Annihilation (Star Force Series) (14 page)

I blinked, startled. I’d never even thought of the idea. It was alarming, but I guessed immediately that it might be possible. Even if you just hooked up a remote control camera to the rings and used the vibration system to transmit back the images…

“You know as well as I do that we’re both jamming the rings, sir,” I told him evenly.

“Yeah, right.”

General Kerr was watching me closely, and I knew I’d probably revealed too much with my face. Damn the man, he was cagey.

“Are you ready yet to make your formal proposal,” I asked, deciding it was a good time to switch the topic. “I’ve yet to learn exactly why you’re here.”

“Let’s start with the salad. I’m starved.”

“All right,” I said, and led them to the dinner table. I wasn’t quite sure why Kerr was stalling about delivering his message, but maybe it was his natural flair for the dramatic.

Sandra appeared when the dinner bell rang as if she’d been waiting for it. I knew that she had. One second there was a shadow in a doorway, the next she was seating herself at the table.

I had the kitchens lay out our finest fare. It was different from an Earth meal, naturally. We’d had some livestock and edible plants transported from Earth and grown here. Most of these had come with the refugee fleet I’d rescued last year, along with the majority of our civilian population.

I’d avoided eating the few goats, chickens and cattle we had. Instead, I wanted to use them as breeding stock and build up to a nice harvest next year. I explained this to Kerr and his people as we sat down to our first course.

“At the moment, we’d even made it illegal to eat most of our earthly foodstuffs,” I said. “Anything that can be used to grow more food—especially animal herds—has been protected. We’ve got a few things that are ready to harvest like coffee and beans, but most of our food comes from local alien crops. Eating unknown digestible has given us a few thousand tummy-aches, but we’ve sorted out what can be eaten and how to prepare it.”

“I can’t wait,” Kerr mumbled doubtfully.

We started with six platters of seafood.

“Most of these mollusks were flown in from Eden-6,” I explained. “Our hottest tropical world. Over ninety-five percent of Eden-6 is covered by seawater. The fishing is excellent in the shallower regions.”

“Mollusks?” Kerr asked doubtfully. “Forgive me for the ‘C’ I got in biology thirty years ago, but are you talking about
snails
, Riggs?”

I cleared my throat in annoyance. “Just try one, General. They’re toasted to perfection. Dip them in that garlic-butter sauce, you won’t be disappointed.”

Making a face, Kerr tried it and chewed doubtfully. After a few seconds, his face softened. “Weird-tasting.”

“Well, I quite like it,” said Alexa.

I glanced at her and smiled, but quickly took my eyes off her. Sandra was sitting at my side, and she watched me with careful interest.

The table was long and rectangular. Some of my staff had pushed for a circular table, saying it went with the knights-and-castle theme, but I’d refused. I wasn’t King Arthur, and this wasn’t some kind of egalitarian round table. I sat at the end of the big table with Kerr on my left and Sandra on my right. Most of Kerr’s staff members were placed close to us at the head of the table, with Miklos mixed in on the left side. Alexa was three seats down on my right, across from Kerr and Miklos, but on the same side as Sandra. I didn’t want to give Sandra any excuses to stare at the girl.

Sandra had been irritated when I’d allowed them to bring sidearms to the dinner table. I assured her it wasn’t a problem. A low caliber bullet was unlikely to bring down any marine, and we were armed too, with much more sophisticated weaponry. Our needlers could burn a hole through inch-thick steel—most likely before the Imperials could get a weapon out and aimed properly.

Real military people on the frontier felt naked without a weapon near at hand, and I understood that natural desire. We didn’t have many traditions in the Eden System yet, but we knew instinctively that a table full of armed men usually guaranteed a polite dinner would be had by all. Accordingly, I’d ordered all of my people to be armed at all times while in the presence of our visitors.

