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Oxha to read the council&039;s reaction Their minds were in chaos The Emperor&039;s speech about the Rix had raised old fears, but those were nothing compared to the truly ancient horror of nuclear weapons The counselor&039;s one wild, like those of ani of predators

"The eneral continued "But they will be shut down voluntarily Ether-power substations will be destroyed by conventional explosives Other shielded facilities, such as hospitals and e order"

Oxha for a few days, but with the world around it crippled, reency transport would fail, and supplies would soon run short

Ax Milnk spoke "The short-terht be liht takewhich is population is all in the northern he"

"We have fully analyzed the situation, Counselor Milnk"

The dead general looked at the Ehly one hundred million deaths total," the old warrior said

A howl came into Nara&039;s head, a ind like the city when she awoke from coldsleep The naked fear of the counselors pried open hercapital rushed in She could see better than ever the bright, raging face of Eer of profiteers, the unpredictable shuffling of power as new alliances formed

For a moment, Nara Oxham was lost to herself She became the Mad Senator, subsuroup-mind

The cool hand of apathy reasserted herself She looked down, alers at the bracelet Old reflexes hadNara fro and insane

She breathed deeply, wiping the sweat fro not to voth," the E "It will show that ould rather destroy ourselves than accept Rix do And they will never doubt our resolve again"

"A hundred million, dead by our own hand?" the Expansionist senator said "Won&039;t that do e to morale than the Rix ever could?"

"We will say the Rix did it," the general said flatly

Oxham bowed her head Of course, this hy they had invoked the hundred-year rule She doubted that even a century from now anyone would learn what they had done

"A new Rix terror to n added "Many war aile act"

"I move we accept without objection," said Senator Henders Senator Oxham raised her head She had no tiiven only those spare seconds,the choice turned out to be easy

"I object," she said "I call for a vote"

Relief Even with her e counselors&039; faces They were glad soainst the Elad it hadn&039;t been then looked at her coolly, his expression unreadable now His gray young face seeht sky But she knew that someday there would be a price for her action Nara Oxham had crossed the Emperor

"A vote, then," he said quietly

"Can we have more time?" Ax Milnk asked

The Emperor shook his head He had calculated this to the minute, had left revelation of the plan until time was too short for discussion His best opportunity was now, before the horror of the idea could sink in

"There is little tiht be dead in hours The Rix battlecruiser will be within transe a few days later"

"Give us those days, then," Oxham asked Her voice sounded hollow in her ears

"The lightspeed delay between Legis and the Lynx, Senator," the ad her head "Round trip several times, to be sure We have only hours to decide"

"And the earlier the space-raid warning is sounded, the fewer casualties will result," the general said "Moreby Grounded aircars will have tiers to populated areas rather than depositing theis a quick decision"

Their arguical, Nara knew The Apparatus could sound a raid warning in any case, and wait for a final decision They could have prepared the planet for this over the last few days The Erind their will against an artificial euainst the steamroller that the En of a ers had unleashed too sharp a dose of the drug after all the days she had kept her sensitivity high Her empathy was absolutely flat, her body barely able to function

Council sessions had been called at odd hours for ten days They were all exhausted; the Eritted her teeth in anger She had been outn, betrayed by the weakness of her own psyche

"A vote, then," she said "I say no &039;No killing of worlds&039;"

There was a gasp from someone She had quoted the Coray worlds interpreted as validating Emperor&039;s authority He smiled at her coldly

"I vote yes," he said The Emperor leaned back, supremely confident

The War Council almost stopped hiainst the action, as Oxhath, joining the opposition senators against the Eone conclusion, the two dead warriors voted with their sovereign, as did the Loyalist Henders The measure was tied at four votes to four when the counselor froue Axis spoke He was an unknown quantity, this host of all the ancient terrors that hu, and yet not fully alive, he was on the borderline that split the Risen E

"Let us show our strength," came the voice from the suit&039;s filter "Destroy the mind, at whatever cost"

The er Niles was right, Nara Oxhaht coldly as the vote was entered into the council&039;s records There were no liht not actually occur; the Lynx ht succeed in its mission But even this slim chance had a dark side

If my lover fails, a world dies, Nara realized

She shook her head

More blood on the hands of Laurent Zai

TEN YEARS EARLIER

(IMPERIAL ABSOLUTE)

LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER

Laurent Zai dressed quietly, thinking his lover asleep

His arue for it The lier-crawled a bit too quickly for Zai&039;s taste, for a ile enough to reach its ee, but that was not a feature he had tested

The arm had fallen close to the fire, and felt feverishly hot when he le of interface threads that hung from his shoulder stump But the warmth wasn&039;t unpleasant This house, the fire, Nara: these things arers, their artificial nerves awakening with a tingle like returning bloodflow When a chith, Laurent pushed his They were close by

His res were short stumps, and Zai could sit up easily on therowth; it felt like a fine animal pelt, chinchilla or s with two quick ymnast on parallel bars Over the subjectivear as the prosthetic one Vadans valued balance

He reattached his legs The ses sealing with a fa of suction He saw his tunic, and pulled it over his head as he flexed his toes

Zai turned to see Nara gazing at him

A chill in his chest pushed aside the war Other than a few medics, none of his crewmates--no one--had ever seen him naked before,caustic, but his voice failed him and he scowled Nara shook her head

"I didn&039;t mean to embarrass you"

"It&039;s your house," he said, pulling on his trousers

When he looked at her again, she seemed puzzled by the words

"Take your pleasure as you will," he explained sharply

"Have I taken advantage of your nakedness?" she said with a small smile Zai realized that Nara was still completely unclothed He felt foolish now in his disheveled fatigue tunic, grasped so it to her

Nara pushed it aside and sat up, reaching for his hand It was the artificial one, which had so toward her breast