This Day All Gods Die (64 page)

—

and, by extension, for Warden Dios himself—

her response

to these troubling charges is of paramount importance."

Maxim acceded gracelessly. Scowling, he began, "In that case, Director Hannish—

"

Koina faced him with a cool smile. "A moment, please, Special Counsel. It's my job as UMCP Director of Protocol to answer your questions, and I'll do it. But first—

"

She shifted her attention to the Members and aides around the dais. At once her knees started trembling again.

Every eye in the room clung to her urgently. Several men and women were sweating profusely, as if the air-processing had broken down. Others looked dangerously pale.

As smoothly as she could, Koina rested a hand on the podium for support.

"Because I am the UMCP Director of Protocol," she stated as if she were in no danger, "my dedicated channel to UMCPHQ Center carries more information than the general downlink." She nodded toward her communications techs.

"Just now I received some" news which isn't publicly available yet.

"I think you should know that Punisher has come home."

Someone—

Tel Burnish?—

breathed fervently, "Good."

No one else spoke.

"Apparently," Koina went on, "her mission to 'retrieve'

Trumpet's people—

if that's the right word for it—

was suc-

cessful." Ensign Morn Hyland was in command of the cruiser. "She's joined our cordon of ships around Calm Horizons."

Deliberately she made no mention of Morn. She wasn't ready to go that far. She had no idea what Morn's improbable authority aboard Punisher might signify. And she wanted to mislead Cleatus Fane. If he'd already received the same information from HO, he might think that she suppressed Morn's name in order to protect the Dragon; that he and his master could trust her after all.

While Maxim fumed at the delay, Koina continued, "You all know that when Director Dios left UMCPHQ for Calm Horizons he named DA Director Hashi Lebwohl as acting director in his absence. No doubt Special Counsel Igensard will view Director Lebwohl's appointment in the worst possible light"—

subtly she tried to weaken the ground under Maxim's feet—

"but the simple fact is that at the time he was the highest-ranking UMCP officer on station. He became acting director by the plain logic of the chain of command.

"However, ED Director Min Donner has now returned aboard Punisher. Therefore Director Lebwohl has stepped down as acting director, and Director Donner has assumed those duties."

Although her manner was grave, Koina put a smile into her voice. "Frankly, I consider this good news. I respect Director Lebwohl more than the Special Counsel does, but after Warden Dios I can think of no one I would rather have command our defense than Min Donner."

A rustle of approval crossed the chamber. Her ploy was working. Warden and Hashi may have been suspect, but Min's reputation held firm. Even Maxim had admitted as much.

Unfortunately Koina's knees refused to stop trembling.

Her real work was still ahead of her.

"If this session had allowed you time to study the downlink," she informed the Members, "you would already be aware of at least one step Director Donner has taken for our protection. She's ordered the shutdown of our system-wide scan net. This deprives Calm Horizons of a valuable source of data."

Sen Abdullah interrupted her in a spasm of indignation.

"Blinded us?" he protested. "What is that supposed to accomplish?"

Koina had no military experience: she was out of her depth on such subjects. Nevertheless she retorted sternly,

"Calm Horizons has been blinded, Senior Member—

at least

in part. We haven't. Our ships can still share all the data they need with each other.

"Of course, the defensive's scan is more than adequate to maintain her proton cannon fix on us. That goes without saying. But she can no longer see everything in our solar system.

This gives our own ships greater flexibility. It may improve their effectiveness."

"I wouldn't have thought of it," Sixten muttered, "but it's probably worth a try. Hell, anything's worth trying."

Thank you, Koina told him silently. When she'd spoken to him from her shuttle earlier, she'd asked him for help with her decisions. At first he'd appeared to refuse her appeal.

You're a big girl, Koina. But then he'd given her more assistance than she'd ever expected.

With the Council and Cleatus Fane watching her, however, she couldn't afford to admit aloud how much she was in the old captain's debt. Instead she turned to look at Maxim.

"I'm ready now, Special Counsel." As ready as she would ever be without evidence. To some extent she'd succeeded at disrupting Igensard's sway. There was nothing left for her to do except answer his questions, defy the FEA, and pray that some kind of corroboration arrived in time to save Warden's hopes. "Where do you want to start?"

