TNE 02 To Dream of Chaos Page 20

  "The cardinal," the woman answered, "May the Defender protect us."

  Not surprisingly, the cell They were held In had no light of any kind, but dazzling light overcame them when they were led outside—onto the concrete floor of a vast and htgh-ceilinged warehouse. While the ceiling remained In half-lit shadow, the lloor was amply lit through torches and hooded light bulbs feeding off a thrumming alcohol generator. The same power plant, off in the far end of the warehouse, was also connected to an Impressive battery of heavy machinery—drills, saws and presses—that made an echoing racket as they labored under the supervision of their human masters.

  Munitions, I'll bet.

  The light, of course, was only dazzling by comparison to the darkness diey had been held in, and Coeur soon discerned an amazing thing. While many of the rubble-dwellers were scarcely clothed at all, a substantial number were sheathed In IR-dampIng ponchos, with lightwelgnt body armor and well-polished weapons that seemed a match for Soledad's nonpowered regular troops.

  Though they were no longer bound, the spacers were under close surveillance by a number of gunmen with submachineguns, led by a man whom Coeur took to be "the commander." Scars colored the weathered features of the blue-eyed man, who was shorter than Coeur would have thought, but cast from the same mold as many serious soldiers she had known—crisp in discourse and wary of danger.

  Where he led the oH-world party, eventually, was Into a side chamber that once might have been theofficeof the warehouse's foreman. Better lit than the main floor, It gave up a substantial aroma of incense even before the spacers entered and found themselves back in the presence of Brother Anthony.

  And Her estimabie Holiness, Cardinal Miranda Vazouez.

  Whether or not that was its purpose, the long, windowless office resembled a chapel, with burning candles, holy triangles and hanging devotional paintings, depicting what Coeur assumed to be saints, or perhaps incarnations of the Defender, Surrounded as they were by a supernatural glow about their heads. These gave an entirely appropriate background for the short but commanding cardinal, whose vestments resembled Brother Anthony's, but with the addition of a golden collar, red sash and seams embroidered in gothic Anglic script.

  Wi th streaks of gray in her shoulder-length black hair and deep wrinkles about her eyes, she might have been anywhere between 40and60, but the hard lif eof people in the Wilds kept Coeur from narrowing her guess any further. What was absolutely certain was the high esteem the natives held her in, marked by the silence of Brother Anthony, the commander, the rebel troops and two ecclesiastical bodyguards—men dressed like priests but sporting submachineguns slung over their shoulders, "Your Holiness," the commander said, "these are the prisoners captured with Brother Anthony."

  "Very good, Cenerat Lertios. You may go."

  Though clearly reluctant. General Lemos, the weathered "commander," bowed and withdrew with his troops.

  "Come," Vazquez said to the spacers, "sit down."

  Accepting the offer, they and Anthony followed the sweep of her hand toward a dais in the far end of the windowless chamber, supporting a single high-backed chair and a half-dozen lesser— but comfortable looking—chairs In a semklrcle. Since the highest Chair was clearly for the cardinal, the spacers made certain that she seated herself before taking the other seats proffered to them a,to Anthony.

  "Thank you" Coeursaid, aware of the rarity of any furniture in such an area.

  Vazquez accepted the comment with a gracious nod, even as her bodyguard took up position behind her chair.

  "t understand," Vazquez said to V-Max, "that you are the Individual V-Max, who has been dwelling in Brother Anthony's chapel."

  "Yes, Your Holiness."

  "Andyou,"the cardinal said to Coeur and Tom. "I understand that you are his senior officers."

  "That's not... precisely correct," Coeur said, "Oh? Are you not citizens of the Interstellar Coalition?"

  "Actually, that's 'Reformation Coalition/ Your Holiness. Yes, we are all citizens of that state, but only I am a representative of Its government Tom and V-Max are mercenaries, assisting my mission here."

  "And what Is your mission, Captain..."

  "D' Esprit, Coeur D' Esprit."

  "...Captain Coeur D' Esprit?"

  "Well, for a Start. Your Holiness, It's not mercenary. My government has commissioned me to discover the fate of one of our citizens, 'Zero' Wolfowitz, and a dangerous weapon we believe he found here."

