"Wait a minute," he said, "There'd be no reason to celebrate if not for hard work by the people from the logistics office. They should be in on this. Come on, everybody, let's share the moment with them and avoid making anyone feel left out."
Taking L'Tan's arm in a grip so forceful that it startled her, he began walking to the hallway beyond the doors. With various mutterings and a lot of 'what the hell is going on?' expressions, the rest of the group followed.
L'Tan whispered, "T'Mar? What's..?"
"Quiet. Keep walking. I think there's a bomb on your desk."
L'Tan wasn't the type to ask 'Are you sure?' or say 'You can't be serious!'. She simply nodded slightly and continued walking, and the small herd of people that was her office staff followed her.
T'Mar had deliberately named the logistics office to share his 'news'. It was the office farthest from L'Tan's and had two exit doors, one of which was for shipping and receiving of goods.
When they arrived at the logistics office, T'Mar parked the group by the larger of the doors and said, "Wait here. You, too, L'Tan. I'll get everybody together."
He went to the manager's office and told the man to get all of his people together by the loading door -- no questions asked -- and to wait with them, then T'Mar called Security using the logistics manager's vid screen. A woman named L'Ban answered.
T'Mar smiled at her and said, "Hi, L'Ban. Send someone of command grade to logistics immediately. Nobody else. Just one field grade officer is to come alone. I don't want to discuss it, I just want it done. Right now. Thank you."
To avoid having to make excuses or explanations to those waiting by the door, he remained in the office. Less than five minutes passed before a unit commander named T'Dar entered the logistics office at a quick march. He looked around, spotted T'Mar in the inner office, and continued his march in T'Mar's direction.
After outlining his suspicions to a somewhat skeptical T'Dar, T'Mar added, "I could be wrong, Commander, and if I am, I'll buy you a drink later to make up for it. Better safe than sorry, right?"
T'Dar agreed, then called his offices to arrange a quiet evacuation of the building and a bomb disposal team's visit to L'Tan's office. Everybody in the logistics office was led outside and L'Tan and T'Mar were called to join the observation team when a robotic investigator was sent into L'Tan's office.
The robot first scanned L'Tan's desk thoroughly for radio, heat, and radiant emissions. Nothing unusual came of that. Using insulated grappling arms, the robot reached to touch the monitor on L'Tan's desk. Nothing happened.
The robot was then instructed to disconnect the monitor and place it within the containment module on its accompanying trailer.
When the robot disconnected the monitor's power fitting, L'Tan's office ceased to exist as anything but a blast of plasma that cleanly obliterated the top three floors of the building in a brilliant globe of glowing gases.
After a few moments of watching the gas ball expand until it dissipated, Commander T'Dar turned to T'Mar and said, "The first round is on me, I guess."
L'Tan said, "No. On me. Thanks for taking him seriously, T'Dar."
T'Dar grinned and said, "I hate to admit it now, but I didn't. I just went along with him because he works for you, ma'am, and because you were in the logistics office. I thought it might have been some kind of a test."
L'Tan shook her head and said, "I'm just glad that we store data in the basement computers. We'll be weeks behind, now. Maybe months."
Raising her voice slightly, she called the logistics manager over to the observation group, then told him, "Expect urgent requests without proper or complete paperwork for a while. I'll give you some extra people. Verify what you can and we'll validate the rest upstairs... Uh, well, we'll validate the rest from wherever we happen to be, since 'upstairs' is no longer there. Just keep things moving as best you can and speak up if you run into problems."
The man was visibly shaken, but he nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am," then almost dashed back to his group.
A few days were required to check what remained of the building for other explosives. After some cleanup and retrieval of records, three more days were necessary to establish various offices elsewhere and make them functional again.
As they wandered through the new offices,T'Mar suggested that L'Tan no longer maintain her own office in a building with others, mostly because that would lessen the number of people with access to her. L'Tan agreed, but primarily because it would lessen the risk to others.
"I've become someone's target," she said. "The others can find ways to function without me if the next attempt is successful."
News of the assassination attempt was received by the public in many ways. Some -- apparently very few -- felt that it was too bad that the attempt hadn't succeeded, but most people seemed to think that L'Tan was undeserving of an attempt on her life and they galvanized in her support.
Letters and padmails poured in and a media campaign denouncing the so-called 'revolutionaries' began that ran unchecked for months. L'Tan's supporters pointed to services restored and the general quality of life and many specifically credited L'Tan's rulership with having saved the Confederacy from consuming itself by fighting over the remnants.
