Wrath of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (19 page)

He called for two troopers to escort her off the ship. The walked down the ramp and got into the ground car while Smetana held the door for her. They drove back to the Magellan.

“Any problems?” Blas asked her.

“I’m not sure. He’s declared martial law, and he tried to stop the Magellan leaving. He said something about a fault in the control tower, but I think it’s just another delaying tactic.”

“Yes, it is. Although, the control tower can broadcast an automatic override to stop any ship moving in or out of the spaceport. It’s a security feature, in case there is a massive systems failure.”

“Is it a problem?” she asked with a worried expression on her face.

“It could be if he’s activated it, yes. It’s clever, because it enables that bastard to pretend he’s blocking anyone leaving for their own safety.”

“So what do we do?”

“We create a lot of damage.”

Back aboard the Magellan the crew were preparing for departure. Blas explained how they would get away. Captain Sharon had been assigned duties in the security block. They didn’t yet trust him. If would be easy for a marine officer to make an attempt to take back the ship.

“It’s like this. Because of all the constraints on us, the timing is critical. Once the Nebula starts broadcasting my message, they’ll assume we’re on board. Five minutes after the ship will blast off, or attempt to. I’ll target the ships’ batteries on the control tower. Three minutes after the broadcast begins, the Nebula’s guns will destroy the control tower. That’ll put paid to the override. We need to be ready to take off instantly, so we’ll report an emergency because of the mayhem. Chances are they’ll assume it’s another rebel attack. Two minutes after we hit the control tower, the Nebula starts to take off and will explode. We need to be well away when it happens, so the timing is critical.”

“A famous man once said, ‘you win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect’.” They looked up at Xerxes Tell, who had joined them.

“That’s very true, Mr. President,” Blas replied. “Let’s hope he wasn’t one of Bartok’s people, otherwise they’ll be ahead of us.”

“He was no enemy, Mr. Blas. His name was Miyamoto Musashi and he was a swordmaster, one of the greatest ever. He died thousands of years before our time.”

“Maybe he’s got a descendant we can call on for help,” Blas suggested, to which Tell smiled.

“It’s always possible.”

The time drew nearer to the start of the broadcast. The comms officer reported to Rusal, “Sir, the Sword of Axia is hailing us. Admiral Bose intends to make a visit to the ship. He’s on his way over now.”

Rusal looked at the clock. “He’ll be expecting to see Admiral Voss. We need to delay him as the broadcast doesn’t start for another eight minutes.”

“I will deal with him,” Nightingale said.

“Can I help?” Evelyn asked.

She shook her head. “As a diplomat, he has to listen to me. If he sees you, he’ll recognize you and know something is wrong. Leave him to me.”

She disappeared from the bridge. They switched the screens through to the ramp and watched Nightingale reach the bottom, just as Bose stepped out of his ground transport. She stood and waited for him to come to her. When he arrived, her gaze was not friendly.

“Admiral, I wasn’t aware that you were about to visit.”

“No,” he replied. “I decided to make a snap inspection of the spacedock. Those rebels might try another attack. I’m looking at all of our defenses, which includes the ships, of course.”

“How very wise and thoughtful you are for our safety, Admiral. I will be sure to commend you to our beloved President Bartok.”

Bose hadn’t got to his position without having a nose for politics. The mention of the President was unlikely to be an accident.

“What does the President have to do with anything?”

“Admiral, don’t you know that all planetary Ambassadors have an audience with the President on their return to Axis Nova? I will, of course, report how well you have performed in your duties.”

Why had she mentioned it? “I thank you for that. You can tell him I was concerned enough for your safety to search your ship.”

“Search my ship! Are you mad? You know that a diplomatic vessel cannot be touched.”

“Ambassador, this is an emergency. We are checking every ship and every building for possible infiltrators.” How dare a mere woman defy him?

“That is your concern, not mine. But you will not dare to set foot on a diplomatic vessel. Any man that walks uninvited up this ramp becomes an outlaw and will be dealt with as such.”

“You do not include me, of course?”

“You would be well advised not to do anything to make yourself an outlaw. Now, Admiral, I have work to do and to prepare my report for the President. I suggest you attend to your own legitimate business and leave me to mine.”

He leaned closer to her so that no one else could hear. “I’ll make you pay for this insult.”

She fixed him with an icy glare. “Admiral, you are one step from me declaring you persona non grata on Cadmus. You will either leave at once or be arrested as an outlaw. Now get out!”

He stormed away, and Nightingale grinned as he snarled at his men, sending them running all over the spaceport to assuage his thundering rage. She walked up the ramp and went straight to the bridge.

“How long before the show starts?” she asked Blas.

“You cut it a bit fine! The balloon goes up in less than two minutes.”

She nodded at him as she rejoined Evelyn and Xerxes Tell. “The sooner we rid ourselves of that arrogant pig the better. I never knew why they kept him leading the military after he was defeated.”

“They needed people like him,” Evelyn said. “If you plan to steal a government and run the people into poverty and ruin, in order to build your own fortune, there are bound to be many protests. That’s where Rad Bose and his ilk are needed. They bully, they threaten and they murder.”

“I have already decided that there will be no more people like him, no religious fanatics in positions of authority when my government is restored,” Tell said.

“That’s fine,” Blas said. “But the shit’s about to hit the fan. The broadcast is about to start,” He checked his watch. “Now!”

They heard Blas’ voice clearly over the bridge speaker.

