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  The younger man nodded. "Actually, I'm Council Chair this term."

  "And you had me arrested-illegally,"

  D'Trelna snapped, feeling himself flush with anger.

  D'Assan waved a well-manicured hand. "As Council Chair, I can hold almost anyone, pending investigation. Fleet Security actually made the arrest-your ship is corsair-listed, Commodore. You didn't think you were just going to flit in, have a drink with the lads and muster out, did you?"

  "I'm a Fleet officer," said D'Trelna. "That's for Fleet to decide."

  D'Assan held up a hand. "Soon, Commodore, soon. But first, I wanted us to have a quiet talk, just us two, all alone in this rocky womb, safe from spy beams and snooper probes."

  D'Trelna nodded curtly. "Fine. What did you want to say, Councilor?"

  "That you are a fool," said D'Assan mildly. "That you've been deceived by a very charming fellow named R'Gal into believing that our society is infiltrated by AIs seeking to destroy us. In fact, it is the AIs who've made us what we are-literally."

  "Scum…!" growled D'Trelna, stepping toward the table, hands raised. "You know!"

  "Please don't make me use this," said D'Assan, a palm-sized needier suddenly appearing in his hand. "You've no idea the number of reports your great mound of a body would require."

  The commodore paused in mid-stride, fists clenched at his side. "You're one of them-a machine, a combat droid from Combine T'Lan."

  D'Assan shook his head, "No. Just a man, trying to do something right for his people in the brief time I have, as a councilor and a man."

  "Pretty," said D'Trelna. "You should be a politician."

  "Back up, please, Commodore," said D'Assan, flicking the needier. He set the weapon on the table top as D'Trelna complied.

  "Let me tell you something, Councilor…" began the commodore.

  "No, sir," interrupted D'Assan. "Let me tell you what you're going to tell me, then I'll tell you why it's wrong." He swept on before D'Trelna could speak.

  "You're going to tell me that you took your ship into Blue Nine, the Ghost Quadrant, and there battled machines and monsters and ancient nightmares out of our past, and against terrifying odds, you fought free and have come to warn us all." He nodded. "You're a brave and resourceful commander. My compliments, sir."

  "Go to hell."

  "Hell is precisely where your warning would take us, D'Trelna," said D'Assan with a wry smile. "Artificial intelligences-AIs -built this civilization, working from within, guiding us through the long rise to the stars, helping us win the war against the S'Cotar…"

  "Blood and steel won that war, D'Assan," said D'Trelna.

  "… and now you'd expose the presence of this helping hand to mass hysteria and mob violence-undo a millennia-old friend who's given everything and asked nothing in return."

  The commodore stared at D'Assan for a long moment. "You are speaking of our preeminent industrial combine, Combine T'Lan?" he said carefully.

  D'Assan nodded.

  "Do I understand?" continued D'Trelna. "You believe the T'Lan AIs to be responsible for all that is good and great, the noble benefactors of we small creatures?" "Well, that's a bit of an exaggera-" "I don't know what sweet crap you've been fed, Councilor, but the Combine T'Lan AIs are infiltrators from a parallel universe-a universe that has an AI empire ruling subjugated races such as ours. An empire against which a valiant few men and AIs revolted, lost, fled to this reality and founded this civilization, millennia ago. That Empire, Councillor, has sworn vengeance upon us. The T'Lan AIs are the vanguard of that vengeance that even now is sweeping down toward rift in the Ghost Quadrant-a rift guarded by a handful of mindslavers of dubious loyalty. The Fleet of the One is coming, Councilor D'Assan, and they won't leave until we're all dead." He paused, breathing hard.

  "D'Trelna," said D'Assan after a moment, shaking his head, "it's the grand lie, grandly told.

  "One of the greatest moments of my life, Commodore, was when Combine T'Lan selected me for training. Me, D'Trelna"-he touched his hand to his chest-"a slum kid from 8'Lag Two with nothing but a bleak future in some stagor mine ahead of him. They took me, they sent me to the best schools, trained me, groomed me for my career. And then, the ultimate trust, they revealed themselves to me, and explained everything."

  D'Assan looked beyond D'Trelna for a moment, eyes shining with the beatific vision of that revelation. The look vanished and he waved a finger at D'Trelna.

  "It's Combine T'Lan who are the outcasts, Commodore. It's your friend R'Gal who is of the old order-an infiltrator, a subvertor even now leading your friends to destruction."

