Going home did nothing to brighten anything. The Fortress of
Iron was gravid with bad news.
Wulf and Helmut had put a prize crewman aboard the singleship
Dee had stolen. She and her escort had been attacked while
returning home. The guilty warships had been of Sangaree
configuration. Only one of them had survived. Wulf and Helmut had
been forced to let it escape. Its crew had managed to recapture the
medicare cradles containing Benjamin and Homer. The High Seiners
had tracked the fleeing ship. They said it had made planetfall on
Helga’s World.
“We’re right back where we started,” Storm
groaned from his own cradle.
“Oh, no,” Helmut told him. He wore a sickly grin.
“We’re way worse off. The Fishers say Michael and
Fearchild Dee arrived on Blackworld this morning.”
“That’s impossible.” Storm’s heart
hammered so hard his cradle fed him a mild sedative.
“Not quite,” Wulf said. “His wife got him out.
She was on Helga’s World. He instelled her during the chase.
She spaced and followed you to the prison. That’s the story
they’re telling on Blackworld.”
“He’s got a new wife?”
“All we know is what we get in the reports,” Helmut
growled. “It’s the old wife. I thought she was dead,
too. But our man got into their pockets while they were explaining
to Seth-Infinite. He even found out how she followed
Dee.”
“How?”
“Limited range, general broadcast instel. A little node of
a thing he swallowed before he was captured. It didn’t last
long, but it got her into the area of the asteroid.”
“We get an ultimatum?”
“The minute that raidship grounded,” Wulf replied.
“No signature, of course. We take the Blackworld contract or
we never see Benjamin or Homer again. I guess they’ll try to
frame Blake Mining with the snatch.”
Storm lay back, stared at a pale ceiling. He needed no signature
to know who had sent that message. Helga Dee. And she would not
bother trying to cover her tracks. He was tempted to ignore it.
Benjamin and Homer were his flesh, but he could balance their lives
against those of all the Legionnaires who would die in combat.
“What’s our movement status?”
“Go. We can start any time.”
“Activate Trojan Hearse,” Storm ordered.
Nobody protested. Nobody acted surprised. He was amazed. That
had done everything but laugh when, years ago, he had presented the
contingency plan. They had seen no need to be ready to break into
Festung Todesangst.
“The operation went active the day Michael left,”
Wulf said. “We’ve already located one of Helga’s
ravens. Ceislak took the ship yesterday. He’s on his way to
Helga’s World now.”
Storm smiled his first smile in a long time. Hakes Ceislak was a
fine, bloodthirsty youngster with a flair for commando operations.
If anybody could slip a shipload of Legionnaires into Festung
Todesangst as pretended corpses, he could.
“How many? All volunteers, weren’t they? I
don’t think she’d blow the scuttle bombs unless she
thought she was dead anyway, but I don’t like anybody taking
risks if they don’t want to.”
“A full battalion. All volunteers. We turned another
thousand away. They thought they might have to dig you out too.
Ceislak picked the men he wanted.”
“All right. We go to Blackworld. We stir it up there, and
get their attention till Ceislak can do his job. He’s going
to need a lot of stall time. If he takes the raven in off schedule
she’ll smell us out.”
“He needs almost five months.” Helmut shrugged
apologetically. “It was the only raven we could
find.”
“We’ll miss Ceislak on Blackworld,” Wulf said.
“I’ve been studying the layout. Blake’s position
is so much better than what Richard has to work from that
he’s got to have a whole bag of tricks up his
sleeve.”
“Of course he does,” Storm said. “He’s
Richard Hawksblood. He wouldn’t have taken the commission if
he didn’t think he could win. If it gets hairy, we’ll
miss Ceislak bad.”
Cassius said, “My friend Beckhart might be persuaded to
take that job off our hands. If we can deliver proof of a link
between Helga and the Sangaree.”
Mouse had begun to feel lost. He asked, “Why would that
matter?”
“He’d have to have an excuse to nose around in a
private war,” his father told him. “Then he’d
jump on it so he can grab Helga’s World for Luna Command.
