TNE 02 To Dream of Chaos Read online

  Divine Visitation

  "Beloved Miranda," came a familiar voice, as if from the very air behind her, "Your blessed holiness," Vazquez replied reflexive!/, turning to the voice but. averting her eyes and dropping to one knee.

  "Rise and lift your eyes, my daughter."

  With suitable reluctance, Vazquez did as bade, beholding a revelation from Cod. Hooded Saint Graylord—his hands and face shrouded, but a towering figure all the same—stood between the shimmering forms of two massive angeiic guardians, floating In the air as rainbows of light coruscated across their winged and radiant bodies.

  "Gracious Saint Cray lord, how may ) serve you?"

  "It is written," Graylord said, "that the day shall come when travellers arrive from the heavens, and stars shall fall from their traces. Then shall kings and princes scatter, and io, the many kingdoms of the earth shall kneel before the manifested will of the Lord and Defender. My daughter, the day has come again when travellers have joined us from the stars."

  "Yes, Your Grace. Even this day, they were led into my presence."

  "Tell me," Graylord said, "did you sense their purpose?"

  "I did, Your Grace. I feel their hearts are true, and their cause is just."

  "I am pleased," Graylord replied, his pleasure reflected in the soft pink hue appearing In the angel's wings. "It was for your special insight that I made you the protector and guardian of the Defender's church."

  "Your Blessed Grace—is It possible that these might be the ones? I have seen visions of hope and torment.,.."

  "Be at peace, my daughter.) have seen the.seal of the Defender rising gloriously in the east. Blessed are those whose eyes do not see, yet believe."

  "Your Grace, I do believe."

  Chapter One

  A dab of acrylic titanium white sat poised on the end of Coeur D' Esprlt's paintbrush when she caught a motion tn the corner of her eye and turned her head to study It. ANS Kukulcon, the system's largest defense boat, was gliding between Coeur"s window and the watery globe of Aubaine depicted In her canvas.

  For an old space-hand, the 75,000-ton monitor was not an unusual sight, but ships were Coeur's life, and she admired It as an architect might a well-constructed building. Roughly the shape of a flattened hammer, flying handle first, the monitor had begun her life as the Imperial cruiser Vaword', but was damaged in the Final War and left behind when the Imperium abandoned Vras 80 years before. Pleased by the gift, the invading Solomani then renamed the cruiser and began repairs in the hope that the ship would spearhead a final conquest of the sector.

  Nlceplon. Too bad Virus beat you to it.

  Today, of course, Kukulcon didn't belong to either the Imperium or the Solomani, Having outlived bothher masters, thegreat hulk was now trapped in the Vras system (now renamed Aubaine), her Jump drives cannibalized to equip the fledgling Re I or mat ion Coalition fleet It was a practical necessity—and the monitor still served a useful purpose, defending the system with Its long range meson gun—Out there was nonetheless something sad about the great ship, likely never to fly In jump space again.

  Uke an eagle, Coeur thought, with its wings dipped.

  But then the doer chime rang, and Coeur snapped out of her reverie. Muchas she wouldhave liked it, the was not aboard a surshlp, but sitting in the living room of a claustrophobic space station apartment with her only companion a hotovid screen, Its volume turned downlow to keepfrom distracting her as she painted. Yet even the hotovid reminded Coeur that she was not where she wanted to be, for its live broadcast could only be heard close to Auboine, where the ilmited freedom of Coeur's canvas was a poor substitute for the genuine freedom of flight among the stars.

  "That you, Crowbar?" she asked.

  "Yes, sir-

  "Please, come In."

  Answering her command, the door opened to reveal Crowbar, Coeur's bearded friend from the Technical Academy, as tall for a man at 138 cm as Coeur was for a woman at 175. Just departed from his work area, he wore the puffy vac suit that was his uniform, with the helmet stowed In elastic netting at the waist.

  "Sorry I didn't change, Red Sun," Crowbar said, "but you know me. t get to working, and I lose all t/ack of the time."

  "Thafsokay," Coeur returned, hastily rising and removing the apron over her blouse and skirt, "I lost track of the time myself."

