Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [202]
The Teacher compy said, "I have not been in contact with outside news sources, although this reminds me of when the first Ildiran septa arrived, long ago. The Earth government thought they were being invaded--"
"The hydrogues must be attacking." Peter dressed quickly. Through the balcony window, the city's normal glow had faded to an ominous darkness. What possible good would a blackout do in the face of a civilization-destroying hydrogue armada?
Captain McCammon and the guards normally stationed outside their chambers snapped brisk comments back and forth. McCammon knocked his maroon beret askew as he touched an embedded earphone to receive an update. He quickly dispatched three of his uniformed men. "--and run!"
"Captain, what is it?" Peter's voice was calm and authoritative.
The guard captain snapped to attention. "The hydrogues have launched an assault, Your Majesty--as we feared. The number of warglobes is even greater than we expected."
"Will our perimeter ships be able to keep them away from Earth?" Estarra said.
McCammon's skin looked pale and gray in the dim emergency lighting. "General Lanyan and the Ildirans are mounting a defense, but there seems to be some confusion. The Solar Navy warliners are not behaving as expected."
The Ildirans? Nahton had told them what the Mage-Imperator might do.
"Has Chairman Wenceslas called for me yet?" He knew, of course, that Basil would never do such a thing.
"The Chairman is in the war room in an emergency council session. I've just sent your other guards to assist him." McCammon and his fellow guard squared their shoulders and thrust out their jaws. "Don't worry, Your Majesty. We can offer sufficient protection. Just the two of us. Loyal guards." He seemed to be hinting at something.
Peter looked questioningly at the Queen. They would never get a better diversion, and the continuing confusion might assist their escape. It had to be now. Estarra gave a faint nod.
Peter slipped his hand inside his garments. McCammon had not noticed or commented upon the odd fact that the royal couple were wearing casual street clothes instead of their usual robes. Peter wrapped his fingers around the twitcher McCammon himself had given them in their escape from the poisoning attempt, hating what he had to do.
"Captain McCammon, I want to thank you for your service. You have done your duty well." He struggled to keep the tremor out of his voice.
The praise brought a hint of a smile to the corners of McCammon's mouth. Knowing he could never turn back, the King drove aside his regrets, thinking of his wife, his unborn child, and all the deadly webs Basil had woven. Peter had no choice. He truly had no choice. Their lives were at stake.
He pointed the twitcher at McCammon's face. "I'm very sorry, Captain. But if my Queen and I don't escape now, we'll never have another opportunity like this."
The astonished second guard fumbled for his sidearm, but the guard captain moved in a surprising blur, yanking out his own twitcher and blasting the guard. The other man crumpled to the floor. It all had happened so quickly! Peter hadn't even been able to get off a shot. He looked at the fallen guard, still keeping his twitcher pointed at McCammon. "I don't know why you did that, but we have to escape now. I'm sorry you're in the middle of this."
"Sorry isn't good enough," McCammon said. "You didn't actually think I'd give you a functional weapon, did you?"
Peter glanced at the twitcher, wondering if McCammon's claim could be a trick. Surprisingly, the guard captain extended his own stun weapon, butt first. "It is a good thing you managed to overpower me and stun me with my own twitcher. I'm sure I'll be reprimanded, when all this is over."
Peter looked at the original weapon in his hand--had it really been deactivated?--and at the twitcher McCammon extended to him. The guard captain glanced at the fallen guard. "Don't worry about him. He's one of the loyal crowd. I'll have him