Sten - 05 Revenge Of The Damned by Chris Bunch

Author:Chris Bunch [Bunch, Chris]
Format: epub
Publisher: Chris Bunch
Published: 2010-03-23T15:15:46.308000+00:00

Admiral Mason defined diplomacy as a word occurring somewhere in a dictionary between dildo and dissidence. That explained his response when the supposedly neutral convoy complained: "Imperial units�Imperial units�do not understand your order to stand by for boarding. We are from the Umed systems. Repeat, Umed systems. We are allies of the Empire. Our cargo is necessary energy supplies. Please respond, over." Mason, were he polite, could have responded over the com or boarded and delivered the same information. The Umed systems, allies of the Empire indeed�on paper�were provided with X quantity of AM2. According to information received from spies, the systems practiced severe rationing. Nearly twenty percent of their allocated AM2 was not utilized in any known way. It was instead very profitably sold to the Tahn. Such would have been the response�from a polite man. Mason, instead, responded: "Umed ships. All Umed ships. You have seven minutes remaining. Stand by for boarding. Any resistance will be met with maximum force. All Umed ships. All Umed crewmen. Prepare to abandon ship. Your ships and their cargo have been seized. Imperial Strike Force Mason clear." It was to be hoped that Admiral Mason wou not survive the war and thus require that the Emperor deal with his vagaries. * * * "Cut it," Haines ordered. The soldier nodded, touched the button of his flamer, and seared through the main power cable that led into the shabby apartment building above them. "Good. Go!" Haines shouted. Burdened by a stun rod in one hand, a willygun in the other, plus two separate ranks, Major (Imperial Forces�Mercury Corps�Reserve�Temporary) and Captain (Imperial Police�Prime�Homicide�Permanent) Lisa Haines led the raid upstairs. Two Security mastodons sent the door crashing down, neatly timed so that Haines did not miss a step going into the apartment. The gray-haired old woman sat up in bed, befuddled, grabbing the ruins of what once might have been a lace nightie around her skinny shoulders. "Imperial Intelligence," Haines intoned, pro forma. "Andrea Hayyl. You are under arrest as a suspected agent of an enemy power. You are advised that you can be detained for as long as six cycles without benefit of court or attorney. You are also advised that you may be subjected to wartime interrogation techniques authorized by the proper conventions. "You are also advised that any cooperation you extend voluntarily will be recorded, and be of extreme importance as evidence when you are brought to trial." The thugs, without needing any orders, had the old woman out and down the stairs in seconds. The search team came in. As expected, the transmitter was found in seconds, amateurishly hidden in a false-drawered dresser that might have been the old woman's prized antique. That was one more. Haines left the evidence team shooting pictures and went down the stairs. Six thus far. Two more to go. More than 12,000 raids were made by Imperial Intelligence at nearly the same time. Years had been spent identifying deep-cover Tahn agents assigned to capital worlds. And then, nearly simultaneously, they were taken.

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