Death's Bright Day: Chapter Sixteen

Newtown on Peltry

    “Six, the boarding bridge is fast to the dock,” Barnes announced from the main hold. He was bosun of the Princess Cecile for now because Woetjans was still aboard the Katchaturian.

    “Release the liberty party, Barnes,” Daniel announced, using the general push rather than relying on the command channel. Faint cheers came up the companionway. The bosun would still give the formal order, but it pleased Daniel to be an open part of the process.

    He got up from the command console and stretched. He, Adele, and Cazelet at the astrogation console were the only officers on the bridge. Sun and Chazanoff had gone on liberty. Strikers in the Battle Direction Center with Vesey were covering the gunnery and missile slots, but that was to obey regulations rather than for any practical purpose.

    Turning again to face the console’s mike, Daniel said, “Ship, I am turning command over to Lieutenant Vesey. Six out.”

    He had switched back to the Princess Cecile on Benjamin because he wanted to personally examine the outriggers in space. Cory was in titular command of the Katchaturian, but Daniel and Cory had agreed to let Captain Schnitker bring her back unless there was an unexpected problem.

    The shakedown cruise had been a thorough success for both the destroyer and her personnel. Now that they were back on Peltry, Daniel would confirm most of the Nabis officers in their original ranks. He was still of two minds whether or not to leave some of his Sissies as warrant officers on the Katchaturian. In large measure that depended on the mission of the Nabis Squadron…when somebody told Daniel what that was.

    “I’m off to the Katchaturian to accompany Captain Schnitker in his post-mission walk-through,” Daniel said, smiling at Cazelet. “Midshipman Cazelet, would you like to accompany me?”

    Cazelet wasn’t back to 100% physically, but he never would be. The stiffness in his right leg might improve further; but equally, it might worsen. Some of the feeling in the leg was gone forever, and the flashes of phantom pain would always be with him also.

    Daniel’s personal response to a problem was to face it head-on: if a muscle hurt, use it more. He wasn’t sure that was good physiology, but it was good for him mentally. Offering Cazelet a chance to push himself was the only thing Daniel could think of that he himself would be thankful for in the same situation.

    “Ah, thank you, Six,” Cazelet said, turning at the console, “but –”

    Daniel was prepared to hear, “– I’ll wait aboard until Lieutenant Vesey goes off duty.”

    What Cazelet actually said was, “– I’m to accompany Officer Mundy on business in Newtown.”

    “That’s right,” Adele said. She’d gotten to her feet. She had already changed into civilian clothes, Daniel saw; they were similar enough to the utilities Adele wore on duty that he hadn’t noticed the fact until now. “Rene has kindly offered to give me some help while he’s off duty.”

    “Oh!” said Daniel. She’s giving the boy a change of scene. She’s his guardian, after all. The guardianship was unofficial, but neither the Mundys nor the Learys needed an official decree to know their duty. “Well, you’re in good hands, then, Cazelet. Ah — Officer Mundy, is there an update on Robin?”

    “Master Walters says that the Minister of War will be able to fit you in at four pm today,” Adele said. “That’s three Standard Hours from now.”

    Daniel grimaced. “Did he say that the minister ‘graciously agreed to see me’?” he asked.

    “I took that as the implication,” Adele said. “Minister Robin appears to be afraid of your competence, and of course the success of your operation on Benjamin isn’t going to reassure him.”

    “I don’t want his bloody job!” Daniel snapped.

    “No, you don’t,” Adele said. “But you really can’t blame a former quartermaster from Kostroma for thinking you’d be tempted.”

    Daniel grimaced. They were talking in front of Cazelet, which didn’t disturb either of them. Daniel suspected that Adele’s other employers might be distressed, but the less he thought about them, the happier he was.

    “I’ll be sure to arrive on time for my appointment,” he said aloud. “If we leave the Tarbell Stars abruptly, it won’t be because the Minister of War has rescinded my appointment for good cause.”

    He and Hogg started for the companionway. He was interested in Schnitker’s assessment of the Katchaturian’s thruster nozzles, particularly the four on the aftermost truck.

    “And who knows?” Daniel said over his shoulder to Hogg. “Maybe the Minister will have had a change of heart in the time we’ve been gone.”

    Hogg snorted in contempt. That was probably the correct response.

