John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind by John Maddox Roberts
Authors: John Maddox Roberts
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task of evacuating the trade station on Delta Orion Five. There were ten thousand civilians working that station, and a couple of thousand POW's in a camp. There were also seven big Satsuma freighters in port at the time."
"He was a stockholder in Satsuma even then," said Ham, taking up the tale. "Under navy regs. he was supposed to dump the cargoes of those freighters and use the cargo space to evacuate the civilians and prisoners. When a Triumvirate force was spotted heading for D.O. Five, he split the squadron and sent half to deal with the enemy. He kept the rest to act as convoy. The full squadron might have forced them to head for home, but Izquierda wasn't taking any chances. He let them be annihilated to buy him enough time to get those Satsuma ships off-planet, with their cargoes. He left the noncombatants to be wiped out by the Triumvirate ships. They sterilized the planet with torch bombs."
"He was court-martialed and Cashiered from the service," continued the skipper. "He had great wealth and influence even then, or he would have been shot. Of course, Satsuma Line was agitating for him all the way. As it was, the trial was hushed up. Bad for civilian morale, the Council thought. He even bought enough influence with the government in the years after the War to have the dishonorable expulsion revoked. He even tried to have the trial records destroyed, but they were already in the Archives and even he couldn't touch them. I still have friends who keep me informed about him. He hates me with a real passion."
"Why?" Kiril asked.
"Because it was me that turned him in."
3
Kiril fretted as Nancy and Michelle stitched her into a dress of Nancy's that was not so large as to be out of the question. In the places where Kiril failed to fill out the dress, Michelle artfully took out the wrinkles with surgical plastiflesh.
"1 want you to remember," cautioned Michelle, "this is a formal dinner, so be on your best behavior."
"Why? We weren't trying to be formal with those marines."
"That was different," Michelle said. "Martinets and bureaucrats have to be put firmly in their place. At an affair like this we have to be presentable, because they'll be expecting us to act like slobs. You understand?"
"I guess so," said Kiril doubtfully.
"The women will be paired with men," Michelle continued, "it's customary. The skipper with Ham, Torwald with me, Nancy with Finn, and you're paired with Lafayette. When we go into the dining room, he'll have to take your arm, so try to remember not to knife him."
"I don't know," said Kiril. "Old habits are hard to break."
"Give it a try, anyway," said Michelle.
When the dress fit to everyone's satisfaction, Nancy and Michelle set about applying Kiril's makeup. There was no way to make her face seem less hollow-cheeked, so it was decided to make that feature an asset. Kiril's face was dominated by her huge eyes, and Nancy cleverly accented the lids and lashes to make ihem even more dramatic. Her short hair had now grown long enough to set in a cap of tight ringlets.
When they were finished, Kiril surveyed the effect in a full-length holoviewer. She was stunned. Her face had changed from that of a Civis Astra guttersnipe to that of a civilized lady. The long, high-necked dress clung closely to her (occasionally artificial) contours, and its billowy sleeves concealed the twin daggers she still refused to part with. She was utterly changed, transfigured. Now, if she could just remember not to stab Lafayette when he touched her!
At the lock they met the others. Finn, Torwald, and Lafayette were wearing formal suits; short jackets with high standing collars heavily embroidered with gold and with matching embroidery on the sleeves, skintight trousers stuffed into high, shiny boots. Finn's outfit was black, Torwald's silvery gray, and Lafayette's bright scarlet. They all wore broad sashes and waist-length capes, and the two older men wore small, discreet copies of their military decorations
"He was a stockholder in Satsuma even then," said Ham, taking up the tale. "Under navy regs. he was supposed to dump the cargoes of those freighters and use the cargo space to evacuate the civilians and prisoners. When a Triumvirate force was spotted heading for D.O. Five, he split the squadron and sent half to deal with the enemy. He kept the rest to act as convoy. The full squadron might have forced them to head for home, but Izquierda wasn't taking any chances. He let them be annihilated to buy him enough time to get those Satsuma ships off-planet, with their cargoes. He left the noncombatants to be wiped out by the Triumvirate ships. They sterilized the planet with torch bombs."
"He was court-martialed and Cashiered from the service," continued the skipper. "He had great wealth and influence even then, or he would have been shot. Of course, Satsuma Line was agitating for him all the way. As it was, the trial was hushed up. Bad for civilian morale, the Council thought. He even bought enough influence with the government in the years after the War to have the dishonorable expulsion revoked. He even tried to have the trial records destroyed, but they were already in the Archives and even he couldn't touch them. I still have friends who keep me informed about him. He hates me with a real passion."
"Why?" Kiril asked.
"Because it was me that turned him in."
3
Kiril fretted as Nancy and Michelle stitched her into a dress of Nancy's that was not so large as to be out of the question. In the places where Kiril failed to fill out the dress, Michelle artfully took out the wrinkles with surgical plastiflesh.
"1 want you to remember," cautioned Michelle, "this is a formal dinner, so be on your best behavior."
"Why? We weren't trying to be formal with those marines."
"That was different," Michelle said. "Martinets and bureaucrats have to be put firmly in their place. At an affair like this we have to be presentable, because they'll be expecting us to act like slobs. You understand?"
"I guess so," said Kiril doubtfully.
"The women will be paired with men," Michelle continued, "it's customary. The skipper with Ham, Torwald with me, Nancy with Finn, and you're paired with Lafayette. When we go into the dining room, he'll have to take your arm, so try to remember not to knife him."
"I don't know," said Kiril. "Old habits are hard to break."
"Give it a try, anyway," said Michelle.
When the dress fit to everyone's satisfaction, Nancy and Michelle set about applying Kiril's makeup. There was no way to make her face seem less hollow-cheeked, so it was decided to make that feature an asset. Kiril's face was dominated by her huge eyes, and Nancy cleverly accented the lids and lashes to make ihem even more dramatic. Her short hair had now grown long enough to set in a cap of tight ringlets.
When they were finished, Kiril surveyed the effect in a full-length holoviewer. She was stunned. Her face had changed from that of a Civis Astra guttersnipe to that of a civilized lady. The long, high-necked dress clung closely to her (occasionally artificial) contours, and its billowy sleeves concealed the twin daggers she still refused to part with. She was utterly changed, transfigured. Now, if she could just remember not to stab Lafayette when he touched her!
At the lock they met the others. Finn, Torwald, and Lafayette were wearing formal suits; short jackets with high standing collars heavily embroidered with gold and with matching embroidery on the sleeves, skintight trousers stuffed into high, shiny boots. Finn's outfit was black, Torwald's silvery gray, and Lafayette's bright scarlet. They all wore broad sashes and waist-length capes, and the two older men wore small, discreet copies of their military decorations
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