“What are you…!” Rene’s objections died on his lips as the logic of the move made itself apparent to him. Threatening to destroy the PEA and Solae, the only means of accessing it, would certainly make both Ralch and Bhast cautious, though possibly for different reasons.

Rene sat heavily fumbling with the catch of his armor and easing the fit. Blood dribbled from the opening in the ceramic and he winced as the pressure came off. The sealant on his skin was rough and lumpy where blood had caused it to dry unevenly. He could feel a faint discomfort when he moved and he reached down and found the edge of a fragment of armor protruding from the sealant. He grit his teeth and pulled, trying to ignore the queasy feeling as it slid free. The sealant hissed as it reacted to the fresh blood flow, closing over the void left by the bloody fragment of ceramic.

He looked up to find Solae watching him. He smiled at her reassuringly. The light from the PEA played up over her face and hair heightening her ethereal beauty for a stunning moment. It would have been breathtaking if he wasn't already having trouble catching his breath.

“It isn’t bad,” he assured her, wishing he could be more certain of that fact. Stomach wounds could be funny, but short of seeing a surgeon or a medi-comp there was little he could do either way. A sudden hammering on the door prevented further conversation, the pitch and clamor increased as frustrated soldiers replaced fists with rifle butts.

“It is still an armored door,” Rene pointed out to no one in particular.

“Maybe they will be the first ones to batter one down by hand,” Solae answered with a smile. Rene grinned and turned back to the door, letting his weapon hang from his gun hand for a moment before raising his voice.

“Attention people attempting to knock down a blast armored door with your hands,” Rene called out. There was an odd reverberation as the buildings PA system broadcast his word. Decimal was not Mia, but he/it could obviously take care of basic anticipatory commands.  

“Before you work your way up to breaching charges, please be advised that blowing the door will trigger a discharge of the buildings self destruct system. That will kill you and probably everyone within a block of here,” Rene continued and was gratified with a near instantaneous secession of the noisy hammering. 

“The Imperial Technical Survey estimates 95 percent casualties within a two block radius,” Decimal added, helpfully also over the public address system. The AI might be programmed to sound unemotional and distant, but that didn't mean it couldn't understand what its users might require of it.  

“I stand corrected, far be it from me to argue with the ITS,” he concluded, glancing back to see Solae still working on the controls. There didn’t seem to be any other way out of the chamber but it still made sense to play for time until Solae's work was complete. There was a real chance that Bhast would rather destroy a priceless PEA rather than allow the Imperial Government to be warned of the coup, but even if she wanted to, bringing down a building this size would take time, even for the heavy weapons mounted on her vehicles.

“Are you about done Mr Quentain?” came an authoritative female voice that could only have belonged to General Bhast herself. There was sudden volley of fire from outside the door, though it was accompanied by no screams or shouts of pain.

“Decimal can you give me video feed for the corridor?” Rene asked in concern.

“The hostiles have destroyed the cameras Sir,” Decimal responded indifferently. Rene frowned, he didn’t know what Bhast might want privacy for, nor could he imagine what she thought she could do without triggering the self destruct but not knowing made him nervous.

“Mr Quentain?” Bhast called again. Rene looked up at Solae who mouthed the words ‘nearly there’ as he fingers flew across the controls, illuminating the room in queer prismatic light.

“It is Private Quentain actually,” Rene called back with forced jocularity, “Mr Quentain is my father.” 

“Charming,” Bhast drawled, a dangerous edge of irritation in her voice. She clearly wasn’t a woman who was used to enduring alot of back talk.

“But I am here to discuss terms of surrender,” Bhast continued. 

“Oh, well in that case I am willing to accept your surrender on standard terms, you and your men will lay down their weapons and be interned until a court…”

“Your surrender you arrogant son of a bitch!” Bhast roared, her fist hammering against the armored door. Rene suppressed the urge to laugh with some difficulty feeling light headed and shaky. He touched a control on his armor and felt a prick as it dumped stims into his system, clearing his mind and steadying his shaking hand as a cocktail of adrenaline, amphetamines and synthetic stabilizers into his system. 

“It has been a while since basic training, but I’m fairly sure ‘don’t surrender’ was one of the lessons,” Rene explained, reaching down to pull the closure on his armor snug and shaking his torso slightly to settle it.

“Don’t be a fool, you think the Empire cares about you? Turn the woman over and we will make you rich enough to buy your own planet!”

“It’s a generous offer, but all I control right now is a transmission room and honestly I’m a little overwhelmed,” Rene responded. Silence fell as Bhast gave up the attempt to subvert Rene. He very much doubted she was giving up entirely, but they both recognized they had reached an impasse. It had only ever been a play for time, but he hoped he had irritated her enough to cloud her judgement, but you couldn’t count on that with a successful career officer. Rene turned and looked back at Solae.

“How are we doing?” he whispered.