L Modesitt - Empress of Eternity

Eltyn had his doubts about whether the pair could make the more than sixty kays to Apialor on foot in the heat, the wind, and especially if a sandstorm came up in the next day or so. He watched for a moment, then keyed a command into the local net to inform him of any movement approaching the station. Only then did he turn from the window and head down toward the south door. He did switch magazines, as did Rhyana, before he opened the door.

Three figures in RF uniforms were dead. That left the one Faelyna stood watching.

"He?ll be out for hours."

"We?ll need to make sure he?s firmly restrained."

"I can take care of that," announced Rhyana. "Take care of it good."

"You took care of most of them already," Eltyn said.

"I had to. They?re the ones who were turning poor Kealyn into little more?n dribbling mal-brain. That one there was, anyway." She pointed to the body of a slightly taller man with skin a shade darker than either Eltyn?s or Faelyna?s.

"What do we do with their vehicle?" Rhyana paused. "I suppose it doesn?t matter. Satellites have probably picked it up already."

"Not necessarily," replied Eltyn. "The sat-links seem to be down. They?ll have minidrones coming this way, if they aren?t already. Can you camouflage it?"

"I?ll see what I can do, after I take care of His Mighty Rucheness here, and the bodies. You two need to get back to what you were doing. You let me know if anyone?s coming? Or if any of those RF types head back here?"

"Absolutely," declared Eltyn.

Faelyna nodded.

As the two left Rhyana, Eltyn couldn?t help but ask, Did they just think we'd let them walk in?

Why not? Everyone else has, it appears. Except TechOversight. No way for us to getthere. No way to know if Chiental has held them off.

It's a covert location…

The RF types seem to be everywhere.

Eltyn shook his head as he entered the station.

The next morning dawned clear and bright…and without any sign of the Aesyr. The security company had gone to stand-down. One squad remained on alert, stationed around the portahut on the grass just south of the canal wall. Duhyle stood outside the south station door talking with Subcaptain Symra, since Helkyria was buried in her workroom, trying to track

"ghost" patterns within the station proper.

"What will the Aesyr try next?" asked Duhyle.

"Anything that will catch us off-guard. It?s likely to be an attack that doesn?t look like one. Or it could be a peaceful protest designed to look like an attack to get us to make a mistake. The Aesyr and half the government are already demanding the resignation of the Magistra of Security over the sinking of the Skadira."

"Security didn?t sink the ship. The Aesyr sank it themselves."

"That may be, but how do you prove a negative, especially when people saw a ship exploding from what looked like a satellite-launched missile? If you deny it without evidence, people think the government?s deceiving them, but the more evidence the government produces, the more people believe the government is fabricating it all and that it?s a cloaking job."

"Doesn?t anyone ask why the government would want to destroy an innocent ship? Or that it might not be so innocent?"

"Throughout history, people have feared government, and mostly they?ve been right to do so." A faint pink of sardonic humor colored the subcaptain?s eyebrows.

The distant muted sound of horns caught Duhyle?s ear, and he and Symra turned. From out of the low evergreens to the south of the canal and the station emerged a handful of men playing brass horns of various lengths. All wore leathers, leggings, and horned helmets. Duhyle squinted. There were short battle-axes in leather cases attached to their wide belts.

"Security!" snapped Symra, clearly on a tactical net. "Full alert."

The hornists were almost a kay away. So far they were alone, but that didn?t mean they?d stay unaccompanied.

Security troopers began mustering south of the portahut, and two other Aesyr walked out of the woods. Each carried a long pole, with a banner stretched between the poles. Against the banner?s gray background, the four-word message in fluorescent crimson stood out- AesyrAgainst Secret Research. The banner-bearers, also with battle-axes at their belts, followed the hornists by around fifteen yards.

Captain Valakyr appeared, her eyes darting toward the demonstrators. "Sonic axes! Two can play that tune." She hurried toward the portahut.

"Sonic axes?" asked Duhyle.

"They look like toys or ancient replicas, but they project tightly focused sound. They can be far more lethal than a real axe. They don?t have to strike physically to kill. In fact, if the edge actually impacted your arm, it might malfunction, but they look like toys, and they?re very light."

Two hundred or more demonstrators emerged from the trees behind the banner. All wore Aesyr costumes, with short leather cloaks, leather belts crossed over their chests, bound leggings, and horned helms. All were swinging the sonic axes in some sort of rhythm.

Duhyle frowned, then asked, "Is the advantage to the sonic axes that Security can?t use longer-range weapons because they can?t prove hostile intent until they?re actually within yards of being killed or injured?"

Symra nodded. "You can?t tell if it?s a sonic axe or a toy until it?s used. They can march up to the security troopers and turn away…or attack at the last moment. Oh…and the axes also have another capability. They disrupt several different forms of nonlethal restrainers, such as loopers and body foam."

"So…if the axes are lethal…?" pressed Duhyle.

"They used toy axes last year in Asgard. Security cut down the first line of Aesyr demonstrators with high-strength stunners, and several died. The captain in charge was cashiered, and brain-conditioned. Even after a public trial, there was an uproar about Security overreacting."

Duhyle recalled seeing the media on the incident, but there hadn?t been any mention of the resemblance between toy axes and sonic axes.

"That?s why there aren?t any Vanir security companies stationed anywhere in Midgard any longer," added Symra. "They?re all Aesyr."

"They?re trying to create their own separate government for Midgard."

"Trying?" Symra?s single word was sardonic.

Duhyle looked back at the approaching Aesyr. More than half a kay away a number of other things struck him immediately. Most of the so-called demonstrators were male; all the men were bearded; and the majority of them were not only taller than he was, but considerably taller and broader than their few female compatriots.

The security troopers formed up in a staggered triple line along the flat stone at the southern edge of the canal wall. All carried circular shields and short stunners.

"Are the shields sonic blockers?"

"Yes. They?re not always entirely effective." Symra?s voice was clipped. "Excuse me, Tech Duhyle." She strode briskly toward the vehicle that had brought her, where the seven remaining spec-ops techs had formed up.

Once she reached them, there was a quick exchange, and then one of the techs slipped into the vehicle and drove it forward toward the middle of the line of security troopers. Symra and the other techs trotted alongside the vehicle, until it came to a stop in the middle of the line.

Duhyle nodded. Symra would use the vehicle?s shields.

Captain Valakyr joined the subcaptain and the two talked for a moment before Valakyr turned away.

By now, the hornists were three hundred yards away from the security troopers. They did not continue toward the troopers, but turned eastward, marching until they were even with the easternmost troopers. Then they stopped, about-faced, and resumed playing. In the meantime, the banner-bearers had turned westward, heading parallel to the security forces. When they reached the western end of the troopers, they swung around so that the banner faced the hornists. They stopped and set the banner poles on the ground.