Sangaree would make him a great causus belli.”
“I know they’ve done studies on the cost of taking
her out,” Cassius said. “Us, too, for that matter. The
base plan was to saturate her defenses with missile fire. Go for
overload and totalkill. They’d love to have us open the door
and let them get their hands on all that sweet
information.”
“Arrange it,” Storm ordered.
“You sure? He takes the place and the government gets a
hammerlock on every corporation in this end of
Confederation.”
“I know,” Storm said. “I know. No matter what
way you go, it’s no-win.”
“What about Blake Mining?” Helmut asked.
“They’ve been crying like babies for two weeks. I got a
full-time guy in Communications giving them the stall.”
“Keep him on the job. Meantime, start your preliminary
movement. Surprise them. I’ll be along as soon as Medical
turns me loose.”
“One more thing,” Wulf said, as Mouse started to
roll his father away.
“What?” Storm snapped. “What the hell other
bad news can you hit me with?”
“Good, bad, who knows?” Wulf asked. “A message
from Lucifer. He’s a little embarrassed. Turns out his wife
is an agent. For Blake, of all outfits.”
“So? Does it matter anymore?”
“Maybe not. But answer me this, Colonel. Why was she
planted on us? She hooked up with Lucifer before any of this broke.
Which to me means she can’t have anything to do with the
Shadowline.”
“Wheels within wheels,” Cassius observed. He laid a
gentle hand on Mouse’s shoulder. “Some of us get born
into the game. The wheels turn each other. Sometimes they never
find out why.”
“Ach!” Storm growled. “Take me down,
Mouse.”
The Fortress was a citadel of gloom. There wasn’t a smile
in the place. The Legion was a worm wriggling on a hook. A big fish
was coming up to bite.
“It looks hopeless, doesn’t it, Father?” Mouse
asked.
“So it does, Mouse. So it does. But maybe we’ll fool
them all. It’s always darkest before the Storm.”
“Is that a pun?”
“Me? Make a joke of the family name? Horrors.”
Going home did nothing to brighten anything. The Fortress of
Iron was gravid with bad news.
Wulf and Helmut had put a prize crewman aboard the singleship
Dee had stolen. She and her escort had been attacked while
returning home. The guilty warships had been of Sangaree
configuration. Only one of them had survived. Wulf and Helmut had
been forced to let it escape. Its crew had managed to recapture the
medicare cradles containing Benjamin and Homer. The High Seiners
had tracked the fleeing ship. They said it had made planetfall on
Helga’s World.
“We’re right back where we started,” Storm
groaned from his own cradle.
“Oh, no,” Helmut told him. He wore a sickly grin.
“We’re way worse off. The Fishers say Michael and
Fearchild Dee arrived on Blackworld this morning.”
“That’s impossible.” Storm’s heart
hammered so hard his cradle fed him a mild sedative.
“Not quite,” Wulf said. “His wife got him out.
She was on Helga’s World. He instelled her during the chase.
She spaced and followed you to the prison. That’s the story
they’re telling on Blackworld.”
“He’s got a new wife?”
“All we know is what we get in the reports,” Helmut
growled. “It’s the old wife. I thought she was dead,
too. But our man got into their pockets while they were explaining
to Seth-Infinite. He even found out how she followed
Dee.”
“How?”
“Limited range, general broadcast instel. A little node of
a thing he swallowed before he was captured. It didn’t last
long, but it got her into the area of the asteroid.”
“We get an ultimatum?”
“The minute that raidship grounded,” Wulf replied.
“No signature, of course. We take the Blackworld contract or
we never see Benjamin or Homer again. I guess they’ll try to
frame Blake Mining with the snatch.”
Storm lay back, stared at a pale ceiling. He needed no signature
to know who had sent that message. Helga Dee. And she would not
bother trying to cover her tracks. He was tempted to ignore it.
Benjamin and Homer were his flesh, but he could balance their lives
against those of all the Legionnaires who would die in combat.
“What’s our movement status?”
“Go. We can start any time.”