  "It k our day off," the engineer said, stepping through the apartme n t threshold. "IguessweVeer.Weo.lsn'tthatASS&Aotan?"

  Packing up her paints, Coeur grinned at the )oke. When the fine peopleof Was had renamed their planet Aubaine, no one had thought of the rude way the abbreviation for Aubanl Space Ship would look in print. Aubani Naval Ship was thus chosen as an altogether more polite alternative.

  "Sure is. Putting in for resupply, I Imagine."

  "My god, she's big. You know it takes 500 engineer* Just it> man her drives?"

  believe i!. What's she put out, about a trillion watts?"

  "Man," Crowbar said, shaking his head in amazement, "ifs hard to imagine anyone could ever build anything that big."

  "I don't know. I've seen bigger."

  "Around here?"

  "No, / meant back in the old days."

  "Ah."

  Coeur smiled at that expression of understanding—the younger man's acceptance that his former captain, born on the human homeworld, Terra, had seen a world of wonders whose like he would probably not see in his lifetime.

  Though they were fairly close in age—she 32, he 26—the dark and thoughtful eyes of Coeuf, brown as the hair she wore short for space duty, had seen the first acts of the farcical tragedy that destroyed all civilisation 70 years ago. Still, it wasn't like Coeur to keep staring at the stage after they'd cleared away the sets. Crowbar knew she was a woman who lived in the present, and that was why they'd remained friends even after they'd ceased to be shipmates two months earlier.

  Left alone for a moment as Coeur went Into the head in her bedroom to wash her hands, Crowbar found his attention drawn away from the old monitor and over to the painting of cloud-banded Aubaine Coeur had left standing on its easet Although Coeur'sbolovidwas also competing for his attention, running an unsubstantiated story about the mysterious "Soiee Empire"— suspected of having destroyed several free traders in Shenk subsec tor—Crowbar tuned out the news 10 focus instead on Coeur's artwork. Like most of her paintings, whether of people or planets, it seemed to strike a balance between meticulous detail and breezy energy, with a consequent sense of depth and realism rivaled only by holography.

  "Like it?" Coeur asked, coming out of her bedroom and putting on a vest.

  "It's very good. Is it for someone?"

  "Drop Kick," Coeur answered, pausing beside Crowbar to admire her week. "He said he got himself promoted to Brigade Sergeant Major of the 1st Marine Brigade and wants a painting 10 go with his new office "

  "Wow. 5o how's he rate?"

  "He asked very nicely," Coeur said, moving around the back of the easel and bring toy up a protective flap she dropped over the painting, "and paid me 200 credits in advance."

  "That's my skipper. Sentimentality be damned."

  "Damn straight," Coeur answered, picking up a remote control to shut off her holovid, then coming around the easel to face Crowbar squarely, "And now, I assume I finally gel 10 see what you did to my ship."

  "Hey," Crowbar protested, "/Vomer's my ship now, skipper. Nobody twisted your arm to take that new command."

  Coeur smirked.

  "Yeah, some command.Goodwrenchsays Sooty We'll be laid up 'til Reformation Day—15 weeks."

  "Well, she'ji be a nice ship—whenever they get her back together again."

  Coeur gave her friend a wicked look, then steered him toward the door. "Come on. Crowbar
. It'll be nice to see a ship that's in one piece for a change."

  from a distance, the ftCES Ortnial Station appeared deceptively small and simple—a spinning inhabited ring 500 meters across, attached by radiating spokes to a central dock and power plant. But it was large enough to support 1000 workers in continuous residence. A colorful collection—construction engineers undoing the damage o! Vitus and decades of neglect. Arses outfitting for the frontier, administrators pulling out their hair as they managed a patchwork tomm net prone to switching errors—they made for a circus atmosphere befitting the official call sign of the station. Big Top.

  "This is ridiculous," Crowbar said, maneuvering around a knot of frustrated new arrivals at the perennially disabled bank of elevators nearest Cow A quarters. "If they'd just fix the elevators in Section 2, we could go directly from our quarters to the repair yard."

