaneous cheers around the whole virtual room, which left the Director startled and nonplussed.
Wang then invited the Director of Health to step forward. She announced, “An Imperial Directorate of Health is being organized to coordinate health issues amongst the worlds, starting with the Moon, L1, and L2, but ultimately to be extended to all human space.
“This is a preliminary announcement and confidential, not to be discussed publicly until after the official announcement is made by the Viceroy. That will wait until the Directorate of Commerce has started operations, but we understand that some attendees at this ceremony have a direct interest in the new Directorate.
“The primary purpose of the new Directorate will be to ensure uniform access to medical services throughout human space, to the extent that is possible. This is a long-term goal that will take decades to implement, but there are some steps that can be taken immediately after the Directorate begins operations.
“More immediately, the Imperial Directorate of Health is charged with maintaining the quarantine amongst the planets, bio-cleansing all crew and biological materials to ensure that epidemics will be confined to individual worlds. Some functions of the new directorate, such as the quarantine, are already active and will continue to be operated by existing branches of the Imperial and Lunar Governments until the new Directorate is operational.
“The first action of the new Directorate, by the grace of the Viceroy Fenghuang, will be to grant a license for a new Imperial health service, the All Worlds Ethical Surgery, Orthopaedics, and Medical Education Service, whose organizing members will be Surgeon Leyland MacFinn, formerly of the Terrestrial Defence Force, and Surgeon Leigh Kaahurangi, formerly of Lunar Recovery. They are granted permission to incorporate with the Imperial Directorate of Commerce, as soon as that Directorate began operations, and to begin hiring medical staff from the Lunar Ministry of Health, the TDF, Viceregal and Forward Commands. Suitable military candidates will be approaching retirement from their respective services with an unblemished service record. Their first hospital will be on the Moon, with branches anticipated at L1, L2, Mars and throughout the Belt if the service works as well as the current experiment indicates.
“The second action is to announce that the teaching hospital at the new Hope University will receive Imperial support and recognition. The precise form of support will be announced in the near future.”
Wang invited the new Director of Law to step forward. The bulky Martian uniforms displayed zer authority with masses of medals and insignia. Ze said, “The Directorate of Law is still in the early planning stages, but the unusual circumstances today allow me to announce some decisions that have been reached. I would like to draw your attention to the remarkably low crime rate on the Moon and the high rate of cases that reached conclusions satisfactory to all parties. The Lunar Courts will continue to operate as they have under the jurisdiction of the Lunar Ministry of Law Enforcement, handling cases that involve only Lunar citizens and corporations. A legal framework for more complicated cases will be announced shortly.
“In celebration of the lifting of the blockade and of the formation of the new Directorates, the Viceroy Fenghuang, speaking on the authority of the glorious Emperor Mao Shi Hongdi, has commanded that all charges be dropped against crew members of ships that accepted the LE token who have not been charged with mutiny. This act was not in itself treasonable and a new version of the token adapted to Imperial needs is under development. Those who have been charged with mutiny induced by the LE token will not be prosecuted. They can choose either a dishonourable discharge without permission to leave the Moon or a reduction to the rank of recruit without acknowledgement of their previous years of service and with no possibility of promotion. No other sanctions will be considered. The privacy of those who faced possible charges will be maintained inviolate.”
I stood silently, thinking this was amazingly beneficent compared to any governor in the last century, with the possible exception of Kigali. Judgements that included phrases like “drop charges”, “dishonourable discharge”, and “reduction in rank” made for poor theatre. They must have listened to their lunar advisors.
Still, assigning punishments without trial of any kind made a bad precedent. Those accused of mutiny were to be forced to choose between permanent exile or disgrace before their families. It seemed a poor reward for a wise decision made under terrible stress. It was especially poor for those being falsely accused; I was sure that some accusations were intended to deflect blame from those who had made the actual decision. It was the kind of arbitrary ruling that gave autocratic governments such a miserable record of injustice.
Not my job and I still did not want to ruin the award ceremony. But time was passing and the Rapunzel was drawing ever closer to the rogue. I could not stand it anymore.
To Begum/private, “It is not just missiles that we have to fear. The Banshees must not open doors on the rogue, nor should the Rapunzel approach it closely. Those who turned it off can turn it back on and detonate their warheads when they know a rescue ship is near. If we open doors, they will know we are on board and that the Rapunzel is close enough to take damage.”
Begum/private, “I know. I’ve been trying to make plans. The crew of the Rapunzel must realize that, too. The people controlling the ship must still be in control of the reactors. We know that the pirate’s reactors could be configured to overload and can assume that these ones are similar. The resulting explosion would be non-nuclear, just coolant boiling until the pressure vessel blows, but it would still vent radioactive material through the ship. Or, they could restart the reactor and power up the lasers and rail guns to shoot the rescuers. For all we know, the token might have failed to turn off the drive. They may have done that themselves and may be waiting to use it to carve holes out of any nearby ships. They may already have seeded the crew with contagious diseases. There must be dozens of ways to weaponize a warship against a rescue attempt. I wonder if we should ask the Western Textiles ships what they think is happening?”