With her smile and her collegial manner, she made it as difficult as she could for him to treat her like an opponent.

But his particular hostility was impervious to her charm.

Apparently her interference with the role he'd arranged for himself confirmed her status as his enemy. The concentration in his gaze sharpened and swelled. He no longer fumed. Unlike a number of the people around him, he seemed proof against sweat. In a flash of insight, Koina guessed that any personal irritation he may have felt was subsumed by a larger ambition: to best her in front of the assembled Council; to wrest what he wanted from her despite her resistance.

To prove himself against her—

She had no idea what he wished to prove. Or to whom he wished to prove it. But she recognized the peril.

Maxim Igensard would stop at nothing.

"Unfortunately, Director Hannish, I have so many questions that I hardly know which one to ask first." He spoke to her, but he didn't look at her: he faced the Members—

and

Cleatus Fane. His stare seemed to quarter the room as if he were searching for weakness. "As I've already suggested, my investigation into the Angus Thermopyle case, and my concerns about what President Len calls 'the immediate crisis,'

have given me an almost global impression of corruption and wrongdoing. All of it must be accounted for, in one way or another."

"I agree completely," Koina put in earnestly. Maxim's voice wasn't particularly high or shrill, but it had a quality which reminded her of a sonic cutter. The longer he spoke, the more his tone abraded her nerves. Was the man incapable of making a point without all this self-righteousness?

"That's admirable, Director," he rasped in vexation. He didn't like being interrupted. "I hope you mean it.

"Since we must start somewhere," he resumed, "let me remind you of a statement you made moments ago. You said that Punisher's 'mission to "retrieve" Trumpet's people was successful.' As you confessed yourself, 'retrieve' is an interesting choice of words. You didn't say 'capture,' which is a duty we might reasonably expect of a UMCP cruiser. After all, Trumpet is a UMCP gap scout supposedly stolen by a convicted illegal and his accomplice. And you didn't say 'rescue,'

which might well be Punisher's appropriate response when a human ship is hunted by the Amnion.

"Director Hannish, what's so special about Angus Thermopyle and Milos Taverner that they have to be 'retrieved' instead of 'arrested' or 'saved'? Maybe if you can tell us that we'll begin to understand what both Punisher and Trumpet were doing in the Massif-5 system."

Koina met his opening with her best professional detachment. "A fair question, Special Counsel." Her tone betrayed none of the quivering in her legs. "I'll try to give you a fair answer.'

But if he didn't consider it necessary to look at her when he spoke, she saw no reason to reply as if her answer were directed at him. Leaning only slightly on the podium, she gazed out at the strained faces around her.

"However, I feel I should first explain that I was extensively briefed for this session. In one form or another Director Dios and I have discussed most of the issues which now confront the Council. He gave me explicit orders to answer the Special Counsel's questions as accurately as I can."

It was vital for the Members to understand that Warden had authorized everything she would reveal; that he'd instructed her to damn him.

"Bear with me, please. This gets complicated."

She paused as if to collect her thoughts; but in fact she was mustering her courage for a plunge which might carry humankind to disaster. Then she announced more formally,

"When Director Dios and Director Lebwohl addressed the Council by video conference a few days ago, they did not tell you the truth about Angus Thermopyle, Milos Taverner, and Trumpet.''

At her side she felt Maxim expand with vindication.

"Personally, I deplore this," she said. "Professionally, I grant that it may have been necessary." Necessary to advance Warden's struggle against Holt Fasner; to expose Fasner's responsibility for the UMCP's crimes. "Putting the matter crudely, Captain Thermopyle was being sent on a dangerous mission, and he needed 'cover.' Director Dios and Director Lebwohl lied to you in order to protect that mission. Any hint of the truth would have been fatal."

Vivid consternation roiled the chamber. Someone rasped,

"Fatal how?" Sigurd Carsin pronounced, "That's bullshit."

Other Members swore, muttered; consulted with their aides.

But Blaine Manse's voice carried over the protests and indignation.

