* * *

Thark had entered the Palace by the time she made contact again, and
the slaughter was continuing. He, Valla, Kainor, and four Sanctioners
were looking for the Emperor; the rest were spreading out to eliminate
opposition elsewhere in the Palace.

There were adequate maps of the public areas, none of the private areas
like this--but for one of Thark's Talent, that was a minor obstacle.
It was a simple matter to extract whatever directions he wanted from
the unshielded minds of staff and Guards before killing them. His
first goal was the Emperor's working office; when that proved empty, he
got directions to His Majesty's apartment on the top floor, and led his
team there.

When that also proved to be empty, Thark began to worry. Something was
definitely wrong, and it took longer to get around in the Palace than
he had expected, even for a building so huge; it took a good five
minutes simply to get from the bottom to the top floor or back. Then
there was the time to find his objectives, made longer by having to
eliminate opposition on the way--this was taking too long!

The assault team on the lander disagreed; anything that delayed Thark
worked in their favor. "How long till launch?" someone asked Nevan.

"Eight minutes. Then about three to land."

Corina was aware of her team, so she heard the estimate, but her main
attention was still on Thark. He and his people were on their way to
the Throne Room, hoping to find the Emperor there with his staff.
Others of the Crusade had been along parts of their route; they passed
bodies, all marked by blaster fire, and added others, unmarked or
knife-killed, of those who tried to block their way. Thark was not
proud of the number of beings who had to die. He had to remind himself
sternly--and repeatedly--that their sacrifice was necessary for the
birth of a new and greater Empire.

The Throne Room, when they reached it, was also empty except for a
handful of Guards. Thark grabbed one of them while Valla and Kainor
killed the rest.

The man was a typical human, with no trace of screen, so Thark found it
simple to probe his mind. And this time he went deep, digging for
everything the man knew instead of only for directions. The results
were bad, very bad. Thark let the Guard's body fall and broadcast a
message to the entire attack group. *No more killing. I need
prisoners now, high-ranking ones. Bring any you find to the Throne
Room.*

As s