 

---

 

    The large gray ground car waiting at the end of the dock for Adele and her companions wasn’t the vehicle the Mignouris owned. The man who’d brought it waited at the driver’s door. He was the same one who had driven Adele and Tovera from the Residency to the Princess Cecile for the mission to Benjamin.

    “It’s all right,” Tovera said. “Hogg told me his friend couldn’t return the blue one just yet but this one was nicer.”

    “It’s a limousine!” said Cazelet. He was walking stiffly and the smile on his face looked forced, though Adele realized that she wasn’t an expert on smiles. In any case, Cazelet was maintaining a normal pace and demeanor, which was all that anyone had the right to expect. Adele’s own mental state probably wouldn’t pass a psych evaluation, but so long as she did her job, that was her business alone.

    “If you’re satisfied that it’s safe, Tovera,” Adele said. “Worst case, I’m sure Hogg will avenge us.”

    Tovera giggled. “I trust Hogg’s judgment,” she said.

    The driver tipped his billed cap and said, “She’s got a full charge. I’ll send word to Hogg when he can have the little ‘un back. Or if you like, you can keep this ‘un. The previous owner doesn’t need it any more.”

    His short laugh sounded like a deeper version of Tovera’s.

    “Thank you,” Adele said. “You’ll be informed.”

    She didn’t know what the Mignouris would want — or the widow would want, very possibly. This car was worth at least twice what theirs would sell for, but there might be other reasons not to accept the trade.

    Cazelet handed Adele into the passenger compartment. She took one of the three front-facing seats; he sat kitty-corner facing her with his right leg stretched out straight. Tovera drove away sedately, though she overcorrected even more noticeably than she had with the Mignouris’ smaller vehicle.

    The wood inlays of the car’s interior were real. “I’m guessing that this would cost four or five times as much as the car it replaces,” she said aloud. “I suspect the Mignouris will find some way to accept what they’re being offered, even if they believe it’s a proceed of crime.”

    Tovera pulled into the parking space of the Residency. She didn’t hit either of the posts, but she did tap the wall of the house with her front bumper because she was concentrating on the sides behind her.

    “This is a private house?” Cazelet said as they got out.

    “This is the 5th Bureau Residency in Newtown,” Adele said as she led the way to the front door. “It’s administered through the Bureau’s Third Diocese, whose director is General Storn. I suspect you’ve become familiar with that name, though I’ve never discussed him with you.”

    Tovera closed the door behind them. She immediately disappeared toward the garden with the vase of — now very dead — cut flowers.

    “I…” Cazelet said. “Cory and I in our researches, ah, came across the name, yes. But we were just getting general background on the work we might be called on to do in the course of our duties.”

    Storn had been instrumental in the satisfactory outcome of Adele’s business on Tattersall. Adele had been certain that she had trained Cory and Cazelet well enough that they would have followed up some of the loose ends of that operation and found where they led.

    “The Princess Cecile and her personnel are aiding the government of the Tarbell Stars at Storn’s behest,” Adele said. “The Peltry Resident was to help me in this task — he reports to Storn.”

    She shrugged. It bothered her to simplify the situation so coarsely, but her statement was accurate and sufficient for the purpose. “Unfortunately,” she said, “the Resident has had a stroke, so until he can be replaced I’ve taken it on myself to keep the Residency running.”

 

---

 

    Cazelet began to laugh. He overbalanced and would have fallen had he not grabbed the pole of a floor lamp to brace himself.

    “Adele,” he said through gulps of air. “I knew that there was more going on than a contract to provide military assistance to a cluster in the back of beyond, but I didn’t expect…”

    He began laughing again.

    Adele allowed herself a slight smile. This wasn’t the reaction she had expected, but it was apparently a very good result.

    “Yes,” she said. “It is an incongruous situation, one which you’re now an active part of. You may have believed that I brought you off the ship to entertain you. In fact, I want someone to provide this necessary support to our mission.”

    “You think that I’m a cripple but that I can do this?” Cazelet said with sudden harshness.

    “The mistress knows that you’re a cripple,” said Tovera. She had just placed fresh flowers on the table. “And if she didn’t think you could handle the job, she wouldn’t have told you to do it.”

    His mood swings are probably because of the injury and the medications he’s on, Adele thought. At least he didn’t behave this way in the past.

