The Final Battle

“You damn well ought to be. You should have told me sooner. And there’s one more thing you should know.”

“Oh?”

“I got a message from Chief Councillor Polk.”

“From Polk?” Jaruzelska’s stared at Michael, eyes wide with disbelief. “How could you?”

“One of the guards smuggled it in. I wish I could show it to you, but it was one of those damn one-time messages.”

“What did it say?”

“That Polk had authorized my old friend Colonel Hartspring to set up a team to snatch Anna; Team Victor he’s called it, and that’s a v for ‘vengeance’ in case you’re wondering.”

“I remember Hartspring,” Jaruzelska said, “but why would they do that?”

“Polk was happy that I was to be executed, but not that happy. If he couldn’t have me killed his way, then he wanted to me to die knowing that Hartspring was going after Anna, knowing what would happen to her once Hartspring got his hands on her, and-” Michael broke off, unable to speak anymore.

“Oh, Michael,” Jaruzelska whispered; she stretched out her hand to take his. “We had no idea. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“What difference would it have made?” Michael said. “I’ll tell you: none. After all, what was I? Just another pawn in the game.”

“We should have told you earlier,” Jaruzelska conceded, “but the group was concerned it would take the edge off what had to be the performance of your life. I’m sorry, but there was a lot at stake, and before you ask, your parents-”

“Shit! I’d forgotten. They think I’m dead! Anna too.”

“I’m sorry about Anna. There’s no way we can tell her what’s really going on, but your folks are both in on the conspiracy, have been for a while now, so don’t worry.”

Michael’s head went down; he was quiet for good minute. “I don’t think there’s much to be gained in going over this anymore,” he said at last, looking up. “What’s done is done. All that matters to me now is making sure Anna is alive and stays that way. Well, that and hunting down Polk and Hartspring and killing them when I find them. And I will,” he added, his voice raw with anger. “But do me a favor, please. All that Team Victor stuff-can you keep it to yourself? Hartspring is my problem, and I’ll deal with him. And I don’t want Anna to find out. She has enough to worry about.”

“I won’t tell anyone. Now, any more questions before we move on?”

“Yes, one. You said there weren’t many spacers who agreed with what I did … not to start off with, I mean.”

“Yes. Most of Fleet thought you were nothing more than a criminal.”

“But what about you? Did you agree with that?”

“Initially, yes, of course I did. Mutiny is mutiny, and we needed those three dreadnoughts you smashed into Commitment planet. But as I read and reread your message telling me what you were doing and why, I began to understand. Then it became obvious that Ferrero would form the next government sooner than anyone thought. When I worked out what that meant, I realized that you and your people had been right and I had been wrong.”

“So when you came to Asthana looking like you wanted to tear my head off, that was all an act?”

“Yes.”

Michael shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said.

“You will be, almost certainly,” Jaruzelska said with a faint smile. “Now, here’s how we’re going to do this. Juggernaut, we call it, and it starts with …”

Michael sat tucked out of the way, a welcome cup of scalding hot coffee in hand, content to let the fear- induced stress of the past months leach out of his abused psyche. It felt good to know that the controlled chaos around him marked the beginning of the end for the Hammer of Kraa, that soon he would be on his way back to rejoin Anna, that the time when he would stand over Polk and Hartspring and see the terror in their eyes before he killed them both was coming.

Oh, yes, he thought as he took a sip of coffee, I do feel good … not that I don’t have my doubts.

What Jaruzelska and her fellow conspirators planned to do was mind-boggling in its size and complexity. For all her reassurances, for all her confidence, for all her steely determination not to fail, Michael was struggling to believe they could pull it off. There were a million things that could go wrong, and Michael was in no doubt that his old friend Mister Murphy would be hard at work to make sure they did.

Even if everything did go right, none of it would count if Anna did not make it; he wished he knew how she was. What with her joining the NRA to fight the Hammers and the fact that Hartspring and Team Victor were after her, her life was hanging by a thread. He sighed in frustration. Jaruzelska had promised him a detailed briefing on the situation back on Commitment but wasn’t sure when that would happen, so he would have to wait.

Michael put the mug to his lips only to choke on the burning hot coffee, distracted by the arrival of a familiar figure. “I don’t believe it,” he muttered. He got to his feet and threaded his way across to where a woman in dark gray one-piece shipsuit had followed General Yilmaz into the room.

“Lieutenant Commander Fellsworth!” Michael said, putting out his hand, a broad grin splitting his face.

“Hey, Michael! Admiral Jaruzelska told me I’d find you here,” the woman said, taking his hand before folding him into a crushing bear hug. She pushed Michael back and put her hands on his shoulders, then looked right into his face. “It’s good to see you,” she went on. “I really thought you were a goner this time.”

“You and me both.”

“I take it you know each other?” Yilmaz said with a good-natured smile.

“Sorry, sir,” Fellsworth said. “This man saved my ass back on Commitment. And not just mine. He saved the lives of my people. I … we owe him.”

“I remember,” Yilmaz said. “After the Ishaq was ambushed, right?”

“Yes,” Fellsworth replied; her face twisted with pain for an instant. Michael understood. Pain had nothing to do with it; guilt did.

“I’ll catch up with you later, Captain,” Yilmaz said. “I need to see Admiral Jaruzelska before she heads back.”

“Sir,” Fellsworth said.

“Captain?” Michael said when Yilmaz had gone, spotting Fellsworth’s rank badges for the first time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice. Congratulations. Well deserved, I’m sure.”

“Thanks, though it has little to do with my talent, such as it is. No, we’ve lost a lot of good people, too many, so promotion’s been fast.”

“A bloody war and a sickly season,” Michael said.

“An old saying but a good one, and it’s certainly been a bloody war. But if those Hammer pigs think we’ll let them come out on top after all we’ve been through, they’re damn fools. Right, enough of that. The admiral says I’m to answer any questions you have, but before I do, are you hungry?”

With a start, Michael realized he was, ravenously so. He had lost a good ten kilos since his arrest. Now his body was telling him it was time to put the weight back. “Since you mention it, I am.”

“Me too. Come on; the canteen’s this way.”

“That’s better,” Fellsworth said, pushing her tray away. “So how’s Anna?”

“Anna? Wish I knew,” Michael said. “That bloody woman always was a wannabe marine, and now she is one. Last time I heard from her, she was a captain in the NRA’s 120th Regiment, so she’ll be in the thick of things.” Michael sighed. “She always is. Oh, and we’re married now. It’s Anna Cheung Helfort now.”

“I’ll be. Well, congratulations and all that. The bride wore white, I hope.”

“Combat fatigues, actually. Weddings back on Commitment are low-key affairs.” The pain in Michael’s voice was obvious.

“It must be hard,” Fellsworth said, her voice soft. “Leaving her, I mean.”

“It was. It still is. But what’s worse is knowing that she’ll think me dead, though at least I can see a way