TW11 The Cleopatra Crisis NEW (7 page)

"I have no idea," said Forester. “Travers is going to check back in as soon as something breaks. In the meantime, I want you all to report for mission programming and stand by to clock out on a moment's notice."

"That could pose a small problem, sir," asked Priest. "Officially, I'm still dead. If I report for mission programming, I'm liable give them one hell of a shock in Archives."

"Steiger can take care of that," said Forester. "The T.I.A.'s always maintained its own programming facility for covert field agents. He can give you the coordinates and you can clock right in from here. I'll have the facility cleared. Then Steiger can access the data from Archives and run the download himself."

"What about what Darkness said?" Steiger asked.

"That stays in this room," said Forrester. "I don't know what the hell he's up to, but there's little point in trying to second-guess him. You can't effect a temporal adjustment while you're worrying about whatever he might do. Or whether you're doing the right thing from the standpoint of the future. You can't try to second-guess yourselves, either. It'll only interfere with your mission. Just go in and do what you have to do. Forget about Darkness. There's not really anything that we can do about him, anyway.”

"I'll need a warp disc," Lucas said. "With my transponder decaying, I don't want to take a chance on not being able to clock out if I have to."

"Good point," said Forrester. “I’ll see that you get one."

"I wish we'd asked Darkness one more question," said Steiger.

"What's that?"

“What happens if that decaying transponder starts malfunctioning and causes Priest to translocate without being able to control it?"

Priest glanced at him. "Oh, thanks a lot.
Now
you bring that up!"

“Maybe you shouldn't go out on this one," Steiger said.

"Forget it," Lucas said firmly. “I need a mission. I've been going stir crazy cooped up in here. Besides, Darkness didn't say anything about the transponder's chronocircuitry running out of control, he just said it was decaying."

"As I recall, he also thought he had all the bugs ironed out of it in the first place," Steiger said.

"Look, if it's going to happen, it'll happen whether I'm here or on the mission," Lucas replied. "Staying behind won't change a thing."

“Maybe not, but it would keep you from jeopardizing the mission by clocking out suddenly at the wrong moment."

"I'm afraid he's got a point, Lucas," Forrester said.

Priest made a tight-lipped grimace. "All right, I'll concede that, but we still don't know it's going to happen. I think Darkness would've said something if there was a chance of that."

"But the point is that we still don't know for sure," said Steiger. "It means taking a risk."

"Like you've never taken risks?" Lucas countered. "Give me a break, Creed. Everything we do entails risk. And you've certainly taken more than your share." He turned to Forester. “Sir, if you order me to stay behind on this one, I'll understand, but I'm asking you not to do that. I need this assignment. I'll start climbing the walls if I have to stay cooped up in here much longer."

Forrester glanced at the others. "You're the ones that'll be out there," he said. "It's your call."

"Lucas and I have taken our share of risks before," Delaney said. "I'd rather go out with him than without him. I vote yes."

Andre looked at Lucas and smiled. “So do I."

Steiger shrugged. "Well, it looks like I'm outvoted.”

"If it's a problem for you, Creed, you can request to be relieved, without prejudice," said Forrester. "I don't want you going out on this mission if you haven't got complete confidence in every member of the team."

Steiger glanced at Lucas. "Priest, you understand, it's nothing personal.”

"I understand," said Lucas. “I suppose if our positions were reversed, I might feel exactly the same way."

"But you're still not going to withdraw?" said Steiger.

"No."

"Well, in that case, I'd like to be relieved."

For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence.

"Very well," said Forrester, breaking the tension. "You three report for mission programming in half an hour. Steiger, you want to set up that download for Priest?"

Steiger nodded. "I'll get right on it." He started to walk out with Forrester and paused at the door, looking back. "Priest?"

"Yeah?"

"Look . . this isn't personal. No offense, huh?"

"None taken."

Steiger nodded and turned to follow Forrester out the door. The old man was waiting for him at the lift tube.