    “Yes,” she said aloud. “Tovera’s analysis is correct. The choice was between you and Cory, and your injury reduces your present capacity for normal shipboard duties.”

    Cazelet’s expression went from anger to a hard blankness for a moment. Then he grinned and said, “Yes, and besides I’ll never be the astrogator that Tom Cory is. Show me my station.”

    “Downstairs, I’m afraid,” Adele said, leading the way. “No doubt the exercise will be good for your leg.”

    If Rene thought I was going to tell him that he isn’t physically impaired, he’s been damaged more seriously than I believed, Adele thought. She hoped it was a temporary aberration. She didn’t exactly depend on Cazelet, but he was an asset to her and to her RCN family.

    Her smile was mostly in her mind. Besides, I like him as a person.

    Adele set Cazelet to reading in, starting with the files which Major Grozhinski had provided. Cazelet was starting from scratch, so it would be days or weeks before he had the full background. He was quick, however; and, having grown up and worked in the Alliance he had an instinctive grasp of structures which would be only words to Cory.

    The hardened communications room was really intended for solo use, but the console had a junior position on the back like the striker’s seat of warship consoles. Adele put Rene there and used the primary display to catch up on traffic which had arrived during her absence on Benjamin.

    The 5th Bureau normally communicated with its Residencies using commercial vessels travelling to the desired location. Encrypted messages were implanted in ships’ astrogation consoles, generally without the crews or owners being informed. When a ship reached its destination, the message was transmitted to the Residency there.

    Communications were therefore uncertain as to time and even arrival: a tramp freighter might change its planned course for any reason or none. From Adele’s experience, informing merchant captains that they were carrying government messages would not appreciably increase the likelihood that they would be delivered in a timely manner. Important information was sent in multiple copies.

    Adele had sent her warning that the Peltry Resident had to be replaced to three separate worlds where the 5th Bureau presence was major enough to rate a courier missile. Even so there was no telling when the message would get to where it was supposed to go.

    Hundreds of messages were in the console’s suspense file. Many of them involved Mignouri’s personal business, importing high-end office equipment from Pleasaunce and bypassing Alliance export tariffs.

    Adele grimaced. That was grounds for dismissal, which in the 5th Bureau meant execution. She could not fathom what made Mignouri think that the profit justified the risk, but human beings made a great number of choices which struck Adele as the next thing to insanity.

    Having scanned the message traffic, Adele checked on the surveillance of Dumouret. Realizing that this was something non-standard which Cazelet should keep on top of, she said, “Rene, echo my display and note the path. Dumouret is President Menandros’ butler and an agent of the Upholders. There are cameras in his office and living quarters in the palace, but the audio leaves something to be desired.”

    Dumouret’s office was empty at present. Adele ran the recording back so that Cazelet could see the butler’s appearance. He appeared as he was walking out with two unfamiliar men, apparently taking them somewhere.

    “His outfit must be a uniform,” Adele said. “He wore the same red-piped blue suit when I met him.”

    “Let me see those men again,” Tovera said from over Adele’s shoulder. Her voice was sharp.

    Adele locked on them and ran a facial recognition program. This was linked to the harbor database — a 5th Bureau system, not something she had put in place since she arrived.

    “They’re listed as citizens of Danziger,” she said. “They arrived from there today on the freighter Dubrovnic.”

    Danziger was outside the Tarbell Stars but due to good connections in the Matrix had become a major transshipment point. Freighters broke bulk here for distribution throughout the cluster.

    “Run them through the Bureau database,” Tovera said. “I don’t recognize them, but I recognize the type.”

    Adele did a separate search, wondering as she did whether she should have integrated the 5th Bureau files into the general database. No, because they include Mistress Sand’s information as well as what Grozhinski provided. I won’t put Cinnabar data on the Residency system because I may die before I can wipe it.

    “The one calling himself Sadler is from Maintenance Section C on Pleasaunce,” Adele said. “I don’t find the one calling himself Scroggs.”

    “They’re killers,” Tovera said. “I was Section C.”

    “Tovera, let’s see if we can get to President Menandros before they do,” Adele said, swinging off the console’s seat and heading for the stairs. Tovera was right behind.

    “Cazelet, alert both ships for lift-off!” Adele called over her shoulder. “All liberty is cancelled!”