Of course, they also questioned how much longer her rulership should last. An unofficial general consensus seemed to think that she'd very soon have accomplished all that she had stated as her goals in the beginning.
The worlds of the Confederation were again stable enough to run themselves with occasional or specific assistance from the governing agencies. It was generally accepted that those who had survived the virus attack had been located and that those who had not survived had been listed.
It was L'Tan, in fact, who suggested -- almost six months after the bombing of her office -- that things had progressed far enough that she could relinquish the reins of power.
She said, "People are no longer struggling to survive and searching for family members. Lately they've been clogging the courts with claims concerning pre-virus properties and civil rights lawsuits. I think the time has come for me to give up this damned throne and get back into space, T'Mar."
"Suits me," he said with a grin. "You'll have more time for me when all you're running is a starship. They pretty much run themselves, anyway."
She gave him a look of exasperation. "You're usually the first to tell me that the time isn't right yet."
He dampened a finger and held it up, then said, "Nope. The wind's changed. No argument this time, milady."
Chapter Twenty-seven
That evening they conferred with T'Bar and L'Mir in T'Bar's quarters. Both of them had reservations about L'Tan's decision, as expected, but after listening to L'Tan's opinions on the matter, L'Mir sided with L'Tan.
"She's right, T'Bar," said L'Mir. "The data we've been receiving for the last three months bears her out. The crisis is over. It's time for the people to manage themselves again."
"It's over when I say it is," said T'Bar. His words were direct, but his tone was gentle. "I hate to pull rank, but I am the power behind this throne."
He stood and paced as far as the refrigerator, where he withdrew four beers and opened them before returning to the table.
"I won't pontificate tonight," he said. "No speeches about how I've given my life to the Confederation. No blustering rhetoric. This isn't about me. It's about whether or not the people have truly recovered enough to fend for themselves." He gestured at the datapad in L'Mir's hand and added, "Statistics can lie."
L'Mir put the pad on the table and reached for her beer.
"Not these statistics," she said. "They're weighted toward the lowest common denominator of necessities. Bad news, in other words, and there hasn't been much of that for some time now, T'Bar."
T'Mar said, "At this point we'd be artificially extending the state of emergency, T'Bar. Things aren't perfect yet, but they never will be and they never were. Don't make her wear the crown until she becomes the target of real re
volutionaries."
The eyes of everyone at the table locked on T'Mar for some moments.
L'Tan said, "Explain that last remark, T'Mar."
Her tone was that of an order, not a request.
"Yes," said T'Bar. "Explain that. If you're accusing me of trying to kill L'Tan..."
T'Mar held up a hand and said, "No. You didn't try to kill her. I know that. T'Gel knows that, too, and you can thank whatever you pray to for that, Admiral. He caught a man in the act of sabotage. There was a struggle. The man died. We traced him through four identities before we learned who he was."
T'Bar simply stared at T'Mar for several moments, then sat down wearily and set his beer on the table before he said, "A man named T'Vel has been missing for three months."
T'Mar nodded. "T'Vel. Guard Commander, Special Services."
L'Tan's gaze switched twice from T'Bar to T'Mar, then settled on T'Mar. L'Mir's eyes misted and tears formed quickly. She fluttered as if she might excuse herself, then simply remained in her seat with her face in her hands. T'Bar wordlessly handed her his handkerchief.
L'Tan said to T'Mar, "You didn't tell me. Why?"
"There might have been others, and at the time we didn't know that he wasn't really trying to kill anyone."
"But the bomb in my office..?"
T'Mar shook his head. "It wasn't intended to kill anyone. If you'd touched the screen, a warning message would have appeared. There'd have been plenty of time to evacuate the building."
T'Bar asked, "How did T'Vel die, T'Mar?"
"As I said, there was a struggle. I've seen the security-vid recording of that hallway, T'Bar. He pulled a knife and rushed T'Gel. T'Gel countered the move and T'Vel lost his footing at the top of the stairs. In hindsight -- or should I say, after watching the vid -- it seems likely that T'Vel was only trying to intimidate T'Gel enough to get by him and make an escape. The fall down the stairs broke his neck and drove a rib into his heart."
L'Mir succumbed to her grief. She rose quickly and ran from the room. T'Bar simply folded his arms and rested his head on them. L'Tan sat in a state of amazement at their reactions to the news.
T'Mar tapped her hand to get her attention and said, "He was L'Mir's friend and the son of one of T'Bar's oldest friends. The idea was to turn public opinion in your favor and head off the further development of a real revolutionary organization by making them look like crazies and worse."
