Mutineer's Moon

the older Imperials’ reactions to the two names. Ramman and Ninhursag were the southerners who’d been in clandestine contact with Nergal’s crew for the past two centuries. Ramman had been one of Anu’s inner circle, but Ninhursag had been one of the rank and file, a senior rating in Dahak’s gravitonic maintenance crews, brought out of stasis little more than a hundred years ago for her expertise as a physicist. So far as the northerners knew, neither of them realized the other had been in contact with them.

“We’ve always been cautious about relying on anything we got from them, but ’Tanni and I have compared all the data either of them gave us to what we got from the other, and so far everything’s checked. Which means either that they’ve both been straight with us, or else that they’re being worked as a team. Personally, I believe they’ve been straight. Ramman’s terrified of what Anu may do next, and Ninhursag is horrified by what he’s already done, and the fact that they’ve both been kept outside the enclave and away from Anu’s inner circle may indicate that they’re not entirely trusted, which could be a good sign from our standpoint. Would you agree with that assessment, ’Tanni?”

“Aye,” she said shortly.

“But whether he trusts them or not,” MacMahan went on, “they’re valuable to him; he’d’ve wasted them long ago if they weren’t. So we can be certain they’ll be called back in as soon as the shooting starts, and that’s what’s important. Once they go through the access points, they’ll have the current admittance code for the portals.”

He paused again, and this time Colin saw most of the council members nod.

“As we all know, Anu changes codes on a fairly regular basis. We’ve never been able to pick them up from outside, but ’Tanni’s sensors can tell when they reprogram them. So if Ramman or Ninhursag can get the current code out to us, we can at least be sure whether or not it’s still current.”

“All right,” Geb said. “I can see that, but how do they slip it to us?” The question was well taken, but he was frowning in concentration, obviously hoping for an answer rather than raising an objection.

“That’s the tough part,” MacMahan agreed, “but I think we can swing it.

“Once Ramman and Ninhursag have the codes, they’ll each leave a copy at a pre-arranged drop inside the enclave. Our people inside Black Mecca don’t know each other, but I believe both are important enough to be taken south—one of them certainly is, though the other may be marginal. Assuming we get both inside, each will make a pickup at one of the two drops. Neither Ramman nor Ninhursag will know the other is making a drop, and neither of our people will know about the other pickup, so even if we lose one, we ought to get one out.

“That’s the critical point. Once we’ve pushed them inside and gotten our hands on that data, we’ll ease off on our attacks. Anu will almost certainly do what he’s always done before—shove his ‘degenerates’ out first to see if they draw fire. When he does, our people will give us the admittance code. Hopefully, we’ll have two separate data sets to check against one another.

“If the code checks out, and if we can be ready to move before Anu changes it again, we can get inside the shield before they know we’re coming.

“Their active Imperials outnumber ours heavily, but if we get inside at all, we’ll have the advantage of surprise. If we hit them hard enough and fast enough, we should be able to take them or, at the very least, do enough damage to panic their senior people into sealing their hatches and lifting off in their armed parasites to get away from us and provide some fire support for their fellows. To do that, they’ll have to move their parasites outside their shield and lower it to get shots at us. And if they do that—” the colonel’s millimetric smile was fierce “—Colin tells me Dahak will be waiting for them.”

A hungry sound hovered just below audibility in the hushed command deck.

“And that,” MacMahan finished very, very quietly, “will be the end of Fleet Captain (Engineering) Anu and his killers.”

Chapter Thirteen

“I don’t like it,” Horus said grimly, “and neither does the Council. You’re out of your mind, Colin!”

“No, I’m not.” Colin tried hard to sound patient. His experience with Dahak’s tenacity helped, but he was starting to think Horus could have given the starship stubborn lessons. “We’ve been over this and over this, and it still comes out the same. I’ve got to let Dahak know what’s going on. He doesn’t distinguish between any of you people; if he spots you, he’s as likely to open up on you as he is on Anu.”

“That’s a chance we’ll just have to take,” Horus said obstinately.

“That’s a chance we can’t take!” Colin snapped, then made himself relax. “Damn, you’re stubborn! Look, this is an all—or—nothing move; that’s all it can be. We can’t risk having Dahak attack us when we actually move against the enclave, but that’s only part of it. If we manage to get inside and do enough damage their armed parasites lift out, he’s gonna know something is going on. He hasn’t heard a squeak out of me in almost five weeks— how do you think he’s going to react when he sees any Imperial units moving around down here?”

“Well…”

“Exactly! But even that’s not the worst of it. Suppose—heaven forbid—I buy it? Who’s gonna explain any of this to Dahak? You know he won’t believe anything you say, assuming he even listens. So. I’m dead, and you’ve zapped Anu. What happens next?” He met the old man’s eyes levelly.

“The best you people can hope for is that he leaves you alone, but he won’t. He’ll figure it was simply a power play among the mutineers—which, in a sense, is exactly what it will be—and go after you. If the enclave’s shield is down, he’ll get you, too. But even if the shield’s up and you’re inside it, he’ll be in exactly the same position he’s always been in, and the Achuultani are still coming! For God’s sake, man, do you want it all to be for nothing?!”

Horus glared with the fury of a man driven against the wall, and Jiltanith sat beside him, glowering at Colin. Her brooding silence made him appallingly nervous, and he tried to remind himself she was an experienced intelligence analyst. The smooth way she managed her sensor arrays and Nergal’s stealthed auxiliaries proved her competence and ability to think calmly and logically. She might hate him, but she was a professional. Surely she saw the logic of his argument?

She’d said little so far, but he knew how pivotal her opinion might well be and wondered yet again if she resented the fact that MacMahan—who was technically her subordinate—had come straight to him with his plan? He’d half—expected her to throw her weight against him from the start, but now her lips twisted as if she’d just bitten into something spoiled.

“Nay, Father. The captain hath the right of’t.”

Horus turned an “et tu?” expression upon her, and sour amusement glinted in her eyes as Colin blinked in surprise.

“ ’Tis scarce palatable, Father, yet ’twould be grimmest humor and our deeds do naught but doom us all, and the captain doth speak naught but truth. Wi’out word to Dahak, can we e’er be aught save mutineers?” Horus shook his head unwillingly, and she touched his arm gently. “Then there’s an end to’t. Sin we must give it that word and ’twill accept only the captain’s implant code as sooth, then is there naught we may do save bend our heads and yield.”

Colin looked from her to her father, grateful for her support yet aware logic, not enthusiasm, governed her. It showed even in the way she spoke of him. She used only his rank, and that sourly, when speaking of him to others, and she never called him anything when forced to address him directly.

“But they’re bound to spot him!” Horus said almost desperately, and Colin understood perfectly. Colin was the first chance for outright victory Fate had seen fit to offer Horus, and the possibility of losing that chance terrified the old Imperial far more than the thought of his own death ever could.

“Of course they are,” he said. “That’s why it has to be done my way.”

“Granddad,” Hector MacMahan said gently, “I don’t like it very much, myself, but they may be right.”

Horus scowled, and the colonel turned to face Colin.