"This isn't like you, Creed," he said. "You've taken bigger risks before and you've never yet turned down a mission."

"That's right, sir. And I'm not about to start now. With your permission, I'd like to go along on this one, only undercover."

Forrester sighed and nodded. "Somehow I had a feeling that's what was on your mind."

"It's what I do best, sir," Steiger said. "Those three have been working together for a long time. I've seen how they function in the field. They trust each other. Each of them has an instinct for how the others think. I'm the odd man out. I just don't fit in. I've always worked best on my own. It's what I was trained for."

"You're saying you want to go back on covert status?"

"Yes, sir, I do. I think I'd have much more to contribute that way."

`"We've been over this before, Creed. My decision to shut down the covert field section wasn't arbitrary, you know."

"Yes, sir, I realize that. I know you don't approve of the methods we used in covert field section. And I know there were abuses, but that still—"

"Abuses is putting it mildly," Forrester interrupted. "The covert field section was nothing but a bunch of thrill-seeking cowboys who played fast and loose with regulations and had too much contact with the Underground. Part of our job is to
apprehend
those people, Steiger, not employ them as mission support. Or as functionaries in the Network."

"I understand that, sir, but it was a matter of priorities. Look, you know I was never involved with the Network. And the Underground is just as concerned as we are about temporal disruption. A disruption threatens them, too. They might be criminals from the purely legal standpoint, but they're not the real danger and they never have been. So when it came to a choice between busting some members of the Underground or enlisting them as sub rosa operatives, or trading information with them, okay, we didn't worry about the fine points of the law. There was a lot more than that at stake. I know you don't think there's a place for the way we used to do things, sir, but with all due respect, I think you're wrong."

The lift tube stopped at Forester's floor, but he made no move to get out. Steiger wondered if he'd gone too far.

"All right," said Forrester. "Prove it."

"Sir? Does that mean you're authorizing—"

"I'm authorizing nothing, Colonel. All it means is that you're being placed on inactive status as soon as I can have the orders cut. You can consider yourself officially relieved of duty as of now. You've earned some R&R. What you do with it is entirely up to you."

"Thank you, sir. I promise you, you won't regret this."

"I hope not, Creed," said Forrester. "And I hope you won't regret it, either. Because if you fuck up, it's your ass."

Alexandria, the palace of the Ptolemys, 47 B.C.

"It is not the victory that I had hoped for," Caesar said as they rested in their apartments in the palace. “And a poor, ignoble death for a brave and noble soldier."

Travers thought that Caesar was being charitable, but he did not say it. Pompey the Great might once have been a brave and noble soldier, but in the end, his leadership and courage had both failed him. When news of Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon reached Rome, the Senate was thrown into a panic. Caesar's army moved with their usual devastating efficiency and speed, immediately taking the town of Ariminum and marching ahead without encountering any opposition whatsoever.

People from the outlying towns began flooding into Rome, fleeing front the advancing legions, not having any idea what to expect. Their contagious fear began to spread throughout the city like a wildfire. Pompey declared Rome to be in a state of anarchy and, desperate to have enough time to marshal his forces, he left the city and went east, giving orders for the entire Senate to follow him. Many did, but most senators remained behind in Rome, concerned about their homes and their possessions. With so many refugees streaming into Rome, crime had increased dramatically and there was a lot of looting.

As Caesar's army approached the city, many of Pompey's troops joined with Caesar's forces and within sixty days of crossing the Rubicon, Caesar had effectively seized power without any bloodshed. But there still remained Pompey and his loyal legions, and though he was in command of the city, it was a threat that Caesar could not disregard.

He pursued Pompey to Brundisium, but us soon as he heard that Caesar was approaching, Pompey escaped to sea. Lacking the vessels to pursue him, Caesar then returned to Rome and appeared before the Senate. With the rank of praetor, Travis was entitled to attend and he sat in the Temple of Jupiter (the Curia, which would become the permanent home of the Senate, had not yet been built) and listened as Caesar addressed the House courteously, requesting that they send word to Pompey so that negotiations could be started toward a reasonable peace. However, the senators could not agree on what to do. Their position was precarious. To appear to give support to one general could prove disastrous if the other proved victorious, so the Senate did what politicians have been doing ever since. They procrastinated to avoid taking any stand.

