Cluster Command: Crisis of Empire II (27 page)

Merikur had to concentrate and he was ignoring the bridge in favor of the drives. The controls were on the bridge, but without the drives, the controls were meaningless and the ship couldn’t bomb Strya.

By the time Merikur reached the main lock, Yamaguchi’s marines had blown the battleship’s hatch and surged inside. As he followed, he felt the battleship’s argrav tug him towards the floor. He twisted and managed to land feet first.

Most of the battleship’s crew were still tied up fighting off the interceptor and destroyer attacks. The platoon of marines who tried to defend the main hatch suffered heavy casualties and were quickly dispersed by the boarders.

They fought well and it pained Merikur to see them fall, knowing they were doing their duty.

But so was he. Merikur screamed with all the rest when they broke out of the battleship’s lock and charged down the main corridor.

Baines led the way swinging his battleaxe and yelling with joy as another group of Apex marines came to meet them. Even a battleship’s corridor made a small, ugly place to fight. Battleaxes split armor, repulsors vaporized visors, and people from both sides boiled inside their suits. The radio was full of urgent talk and occasional screams.

“Behind you Slim . . . damn that was close.”

“Burn him! Burn the bastard!”

“Oh God I’m hit . . . I’ve got a leak . . . aaahhhh!”

“This way, Sir,” the chief engineer grunted. “I served on one of these my first enlistment.”

Merikur sidestepped a boarding pike, shot an Apex marine through the visor, and followed Baines around a corner. Thank God he’d decided to go for the drives. The bridge was literally miles away through a maze of corridors.

Baines’ head vaporized. Light flashed past Merikur’s visor. Half-blinded, he sprayed the corridor with glass. At his side, Bethany did the same. Armored figures stumbled backwards as the vacuum sucked them through the holes in their suits.

Slipping, falling, then scrambling to his feet, Merikur staggered toward a hatch. The sign said “Engineering Section” and he couldn’t believe it when the hatch slid open. Two men in armor stepped out.

Merikur knew he was going to die. Even as he brought the repulsor upwards, he knew he’d never make it in time.

The figures were gone in an incandescent flash. A marine sergeant stepped up from behind. He had a mini-launcher propped up on one shoulder. “Sorry to ruin your fun, Sir . . . but I couldn’t resist.”

“Apology accepted, Sergeant,” Merikur replied. “You owe me a drink.”

“Aye, aye, Sir,” the sergeant said, stepping through the hatch, “but first I’m gonna give these swabbies a surprise inspection.”

Ten minutes later, it was all over. The engineering section was secure, a survivor from the
Bremerton
had dumped the drives, and the main corridor was under their control.

Windsor arrived a few minutes later, surrounded by members of the elite guard. Tenly followed, obviously hesitant.

Kalbrand looked tired when he came up on the drive room screen. He wore armor, but his helmet was tucked under one arm. The bridge was still pressurized. Tired or not, his cynical smile was still in place. “Well, Windsor, it looks like this round falls to you.”

Kalbrand looked around as if surveying the damage off screen, then back to Windsor. “But it’s far from over. From here it will spread. Planet after planet, cluster after cluster, until the Pact exists no more.”

Windsor was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was little more than a whisper. “I didn’t want this, Kalbrand, but you and those like you left me no choice. Whatever comes is as much yours as mine.”

To Merikur’s surprise, Kalbrand nodded his agreement. “Yes, cause and effect must always walk hand in hand. One of us will go down in history as a great hero, and the other as a great villain. I wonder which
you’ll
be?”

Chapter 16

Merikur was tired, his uniform felt tight, and people kept asking him stupid questions.

“How did it feel to attack the Apex fleet? What was your wife wearing? Space armor? How uncomfortable. Poor dear, I can’t imagine how she could stand it. I’d kill Herbert if he even suggested such a thing.”

As always, Merikur did his best to smile, to hear over the loud music, and to say something reasonable in response. The last few weeks had been a whirl of activity and while he could understand the political value of holding a governor’s ball, he hated the reality of actually attending it.

Winning battles makes more work, not less. It’s the victor who has to deal with the casualties, repair the damage, and try to hold onto what’s been won.

