The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [205]
With OX at his side, alert for any opportunity to assist, Peter and his team prepared to disembark. Two hundred battle-ready soldiers had volunteered for this mission. When he reached the launching bay, he raised his voice to address the troops. “There will be some resistance. A few of those who stand against us will be genuinely loyal to Chairman Wenceslas, but most others have been misled. Use stun gas and twitchers — I want no casualties unless we have absolutely no other choice.” He squared his shoulders. “But be cautious. I doubt the Chairman has given similar orders of restraint.”
The soldiers in the swift assault group climbed into seventeen troop skimmers, and Peter joined Admiral Willis in the first transport. When the Manta’s bay doors opened, all of the craft dropped out at the same time, descended beneath the hovering cruiser, then struck out on a direct flight path for the Whisper Palace. He had left here in the middle of the night; now he was coming back in broad daylight — as it should be.
Throngs of demonstrators crowded plazas, filled alleys. There were fires and banners. In many areas the overwhelmed Hansa guards did not even try to keep them in check. Peter hoped he could reassure the mobs and impose order before they set fire to the Hansa HQ.
The troop skimmers landed in a cluster just in front of the Whisper Palace, arriving faster than the Hansa guards could respond to intercept them. The skimmer hatches hummed open simultaneously, and Confederation soldiers spilled out.
Willis and OX stopped protectively beside Peter as he paused to look up at the many-towered structure of the Palace. For the first time, he saw how ostentatious the enormous structure seemed, too cold and elaborate. Not like Theroc. And neither his family nor the Confederation could be truly safe until Peter closed the book on the dark days of the Hansa.
“Let’s go finish this.”
At his command, the assault troops raced up the broad stone staircase. Before his soldiers could reach the towering arches of the grand entrance, though, the glass-inset doors swung open. Colonel Andez and twenty of her fellow storm troopers stood with their weapons drawn — deadly projectile weapons, not stunners. “We have a warrant for your arrest.”
Willis pushed forward. “We don’t recognize the validity of any Hansa order.”
From the middle of the stairs, Peter shouted up at them. “I am the rightful King, and the Whisper Palace is mine. The people are calling for change. The Chairman’s time is finished, and so is yours. You can’t stop this uprising by standing in my way.”
Forthright and angry, Andez thrust up her chin and sneered. “You come slinking back while the Chairman is bravely facing the Klikiss. You are an opportunist, a coward, and an outlaw.”
Peter’s overwhelming number of troops held out their stunners and moved up the stairs. Though not cowed into submission, Andez visibly panicked. “Take them out! Shoot the King.”
The astonishing order caused her troops to hesitate, but Peter’s soldiers did not. With a buzzing crackle, twitcher beams engulfed Andez and her guards. The cleanup crew folded to the ground, a crowd of jittering arms and legs strewn across the grand foyer.
“I can see why the Chairman likes her,” Willis said. “She’s as boneheaded as he is.”
Peter nodded to the Confederation soldiers. “Good work.”
Willis issued orders for Andez and her companions to be disarmed, put in restraints, and locked into one of the meeting rooms just off the grand foyer. “That should hold them for now. We can deal with them once we’ve secured control.”
As the fallen guards were taken away, Peter gestured for the others to follow him. “Now we go inside — to the throne room.”
“Shall I take the lead, King Peter?” OX asked. “If we encounter additional resistance, I can draw fire, and I am expendable.”
He turned to the Teacher compy, thinking of everything OX had done for him, the sacrifices he had made. The compy