Zorn and Phist stood outside the bars of the brig looking in at Commander Mace and Bradon. Zorn shook his head. "What made you do it?" he asked as he looked at Mace.
"Do what?" retorted Mace in a commanding voice. "We haven't done anything, but you have. And once we get back to the Flagship, you'll be court-martialed and sent away for the rest of your life."
"There’s too much evidence that says you’re a liar," said Zorn. "So, here's the deal," he said as he pulled his phasor from its holster. He aimed and pulled the trigger. The blue ray struck Bradon full in the chest and knocked him against the wall. He went down with a look of stupefaction glued to his face.
Mace was startled and jumped back in fear. "What the . . ."
"I'm not finished," interrupted Zorn. "Here's the deal. You make your call to the Flagship this morning as usual with no secret signals, and I'll let you live." He unlocked the bars and motioned for Mace to follow him. Sam and Xyg followed from behind holding a phasor on them.
Zorn lessened his pace, and when Mace came closer Zorn quickly turned and hit him in the stomach as hard as he could. "That one's for the Galaef," he said with a tone of anger, and then he doubled his fist and hit him on the side the head. "And that one's for me, you bastard." He didn't dare hit him in the face. There had to be no look of trouble when Mace made his call.
Zorn grabbed him by the collar and pulled him groggy and stumbling toward the elevator.
Once they reached the conference room Zorn pushed him through the doorway with such force that he wasn't able to stop until he hit the conference table.
"Commander Mace, we meet again," said Dahms.
"I don't know who you are lady, but you're going to pay for this, and you're going to pay hard."
"Commander Mace, hasn't everything been explained to you? If you don't make a correct call, that is if you send any kind of signal that something is wrong, then you're going to die along with the rest of us." She paused. "Do you understand that? You'll be dead and then it won't matter what Thorne does or what the Galaef does. You'll be gone, and you'll never be coming back."
A look of resignation crossed Mace’s face. He said, "You don't get it lady, if the Galaef is freed I'll be sent to the Zi pits—the most horrifying death known to mankind. I would rather take my chances of being killed by a sonic bomb with the rest of you."
Now Dahms had a problem. Mace might be right, but she had to make him think there was hope for him so he would make the call with no tricks. "You know as well as I and everyone in this room . . . hell everyone in the Galaxy knows Thorne can't take over as Galaef—too many failsafe systems. So, if you switch over to our side now, I assure you the Galaef will never know you were involved in a plot to overthrow him. And if by some off chance he finds out about your part in this, I will personally stand up for you. I will explain that if it hadn't been for you, we could have never saved him." She paused and then said, "And you know I won't be lying, and he'll know it too, because without your help right now there's no way we can save the Galaef."
"That puts me in a hell of a spot, doesn't it?"
"There's no spot at all,” answered Dahms. "If you help Thorne, he'll hit us with a sonic bomb and you'll be dead. If you help the Galaef, you have a chance of surviving and looking like a hero. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which is the best way to go." Dahms looked at the clock. "Time's running out," she said. "It's four minutes after eight."
Mace rubbed the side of his head where the knot had formed. He pondered for a moment. "I guess your right," he finally said. He walked over to the communicator and dialed in the number, and then put on the headphones as he waited.
A moment later he started talking. "This is Commander Mace." . . . Pause . . . "I'm reporting in." . . . Pause . . . "Everything is proper." . . . Pause . . . "Out."
He looked at Dahms. "I want you to know that I am switching my allegiance to the Galaef at this time. I was never convinced that I wanted to go against the Galaef anyway, but the threat to my family was frightening, and the money was such a large sum I found I couldn't turn it down." He paused. "But I can see now that you’re right—the Galaef can’t be overthrown. It was pure folly to think so. I can only say that Thorne was very convincing, and the threats he made about my wife and children were horrifying." He said in a solemn voice, “That’s my only excuse, and it may sound flimsy, but it seemed reasonable at the time.”
"I'm glad you’re on our side," said Dahms. “But we can’t take any chances. I’m sure you understand.” She pointed at Zorn and Phist. "Take him back to the brig."
Dahms was relieved as she began to believe they could succeed. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, and yet it was going better than she had anticipated. Maybe it had to be this way because it was meant that the Galaef, somehow in the great scheme of things, had to retain his authority in the Galaxy. What the hell, she thought, I don't have time to philosophize the matter.
"So now what, ma'am?" asked Bradon as he looked up from behind a cup of coffee. He had just spent the last three hours watching the prison walls through the viewer—the early morning watch.
Brale walked up and took over the watch.
As Bradon stood up Dahms said, "So now I contact Rogae X. If we are to have any chance at all for success, we're going to need his help and maybe the prayers of a dozen Gorsken Monks."
Bradon nodded his head in agreement.
Dahms walked over to the communicator and flipped off the switch to the viewer and flipped on a switch, which would distort the voice of Rogae X, then she dialed the number.
A moment later a voice answered. "Hello."
"This is Dahms. How is everything in Newusa?"
"The same," replied Rogae X. "Have you captured the G15's?"
"Yes we have, but we've run into a few problems." She sat down in the chair, which faced the blank screen of the communicator.
"Was anyone hurt?" he asked.
"Not from our crew, but the commanders of both G15's went a little berserk when it was suggested that the Galaef might be a prisoner inside the prison. Commander Litz killed two of his men before one of the remaining crewmembers could shoot him down. Right now we have Commander Mace and one of his crew members in the brig."
"You have the G15's . . . that's good."
"It's only half good. One of them was disabled during the gunfire. Brale says it'll take a week and a half to bring it back on line, but that’s only if he can find the parts."
"It doesn't matter. One is enough. With it you should be able to plan an attack to free the prisoners and the Galaef."
