'You might be interested in this, sir. It's a holovid transmission from one of the Hammer's commercial stations. They're talking about the NRA.'
'Put it up.'
'Sir.'
Michael watched the holovid image appear: a blond woman in a red two-piece suit standing in front of a map of the continent of Maranzika. The quality was not the best, but the sensor AI had done a good job of stabilizing the feed.
'… to Marius de Mel, councillor for internal security. Welcome to the program, Councillor.'
'Thank you, Lara. Good to be here,' the man said.
'So, Councillor. There are unconfirmed reports of heavy fighting in the area around Daleel. That's not far from McNair, so should we be concerned?'
'No, Lara, of course not. There is no need to be concerned. Yes, there have been some clashes around Daleel, but they are the result of our forces attacking small pockets of heretics, heretics who are intent on betraying the Faith of Kraa for their own blasphemous purposes. I talked to the area commander not an hour ago, and he assured me that the operation will be completed before nightfall.'
'By heretics do you mean the Nationalists?'
De Mel's face darkened with a sudden anger, hastily suppressed. 'Heretics!' he snapped. 'Kraa-damned heretics! Call them what they are.'
'Yes, of course, Councillor,' the woman said smoothly. 'Heretics it is. Are you able to tell us anything about the numbers of National-sorry, heretics involved?'
'Ah, well, Lara. You know I can't discuss the operational details on the air, but what I can tell is this: Their numbers are small, very small.'
'Which means the comment by General Schenk that his troops faced, and I quote, 'thousands of the bastards' cannot be correct then, can it, Councillor? Help me here, because I am confused.'
Electrified, Michael sat up. He had watched his share of Hammer newscasts; without exception, they had been exercises in mind-numbing boredom as newsreaders parroted whatever dross the propaganda merchants wanted the great unwashed to hear. This was different; this was something new. Lara the newscaster was frowning, her lips tightened in skeptical disapproval. De Mel knew it, too; his forehead shone, and sweat started to bead under his eyes. Well, well, well, Michael said to himself, the sonofabitch is frightened. Things were not running to plan for the Hammer government if a newscaster had the freedom to slip the knife into a councillor live on air. Twelve months ago, doing that would have seen Lara the newscaster locked away, maybe even shot, if she upset anyone important.
'Look, Lara,' de Mel said. 'General Schenk cannot have said that since it is just not true. Like I say, we are dealing with a handful of heretics, that's all.'
'I see,' the newscaster said. 'So the holovid we have of him saying the exact opposite is a fake? I'm sorry, Councillor. I must apologize.' She shook her head in mock despair. 'It seems this network has been duped.'
De Mel was angry and embarrassed, and his eyes bulged. Michael thought he looked like someone trying to swallow a pineapple, blunt end first. 'Ah, yes,' de Mel muttered. 'I think that must be what's happened.'
'Fine. I'm glad we've sorted that one out. Now, what about casualties, Councillor? The casualties inflicted on our brave troops by that… let me see, yes, by that handful of heretics?'
'Casualties?' de Mel croaked; he looked around for an escape route.
'Yes, Councillor. Casualties. How many casualties have there been in the Daleel operation so far?'
'Er, so far as I know, there have been none. Some minor cuts and bruises, perhaps, nothing more serious.'
'Okay. Now, I understand the holovid we have been given showing General Schenk discussing the operation is most likely a fake, and thank you for pointing that out to us, Councillor-'
'Ah, well,' de Mel mumbled.
'-but we have more recent holovid showing a Seventh Brigade casualty clearing station outside Daleel. I must say, Councillor, it looks a lot worse than a few cuts and bruises, a lot worse. Unless this vid is a fake, too, it shows heavy casualties, many in a bad way. Perhaps you could comment after I run the vid.'
'I don't think that would be wise, Lara,' de Mel said, recovering some of his composure. 'Let's establish where the vid came from before we jump to any conclusions.'
'That's good advice, Councillor, which we're happy to accept, thank you,' the newscaster said, her gung-ho tone belied by eyes burning with contempt.
The interview degenerated into an exchange of banalities, so Michael tuned out, much encouraged by what he had just seen. If newscasters were prepared to take on powerful men like de Mel, things were changing in the Hammer Worlds, and not in the government's favor.
'How we doing, Jayla?'
'Good, sir. Threat plot's settling. We'll start to get a feel for the Hammer's operating patterns over the next twenty-four hours. If that weather system comes in like I expect, we should be ready to go. At this stage, it looks like we'll be on our way in day after tomorrow.'
'Let's hope so.' Sunday, September 16, 2401, UD Offices of the Supreme Council for the Preservation of the Faith, McNair, Commitment
'Councillor de Mel is here, sir.'
'Send him in.'
Wordlessly, Polk watched de Mel take his seat for what Polk liked to call their weekly chat. Clearly, de Mel would not have called it a chat. That much was obvious from the thin film of sweat across his forehead. De Mel's eyes were restless, looking anywhere but right at him. Polk let the man stew for a while before opening the proceedings.
'So, Councillor de Mel,' he said. 'Yesterday wasn't your finest media performance. In fact, I'd say it was your worst. It does not look good when Lara Chen is better informed than my councillor for internal security. She made you look a fool.'
Polk's criticism galvanized de Mel. He sat bolt upright and leaned forward. 'No, Chief Councillor, it wasn't my best performance. I accept that, but may I remind you that it is difficult to stay on message when those incompetent clowns in planetary ground defense cannot deal with a handful of heretics without losing hundreds of their men.'
'Settle down, Councillor,' Polk chided. 'You're not on the holovids now. Whatever we're saying in public, we both know that the NRA threw thousands of troopers into the Daleel attack. The PGDF's commanding general has assured me that General Schenk and the Seventh Brigade had done well.'
'The Seventh Brigade did well?' De Mel's face twisted into a skeptical frown. 'Hard to see how that can be when the NRA is still holding what, the best part of half the town?'
'Fair point, which is why I have just instructed the commanding general to relieve General Schenk and hand him over to DocSec. Did I not tell you that?'
'No, sir. It must have slipped your mind,' de Mel said with a touch of bitterness.
Polk had to smile. De Mel had a point; after all, the man was responsible for the elaborate apparatus of state terror that was Doctrinal Security. 'My apologies, Councillor,' Polk said smoothly.
'Accepted, sir,' de Mel replied.
'Now, Councillor, to business. First thing I want an update on is the Helfort project.'
'Yes, sir. As you know, the deadline runs out in under two weeks. Colonel Hartspring and a snatch squad are on their way to Scobie's World now in case he shows up early.'
'Any sign of him?'
'No, not yet. The last report we had put him onboard the heavy cruiser Redwood in orbit around Nyleth. We've deployed additional squads on all the systems operating commercial passenger services to Scobie's. If he so much as shows his face on any of them, we'll have him. You can depend on it.'
'Good. What about that woman of his?'
'Lieutenant Cheung? Still in J-5209, sir. She's been kept in the dark, obviously, so she has no idea of the world of pain she's about to enter.'
'Pretty young thing,' Polk said, eyes casting about with feigned indifference.
'She is, sir. Very.'
'I don't see any need for us to honor our promise to Helfort, do you, Councillor?'
