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A groan came from Romon Xatier, his legs giving way beneath him. He fell to the floor heavily.
Y kept his grip on Jan Holdur, but snapped his head to the man, summoning another wave of medical drones as he scanned him for the issue.
The man had just had a massive stroke.
More Response officers were aiming their sidearms at Jan Holdur now, and he let the man fall.
Holdur had not touched Romon. He was certain of that. He scanned deeper, unsure what the cause of the man’s stroke was.
He moved to his side, scanning deeper, seeking life signs. The drones arrived, one swooping in to give the man a shot of a gel that would stabilize the damage in his brain, capturing the errant blood.
But Y could tell it was already too late.
Romon Xatier was dead.
“Jan Holdur is no longer a danger, Captain. He is alive, but I have paralyzed him from the neck down.”
Y’s words were delivered in his normal, cheerful voice through the video comm, but Brooks felt his head spin.
Less than a minute ago he had been awoken with news of what had just occurred. He’d only been asleep half an hour.
Jan Holdur broken free, now paralyzed. Two Response officers injured – and Romon Xatier dead.
“How are the Response Officers? How is Apollonia?” Brooks asked.
“Regori Gill is undergoing a minor operation right now that will repair the damage to his arm – he will need one month of convalescence before he can return to duty. Lalan Fah will require only one week – while he had multiple micro-fractures, they will heal quickly.”
Y tilted his head. “As for Apollonia Nor, she is calm. She suffered no injuries.”
“Just trauma,” Brooks said, eyes closing.
“I believe she is handling it well,” Y replied.
Brooks took a deep breath, collecting himself as much as he could. This situation could balloon out of control – it might be even as they spoke.
“And Xatier could not be saved?” he finally asked.
“I am afraid not, sir. The damage to his brain was too severe.”
“And you said it was a stroke?” Brooks asked, struggling to sort this out.
“I know that is extremely rare, Captain, but it can be explained by a previously undetected blocked blood vessel bursting in his brain. I’m afraid that once the injury is that severe, there is no way to save the person’s life without instant reaction on a surgical table.”
It made no sense. The man’s wealth surely meant he would have had the best in preventive medicine, Brooks thought. And a blocked vessel like this would be easily seen by simple scans.
“There is a very important detail I must add, Captain,” Y said. “Jan Holdur’s restraint suit did not fail – it was interfered with. In Romon Xatier’s pocket I found a device that sent a signal to disrupt the suit and disable it. It is not ours – this technology bears the hallmarks of Gohhi, and used a brute-force method that our technology would not have needed to use.”
“. . . you’re saying that Romon unleashed Jan Holdur?” Brooks asked. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“I do not know sir. I was hoping you might have an idea,” Y admitted.
Brooks’ mind started to see the twisted logic behind it. The Lord Executives must have decided Jan was too much of a liability. It would be convenient if he died in Union hands – a propaganda victory of incredible value.
“Can we prove that this was his doing?” Brooks asked.
“The evidence is all there, but there can always be the claim that we faked it. We can provide endless evidence of this, and it will not matter.”
“Send me your preliminary report,” Brooks said. “I have to contact the Gohhians.”
“Captain,” Y said. “I believe I can help.”
Ten minutes later, Brooks sent off the message.
Y had, indeed, proven invaluable, his report to Brooks essentially half of the response in itself.
To [insert the name of your contact here, Captain],
At 23:39 hours aboard the SUS Craton, Romon Xatier released the dangerous prisoner Jan Holdur. Two of our officers have been injured. Holdur has been disabled but remains alive.
Possibly as a result of the brutality of the attack, Xatier suffered a fatal stroke. Due to the severe nature of this incident, a full medical exam of his brain will be required to confirm cause of death. As the damage largely left his memory intact, we will also perform a deep scan to find the cause of his actions.
You will want to examine his brain as well, to confirm our findings, which you will find to be accurate.
Brooks attached all of the data they had of the incident, showing the events, and the scans of the device Holdur had used.
Then he added his own embellishments, turning Y’s simple description of what he had to do into a sword waiting to plunge.
The words above are what my Chief Medical Officer has written.
This is what you will do; the guilt will be found to be on Xatier, as is the truth. Neither you nor any news source you control will claim this was an attack by our side. Accept this or we will perform the deep brain scan of Xatier and learn everything he knew – and if you thought Holdur talking was bad, then let us see how much worse it will be to learn every secret Xatier held.
Brooks considered if this was what he should say. It was a terrible risk. He ran the numbers on known Gohhian behavior and predicted outcomes.
He was giving them a bargain, letting this go to waste. They could check Xatier’s memories, learn every dirty secret he knew. In death, being the clear cause of this violence, they had every legal right.
Would it outweigh the political fallout of the Gohhians claiming it was an assassination?
He did not know. But that would be an economic war that would almost certainly bloom into the real thing.
It would ultimately result in the liberation of the people of Gohhi, he thought.
It would ultimately result in millions if not billions dying or being displaced, and economic damage that reached across known civilization, probably alienating many neutral powers.
They would surely believe the Union had caused this. The caustic lies of the Gohhian media apparatus was masterful at spin.
He sent the message.
Then he waited.
He checked if he could reach Trevod Waites-Kosson, but all possible methods of contact were shut to him.
Forty minutes later, he had a response. It was signed by Trevod and by the current Lord Executive of Holdur Conglomerate.
All conditions agreed.
Brooks felt his head swim in elation.
Will return Holdur and Xatier’s body shortly, Brooks replied.
He sent it, then staggered back to his bed and lay down, looking at the ceiling.
Other Terrestrial 
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