The salads came next, excellent bowls of green and blue vegetation. These were local to Eden-8, as was the main course. When the roasted air-swimmers were brought out, everyone sighed in anticipation. The smell alone was intoxicating. Even Kerr’s eyes lit up. I felt a surge of pride. If we had a single meat that could challenge anything from Earth, I was our fresh-killed and roasted air-swimmers.

We were talking in a lively fashion and just starting to dig in when I noticed Lieutenant Alexa Brighton. She was standing at attention. Her plate of air-swimmers lay before her, untouched.

Everyone quieted and stared. I felt Sandra tense. Most of us wore an expression of surprise. Sandra’s was one of dark suspicion. I knew she was ready to spring at the girl if she presented any kind of threat.

For once, I made no attempt to restrain Sandra. I didn’t like this either, and I decided Sandra’s natural paranoia might prove correct today.

General Kerr spoke first. “Yes, Lieutenant?” he asked formally. “Did you want to be excused?”

“No sir,” she said. She bit her lip. Her eyes didn’t meet any of ours. They stared off over our heads. She was standing at full attention, as one might do when on a parade ground. “I wanted to make a statement.”

The crowd had been murmuring, but now they fell quiet as a group. The clicking of forks and knives died with the whispers and speculations.

“There’s no need to be formal,” Kerr said softly. “We are all engaging in polite conversation.”

“No sir,” she said. “You don’t understand. This isn’t conversation.”

Kerr narrowed his eyes at her. His fork was poised in mid-air. He’d been devouring his air-swimmers with gusto, despite himself. Now, he placed the fork neatly beside his plate. He dabbed his lips with his linen napkin and sat back in his chair.

“Let’s hear it then. And I’m hoping it’s something that will make your father proud back home.”

Alexa glanced at him for a moment, then looked dead ahead again. “I don’t know about that, sir. But General Kerr, Colonel Riggs—I wish to defect. I’m formally resigning my commission from the Imperial forces. I would like to simultaneously submit my application for any role available in Star Force.”

The room fell into a deadly silence. Miklos and I exchanged glances. Miklos seemed as surprised as I was. I looked at Sandra and Kerr, but neither of them met my eyes. They were both staring at Alexa. Neither of them wore happy expressions.

“Now?” Kerr demanded. “
Now
you choose to announce you’re a traitor? This is a state dinner. You’ve embarrassed everyone here, most significantly your father back home. I formally reject your request to resign. I doubt Riggs would want you in any case.”

Alexa looked at me then, for the first time. There was a desperate look in her eyes.

“I—I await Colonel Riggs’ decision,” she said. “This is his territory. It’s his choice.”

There were a lot of eyes on me now. Everyone was in shock. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I was certain the girl had caused herself a great deal of trouble back on Earth if she was to be dragged home. Kerr would have her arrested and who knew what else. The Imperial government was not a soft one, by all accounts. It was an iron-fisted dictatorship.

My mind swam, trying to foresee the possibilities. If I accepted her plea, gave her my protection and granted her asylum, she might be able to give me invaluable intel on the Empire’s military. On the other hand, it would be a diplomatic nightmare. It was just the sort of incident that had occurred with regularity during the Cold War between the dictatorial East and the free West. I now understood what those leaders must have been thinking when these things had occurred on their watch.

“I’m surprised by your request,” I said at last. “I’m sure you can understand that. If I were to accept your application—and I’m only thinking about it now, mind you—I wouldn’t want that to sour the improving relationship between the Empire and Star Force.”

It was at that moment I heard a click. It was a quiet sound, almost inaudible under the boom of my own voice. But it was there, and it was unmistakable. Having been in military action for years now, the sound was very familiar to me.

Someone had drawn their weapon and readied it to fire.

-13-

Kerr was quiet and quick, but not smooth enough. Sitting on my left side, he had drawn his weapon under the table and aimed it carefully.

I didn’t have any time to think, or I might have pulled the blow. He was only a normal human, and one in his fifties at that. He’d been nanotized, but it looked to me as if he needed a fresh dose.

