The shuttle had picked up her and Tharval, had taken them from the base to... a ship. A Hirogen ship, with many of the giant hunters still aboard. She had learned how to deal with them, how not to appear as prey... it had been surprisingly easy. The Hirogen seemed cowed.
And, once she went to the bridge and met the leader, it was easy enough to see why.
"Angelica." Thrang smiled at her with those too-full lips on that too-small mouth; something about him made her skin crawl. "I'm delighted to have you with us. We're going to need creative minds."
She looked up at him; he was a tall man, though nowhere near as tall as the Hirogen. "I haven't been asked to do anything much creative, so far," she said.
She thought he might be angry, but he only laughed. "We need to destroy, sometimes, in order to create. We need to clear the way, as it were. Action Black is... a regrettable necessity. Direct action is always a little messy."
"And you're in charge of Action Black?"
"I have that honour."
"Who gave it to you?" she asked. "Lyle Anson?"
Thrang laughed. "Mr. Anson has his role in life. And I have mine. No, I'm... self appointed." His slanting eyes glinted. "I'm sure you understand the necessity. Action Blue can constitute itself as a proper political party. We don't have that luxury. We're a military unit, Angelica - not a formal one, I grant you, but we must operate under the same discipline. You're a Starfleet cadet, you will understand that discipline."
"Former Starfleet cadet," she muttered.
"And will return to Starfleet in a much more significant role, once it's properly reorganized," said Thrang. "We need talented people, Angelica. I can't emphasize that too much."
She took a deep breath. "What for, exactly?" she asked.
Thrang's eyes were very bright, all of a sudden, and there was a calculating look about him. "Well, now," he said, "there's a question."
"I'm in this thing," said Angelica. "I know that. I accept that. But I want to be sure I know where it's leading."
"Good," said Thrang. "Good. Always know where you stand. I like that." He paused. His gaze raked over her again. "The Actionist movements in the various galactic powers are all working to the same end. Unification. The creation of a single interstellar government - one with the power, the ability, to bring long-lasting peace and prosperity to the galaxy as a whole. We can't afford all these silly internecine squabbles. You know that."
"And we can't afford Federation moralism, either," said Angelica.
"Precisely." Thrang beamed at her. "But we have a mountain to climb, don't we? Entrenched attitudes. Established political classes. We need to create an incentive, to make people put aside their old habits. That's what Action Black is for, Angelica. To create problems - problems that the existing order can't solve. Then, when the other Actionists propose solutions - that's when people will start to listen." He grinned. "Because their solutions will work. We know that."
"Because we're the ones causing the trouble," said Angelica slowly, "so we can stop it whenever we want."
"Exactly. The whole situation will look chaotic, on the outside. But from the inside, where we are -" Thrang's grin was very broad, now "- everything will be precisely under control."
---
She would have more confidence, she thought, if her fellow - revolutionaries - inspired it.
There were several ex-Starfleet people aboard the Hirogen ship. They tended to clump together, met and socialized in a small mess hall near the ship's bow. They were not, Angelica thought, what you might call the best and brightest.
"All setbacks yield to the disciplined mind." Turet was a Vulcan and a Bresarist, a follower of the ancient warlord whose attempts at subversion had taken Vulcan perilously close to leaving the Federation. After their cataclysmic failure, and the massive loss of life, the few remaining Bresarists were not exactly popular in Vulcan society. "The defeat of our candidates in the latest round of local elections can only be attributed to insufficient discipline. It is not sufficient for us to do our work; Action Blue must redouble its efforts."
Druzga made an obscene suggestion. All Tellarites loved to argue; Angelica remembered Druzga from the Academy... where she had loved nothing else. Druzga had joined the Academy two years before Angelica, but had been held back, repeatedly, on academic probation. She was something well beyond ordinary Tellarite grouchiness - she was a pure nihilist, Angelica thought, always willing to take the least popular position, simply because it was the least popular. She was good with computers, though. It made sense; computers had no opinions, could not be argued with.
"We need more resources," said Tom Tallidge. He was a few years older than any of them; he had graduated, and reached the rank of lieutenant, before being court-martialled for an offence most of them found almost incomprehensible; purloining ship's stores. He had made plentiful amounts of latinum and exotic crystals - and then the USS Ecliptic had suddenly found herself disabled in unsurveyed space, her stores of non-replicateable spares depleted... and Lieutenant Tallidge had found himself on trial before a board of frankly incredulous senior officers. In the Federation's post-scarcity economy, his crime was a throwback to past centuries. Even now, he seemed obsessed with money, with wealth.... He dreamed, Angelica knew, of a high position in the new government's economics ministry. It seemed exactly the wrong place to put him.
"Resources are not an issue," Turet said. "The Federation imposes strict limits on the financial expenditures of candidates for advertising and publicity. Action Blue has operated within those constraints."
"There are ways around them," said Tom. "There are always ways around them, if you know where to look. Get our candidates' names in the public eye for some other reason, give them a claim to fame -"
"Half of 'em aren't fit to be looked at," Druzga growled. "Public eye, my -"
"It would be preferable to attract a higher calibre of activist," said Turet. "Lyle Anson is impressive, but many of his followers are decidedly not. A recruitment drive, focusing on talented individuals -"
This was what Action Black was for, Angelica thought. To make the mainstream Actionists look appealing, to create situations where they looked their best. Unobtrusively, she sidled out of the mess hall. She was new, the others were engrossed in their own, long-standing, arguments - she found it easy to be overlooked.
She thought about going back to her cabin, to read up on some of the new journals that had come in. None of them, just now, had any definite assigned duties.... She decided, instead, to go and look for Tharval. Or Thrang.
It was some down-time in the Hirogens' activity cycle; there were few of them about, and those that she saw ignored her. She made her way up two decks and back a little, and was passing a doorway when she heard Tharval's voice. She stopped.
"I have arranged the last leg of the transport," the Lethean was saying. His voice sounded tinny and distorted; Angelica glanced at the symbols on the door. She had learned to interpret a little of the Hirogen signage, and she could make out the symbols for Communications Room. So... Tharval was reporting in, from some distance away?
"We'll start the clock running, then, as soon as our current countdown hits zero." Thrang's voice was clear enough; he was right there, in the room. Angelica shrank against the wall, making no sound, hardly even breathing.
"I want you to be quite certain in your mind about this, Thrang," said Tharval's voice. "This is -"
"This is a demonstration," Thrang interrupted him. "Granted, a big demonstration, but that's all it is."
"A demonstration too big to ignore. Thrang, if we fail -"
"We won't fail. And, even if we did... it doesn't matter too much. It's not as if they'll be missed." Thrang laughed. "Now, if the second missile hadn't been lost.... That target would have mattered. I'd still like to hit it, in fact. Eliminating the Amaya system would remove a whole host of potential troublemakers. I suppose there's no chance -?"
"The Remans are on the alert for the movement of trilithium, and they have doubtless informed the other intelligence agencies, too. Commander Heizis -"
"Commander Heizis is an old friend. And not a terribly effective one, especially with our ally keeping her in check. I'm much more interested in her old partner. I want Admiral Pexlini. I like her."
"You have made her life notably difficult. I doubt she reciprocates the feeling."
"She's a realist. Once I stop up every other avenue of escape, she will come running to me." Thrang laughed. "Have some faith, Tharval."
"I will have faith, once everything goes to plan," said Tharval's voice. "We can not afford any more missteps. Both Starfleet and the Remans are aware of our methods -"
"Awareness is one thing. Being able to stop us is quite another." Thrang's laugh was quieter, and it sent a chill along Angelica's spine. "As poor Admiral Hengest will shortly find out."
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