Event Horizon (Hellgate) (24 page)

But no one spoke, though every face Marin glanced at was grim. He joined Travers at the auditorium’s closed doors and spoke in a bare murmur. “This is going to work.”

“It had better,” Travers whispered. “Sure, you’ve got the department heads covered – we’ve got the command corps in a basket. But there’s four thousand crew on this ship.”

“Conscripted,” Marin added. “Shanghaied. You think they’ll hesitate to take this offer? You remember the time you put it to the survivors on the
Intrepid
?”

It was obvious Travers did. He took a long deep breath and leaned back on the door to watch, listen, as Rusch addressed her senior staff.

“Effective immediately,” she was saying, “the
Kiev
is on alert. For the moment, let the crew believe we suspect an assault from Omaru. Colonel Tarrant, I’ll call on you to formally confirm that this system is defended. Captain van Donne and his people have completed the work, and Omaru stands ready to repulse a battle group –
this
battle group, if needs be – on your order.”

In the front row, Tarrant stood and turned to the body of the hall. “The work was completed several days ago. The truth is, my friends, since then we could have destroyed every ship on the blockade, including the
Kiev
, on a whim.”

“Then, thank gods the people of Omaru have enough decency to place a premium on human lives,” Rusch said in an odd, taut voice.

“Conscripts,” Tarrant said, echoing what Marin had said only moments before. “Half the population of Hydralis went through the process of conscription, service, manumission. Many of us have friends and family on these ships. We’ve fought – hard, and bitterly. We’ve done what’s been necessary, but … time to make an end of it, yes?”

“Yes,” Rusch agreed. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to formally place this ship and her crew at the disposal of the Nine Worlds Commonwealth. You speak for your departments, your staff, and if there are objections, issues, this is the time to voice them.”

Surgeon Captain Hernandez stood. “I’m going to keep Gould and Watanabe confined to the Quarantine bay, and mildly sedated. I’m also going to power up the Infirmary. This coup ought to be bloodless, but there’s a wise old saying about best-laid plans. I’d have briefed you on this minor change of plans a couple of days ago, but you were out of comm range.”

“Very good.” Rusch looked next at
Resa
Carson. “You’re liaising with Security, correct?”

“Every minute since the General’s party was on approach,” Carson assured her. “Major
Halliday
has handpicked his staff and trusts them implicitly.”

The Security contingent on a super-carrier was around one hundred, Marin knew – a hundred Tactical officers to oversee and control a ship and crew so vast, in the event of mutiny, they would be overwhelmed in seconds. On the crewdeck was the Marines complement, numbering three to five hundred more, every one a soldier, and almost entirely conscripted. Marin could imagine the fear down in the belly decks. As long ago as the assignment he and Travers had flown with Delta, the fear was tangible, and since then the situation on the blockade had worsened immeasurably.

“All right,” Rusch said levelly. “The ship is already on alert; our first move is a comm blackout. Lock everything down, Major Morrison, according to plan.”

He stood, hands clasped at his back, perhaps to stop them twitching. “My team has set the shipwide system to crash on your order, ma’am. It’ll crash so comprehensively, it’ll be a twenty minute reboot.”

Which was more than enough time. Marin had gone over the initiative in minute detail, as if it were the most delicate of Dendra Shemiji assignments. The fine art of mutiny had a history of horrific disaster, because it was rarely planned well and almost never factored in every risk. In the rare event when mutiny was planned down to the level of minutiae –

“AI overrides,” Rusch prompted.

Morrison remained on his feet. “I’m liaising with Dom
Frezza
and his team. The AI specialists will scram the AI, coinciding with the comm blackout. When it comes back up, we’ll own its soul.”

Rusch was satisfied. “Then it’s down to our conscripts, individually, to decide where they want to be, where they want to go. Major Carson, it’s the business of Personnel to know the sentiment of the crew.”

Again, Carson stood as Morrison returned to his seat. “Nothing’s changed since the last time we traded data, ma’am. On the
crewdeck
people want
out
. They’ll take anywhere but here, the blockade. Most say they want to go home, but they’ll accept any scheme that gets them out of the firing line.”

“Which is something we can offer.” Rusch was satisfied. “Mr. Tarrant has assured me, every crew position aboard the
Kiev
can be filled by highly qualified specialists from Omaru. The Confederacy forced every young colonial into uniform and trained them – in fact, they’ve done half our job for us. Whichever elements of our crew want to leave can be accommodated … well out of the firing line. Mr. Tarrant?”

He came to his feet and addressed the assembly with all due gravity. “We’ve prepared facilities on an island in the south, quite similar to the provisions made for the crew of the
Chicago
who chose to remain loyal to the Confederacy. Here on Omaru, the facility is much larger because we fully expect most of your crew to opt to get out alive. They’ll certainly expect the DeepSky Fleet to engage this ship in the Battle of Omaru, and they rightly see no difference between becoming a statistic in front of Fleet guns or those of the Omaru Militia … dead is dead.

“Your crewmen don’t know, and can’t know, this system is defended. Even the
Kiev
command corps knows only a suggestion of our business – enough to commit yourselves and your departments to this initiative. You know what happened at Velcastra. You don’t need to know the details. This crew will certainly accept the offer of safety, off the old blockade. Their own transports will be used to ferry them to Omaru and bring out their replacements. As soon as the Battle of Omaru has been concluded, the
Kiev
complement can either return to service on the
Sark
or they can choose their own ground, citizens of the Deep Sky and Middle Heavens.” Tarrant sat and returned the question to the floor.

