The Cold Steel Mind (31 page)

‘We fight or die trying…’ Part began, his own face flushing red.

‘Oh no,’ Aneka said rising to her feet. ‘No, you’ll just die.
You
will die, Vice Admiral. Not men on ships you’ve sent out to face impossible odds. Frankly, your ships are irrelevant. If it came down to it, they would be ignored. If you really pushed this to a war then there won’t be a fight.
You
will be crushed. Chop off the head and the body dies. Basic strategy. They’ll eliminate chains of command. Destroy the Senate, take out strategic military installations, and then ignore the scraps that are left.
They
don’t believe in war, never mind total war.’

She turned and headed for the door, irritated when it did not open fast enough, and stopped outside. Drake appeared a second or two later, a hand on her back pushing her gently down the corridor and away from the idiots in the conference room.

‘Part’s never been in an actual battle,’ he said, his voice low. ‘Unfortunately he’s typical of the upper command.’

‘What did he mean? About your response being what he expected?’

Drake was silent for a second. ‘I used to command a frigate. We were sent in to take out a pirate base on the Rim. Intelligence was unsure of the strength of the base, but one of the Vice Admirals assured the Admiralty that one Navy frigate was more than a match for a few pirates. He staked his life on it, he said.’

‘But he staked yours. How many lost?’

‘There were three survivors from a crew of fifteen. I only survived because my XO dragged me onto an escape pod unconscious.’

‘Shit.’

‘I was blamed. They decided not to court martial me because even they weren’t that hypocritical. I left before they could discharge me for some trumped up reason. The men in there, they got there by being ready to put other people’s lives on the line while they sit behind a desk and figure out how to one-up their competition.’

Aneka nodded. She did not really know what to say. There was nothing she
could
say that would not sound like a platitude… ‘We need a demonstration,’ she said. ‘We need to talk to Winter.’

‘About what?’

‘I need a target dummy and some of my kit from the Garnet Hyde,’ Aneka replied, ‘and they are
not
going to let me have it without her say-so.’