  Vazquez raised an eyebrow.

  "One of your citizens, you say?"

  "Yes, Your Holiness. Zero and his crew were from Oriflamme, a member world of our Coalition "

  "I see. Yes, I know of this individual, Zero. He approached the Holy Church for help during an earlier visit to Mexit, before his last, more recent expedition."

  "I wasn't aware there was an earlier visit," Coeur said, looking at V-Max and Brother Anthony, Their shaking heads revealed they hadn't heard that either.

  "Oh, yes. At one point during the earlier visit, he found he would have some difficulty slipping past Soledad's sensors to escape the city in haste, so he approached one of our priests for help. What he wanted was beyond our capacity—convincing the rebels to disable the emperor's planetary defense missiles,"

  "Understandable- The/re probably well-defended."

  "Zero wasn't so congenial. When the rebels refused the request, Tom expressed his displeasure by stealing aPalabra, the holy gospel of theOefender, from that brother's church. Needless to say, the brother's congregation was devastated."

  Oh, Cow, Coeur thought shaking her head. How did I know he would do something like that?

  "That's pretty twisted," Tom said. "I've never stolen anything from a church."

  "Yet you say he was your countryman," Vazquez said to Coeur.

  "Yes, he was," Coeur said. "But I'm not going to make any excuses for his behavior. If good evidence exists that he abused a local population, our government will make him pay for it."

  Vazquez smiled, briefly.

  "Ours is not a perfect world, Captain D' Esprit. But tell me: Are you citizen of the world Oriflamme, as Zero was?"

  "No, Your Holiness, I am a citizen of Aubaine."

  "Your native world?"

  Now Coeur smiled.

  "No, I was born on Terra."

  Terra," Vazquez said, thoughtfully. "My grandfather was born on Tena before coming to this world."

  Coeur's eyebrows rose in reaction to the remark. "Indeed,"

  "Yes," Vazquez went on, "he was originally from Rosweil Arcotogy."

  "You don't say."

  "Oh yes. Have you heard of It?"

  "Yes," Coeur said, conjuring the Image of her home In her mind, "ftoswell was just across the desert from Phoenix Arc ology, where I was bom."

  "How remarkable," Vazquez said. "I remember Crandtaiher saying that it was very beautiful."

  "Yeah," Coeur said with a grimace, "I suppose it was."

  "Was, Captain?"

  "I haven't seen Terra for almost 90 years, Your Holiness,"

  Now It was Vazquez' turn to be surprised.

  "You will excuse my curiosity. Captain, but how is lliat possible? You hardly look a day over 20."

  Coeur smiled at the estimate, but then remembered that on Mexit—where the environment was very harsh—a person probably aged quickly.

  "Actually, Your Holiness, I'm what we call a remnant—I was born over 100 years ago, but slept through the Collapse In suspended animation."

  "Suspended animation...?"

  "It's kind of technical," Coeur explained, recognizing the cardinal's unlamiliarity with high technology.

  "I see," the cardinal said, turning to face Tom. "And what of you, Captain Tom? A-e you a 'remnant' as well?"

  "No, ma'am. I was born and raised on Aurora "

  "Likewise," V-Max said. "S/c semper tyronnh."

  Thus ever to tyrants?" Vazquez asked.

  That's the motto on Aurora's flag," Tom explained.

  A silent pause fol
lowed, during which time Coeur wondered where this was headed. True, Vazquez was a comfortable person to be around, but If shedidn't believe they were on the level. Drop Kick's rescue mission would become very urgent Indeed.

  "Assuming that it Isn't too technical," Vazquez said finally, "why don't you tell me about this weapon Zero was after,"

  "Well..." Coeur began, "It Is pretty technical. Do you know what a starship Is?"

  "Oh yes, I've read about them. I assume you used one to travel here from your Coalition,"

  "Right. Well, anyway, what Zero was after was a device called a black globe generator. It Isn't really so much a weapon as It Is a very sophisticated defense system for a starship. To be honest. It wouldn't be much use to anyone here on the planet, but It could give a starship a big advantage In space combaL"

  "And you want It,"

  "Yes I do," Coeur said, "so I can keep It out of our enemies' hands."