    She had no authority to give orders. Fortunately, Daniel cared as little about that in a crisis as Adele herself did.

    At the back of her mind Adele wondered if Menandros’ death would really be such a bad thing for the Tarbell Stars. It would disrupt the government, however, and anyway the Upholders seemed to think that it would be bad for the government. If Adele had had time to consider the effects and side-effects she might come to a different conclusion, but for now she would go with blocking the plans of her enemies.

    Adele got into the passenger compartment because the limousine had only a seat for the driver in front. As she started to swing the door closed, Cazelet called from the doorway, “Adele! On the external security system, they’re heading for the Ministry of War!”

    Daniel is meeting Christopher Robin about…now.

    “To the back entrance!” Adele said as Tovera switched on the motors. The limousine took off the left gatepost as Tovera backed into the street.

 

---

 

    The waiting room of the Minister of War was scarcely bigger than Robin’s office. Daniel had passed through it when he left the Minister after their first meeting, but he couldn’t have described it from that experience.

    Thirty-odd straight chairs stood in rows with a center aisle that wasn’t quite straight. Most of the chairs were occupied, but only a few of those waiting to see Robin wore uniforms. Most of the others had the look of salesmen of one sort or another. Wars were always good opportunities to dispose of unwanted merchandise.

    The floor was littered and the walls hadn’t been washed in too long. It wasn’t an impressive sight to someone who had spent long hours in the Navy House waiting room in Xenos.

    Daniel walked up to the front where a middle-aged male clerk sat at a console beside the door to the inner office. A soldier had pulled a chair nearby from the front row. He sat on it, his carbine leaning against the wall.

    “I’m Captain Leary,” Daniel said pleasantly. “The Minister of War requested to see me at four pm today. I seem to be two minutes early.”

    The clerk looked up. “Take a seat,” he said. “I’ll tell you if the Minister wants to see you.”

    Still smiling, Daniel said, “May I ask who Minister Robin is with at present?”

    “He’s busy and that’s all you need to know,” the clerk said. “I told you to take a seat!”

 

---

 

    “So you did,” Daniel agreed. The door didn’t have an external latch, but there was a large button on the right side of the console. Repeated use had worn the button’s cream enamel finish through to the black base.

    Daniel leaned over and pushed the button. The door opened outward.

    “Hey!” said the clerk, loudly enough to alert the dozing guard. Daniel and Hogg sauntered through without anything more serious happening before the door closed behind them.

    “Good afternoon, Minister,” Daniel said as Robin looked up from the flat-screen display facing him at an angle on his desk. “I’m here as you directed.”

    Walters rose from his console, then sat back again. Robin made a sour face, but he gestured and said, “Yes, take a seat, Leary.”

    Walters eyed Hogg doubtfully, probably wondering what Hogg intended to do. Daniel wondered also as he took one of the chairs in front of the large desk, but Hogg remained at the back of the room.

    “I’ve been very pleased with the progress the Nabis Contingent has been making, Minister,” Daniel said, “and I hope you are too.”

    “Yes indeed, Leary,” Robin said. He tapped his display repeatedly with a light pen. “Major Berners gave me a quick account of your recent training mission. It shows real initiative and an ability to work with material which must be well beneath the level you’re accustomed to on Cinnabar.”

    “Actually, sir,” Daniel said, leaning forward slightly, “the Nabies were solid personnel, very solid. All we cadre did was to show them what they were capable of doing. Ah, and working with the officers some to bring ’em up to speed.”

    “Well, you shouldn’t be modest,” Robin said, turning from his display to flash Daniel a bright, false smile. “President Menandros has decided to greatly increase your responsibilities. He’s made you Governor of Nabis, reporting directly to him.”

    Are you out of your bloody mind?

    For a moment Daniel thought the words had come out of his mouth. They hadn’t, but Robin probably read them in his face.

    “Your Excellency…” Daniel said. He closed his eyes for a moment to visualize his next words. Opening them he continued, “Sir, look. My father was the most powerful politician on Cinnabar; he’s still pretty bloody important. My sister Deirdre gives every sign of following him into the Senate, and I’ve never known her to play a game that she didn’t win at.”