  "I'm sure the/it fix themeventuaNy," Coeur said, matching the tall man's pace in the wide thoroughfare beyond the elevators, curving up gently before and behind them. "It's jus I not a priority,"

  "Yeah, but really. They've been working on It for two months, ever since we brought Hornet back,"

  Coeur resisted the urge to comment further. In her temporary capacity as a technical adviser to expeditions outfitting at the station, Coeur had come
  "Well, you know—bureaucracy."

  "Tell me about it. It took me so long to get data-disks for the student's computers, we had to write on paper for a few days."

  "Shocking."

  To Coeur's relief, the nearest elevator was unoccupied, They boarded it, and Coeur at last revealed the awful truth.

  "You might not want to spread this around. Crowbar, but I kmw the real reason the Section 2 elevators are taking so long to repair."

  "The real reason?"

  "The real reason, my friend. Is that a dormant strain of Virus is dug into the circuitry of those elevators."

  "A live strain of Virus? Loose on the station?"

  "Well, in a manner of speaking, yes, but I really don't think it's that serious. The way I hear it, it hasn't assimilated enough memory to become very intelligent, so the people making the repairs are taking them slow and easy, making sure all the communication links inio the area are cul before they rip out the bad circuits."

  Despite himsell, Crowbar found hispulse racing atthecaptaln's disclosure. That he wasn't ashamed of—Virus had killed 100 trillion people more than likely, and ti would go on killing if they gave it a chance He waj surprised, however, by the cool manner of his colleague, casually discussing the greatest evil ever unleashed on humankind, "Not serious? Red Sun, that's Virus you're talking about."

  "Sorry, Crowbar, t didn't mean to startle you. I )usl thought you should know what I've heard, being as you're In something of a position of authority yourself. More than me, really, since I'm just a staff adviser until they fix my ship."

  "Sorry, sir," Crowbar saio. "Maybe I'm overreacting. 8ui it's just that I've seen vehicles infected with Virus, and man, they give me the willies something fierce."

  Coeur patted Crowbar on the puffy fabric over his shoulder.

  "We all have to die sometime, Crowbar. Fretting about it just wastes the time you've got living."

  "I suppose you're right. Captain. But all the same, I'd rather not die in a crazy elevator"

  "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure Cod takes the people who die stupid deaths, too."

  The elevator doors opened, letting them out In a less-travelled corridor near the outer skin of the station. Heavy bulkheads stood to either side of them, with Iris valves set to slam shut automatically at any loss in pressure, and the corridor to left and right was dotted with rugged airlock hatches. Unlike the Inner levels, the floor was uncarpeted metal, so the low heels of Coeur's sandals made ringing clicks as she walked behind Crowbar.

  "Hornets right up this way, skipper," Crowbar said. "Bay 41."

  "Do you want me to suit up?" Coeur asked, following him to the appropriate hatch.

  "No, don't worry about It," Crowbar answered, running his pass key through a security lock beside the hatch. "Since it's the end of the week, I've given the students the day off, so there won't be any work going on inside."

  "Ail right."

  After digesting Crowbar's security code for a moment, the station computer decided it was safe to open the airlock's outer door and slid it aside with a pneumatic hiss. The Arses then entered the lock, and as soon as the outer door was closed, the inner door opened to let them into the bay.

  "That's Hometl" Coeur asked, stepping just outside the airlock, then coming to a halL

  "That's Hornet, all right. What do you think?"

  Coeur did not havea ready answer tososimple aquestlon. The 200-ton freighter before her was Hometall right, the ship that hod carried them both to fta and Sauler—into the very jaws of the Mercantile Guild. Now she was perc hed atop 1000square meters of curved deck on tripod landing gear, but there were subtle differences in appearance that Coeur did not register all at once. It took a few moments to note them all, comparing the ship before her to the one in her memory.

  'The main alteration is the roll bar," Crow bar said, moving out ahead of Coeur and letting his voice echo In the cavernous hangar. "We altered the shape to give more lift in atmosphere

  and enlarged the electronics pallet."

  "I see that," Coeur said, "but correct me if I'm wrong—Isn't that a Catling gun upabove the bridge? And a plasma gun in front of the port turret?"