“Activate Trojan Hearse,” Storm ordered.
Nobody protested. Nobody acted surprised. He was amazed. That
had done everything but laugh when, years ago, he had presented the
contingency plan. They had seen no need to be ready to break into
Festung Todesangst.
“The operation went active the day Michael left,”
Wulf said. “We’ve already located one of Helga’s
ravens. Ceislak took the ship yesterday. He’s on his way to
Helga’s World now.”
Storm smiled his first smile in a long time. Hakes Ceislak was a
fine, bloodthirsty youngster with a flair for commando operations.
If anybody could slip a shipload of Legionnaires into Festung
Todesangst as pretended corpses, he could.
“How many? All volunteers, weren’t they? I
don’t think she’d blow the scuttle bombs unless she
thought she was dead anyway, but I don’t like anybody taking
risks if they don’t want to.”
“A full battalion. All volunteers. We turned another
thousand away. They thought they might have to dig you out too.
Ceislak picked the men he wanted.”
“All right. We go to Blackworld. We stir it up there, and
get their attention till Ceislak can do his job. He’s going
to need a lot of stall time. If he takes the raven in off schedule
she’ll smell us out.”
“He needs almost five months.” Helmut shrugged
apologetically. “It was the only raven we could
find.”
“We’ll miss Ceislak on Blackworld,” Wulf said.
“I’ve been studying the layout. Blake’s position
is so much better than what Richard has to work from that
he’s got to have a whole bag of tricks up his
sleeve.”
“Of course he does,” Storm said. “He’s
Richard Hawksblood. He wouldn’t have taken the commission if
he didn’t think he could win. If it gets hairy, we’ll
miss Ceislak bad.”
Cassius said, “My friend Beckhart might be persuaded to
take that job off our hands. If we can deliver proof of a link
between Helga and the Sangaree.”
Mouse had begun to feel lost. He asked, “Why would that
matter?”
“He’d have to have an excuse to nose around in a
private war,” his father told him. “Then he’d
jump on it so he can grab Helga’s World for Luna Command.
Sangaree would make him a great causus belli.”
“I know they’ve done studies on the cost of taking
her out,” Cassius said. “Us, too, for that matter. The
base plan was to saturate her defenses with missile fire. Go for
overload and totalkill. They’d love to have us open the door
and let them get their hands on all that sweet
information.”
“Arrange it,” Storm ordered.
“You sure? He takes the place and the government gets a
hammerlock on every corporation in this end of
Confederation.”
“I know,” Storm said. “I know. No matter what
way you go, it’s no-win.”
“What about Blake Mining?” Helmut asked.
“They’ve been crying like babies for two weeks. I got a
full-time guy in Communications giving them the stall.”
“Keep him on the job. Meantime, start your preliminary
movement. Surprise them. I’ll be along as soon as Medical
turns me loose.”
“One more thing,” Wulf said, as Mouse started to
roll his father away.
“What?” Storm snapped. “What the hell other
bad news can you hit me with?”
“Good, bad, who knows?” Wulf asked. “A message
from Lucifer. He’s a little embarrassed. Turns out his wife
is an agent. For Blake, of all outfits.”
“So? Does it matter anymore?”
“Maybe not. But answer me this, Colonel. Why was she
planted on us? She hooked up with Lucifer before any of this broke.
Which to me means she can’t have anything to do with the
Shadowline.”
“Wheels within wheels,” Cassius observed. He laid a
gentle hand on Mouse’s shoulder. “Some of us get born
into the game. The wheels turn each other. Sometimes they never
find out why.”
“Ach!” Storm growled. “Take me down,
Mouse.”
The Fortress was a citadel of gloom. There wasn’t a smile
in the place. The Legion was a worm wriggling on a hook. A big fish
was coming up to bite.
“It looks hopeless, doesn’t it, Father?” Mouse
asked.
“So it does, Mouse. So it does. But maybe we’ll fool
them all. It’s always darkest before the Storm.”
“Is that a pun?”
“Me? Make a joke of the family name? Horrors.”