The Winter War (36 page)

Ella was hitting buttons on the
gunner’s console, and trying to ignore the mostly headless body
beside her. She said something, her voice obscured by her suit to
add static and drop the tone. To Aneka, Herosian sounded like you
were clearing your throat into a microphone and hissing at the same
time. There was a reply, and no one started shooting at them…

‘Did they buy it?’ Aneka
asked.

‘I told them we’d been ambushed
by Jenlay ground troops. They said to dock for debriefing.’

‘Right. Get that thing ready,
I’ll set the autopilot, and we’ll hope they don’t vaporise us too
soon.’

Taking her pack off with some
relief, Ella opened a flap at the top to reveal a control panel. ‘I
am
so
glad to have this thing off my back. How long?’

Aneka checked the computer.
‘Give it… five minutes.’

Ella punched buttons on the
panel, then a final one. A timer lit up showing five minutes and
immediately began counting down. She covered it over, tied the flap
shut, and then pushed the bomb under one of the consoles. ‘We
better leave,’ she said.

‘We will attain sufficient
height in thirty seconds,’ Al said to both of them. ‘I suggest
getting to the airlock.’

They moved out of the cockpit
and then left and down a deck. The airlock door seemed to take
forever to open, and then even longer to cycle to vacuum. Aneka’s
finger moved over the outer door release button.

‘Ready?’ she asked.

‘No,’ Ella replied, giving her a
nervous grin. ‘Spaced again.’

‘Yeah,’ Aneka replied, hitting
the button. ‘This time it’s on purpose.’

The artificial gravity in the
airlock deactivated and they moved out to the edge, then they
planted their feet, held hands, and pushed, driving themselves out
from the gunship and into what amounted to a mid-level orbit.
Pulling Ella in closer, Aneka wrapped her legs around the redhead’s
waist and took a gadget that looked like a paint sprayer from her
belt. Pointing it toward the distant Gadetta ship, she pulled the
trigger and it fired a jet of gas which slowed their momentum.
Slowly, but with gathering pace, their bomb ship pulled away as it
continued on toward its target.

‘Now,’ Aneka said, ‘we
wait.’

‘Do you think this will work?’
Ella asked.

‘Twenty-five-kilotonne nuke
going off in their hangar bay? Should do the trick.’

‘The gunship will move out of
the carrier’s firing solution in twenty-eight seconds,’ Al informed
them. ‘I estimate that they will be able to get off at least one
shot before the bomb explodes.’

‘Let’s hope Winter’s point
defence systems are up to scratch,’ Aneka said.

It was over a minute before the
main gun on the Gadetta lit up in Aneka’s vision; a powerful
electromagnetic spike as it fired, launching a twenty-eight
centimetre projectile toward the surface.

‘Ninety-eight seconds to
detonation,’ Al said. ‘Estimated seventy-two seconds to projectile
impact.’

‘Come on, Winter,’ Ella said,
watching the cannon shot as best she could as they turned, clutched
together, in orbit.

‘She’ll wait for the last
moment,’ Aneka said. ‘It gives them less opportunity to retarget
based on their new sensor data.’

It was a long sixty seconds and
they had totally lost sight of the falling projectile before there
was a sudden flare of light in the upper atmosphere and Al said,
‘Thirty-three seconds to detonation.’

‘Will they get another shot
off?’ Ella asked.

‘I’m going to say yes,’ Aneka
said. There was another flare of EM from the cannon, then another,
and another.

‘Gopi!’ Ella said.

‘She can handle it. I
think.’

‘Five seconds to detonation,’ Al
informed them.

‘Close your eyes, love,’ Aneka
said.

Even through her eyelids, Ella
could see the flare of light as the Herosian gunship exploded.
‘Gopi!’

‘It’s okay, we’re well out of
range.’

‘Yeah, but what if Winter gets
hit with those projectiles?’

‘That ship she’s in is pretty
tough, even if it’s not a warship.’

About a minute later there were
three massive explosions on the surface of the planet. Aneka could
imagine dinosaurs saw the same sort of thing just before they
vanished off the face of the Earth.

Ella swallowed. ‘Are you, uh,
sure she can withstand something like that?’