“This is Constantine Blas, on board the Nebula. We have Xerxes Tell, the legitimate President of the Nine Systems. We are at present at Settler City spacedock on Planet Cadmus. Our ship is about to take off for the start of a journey that will only end when we finally take Axis Nova and restore the authority of the President you voted for. The traitor Fabian Bartok has stolen your government from you, and it is time that he was thrown out. Citizens of the Nine Systems, join us, fight once more for your freedom from the thieves and robbers that have stolen everything from you. Remember who you voted for. Remember Xerxes Tell, your President. We march to victory, always for freedom.”

The message started to repeat itself. They watched the screens and saw Rad Bose’s ground car racing across the spacedock towards the control tower.

 
“One minute before the Nebula starts shooting,” Blas reminded them.

They watched Bose reach the tower, but he changed his mind and the ground car swerved away and started to turn. It started back to the Sword of Axia.

“Ten seconds.”

Bose was halfway back to his ship when the first salvo hit the control tower. More salvos hit adjacent buildings, and a warship was hit and almost toppled over. They saw vapor underneath the Nebula as her engines came to life. The salvos were only at low power, the immense power that sent a ship’s lasers hundreds, even thousands of miles distant, required the ship’s engines to be running at full speed in the void of space. But even at low power it was enough. Rusal looked up from his console.

“That’s it, the control tower restraints are off. One of the salvos scored a direct hit. We can leave any time we like. Main engines start! Engine room, we need to lift off as soon as possible.”

They acknowledged. Rusal looked across at Blas. “Constantine, take us out of here, now!”

“With pleasure, Admiral. Nightingale, it’s time for you to do your stuff.”

She moved to the comms console and started to transmit on the guard frequency.

“This is Magellan. We are a diplomatic flight bound for Axis Nova. We have detected a spaceport emergency, so we are about to initiate an emergency take-off. Do not attempt to interfere with a diplomatic flight.”

There was no answering hail. Bose was still driving back towards his flagship. They lifted off and watched the screens that monitored the ground. Below them the Nebula was starting to lift off too. She reached a height of two hundred feet when the vessel exploded and a torrent of molten plasteel and electronic debris fell back to the ground. They saw Bose’s ground car caught in the explosion. It was swept a hundred feet to the side, tumbling over and over. It came to rest in the upright position, but it seemed doubtful that he had been badly hurt. They reached the outer orbit of Cadmus and Blas gave orders to spool up the fusion boosters. They had the coordinates for Planet Isolde plotted ready, and thirty seconds later they felt the slight kick as their vessel moved into hyperspace.

“You know they’ve strengthened the defenses after the last attacks,” Rusal said, coming to speak to Blas. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“It wasn’t easy last time, Admiral. But this time, we’ve at least got diplomatic protection. We also have three Orphexians on board, so they should help us cut through some of the problems.”

“I hope so. We need the ships on that planet, Constantine, more than ever. Short of persuading the navy to stage a mutiny, I don’t know of any other way to get them.”

“A mutiny!” Blas was thoughtful. “That would be useful. Is there any way we can get a message across to the crews?”

“We could send a continuous loop transmission on the guard frequency, but that would give away our position. What we need is the communications satellites, the relays that broadcast all over the Nine Systems. The problem is we can’t just break into them with our own message as they’re very secure.”

“We need a virus, Admiral. Is there anyone we know who can program computer viruses?”

Rusal shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of, but I’ll put the message out on the ship’s internal broadcast system.”

It took less than ten minutes for a young officer to appear on the bridge.

“Ensign Jan Maddox, Sir. You’re asking for someone with virus programming experience?”

“That’s right, son. How much do you know?”

He looked embarrassed. “Admiral, officially, I work in the ship’s data security section. We monitor all activity through the ship’s systems for malfunctions, viruses, stuff like that.”

“And unofficially?” Rusal smiled encouragingly. “Come on, this is off the record. I’m looking for someone who can do something illegal for me.”

“Right, Sir. Well, in my spare time I do hack into government security networks. It’s just an exercise to keep my skills current, but it also helps to detect weakness in the security.”

Rusal looked deep into his eyes. “Did your superior officer know what you were doing?”

“Er, yes, Sir. Some of the time.”

“It’s alright, Maddox. I’m asking because I need the skills you appear to have, and I’m not about to report you. If this works out, it could even mean a promotion.”

“In that case, what do you want me to do?”

“I need you to build a virus that will spread across the communications satellites of the entire Nine Systems, one that will continuously broadcast a message loop. You know that President Tell is on board, that he didn’t die when they said he did? That the current so-called President, Fabian Bartok, is an impostor, even a murderer?”

“We all know now, Sir. It’s an outrage.”

“It is. I want you to tell humanity what’s been done in their name.”

Ensign Maddox was no fool. “You want to start a rebellion inside the Navy.”

Rusal nodded. “Exactly. How long will it take?”

The young officer pulled a complicated device out of his pocket and started punching keys.

“It’ll be about three months before the net is completely covered, until then the message will disseminate from satellite to satellite and be heard by an increasing number of people. The increase would be exponential.”

“You can’t do it any quicker?”

“No, not really, Admiral. Not without being detected and having them block access to their networks.”

“Very well, Maddox. Get started, I’ll get the message to you later today.”

“We’re coming up on Isolde, Admiral,” Blas said. “How do you want to tackle this?”

“A straightforward diplomatic mission, Constantine. Perhaps you would ask Nightingale to come and have a word with us?”

A minute later the beautiful and enigmatic Orphexian diplomat came and sat with them.

“How can I help?”

“Nightingale, can you invent a plausible excuse to get us down on Isolde?”