Bemused, Drake stretched his legs to catch up as Aneka marched away from him towards where her in-vision map indicated the spy mistress could be found. Whatever the girl was planning, her tone suggested it was going to be good.

~~~

Aggy’s golden-skinned image appeared in the wall of the mansion’s dining room, smiling brightly. ‘Good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to say that I have been given preliminary clearance by the Federation’s security people and can now assist you via secure comm-link.’ She was demonstrating the fact by actually almost appearing to be with them; her image displayed in the full-wall virtual screen seemed as though it was standing in an extension of the room.

‘Welcome back, Aggy,’ Ella said, beaming. ‘They haven’t treated you badly, have they?’

‘I have been treated very equitably,’ Aggy replied. ‘The people working with me have all been very nice. Actually, one of the technicians seems rather infatuated with me. He keeps saying that he’d love to get a look at my gel packs, though I hadn’t the heart to tell him I don’t have any.’ Her gaze sought out Drake. ‘The Garnet Hyde is still fully functional, Captain. There has been no damage. It appears that they are more concerned that the repairs were carried out within regulation tolerances.’

Drake laughed. ‘Yeah, that sounds about right. Was it?’

‘So far they have not found anything which does not exceed their requirements by a significant margin.’

‘That makes sense too.’

Aggy’s eyes turned towards Aneka. ‘I received orders to transfer your weapons trunk over to the station approximately twenty minutes ago, Aneka. You were aware of this?’

Aneka nodded. ‘Winter arranged it. It’s being sent down here. Oh yeah, I need a volunteer for a little demonstration. Winter says she can have everything ready for tomorrow morning.’

‘I’ll do it!’ Ella burst out, enthusiastically raising her hand. After a fraction of a second she added, ‘What have I just volunteered for?’

Aneka grinned at her. ‘You’ll love it. I’ll find a nice, hunky marine to help us.’ Ella’s eyes narrowed. ‘I can find you one with big tits instead.’

‘I’m going to regret this, I know it.’

21.12.524 FSC.

The four Vice Admirals along with Winter, Elroy, and most of the Garnet Hyde’s crew, were gathered outside the room Aneka and Ella were sharing at nine in the morning the following day. There was also a marine, the best-looking, most muscular one Aneka had been able to find. The naval officers were looking impatient when the window opened up and Aneka and Ella walked out, not that Aneka cared. They were also looking a little perplexed that they were standing near a large trunk and there was a suit of heavy armour about fifty metres away across the lawn.

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Aneka said. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll get started straight away so that I don’t waste too much of our day.’

‘I should think…’ Part began, his voice cutting off as he saw the glare Winter was directing at him.

‘There is a… point of contention,’ Aneka continued as though he had not spoken, ‘between those of us who have actually seen the ex-Xinti AIs and the naval staff sent to evaluate the threat regarding whether it is viable to conduct a war against them. I can’t demonstrate the futility of it properly, because Winter won’t let me destroy half the planet…’

‘I’d like to point out that I denied her no such thing,’ Winter interrupted.

‘Okay, because I don’t have a big enough gun,’ Aneka amended. ‘I can demonstrate on a smaller scale.’ She turned to Ella, who was looking nervous dressed in the shipsuit the AIs had given her on Negral. ‘Ella is modelling a standard issue shipsuit, as made for her by the fabrication systems on Negral. I’d like you to note that this is
not
combat armour.’ She gave Ella a nod and the girl started, reluctantly, towards where the big suit of powered armour was standing.

While she was walking, Aneka stepped over to the marine. ‘Ensign Gerald here is armed with a standard, military laser rifle. Ensign, would you tell everyone the basic characteristics of your rifle?’

‘Ma’am,’ Gerald snapped. ‘This is a Crawford-Patrick M-three-thousand polychromatic laser weapon with a thirty-eight kilojoule output. Blundell Photodynamics optics give it an effective range of two thousand metres and a maximum range in atmosphere of six thousand metres.’

‘And this is the standard rifle used for light squad support and sniper duties, Ensign?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

Aneka nodded, her eyes flicking down to where Ella had arrived at the armour and was standing in front of it, waiting. ‘Ensign Gerald was selected because, according to his lieutenant, he has the highest marksmanship rating of the guard squad here. That’s important because I’m now going to ask him to shoot at Ella.’ She gave the big man a grin. ‘In the chest if you would. I like her face the way it is.’

Gerald had been told what was going to happen, but he had not seen Ella before then, nor the outfit she was wearing for the demonstration. He gave Aneka a questioning look, receiving a firm nod in reply. Then he picked up his rifle, took
very
careful aim, and pulled the trigger, a half-second burst, just as he had been taught. The beam was an incandescent stream of white light which burned through the air leaving ionic sparks in its wake and then burst into a flare of polychromatic light as it impacted right between Ella’s small breasts. When the light died it left Ella blinking at them, apparently none the worse for the attack. She started back across the grass, still blinking.

‘I told you to close your eyes,’ Aneka said as she approached.

‘I forgot,’ Ella said, pouting. ‘I’ll be fine once the blurry patches have settled down.’

Aneka grinned at her. ‘Show the Ensign he hasn’t hurt you, love. I think he was a little worried.’

Reaching to her collar, Ella undid her suit down to her waist showing the pink skin underneath. ‘No damage,’ she said. ‘Didn’t even feel warm.’ Gerald looked relieved sure enough.

Aneka started towards her trunk. ‘Okay, aside from the energy-absorbent cloth, Ella’s suit has a laser-refractive layer that scatters coherent light. We could replicate that and coat that armour down there with it, but it’s not as effective against x-ray and gamma-ray beams which you don’t have and the AIs do.’ She pressed her thumb against the lock on the trunk, that and her transponder code unlocking it. ‘However I figured you’d be more impressed with this.’ And she lifted her rifle out of the trunk.

Gerald let out an approving whistle and Aneka smiled at him. ‘This is a supped-up version of a magnetic accelerator rifle. It uses a graviton pulse instead of a magnetic effect, accelerating a hyper-dense needle to a respectable percentage of the speed of light. Effective range is four thousand metres and it’ll hit something at twelve kilometres. On impact the slugs basically vaporise into plasma, forming a shaped jet like an armour-piercing grenade. Let me demonstrate…’

Raising the gun she sighted down the lawn at the armoured chest and squeezed the trigger. There was a thud as the needle left the barrel and then a flare of brilliant light as it hit the chest plate. Aneka shouldered her rifle. ‘Let’s go see the damage, shall we?’

The hole in the high-density bonded laminate was still smoking when they got there. Gerald blinked at it and then activated the opening mechanism which hinged the chest plate aside and hinged the body back. Even before it got that far they could see carbon scoring on the padding at the back of the suit’s interior. Gerald peered at the inside of the chest plate anyway.

‘Burned clean through,’ the Ensign said. ‘I don’t suppose I could get one of those?’

Aneka laughed. ‘Again, yes. We can replicate this technology if we want to. However, the AIs have technology that can stop these weapons too. Even the anti-matter weapons the Xinti were famous for can be stopped.’ She turned her gaze on Part and the other Vice Admirals. ‘Have I made my point yet?’

‘I don’t know about them,’ Elroy said, ‘but I’m convinced. The Senate will give orders that no aggressive action is to be taken against the AIs.’

‘Senator…’ Part began.

‘
No
aggressive action,’ Elroy repeated. ‘If the Admiralty cannot grasp that, we will find someone who can. Ensign Gerald appears to have mastered the concept. Perhaps he’d like to be promoted to Vice Admiral?’

‘No, sir,’ Gerald replied emphatically, which produced a round of laughter, which was just what was needed to break the tension.

‘I suggest we get on with the rest of our business,’ Elroy said, turning back towards the mansion.

Winter’s hand closed briefly around Aneka’s arm. ‘Well done,’ she said in a low voice, before she too headed for the building. Aneka started towards her trunk to put the rifle away.

‘You, uh,’ Gerald said, sounding uncertain. ‘You don’t think he’d really make me a Vice Admiral, do you?’

‘I think he was just making a point,’ Aneka replied, flashing him a grin.

‘Thank Vashma. That’s the last job I want. The responsibility would be terrible and you turn into an asshole as soon as you get it.’

Aneka laughed. ‘That would explain the Admiralty.’