  That shook D'Trelna. "How do you know about R'Gal and…"

  "And the battleglobe they've 'captured'?" D'Assan smiled. "R'Gal's communications to his friends here are monitored."

  D'Trelna shook his head. "Sweet crap again, Councilor. Combine T'Lan undoubtedly's in touch with their home universe. It knows about the capture of the battleglobe."

  "Fine." D'Assan seemed to have reached a decision. "My final argument. If I am the unknowing dupe of alien slime, why haven't I or they had you killed, Commodore? Why am I discussing this with you, civilized being to civilized being?"

  D'Trelna thought about that for a moment. "Two reasons: one, a convert is always more useful than a corpse, and two, Captain My Lord H'Nar L'Wrona, Hereditary Lord Captain of the Imperial Guard and Margrave of U'Tria-my friend and your enemy. A strong and influential man whom you'd use me to weaken-if I bought your 'grand lie, grandly told.'" He folded his arms and waited impassively.

  D'Assan stood, expressionless. "We won't be seeing each other again, Commodore," he said, touching the door signal set in the wall.

  D'Trelna didn't turn as the thick slab of gray battlesteel slid open-not until he saw amazement and consternation cross D'Assan's face. "Admiral L'Guan," said the councilor, recovering with a warm smile. "An honor."

  The Grand Admiral of the Fleet stepped into the room. He was an impressive figure, from his silver mane of perfectly coiffeured hair to the soles of his gleaming handmade boots-elegant in brown and gold uniform, twin comets of silver on his collar. Ignoring D'Trelna, he smiled at D'Assan, nodding. "Councilor."

  "To what do I owe…"

  "The pleasure?" said L'Guan. "Well, I was here to see Commandant W'Tal off to his new posting…"

  "You've replaced the Commandant?" said D'Assan uneasily.

  "Why, yes. Promoted to Admiral Second and posted to Red Seven Quadrant-we've still got a corsair problem out there."

  "He'll be delighted, I'm sure," murmured D'Assan. "I believe the corsair problem has claimed Red Seven's last five senior field officers."

  "While talking with W'Tal," continued the admiral, "I was advised that not only had Implacable been captured, but that DTrelna was being held on Council warrant pending transfer to Fleet. So I'm here to take him in tow." Reaching into his tunic, he removed a folded piece of paper.

  D'Assan read the transfer receipt. "All in order and still warm from the printer," he said, folding the document and tucking it away. "You work quickly, Admiral." He took a communicator from his pocket. "I'll ask the commandant to give you an escort."

  L'Guan placed a firm hand on the other's wrist, forcing hand and communicator to the table top. "Not to worry, Councilor. I have a battalion of commandos with me." As if on cue, two black-and-silver-uniformed commando officers appeared in the doorway.

  "Then I'll be going," said D'Assan. "Good day. Admiral."

  "Good day, Councilor," said L'Guan.

  The admiral and the two officers stepped aside as D'Assan left.

  "Bring the prisoner to the commandant's office," ordered L'Guan. Not looking at D'Trelna, he left the room.

  D'Trelna and the two officers fell in behind L'Guan, footsteps echoing in time down the long gray passageways of the Tower.

  "Spaceport," said the cabdriver.

  L'Wrona looked up from his notes. The lights of K'Ronarport filled the right window. "Drop me at facility thirty-eight, ple
ase."

  The cabbie's eyes flicked to the passenger monitor, reassessing his fare. Facility 38 was the private docking area, reserved for the space yachts. Only the heads of industrial combines and the wealthiest members of the old aristocracy could afford even the smallest of starships and their upkeep. A Fleet captain's annual pay would cover about a quarter of the monthly maintenance fee on a one-man flitter.

  "You own or just leasing, sir?" said the driver, bringing the craft in on the roof of facility 38.

  "Own," said the captain, putting away his notes. "What happened to the lights?" he asked as they settled with a whining of ngravs. Facility 38 was never busy, but before the war the entryway had always been brightly lit. Now only a solitary light shone, far in the distance near the lift.

  'Some crazy idea during the war," said the cabbie, gunning L'Wrona's chit through the meter. The fare duly processed, the passenger bubble swung open. "Cut all the rooftop lights in case of a S'Cotar raid-as if anything could get past Line." He handed back the chit. "Safe trip, Captain."

