The Insurrection

One of his ratings jerked on his gauntlets and reached for his helmet, and Windrider stabbed him with an angry stare.

"Where do you think you're going, Bearclaw?" "B -comb, sir! Those are ourfrstends out there! We've got to do something[" The missile tech was a product of Windrider's own world, an Amerind from Topaz, and his words tore at Windrider's soul.

He felt sweat under the tooled leather band at his temples and remembered the scent of the evergreen tomash trees above his home.

"What you're going to do, Bearclaw," he said harshly, "is stand away from that hatch and sit down." Bearclaw sat slowly, and his crewmates looked away in confusion. What was Windrider doing?

Where did their own officer stand? The click of plastic and metal jerked their eyes back as he laid his laser on the console.

"No one enters or leaves this compartment without my permission," he grated. "No one. Is that understood?" He met each of his subordinate's eyes in turn, pi

Red lights flared on status boards as whole computer sectors fell out of circuit. Shot out or cut, it made no difference to his own command station. They could cut the drives, they could cut the data net, they could blow the bridge to atoms; as long as Enwright had power, he controlled her weapons.

But what of it? He asked himself that with all the pent up bitterness and helplessness--comand fear which filled him. It had seemed so simple in the bull sessions. Nothing violent. Just a refusal to fire ff the time came. Passive resistance. Not this!

Never this mindless murder of fellow Navy men and women who were only doing their duty as best they understood it!

His battlephone beeped a priority code, and he punched a console key, shifting to a secure intraship battle cha

"Commander." The captain sounded harassed, but his voice was still crisp. "These damned mutineers must have pla

"Admiral Forsythe is dead, and Admiral Singh was appar* ently killed when they took out our flag bridge. Admiral Traynor may be dead; we've lost all contact with Vesuvius, so I have to assume she's either dead or a prisoner. I've got ntact with Admiral Hale, but the mutineers have all the engineering spaces in E1 Chichon; he can't even neuver. Admiral Ashigara apparently went over to the mutineers aboard Basilisk, so as near as I can figure it, Hale's the senior man left, and he's given me orders to terminate the fighting aboard Anderson--fast. Maybe we can bring the whole task force back to its senses ff we get some Marines in there quickly. But Captain Li and Longbow are in the way, and they've threatened to destroy the first boat launched against Anderson.

I've got two superdread-noughts from Admiral Hale's group, and one attack transport is prepared to go in, but they can't launch until Longbow's neutralized.., one way or the other." Windrider heard the pain in his voice and remembered the evening Captain Li had dined aboard as his guest. "I'm going to give Li one last chance to move aside," Hodah said quietly. "If she refuses... Then, Commander, it's all up to you and your team." "I--understand the situation, sir," Windrider whispered.

"Good. Switch to the intership cha

I want Captain Li to hear us if I have to pass you orders." "Yes, sir." Windrider shifted cha

Han stared into her eom screen at Simon Hodah's worried, angry face, reading the fear and fury in his eyes and wondering if he saw the pain in hers. His mouth was a slashed wound and his voice was harsh.

"Captain Li, you are in violation of the Articles of War. You will surrender your command and person at once, pursuant to the orders of Vice Admiral Eric Hale. You will heave to and await my boarding party. Officers designated by myself will relieve you of command and place you under close arrest to await trial. This is a direct order, logged and taped. You may authenticate with Admiral Hale." "Captain Hodah," Han said softly to her old friend, "I must respectfully refuse your order." "You have no authority to refuse!" Even the rage in Hodah's voice couldn't hide the pleading under his fury. "Now cut your shields and get out of my way, Captain, or by the living God, I'll blow you apart!" Hah looked around her bridge crew. Every set of shoulders was tense, every face knotted with tension, but not a voice protested as she turned back to her superior officer. God, she was proud of them! Yet her heart ached at matching their courage against their own fellows. It was such a waste--such a tragic, stupid waste--yet all of them were caught in the conflicting webs of duty, loyalty, and trust. Did her people suspect how much strength she drew from them? Or did they think they drew theirs from her?

She glanced down at her plot almost idly, watching data codes flash as weapons and tracking systems came alive aboard the trio of capital ships, and the deadly threat of those weapons was her reality. Her mind flickered over her life, remembering the things she'd done, recalling those she'd meant to do. How would her father react to this? What of the children she'd always known she would someday bear?

She knew him so well. He would fire--comindeed, she would leave him no option--and when Enwright and the superdreadnoughts fired, Longbow would die. No battle-cruiser ever built could survive that concentration of fire at this range.

She hadn't anticipated when she handpicked her crew that she had chosen them only to die with her, yet Hodah's margin for error was razor thin.

Longbow's destruction would clear the path to Anderson, but it was a deadlv expedient which might well recoil upon him, for it would left-brace give every mutineer his options, spell out the full, deadly consequences of resistance. It might awe them into surrender, but she thought not.

Her face was calm as the death of her ship and crew looked back at her from Hodah's eyes.

It was unfair. It was cruel. Yet in a sense, it was also the sublime completion of her life. She drew a deep breath, hoping no one would notice.

"Go to hell, sir," she said very gently.

The deck shivered as Enwright moved deliberately towards the slim, defiant Longbow, and the Corporate Worldrewed superdreadnoughts Nanda Devi and Pente- likon moved in beside her, shields glowing. The transport Chief Joseph slid in behind them, but she was unimport- ant in the confrontation of Goliaths, and Windrider's fin- gers flew over his own console even as his mind tried to reject the firing setup he was creating.