d'Alembert 03 The Clockwork Traitor by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Author:E.E. "Doc" Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780515040036
Publisher: Pyramid Publications
Published: 1984-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Invasion Force

Duke Etienne d’Alembert and his brother Marcel spent most of the day after their return from Rimskor Castle in conference together. They had, after all, a great deal to discuss. Both of them agreed that Duke Fyodor, while outwardly polite and sensible, was standing right on the borderline of insanity. His obsession with the mechanical, the precise, the straight but slightly askew, was an indication of incipient mental imbalance. They also agreed that he was potentially dangerous, and that he was quite capable of formulating a plot to destroy the Crown Princess though what his motive could be, they had not the faintest idea.

They talked about Rimskor Castle and about its defenses. Neither could ever recall seeing a stronghold so ingeniously designed to keep out intruders-a place whose very construction seemed to make forcible secret entry an impossibility. Not only was there but one way into the castle, but the road leading up to it was booby-trapped and under constant surveillance. Inside were enough alarms to make a bank security officer jealous. Only the most foolhardy, the most desperate, or the most capable of operatives would even seriously consider an assault on such a fortress.

Etienne and Marcel were not foolhardy or, at this stage of the game, particularly desperate. But they were two of the most capable tactical planners the Service of the Empire had ever known; and they knew that whatever tactics they planned would be carried out by members of the Family d’Alembert, the most capable, most talented single group of human beings alive.

They first ruled themselves out of further participation in the raid, for several reasons. For one thing, they were getting a little too old for such adventures, and both of them were smart enough to realize that. While each was still capable of taking on several people his own size or better, this particular raid would require the swiftness and sure handedness of youth. Their own contribution-experience-could be performed beforehand on the sidelines.

For another thing, they were already known inside Rimskor Castle. If, by some chance, they should be caught, the entire cover identity of the Circus as SOTE’s right arm would be blown. Never in all the history of the Service had the Circus’s true role been compromised. References to it were never written down, nor had its members ever even been listed on SOTE’s computer files, lest some clever criminal someday tap into the computer memory. Thus, only the Imperial Family, the Head, and his daughter/ factotum Helena knew the full story of the Circus’s involvement in galactic security. If that involvement were to continue at its efficient level, no one else could be allowed to know. So Rimskor Castle would have to be invaded by people who were totally unknown there.

Once the two brothers had their plans mapped out, they decided on the personnel who would carry out the raid. With nearly a thousand members of the family to choose from, the selection of the assault team could have taken

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