  "Thank you. Good night." -

  It started to rain as L'Wrona began the long walk across the rooftop-rain from the violent sort of fast-moving storm that swept in from the desert. Lightning and thunder flashed and boomed around L'Wrona as he hurried through the sudden sheets of rain, using the brief illumination of the lightning to search the shadows. The rooftop to either side was a maze of ventilator shafts and instrument arrays vaguely perceptible as low, hazy humps.

  This place is a Tugayee's delight, thought the captain, jogging for the lift.

  The next lightning bolt was seconded by a much smaller but well-aimed bolt that snapped just over L'Wrona's head, sending him diving for the cover of an instrument pod as two more weapons flashed, fusion bolts knifing through where the captain had just been.

  Two ahead, one to the left, he recalled, low-crawling from the pod to a ventilator shaft. Listening intently, he first heard only the sound of his own breathing and the dying thunder as the storm moved back out into the desert. Then he heard the birdcalls-low but distinct, one chirp answering another from three different directions.

  Tugayee, thought L'Wrona. Assassins' guild journeymen, trained from birth and screened through long years of deadly assignments.

  A capable officer and a crack shot, L'Wrona was no match for three of the Confederation's most adept killers. He realized that, even as the chirps ended and the Tugayee closed in, his position fixed.

  Hunching cold and frightened on the rooftop, L'Wrona did something no margrave had done for centuries: pressed the hidden switch beneath his sidearm's grips and pulled forward the trigger guard. The coat of arms set in the grips-crossed sword over spaceship, rampant-glowed softly in response.

  "Torgan," said L'Wrona softly, weapon to his mouth. "Astan holga shakar."

  Responding to the old High K'Ronarin, the weapon rose, hovered over the ventilator for a second like a scenting hound, then was gone, leaving L'Wrona pressed against the shaft, armed only with a boot knife and a deep faith in the lost technology that had forged his pistol.

  Two blasters fired almost together, somewhere off in the darkness, then a brief silence followed by the shrill and explosion of one more shot, this time nearer.

  Something dark dropped from the top of the ventilator housing, landing a few feet in front of L'Wrona-a slight figure swathed in black from head to toe, only a pair of wary eyes exposed. "Drop the blade," she said with a slight flick of her blaster. It was an M59A-a section leader's model, L'Wrona noted, dropping his knife-a top line infantry weapon supposedly in the hands of only the Fleet Commando.

  "I don't know how," said the muffled voice, "but you got S'Ti and M'Tra-so you'll go slow, from the bottom up."

  She twisted the M59A's muzzle, converting the device from a weapon to a precision cutting torch.

  "Who hired you?" said L'Wrona as the Tugayee aimed the weapon at his groin.

  Before she could do or say anything, the captain's blaster appeared around the corner of an instrument cluster and blew the top half of the assassin's head away, returning to his grip as she fell.

  The heraldic device in the grips blinked twice-all clear-then, after a brief pause, the trigger guard closed.

  L'Wrona took a deep breath and looked up. The storm was gone, the air smelled sweet and new and he could see the stars. Turning, he walked quickly to the lift.

  4

  Two small specks of brightness against a great black sphere, Repulse and Dawn matched speed with the AI battleglobe, maintaining position between it and Terra.

  "Big," said Captain P'Qal, looking at the image of the battleglobe filling his main screen.

  "Big?" said S'Tat, looking at the captain. "It's a monster! Give me ten of those things and I'll break through Line and storm K'Ronar."

  "Why hasn't it fired yet?" said Captain S'Yatan, face small but distinct in P'Qal's commscreen.

  "Maybe they don't have anything small enough to stop us with," said P'Qal wryly.

  "Let's play this out, Number One," he continued, turning to the first officer. "By the book. Challenge and stand by all weapons."

  S'Tat nodded and turned to her console. "Confederation cruiser Repulse to unknown vessel. Identify and prepare to be boarded."

  Silence, then a burst of static as the main screen flickered. The image of the battleglobe vanished, replaced by that of a smiling young man in brown K'Ronarin duty uniform, commander's pips on his collar. "You did say board, Commander?"

  "Identify," said S'Tat tightly.

  The man shrugged. "Sure. Commander T'Lei K'Raoda, attached AI battleglobe Devastator under the command of Colonel R'Gal, K'Ronarin Fleet Counterintelligence Corps, with other indigenous personnel as prize crew."