    Daniel had straightened when Robin pronounced his exile to a backwater. Now he leaned forward again and said earnestly, “Sir, if I wanted to get into politics, I’d go home and join the family firm! But I didn’t, I wanted to be a naval officer and I’m a bloody good one. Put me in charge of ships. Or better, put me in charge of your navy, and I’ll show you what I can do!”

    “Captain Leary, I’m sure you’re a very important man in Cinnabar space,” Robin said, his voice rising. “But here in the Tarbell Stars, we’re under the rule of President Menandros, and it’s his decision –”

    “President Bloody Nonsense!” Daniel said, rising to his feet. “Look, everybody knows you call the shots. Menandros probably knows if he’s got two brain cells to spare for any serious thinking! That’s fine, but –”

    “That’s enough!” Robin said as he stood. He crossed his arms before him. Walters had gotten up also and was edging closer to Daniel from the side. If he tries to jump me, I’ll break his face.

    Hogg, glimpsed in the polished metal surface of the side of the desk, remained by the door; nothing in the present situation required him to intervene. Though Hogg acted the simple hayseed, he had a very sophisticated grasp of urban society. He wasn’t going to precipitate a brawl which could not have a good result.

    The door from the waiting room opened. The clerk outside was babbling something in a high-pitched voice. Walters turned to the disturbance, and Daniel glanced over his shoulder.

    A heavy-set balding man in a blue servant’s uniform had entered. A tall man and a short one, both in business suits, were behind him.

    “Dumouret, what in bloody hell are you doing here?” Robin shouted.

    “Minister,” Dumouret said, “I’m very sorry to disturb you, but the President –”

    The short civilian shot Hogg in the chest. Hogg flew into the wall behind him, thrown when his legs spasmed.

    The shooter’s tunic pocket was smoldering, ignited by the vaporized aluminum driving band of the slug fired from inside it. The taller civilian was taking a sub-machine gun out of his briefcase.

    Daniel grabbed Dumouret by wrist and thigh. He pitched the butler into the tall man, who in turn bumped the shooter off balance. Walters had frozen for a moment with his mouth open, but now he lunged at the shooter.

    The pistol was now clear of short man’s burning pocket, and he shot Walters twice through the breastbone. He pivoted toward Daniel, who tripped over Dumouret’s flailing legs.

    The shooter sprawled forward though he continued to turn. There was a fleck of blood on his right temple and a long bloody crease at the top of his head where the second pellet had gone a little high.

    The taller man had risen to a kneeling position. At the crackle of Tovera’s sub-machine gun, he collapsed again over his own weapon.

    The door to the rear entrance hit the wall and began to swing closed again behind Adele and her servant. Robin peeked up from behind the desk where he had dropped to shelter.

    The air stank of ozone and feces and fear. Also of blood: Walters lay on his back. He had stopped bleeding, but the tunic of his white uniform was a crimson which would darken as it dried. His eyes were open and his lips drawn back in a grimace of horror.

    Daniel tried to get to his feet, then fell onto all fours and crawled toward where Hogg lay. He felt icy inside. He wondered if he’d been physically injured.

    “Do we need the butler?” Tovera said. Daniel heard all sounds through a thumping that seemed to be synchronized with his heartbeat.

    “Not really,” said Adele, “but he’s no –”

    The burst from Tovera’s little sub-machine gun cut off the next words. It sounded like an electrical fault. Dumouret had been curled in a ball. He twitched, and all his muscles relaxed.

    The man with the pistol had fallen over Hogg’s body. Daniel felt his strength return. He stood up, hauling the dead shooter with him, and hurled him out of the way.

    Hogg’s lips were moving slightly. There were bubbles of spit on them. He wasn’t bleeding, neither from mouth or chest, but something had blasted a hole in the left side of his tunic on a level with his heart.

    Daniel reached into the outer right side-pocket of Hogg’s tunic and brought out the knife that Hogg kept there. He snicked the blade open, then plucked the collar of Hogg’s shirt away from the skin and ripped the garment down to the belt, baring his chest.

    The skin was unbroken but there was a welt the size of Daniel’s spread hand at the point the hole had been blown in the tunic. It was fiery red and already swelling.

    Hogg’s eyes focused on Daniel. “I hope somebody got the bastard who shot me,” he said in a rusty whisper.