Aneka was about to say something
when Winter’s voice sounded in their heads. ‘Actually, I might not
have, but I got out as soon as I destroyed that first shot.’ The
huge, cylindrical form of Winter’s ship materialised in orbit a few
hundred metres away. ‘If you’d care to join us…’

Lifting the thruster pack and
aiming it away from the ship, Aneka squeezed the trigger. ‘We’ll be
right there,’ she said. ‘If I can get this to work going
backward.’

Ella giggled. It was the sort of
sound you made when hysteria was threatening to break through and
the problem had been resolved. ‘Bit to the left,’ she said. Aneka
pulled the trigger. ‘No, now you’ve gone too far right. And you’re
a bit high…’

‘Do you want to do this?’

‘Not really. Now you’re slightly
low and too far left.’

‘Ella…’

Ella giggled.

FSA
Headquarters, New Earth, 1.10.527 FSC.

Dowler was smiling. His face did not
suit it, but he was doing it anyway while no one was looking. His
contacts in the Administration had confirmed that the vote to make
him permanent head of the FSA had gone through. It had been a very
tight majority, but it had gone through.

Better, Elroy was on his way up
to his office to tell him about it. The reception desk had called
through to tell him that the Senator had arrived in the building
and the only reason for that, given the facts, was to confirm the
appointment. Senator Elroy was going to have to stand there and
tell him that, despite his opposition, he was going to continue as
head of the Agency. Dowler’s handler would be pleased, to say the
least, but watching Elroy humbling himself was going to make
Dowler’s century.

The office door opened without
any form of announcement. Something was going to have to be done
about that. Dowler schooled his face into a glower, looked up,
and…

Senator Elroy was smiling. It
was not a political smile. Not a ‘you’ve won this one, you bastard’
smile. This was the smile of a man who had won something, somehow,
and Dowler did not like it.

‘Senator,’ Dowler said, ‘you
could at least knock…’

‘You’re not head of this Agency
until I state that you are, Dowler,’ Elroy said, ‘despite what you
have undoubtedly heard.’

There was a time to assert
authority and a time to be magnanimous in victory, and this was the
latter. Elroy was undoubtedly trying to save face. ‘Of course,
Senator. To what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘The Council and Senate have
voted regarding your appointment,’ Elroy said. ‘The Council was
split, their votes tied with one abstention. You got your
appointment due to a small majority in the Senate…’ Dowler allowed
himself to smile, but Elroy went on. ‘However, the Council placed a
condition on that appointment, by majority vote.’

Dowler’s smile shifted into a
confused frown. He had heard nothing of conditions. ‘A
condition?’

‘Yes…’ Elroy turned slightly,
looking over his shoulder. ‘Agent Truelove, would you come in?’
Truelove walked into the room. She did not look especially happy to
be there, but there she was, tall, blonde, and looking defiant.
‘Agent Truelove will be taking over as your assistant. Her time as
Winter’s assistant makes her an invaluable asset and she is here to
ensure that the Federal Security Agency meets its
full
obligations and targets.’

‘I have an assistant…’ Dowler
began.

‘Yes, you selected a raw recruit
who had no idea what he was doing. Agent Truelove has a great deal
of experience and knows exactly how this Agency
should
be
run. In addition, Agent Truelove will be reporting directly to the
Federal Security Committee on a bi-monthly basis, giving a full
account of the Agency’s activities. Winter was able to act in the
way she did due to an unforgiveable lack of oversight. We are
not
going to make the same mistake again.’

Dowler did not know what to say.
No wonder Elroy was smiling. ‘Of course,’ he managed after a
second. ‘That is… I mean I’ve argued for…’

‘Yes, as I recall you did argue
for greater control over the Agency’s functions. You should be
pleased we’ve taken up your idea. Well done, Dowler. Clearly you’re
a man of forethought. Carry on.’ Elroy turned, nodding to Truelove.
‘Carry on, Agent Truelove.’

Truelove nodded back,
suppressing a grin. She was sure Elroy had winked at her, but
perhaps it was just a twitch.

Winter’s Ship, 2.10.527 FSC.

Aneka watched the galaxy display in the
operations room, and the small, bright, blinking dot that showed
the current location of the ship she was on in particular. Ahead of
it, at the end of the trajectory indicated by a pale-blue line, was
a blue marker with a virtual tag floating beside it: New Earth,
their destination. They were about two days out, but they were
still not exactly sure what they were going to do when they got
there.

