Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [215]
Basil could understand little from the flurry of blips. It looked as if someone had smashed two wasps' nests together and then stepped back to watch the resulting flurry. He turned to a rabbit-faced comm officer. "Get me General Lanyan on the speaker right now."
"Sir, he's blocked all but--"
"I'm the Chairman! Don't tell me you can't arrange a priority override."
"Yes, Mr. Chairman. Of course I can." Skittering fingers across the control pad, the meek comm officer shouted into the voice pickup, then switched over the screen.
Basil rose to his feet and addressed the EDF commander. "General Lanyan, I need to understand what's going on up there. Have the Ildirans--"
Gruff and harried-looking, Lanyan flicked his ice-blue eyes at Basil. "I'm busy right now. Can't you see we're in the middle of a battle?"
"We can see very little, General. I want a full summary--"
"You'll get your report when this is over, sir." Abruptly, he cut the channel.
Basil was left staring at a blank screen. He felt as if someone had punched him. "How dare he terminate the conversation!"
Cain was at his side. "Mr. Chairman, the General needs to concentrate on the battle. In the meantime, I advise that we evacuate to our safe bunkers."
"No guarantee those are hydrogue-proof either. I need to be in the thick of things, for better or worse." Basil shook his head as he raised the questions to himself. Even if he could survive the destruction of Earth and the decapitation of the Hansa, why would he want to? Running the government was his entire life. If he'd had anything else to do, he could have retired long ago. And since he no longer seemed to have an acceptable successor, Basil had no choice but to remain in his role. If need be, he would stay here and go down with his ship.
But he wouldn't be the only one.
An idea spread like sunrise across his features. "Go find King Peter and Queen Estarra . . . in fact, bring Prince Daniel as well. I want them all here."
Cain readily agreed. "They can record a brave speech. We'll stand together and show history the defiant end of Earth, if it comes to that."
Basil squeezed a fist again, then forced his clawlike hands to uncurl. "Regardless, they're going to be here waiting just like the rest of us."
But no one could raise Captain McCammon on the local communications net. The guard team stationed outside Prince Daniel's quarters also failed to respond. Was no one in the universe reliable? Had even the royal guards abandoned their posts?
He threw orders like sharp knives at the guards standing outside the war room. "Go to the Whisper Palace and personally bring me the King, the Queen, and the Prince." Hearing the rough-edged threat in Basil's voice, the uniformed men bolted.
The Chairman continued to watch the storm of battle. The blips, images, and projected courses were impossible to decipher. Basil had no way to tell who was winning. While he waited for the runners to return with his sham royal family, he counted down the seconds. Why does everything take so long?
Finally, one of the guards reported back over the intercom. "Inform the Chairman that we've arrived at the Royal Wing. The King and Queen are not in their apartments, but we discovered Captain McCammon and another guard unconscious. Apparently stunned. The guards' twitchers are gone."
Basil leapt to his feet. "Impossible!"
The second group of men responded. "We just found the same thing at Prince Daniel's quarters, Mr. Chairman. The guards were knocked out and hidden in a storage room. They're still pretty groggy. No sign of the Prince, either. Maybe somebody kidnapped them."
Basil's legs turned to water, as if someone had hit him with a twitcher. He dropped back into the chair. "Nobody kidnapped them. They escaped." It was too much! Peter had defied him over and over again. No matter what the Hansa did for him, no matter what Basil threatened or promised, Peter still lashed out at him like an ungrateful dog.