  P'Qal was out of the command chair, staring incredulously at the screen. "You're telling us you took that mother, Commander? Captured that thing?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "And your previous ship?" said the captain.

  "L'Aal-class cruiser Implacable under Captain His Excellency H'Nar L'Wrona."

  P'Qal sat back down. "What the seven hells is going on here, K'Raoda? Implacable'^ corsair-listed-shoot-without-challenge. And where's your commodore, D'Trelna, who now owes me 432,581 credits, including accrued interest, from a b'kana game on S'Htar?"

  "You know the commodore, sir?" said K'Raoda.

  P'Qal nodded. "Shipped together as merchanteers for a few years. And we were in the same reserve unit on S'Htar, before the war."

  "What about our skipcomm relay?" said S'Tat. "Taking a little target practice with your new toy?"

  "We thought it best to talk with you before you sounded invasion alert," said K'Raoda. "Both the AIs and Fleet are after us."

  "We are Fleet," grumbled P'Qal.

  "I know, sir. Please come aboard." K'Raoda glanced offscan. "Vector in on homer frequency AAlRed. You can land on n-gravs right next to the operations tower."

  "We'll be logging that as a boarding, of course," said P'Qal.

  "Of course, sir," said K'Raoda. "You'll be just in time for dinner."

  S'Rel spoke into his communicator. "R'Gal is on board?"

  "In command," said the voice. "It's a battleglobe, all right-Devastator-Binor's flagship."

  "His no longer, it seems," said S'Rel. "Get us a shuttle up there. Now. I'm at CIA headquarters. Have New York clear it through Washington-set down on the roof. And bring everyone in our unit. I think we may be going home."

  Pocketing his communicator, S'Rel turned to find Sutherland staring at him across the desk. "Just what are you, S'Rel?" said the CIA director quietly, fingertips templed before his chin. "AI battleglobes have been seen only once in this galactic epoch-a mercifully brief appearance. Almost nothing's known about them, yet one shows up after lunch on a warm August day and you're familiar with its command history."

  "Fleet doesn't tell all its secrets, Bill," said S'Rel with a shrug. "No government does, as you well know."

  "Bullshit, buddy," said Sutherland, s
tanding. "While you were supervising the cleanup of our Amazon village, I took two squads on a last sweep of the area. Just for the hell of it, I decided to have another look at that anaconda. And guess what? It must have just been killed before I shot it-crushed. What I saw and reacted to were its death throes."

  "So?" said the K'Ronarin.

  "So what are you, S'Rel?" continued Sutherland calmly. "Not human, certainly. Not a S'Cotar or the alarms would be ringing. That leaves only one known possibility."

  S'Rel leaped the desk-an effortless, standing broad jump, done with only a slight flexing of the knees, the landing soft and silent. "An AI, right, Bill?" he said as Sutherland pressed against the glass wall, face as white as the ceiling tiles.

  "God deliver us from monsters," whispered the CIA director.

  Laughing, S'Rel stepped back a pace. "You're a paunchy, middle-aged bureaucrat, Sutherland," he said. "But you have style and you have guts." He held out his hand. "Welcome to the Revolt."

  "Well, we've boarded her," said S'Tat as Repulse settled onto the steel surface of the battleglobe. Two miles long and of proportional length and breadth, the K'Ronarin ship was just another machine on the bleak, airless surface of the machine fortress: fusion batteries with cannon half the cruiser's length, ugly black snouts pointing toward the shimmering blue of the shield; instrument pods and the domes of missile turrets, the largest of them the height of Repulse, interspacing the fusion batteries in row after serried row all the way to the horizon.

  "Nice place," said Captain P'Qal, watching the outside scan move across the bridge's main screen. "That, I gather, is the operations tower," he said, as the scan stopped, holding on the great black structure dwarfing the hull structures. Square and windowless, it seemed almost to touch the shield.

  "What's that on the top?" said S'Tat, frowning as she zoomed the scan. A stiff duraplast flag leaped into focus-silver and black, with a single golden dagger lying horizontally in its middle. "That looks familiar," she said uncertainly.

  "It's the battle flag of our Confederation," said P'Qal. "Find out if they're sending someone to get us, or if we have to walk. And tell S'Yatan to maintain position."