    “Is there a Medicomp in this building?” Daniel bellowed into the noise and confusion. Hogg winced with every breath, but he was breathing. “Adele, alert the Sissie! I want a stretcher team here soonest!”

    Leaning close to Hogg again, Daniel said, “Adele handled that problem. I think Tovera took care of his partner, but anyway it’s taken care of.”

    Daniel slit the left side of Hogg’s tunic and drew the pistol from the built-in holster concealed there. The slug had struck the receiver like a sledge hammer, almost severing the barrel from the butt and magazine.

    “The bastard suckered me, played me for a right sap,” Hogg said, tensing against the pain but getting the words out without gasping. “If the Mistress fixed him, he won’t be doing it again, though.”

    He laughed, punctuated by spasms of pain.

    “There’s a Medicomp in the next room to the left,” Adele said, squatting to put her head on a level with Daniel’s.

    “There’s a stretcher there too,” said Robin. “I thought, well, I’d as soon there was a facility close to my office.”

    “I can bloody walk,” Hogg said, but he wasn’t trying to get up.

    “You’ll do what your master bloody says, Hogg!” Daniel said. There might be internal bleeding; there were certainly cracked ribs.

 

---

 

    Daniel straightened. “Let’s get the stretcher,” he said to Minister Robin. “Then you can take the back end while we haul him to the unit.”

    Daniel felt enormous relief as he led Robin through the waiting room, shoving people out of the way when they babbled instead of clearing his path. It felt good to work out some of the adrenaline surging through his system.

 

---

 

    For the moment, Adele was alone in the Minister’s office. She sat at Robin’s desk and slipped the pistol back in her pocket; she had laid it on the desk to allow the barrel to cool.

    The carnage was familiar to her by now. The four bodies lay where they had fallen. Well, all but that of the man she had shot: that corpse lay where Daniel had tossed it away from Hogg.

    Daniel and Minister Robin returned; Daniel looked haggard, and the Minister appeared to be in shock. He’d seemed calm enough immediately after the shooting, but perhaps it hadn’t sunk in.

    Adele smiled faintly. She was trembling a little also, but that was a result of hormones rather than anything psychological.

    The only thing unusual about this room full of bodies is that I only killed one of them, Adele thought.

    The door banged shut behind Robin, muting the babble of voices from the outer office. Adele looked up from the display of her data unit; she hadn’t been consciously aware of the sound, but the near-silence got her attention.

    “Who are those soldiers?” Robin asked. He started toward the chair behind his desk, then realized that Adele was already sitting in it.

    “They’re spacers from the Princess Cecile,” Daniel said, “under my bosun and Midshipman Hale. Lieutenant Vesey sent them here when Lady Mundy alerted her.”

    He cleared his throat and added, “Ah — my people didn’t know precisely what was happening. Hale informed me that in their haste they did a certain amount of damage in entering the Ministry.”

    “Knocked down doors?” Robin said, frowning. “That scarcely matters.”

    “I gather it was more a matter of people who wanted discuss matters,” Daniel said. “Hale didn’t believe there were any fatalities,”

    “Fatalities!” Robin said. “Well, I suppose that doesn’t matter either.”

    He looked at the sprawled bodies, then looked toward the back door instead. “What was this? Do you know, Lady Mundy?”

    “Dumouret was a spy for the Upholders,” Adele said. She saw no reason to lie, but neither did she intend to inform the minister of all the background. “They apparently sent assassins to kill you.”

    The actual gunmen were 5th Bureau, but the impetus might well have come from the rebel leadership itself. They were acting as the puppets of Storn’s rival, but they might view themselves as more independent than Adele did.

    “But how did you…” Robin said. “How did you even get in by my private door? This is all — it’s a nightmare, nothing makes sense.”

    Cazelet had unlocked the door by cutting power to it while Adele and Tovera were on the way. The system’s default was to spring open, which was scarcely ideal for security even with a battery backup. Cazelet had shut the backup down also.

    “Captain Leary?” Adele said. “The Nabis Contingent has been called to action stations at my request. Now that the danger appears to be over, would you care to release the personnel to liberty again?”

    “Umm,” Daniel said. “No, not till I see how the recall went. I wouldn’t have done this deliberately, but it’s quite a useful test of the training, don’t you think?”

    “Yes,” said Adele. She continued to scan the updates she was getting from Cazelet and both warships in the Nabis Contingent.