Wang to Begum, Me/private, “The pair of you are fidgeting. It is getting distracting, even inside your locked armour, Douglas. Here is an update from the Rapunzel. Western Textiles insists on leading the rescue and warns that the ship has almost certainly been booby-trapped. They want to save everyone, including the saboteurs. They made an odd reference to the pirates who surrendered in Armstrong Square. Must have been watching the news feeds for entertainment.
“Right now, they expect the crew to be in the transports, which have manual door releases to allow escape after a power failure. I guess their backup power is not as reliable as ours. They can break the transports free manually as well, but that would alert the saboteurs; the transports wouldn’t escape the anticipated explosion.
“Western Textiles have asked LR to supply drones that could tap against the hulls of the transports to confirm the location of the crew. Not clear if it will work, of course, unless the transports have sealed their doors and filled with air or have powered on their internal reactors so the instruments could detect the tapping. Either would risk alerting the saboteurs.
“Assuming they can contact the crew, they will cut through the hull into the weapon bays and reactor room. That can be done without vibration by melting the material without allowing it to sputter. With the ship’s systems disabled, the saboteurs will probably be in armour. Not obvious what happens once they are in, however, and they are asking for advice. Missiles are completely autonomous systems. Blowing their warheads would only take seconds.”
To Wang, Begum/private, “Cut a small hole for the comm, paralyze everyone still on board who is wearing armour with updated comm units, as Father Paul did to Commander Sa’id. Cut a big hole and pull them out. Risky if they all have older comm units or they put a deadman switch or timer on the warheads.”
Wang to Sa’id, Me/private, “Do you have copies of the tokens that paralyzed and freed your armour during the attack by �
�Father Paul’?”
Sa’id/converse, “Of course, in my logs. I’ve attached the paralysis token to this message. Your armour will be paralyzed for a moment.”
Sa’id/converse, “And this message should free your armour from paralysis. Beware that paralysis does turn off life support, so the rescue had better be quick once people are paralyzed. They will only have the air already in the suits to breath and will pass out as soon as it is exhausted. We were able to breathe the air in the hallway with Father Paul, but on board a stricken ship they may be in a vacuum.”
Wang/converse, “Good thing I have an up-to-date OS in my armour or I would have had to court-martial you for paralyzing your admiral! I’ve passed both messages on to the Banshees with a bit of explanation so they will know what to do with the tokens.
“Now, PAY ATTENTION.”
The Director of Law was still speaking and I heard zim say, “... are aware that some of the people attending this ceremony are not here under your own ID’s. For the most part, we bear you no ill will. There are a select few that we forbid to leave the Moon; their names have been published by the Viceroy. For the rest, we can only advise that your nominal location should become your actual location before Viceroy Wolong finds you. His agents are likely to do that long before his fleet returns. Several of them accompanied our own agents on arrival and are working closely with Lunar Law Enforcement in an official capacity.”
Guess who was going to be first on the forbidden list?
Wang moved forward and began an outline of upcoming changes involving the TDF. Anticipating continued unrest, the bulk of the fleet would remain in near-Earth space, serving the purpose for which it had been built. However, recent developments had opened new opportunities and highlighted applications where TDF technology might be helpful. They anticipated at least two new quasi-military services, blah, blah, blah.
He could not have felt the confidence he displayed, adlibbing smoothly as he reproduced what we had discussed such a short time before. Curiously, he had several relevant diagrams and organization charts that must have been prepared in advance. They looked like they had been cribbed from some other presentations. Regardless, no one was going to be surprised when he refurbished old FAS into new Boomerang class ships, nor when aging battleships were converted into armed government facilities like Imperial hospitals. Perhaps my interest in the Hammerhead and Mao had given him sufficient warning, with today’s discussion filling in the final details.
2357-03-28 11:00
Duck or Run
What I could see of the Path was brilliant but short and I had already done most of what was possible from my room. As Wang spoke, I started to worry about what to do next. He had told us that the bombing of the power station was a prearranged attack on the Viceroy Fenghuang, forestalled when the lockdowns had prevented the other bombs from being installed. I should have recognized the threat.
I had a small army of people ready to escape, but who were still listening peacefully, contemplating a sunny future that would not happen for decades. My immediate priority was to protect my people.
Wang wound down. The guards left. Wang and the Directors left.
Before anyone else could leave, I said, “Something is wrong, terribly wrong. Viceroy Fenghuang has just announced the first really positive decisions that we have heard from the Imperium. We must not allow them to lull us into complacency. Yesterday, Viceroy Wolong launched an attack intended to prevent those announcements. The Martian factions NEVER attempt such a high-profile assault with a single mode of attack.
“The other assaults on the Viceroy Fenghuang were delayed by the lockdowns, but are still in progress. The new attacks will be directed against her, not us, but we are all on Wolong’s hit list and will be executed if we are captured. There are others who are surely still searching for us, who will use the chaos of the attacks on Fenghuang to flush us out if they can. Today, we have exposed ourselves more completely than ever before. We need to be somewhere else, immediately, and we need to defend ourselves. No one else can be trusted to do it.”
