Realizing the Lightz betrayed them, they get the drugs to the rebels, who take on the citadel with immunity. They get a sample and a prophylactic drug. Tarrant & Dayne meet the creator of Pylene-50 – a pitiable man who is being tortured and coerced by Commissioner Sleer to produce the drug. With the traps he’s set, they should all be dead soon. Meanwhile, the President-Elect is murdered by an unseen assailant and when questioned, Lightz reveals to the military commander that he is a double agent – working for Sleer, and supplying fake information to the rebels. It uses a drug called Pylene-50 and it renders anyone completely docile and manageable. He also supplies Tarrant & Dayna with information about Commissioner Sleer’s pacification program.
He gives the rebels info on the current fighting and a possible way to make an assault on the commuications matrix. They meet with the rebel’s contact – a Federation Officer named Lightz – who is the newly appointed aide to the President-Elect. The rebel leader hatches a plan to swim under the reactor and succeeds, where he meets Tarrant & Dayna, who have teleported in. The rebels decide to try to get into the citadel again. Soon, a new Federation-appointed president-elect is sent to the planet, here he learns Commissioner Sleer is running the Pacification Police – a new arm of the Federation with a weapon that renders planetary populations docile. Orac farms the job out to Federation computers elsewhere, to Avon’s amusement. Unlike the Liberator, the Scorpio is a slow bucket of bolts and they must be very careful, but with Orac’s help, Avon is working on a way to improve their speed.