    “Minister,” she resumed, “friends of the Tarbell Stars in Cinnabar sent Captain Leary and his staff to aid the Tarbell government in putting down the rebellion. We’re doing that to the best of our abilities, though the training mission you’ve relegated us to very nearly caused us to miss this assassination attempt. On that subject –”

    Adele considered, then looked up. “Captain Leary, I would appreciate it if you took charge of the situation in the outer office.”

    “Of course, your ladyship,” Daniel said. His expression had just gone guarded. “Ah, your ladyship? Your servant is overseeing the Medicomp, but Hogg isn’t in any danger. Should I direct Tovera to return to you?”

    Adele felt her lips hint at a smile. “That won’t be necessary, Captain,” she said. “I can handle anything necessary myself.”

    She looked at Robin. She wasn’t sure what expression she was wearing, but it seemed to disconcert the Minister of War. She was aware of the door opening and then closing by the sudden increase and cessation of babble from the outer office.

    Robin said, “What do you want, mistress? That is, Lady Mundy.”

    He was looking down at her because he was standing, but that didn’t increase his confidence. She wondered how much he knew about her. He knew enough to bother him when they were alone together in a room full of dead bodies, apparently.

    “I want to do my job, the job Captain Leary brought us all here to do,” she said. “To defeat the Upholder Rebellion. You’re making that needlessly difficult, because you’re afraid that Captain Leary wants to supplant you.”

    “That’s not true!” Robin said. “I have President Menandros’ full confidence!”

    “Stop yammering,” Adele said. She didn’t raise her voice; if Robin continued to bluster, she supposed she could fire a shot into the ceiling.

    Or I could just shoot him dead.

    The smile that accompanied that thought shocked Robin to silence as effectively as a shot would have done. “Thank you,” Adele said.

    “You’ll note that despite your interference,” Adele continued, “we’ve managed to save your life. We did that because you’re quite skilled. Captain Leary tells me that your idea to convert freighters to missile ships was a very clever use of available resources and might be enough in itself to defeat the rebels under present conditions.”

    Robin seemed to relax slightly.

    “Unfortunately,” Adele continued, “elements of the Alliance bureaucracy are supporting the Upholders. That means the present situation is certain to change for the worse. You personally don’t have the experience and contacts to deal with enemies outside the cluster.”

    “That’s not –” Robin said, then shut up.

    “Captain Leary and his personnel are capable of dealing with your new enemies on their own terms,” Adele said. “If you are unwilling to let Captain Leary do his job, I will have you killed and find someone to replace you. I may have to replace you myself.”

    She felt her lips quirk. “Indeed, I may just kill you myself.”

    Robin’s eyes drifted toward the bodies, then returned to meet Adele’s. He smiled back. “I wouldn’t care to have that happen,” he said. “What do you want me to do to avoid it?”

    He may be buying time, hoping to kill me or us, Adele thought. But I don’t think so, and I don’t think he could plan it without my becoming aware of it.

    “You can appoint Daniel as commander of the Navy of the Tarbell Stars,” Adele said. “After that, give him the resources and support he would have if you had no concern at all about him wanting to remain in the cluster after the Upholders have been defeated.”

    She shrugged and added, “That’s the truth and I hope you believe it. You don’t have to believe it, though, so long as you believe that I’ll kill you if you don’t do as I direct.”

    “I do believe you, Lady Mundy,” Robin said. “If you care to call Captain Leary in, I’ll make the appointment immediately. And then –”

    Adele had gotten up, but she paused on her way to the door.

    “– would you mind if I had these bodies removed and disposed of? I assure you, I don’t need so vivid a memento mori.”

    “Yes, I don’t need them any more,” Adele said. She opened the door to the outer office.

    The whole business had been quite unplanned, of course, but it had been even more useful than Daniel’s test of how well the Nabies reacted to an emergency recall.

    “Captain Leary?” she called past the backs of Dasi and Barnes who were blocking the doorway from the other direction. “Will you come in, please?”

    As the bosun’s mates made way for Daniel, Adele walked over to the first shooter’s pistol and picked it up. It was a powerful weapon, not a light pocket pistol like Adele’s own.

    She would give it to Hogg as at least a temporary replacement for his own. He would appreciate the gift.