After Kalbrand’s surrender, Windsor and his staff spent a lot of time and energy deciding what to do. In the absence of faster-than-ship communication, it would take time for the news to reach Earth, but eventually it would, and then all hell would break loose.

In the end, Windsor did what politicians do best: he compromised, not once but numerous times. First, he loaded Kalbrand onto one of Merikur’s troop ships and allowed him to return home. It was tempting to hold him prisoner, but Windsor was in enough trouble without that.

By releasing Kalbrand, he could defend his intervention on legal as well as moral grounds. He would claim that Kalbrand’s plan to destroy Strya was not only an act of unmitigated barbarism but a violation of Pact law as well, since the power to destroy planets for punitive reasons resided in the senate alone.

Kalbrand would try to justify his actions under the broad emergency powers granted to governors, but he’d be on the defensive, and the whole thing would descend into the kind of political bickering the senate was famous for.

As an ex-senator himself, Windsor felt sure he could guide the matter to successful conclusion. They’d censure him, or give him some other slap on the wrist, and he’d be back in business. The main thing was to avoid any appearance of annexation—

Because that would amount to rebellion and there was a long list of dead governors who’d tried that.

But there were more immediate problems as well. Kalbrand had committed most but not all of his fleet to the Strya operation. Once he got home, the Apex governor might gather the rest of his force and return. To defend against that possibility, Yamaguchi had assumed command of the surviving ships and positioned them to defend Strya.

With a fleet of damaged ships, hundreds of casualties, and a planet full of accused murderers to deal with, Yamaguchi didn’t need crews of doubtful loyalty as well. Therefore, all of the Apex naval personnel were loaded aboard the troop ships and sent home with Kalbrand.

The battleships were in orbit around Strya where they could serve as weapons platforms while Yamaguchi’s personnel carried out temporary repairs. What was left of the
Bremerton
supplied spare parts and hull metal.

Meanwhile, the battleships, damaged though they were, plus Merikur’s carrier and one of his destroyers, would be more than equal to any ships Kalbrand might have in reserve.

Jomu had agreed to stay on Strya’s surface and conduct a murder investigation. Even with a large contingent of marines at his disposal, it would be no easy task.

Windsor was adamant: murder was murder, no matter how well-deserved, and those responsible must be brought to justice.

The problem was that the entire population of Strya had the motive, the opportunity, and the means. Jomu would have to sift through five million suspects to find those responsible.

Fortunately, he had the help of Strya’s leadership. They were so pleased to have a neutral third party conduct the investigation that two regional governors confessed immediately, and the rest promised to help in any way they could. Jomu hoped that between the leaders’ help and the temporary suspension of capital punishment, others would step forward as well.

Merikur didn’t envy Jomu his task and he didn’t much care for his own, either. He and Eitor were supposed to hold things together while Windsor traveled to Earth. By going there of his own volition, Windsor hoped to preempt the inevitable summons and any appearance of sedition. The combination victory and going-away party was now in full swing.

The governor’s mansion was full to overflowing with uniformed men and gowned women once again, but this time there was an even larger number of aliens than before. They were clad either in exotic finery or utilitarian atmospheric support suits.

One enterprising soul, an envoy from Lavorian III if Merikur remembered correctly, had combined the two by covering his four-armed environment suit with sequins. Bethany had greeted the alien in its own tongue while Merikur’s AID provided him with a translation.

“Fellow sentients . . . I could talk for hours about this man’s accomplishments . . . but unlike most politicians, his actions speak louder than words. So without further ado, it is my pleasure to present Governor Anthony Windsor!”

There was loud applause followed by cries of “Speech! Speech!”

Windsor raised his hands and waited for the applause to die down. When he spoke, his voice easily filled the room. “Fellow sentients . . . thank you. To those of you who have supported me through the last few months, I offer my heartfelt gratitude. I truly could not have accomplished anything without you. But please, don’t rest on your laurels, the journey has just begun and a rough road lies ahead.