Rising from her seat, she demanded, "Was anything we heard during that conference true? What about Director Lebwohl's statement that you gave one of your ensigns—

wasn't her name Morn Hyland?—

to a DA agent so he could

use her in some kind of covert operation against Thanatos Minor?"

Usually the Member for Betelgeuse Primary affected a bantering detachment from every subject except sex; but now an almost sensual anger throbbed in her tone.

"Director Lebwohl said something about faking an antimutagen for his agent to sell. And letting the agent have poor Morn Hyland so he could save himself by selling her if he got caught in his own trap."

Confronting Koina, Blaine wore her sexuality like an accusation. She may have guessed that Morn had been sold to Nick rather than given to him to sell elsewhere.

Hashi had said more. He'd told the Council, Ensign Hyland was irretrievably compromised. We believe Captain Thermopyle's vileness toward her beggars description. In our opinion no hospital or therapy can restore her.

Therefore we elected to make use of her in another way.

That was the truth; but it disguised more lies. More harm.

"Member Manse—

" Koina cleared her throat. "I'll answer you. I'll tell you all I know about it. But, as I say, the things I need to explain are complicated. It'll be easier to keep them straight if I take them in a different order."

For a moment the Member for Betelgeuse Primary held Koina's gaze. Then, apparently—

woman to woman—

she de-

cided to trust Koina. Pouting her frustration, she resumed her seat.

Under her breath, Koina murmured a soft thank-you. At once, however, she widened her attention to the rest of the Council. She didn't want to give Maxim room to assert himself again.

Clearly she announced, '"The truth about Captain Thermopyle's 'escape' from UMCPHQ is this. After his conviction for crimes against Com-Mine Station, he was reqqed by Data Acquisition and made into a cyborg." A stirring of surprise crossed the room; but she didn't pause. "The process is called 'welding.' By the use of zone implants, he was bonded to a computer. The result was a near-ideal DA operative—

notoriously illegal, therefore free to go anywhere illegals go, and yet completely controlled by DA's programming.

"He did not 'escape' from UMCPHQ. He was given Trumpet and dispatched on a mission to destroy the bootleg shipyard called Billingate on Thanatos Minor. Because the Amnion allowed this installation to exist inside the borders of forbidden space in clear contravention of their treaties with us, we considered it a valid target for a covert operation."

"So Warden Dios sent Angus Thermopyle to commit an act of war," Sen Abdullah sneered harshly.

"No." Koina couldn't restrain her desire to defend Warden. "Captain Thermopyle was sent to carry out an act of sabotage against an installation which the Amnion should not have allowed to exist. His mission can be easily justified under the terms of the UMCP charter."

Sen snorted in derision, but didn't argue the point.

Firmly she resumed, "Once Captain Thermopyle had carried out his mission, he fled forbidden space. Punisher had been sent to the Com-Mine belt to provide support in case he needed it. When his flight took him to Massif-5, she followed."

So far she doubted that Fane had any quarrel with her responses. Her edited version of events must have reassured him. But that was about to change—

"Do you call this complicated?" Tel Burnish put in dryly. "It seems simple enough."

Ah, but she hadn't yet told him the real story.

"Why Massif-5, Director Hannish?" Member Silat asked in an unassuming tone. "Are you able to account for this?"

"Yes, I can—

" Koina began.

"No, Director Hannish," Maxim intervened like the crack of a whip. "I won't allow you to skip so blithely over the most crucial questions." He had no idea how crucial what she would have answered was. "Why did Calm Horizons pursue Trumpet? That's what we need to know.

"You claim Captain Thermopyle's mission can be 'justi-fied under the terms of the UMCP charter.' But 'an act of sabotage against an installation which the Amnion should not have allowed to exist' wasn't likely to inspire this incursion. In terms of treaties, they can't pretend they weren't in the wrong.

So why is Calm Horizons here now?

"What did Captain Thermopyle really do in forbidden space? What was his true mission?"

Koina fixed a trenchant stare on Igensard. "Special Counsel," she stated acidly, "Captain Thermopyle's 'true mission'