T'Bar sat up, took a deep breath, and asked, "Now what? Where is he?"
T'Mar said, "T'Gel had him in stasis aboard a flitter almost immediately and flew to the nearest hospital, but it wasn't enough to save T'Vel. He's been in stasis ever since. At first we intended to present him and the results of our investigation as evidence. Since discovering his true identity and role, we've intended to stage a short firefight and a flitter crash, then list Commander T'Vel as a fallen hero, but I thought I should ask you about that first, Admiral."
"I... Yes, thank you. I'd like to see him, T'Mar. I think L'Mir would like to see him, too. I'll ask her."
T'Mar sipped his beer and gave T'Bar some time to recover before he said, "I need to know something first, Admiral."
T'Bar's head came up quickly and his gaze was sharp.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"I said, I need to know something first, Admiral. I need to know that there aren't any more like T'Vel out there. We can bury him as a hero, but if any others turn up, the truth will be made public knowledge. I'm sorry that there isn't a more delicate way to put this."
Rage smoldered in T'Bar's eyes as he said in a dangerous tone, "You're threatening me?"
T'Mar shook his head. "No. It will be cause and effect, Admiral. Eight people know what really happened, not counting L'Tan, L'Mir, and you. There are three copies of the security vid and all records of our investigation. Short of staging a total military coup, you can't halt the wholesale distribution of that information. All I'm saying is that we don't want any more bombings. The artificial revolutionaries must cease their activities immediately."
L'Tan's eyes widened a bit as she looked at first T'Bar, then T'Mar.
"You mean that the bombings wouldn't have stopped when I left office?"
T'Mar shook his head slightly and said, "No, they wouldn't have. You were never the target, L'Tan. The purpose was to extend the state of emergency with popular support. It was a way to guarantee that the militaries wouldn't be pared to the bone when the government shifted back to the Council."
As L'Tan's eyes fell on him, T'Bar said, "I'm sorry, L'Tan, but your friend is essentially correct. We simply cannot allow the militaries to be legislated out of existence."
"Fat chance of that," said T'Mar. "We've by no means finished with the pirate worlds. They were untouched by the plague and we still haven't recovered a lot of our own military hardware that they grabbed while they could. Estimates are still what..? Thirty percent of standing armament of twenty worlds? They have that military technology now, Admiral. We will be hearing from them and we'd better be ready when they come calling. I don't think the Council will be so stupid as to let the militaries relax any time soon."
He shrugged and added, "And if they are, you can work around them again. So, do we have a deal? L'Tan is to be allowed to take off the crown and will be issued her starship. The revolutionaries will cease to exist and the civilian government will be restored. That's all we want in exchange for our silence."
T'Bar sat glaring at T'Mar for some time before he said, "And if I don't, the revolutionaries will probably get me in the near future, won't they?"
"I can almost guarantee it, Admiral. All of the investigators involved are from my old outfit, led by T'Gel. You know the type, sir. Hard-core and hard to stop. The kind who can work alone under the worst conditions imaginable. If they could be bought off or frightened off, someone would have managed it before now. You'd have to be exceedingly lucky to survive very long."
T'Bar pursed his lips and nodded slightly, then said, "Nobody has ever been that lucky. I suppose we have a deal, T'Mar."
Two weeks later, L'Tan's decommissioning speech was broadcast to all the worlds of the Confederation. Her closing remark was, "Behave yourselves and help each other. As I promised I would back when everything was in shambles, I now return the governing of the Confederation to the Council."
She folded her notes in the deafening silence of the Council Great Hall and prepared to leave the podium when the first cheer went up. More cheers followed, but they weren't cheers of gladness that L'Tan was finally out of office. They were cheers for her, and they weren't what she'd expected.
Tears came to her eyes and blurred her vision. T'Mar stepped from the sidelines and handed L'Tan one of the drink napkins so she could dry her eyes. The assembly sent up another cheer as he stepped up beside her.
"Check it out," said a grinning T'Mar as he waved to the crowd. "Do they think I'm a somebody, or were they just getting a second wind?"
L'Tan chuckled through her tears and said, "Please get me off this stage. My knees aren't working right."
As he led her off the stage, T'Mar glanced down and said, "Your knees look as fine as ever to me, lady. How about taking me home with you tonight?"
End Stardancer
Book Information (click here)
Book Information
* * *
This book Copyright © 2001 by Ed Howdershelt. All rights reserved.
CAUTION: Some tasteful erotica late in the story.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
* * *
Book Information
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
STARDANCER Page 18