~~~

Aneka heard soft footfalls coming in her direction and opened her eyes. She had expected to see one of the guards, though the direction of the sounds should have told her otherwise. Ella was walking out from their room across the lawn which had been their firing range that morning. Now it was mid-afternoon and Aneka had had nothing much to do aside from lie in the sun all day. The sight of the redhead dressed in a bikini, which deserved the name only by virtue of having two parts, was something of a relief.

‘Get let out of school early?’

Ella smiled. ‘They didn’t need me anymore, no. So I have the rest of the day to lounge around like you.’ She spread a fluffy, white towel on the grass beside Aneka’s and lay down with a sigh.

‘Why are you wearing that bikini? It barely covers anything.’

‘You’re topless,’ Ella replied.

‘And you’re wearing string with glandular swellings.’

‘Well, the guards might walk past.’

‘They’ve been walking past all day. I don’t think I’ve even disturbed their patrols. I tell you, back in my day a half-naked woman on the lawn would have got more attention. I don’t think two will make a difference. And since when have you been modest?’

‘I’m not being modest, I’m just… avoiding any complications.’

‘Complications?’

‘Well, I don’t want the soldiers thinking I’m available.’

‘Still not over the men thing?’

‘No… When we get home we should try something easy with Kat and Dillon.’

‘Okay, but I have to tell you… That bikini isn’t fooling anyone.’

~~~

Elroy and Winter joined the team for dinner. It left everyone feeling a little uncomfortable, except Wallace who was too eccentric to care, and Cassandra and Gillian who were used to it, apparently. Aneka was fine about Winter, but she watched Elroy carefully for signs of what he was thinking. It was not easy. Luckily she had Al.

‘He seems relaxed,’ the AI said. ‘My conclusion would be that he believes he has the situation under control.’

‘Let’s hope he’s right.’

They were relaxing after the meal with glasses of wine, or what they called wine; Aneka was not so sure. Elroy stretched, very decorously for a tall man, and it was clear he was going to say something important.

‘Tomorrow morning we will go over what we’re planning to tell the press. I think we have everything covered now and the news channels are going to besiege this place if we keep you here much longer. A press conference has been arranged for tomorrow at twelve hundred. To control things I’d like to restrict that to Doctors Gilroy and Wallace, Captain Drake, and Miss Jansen.’

‘Me?’ Aneka asked. ‘I’m…’

‘The woman from Old Earth,’ Elroy said before she could continue. ‘You’re famous and they will be expecting to be able to ask you questions.’