Part 56 (2/2)

”Wait a minute,” Kosta said, grabbing her ankle. ”There must be a way of doing that from in here.”

”I'm sure there is,” Chandris agreed. ”But it'll take time to find it. You want Forsythe and EmDef charging in on us while we're looking through manuals?”

Kosta let go of her ankle. ”Go,” he said.

She got back up to the cylinder's centerline corridor and made her way along it through the crew quarters and supply areas toward the other half of the station. Both sets of blast doors leading to the midway connection tunnel were sealed, but they opened quickly enough at her punched-in command. The midway tunnel itself was rather eerie: a relatively short corridor lined all around with red-rimmed hatchways leading to the double ring of escape pods she'd seen on her first trip to Angelma.s.s.

She got the blast doors at the far end opened and pa.s.sed through a mirror-image layout of supply rooms and crew quarters until she arrived at the proper access ladder and climbed down to the net control complex. A quick glance at the monitors to confirm that Forsythe and EmDef weren't yet coming through the net, and she began to go down the boards, systematically throwing every switch.

Two minutes later, the boards and monitors were totally dark. So was that entire half of the station. Groping her way along in the dim glow of the emergency lighting system, she headed back.

She reached the catapult control complex to find Kosta seated at one of the stations, gazing at a display and flipping back and forth between what looked to be at least three different instruction manuals. ”Net's down,” she reported. ”How's it going here?”

”Slow,” he said, not looking up. ”In order to recalibrate for Angelma.s.s, it seems I need a crash course in catapult theory.”

”Great,” Chandris said. ”How long?”

”Call it an hour. Maybe a little less.”

”And then we still have the actual reprogramming to do?”

Kosta nodded. ”I'd guess another thirty to sixty minutes on top of that for the programming and the fine-tuning of the charge on the catapult's capacitors.”

”So we'd better count on this taking a full two hours.”

”Right.” Kosta looked significantly across the room. ”I just hope we've got that long.”

Chandris followed his gaze, to a monitor showing the blazing speck that was Angelma.s.s bearing inexorably down on them. Staring at the display, she could have sworn she could see the black hole visibly gaining on them. An optical illusion, of course. ”What can I do?”

He rubbed his forehead. ”How are you at electronic tech stuff?”

”I learned the Gazelles systems in three days.”

”Close enough.” He gestured to the chair beside him. ”First thing you need to do is find out how to shut off the Seraph net from here-the last thing we want is to send Angelma.s.s into a low planetary orbit. After that, start learning the mechanics of the reprogramming procedure. Once I've got the physics and math figured out, I don't want to have to wade through a tech manual, too.”

”Got it,” she said, sliding into the chair. Pulling up the procedures manual, she glanced again at Angelma.s.s.

It was an optical illusion, of course. It had to be.

CHAPTER 42.

”The moment has come, Commodore,” Telthorst said, his eyes steady on Lles.h.i.+'s face, his voice just a few stages too loud. ”If you're going to launch a fighter screen to protect the Komitadji, you need to do it now.”

”Thank you, Mr. Telthorst,” Lles.h.i.+ said, striving to keep the disgust out of his voice. As far as Lles.h.i.+ was concerned, the decision had been made several hours ago. Telthorst's question was nothing but a pathetically obvious challenge, an attempt to make points with the command crew for his upcoming power bid. Who among them, after all, could possibly argue against anything that would help ensure the Komitadji's safety?

But Lles.h.i.+ wasn't going to play Telthorst's game. Not yet. Military procedure, as well as simple basic battle ethics, dictated that he first give Seraph the option of surrender. ”Open a broad-spectrum comm blanket to the planet,” he ordered.

The comm officer nodded briskly. ”Channel open, Commodore.”

”This is Commodore Vars Lles.h.i.+ of the Pax wars.h.i.+p Komitadji,” he stated firmly, as if the Empyreals hadn't already figured that out. ”I declare the Seraph system to be returned to the jurisdiction of Earth and the Pax. I call on you to withdraw your military forces to the surface and prepare to turn over the civilian government and infrastructure to my command.”

He paused, but the only response was silence. ”If you do not comply, my orders are to take control of this system by whatever means necessary, using whatever force is required,” he went on. Telthorst's eyebrows twitched at the word orders, but the Adjutor said nothing. ”You have ten minutes to respond. After that, I will take whatever action I deem appropriate.”

He tapped off his microphone switch. ”Mark ten minutes,” he ordered.

”Yes, sir.”

”Very n.o.ble,” Telthorst murmured. ”You don't really expect them to just give up, do you?”

”You had better hope they do,” Lles.h.i.+ warned. ”If they decide to fight, you're going to have a much smaller collection of plunder to present your fellow poachers at the cathedra.”

Telthorst's eyes flashed. ”How dare you refer to the Adjutors that way?” he demanded. ”And while we're at it, how dare you pretend you had orders to come here? This was nothing more than a blatant

attempt on your part to steal some glory for yourself. Here, in the midst of-””Komitadji, this is High Senator Arkin Forsythe of Lorelei,” a deep, measured voice boomed from a dozen command deck speakers. ”What are your terms of surrender?”

”Unconditional, of course,” Telthorst called before Lles.h.i.+ could answer. ”You will immediately

remove your wars.h.i.+ps-”

”This is Commodore Lles.h.i.+, High Senator,” Lles.h.i.+ cut him off. ”You misunderstand our purpose here. This is not so much a surrender as it is merely a return of wayward colonies to the Pax family.”

”A fine distinction, some would say,” the High Senator commented.

”Perhaps,” Lles.h.i.+ said. ”However, that is the reality of the situation. Upon your acceptance, you will immediately gain the same rights and privileges as any world and people of the Pax.”

”And the same duties, I presume?”

”No rights exist without corresponding responsibilities,” Lles.h.i.+ reminded him.

”No, of course not,” Forsythe said. ”I would like the opportunity to discuss the details before we

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