Authors: Jonathan L. Howard
Katya didn’t mind the humiliation of being bundled into
the lift in front of the staring
bridge crew. What really hurt was that Kane didn’t lift a finger to stop them. He just looked at her with disappointment as if her scout around the station had come as a surprise to him. It had certainly come as a surprise to Mila and Katya felt sorry for her; when it emerged that she hadn’t locked Katya into her room, Mila would be in all sorts of trouble.
The holding area on level Beta turned out to
be almost as unpleasant as it
sounded. It was obvious that the Yagizban had been anticipating taking large numbers of prisoners when they made their move against the Federal authorities and had built extensive holding facilities into the FP-1 and presumably its sister stations in anticipation of that day. It was equally obvious that
“
that day
”
wasn’t supposed to be today, as the facilities were not yet completed. The surviving
Novgorod
crew, perhaps twenty strong, had been locked into what seemed to be a building site. Eventually, it would probably be an imposing gaol. At present, it was as extemporised as the disused office that the pirates had locked them in just before the
Leviathan
had attacked.
Uncle Lukyan loomed up from the floor – there was nowhere else to sit – and came to greet her when she was half pushed, half thrown through the door.
“
I was hoping you would be spared this,
”
he said, indicating the bare chamber, a couple of hastily placed chemical toilets in one corner its only nod to humanitarian facilities.
“
I was, for a while,
”
said Katya. She sat down with him by Lieutenant Petrov and related what had happened to her since she’d been separated from them.
When she had finished, her uncle blustered angrily but Petrov seemed to have been expecting much of it.
“
It all makes a sort of sense,
”
he said.
“
The pirates were obviously hand in glove with the Conclaves, that was clear as soon as we were picked up. I’ve been sitting here thinking abut it and, yes, it had occurred to me that most of our pirate problem might have been nothing but the Conclaves keeping us busy while they worked on all this. I’m disappointed about Tokarov, though. I’ve read his file, I knew he was born in the Conclaves. It’s not common for Yagizbans to join the FMA, but it’s not rare either. I really thought his loyalty to us was solid. It turns out he was not only a good officer, but a good actor.
”
“
So, what can we do?
”
asked Katya.
“
Do? Nothing. We’ve already checked the walls and door and, believe me, we’re not getting out of here unless they let us. Even if we did, we’re trapped on a hostile station thousands of kilometres from the nearest Federal ship. We’d need a cogent plan of action once we’re out and we don’t have enough information to form one.
”
They sat glumly for a few minutes.
“
If only I hadn’t got excited about seeing that damned thing on the scope when we were in the Weft, Katya,
”
said Lukyan.
“
I’d never have accidentally woken it and it could have stayed there for another ten years.
”
“
Not you
r
fault, uncle. Who was to know? Besides,
Leviathan
or not, the Yagizba Conclaves wou
ld have launched their attack on
the rest of the settlements and, really, what chance would we have had anyway? They’ve got the boats, the facilities…
”
“
They have
surprise,
”
agreed Petrov.
“
They’ve always been difficult to deal with but we never thought they were intending anything like this. And now they have the
Leviathan
.
”
“
A
fait accompli
,
”
said Katya, remembering Kane’s words. The Yagizbans had effectively owned the planet for months. Only the sudden appearance of the
Leviathan
had brought
forward the surprise party when
they’d been intending to tell this rest of the Russalkin about it. She got to thinking about other things that Kane had said and as she did, a faint glimmer of hope appeared.
“
They might
not
have the
Leviathan
on their side,
”
she said quietly.
Petrov looked up at her sharply.
“
What do you mean, Ms Kuriakova?
”
“
Kane has always talked about the interface process like it was the worst thing he could imagine. The Yagizbans are acting like Tokarov has become the
Leviathan
’s captain, but that’s not the way Kane describes it. He says it
’s
more like whoever is in the chair is absorbed into the
Leviathan
’s artificial mind, giving a spark that turns it into a synthetic intelligence
.
Capable of imagination, cunning, lateral thinking, all the sorts of things that artificial intelligences aren’t so good at. If Kane is right, Tokarov isn’t
really in full
control of the
Leviathan
, he’s just a component. He can guide it, but its basic impulses will remain the same.
”
“
And what are those impulses?
”
asked Lukyan.
“
Destroy the Russalkin resistance, prosecute the war, take targets important to the Terran invasion,
”
said Petrov,
“
exactly as they were ten years ago.
”
He sighed.
“
You’re thinking that it will attack the Yagizban, aren’t you, and they’d have to fight back, perhaps damage or destroy it?
That might not
be the case
.
”
Katya was excited by her idea and his reservations angered her.
“
Why not?
”
“
Because…
”
he looked at both of them uncertainly. Then he came to a conclusion and said,
“
I might as well tell you. We had evidence – not good evidence,
it was
weak
, circumstantial
stuff – that the Yagizba Conclaves were collaborating with the Terran invasion.
”
Lukyan and Katya looked at him as if thunderstruck.
“
They… collaborated?
”
Lukyan managed to say after a shocked silence.
Katya shook her head.
