Using his memorized passcodes to deactivate the security systems, he and Zhett entered the silent home. They carried their belongings from the space yacht into a guest bedroom, which they claimed as their own.

They went to the former Chairman’s media room, a large chamber with comfortable chairs, a minibar, and a coffee-dispensing station. The walls were covered with dark newsnet screens.

“Do you think we can find a way to contact the other protesters?” she asked. “How will we get in touch with them?”

“We can do some broadcasts from here, form our own little self-contained cell. Wait for Freedom’s Sword to track us down.”

“Unless the Hansa finds us first.”

“We’ll scramble our signal, make it look like we’re somewhere out in space — you saw the chaos out there. They’ll never be able to figure it out.”

“Then how will Freedom’s Sword find us?” Zhett activated the monitors and sat back to watch the numerous reports. Many screens reported on the asteroid-roundup efforts or displayed tragic stories of cities obliterated by meteor impacts. On several discussion channels guest speakers railed against the Confederation with various degrees of fanaticism. Conspiracy theorists speculated that King Peter had somehow provoked the faeros attack. Patrick rolled his eyes.

A few sporadic channels voiced genuine criticism of Chairman Wenceslas, how his bad decisions and ineptitude had dug humanity’s grave; those discussions, though, were few. Many once-popular channels, Patrick noted, were no longer broadcasting.

One story was focused on the Klikiss, briefly reporting that General Lanyan had been killed on Pym. After the Moon’s destruction, though, that was old news. Patrick heard the story of Lanyan’s fate with mixed emotions. He had once admired the man, seen him as his mentor and the key to career advancement. How naive and foolish he had been! Considering how many times Lanyan had thrust his hand into a hornet’s nest, it had been inevitable that he would get stung.

They listened to reports of massive arrests of demonstrators who demanded the Chairman’s resignation. During the state of emergency, King Rory could do little to calm the people. Patrick was sure he would find a way to tap into the Freedom’s Sword network; even if he never found them, he could use their name to gain additional attention. With his revelations, the dissenters would have a lot more things to yell about.

When he used his own ID and thumbprint to access the main household communication center, instead of a blank Ready screen, an image formed. His grandmother stood there looking at him. He was startled to see Maureen Fitzpatrick give him a hard smile.

“Well, then, Patrick, since you’ve accessed this message from my home, and since I’m not there to delete it before you can listen, I must be dead. That pisses me off. Unless I happened to fall off a tree balcony on Theroc — and I’m not that clumsy — I’ll bet Chairman Wenceslas had something to do with it. Bastard,” she muttered under her breath.

“I can imagine what you must be thinking. You’re fired up to take on the Hansa, bring the man to justice, save the human race. You’ve turned into a crusader, Patrick, so listen: There are smart crusaders and stupid ones. That Roamer girl of yours has brought out an altruistic streak in you. which I suppose is just fine. I wouldn’t mind, though, if you also wanted to get even with the Chairman for what he did to your dear, sweet grandmother.” She laughed.

Patrick felt a chill to see her talking so blithely about her fate. In order for her to make the recording at all, she must have suspected that Chairman Wenceslas was capable of such a vicious action. He had never guessed how much risk he was asking the old Battleaxe to take, but Maureen had prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“Now, then, if you’re going to accomplish anything, you’ll need contacts and you’ll need resources. I’m appending to this message a full list and access instructions to several large funds. It’s not everything, of course, but it should be enough. I don’t want you blowing the whole family fortune on your campaign, even if you are doing it for my sake. and humanity’s.

“I’m also giving you a list of trusted contacts in the media and in business, people who did me quite a few good turns while I was Chairman, and I can guarantee you they’re not fans of the current administration.”

When she narrowed her eyes and looked right at him, he couldn’t believe she wasn’t really there on the other side of the screen. “I know how smart you are, and I know how well I raised you. I’m. proud of you. Now, go get ’em.”

She looked over her shoulder, called out to Jonas, and ended the recording. Patrick stared at the screen, his eyes burning.

Zhett beamed, already pulling up the lists Maureen had left.

They had everything they needed to get started.

Using Maureen’s sophisticated communications equipment, disguising the origin of the transmission through numerous layers of encryption, Patrick easily hacked into the open newsnets. Because so many popular stations had been taken off the air, leaving only dead static, he could easily broadcast on those channels. He contacted the media experts his grandmother had suggested, and they helped spread the message; several of them claimed to be members of Freedom’s Sword already. Using his extensive funds, he could open doors and cover tracks. Zhett, in particular, proved to be quite good at getting new recruits.

Patrick also found a way to insert messages into a popular news discussion show, interrupting a debate about future weather shifts due to the loss of the Moon. He got his largest audience, however, when he piggybacked onto a successful music and entertainment channel; in spite of the world practically coming to an end around them — or perhaps because of it — people still watched their favorite shows.

In an anger-intensified voice, Patrick made his damning statements and laid out the facts. Letting the appalling images speak for themselves, he uploaded the images of Admiral Pike’s Mantas assassinating the former Chairman because she had accepted an appointment as liaison to the Confederation. He showed the attack on the Osquivel shipyards and the ransacking of the Golgen skymines, before reminding his audience of his earlier widely broadcast confession, that General Lanyan had himself been responsible for causing the ekti embargo.

For good measure, he claimed to represent Freedom’s Sword and called everyone to take to the streets. While showing an image of Chairman Basil Wenceslas, he made a sound of disgust and asked, “Why do you tolerate this man?”

He signed off and took Zhett by the hand. He would do similar broadcasts day after day until he achieved critical momentum.

106

Mage-Imperator Jora’h

Leaving Adar Zan’nh and the majority of his Solar Navy soldiers aboard their warliners so as not to make an unnerving or overwhelming show of force, Jora’h descended to the primary skymine on Golgen.