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.Barrera and the rest of them were all working for Crow.”Miklos and Jasmine exchanged glances.I noticed, but I didn’t react.Let them think I was crazy.I could see everything now.It was all so very clear.Crow hadn’t been able to arrest me and remove me from power directly, so he’d made a half-dozen underhanded attempts to end my life.Now, he’d managed to strike down my closest confidant, my best bodyguard.If nothing else, I would be an easier target for the next blade that came out of the dark without Sandra watching my back.“Get Kwon up here,” I said suddenly.Startled, Miklos and Jasmine both relayed the request.Less than thirty seconds later, Kwon walked onto the bridge.I felt my face smile, even though it was only a grim twitching of the lips.Kwon was in full battle-gear.His visor was shut, and his laser projector was cradled in his arms.“I see you came well-prepared, First Sergeant,” I said.“Actually, sir, I thought you might call,” Kwon said, placing himself beside my command chair.“I was standing in the passageway outside.”“Of course you were.Well, I have need of you now.I don’t know who’s going to poison or shoot me next.Since Sandra’s out of the picture for the moment, I want you on hand to do her job.”“Very good, sir.”I noticed that the command staff looked intimidated.I often wore armor on the bridge, but somehow seeing Kwon there, staring at each of them in turn as if he suspected them of treachery, unnerved people.I turned to Miklos.“What assets do we have in play to catch General Kerr? I assume he’s crossing the Helios system on full burn by now?”“That’s correct, Colonel.We don’t have much in range, actually.The task force at that end of the Eden system is small and slow.If you recall, you placed a squadron of gunboats and a single carrier there as a defensive force.None of these ships can catch General Kerr’s battleship, as it is now too far ahead on the acceleration curve.”I asked for the data and got it immediately.I walked to the planning tables and did some calculations.We couldn’t catch him with a ship, but…“What about a missile?” I asked.“Or better, a lot of missiles? What do we have on Defiant?”Miklos squirmed.“You didn’t authorize missiles to be placed on the new carriers,” he said.“Yes…?”“But, it just so happens that the ship in question has some aboard.”I snorted.I knew Miklos loved those ships and loved to improve their designs.I knew I’d ripped his heart out when I’d torn up his plans and deleted so much optional equipment.At this point, I was unsurprised that he’d continued outfitting them to match his original plans.“Under the circumstances,” I said, “I’m glad you made certain…improvements upon the agreed carrier blueprints.Captain Sarin, please check my numbers, if you would.”She eyed them closely.“I think they’re correct, sir,” she said, “but there isn’t enough time.The missiles could reach Kerr’s ship if they were fired right now, but the command to fire must cross the Eden system.That’s nearly twenty light-hours.By the time the command reaches the carrier, it will be too late.”“Maybe,” I said.I turned back to Miklos.“I recall that your original design placed a ring-to-ring communications unit aboard these carriers.Did that deleted item somehow make it back onto the roster?”“Uh,” said Miklos, his eyes sliding around between the two of us.He seemed flustered and mildly embarrassed.“Yes it did, sir.I thought that since the carriers were natural taskforce command ships—”“Enough of that crap.Call them up and order them to fire everything they have.”Miklos nodded and hurried to the communications consoles.Jasmine stepped closer to my chair.Kwon twitched at her approach, but she ignored him.“How did you know he would disobey orders and build that equipment onto the carrier?”“I didn’t,” I said, “but I probably would have done the same thing.His design was superior, and he knew it.I changed it because his plans would have taken too long to build at the time.Since I’ve been off campaigning in the Thor system, he made some worthwhile edits, that’s all.”“Kyle,” she said quietly, her voice almost a whisper.“I know you’re upset, but are you sure you want to kill Kerr this way? We don’t know everything yet.There hasn’t been any kind of investigation.”“If I wait for an investigation, Kerr will be safely home on Earth by the time he’s been declared guilty.There might not be enough evidence to be certain, anyway, without capturing and questioning him.”“But you might be making a serious mistake, and a major diplomatic error.”I stared at her coldly.I liked Captain Sarin, but she didn’t always know what she was talking about.“I play the odds,” I said.“I always do.Instinct must be part of any commander’s arsenal of tricks.I trust mine in this instance.Kerr was behind the assassination, and Crow was behind him.”I stood up and towered over her.She looked up at me, clearly unconvinced.I brushed past.“Which reminds me, I need to check up on Sandra and her would-be murderer.”I headed down to medical, and Kwon stayed firmly in my shadow.We didn’t talk, which was just fine with me.I wasn’t in the mood to explain anything to anyone.I left Kwon on guard in the main passage as I inspected the facilities.Marvin’s body filled a good portion of medical.He was bigger than the last time I’d seen him.Today, I would estimate he was the size of a pickup truck, and twice as heavy.The medical staff wasn’t too happy about his presence, but they were tolerating it.They had little choice.Marvin’s tentacles seemed to have been elongated.Maybe he’d made some special changes just for this occasion.In any case, the tentacles flowed over the floor and up to the ceiling like black, metallic ropes.They then dangled down directly over the patients or snaked up from the floor like self-mobile cables.Occasionally, the doctors and nurses stepped on one of the appendages and muttered a curse.In a modern Star Force facility, the doctors and nurses didn’t do much.They were mostly there to monitor the process, make executive decisions and fill out reports which I normally read later on casualty update screens.This time, I was more emotionally tied up with the process than usual.“Do you have a moment, Doctor?” I asked, grabbing the arm of a passing woman with a Fleet medical insignia on her shoulder.She turned to me, startled.“Colonel? I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.We’re not done yet.Nothing’s been determined.”I frowned.She seemed nervous.I checked her nametag, it read: Kate Swanson, M.D.“What do you know so far?” I demanded.She looked down at her computer tablet and shook her head before she replied.I could see she was building up to give me some bad news.Even before she spoke, I felt butterflies in my stomach.It had been a long time since I’d experienced that sensation.“It was a neural toxin, sir,” Dr.Swanson said.“Something we’ve never seen before.It was tailor-made for this purpose [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]