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.Martinez let himself into the ship s small armory with his lieutenant s key,then summoned Alikhan andMaheshwari.While he waited he signed out a sidearm and strapped the weapon onits constable-red belt around his waist.He signed two more out to Alikhan sand Maheshwari, then handed Alikhan s pistol to him as he arrived, along witha red constable s armband and helmet.Page 132ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html I m thinking of sending you to the airlock, he said. Those boys might needsome stiffening. Very good, my lord. He looked at the armory datapad, then signed for hisweapon and pressed his thumb to the weapon s ID scanner. And another thing, Martinez said. I want you to go to the riggers lockerand get whatever you ll need to drill the first lieutenant s safe.Alikhan nodded. Do you wish that done immediately, my lord? No. Breaking into the premier s safe in search of his key was, among otherthings, a capital crime, and if he were discovered, it would be a race betweenthe Criminal Investigation Division and theLegion of Diligence to see who would kill him first.Martinez wasn t quitewilling to commit himself tofile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis.Dead%20Empire's%20Fall%2001%20-%20The%20Praxis.html (187 of 310)19-2-2006 4:01:17Williams, Walter Jon - [Dead Empire's Fall 01] - The Praxis the executioner sgarotte just yet. Just have the equipment ready in the lord lieutenant s cabin.If we have toburn gees out of here, it ll be easier to have what you need on hand ratherthan have you try to haul it to Koslowski s cabin under three and a halfgravities. Very good, my lord.Maheshwari arrived and braced to the salute.He was a small, mahogany-skinnedman, with crinkly hair gone gray, a pointed beard, and mustachios dyed aspectacular flavor of red.Martinez handed him a sidearm. I hope this won t be necessary, he said. There won t be trouble inmy division, Maheshwari said as he signed for theweapon and scanned in his thumbprint. But I can t speak for some of the otherfolk on board. In a short while I m going to call for an engine startup drill.It takesforty minutes or so to ready the engines for a cold start, yes?Maheshwari smiled with brilliant white pebble-sized teeth. It can be donemuch faster, my lord. Let s not.I want the drill to seem as normal as possible.As possiblewas the key here.No drill was going to be normal on the Festivalof Sport. The electrical and data connections are dropped at three minutes forty, if Iremember, Martinez said. We ll start the drill and then hold at four minutes. Beg pardon, my lord, Maheshwari reminded, but water and air connections aredropped at four minutes twenty. Oh.Right.We ll hold at five, then. Very good, my lord.Dropping water, air, electrical, and data connections to the ring stationwould be the station s first warning ifCorona left its berth unexpectedly.Martinez wanted to delay that warning as long as he could.At least he was confident that, if necessary, he could leave his berth when hewanted to, whether the engines were ready or not.He knew that 641 years ago araging fire had broken out in Ring Command on Zanshaa s ring station,subsequently spreading to seven berthed ships, all destroyed along with theirfile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis.Dead%20Empire's%20Fall%2001%20-%20The%20Praxis.html (188 of 310)19-2-2006 4:01:17Williams, Walter Jon - [Dead Empire's Fall 01] - The Praxis crews.The shipscould not unberth, or even close their airlock doors, without permission fromRingCommand, which by then had been gutted by fire.Since then, regulations had insisted that a ship under threat could unberthPage 133ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwithout permission, and had complete control of its airlock doors.Martinezcould getCorona out of its berth; the only question was whether the otherwarships would permit her to survive past that point.Martinez did his best to pretend that he had his imperturbable, omnipotentofficer s face on, and ventured to give the master engineer a confident smile. Good luck, Maheshwari.Maheshwari s response was courtly. The same to you, Lord Lieutenant.The engineer braced in salute and returned to Engine Control.Martinez locked the armory and went to the central belt elevator that wouldtake him to Command, then hesitated, one hand on the wide belt that held hissidearm and stun baton.If he walked into Command wearing this thing, everyonewould consider him a lunatic.If the Naxids did nothing, or if what they didhad a rational explanation, then the entire crew would know by the end of theday.He d become a laughingstock.He stood in the hatch and heard the laughter in his mind, laughter ringingdown the years as long as he remained in the service.If he were wrong, hecould expect nothing less.Everything Fanaghee andKulukraf were doing could have an innocent explanation well, notinnocentexactly, but at leastrational.If he had missed that, if the Naxids weredoing anything but rising, he would never hear the end of it
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