Mission Zero (Fourth Fleet Irregulars) Read Online Free Page A

pouring enough resources into Sixships already.  Dix was making a strong pitch, hoping to get the committee’s chair to support him. 
    ‘I beg your pardon, Senator,’ the adjutant apologised as the Senator raised a startled eyebrow at the interruption, ‘but I feel that you will both wish to be informed of this as a matter of urgency.  Excuse me, sir,’ he had activated the holovision that hung on one wall of the office, informing them, unnecessarily, ‘ABC channel 5.’
    Both the First Lord and the Senator got to their feet and walked over to the holovision as if they could not believe what they were seeing, neither of them saying anything as they took in the enormity of it.  Studio presenters were pitching out the headlines.  The latest breaking news was that it had now been confirmed that three ‘prisoners’ were now aboard a liner from Cestus on their way to Chartsey, where they were expected to arrive in about two weeks.  
    Behind the journalists was a main-screen image of the frontage of the Admiralty building, with an ABC truck-sized Outside Broadcast Unit as close to the gates as it could get.  A flock of other vans were racing in, journalists running up to join the mob storming at the gate.  The police were just arriving, too, simultaneously with some kind of demonstration pouring off a bus that had just landed, illegally, in the no-park zone.
    On sub screens below the presenters, the footage of Sub-Lt Harles Hollis had prominent position, with the infostream running beneath it identifying him as the son of Vice Admiral Miranda Hollis.  Either side of him, the furious ranting reaction Jerome had gathered was blazing away.  It had already been supplemented by much more, including a statement from a senior police officer expressing surprise that the Admiralty could have contemplated employing prisoners in service without feeling it to be appropriate to discuss the issues in that with them.
    Senator Dorthang said a word.  In fact, he said several.  Dix, with rather better self-control, merely walked over to the window and stood looking out as if hoping that the scene on the holovision was some kind of illusion.  But no, there they all were, inaudible through the soundproofed privacy glass but clear to see.  The demonstrators were waving hastily made placards with messages he could not see from this angle, though a glance over at the holovision made it clear that they were from the radical group, EGCN, for End Government Conspiracy Now.  Their banners said things like ‘Institutional murder!’, ‘Prisoners are People!’, ‘Human Rights Atrocity!’ and ‘Prisoners are Not Cannon Fodder!’  Another bus was just arriving with a banner streaming down its side reading ‘March for Law and Decency!  No to Pampered Prisoners!’
    As the police tried desperately to contain and control the journalists, rival demonstrators and the merely curious who’d come to see what was going on and the first, inevitable arrests were made, First Lord Dix Harangay demonstrated the mettle which had got him appointed to command of the Fleet.  Taking a breath, he squared his shoulders and turned away from the window with a resolute air.
    ‘All right,’ he said.  ‘Let’s sort this out.’
     
    ____________________
     
    Chapter Two
     
    ‘Well,’ said Dix, reflectively.  ‘That did not go as well as I had hoped.’
    Alex von Strada said nothing.  He had just had to take a shower and launder his uniform after an ill-fated attempt to address the concerns of the various lobbying groups.
    Nearly two weeks of effort by the Admiralty to calm the situation and explain the facts had only made it worse.  There was now an almost permanent presence outside their gates of media, demonstrators, onlookers and police.  Dix had himself been obliged to discuss the matter with the Senate Fleet Sub-Committee and had been summoned to the president’s office, too, to answer some very tough questions. 
    The matter had been