“Most of our people will stay out here, neutral,” Carson judged. “If they show their faces back in the Middle Heavens too soon, Fleet won’t send them home. They’ll be assigned to new warships and in a month they’ll be right back here.”

The same decisions had been thrashed out on the
Intrepid
. Marin’s memories were razor-edged. He knew intimately what scenes would be played out on the
Kiev
’s lower decks, and from the look on Carson’s face, she had spent weeks refining the logistics of the shift in power.

“The aspect concerning most of us, Colonel,” she was saying almost reluctantly, “is the battle group. It’s, uh, going to get nasty.”

None of this surprised Rusch. “The scenario has been analyzed in great depth by a team headed by myself, General Shapiro and Mr. Tarrant. At this point I can also tell you my own team will be taking Tactical, and will … neutralize the battle group.”

Murmurs raced around the auditorium. “Your own team?” Morrison echoed.

Now Vidal stood and stepped forward to the podium. “We know most of you are reluctant to fire on our own ships. You don’t want the duty, the responsibility or the consequences.” He was frowning at the XO. “Stand down your Tactical people, Pat. A team will be coming aboard to relieve you. Myself, Roark Hubler, Asako Rodman.”

“Rodman?” Pat Haugen echoed. “I don’t know the name.”

“I do.” Alec Tarrant’s voice was gruff. “A Freespacer. One of the heroes from the Battle of Ulrand. She flies for General Shapiro, and she’s one of the best tacticians in the business.”

Haugen’s hands spread wide in acceptance. “On your authority, then. And yes, my staff will be delighted to give you Tactical. Major … Colonel Vidal, I assume you’ve prepared a navtank data load?”

“It’s being done at this moment,” he told her.

No need to say the
Wastrel
was compiling it, that in the last hour a dozen probes had been fired into the region, each no larger than a fuel drum and too small to attract the attention of Fleet sensors, transmitting on frequencies too high, using Resalq encryption algorithms which human comm systems found impenetrable.

“So,” Rusch said in an odd tone, and she was frowning directly at Shapiro. “
When
, General? It’s the last question to be answered.”

His calm was almost surreal. Even Marin envied the façade of composure as Shapiro joined her at the lectern. The lights adjusted for him and he looked from face to face. “First, we take the navtank load, after which our support ship will withdraw from this area. Colonel Vidal’s Tac team will come aboard, and when they are satisfied the battle group is more than adequately accounted for, you may trigger your comm black out and scram the AI.

“As to the timing – Mr. Tarrant has actually returned the Omaru Militia to standby. The
Kiev
is in no further danger from colonial forces, though your crew can’t be made aware of this. The two officers remaining loyal to the Confederacy will be transferred to our support vessel. Be assured, they’ll be safe and accommodated to the same degree of comfort as I enjoy myself. If you’re in agreement, Colonel Rusch, I’d say … 120 minutes.”

She clicked over her chrono. “And we’re counting. All right, people. Monitor your departments. Any factor changes, any slightest detail shifts, we need to know about it immediately. The schedule is flexible; the success of this initiative is
not
. Doctor Hernandez, get your patients ready to transport. Feed them any story you like to get their cooperation. Colonel Vidal, place your Tac team on standby. They’re coming here on the Trofeo after Majors Gould and Watanabe have been transferred to our support ship. Doctor Hernandez, I’d rather the prisoners be sedated and shipped under Quarantine conditions to isolate them from any opportunity to take action, should they get an inkling of what’s actually happening.”

Hernandez was already moving. “You want the buggers in cryogen? I can tank ’em, no problem.”

“Colonel Vidal,” Rusch challenged, “can you transport two cryotanks aboard the Trofeo? Forgive me, I’m not terribly familiar with the craft.”

“Give me a moment.” Vidal touched his combug. “Perlman?”

The plane was on standby, and both Perlman and Fargo would be monitoring the
Kiev
’s general tech loop. Vidal’s call came in on the encrypted band. Marin listened intently as she said, “Yo.”

“You got space in the cargo locker to slide in two cryotanks?” Vidal asked baldly.

“With about a centimetre on each side, if I unload the emergency kit,” she told him tautly. “Who’s been hurt?”

“Prisoner transfer, the easy way. Set it up, Gill. I’ll get back to you.” Vidal clicked off the combug. “Doctor Hernandez, tank the pair of them and give us a hoy for transportation.”

The CMO was short, thickset, with blonde hair liberally shot through with silver, cut in a severe style that might have been chic but did nothing for her. The accent was not merely Borushek, but uptown Sark, Marin thought – the foothills, where the suburb of Carmichael petered out into a rural landscape. How old she was, he could not guess, but she walked with the kind of stiff gait suggesting biocyber joints, which might put her age at around a century – or had she been rebuilt after an accident, even military service?

“Give me fifteen minutes, Colonel,” she said to Rusch as she headed out. “And I’ll crank up the OR … I’ll tell my staff we’re testing systems, but if this thing does turn into a shooting party, at least we’ll be ready.”

“A shooting party?” Travers echoed.

“A short one.” Marin pushed away from the bulkhead where he had been leaning and stepped aside to allow the
Kiev
’s CMO to pass by. She was coming up the aisle and he dropped his voice. “Confederate loyalists will be outnumbered about two hundred to one on any Fleet ship. There could be a handful of non-commissioned officers, maybe one or two of the junior officers, who’d love to make trouble. Twenty, maybe thirty people on the whole ship. If they try to get in the way someone, somewhere, is going to grab an opportunity for vengeance, even justice. In the end, it’s all the same.”