  "It Is a nasty gadget," Tom agreed, looking to support Coeur. "With a black globe installed, a starship could easily slip past a defending fleet and bomb a planet to rubble."

  "Right," Coeur said, "and that's something we don't want happening to us, or anyone else, for that matter."

  Vazquez nodded, but said nothing for a loog moment "I can sense your purpose," she said finally, "but I shall need a short time to meditate on what you've said. Brother Anthony, you will stay with these people in the Interim,"

  "Yes, Your Holiness."

  The cardinal then made to rise, though she let the spacers follow Brother Anthony's lead and stand first. Without furtner word, the cardinal then left through the chamber's only obvious exit with her bodyguards In train. Doubtless to ensure they didn't do anything untoward—tike damaging the holy fittings of the chapel—two rebel troopers stepped In to keep an eye on them.

  "That was very odd," Tom whispered to Coeur.

  "Yes," Coeur agreed. "It was almost too polite,"

  "You should not underestimate Her Holiness," Anthony said. "She is really quite intuitive."

  Not quite daring to ask the question aloud, Tom took Coeur aside and signed a question to her in Ami an.

  "Is she psionic?"

  "I don't know. H she is, it's o good thing we told the tmth. *

  * m m Since Pnysicknew the danger of using radio to communicate with Snapshot's drone—such traffic had certainly let the radio direction findersof Soledadzerolnon Brother Anthon/s church— Newton advised her that the laser communicator aboard their G-carder would let them communicate, undetected, with Snapshot's orbital probe. Physic, therefore, relayed a message through the probe to Hornet, detailing their progress.

  "Have you heard from Red Sun yet?" Gyro asked, alter receiving the report.

  "Negative," Physic answered, "but It's only 0300 hours here, so they haven't been gone too long. You should let Armis know about Carl and Katzel, though,"

  "Understood, Anything else?"

  "Well, there Is one other thing. Have you been monitoring radio traffic from the planet?"

  "Yes, it's Sixer's new hobby. As far as he can tell, ifs been mostly martial music and propaganda from Soledad."

  "Well, all the same, you might Iteep your ears open for anything about the pirate cousins. Physic out,"

  "Understood. Cyroout."

  * ■ *

  After circling the rebel warehouse for over an hour at a conservative height and distance of 500 meters, Drop Kick realized that any more flight time would cut Into the battery power he and Gaffer would need to gel back to the G-carrier.

  "I don't like this," Gaffer said. "Our people could be In danger, and we aren't doing anything about It."

  Thank you, I'm aware of our situation," Drop Kick said. "But we haven't heard anyshots or seen any commotion, so I'm willing to bet the/re still alive."

  "I sure hope you're right."

  "Actually, we might have to pul down pretty soon anyway. We don't have enough power to loiter here for more than af ew more minutes, so we either stay here or go back to the carrier."

  "Well, If we do land, be careful," Gaffer said, pointing down at the dark ground, "there're a lotot heat signatures down there,"

  Aid that was the problem—the rebels. Although only a handful of the signatures showed the Irregular thermal ghosting that betrayed IR shrouds, the rebels populated the area around the warehouse In what must becompany strength, so putting the broomstick down to rest Its batteries would put the Marines at considerable risk. Armored as they were, they weren't immune to damage—particularly from antl-vehlcle mines or anti-tank grenades.

  "Of course, if you'd like," Cafferwenton, "I could divert some power from my battle dress; I've still got four kilo watt-hours stored,"

  "No, that's all right. All that would give us Is another few minutes, and you with a dead suit"

  Yet Drop Kick still had the decision to make. Either he could fly back to Lomarka when he reached bingo charge, or put down and risk a violent encounter with the rebels—both uncongenial options with Coeur and the others taken captive and in obvious peril.

  Then, with mere minutes to spare, a familiar voice crackled over Drop Kick and Galfer's radios.

  "Drop Kick, this is Red Sun. Can you see me?"

  "There she is," Gaffer said, tapping Drop Kick on the shoulder and pointing. Sure enough, Coeur was there In a lit side door of the rebel warehouse, without blindfold or restraint, but also without her sidearm or WSVgoggles. A pair o) armed rebels were her companions.

