Immediately after breakfast, Helkyria met with the junior officers and Duhyle in her work space. She stood, suggesting that the meeting would be brief.
"Ser?" offered Symra. "You requested our presence?"
"I did. You need to know where we stand. After yesterday?s fighting, I doubted that it would be long before matters worsened. I?m a little surprised that it took this long. That suggests the Aesyr had a few matters to tend to…"
The three waited.
"The Aesyr have revealed that they have the Hammer. They?re not calling it that, but it amounts to the same thing. They are threatening to use it to destroy any orbital installation that uses weapons against any Aesyr locale or force, or anything at all located in Midgard."
Helkyria?s smile was wintry. "At the moment, the government, or, as they say, the Vanir oppressors, controls Vaena and most of Vanira and the other continents, except Midgard, which is controlled completely by the Aesyr, and Niefl, which remains open, not that there are more than a thousand souls up there in the ice. The Aesyr are demanding the free passage of all Aesyr who desire it to Midgard. If the government delays, the Hammer will fall…somewhere…"
"They?ll destroy the universe, beginning with Earth, unless we let them take over everything?" Symra?s voice was not quite incredulous.
"They?re not saying that. So far. I doubt that many even know of that possibility. I have conveyed my assessment of the weapon to the Magistra of Security. It did not make her particularly happy, but my assessment was not the only one reaching that conclusion."
"Can?t SatCom take out the installations that have the Hammer?" asked Valakyr.
"I?m sure it could-if we had any idea which ones they were. But within a few moments of when SatCom launches anything, all those installations with Hammers will take out all satellites, and at least some of the missiles. The Aesyr immediately removed one of the smaller and less consequential relay satellites to prove their point. The Magistra of Security has pointed out that Security is limited in what can be done. Yes, she could flatten Asgard with missiles and kill almost a million of innocents. Within minutes, the world would be without communications, and the power grids would be shredded. Not to mention that the very space-time and dark matter and energy beneath what we think of as "real matter? would begin to unravel."
"How can they even contemplate using the Hammers like that?" asked Symra.
"That?s simple enough," replied Helkyria. "If you believe, as do the Aesyr, especially Thora and Baeldura, that intelligence always loses to the universe in the end, then what matters is not the result but the glory of the struggle itself, especially against great odds. Principle always trumps survival."
"That?s sick…" muttered Valakyr.
Symra shook her head.
Duhyle understood the logic, but not the emotional acceptance of a belief that would doom hundreds of millions of people, if not life throughout the universe, to a far, far earlier death than necessary simply so that one group could control how life was conducted on one insignificant planet.
"No one has said anything," continued Helkyria, "but I have no doubts that a far larger Aesyr force is being readied, if not already being deployed, to seize the station here."
"Why now? Haven?t they got what they want already?" asked Valakyr.
"The Aesyr don?t have any compunctions about how they use force," said Symra caustically.
"They?re not totally insane. Freyja Thora clearly understands the potential of the station and the canal, and the Aesyr would rather be in charge without having to rely on the threat of the Hammers. They?d prefer another form of power-"
"Pardon me, ser," interrupted Valakyr. "I don?t see how this Thora physicist knows what you?re doing, or what it implies."
"I?ve been reporting my findings to the Magistra of Science and the Magistra of Security. Apparently, the Deputy Magistra of Science was an Aesyr sympathizer-or is, since he is now what amounts to the director of military research for the Aesyr."
"Treachery is easier than research," offered Duhyle.
"It always has been," replied Helkyria.
The two younger officers looked at one another. They did not look at Duhyle or the scient-commander.
"How is the shadow-imaging coming?" Duhyle?s voice broke the strained silence, although he knew very well how far Helkyria had gotten.
"I?ll be able to lock the station doors and windows, once you help me finish building a last piece of apparatus. Otherwise, it?s close to being finished."
"Then the Aesyr won?t be able…" began Symra.
"Ah…will the station hold…" Valakyr?s voice trailed off.
"We don?t know either," replied Helkyria briskly. "First things first. If it comes to that, and it doubtless will, we?ll have to see. There are…possibilities…"
Duhyle hoped those possibilities were very real indeed.