Dahms agreed with enormous reluctance and said, "Yes, we can, and have planned an attack, but there is one important question that we don't know the answer to, and we were hoping that you might be able to tell us."
She paused, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. So, she continued, "Are some of Thorne's men guarding the Galaef inside the prison?"
"According to the information I've been able to gather the answer to that question is 'yes.'"
Unavoidably disappointed Dahms said, "That's unfortunate, and that brings us to the really big question . . . if it looks like the Galaef is about to be freed, do they have orders to kill him?"
There was silence on the communicator and finally Rogae X said, "I have no information on that. So, I would have to assume the worst."
"That's what I was afraid of," replied Dahms. "And that means we're going to have to get two of our men inside the prison, and then inside where the Galaef is being held."
Dahms could hear him draw in a deep breath, and then he said, "I will immediately call the warden and tell him that two of Thorne's men will be coming to inspect the security surrounding the mystery prisoner." He paused for a moment and then asked, "What time shall I say your two men will be arriving?"
Dahms replied, "We have planned our attack so there will be the fewest number of casualties amongst the prisoners. We're assuming it will be best wh
en they are in their cells in the evening.
"I'll send in Sam and Gaal at 5 o'clock. They will have one hour to get in with the Galaef and subdue Thorne's men."
"5 o'clock then?"
"Right," responded Dahms. "We'll coordinate our times and keep our fingers crossed."
"Good luck," said Rogae X. "Over and out."
"Over and out." Dahms walked over to the food dispenser and punched in the code for a cup of coffee. A moment later she reached into the slot and came out with a steaming cup. As she was blowing on it she walked over to Brale. "Get on the intercom," she said, "and tell the men to meet us here in 10 minutes."
"Yes ma'am," said Brale. He flipped a switch on the panel next to him. "Attention all crewmen. Attention all crewmen. There will be a meeting in the war room in 10 minutes. I repeat, there will be a meeting in the war room in 10 minutes. That is all."
Five minutes later all the men were seated, and Dahms was standing at the head of the table. "I've talked to Rogae X, and we now know for certain the Galaef is being guarded by Thorne's men. What we don't know is if they have orders to kill him if the prison is being attacked. And that means we will have to assume they will kill him. So we will send in two men to secure the situation." She hesitated and then continued in her usual commanding fashion. "I've decided to send in . . ."
But she never had a chance to finish her sentence.
Brale jumped out of his seat. "What the . . . ?" he yelled. "Excuse me ma'am, but what's going on?" He stood staring at the screen in front of him—the one that kept surveillance on the prison.
It took Dahms a moment to shift gears and to realize that Brale was watching something at the prison. "Switch it to the large screen," she commanded.
He touched a switch and suddenly they were all watching as phasors were firing from the turrets on the walls into the prison yard below.
“What happened?" shouted Dahms.
"I don't know," exclaimed Brale. "All of a sudden the phasors started firing."
Dahms and the men watched the screen as red streaks kept flashing from the phasor turrets.
All of Dahms' instincts told her they had to attack and attack now, but she didn't want to be hasty. Decisions made too quickly oftentimes were fatal. "What if it's just an exercise?" she asked.
"It's no exercise," retorted Sam. "Those phasors are firing into the prison yard and men and women are being killed. We have to make a decision and make it quick."
"Look," said Phist, "there's the warden off to the right with that big cat, just like every morning when the prisoners assemble, but this time it looks like he's shaking his fist in anger."
Dahms pointed at Brale. "Hone in on the warden and enlarge."
Brale rotated a little ball in the panel and pushed several buttons. Suddenly there was the warden big as life, his face all red and his fist shaking in the air. The way his mouth was moving it looked like he was yelling, "Kill them all. Kill them all," over and over again.
As they continued to watch, the cat rose from his lying position next to the warden and slowly stepped forward.
"Damn that's a big cat," said Phist in awe.
"That's what you say every time you see him," commented Xilil.
"Well, look at him."
Suddenly the cat raised his paw and with a quick swipe took out the warden's throat.
Zorn jumped up. “What the . . . ?”
"I don’t believe it," said Phist. “Why did he do that?”
No one said anything. They just stood in shocked silence as they watched the blood spurting from the warden's neck. His eyes rolled toward the cat in despair. His head plopped forward onto his chest. And then he fell to the platform, his body bounced and jiggled before it became still.
Sam finally broke the silence. "Now you see,” he yelled. “This is no drill. We have to attack. And we have to attack now."
Dahms knew Sam was worried about his sister. And so was she, but she also had to consider the Galaef. "Thorne's men won't kill the Galaef as long as there is no threat of him being freed. If the prison riot is squelched and everything is brought under control and back to normal, then we can proceed with our plans."
"Not very likely," said Xygliper as he looked over Dahms shoulder at the screen. "It's possible the Galaef is already dead, and if not, when this mess is over and done, Thorne will probably move him somewhere else or have him killed."
"Stop chattering. You're wasting precious time," yelled Sam. "People are being killed down there. We have to act and act quickly."
"Just wait," ordered Dahms stiffly. "We have to think this through."
"I agree with Sam," said Zorn. "I desperately want to save the Galaef, but there are too many unknown variables to figure out all the scenarios. We have to act, and we have to act now, or it may be too late."
Brale said gravely, "Ma'am, they probably had orders to kill the Galaef at the first sign of trouble.
Dahms hesitated.
"I agree," said Xygliper. "If we act, and the Galaef is freed, we're heroes, but if we act, and he's killed all will not be lost. We can still go after Thorne. And in sixty days the computer will choose a new Galaef, anyway. If we act now we still might be able to save him."
"Okay," said Dahms with reservations. "Knock out the tower."
Chapter Fifty-Eight