“
That can’t be right! The first thing the Terrans did was bombard the Yagizban platforms from orbit. They killed hundreds!
”
“
The theory goes – and it is only a theory – that the Earth ships attacked before the Yagizban command managed to contact them and offer their services. As for the deaths, they just put them down to the fog of war and forgave the Terrans.
”
He looked at the floor.
“
It’s war. Stupid things happen in war and people die for all the wrong reasons.
”
“
Where’s the evidence?
”
asked Lukyan.
“
There is none, nothing concrete. It’s just guesswork based on the question of how the Terran forces trapped on Russalka managed to fade away. We scoured the seas looking for them. The popular theory was that they’d become pirates. The less popular one was that they’d been given safe haven by the Conclaves. Now, it turns out that both theories might be the same thing. Most of the
Vodyanoi
’s crew, I haven’t said more than a couple of dozen words to them. They could easily be Terran for all we know. I didn’t know Kane was until he told us, not for certain. When Captain Zagadko had him arrested as a Terran aboard the
Novgorod
, I wasn’t convinced. There are other colony worlds out there, and some of them must use fixed-wing aircraft. Turned out the captain was right, though. Anyway,
”
he concluded,
“
that’s why the
Leviathan
sticking to its original orders might not help us if it regards the Conclaves as allies.
”
Then Lukyan laughed and, knowing why he was laughing, Katya laughed too. Petrov looked at them as if they were mad.
“
I don’t see much to laugh about in our present predicament,
”
he snapped.
“
I’m sorry,
”
said Lukyan.
“
You weren’t
aboard the
Leviathan
. I hadn’t thought about it until now because I’d
been thinking like the Yagizban
, that Tokarov had total control. If he doesn’t… well!
”
He laughed again.
The usually cool Petrov looked like he might explode. He turned to Katya.
“
Your uncle seems to enjoy being obscure, Ms Kuriakova. Perhaps you..?
”
Katya fought down her laughter, which she had noticed was becoming a little hysterical and said,
“
The
Leviathan
has no allies. Something had gone wrong with it, and it had lost its list of allies. As far as it’s concerned, every Russalkin on the planet – Federal or Yagizban – is a target. They might no
t know it yet, but the Yagizban
are as dead as the rest of us.
”
In the silence that followed that comment, even her uncle’s booming laugh dying immediately away, K
atya realised that perhaps it wasn’t really that funny after all.
“
I could have phrased that better,
”
she added quickly.
“
That’s
a worst case scenario. That’s
if Tokarov, or what’s left of him, has no control at all, that is,
”
Belatedly, she realised
what Petrov already had –
that almost every foreseeable scenario was a
“
worst case.
”
Any further morale building was interrupted as the door slid open and a Yagizban trooper stepped in hefting a maser carbine. Letting the weapon’s barrel travel across the
Novgorod
’s crew, he checked the datapad in his free hand and said,
“
Petrov! I’m looking for a Lieutenant Petrov! Step forward!
”
“
The interrogations begin,
”
muttered Petrov sourly. He climbed to his feet.
“
Over here.
”
The trooper turned to face him, putting the pad back into his belt.
“
You’re coming with me.
”
Petrov crossed his arms and cocked his head.
“
For what purpose?
”
The trooper wasn’t in the mood for backchat, and levelled the gun directly at Petrov.
“
Move!
”
Katya saw movement behind the trooper and realised that one of the crew who had been sitting by the door had risen silently and was silently creeping up on him. No, she saw, not one of the crew. Suhkalev.
He almost made it. Perhaps he made a little noise or the trooper saw Katya looking raptly past him or he simply got the feeling that somebody was sneaking up on him, but the trooper wheeled around. Suhkalev threw himself forward, but the trooper was a big man.
Suhkalev was too close
to
give the trooper time to
aim
,
so
instead he stopped Suhkalev’s
charge with the body of the carbine and they struggled for a moment.
Too short a moment for the crew to act upon, though, as the trooper smashed Suhkalev in the face with a vicious head butt. The Federal staggered back clutching his broken nose, blood already streaming down his face, stumbled over his own feet and fell backwards. The trooper didn’t hesitate; he raised the carbine and brought it to a firing position aiming at the helpless form of Suhkalev. Everybody in the room heard the click of the weapon’s safety catch being released.
“
No!
”
roared Petrov, but the trooper took no notice. There was the crack of a maser discharge, and it was all over.
The trooper lowered his carbine, stood looking at Suhkalev for a moment. Then he fell to his knees. He stayed there for a long, uncomprehending moment, then pitched forward onto his face.
“
Oh,
”
said Lukyan gently,
“
my poor Katinka.
”
Katya stood, shaking slightly, unable to move voluntarily. The little maser, pieces of surgical tape still dangling from it, shuddered in her two handed grip.
She couldn’t look away from the body of the man she had just killed, couldn’t believe that the silly little device that she’d been carrying around with her like a talisman could do that. A twitch of the finger, and a life evaporated.
“
He was, he was going to
kill
him. I didn’t… he was going to
kill
him.
”
The words stumbled out in a welter of disbelief and horror and guilt.