The situation was crystal clear. With Stopa in command, the army would not permit the Knights to grow to the point where they presented a potential threat, that is to say, to the point where they became a militarily useful force. With Waffing as his military commander, the Star Command would be less resentful; indeed they might be won over entirely, being for the most part good Helder patriots. On the other hand, the nucleus of the Knights was the ex-Avengers and the men they had recruited; these fellows had an awe of Stopa second only to their respect for his own person. To replace Stopa with an outsider like Waffing would surely stir trouble in the ranks.
A subtle solution was called for.
"I will appoint you Party Security Secretary," Feric told Waffing. "I will create a new bodyguard to be called the Swastika Squad, a true elite, chosen for devotion, genetic purity, physical force, and high intelligence. You will directly command neither the Knights nor the Swastika Squad; however, in your capacity of Security Secretary, you will be the superior of the heads of both storm troops. This arrangement should mollify the Star Command."
Waffing broke into a broad grin. "A stroke of genius!"
he declared. "Better than I could've worked out myself."
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Once again, Waffing laughed heartily. "When you know me letter," he said impishly, "you'll know just how high a compliment such an admission is, coming from the lips of Lar Waffing!"
At this Bogel, and Feric himself, could not help but burst into comradely laughter.
At last Feric was able to call the first full meeting of the Swastika Circle, the thoroughly reorganized and renamed Party heirarchy, and could not be other than heartily pleased with the great changes he had wrought. Gone were the petty-fogging Party titles, replaced by honorifics of rigor and force, which, moreover, served to make the chain of command crystal clear. Gone were the idiosyn-cratic styles of personal garb with which the Party leaders had first greeted Feric's eye; with the exception of Stopa in his brown Knight's uniform, every man seated around the plain oaken table in the stark conference room was resplendent in the black leather of the Party elite.
Moreover, the makeup of the Swastika Circle fully reflected Feric's will. Bogel was now High Commander of Public Will in charge of both formulating the aims of the Party and making those aims the desires of the Helder people, thus banishing the likes of Parmerob and Marker from high Party circles. Haulman was still Party Treasurer, but without the rank of High Commander; a distinction that made the relationship of economic necessity and Party policy abundantly clear. Waffing was High Commander of Security. Stopa had been given the ambig-uous title of Commandant of the Knights of the Swastika, which ranked him below Waffing, although he was entitled to a place on the Swastika Circle. For the sake of symmetry, Bors Remler, Commandant of the new Swastika Squad, had also been admitted to the Swastika Circle. In order to emphasize the absolute supremacy of his position as Supreme Commander, Feric had appointed Best to the Swastika Circle with the full rank of High Commander, though the lad lacked even a single subordinate in the line of command. As for Bluth and Decker, they had been banished to the obscurity that such nonentities deserved. All in all, the Party's house had been put firmly in order for the heroic struggle to come.
Feric opened the meeting without formalities; the atmosphere was more that of a meeting of comrades to discuss battlefield strategy than of a bourgeois party hot-air ses-102
sion. "Our ultimate goal is the re-establishment of true human rule over the habitable earth and the extinction of all subhuman sapients. The first major step in this direction must be to establish the absolute rule of the Swastika in Heldon. We must now take practical steps to bring us to total power."
This forthright statement was greeted with fervent enthusiasm. Remler in particular seemed to shine with fanatic fire; his icy blue eyes and thin aquiline features radiated an almost papable patriotic frenzy.
"With five hundred cycles and five thousand trooperSr the Knights can take Walder in a day," Stopa promised.
"With a thousand cycles and ten thousand men, we'll march on Heldhime and squash the bugs with our boots!"
"It's not that simple," Waning said, without raising his voice in anger. "If the Knights take Walder or march on the capital, the government will order the army to crush us. Rather than display fear in the face of an armed enemy, the Star Command will move against us and our cause will be lost. We cannot hope to defeat the regular army in an all-out civil war."
"I myself favor the electoral method," Bogel said.
