The pilot transmitted back with clear anxiety in his voice. “Two EDF Mantas are coming to intercept. Admiral Pike insists that we stand down and surrender.”

“What is his problem?” Maureen pushed her way to the cockpit. “You may have to pull some fancy evasive maneuvers to get us out of here.”

Little beads of sweat sparkled on the pilot’s forehead. “I can’t fly like a smuggler or a blockade runner, ma’am.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong, Captain. Your service record is completely clean — I checked. This must just be a routine stop. Apparently, the EDF doesn’t have anything better to do.”

He pointed to the bright traces on his navigation screens. “They were waiting for us, Madame Chairman. There’s plenty of other traffic, but they’re heading straight toward us. This is no routine stop.”

Maureen felt cold. Somehow the Chairman had learned of her plans. Paranoid bastard! “I’m going to have to ask you to bend a few rules. How soon can you align our vector and engage the stardrive?”

“Right away. I was about to — ”

“Then do it.”

He swallowed hard. “There’ll be hell to pay when we get back.”

She frowned at him. “You know we’re not coming back.”

“Right you are.”

The two Mantas raced closer at full speed. She said rather urgently, “It would be a good idea if we got out of here before they’re in weapons range.”

The pilot engaged the stardrive, and her space yacht leaped across the light-years. With a mocking gesture at the screens, Maureen waved goodbye. So much for the worst-case scenario.

Her staff was amazed that the EDF had tried to prevent them from leaving Earth, that they had run for their lives and gotten away from the bad guys. They all felt as if they were in an action vidloop. A lifetime of government service had given them few opportunities for excitement. Now they had no doubt that Chairman Wenceslas was afraid of what Maureen might do! She could tell that they were all quite pleased with themselves, especially Jonas.

After two days of travel, the pilot disengaged their stardrive and arrived without incident at the edge of the Theron system, punctual as always. She sent out a long-range message as they made their way into the inner system. She was sure Patrick and his Roamer wife had arranged to roll out the red carpet. “This is former Chairman Maureen Fitzpatrick. Can somebody manage an escort and a reception committee? We’re on our way in.”

Maureen wished she had at least brought some of the best bottles from her wine cellar so they could toast their new lives. She had never tasted a Theron vintage before, but she doubted it could measure up to her private collection. Nevertheless, the green-and-blue planet looked very welcoming as it grew larger with their approach.

Two EDF Mantas roared in from either side, so close they nearly collided with the yacht. Maureen lost her balance and fell to the deck, grabbing for a handhold. The pilot squawked in panic and began to fly erratically.

Admiral Pike’s face appeared on the comm screen. “Chairman Fitzpatrick, we warned you not to flee. I have orders from Chairman Wenceslas to prevent you from committing a treasonous act. I cannot allow you to reach Theroc.”

Maureen was livid. They must have known her destination from the start. She opened the communications channel, leaned close to the screen, and brought to bear all of the fury that had gained her fame as the old Battleaxe. “Admiral, you are no longer in Hansa-controlled space, and you have no jurisdiction here. My ship has arrived at the behest of King Peter and the Confederation.”

Pike’s squarish face was stony, but she could see a troubled glimmer of uncertainty there. “Maybe so, but I cannot allow you to proceed.”

A cluster of ships had already launched from Theroc: Roamer vessels and even a single Manta, apparently one of Admiral Willis’s battle group. As she expected, Patrick was out there flying theGypsy. Now that the Confederation reception committee had seen the threatening EDF ships, they increased acceleration.

Maureen responded to Pike with a cold smile. “Admiral, if you try to take me prisoner, I will create such a shitstorm of scandal your great-grandchildren will still be cringing from it. Cut your losses and go home. You don’t belong here.”

“Neither do you, ma’am. Unfortunately, the Chairman’s orders are clear.”

The two Mantas circled around before the Confederation ships could close the distance. The pilot looked to her frantically for instructions. Maureen assumed the EDF ships were going to use a tractor beam to seize her yacht, but instead the two Mantas pointed their bow weapons clusters at her. She saw their jazer banks powering up.

“He has my family hostage,” Pike said apologetically. “He has all of our families.”

Maureen opened her mouth in disbelief, and all words suddenly left her.

The Mantas opened fire.

76

Patrick Fitzpatrick III

The explosion flared on theGypsy ’s cockpit screens as he accelerated toward his grandmother’s ship. Though Patrick demanded all possible speed from his engines, he knew he would be too late.

For days now, he had been filled with optimism. King Peter had pressed him for details on his grandmother’s reaction to the invitation. “Is there any chance you misinterpreted her answer?”

“She’ll come. She knows the Chairman has to be stopped. She’ll be a strong advocate for the Confederation, and she’ll convince what’s left of the Hansa.” He looked forward to being on the same side with her; the Chairman wouldn’t stand a chance against their combined skills and determination.

But now his hopes vanished in a sparkling cloud of shrapnel, incandescent gases, and vented atmosphere. Somewhere among that wreckage, curling and drifting out in empty space, was all that remained of his grandmother, her crew, her companions.

“Damn you!” Patrick shouted into the comm system. “Murderers!” Before he knew what he was doing, he had accelerated violently toward Admiral Pike’s Mantas. He needed no more reason to hate the Hansa, hate the Chairman, and hate the dark and twisted abomination the EDF had become.

The pair of cruisers hung in space, their weapons ports still hot as theGypsy rushed toward them. He simply could not let the EDF continue its atrocities with impunity.

In the copilot’s seat, Zhett was white with shock, yet sharp enough to realize the danger. “Fitzie, they’ll blow us out of the sky — just like they did to her.”

“They won’t,” Patrick growled, sounding more confident than he felt. But this was a fool’s response, and he knew it.