Crisis Of Empire - Crown Of Empire Part 43

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"One/

"Oh, if you really think..." said Cousin Helga, torn between dismay and relief. "I'll be ready."

"Good." Tira all but pushed her through the door, pressing it closed as soon as Cousin Helga pulled the last other lacy garment inside.

Two."

"Better get ready," said Chaney.

Tira threw him a loss before she slipped down behind the smaller settee and swung her Mein- hauser up, leveling it at the door.

"Three."

"They'll probably just blow it up," said Chaney. They don't want to cause too much damage. And they can get in more - "

"Four."

" - easily if there isn't too much damage." He checked his ammunition for the third time, and for the third time swore at how inadequate his supply was.

"Five."

Tira wanted to yell in defiance, to recite the numbers faster so that they would get the fight going. She was tired of waiting. She made sure her goggles were firmly in position.

"Six."

"We're going to get out of this, Tira. We'll be fine," said Chaney, not believing a word of it.

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"Seven."

Chaney had a sudden thought - would Admiral Sclerida actually order his death?

Would he let his men kill his son? At that moment he would not have liked to wager on it.

"Eight."

"Get on with it," muttered Tira, realizing that the Navy man wanted to irritate her; that recog- nition made her more irritated than before.

"Nine."

Chaney's hands tightened on his weapon. He prepared to fight.

Ten was announced by a nerve-shattering explosion that shredded the door and sent sec- tions of it flying through the room, smashing the mirrors and wrecking the bed. Chaney's settee was. .h.i.t by a huge chunk of metal that broke its frame and left one end sagging and shapeless.

No sooner had all the metal landed than a squad of Navy soldiers with Logistics flashes appeared in the doorway, spraying the room with high velocity bullets.

Chaney slipped to the end of the settee and started to pick off the soldiers in the front of the squad, taking care not to waste shots trying to penetrate the body armor protecting their tor- sos. He aimed instead for the head or the legs, firing steadily and deliberately.

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lira was equally cautious in her shooting, and she succeeded in taking out half a dozen of the Navy soldiers before she became a target and once again retreated behind her settee, prepared to change clips.

There were fifteen men lying in and near the doorway, only two of them still moving. Chaney's next round took out another soldier who landed on top of another dead man.

More high velocity fire kept Chaney and Tira behind their protective settees and played havoc with the decorations of the room.

"You hogmaulers!" Tira shouted, unheard over the gunfire. "We Just got this room cleaned up again!" She fired three times and hit two men, one of whom flopped forward, twitching. The other staggered back against his comrades, knocking one of them over as he strove to stay erect.

Then the fire was silenced and the Logistics soldiers moved back from the door.

"Form ranks!" shouted an officer, and the straggling soldiers did their best to comply.

"What in - " Chaney whispered as he watched the soldiers fall back.

In the next instant his question was answered.

From the entrance to the suite came a terrible, familiar voice. "Yon. Tira. This is Admiral

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Sclerida. I am coming forward. Put down your weapons. My men will not fire on you." The Admiral's footsteps were strangely shuffling and uneven.

Tira remained in her hidden position as a sud- den, cold apprehension went over her. She wished she had somewhere to run.

"We are going to work this out," Admiral Sclerida informed them, coming still closer.

"You'll see."

And indeed they did, for Admiral Sderida appeared in the doorway to Cousin Helga's bed- room with Wiley held in front of him as a shield, the muzzle of the Admiral's custom Campriani 56-007 firmly pressed to the young man's temple.

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Chapter 18.

The aircar jolted into the broken paving with front-crushing force.

"Are you alive?" asked Ver as he unfastened his harness.

"I think so," said Jessine unsteadily. She man- aged to pry her fingers loose and then unfastened her harness- "Yes, I'm too badly

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