Crisis Of Empire - Crown Of Empire Part 39

The aircar behind them veered off, putting considerable distance between themselves and Ver's aircar. "Sony, Kona Tatsu," the speakers said for the retreating Protectorate officers.

"Carry on," Ver said to Jessine as he reached down and secured the lever.

'Very nicely done," said Jessine in approval as she increased their speed once more.

On the display the razed buildings of Haiken Maru Central held Ver's attention as he strove to discover how extensive the damage actually was.

"Another Protectorate aircar coming," said Jessine, and reached for the lever Ver had pulled. She maneuvered the heavy vehicle into a slow glide to permit the Protectorate aircar to read the identification, then resumed her speed and course.

"Very good," Ver told her.

Thank you," she responded.

"I like die way you do this."

The Haiken Maru ruin vanished from the

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display and a new one appeared, one where men in improvised uniforms stormed the Biological Substances Authority, halfway across the city from the Secretarial Palace. Most of them had little more than hand weapons and escape har- nesses, but they went at the task with spirited determination, cheering when any one of their number made progress against the formidable bulk of the building.

They went along in silence for several min- utes, Jessine concentrating on driving, Ver on the holographs. Then she gathered up her courage and asked, "Damien? You don't have to tell me, but I want to know. I really do want to know."

The tone of her voice alerted him. "Know what?" He watched her closely. '"What is it, Jessine?"

"Did you - the Kona Tatsu - loll Cowper?"

Her question ended on a gasp, as if she expected anger from him.

His answer was flat. "No."

She took a deep breath. "Do you know who did?"

"Yes." He froze the hologram, suspending a Pro- tectorate squad rounding up a load of truculent Marines. "Kitdiley killed the Hig^i Secretary."

Jessine stared at him in shock. "What do you mean? Kitchley. That's impossible."

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"Keep your eyes on your instruments," he advised. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, but be careful with the aircar." There was real concern in his voice and a sadness in his eyes that was almost as unexpected as his revelation.

She nodded and returned her eyes to the screen and the instruments. "All right," she said, amazed at how calm she sounded. "Why do you say it was Kitchley? He was the most loyal man - Daphnean - on the Palace staff."

"Precisely. But his loyalty was to the Pact, not to the Secretariat, or to Cowper Bouriere.

Kitchley was worried about the Pact. He saw the High Secretary in danger, with the Pact slipping more and more into the hands of the Haiken Maru, and Admiral Sclerida trying for a military coup. No matter how many times he was warned, or who warned him, Bouriere refused to see the danger. He refused to take action against Sclerida, claiming it was unwarranted. The High Secretary was convinced it would diminish as time went on, that interfering would only force the issue."

"And it was working, wasn't it?" Jessine asked, her voice a little desperate. She thought of the many occasions when Cowper had promoted that idea - leave well enough alone - to high- ranking visitors and off-planet delegations. He

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had said he did not want the Pact to look like an oppressor or a conquering army, but a reason- able coalition of dedicated peoples working together.

"No. Kitchley was right Admiral Sclerida was about to launch his coup. That is a fact and we can doc.u.ment it. And he had enough of the treasury Guard on his side to have let him cany it off." He paused as another update flashed on his console.

The holographic display now showed a skir- misher headed for die Palace. There was a flicker and then a squad of Navy, Marines and Cernians piled out of a huge ground transport at the foot of one of the towers. All were armed and ready for action.

"According to the latest reports, lira is back at the Palace," saidVer. "Interesting."

"What makes you say that Admiral Sclerida was about to launch a coup?" Jessine demanded.

Ver gave her an amused and distant look; with- out his affection for her to soften his expression it would have been terrifying. "It's the Kona Tatsu's job to know such things. That's what we do."

Jessine could not argue that. "All right. But I still don't understand why Kitchley would kill Cowper."

*To prevent the coup. Without a major crisis

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to disrupt his plans, Admiral Sclerida would have moved to take over within the month. And Kitchley had his own ideas. He was going to hand over power to Admiral Merikur, He thought he could keep the bureaucracy running well enough then. He figured if he did that, he'd have some control over the Secretariat." Ver frowned at the holographic display. "There are still too many armed a.s.sault boats in Logistics*

hands." He studied the figures running on the display beneath the view of several air fields overflown by Kona Tatsu reconnaissance satel- lites.

As he watched, a dozen a.s.sault boats rose into the air, set in a diamond formation and headed off at high speed.

Ver switched the communications bank on, "Check display feed. What ships are those and where are they going? I want an answer in two minutes- Contact by code." He shut the bank off at once.

"Why not leave it open?" Jessine asked.

"I don't want anyone homing on the signal.

Bight now only a few Kona Tatsu know where I am. I don't want to change that."

"I just can't believe that Kitchley would do something like ... like kill the High Secretary."

"You may not believe it, but he did it," said Ver

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bluntly. "He had created a strong position for himself in the bureaucracy and did not want to give it up. And he was aware of the dissatisfac- tion in the client planets. He wanted to change that, and thought that he could, given the chance. He was a patriot - he thought. He thought the bureaucracy could make everything right. He was wrong."

The holographic display suddenly changed and two tiny high-alt.i.tude platforms appeared there, engaging each other in heavy fire. The Logistics platform was firing plasma bolts and the Protectorate platform was using laser- cannons. They were carving one another apart.

Jessine glanced at Ver, then back at the con- trols. "Could the Kona Tatsu take over? Could you have staged a counter-coup against Sclerida?"

He could not see the glitter other eyes. "Prob- ably, but it would have been very costly."

"And this is an easier way?" She kept her eyes straight ahead. "Many the widow and you become High Secretary? Is that the plan?"

"Many the widow is, but not the rest," he said carefully. "I have no wish to be High Secretary.

None. I never did." He paused; the two tiny plat- forms continued to lob destruction at each other.