Caesar left the temple in disgust. He did not have the patience to wait for their deliberations. His response to the Senate's stalling was to seize the public treasury, so that he could supply himself with the necessary funds to finish what he'd started. Then he left for Spain, where he engaged the forces of Afranius and Varro, Pompey's loyal generals, and after defeating them decisively, he returned once more to Rome, where the Senate, realizing the growing futility of Pompey's position, voted Caesar the title of dictator.

In the event that Pompey still somehow managed to prevail, they could always claim that Caesar forced it on them. And with Caesar holding the position of dictator, it absolved them of the responsibility of making any choices.

Travers had remained at Caesar's side throughout it all and had observed firsthand that Caesar was not only a brilliant general, capable of inspiring fanatical devotion in his men, but also a skillful diplomat. His first act was to call back all those Romans who had gone into exile. He gave them back their rights as citizens and incurred the favor of many influential aristocrats by relieving them of their debts. He then made himself look better still by resigning the dictatorship that the fearful members of the Senate had conferred on him, having held the post for only eleven days, and declaring himself consul. That done, he immediately left Rome once more, on the trail of Pompey. The two armies met at Pharsalia in the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought between Romans. Caesar proved himself the better general and the man once hailed as Pompey the Great fled the scene of battle and retired to his tent, totally demoralized. When Caesar's troops had routed his army and started storming his camp, Pompey recovered his senses long enough to escape and flee to Egypt, where his fate awaited him. He had hoped to find an ally in the young King Ptolemy, who had backed him in the civil war, but the Egyptians had decided that they'd rather back a winner. As soon as he arrived, Pompey was put to death.

The war was over. More than six thousand of Pompey's troops had died.

Gracious in victory, Caesar pardoned the prisoners and took them into his own legions. Then he pursued Pompey to Egypt, only to discover that the Egyptians had finished the job for him.

"At least now our men can rest awhile and recover," Travers said, "even if the best Egypt can do for them is that unwholesome corn that Pothinus has seen fit to distribute."

Caesar tightened his jaw muscles in anger. "He adds insult to injury by telling them to be content with it. Since they are fed at another's cost. They deserve far better, Septimus, and by the gods, I shall see that they receive it! No general could hope for a more brave and loyal army."

"No army could hope for a better general than Caesar,” said Travers, not intending it as mere flattery, but meaning every word of it.

"Thank you, my friend," said Caesar. "Nor shall I forget you, either. You have served me well through all these many years. But our work is not yet done. Egypt is a ripe fruit ready for the plucking. Tell me, what do you think of this oily eunuch, Pothinus? He seems to hold more influence with the king than do any of his ministers."

"Pothinus does seem to be the power behind the throne," said Travers.

"The young king plainly defers to him. I have observed that the ministers take pains to ingratiate themselves with him. Or at least to avoid his displeasure."

"Yes, that is my opinion, too," said Caesar, frowning. “It is Pothinus who rules here and not Ptolemy, who is little more than a child. And the ministers all fear him. I have been told that it was Pothinus himself who assassinated Pompey."

"You have been told?" asked Travers, instantly on guard. “By whom?"

Caesar smiled. "There are those here who are well disposed toward Rome, if only because they are ill disposed toward Pothinus. That crafty eunuch sees us as a threat to the power he has managed to accumulate through his manipulation of the king. We must have a care, Septimus, not to sleep too soundly so long as we remain here."

"You think that Pothinus would try to have us murdered? With our legions here?"

"He might well serve us as he did Pompey and then protest his innocence," Caesar said. "It would win him no small favor among our enemies in Rome. Although perhaps I worry needlessly. It is not yet the Ides of March." He smiled and Travers felt suddenly uneasy.