Greenies

street to the astonished crowd of reporters and bystanders.

'The capital is secure,' Jackson told Whiting once the status reports had all come in. 'Most of the FLEB guys out front surrendered without a fight.'

'Most of them?' she asked, sipping from a cup of coffee.

'Most of them,' he said. 'Three were killed trying to resist. We have no reports of civilian casualties. Of the agents that came inside, seven of them are dead, three quite badly wounded. We've asked for some dip-hoes to pick them up out front of the main doors but the police aren't letting them through.'

'I see,' she said wearily. 'Are there police out front right now?'

'You know it,' he said. 'A lot of the FLEB agents outside were able to call for assistance on their radios. Plus the entire thing was captured on Internet cameras. It would seem that the FLEB tipped the big three to what was going on here. The camera crews arrived at about the same time as the agents themselves.'

'Imagine that,' she said cynically.

'Yes, big surprise huh? In any case, the FLEB office called the New Pittsburgh Police Department for assistance with a hostage situation. They've deployed most of the downtown patrol units around the building and they have the SWAT teams on the way. I also have reports from intelligence that forty more FLEB agents in full gear have left their main office and are heading this way.'

'I see,' she said. 'So what is our next step?'

'Now the rest of the infantry that we called up last night will secure the entire area. They were staging at the MPG base and I just gave the order to have them move in. They should be here in less than an hour. We need to get those cops out of there before they arrive.'

'I'll talk to Chief Sandoza,' she said. 'Hopefully it won't be a problem. He's a bureaucrat in every sense of the word but he's also a Martian. He's supported the reforms that we've initiated so far.'

'Do it quick,' Jackson said. 'The worst thing that could happen to us right now is for there to be gunfire between the MPG and the police. And it's also time to put out the general call up of forces. We'll need everyone suited up and ready to go as quickly as possible. Those marines at the Eden barracks need to be secured before someone has the bright idea of using them.'

'I'll do that right now,' she said, putting her coffee down and turning her computer terminal towards her. 'Computer,' she told it. 'Initiate order 74-1.' 74-1 was the section of the Martian constitution that allowed the governor to call up all Martian Planetary Guard units to active duty to repel an imminent invasion of the planet. It authorized the planetary government to take over the MarsTrans public transportation system to facilitate the movement of soldiers to the MPG base and ordered all employers, under penalty of treason, to release the MPG members from their regular jobs. It was an order that had never been initiated before, not even as a training exercise.

'Order 74-1 is pending,' the computer told her, flashing a text of the call up notice upon her screen. 'Voice recognition of Whiting, Laura E, Governor of Planet Mars, is confirmed. Please give the authorization code.'

Laura rattled off a nine-digit number that she had long since memorized.

'Authorization code is correct,' the computer replied. 'Please sign the order.'

She placed her right index finger on the screen, signing it.

'The order will be initiated,' the computer told her.

Within ten seconds the main MPG database was contacted and the names and PC addresses of every single member were called with a pre-recorded message. At the same time the MarsTrans office was contacted and given some very unpleasant news. They would have to surrender use of their trains for the next twenty-four hours.

'Okay,' Jackson said after watching all of this. 'Now get those cops out of here. While you're doing that, I'll get the guys up on Triad moving.' With that he left the room for the office next door, where he had his own terminal set up now.

'Computer,' Laura said, 'get me Chief Sandoza of the New Pittsburgh Police Department. Highest priority.'

'You have forty-three callers attempting to reach you at the moment,' the computer told her. 'Would you like me to list them?'

'No,' she said, knowing that most of them were people like Corban Hayes or William Smith. 'For the time being accept no incoming calls.'

'Accepting no incoming calls. Contacting Chief Sandoza.'

'Thank you,' she said, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes for a moment. Things were moving fast now. Soon they would move even faster.

It took about three minutes before Sandoza came on the line. Laura understood. He probably had a lot on his mind at the moment. His handsome, aristocratic face appeared before her, his eyes stern but confused. 'Governor Whiting?' he said. 'What the hell is going on over there?'

'Nice to hear from you too, Nick,' she said lightly. 'I suppose you've caught a small glint of the proceedings here?'

'Governor, to tell you the truth, I simply can't believe what I'm hearing. The FLEB director himself called me up to ask me to mobilize my force and move in on the capital building because your security troops are holding his men and all of the workers inside of the building hostage, including the lieutenant governor and the legislature.' He shook his head. 'Hostages? Surely there is a mistake going on here. He also said that an indictment has been handed down on you and that you are to be taken into custody. Is this true?'

'It's true, Nick. A federal grand jury in Denver...' — she emphasized the name of that city, knowing that most Martians hated the very sound of it — '... has indicted me on corruption charges. FLEB agents came to the capital to arrest me for extradition to Earth. My security team prevented them from doing that.'

'Jesus Christ!' he said, shocked.

'Unfortunately, some of the FLEB agents did not surrender peacefully. Ten of them are dead, three badly wounded. The rest of them are in the basement being held under guard. As for the lieutenant governor and the rest of the workers, they are not hostages but they are being kept in their offices to keep them out of harm's way. They'll be allowed to leave as soon as this situation is under control.'

'Laura, what in the hell do you think you're doing over there? You've killed federal agents! You've resisted arrest! You'll be given the death penalty!'

'Nick,' she said quietly. 'I know exactly what I'm doing. I know that right now your cops are surrounding the capital building at the request of the FLEB, initiating a hostage response. I've known you for a long time and I know that you're a Martian, not an Earthling. I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly. Do you believe that the indictment against me represents real corruption charges or is it simply a result of WestHem trying to remove a troublesome governor from office?'

He stared back at her, though he was actually staring at a screen in his own office twelve blocks away. 'Of course they're not real charges, Laura,' he said. 'Everyone knows that. But it's a federal indictment. The place to fight it is in court, not in the lobby of the capital. The corruption charges are going to be secondary to...'

'Nick,' she interrupted. 'I don't think you understand where I'm going with this.'

'What do you mean?'

'I'm not going to be removed from this building. Events are bigger than a simple hostage situation. This is the opening move in a revolution. I need you to pull your cops out of here.'

'I can't do that!' he exclaimed. 'We're not talking about refusing to cooperate with a questionable raid on Martian citizens here. We're talking about the illegal seizure of a government building in which deaths have occurred. The deaths of federal law enforcement officers! The law...'

'It's WestHem law you're talking about,' she interrupted again. 'I'm telling you, Nick, I will not be removed from this building. MPG troops are already on the way to secure it and they will follow my orders, at least for the time being. Your cops are all Martians and I don't want them to get hurt. Pull them back. This is not between them and me, it's between the feds and me. Don't let the feds involve your people in this. Your cops are not equipped to deal with army troops and they are not the enemy my people need to be fighting. Pull them back and withdraw your cooperation with the FLEB. You are under planetary control, not federal. I'll take the heat and I'll tell everyone I ordered it.'

He stared some more, his brain obviously on overload. Laura knew she had struck several chords with her words, something she had a knack for, something that had brought her as far as she'd come. 'What exactly are you