Thunder crashed through the roiling dark predawn skies of New Vatica. Flashes of brilliant gold bloomed in the clouded, grey heavens and scattered bronze highlights across the worn, wooden floors of the rectory.

Cardinal Reswell sat at the radio's console, playing and replaying the packet transmission. He had already entered the information into the library archives and, of course, re-transmitted it to Michael's flagship. Reswell wound his fingers together tightly, worry more evident with every word that clawed its way from the small box before him. He had sent Father Abrams into this mess. He was the one who had transmitted the advice of Diocullis to poor Father Abrams. He had sent him into this spiral of increasing danger. Father Abrams was no agent provocateur and Cardinal Reswell no handler.

Yet, he thought, here I am, exactly were I shouldn't be - crumpled before a transmitter, with lives at stake, people waiting to be told what the plan is, where their salvation lay. All he could do was wait, sit here, hope Michael would have an answer to all this, and within the hour.

I should be praying for the salvation of their souls, he thought, trusting that God's providence will protect them. But this box speaks to me, asks my counsel, and awaits my reply. And I have no idea what to say. If I fail them now, they could easily perish. All I can do is sit here, wishing I were somewhere else-.

****

Michael sat at the impromptu conference table, thankful for the presence of Joshua, who really felt no more comfortable than the military tactician did. Still, at least Joshua had some experience dealing with these X-tees. The group of six Wavies hovered around the table, and Diocullis struggled to keep his eyes from watering as he tried focus on the mostly transparent manifestations.

One of the Wavies vibrated,and a strangely familiar voice projected from it. "We will help you liberate our Queen, but we cannot hurt others. We will only help those Joshua or Bishop Wile signify to us. We understand now the unitary nature of your existence, and the angst of your struggles to attain meaning in your lives, but we need more time to absorb the moral limits of your individualities."

Diocullis shot Bishop Wile an unsavory glance, but said, "Yes, our philosophical underpinnings...troublesome to sort out, it will take time, but in the interim, we need to keep Gregory St Croix from continuing to hurt others, your Queen included, and bring him before the judgment of his peers. To do that I need to know what you can do, what your limits are in terms of the aid you can give."

One of the blurs floated closer and said, "We understand. What do you need to know?"

Diocullis hesitated, then said, "I should probably get one thing out of the way first.Can't you just zap your queen away from Gregory, or just bring them both here?"

The Wavie spokes-being dulled a little. " Our Queen does not exist entirely in your -Place. We cannot move her. We do not transport living beings like Gregory - in your place knowingly. We do not know what harm that would do to the soul, so we will not."

Dio favored Bishop Wile with another frustrated look, then continued, "Gregory will likely try to hit our ships with fairly large amounts of matter and energy, can you keep these things from striking us? It would hurt us if these things hit us. We need your word that your kind, and your Queen, will not do as Gregory asks when we engage him."

"We can do that,"said the blur.

An officer entered, and, bending low to Diocullis, spoke briefly to him and handed him a message. Michael read the message, passed it to Joshua and continued."We have come to understand that planets make you uncomfortable.Can you appear on the surfaces without harm? Move things from them?"

"We cannot nest near such objects, but we can visit them, Diocullis, and move things, as long as the gravity well is not too intense."

Joshua completed reading the communique and sent a sharp look to Dio. Michael raised his hand toward the prelate, and stood.

"I have a message to send. Please excuse Joshua and myself for a moment."

Both excused themselves and slipped quietly into the adjoining hallway. Diocullis immediately started strolling off in the direction of the radio shack. Michael rolled his eyes towards the following prelate, raising his brows.

"You read the message, I take it?"

"Yes. This will prove a very dangerous expedition for Commander Baine. Cardinal Reswell must be at his wits end. What will you tell Father Abrams?"

Diocullis pulled at his chin. "Actually this is working out better than I had hoped. We may be able to solve many of our problems at one stroke. Or, "he frowned," loose everything we worked to salvage. But at least, we have a path now. If we can get our hands on that controller Abrams was on about, we could be in position to eliminate Gregory's edge. He said there were at least twenty four men free and available on the ground, and for a few more minutes, he will be standing by for radio contact, so we have a say in what they may do."

Dio slapped the radio hard copy with his free hand.

"Gregory has deployed missile defenses next to the landholder properties - an old insurgent's trick. If you try to take out his launchers, you endanger innocent citizens. Gregory only has to control six or seven hundred plantations, and his tactics tell me his ground troops are turned to the task of keeping his hostages nearby. He is not expecting to have to defend the ground. I think he believes this to be a practical demonstration of a product he wants to market. Control of Vega might be just a side-benefit. He feels the product makes him invulnerable. He is a businessman, not a general. So I am going to teach him a little something about guerrilla warfare, get that switch these people are talking about, and eliminate his product."

Joshua thought about this, and said, "Having the support of the Wavies, why can't we just land Marines and equipment, sweep the inhabited area and be done with it?"

"Chain of consequence,"said Dio. "The mining facility on St. Croix was a wholly owned property of Gregory's corporation, not a political entity, and therefore entirely addressable for his actions. We are in pursuit of a criminal, with respect to our own rules in advocacy of the See, and in support of the Federated Earth Charter. Vega III is an independently chartered and settled world. What constitutes aid and what constitutes invasion enter into this venture - Gregory knows this. I did not come here without checking up on these things, you know. That is why he filed the landholder defense initiatives with the Federation. It doesn't matter that the landholders were buffaloed into agreeing with a lot of sleight-of-hand on Gregory's part. His right to defend was a ratified act of the residents. On the other hand, supporting rebellious settlers with reason to feel that their rights were not properly represented - well, that's a defensible activity."

"Will you contact Baine about this?"

Dio shook his head. "Baine is the biggest part of the problem. This could be simpler if he wasn't involved. Baine is the customer, although I don't think he knows it. We will have to try and salvage him, if we can - he seemed a good lad. I need you to get the Wavies ready for what I have in mind. I want some of them to - ah, here we are."