  After a moment's pause, Drop Kick answered with two short bursts of Static.

  "Good," Coeur said, switching to sign language. "Come on down."

  "Think it's a trap?" Gaffer asked Drop Kick.

  "Well, If it is," Drop Kick answered, "we're pretty well dressed for it. I'm going down."

  "I hope you're right about this."

  In any event, it was Coeur's companions who almost leapt out of their skin with shock when the Marines landed before them.

  "Defender protect us!" a young rebel exclaimed. "Brak's armor!"

  "Easy, soldier," said an older, scarred man with the bearing of a senior officer. "That's not Brak's armor. The Guard uses a different design."

  "Right," Coeur said. "Those are my men,"

  "Do all your men have battle dress?" the young rebel asked-

  "just a few. But probably enough for what we have in mind."

  "What's going on here?" Drop Kick said, stepping off the grounded broomstick with Gader. "Have you contacted a rebel unit?"

  "Oh, I'd say so. Drop Kick, meet General Lemos, commander of the Imponsero Phalanx."

  "General," Drop Kick said, flipping up his visor and saluting.

  "General, these are Sergeants Escherand Denikin, my ground tactics chief and drop troop leader."

  "Centlemen," Lemos said.

  "As I said, these are The men you'll need to talk to if we'regoing to make the plan work."

  "Excuse me, skipper," Gaffer said, not yet electing to lift his visor and so speaking through suit speakers. "Did you say plan?"

  "Yes. Cardinal Vazquez of the CGL has convinced the general we're on the level, so we're going to cooperate on a little mission—springing Tom's people and a few dozen rebels from a prison tn the basement of the delense ministry,"

  Oh crop, not that place, Gaffer thoughl, visualizing a bloody assault on the imposing structure and anticipating the next comment from Drop Kick, "Isn't this a bit sudden?" the sergeant major asked. "We've just been here a few hours."

  "We're not going to rush out and do It tomorrow," Coeur replied. "Coed."

  "But the sooner we start collaborating, the better. Nowcome on, guys; we've got work to do."

  When Deep Six detected the sudden activation of a new radio Channel from Soledad, broadcasting on a UHF frequency well above that of conventional radio on the planet, he switched immediately from monitoring themartial music on Radio Soledad to monitoring the new signal. Double-checking the computer to be sure it was recording the transmission, theSchalli settled back in the
tank of his roller-chair and absorbed Its chilling meaning.

  "Attention, people of Space. This is the Emperor Biak, Lord and Ruler of Soledad, who has imprisoned your personnel, Carina Becker and Kaizel Hughes, for flagrant violation of the territorial integrity of this (and.

  "Be advised that your personnel will be publicly executed at 2000 hours, tomorrow midnight, unless a reply is received on this channel from your commanding officer."

  The message then repeated and went silent, prompting rasping blasts of air from Deep Six's blowholes—a Schalli expression of disgust.

  "Gyro," he said, "did you monitor that message?"

  "Affirmative," the XO said, from her laser turret. "Snapper told me the moment she detected the new frequency. I wonder if Physic did, toe."

  "Affirmative, sir. Physic just signaled that Newton detected the message as well."

  "Wow," Snapshot said, from herown turret. "Do you think we should respond?"

  "Negative," Gyro said. "We shouldn't second-guess the skipper. Continue to monitor all frequencies and record anything Significant."

  And so, Gyro figured, that was that.

  But it was not. The message had also been picked up by the junior technarchs An-Wing and Masaryk, who now wanted a piece of the action.

  "Gyro," An-Wing called, aher insistently knocking on the hatch of Gyro's turret until she opened it "We need to talk. As a duly assigned representative of Orillamme, appointed to investigate the situation on Mexit, I am shocked at the way Bela and I have been systematically Ignored in your planning."

  "Yeah, so?"

  An-Wing made an exasperated sigh. "Gyro, think about that last message. Clearly, what you need on the ground is not an armed party—to provoke Brak—but seasoned negotiators with a background In politics and economics."

  "You mean you?"

  "Yes."

  'Lady An-Wing, I'm afraid I can't make that kind of arrangement Until I hear otherwise from Red Sun herself, we'll carry out her last orders to stay here and lie low."