“Radar reflectors withdrawn.” The composite, resinous hull ofCorona wasn’t a natural radar reflector, and in order to make navigation and traffic control easier, the frigate carried several radar reflectors. Martinez figured there was no point in making a target out of himself.
“Twenty seconds to ignition,” said Mabumba.
“Engines, fire on the navplot’s mark,” Martinez said.
“Firing on the navplot’s mark, my lord.”
“Ten-second warning, pilot.”
Again the warning screeched up and down the scale. Martinez could feel his blood thunder in answer.
“By the way, Navigator,” he shouted over the alarm, “you might as well kill that proximity alarmnow. ”
Then a giant boot kicked him in the spine as the engines fired, andCorona was on its way.
ELEVEN
An officer may order the immediate death of a subordinate under which circumstances?
1. On recommendation of a duly appointed Court of Inquiry.
2. When the subordinate is found in arms against the lawful government.
3. When the officer possesses evidence that the subordinate is guilty of a capital crime.
4. Under any circumstances.
Sula touched her writing wand to the fourth and correct answer, then touched the icon that called for the next question. She knew that military law was so draconian, there was little room for error or laxity of interpretation.
She also knew that military law was a lot less draconian in practice than in theory. There were relatively few captains who went around offhandedly whacking the heads off their subordinates, because in theory every citizen was the client of a patron Peer whose duty it was to supervise their welfare. While from experience Sula knew that many Peers couldn’t be bothered with such duties, it nevertheless remained a possibility that if a Peer felt that one of his clients had been treated unjustly, he could make inquiries and cause trouble, and the result could be a suit in civil law that might drag on for decades. Captains who wanted to punish a subordinate severely would cover their backs by appointing a Court of Inquiry, and though they were not obliged to follow a court’s recommendations, they usually did if they wanted to avoid problems later on.
Sula sped through the next few questions secure in the knowledge that she was doing extremely well on the exams. Military law was her weakest subject barring interpretation of the Praxis, and so far the questions weren’t difficult.
A first definitely seemed within her grasp.
She tapped the butt end of her wand on the screen as she contemplated the next problem, which had to do with jurisdiction among the various military and paramilitary organizations on a ring station outside the military base proper, and then the door to the exam room banged open.
“Scuuuuum!”
Sula could thank years of conditioning for the fact that her mind continued to gnaw on the problem even as she leaped to her feet, chin high, throat bared.
“My lord?” The Daimong proctor seemed more flustered than the cadets. “Why are you—”
The intruder was Terran, and wore the uniform of a full captain. “We have an emergency situation,” he said. “The exams are canceled. All Fleet personnel are to report to their stations. Those who have no current assignment are to report to Ring Command, Personnel Section.”
“But my lord—” the Daimong protested.
“Now, scum!” The captain’s order was directed toward the cadets, not the exam proctor.
The cadets crowded for the exit. The problem of jurisdiction slowly faded from Sula’s mind, and she looked about her with growing astonishment.
The proctor appeared not to know what to do. She was making attempts to contact someone on her desk comm, but seemed to be having no success.
Emergency situation, Sula thought, and then ran to the changing room to get out of her robes and into her uniform. Despite the buzzing speculation of the other cadets, her mind was still trapped in the pattern of exam questions.
Examinations for lieutenant,she thought,have been canceled for the following reasons:
1. On the whim of a superior officer.
2. Because we say so.
3. Lieutenants’exams have never been canceled.
The correct answer, of course, was the third.
Lieutenants’exams have never been canceled.
Which meant that whatever was going on, it was big.
Coronaducked and darted and sped along the southern edge of Magaria’s ring, the slim form of the frigate obscured by the brilliance of its blazing tail of annihilated matter. Martinez felt himself pressed deeper and deeper into the acceleration couch, spreading into the supportive gel like a piece of putty pressed into a mold. The weight of the pistol was a fierce pain digging into his right hip.
He may have blacked out as acceleration approached ten gravities, butCorona didn’t stay at such speed for long, just enough to achieve escape velocity once it was time to dodge out from the ring station and onto a course for Magaria Wormhole 4.
He was using Magaria’s ring for cover, knowing that the Naxids would never dare fire at him for fear of hitting the ring. And when it was time to break cover and dash for the wormhole, he kept the rim directly betweenCorona and the Naxid squadrons.
Corona’sacceleration dropped to six gravities, which was misery for the crew, not because they lost consciousness, but because they retained it, and with it the discomfort of the ship’s desperate, blazing acceleration.
Eighteen minutes intoCorona’s escape, Martinez finally heard from the Naxids.
“Urgent message via communications laser, my lord.” Vonderheydte’s words came into Martinez’s earphones. “From Ring Command.”
The comm laser was necessary to punch a signal throughCorona’s hot plasma tail. “Tell them to stand by, I’ll speak in person,” Martinez said.
“Very good, my lord.”
“Are the intership radio channels still jammed?”
“No, my lord. Jamming dropped about two minutes ago, with the Coronas ahead three to one.”
Martinez smiled, and then his smile faded as he realized why the jamming had ceased. Seizure of the non-Naxid squadrons was complete, and it was no longer necessary to prevent the target ships from signaling their distress.
Coronawas truly alone now, in a hostile system.