CHAPTER TWELVE
STEM'S HAMMER BLOW to Dusable caught the Eternal Emperor completely unprepared. As Sten had hoped, he was still in a reactive mode, concentrating his energies on the massive hunt he had launched for the ragtag band of rebels.
When word of the attack was flashed to Arundel, the Emperor went into instant overdrive. Military and political aides were scrambled. Whole fleets were diverted to guard other AM2 depots. Diplomats were yanked from their posts and flung across the Empire to shore up weak alliances.
The hunt for Sten was doubled and then redoubled again in intensity.
Before he ordered any of these things, however, the Emperor cracked down with the heaviest news blackout in the history of his reign. All over the Empire, news organization CEOs got the word: there was to be no mention of Dusable or the Cairenes until further notice.
The Emperor's emissaries didn't bother mentioning what the penalty might be if the edict was violated.
They left it to the corporate chieftains' vivid imaginations.
But between the orders and their implementation, there fell one brief moment.
A journalistic no-man's-land...
"This is Ranett reporting live from Dusable.
"A terrible blow was struck against the Eternal Emperor today, when the fugitive rebel leader, Sten, launched a surprise attack against the Emperor's most important ally.
"In one swift action, Sten's forces destroyed a crucial AM2 depot, along with what local sources claim is two E-years' worth of AM2 supplies. The attack was followed up with a devastating series of surgical strikes against key military and transportation facilities.
"High officials on Dusable say it will be a decade or more before these facilities can be rebuilt... if ever.
"Eyewitnesses to the attacks say Sten's forces appeared to purposely avoid civilian population centers. Casualties to civilians were described as extremely minimal.
"The precision strikes apparently lasted only a few hours. But during that time, sources in Dusable say, this once-thriving port planet was effectively eliminated as a key transport and energy-storage facility.
"The devastation wrought here—which experts say will easily mount into several trillion credits—may have an even broader impact on the Empire at large.
"High-placed sources say Sten's raid did even greater damage to the Eternal Emperor's prestige. Many allies, they say, will question the Emperor's ability to guard his friends against similar action.
"One source said the humiliation the Emperor suffered, and the David versus Goliath image the rebel Sten—"
Ranett reeled back as her image on the monitor shattered into a bliz/ard of interference. The shriek of a powerful jammer howled from the speaker cells.
She wasted no time deciphering what had happened. Actually, Ranett was mildly surprised her broadcast had been allowed to run so long. At best, she had hoped to deliver the first two graphs of her report before the Emperor's censors pulled the plug.
Ranett punched in the commands that would blast her small ship from its hiding place in a grove near Dusable's now-ruined main port. The craft was a luxury yacht she'd muscled out of a businessman who owed her big-time for keeping his name out of a series on slave labor.
In reality, her inaction had been no favor at all. Crucial evidence had been lacking to really nail the scrote to the wall. It was a missed opportunity she had always regretted. But the injustice would now be corrected when Imperial agents hunting Ranett knocked on his door with the registry numbers of his yacht.
Ranett laughed at the thought of the little pube's well-deserved misery. Then she got busy getting the clot away from Dusable. She would go to ground. Just as she'd done before, during the privy council's reign of terror.
There she would remain until the heat was off. She had no illusions. It was likely she would have to remain in hiding for the rest of her life.
As the ship broke free from Dusable's gravity and headed for the first stop on Ranett's elaborate escape itinerary, she reflected on the report she had just filed.
Unfortunately she would never be able to follow up on it. In her view this was almost certainly the opening shot in the greatest news story in the Empire's long, tortured history.
Bigger than the Emperor's assassination. Bigger than his return. Bigger than any war.
The Eternal Emperor, she thought, might have just met his match. The impossible had now become a slight probability.
The romantic side of Ranett's weatherbeaten soul wondered what would happen if somehow Sten won the fight.
Would he then rule in the Emperor's stead? Quite probably. If so, would Sten be that mythical beast fuzzy headed scholars called "an enlightened ruler"?
Give it a rest, Ranett, she snarled to herself. There's no such thing as good guys and bad guys. Just those who are in. And those who wanna get in.
No way was this Sten character any different from the others.
First chance he gets, he'll screw us all.
Avri believed she had seen anger many times in her life. But nothing in her wide experience among the powerful had prepared her for the Eternal Emperor's face.
His skin was a ghastly white, his brow ridged with pent-up fury. His eyes shifted back and forth in their sockets like great hunting birds tracking their prey.
The most frightening thing of all was the rictus grin upon that face.
The second most frightening was his complete calmness.
‘This is the time for cool heads," the Emperor told his assembled staff. "Hysteria never improves a crisis. We have to approach our problems as if they were routine irritations.
"Now, to business... Avri? What's the mood in Parliament?"
Avri jolted, nerves jangling from being called upon first. She recovered quickly. "Not good, Your Highness. Tyrenne Walsh had to return home fast, of course."
"Of course," the Emperor said, maintaining that odd overly mild tone.
"No one is saying anything openly... but I spotted a lot of shuffling positions among your allies. And lots of quiet conversations with the Back Benchers."
"I'll rein them in," the Emperor said. "After all, who do they have to run to? But I get your drift, Avri. I'll work up some programs to stiffen their spines.
"Meanwhile, hit the floor expressing my sorrow and concern. Deplore anything you think needs deploring. Promise them plenty of forces. Lots of hands-on support. Oh, yeah. Make some noises about Sten being brought to justice any minute now."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Avri said. "But... next to Sten... what they're most worried about is the AM2 supply. They're saying things were bad before Sten struck. But, now... I don't know... They're pretty edgy about the future."
The Eternal Emperor curled a lip into that rictus grin again. "I'll take care of the AM2. And that's a promise they can count on.
"As a matter of fact"—the Emperor indicated his personal com center—"I put new shipments into motion not fifteen minutes ago. The first convoys ought to be arriving fairly soon."
"Yes, Your Highness. They'll be delighted to hear that, sir."
"Poyndex?"
"Sir!"
"That broadcast from Ranett... Any prog yet on how many of my subjects it actually reached?"
Poyndex tried very hard not to show his relief. He had expected much screaming over that slip-up. Still, like Avri, the man's calm demeanor worried him.
"Yessir," he answered. "And the news is equally bleak in that direction, Your Highness. Although the damage from the initial broadcast was not as bad as we feared.
"Only about 6 percent of the available audience were tuned in at the time. The big problem, sir, is that copies of her report are the hottest thing anyone has ever seen in the underground market."