passed.
… something the new owners could not enjoy hearing. He was swept along in the
power of it, thinking of Miliko, of his family murdered… What he had lost he had
lost, and he went empty-handed, as the hisa went, to the invaders.
BOOK FIVE
^
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter One
« ^ »
Pell: Blue Dock: Aboard ECS 1 Europe; 11/29/52
Signy leaned back in her chair at Europe’s council table, shut her eyes a
moment, propped her feet in the seat of the chair next to her. The peace was
short-lived. Tom Edger showed up, with Edo Porey, and they took their places at
the table. She opened one eye and then the other, arms still folded across her
middle. Edger had sat down at her back, Porey in the seat one removed from her
feet. She yielded wearily to courtesies, swung her feet to the floor and leaned
against the table, staring dully at the far wall, out of sorts for conversation.
Keu came in and sat down, and Mika Kreshov came at his heels, took the seat
between her and Porey. Sung’s Pacific was still out on patrol, with the
unfortunate rider-captains of all the ships deployed under his command in
perpetual duty, docking in shifts to change crews. They would not let down their
guard, however long the siege became. There had been no word of the Union ships
they knew were out there. There was one ship, a mote called Hammer, a merchanter
they were sure was no merchanter at all, which hung at the edge of the system
broadcasting propaganda… and longhauler that it was, it could jump faster than
they could get a ship within striking range of it. A spotter. They knew it.
There might be another, a ship named Swan’s Eye, a merchanter like Hammer which
did no merchanting at all, and another whose name they did not know, a ghost
that kept showing up on longscan and drifting out again, that might well be a
Union warship—or more than one of them. The short-haulers who remained in the
system kept the mines going, stayed far from Pell and far from what was going on
about the rim, desperate merchanters pursuing their own concerns without
acknowledging the whole grim business, the absence of the longhaulers, the fleet
ghosting about the system rim, the spotter ships that kept an eye on them, the
whole situation.
So did the station, attempting normalcy in some of its sections, with on-duty
troopers and libertied troops moving among them. Fleet command had had to give
the liberties. There was no keeping troops or crews pent up for months at dock,
within arm’s reach of the luxuries of Pell, when the living space on the
carriers was spartan and crowded during prolonged dock.
And that had its peculiar difficulties.
Mazian came in, immaculate as usual. Sat down. Spread papers before him on the
table… looked about him. Lingered last and longest on Signy. “Captain Mallory. I
think your report had best come first.”
She reached unhurriedly for the papers in front of her, stood up at her place,
that being her option. “On 11/28/52 at 2314 hours I entered number 0878 blue of
this station, a residential number in a restricted section, acting on a rumor
which had reached my desk, having in company my troop commander, Maj. Dison
Janz, and twenty armed troops from my command. I there discovered Trooper Lt.
Benjamin Goforth, Trooper Sgt. Bila Mysos, both of Europe, and fourteen other
individuals of the troops in occupancy of this four-room apartment. There were
drugs in evidence, and liquor. The troops and officers in the apartment verbally
protested our entry and our intervention, but privates Mila Erton and Tomas
Centia were intoxicated to such an extent that they were incapable of
recognizing authority. I ordered a search of the premises, during which were
discovered four other individuals, male aged twenty-four; male aged thirty-one;
male aged twenty-nine; female aged nineteen, civilians; in a state of undress
and showing marks of burns and other abuses, locked in a room. In a second room
were crates which contained liquor and medicines taken from the station pharmacy