Carnifex

ships, not the way the classis was proceeding. He watched with a smile as a flight of Yakamovs took off, carrying a full load of Cazadors. Up ahead, Kurita's turrets, all that could be brought to bear, swiveled in their mounts to point generally to the west.

* * *

Yuan Lin had found a place for herself and her children. Rather, she had found a place for herself as one of Parameswara's concubines. The children were fed, clothed, and housed because the pirate chief liked his concubines happy.

Of course, happy doesn't mean I don't have to work, Lin thought, beating some dirty clothes against a rock in a stream a half mile from Parameswara's fortress. She was not alone. Thirty or more other women and girls, likewise engaged, were there with her in the clearing by the stream. But it's not so bad a life, Lin thought. Para doesn't hurt me anymore than I like to be hurt. And the kids are doing well enough. And—

She felt a sudden pressure in the air. It was like the prelude to of rain, really, except much more sudden. She looked up and saw the fortress suddenly bathed in smoke and fire. Then she heard the freight-train racket of flying shells, followed by the body- and soul-buffeting explosions from the fort.

The pounding went on for many minutes, the column of smoke rising to the sky. When it stopped, mere seconds after it stopped, she noticed small dots in the sky that she took for helicopters. They were descending.

Lin never heard the Turbo-Finch that dived down upon the group in the clearing. Before she could have, she and they with her were perforated by dozens of small finned nails called flechettes the plane had fired by rocket before the noise of its engines could reach ground.

UEPF Spirit of Peace

The ship was quiet, or as quiet as it ever was. There were still sounds from the vents refreshing the air. If one listened carefully, one could hear the crew going about the business of keeping the ship in space. High Admiral Martin Robinson was oblivious to all that, concentrating instead on the scene being played out below.

The big Kurosawa in Robinson's quarters showed it in all its gory detail. Starting in the southeast, and at this point about halfway through the Nicobar Straits, the 'bloody, bastard, never-sufficiently-to-be-damned, mercenary swine' were doing their best to scour the Straits free of pirate life. Word was spreading faster than the fleet moved, however, so many of the little villages and towns were emptying themselves before the first shell came in or bomb dropped, before the first sound of a helicopter ferrying in troops reached them.

Even so, some of those troops were landing in the brush to either side of the straits. Robinson noted that the aerial attacks away from the coastlines, and the naval gunfire from the newly recommissioned heavy cruiser upon those refugees, tended to match where small teams of troops had been landed.

'It's not a total loss, Martin,' Wallenstein comforted. 'The people will be back, and back to their old occupation, in time. We can set things up again to support that useful pig, Mustafa.'

Robinson said nothing, at first. Instead, he turned to manipulate his computer to have the Kurosawa zero in on the smoking ruins of Parameswara's fortress. A few hours ago there had been armed legionaries swarming the place. Now there was nothing but shot and hanged men, and women and children left with nothing but their eyes to weep with.

'I don't think so, Marguerite,' Robinson said. 'Not for one hundred local years. That's how badly those people are going to be terrorized.'

'Well . . . the Tauran Union and the World League, down below, have issued very strongly worded condemnations,' Wallenstein said. At that, even she had to laugh. 'Condemnations. Like the mercenaries care about condemnations.'

'They care as much as Mustafa does,' Robinson said. 'And why shouldn't they? They're Mustafa's children.' And, I suppose, mine.

'I'm sorry, Martin,' was all Wallenstein could say. 'What now?'

'Now, I am afraid, I am going to have to do what perhaps I should have done years ago.' Robinson hesitated before continuing; what he had in mind was a serious step. 'I've contacted our people in Hangkuk. I'm going to purchase and, if necessary, deliver to Mustafa what he's been asking for all these years.'

Wallenstein shook her head. 'Oh, Martin, I can't tell you what a really bad idea that is.'

'Would you rather see our world destroyed, Captain Wallenstein?'

The mention of her rank, and the implication of the caste that kept her there, shut Wallenstein up completely.

EXCURSUS

From: Janus Small Arms Review, Terra Nova Edition of 472 AC

The F-26 Rifle is a gas operated, electronically fired and controlled, magazine fed shoulder weapon of 6.5mm caliber. A joint development between Zion Military Industries (812 Ben Gurion Blvd, Nazareth, Zion, Terra Nova) and Balboa Armaments Corporation (57 Avenida Omar Torrijos-Herrera, Arraijan, Balboa, Terra Nova), a subdivision of the Legion del Cid, SA, the F-26 compares favorably with such weapons as the Volgan Abakanov, the Federated States of Columbia's M-42 Wakefield, the Sachsen STG-13, Gaul's Daudeteau-31, and the Zhong Type-57, with all of which it competes in the international arms market.

Specifications:

Caliber: 6.5mm x 31 SCC (Semi-Combustible Casing)

Weight: 4.1 Kg (Zion), 4.3 Kg (Balboa) w/o magazine or bayonet

Barrel Length: 533mm

Length Overall: 795mm (Zion's bullpup version), 1022mm (Balboa's conventionally shaped version)

Action: gas operated w/ piston, rotating bolt

Materials: The rifle makes extensive use of carbon fibers, plastics and glassy metal stampings. Unique among modern military firearms, the barrel is constructed of a relatively thin steel lining around which is wound carbon fiber (the barrels being produced under license from Thorsten Arms, a subdivision of Thorsten Prosthetics). This saves about 80% of the normal barrel weight. Moreover, given the high rate of fire, cooling becomes critical. The graphite barrel is superior to steel as a heat shedding medium, though there have been complaints from the field of it being too fragile for the uses to which it is sometimes put.

Max Effective Range: 850m

Rate of Fire: 3 round Burst: 1975 RPM. Full Automatic: 2 settings: 700 RPM and 1200 RPM. The weapon also has the capability of firing single rounds. The ROF is set by a side switch above and to the right of the trigger and controlled by an integral computer chip.

Sighting: All weather, day-night, medium range thermal imaging sight with integral laser range finder. The effective range of the sighting unit for target acquisition and range determination is 900 meters, day, and 250 meters, night, though this may be reduced by extreme dust, smoke or precipitation.

Command and Control: The rifle is the key component in 'Soldier V' the joint Balboa-Zion project to create a fully digitalized ground combat soldier. As such, it contains its own global positioning system receiver with compass. The soldier's frequency hopping communication system is also partially contained within the rifle stock. Leaders can, by use of a heads-up display integral to the Mark V helmet, not only determine the relative locations of each of their soldiers or subordinate teams, but can also see graphic displays of their arcs of fire. This feature has substantially reduced both blue on blue fire and training accidents (except when the 'moral training' magazine, q.v., is used).

Cycle of Operation:

The weapon being set on one of its four firing settings and a round being chambered, the firer depresses the trigger (which, being nothing more than an electronic switch, has no 'break point' and is thus very smooth). An electronic charge passes through the bolt face, initiating the primer, which sets off the propellant while expanding propellant and stub to obdurate (seal) the breach. The bullet moves down the barrel until reaching the gas port, near the muzzle. A stream of gas passes down the gas port, forcing the operating piston to the rear. The piston, in turn, causes the bolt carrier to begin to retract, unlocking the bolt. At that point the rearward movement of the bolt and bolt carrier causes four things to occur almost simultaneously: the VHTP (Very High Temperature Plastic) stub is ejected out the bottom ejection port, a rammer beneath the bolt—driven by a reversing cam—three-quarter feeds the next round from the magazine, a flywheel is set to spinning (recharging the integral battery until the trigger is released, at which point a brake is automatically applied to the flywheel), and a ratcheting rod is driven downward into the