‘We’ll know more when we get
into the system,’ Winter said. She was currently being Number Seven
and she was busy examining data on a terminal beside the map, even
though there was absolutely no need for her to do so. Aneka thought
it probable that she did it to put the organics at ease. In this
case, Aneka was considered an organic. ‘Justine, uh, the Justine in
place on New Earth, will have arranged for the activation of some
communication equipment I have in place for emergencies. It’s a
tight-beam, long-range laser system. More or less impossible to
intercept or detect. I’ll get the latest information and we’ll make
a decision then.’

‘If we decide to go back home,’
Ella said, ‘how are we going to explain where we’ve been?’

‘Oh, that’s covered. You never
left. I have a number of stealth vessels in the hangar bay which
can drop you into an uninhabited region. You simply say that you’ve
been there all along. You never left New Earth. No one knows you
did aside from Eddie, and he’s not going to be saying
anything.’

‘That is a very strange man,’
Aneka commented.

‘Exceptionally, but
trustworthy.’

‘I got that impression. So, I’m
just going to walk back into Yorkbridge and no one is going to bat
an eyelid?’

‘I don’t know,’ Winter replied,
‘but I highly doubt it.’

Yorkbridge Mid-town.

Janna smiled and straightened the
collar of the jacket Sharissa was wearing. Sharissa smiled back and
said, ‘It’s not like I haven’t gone to work at the Agency
before.’

‘No, but it’s your first day
back and I want you looking smart,’ Janna replied.

‘Maybe I should have worn a
longer skirt then.’

Janna stepped back and examined
her lover’s hemline. ‘No, it’s perfect. Your stocking tops are
hidden…’

‘Barely.’

‘Precisely the point. You’re
perfect and when you come home I’m going to demonstrate just how
perfect you are.’

‘Haven’t had enough of me after
all this time off?’

Janna closed the distance
between them, reaching up to stroke her fingers along Sharissa’s
firm jawline. ‘Not until they cremate me, love. Maybe not
then.’

FSA Headquarters.

‘You can’t issue a warrant for Aneka
Jansen’s arrest,’ Truelove told Dowler. It said something about the
arrangement of power, which had developed in only one day, that he
had come out to see her rather than summoning her into his office.
‘She has committed no crime punishable under Federal Law. You can’t
have her arrested.’

‘The Herosians are demanding her
extradition for examination on the grounds that she may be a
Xinti…’ Dowler began.

‘It’s been declined.’ Truelove
tapped at her terminal, bringing a window forward. Dowler scanned
the text, his expression growing darker by the minute. ‘Aneka
Jansen was examined by entirely independent experts in the fields
of physics, chemistry, sociology, and psychology. None of them were
directly connected to Winter. All of them were vetted by this
Agency, by multiple academic institutions, and by the
Administration. Aneka is not a Xinti agent, and she is not a Xinti.
She
is
a Federation citizen and classified as a Jenlay under
Federal Law.’

‘There’s a move in the Senate to
have her reclassified as an AI,’ Dowler said.

‘That won’t make a difference.
Extant AIs have the same rights as any organic being. She can’t be
transferred into Herosian custody without a good reason, and they
don’t even have a
bad
reason. Did you actually
read
their extradition request?’

Dowler grunted and turned on his
heel. He had read the request and he knew full well that it was
going to be rejected. His hope had been that it would get bogged
down in discussion for long enough that he could have had Aneka
locked away before anyone thought to cancel the warrant.

Of course, that would have
required someone knowing where she was, and no one seemed to know
that. Without a warrant, there was no way he could put agent or
Peacekeeper resources into finding her.

Sitting at his desk, Dowler
glared at the door. Truelove was entirely too good at doing the job
Elroy had supposedly put her there for. Somehow he was going to
have to get rid of her, and there was no way he could be seen to be
involved in doing so.

Winter’s Ship, in Orbit of Joval X,
4.10.527 FSC.

Joval X was a mid-sized gas giant,
around one hundred and fifty times the mass of New Earth and more
than nine times its diameter. It sported five moons, two of them
basically small planets, and a ring system about as pretty as
Saturn’s. At almost 13 AUs from Joval, it was not quite the
outermost planet in the system, but it had a unique and useful
feature, which was the reason Winter’s ship was in orbit around it,
just beyond the rings: it was very loud.