Morris replied, “Those of us who are staying have already arranged hiding places. Now we can move there under an assumed ID. Do you really think it is time? Or should some of us stay to disguise the movement of the others?”
I said, “Very Senior Minister, you were the highest authority within Extraterrestrial Affairs and are prominent on the list of people Wolong wants to kill. Keep yourself safe and bear in mind that they might already know where you intend to hide. It is probably more exposed than where you are now. Go to someplace new and re-establish contact from there.”
Raja worried, “I thought we would be safe by now. Surely we are now Imperial citizens or whatever they call emigrants these days?”
I replied, “You are, except Viceroy Wolong doesn’t recognize Viceroy Fenghuang’s authority to grant that status. You should be relatively safe under the protection of the Lunar Viceregal Fleet once you board the ANGEL, but moving through the city could still be dangerous. If nothing else, we know there are assassins sent by the Sultan Mustafa looking for anything they can disrupt so you may wish to appeal to the Viceroy for guards as you move.
“Just wondering, have all of you finished your bio-cleansing?”
Fatima said, “Yes, but now that you mention it, I saw someone with a pimple on zer face the other day. Pimples are so common on the Earth, I did not think anything of it. Some of us have had to buy food and may have been re-exposed to other, more serious, pathogens in the city. That might be a good excuse to move all of us under escort onto the ANGEL where we can complete the program in proper quarantine. Raj, we should get on this right away. My wonderful Lord Banshee, may the Creator Spirit Allah, who is merciful and compassionate, shower blessings upon you and light the path before you. You have our eternal gratitude.”
I wondered what in her religious background led to such a beautiful blessing. I expected they would be attacked on the way to the ANGEL, but there was nothing I could do to prevent it. At least the Hope University people were wary after their years of unauthorized medical treatments. Most would make it to the ship.
The ministers would be more difficult to move safely. They had always depended upon their security forces, who in turn depended upon honest and effective intelligence services. Wolong wanted to kill all of them and several would still be on Fenghuang’s revised hit list. Finding any of them on the Moon would expose the whole group.
After the Hope University people closed their connection, Singh said, “Thank goodness we have had your small team of agents from the Khrushchev to advise us about personal security. Most have volunteered to come with us. They will be our Public Officers at the new university until we can arrange something more conventional. It is going to be several days at least before we can move into the Lonely Watch. They will somehow have to gather us from all over the city because there are only a few of us here within the TDF sector. I should be able to get to the ship without much trouble but I don’t know what we can do for those outside the perimeter.
“Mahatma, I worry that you are going to have a terrible time. Thank goodness, Agent Keiko agreed to stay to protect those who are remaining and to give you lessons on clandestine operations.
“Brian, the boy in him is enjoying himself immensely. He feels twenty years old, magically reborn as a junior intelligence officer. I fear for his safety if he keeps that frame of mind.”
Morris laughed, “My dear girl, please remember that she is not called Keiko anymore, nor am I called Mahatma. Those of us who are staying have already met the necessary officials in the Lunar Council and have been introduced to the Directors we just heard speak. They know who we are and the role we played in the transfer of power. We don’t anticipate much trouble from them, although we will need to be discreet into the indefinite future.
“It is the external players who cause us the most concern. It is because of them that we are already undercover, with new names that must be kept secret, taki
ng training in covert operations and wearing armour to bed. I cheerfully admit the training is fun, but you can relax about my future. I remember how hard my service was as a negotiator in the Westoz rebellion and wish I had then the training I am receiving now.
“Also, I have been shot before, just recently if you recall, so I know how much it hurts. I am standing here stiff as a wooden doll because of the splints on my arms and legs. It will be a few more weeks before I can walk, even here on the Moon. Two months at least before I can take up my new job as custodian. We all know why we are training and will be careful.
“We need to talk about moving through the city, but it may be easier than you think. We have been learning twenty different ways to be invisible, the first of which is to look confident and unconcerned as you brazen your way past the watchers. I’ve used that technique myself to get into places I had not been invited. There are only about five of us who are sufficiently controversial and distinctive in appearance to require extraordinary efforts to keep safe.
“Furthermore, I believe we can push Dapeng on the schedule to occupy the Lonely Watch. The Hope people can use quarantine issues to justify early occupation, but I like Douglas’ suggestion that you start by pretending to be a food service. They must maintain a canteen where the workers can eat meals so some part of the ship will be inhabitable without pressure suits. You will need to hire proper food preparation staff ultimately, but you can start moving some of our people immediately into the ship under the guise of canteen workers. It doesn’t even have to be a sham; some of us worked as students in real restaurants and are quite good at food preparation. Just think of the meals that Mephibosheth has produced using the same drek the marines are eating.
Lord Banshee Lunatic (Nightmare Wars Book 3) Page 25