Brindle’s response overlapped the Chairman’s words in the brief transmission lag. “I do not believe this attack is warranted. Circumstances have quite plainly changed.”

“I didn’t ask your opinion, General. Destroy the Confederation ships!”

The EDF commander’s turmoil boiled up in his words. “I cannot open fire on a sovereign leader.”

Basil blinked as if he had never expected the General to defy him. “Don’t be ridiculous. The Confederation is not a legitimate government. They are a clear threat to the entire Hansa. Open fire!”

After a hesitation longer than the time lag required, Brindle replied, “I will not.”

His eyes flared, and his voice was like acid. “Your wife currently serves on an EDF base. I have had her watched, and now I will order her to be taken into custody. I never dreamed I would have to use strong-arm tactics to getyou to follow simple commands, General.”

Conrad’s voice was brittle. “And I never dreamed that a real leader would resort to taking innocent hostages or threatening loyal citizens. I have made a grave error in not realizing sooner that King Peter is my true commander-in-chief. I won’t let you use Natalie as a pawn.”

Basil turned as pale as curdled milk. He shouted, “If you do not do as you’re told, I will order you and your bridge crew executed as mutineers!”

Only a crackle of static came from the communicator. The EDF commander had cut off the transmission.

Basil spun to Andez, whose four guards stood close together in the sealed room. They seemed deeply unsettled now that General Brindle had abandoned the Chairman. Several of them seemed ready to throw down their weapons.

Basil, somehow, didn’t see it. “Colonel Andez, it is time to end this. I order Peter’s execution. Shoot him down for usurping King Rory’s throne.”

“He can have the throne!” the boy cried.

“You shut your mouth!”

Foreseeing a threat to Peter, OX immediately placed himself in front of the throne, using his hard polymer-and-metal body as a barricade. “I cannot allow you to harm the King. My programming prevents it. You will have to shoot through me.”

Andez’s hand twitched, but she did not draw her firearm from its holster. Too many of Peter’s guards pointed their weapons toward her; she and her handful of comrades were heavily outnumbered. “But, Mr. Chairman, even the EDF — ”

Basil grabbed her small sidearm from the holster at her hip and stalked toward the throne four steps away, as if he and Peter were the only two people in the room. All of the guards swung their firearms toward him, though Peter had given them orders not to fire.

“Mr. Chairman, drop your weapon! Now!”

Basil completely ignored them, as if they were inconsequential.

Stationed at the base of the dais steps, Cain did not hesitate. As the Chairman strode dismissively past him, he drew the ceremonial dagger that Captain McCammon had so proudly worn. Swinging the knife in a smooth arc, he threw his weight into the blow.

The blade slammed into Chairman Wenceslas’s back, piercing him below his left shoulder blade, slightly to one side of the spine. Cain drove the point between the ribs and directly into Basil’s heart.

The Chairman stopped as if he had walked into a wall. Cain gave the knife an extra thrust.

Everyone froze in shock. Peter pushed away from his throne and sidestepped the guardian compy.

Deputy Cain held the dagger’s hilt, keeping the Chairman upright for a paralyzed instant. Basil’s hands twitched and he released his grip on the handgun, which dropped with a clatter to the throne room floor. His knees buckled, making him too heavy for the deputy to hold him up. Cain released the hilt, and the Chairman slid to the floor. Blood started to seep through the fabric of his expensive business suit.

Basil let out a long rattling sigh and rolled slightly so that his gray eyes met Cain’s. One last breath gurgled from the Chairman’s throat, as if he were trying mightily to utter some final expression of defiance, but he managed to find only one word before he died. “Disappointed. ”

Cain looked coolly around the room, remembering how McCammon had bled across this very same floor. He spoke in a surprisingly loud voice.

“As deputy chairman, I hereby assume control of the Hansa.” He withdrew the dagger from the Chairman’s back, wiped the knife clean, flipped it over, and extended it hilt-first toward King Peter. “On behalf of the Confederation.”

159

Tasia Tamblyn

By the time Tasia and her companions got back to Earth and learned what had happened, the whole war was over — the Hansa and the Confederation, the black robots, the Ildiran Empire, the faeros, the wentals, the verdani. Everything. On their approach to Earth they intercepted numerous transmissions: Patrick Fitzpatrick’s exposes, Confederation reports, and newsnet stories.

“Shizz, and we missed it!”

Hud Steinman made a sour face. “I can’t complain about being left out of all that.”

“We did our part,” Orli assured Tasia. “And from the news stories, I’d say it had a pretty significant effect on how things turned out.”

Kotto was still floating with excitement that his Siren had worked so well. Moving from world to world, they had found and completely knocked out ten of the separated subhives. That had been enough to topple the One Breedex.

Dodging the wreckage strewn like a metallic asteroid belt around the military ships in Earth orbit, Tasia flew toward theJupiter.

“Admiral Willis,” she transmitted to the Juggernaut. “Are you ready for some company? My team has very interesting news about the Klikiss. or what’s left of them.”

The responding voice did not belong to the Admiral, though. “You’re always welcome aboard my ship, Tamblyn — even if youwere off on a little joyride while the rest of us were saving the world.”

“Joyride? Excuse me,Commodore Brindle, but we’d better compare notes before we decide whose accomplishments trump whose.”

Robb laughed. “Come aboard theJupiter. We’d love to hear about your exploits. Admiral Willis is on her way back here, too.”

The reunion aboard the Juggernaut was a happy one. Kotto had never been on such a large EDF ship before, and he poked around the bridge, incessantly asking questions. Steinman wanted to find the crew’s mess so he could have a meal that didn’t come from self-heating packages, and Orli and DD went with him.

From the Whisper Palace, Deputy Cain had formally instructed General Brindle to cancel the guillotine-code commands and reinstate power and control to all the Confederation battleships. The EDF commander had been glad to comply. All the ships were now functional.