“As you know, I leave for Terra in the morning. Once there, I will plead Strya’s case and the case for alien equality in general. I wish I could assure you that the senate will accept my arguments, that justice will be forthcoming, that no further lives will be lost in our cause. But I can’t. I know only that the journey must be made, that our voices must be heard, that the senate must be given an opportunity to decide.

“Many of you have asked what I’ll do if they refuse me and, in all truth, I’m not sure. But this I do know. I will never renounce the concept of equality, I will never act in the interest of tyranny, and I will never betray your trust.”

And the Lavorian wasn’t alone. Word of Windsor’s accomplishments had leaked from system to system and cluster to cluster. All sorts of governments, both human and alien, had sent representatives to pay their respects and get a feel for where Windsor was headed.

Who was the man? A crackpot with a few lucky wins or the leader many were waiting for, the man who could take the crumbling Pact and breathe new life into it?

Laughter exploded on the other side of the room as Windsor cracked a joke. The crowd swirled and parted, allowing him to mount a low platform. He would deliver a short speech and then invite the crowd to eat.

Merikur was worried about security, but wherever he looked he saw members of the Governor’s Hundred, shielding Windsor with their armored bodies and scanning the crowd for any signs of trouble.

Good. There must be no repeat of the last party. A critical eye could still see where blood had seeped into and stained the marble floor.

Merikur ran a finger around the inside of his collar and drifted towards the speaker’s platform. It was hot and crowded. Bethany was a short distance away. He caught her eye and pointed towards the platform. She nodded, made her excuses to an elderly dowager, and eased her way through the crowd. Tenly called for silence as the two of them arrived at the platform.

The applause was so loud that Merikur didn’t even hear the shot.

Windsor was falling with a hole through his chest.

The body was still in motion when Tenly jumped to the platform and threw down this repulsor. “You have just witnessed an official execution by the Kona Tatsu,” he shouted. “This action was considered and approved by the full senate. Any attempt to harm me will be interpreted as an attack on the senate itself.”

A lot of things happened at once. The Governor’s Hundred closed in on Tenly, one of them scooping up the repulsor as they looked towards Merikur for instructions. Someone shouted for a medic. Bethany and Eitor knelt beside Windsor’s body.

The crowd surged forward to get a better view.

A combination of anger and sadness flooded through Merikur as he met Tenly’s eyes. Of course. A backup.

Merikur had assumed that
he
was the backup, the safety, the Kona Tatsu’s final check on Windsor. But he should have known there would be others. Tenly to watch him, someone to watch Tenly, on and on without end. All to maintain the status quo.

They were afraid of equality, afraid that they might lose their power . . . so they had tried and convicted Windsor in secret. Word of the public execution would spread quickly and anyone who had sympathized with Windsor would have second thoughts.

The ideals Windsor had died for would die with him. They were sure of that.

Tenly ignored the guards, his eyes on Merikur alone. “Ladies and gentlemen, by order of the senate, I give you Governor pro-tem, Anson Merikur. Governor Merikur will accept responsibility for governing Harmony Cluster until a suitable replacement has been chosen. Though a member of Windsor’s staff, General Merikur opposed Windsor’s insane attack on the Apex Cluster but was bound to follow the Governor’s orders. Governor Merikur, would you care to say a few words?”

It was clever. Merikur had to hand them that. They knew he’d supported Windsor in the end but were giving him a way out. They were afraid of him, too. Even dead, Windsor had some loyal followers. They might rebel against the Pact . . .

. . . But they wouldn’t rebel against Anson Merikur.

Merikur felt the weight of their stares as he stepped up onto the stage. The Governor’s Hundred waiting for orders to kill, Bethany and Eitor waiting to see what he’d do, the crowd waiting for some sort of catharsis.

Tenly smiled.

The repulsor was light as a feather and seemed to streak upwards on its own. The glass beads erased Tenly’s arrogant smile and the rest of his face as well.

Eitor was on his left and Bethany on his right as Merikur looked out over the sea of shocked and curious faces. They wanted him to say something profound. Wanted him to explain what it meant, tell them what to do, offer them some sort of consolation.

Words wouldn’t come. Words were for politicians, not soldiers like Anson Merikur. But as the tears ran down his cheeks, Merikur remembered what Governor Kalbrand had said.