I knew I didn’t have much time. A single second, possibly less. I had to move now.

Sandra had heard the sound as well. Her senses were enhanced and so was her speed of movement. But she was across the table from Kerr, a good six feet away. She couldn’t get there before I did.

But she did act. I could feel her rise up behind me, looming and blocking the light. I didn’t know exactly what she was doing, and I didn’t have a split second to turn and look. Instead, I lifted my arm and brought it down on Kerr’s wrist. I brought it down hard—too hard.

There was a snapping sound and a sharp intake of breath. The gun clattered to the floor, dropped by numb fingers.

Kerr lifted his arm into view in shock. It had snapped down at a right angle. Both the bones in his forearm, the ulna and the radius, had been broken. The arm hung limply, his hand twitching feebly in an unnatural position.

With Kerr disabled, I had time to turn my attention to Sandra and the rest of them. There she stood, my crazy woman, right on the dinner table. She loomed over Kerr and had a pistol in her hand, trained with unwavering precision on his left eye socket.

Alexa, for her part, still stood at attention. Kerr had been aiming his gun at her, planning to shoot up through the table to kill the defector. I realized with sudden clarity that I’d doomed her in his mind. When I’d said I had not yet accepted her application for asylum, that meant she was still under his command and still his to execute if he wished to. The situation had unfolded so fast that I’d been taken by surprise.

“You’ve assaulted an Imperial officer on a diplomatic mission,” Kerr said through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’m not accustomed to having dinner guests shoot one another at my table—not unless I ordered the action myself.”

“Dinner is canceled,” Kerr said, hissing out the words in agony.

I looked at him and nodded. I couldn’t argue with that.

“Maybe we should adjourn for now,” I suggested. “We can pick up in a few days when you’ve recovered from this unfortunate accident.”

Kerr stood up, swaying slightly. Chairs rasped on flagstones. All his staff members stood up with him. The Imperials wore white faces that matched their uniforms.

“There might not be any further discussion,” Kerr said. “It’s up to you, Riggs. Do you want a deal, or do you want to abuse your guests and interfere with their internal politics? This is a serious diplomatic breach, and I can’t do anything more until I contact the Emperor and make a full report. I’m not sure how he will react.”

I looked glum. I knew exactly how Crow would react: with rage.

I stood up too, and now all the Star Force people stood with me. They were all as stiff and uncomfortable looking as the Imperials.

“I can understand that,” I said. “I don’t have a policy in this situation yet. I’ll arrest Lieutenant Brighton and place her in a holding cell.”

“Colonel Riggs?” called Alexa. “May I speak?”

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry to have caused you this difficulty. But may I point out you offered amnesty and protection to thousands of refugees from the Empire before this. They came out to you and found new homes. They’re all around us.”

I realized she was right, of course. But this situation was different. “Those people left with Earth’s blessing,” I said. “Once they entered our space I was obliged to protect them as civilians. You’re part of a military organization. You’ve sworn an oath to them.”

“Exactly,” interjected Kerr. “I demand that you remand the Lieutenant into my custody.”

I shook my head. “Given tonight’s incident, I can’t do that.”

“Then I must retire and seek medical aid.”

I watched him go and then turned back to Alexa with a grim expression. “That could have been handled better,” I said. “Couldn’t you at least have waited until after he made his proposals?”

“I’m sorry sir,” she said. “I was only thinking of myself. I’ve been building up my courage to make this move for months. I just had to try it tonight. I was afraid I’d lose heart and let the moment slide if I passed this by.”

I understood her, even if I was annoyed. It was a very human, emotional thing. I thought of her as a young woman in an abusive relationship. She had to move when she had the courage to do so.

But oh, how I wished now she had waited. I was in a dilemma now. The easy thing to do would be to quietly ship her back to the Empire. Perhaps to transfer her back to the battleship she’d come from bound and gagged. That way, very few would know what had transpired.