Without much ado she informed me, "Fleet is not listening. It is in fact jamming all communications. You must present our case to the Sudorian Parliament, but let me first present our case to you." She gestured to a large chest standing open nearby.
Feeling somewhat tetchy, I replied, "You had better feed me first."
In their terms, the evidence was incontrovertible, though it took me some time to understand this since much of it could be easily falsified back in the Polity, yet not here. The Brumallian Speaker, whose name referred to some flower found in this acidic environment and who I called Lily, showed me a picture of the missile launcher in question, then gestured to a nearby table on which lay a piece of metal with something like a barcode etched into it.
"There are some launchers stored 8,000 miles from here, but they are the only ones we have left. This was one of the last seized by Fleet and taken into the ground base nearest to Vertical Vienna, where it was supposed to be destroyed," she told me.
This proved Fleet was last in possession of the missile launcher and, before using it, neglected to file off the serial number. There was more evidence: footage, obviously taken from concealment, of a Fleet Special Operations team transporting a bulky cargo out towards the launch site; Brumallian remains found at the site DNA matched, perfectly, with Brumallians who had disappeared during the War; and a chemical analysis showing that the propellant used in the missile was of Fleet manufacture. But it was not just that: there was lots of linking evidence, lots of detail, carbon-crystal storage filled with information. As I ate roasted molluscs off a gold-plated spike I assessed it all throughout the many ensuing hours.
"You understand that this proves the remnant of the launcher definitely came from that launch site," Rhodane pointed out while I studied a particular recording. Without her I would have missed a lot of stuff like that.
Finally satisfied and somewhat weary, I realised that here lay proof of the innocence in this business of the Brumallians, and that here also was a weapon the Sudorian Parliament could use to politically castrate Fleet. Of course the evidence lay here while those who needed to see this lay some millions of miles away, with Fleet sitting directly in the way. And political castration was not quite the same as the physical kind; Fleet might be put firmly in the wrong and voted down in Parliament, but votes, and being in the wrong, did not necessarily take fingers off triggers.
"And how am I supposed to present this evidence to the Sudorian Parliament?"
"We have ships," replied Lily.
"So do Fleet—large powerful ships sitting in orbit above us."
"They are withdrawing towards Sudoria. It has become apparent that we were not the real target."
"Real target?" Rhodane queried.
"Orbital Combine," Lily replied.
10
Technologies and knowledge were being rediscovered—not discovered for the first time—so the process was a whole lot faster. As the third generation of Sudorians was growing up, small but thriving industries and agricultural concerns had been established and our society had wealth to spare for more than just survival. The first crossing of the Komarl was made on foot, or rather the first successful crossing, and those adventurers reported finding the wreck of the Procul Harum. Within a few decades we had taken to the air and built ground vehicles capable of negotiating the desert sands, and soon the first expeditions were being made out to the ship. The secrets of the ship were being quickly rediscovered and much of its physical structure was transported back to our then small civilisation. This caused something of a renaissance, and no little degree of that thing called arrogance. The final expedition made was the one sent to retrieve one of the U-space engines. We know that the expedition party planned to try firing up a ship's fusion reactor to provide power during this task. We know that they were preparing to dismount the one engine protruding above the desert sands. The ensuing explosion caused a dust storm out of the desert that lasted for days. An observer flight reported just the nose of the ship remaining, and that a perfectly spherical part of a nearby granite mount was missing.
— Uskaron
Yishna
She watched the image displayed on Chairman Duras's cabin screen, first feeling contempt for Fleet's military posturing, then a growing horror. Seeing the multiple launches from Blatant, she assumed it was making an unprovoked attack on Orbital Combine, and only when the first explosions began to tear the hilldigger apart did she realise what was really happening. In blank shock she watched the final detonation that obliterated the great ship, then tracked the descent of the missiles it had fired down onto Defence Platform One, and watched the subsequent detonations turn that platform into a burning ruin. Then Director Gneiss was back gazing at Duras with an implacable indifference.
"Those last images were recorded from the transport being used by a Combine orbital assault team. They had to pull out quickly, though, because there were still more of Blatant's missiles on the way."
"I served aboard that ship," said Duras, a catch in his voice. "I even remember Dravenik attending the engineering lectures I gave to new recruits on board…" He cleared his throat and continued, "Why was an assault team there?"
"We'd lost communication with the platform for two hours, and some very sophisticated software had meanwhile locked us out of its systems."
Gneiss spoke factually, hinting at no suppositions. Yishna felt that on the surface he was doing the right thing, for only by being utterly frank, and making no accusations, would he gain the Chairman's respect and thus ensure a fair hearing. But, as ever, to her it seemed as if the Director was merely playing his chosen part in some drama.
"I am told," said Duras, "that the Combine observer team attempted to sabotage Desert Wind, and that now Captain Franorl has withdrawn his ship from Corisanthe Main."
Gneiss replied, "All of that same team were killed by Franorl's people during this alleged sabotage attempt, and the only proof of it he presents is some hazy recording of a gun battle taking place in Desert Wind's engine galleries. None of the observers was armed when they went aboard—having been checked by Franorl's own security officers."
"Equally, I have no positive proof that Combine was locked out of the defence platform's systems," observed Duras, "or was at any time out of communication with the personnel aboard."
"True, but what would Combine have to gain by firing on a hilldigger?"
"One might suppose Combine feels itself in a strong enough position to go up against Fleet, and that these are the initial shots in some power bid. The assassination of Admiral Carnasus would seem to confirm this hypothesis."
Gneiss nodded acknowledgement. "Equally, one might say that a faction in Fleet does not want Combine to reach such a position of power, so has manufactured this present conflict deliberately. The Admiral, though fighting to retain Fleet's powers, always acceded whenever Parliament took away any such powers. Combine is also prepared always to accede to the will of Parliament, but I wonder if the same applies to Fleet now it is under new command."
Duras glanced at Yishna, then asked Gneiss, "What are you doing now?"
"I have just come from a meeting of the Combine Oversight Committee. We have decided that security teams will be sent immediately to the remaining eleven platforms. We are also requesting that wardens from Groundside Defence and Security join those teams."