  'Noticed those, did you?"

  "Noticed? Hell, they make the ship look like an assault lander."

  "Yeah, I suppose."

  "I assume they"re mock-ups, though. What, did you get some kind of research grant to design new weapons mounts?"

  Crowbar didn't answer at first, adopting a sheepish expression.

  'Those aren't mock-ups, sir," he said, coming back to Coeur. "They're real."

  "What?"

  "I know, if s weird. But there is an explanation."

  "I'm all ears."

  "Near as I can tell, the Admiralty sees Hornet as a sort of emergency backup for the bigger ships in the fleet. The way I hear it, when headquarters heard we were leaving the AO to look for the Cuild base, bets were running 80-20 we'd never make it back alive. When we did, the Admiralty decided to let us keep improving the ship In case we'd ever have to lake her out again."

  At a loss to come up with abetter explanation than Crowbar, Coeur finally shrugged and returned her attention to she ship.

  "Well, anyway, it looks like a sensible arrangement. I assume you laid out the weapons to provide overlapping fields of fire "

  "Sure did. The machinegun covers the approach to the cargo ramp; the plasma gun covers the port side; and the old space comoat laser covers the starboard."

  "Okay, so who shoots off the fireworks?"

  'The missile gunner. Snapshot always used to complain about having nothing to do on the ground, so I put the fire control for the close-in weapons in her old turret."

  "I'm sure she'd be pleased."

  "Whatever happened to her and Cyro?"

  "Oh, they're down at the dirtside academy. I requested they be assigned to Suleiman Victim with me, but as lortg as the ship was going to spend several months In the yard, they figured they could use the time brushing up on their ship skills."

  "So, did anything ever develoD between Snapshot and Drop Kick?"

  "Oidn't ask."

  "Didn't ask?"

  "Figured it wasn't my business."

  "Oh."

  "So," Coeur said, "what else have you done to my ship?"

  "How about This?" Crowbar said, leading her under the bridge, located In the starboard horn of the ship's pickle fork bow. "Seven centimete
rs of extra armor around the bridge, over the turret hardpolnts and around the fuel lines. Doesn't add much weight to the ship, but it will stop a bolt from a plasma bazooka."

  "That's a good idea."

  "I thought you'd like it. I think your description of the armor she came with was 'pathetic.'"

  "Actually, I was being generous. I'm still amazed we took that ship Into space combat and survived."

  "You're amazed? Just remember who would've had to put the ship back together If we'd been hit."

  'That's a strange thought, from someone who's just turned Hornet Into an assault ship,"

  Crowbar shrugged.

  "I think of the guns as a deterrent to violence. With all this firepover, most opponents would be Intimidated into surrender."

  Coeur kept her answer to herself'. Keep dreomlng. Crowbar. The only deterrent most of those frontier thugs understand Is a bullet in the head, "Never know," she said, diplomatically. "Hopefully, you won't have to find out."

  The urgent beeping of CoeuKj wrist communicator cut off further conversation. "Excuse me," Coeur said, tapping the radio with the fingers of her right hand: "Red Sun, go ahead."

  "Red Sun, this is Big Top Control. We have an urgent Class III message for you on the scrambler from Trantown. Are you free to receive it?"

  Coeur and Crowbar exchanged impressed glances. Class III messages were of the highest priority—generally reserved for planetary emergencies—aod neilhe: had ever received one directly.

  "Stand by, Big Top. Crowbar?"

  "How about the bridge?" he offered. 'That's pretty secure."

  "Yeah, that'll do "

  Since Hornet still recognized her last captain's security key, Crowbardio not have to precede Coeur Into the ship. Instead, she activated the oelly hatch behind the bridge and climbed up Into the half-lit interior of the ship. This part of the ship, at least, was unchanged, and she found her way back to the familiar pilot's couch she had sat in for the better pan of the last seven months.

  "Red Sun to Big Top, I'm back."

  "Affirmative Stand by for feed."

  A brief pause followed, the time it took Big Top to tell the diruide capital Coeur was ready to receive the message, "Red Sun, this Is Hammer. I hope I didn't alarm you, but I