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.He nodded sharply in return.No words would be spoken at this final juncture; no written trail would lead back to her.But here, right now, Jessica knew that Torrian must be absolutely certain of her intentions.Once again she nodded firmly: Operation Stormdrain was to move into its final stage.He bowed and slipped out of the room, heading toward his tiny control center and the messages he now must send.God help me.But her excitement over the appearance of the key from a totally unexpected quarter quickly overshadowed any remorse.The key to everything.Jessica raised her hand, instantly silencing her daughters.In a flash of unhappy inspiration, Jessica saw that the key to her grand plan also offered Julietta the chance for one final service to the state.Though Julietta would almost certainly fail, the circumstances into which Jessica planned to send her would provide what Jessica needed regardless.And in Julietta’s final failure, Nikol will understand that the ties of the state bind closer than family blood.“Nikol, Julietta.”“Yes, Mother,” they replied in unison, though with very different tones of voice.“I have important missions for you both.Missions that may mean the difference between ultimate success and failure.”“Thrice-damned sons of tin whores!” Anson roared.In the small confines of the safe room, the sound was almost deafening, increased by the crash of his metal chair falling as he leapt to his feet and the cacophony of the contents of his desktop being swept to the floor.He towered in the middle of the room, another angry roar erupting like a volcano of rage before he stood panting, a bear awakened too early from its hibernation, voraciously hungry and one hundred percent royally pissed off.His sausagelike fingers clenched into fists the size of a small child’s head as he looked for another object against which to target his ire.The only other loose object in the room, despite the presence of several workstations and the desk, was the holovid player; though tempted, he couldn’t bring himself to destroy the messenger.Not a mechanical one.Now, if Daniella sent a live messenger, then.Captain-General Anson Marik felt truly shocked by the turn of events.And if there was one thing he loathed, it was being caught flat-footed.He exhaled heavily through his nose, then reached out to hit REPLAY.The image of Daniella covered in sweat and dust, her cheek bandaged, sent him into a new fit of rage even before she began to speak.“Captain-General.I have routed this message as quickly as possible, but don’t know when you’ll receiveit.A large Spirit Cat force has invaded Marik, taking the Firehill Plains and inflicting twenty percent casualties within the first four days of fighting.The situation is dire.We need reinforcements immediately.I will do what I can to hold on.”The holomessage went dark again.Blunt as ever, Daniella.But there was no way my plans could have anticipated this development.He wanted to pace, but realized the room was too small for his bulk; if he was going to smash something, he wanted to do it on purpose, not as an accident of proximity.The trap had been set for the Lyrans.He’d even have been happy to catch Jessica.But who would’ve thought the Spirit Cats would trip it.And now I’ve got to do something about it! “Maggot-eating tin-can-birthed sons a’ bitches!” he ground out between clenched teeth.There was nothing to be done for it.Losing Marik was not an option.Even if it meant giving away his ploy of switching capitals.He had to send reinforcements.With deliberate movements, careful to keep his rage from bursting out in another fiery explosion, he pulled out a new message cube, queued it up and began to record.18DormuthMandoria, MarikMarik-Stewart Commonwealth19 November 3136Rikkard scanned the tall corridor of the four-lane road, skyscrapers standing like sentinels along the major traffic artery.Despite the eerie silence of the long, apparently abandoned stretch of road, it screamed death trap for anyone stupid enough to enter.He scrutinized every secondary screen in the Shadow Hawk’s cockpit as he flipped through multiple scans, trying to get a firm read on what might be lying in wait.But as was the case in most modern cities, the high metal content of Dormuth’s construction made it difficult.Very difficult.And they have become very good at hiding their intentions.“A trap a Sea Fox would be proud of, quiaff?” commented Karli, his second-in-command.“Aff and aff,” Rikkard responded.“Every attempt to penetrate into the heart of the city has been booby-trapped.”“Spheroids,” he swore in reply.The damage the Marik defenders were willing to wreak on their own civilian infrastructure—not to mention the collateral damage to civilians, no matter how many they evacuated—appalled him.Years of fighting in the Republic of the Sphere had not prepared him for this low behavior.“Yet if we do not penetrate the heart, the city will never be ours.”Rikkard nodded at the rhetorical statement, bringing up a map overlay of the city once again with a few strokes on the small keypad [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]