The Insurrection

"Very well. It has been moved that we appoint a eom-mittee to design a flag for our new star nation," she said. "Is there a second?" "I second the motion, Ms Chairman." Magda blinked as Li Kaiolun spoke up.

Now why was he supporting a motion which could only waste precious time and energy? She shrugged mentally.

Undoubtedly he had a reason.

"V.well. It has been moved and seconded that we appoint committee to design a flag. All those in favor?" A rumble of "Ayes" answered.

"Opposed?" There was not a sound. "Fhe motion is carried. Mister Li, would you be so kind as to take charge of the matter?" "Of course, Ms Chairman." "Good. Now, to return to our agenda.

"But why, Ladislaus?" Tatiana demanded. "We have so many other things to do, why waste time designing aflag, of all things?" "Well," Ladislaus rumbled, "you might be noticing who Kai-lun had the recruiting offor his committee." "What? Who?" Tatiana asked, but Magda laughed suddenly.

It's on our side he is, and he understands entirely." "Well I don't," Tatiana said.

"You would ff you'd seen the membership of that eom-mittee," Magda chuckled. "Between them, Lad and Kai-lun have shunted most of the 'noblemen" in the Convention "Aye," Ladislaus nodded. "Not that I really think they're after creating a new hereditary aristocracy for us all, hut it's not to be hurting a thing to be certain of it when the constitution's debated, now is it?" "Ladislans," Tatiana said sternly, "you're an underhanded, devious man." "Aye," Ladislaus agreed calmly. 'lhat I am." "Ladislaus," Magda said, "I'd like you to meet Rupert M'tana." Ladislaus looked up from his paperwork and frowned at the dark-ski

"And just what is it you and the captain are after cooking up here, Magda?" "It's like this, Lad. Like Beaufort, we had a number of @u.. friends in various places in the I

"Aye," Idislaus nodded. "We're to have the same problem at Beaufort." "Right. Well, Captain M'tana may have come up with a way to put part of our network back on line." "Have you, now?" Ladislaus bent a hard look on M'tana. The captain shifted slightly in his chair but met it unflinchingly.

"Yes, sir. Understand something, Mister Skjorning. I'm an I

There's no way to paperstover the cracks this time too much blood's already been shed.

"So as I see it, I can either join my fellow prisoners in refusing to give you any aid while we wait hopefully for repatriation and with luck another chance to contribute to the killing, or I can help you people. Not because I love your rebellionI don't--but because the sooner the Federation realizes it can't win even ff it defeats you militarily, the better." "I see." Ladislaus gri

"Captain, I've the thinking I'm to like you--and I'm betting that's not to matter a solitary damn to you. But yoU've the right. It has gone too far for healing. So how is it you're to be helping?" "What Captain M'tana suggested to me," Magda said, "ties in with our plans to allow correspondence between prisoners and their families.

"You're to have the knowing, Captain," he said quietly, "of the penalty ff the Federation is ever to be finding out about this' "I do," M'tana said flatly. "But I know-- now what the Assembly's done to you people, and my oath is to the Federation, not just its government. If I can help shorten the war and reduce the killing, I have to do it. Besides --was he looked uncomfortable his-comI don't enjoy killing Terrans, Mister Skjorning, not even ones who are technically traitors. His "I see," Ladislaus said yet again. Then he added slowly,; "Let's have the discussing of the details, then, Captain.

"Well, Chang?" Commodore Li Han tipped back her chair in Longbow's briefing room as she regarded her chief of staff. Commander Robert Tomanaga, her new battlegroup operations officer, sat beside Tsing, and the pair of them were flanked by Lieutenant Commander Esther Kane and Lieutenant David Reznick, Han's staff astrogator and electronics officer.

"Commander Tomanaga and I have gone over the Fleet ops plan, sir," Tsing replied.

"We'll know better after we run it on the tac simulator, but for now, it looks solid." "You agree, Commander?" Han turned her eyes to Tomanaga.

"Yes, sir. Oh, we could use more weight of metal, but quality counts more than quantity." He gri

Tomanaga was certainly qualified on paper; but all of her staff officers were qualified "on paper," with no real experience in their new positions. Nor did she have any, and with an inexperienced staff under a commodore who was herself as green as grass... She hid a shudder and nodded calmly. "Run it down for us, Commander," she said.

"Yes, sir. First, I'd like to put our own operation in perspective to the overall situation. Our operational prob,-lems are complicated enough, but we think the Rump s are worse. So far, about seventy percent of Frontier Fleet has come over or been taken by our units, and it looks like we've got about twenty percent of Battle Fleet, too, but our forces are scattered all over the Fringe. With only drones for communication, concentrating them for opera* tions is going to take time and, for the immediate future, our units here at Novaya Rodina constitute Admiral Ashigara's full disposable strength." Han stifled an urge to hurry him up. There was time, and it was better to be sure her entire staff understood Fleet HQ'S viewpoint.

"Admiral Ashigara's intelligence people estimate that the Rump has suffered losses we don't know about, and that fighter losses have probably been extremely high because so many fighter jocks were Fringers. That's a bit speculative, sir, but it matches our own experience. At any rate, the Rump is undoubtedly strapped for striking forces, but has the advantage of an intact command, better communications, and the interior position; they can move what they have from point to point faster than we can shift around the periphery.

"Our own immediate strategic need is to secure our frontiers before the Rump begins to recover, for which purpose Fleet plans a series of attacks on choke points. Our own operation against Cimmaron will cut off four separa Rump axes of attack," He fouched his panel, and the briefing room lights died. A hologram appeared over the table, and light from the tangled warp lines glittered briefly in his eyes as he picked up a pointer.