by Chris Hechtl
“Yeah, I agree. What is the point of fighting and then being executed for failure? If we can't win with what they are giving us, why should we be punished for it?” Captain Bradley growled. He shook his head. “Being a prisoner is better than death's hollow! Think about it. I already have.” He nodded once. “They come and we can't stop them, I say frack ‘em all and let the spirits of space sort it all out. We can sit the rest out just fine from the sidelines.”
-~~~///^\~~~-
Prowler UFN-008P noted the enemy reinforcements. It had been expected a long time ago. The delay was noteworthy all on its own. Captain McArren's ship couldn't intercept the chatter with the enemy because the Horathians were using encrypted laser lines over omni broadcasts. She could get a general feel for things however. None of the ships were in any great tearing hurry to get to the H001 jump point.
The Neogorilla couldn't help but smirk a little over that. “I wonder what they are afraid of,” she murmured.
“They know our reputation and aren't happy, ma'am,” Nightshade, her ship A.I., replied.
“Probably. I'm curious how the Ghost Flotilla is going to do passing through.”
“It's their final test, ma'am,” Nightshade said by way of agreement as some of the bridge crew turned to her. “If they can't pass through this, they'll never survive Horath.”
“Agreed. I just wish we were going along with them,” she said.
Bob, her helmsman, snorted and then stilled. “Wait, your serious!” he accused, eyeing her.
She shrugged and then smirked at him. “What do you think?”
He wisely shut his mouth as he shook his head and returned to his duties.
“Yeah, that's about what I thought,” she murmured.
-~~~///^\~~~-
H002
“Here we go,” Captain Falling Drop murmured as the first prowler dropped into subspace near the Garth jump point. He ordered the ship to flash her IFF. They received a quick response a few minutes later and then the prowler disappeared back into hyper again.
They didn't have long to wait before the first flotilla arrived. Two dozen prowlers arrived in one jump. Another squadron was behind the flotilla, but they had yet to catch up.
A few minutes later TF 2.2, TF 2.3 and a massive number of freighters joined them.
“Well, hopefully, that's the most excitement we're going to get for some time,” the T'clock stated, aware that his command of the star system was over. He saw a few sidelong looks from his bridge crew but didn't say anything further.
Nothing needed to be said. They were all excited that the next phase of the plan had begun.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Commodore Dwight Harris talked with Commodore Trajan Vargess as the last of the prowlers resupplied themselves and then moved on to the next jump point in a stream rather than as a group. “Do you really think this will work?”
“I'm not sure. I think we've got the order mixed up; you should be the one dangling out there ahead of me,” Trajan replied with a shake of his head. “I understand the strategic reasons why things are this way; I just don't have to like it.”
“Agreed. Be careful out there.”
“You be careful here. We don't know if something is coming. With my force in H001, Second Fleet won't have much of a carrier force.”
“Which is the whole point of putting you out on the limb ahead of me,” Dwight replied. “As bait. So as I said, be careful.”
“Yeah,” Trajan sighed. His eyes strayed to the plot. “I really hope this works and it opens the door for us.”
“Agreed. The timing might be off though; we don't know about Fifth Fleet.”
“She'll get into position. What she finds when she gets there is anyone's guess,” Trajan said as the last of the prowlers completed her resupply. “Time to go.”
“Safe sailing. Good hunting.”
“You as well. As soon as the star system is clear, I'll send the go-ahead.”
“Understood,” Dwight said as the channel was cut. He watched TF 2.3 get underway for the jump point. The convoy of freighters followed in their wake.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Finagle
Rear Admiral Iruke Knowles was surprised to find the star system clear of the enemy. Only five ships appeared on his plot as the long-range sensors and communications reached out across the star system and then back again.
“Get me a SITREP. And get with Dancing Matilda; I want a SITREP from them and the planet. Then get the engineers on those ships. I want them stripped and any that can be repaired back home ASAP. Dancing Matilda can bring our logs back with them and let the Admiralty know we've got possession.”
His chief of staff nodded. Nothing the admiral had said was new so far. “Do you wish to go with defenses on the Bf1d17 jump point, sir?”
“No,” the admiral said flatly. “We can't predict their actual arrival point. They also can outrun us in subspace. There is no way, no way in hell I'm going to get caught out if they come in like they did in Garth with Cyrano.”
Commander Stuart grimaced but then nodded. They'd had that argument a few times during the trip to Finagle. He and the TACO wanted a forward defense. But the admiral was right to be cautious. “Understood, sir.”
They had two battle cruisers, six new heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, three CEVs, four destroyers, one support ship, and two couriers. The two couriers were to remain on the Horath jump point at all times.
It wasn't much of a force; he didn't intend to squander it by picketing the jump points. He wanted his warships within support range of each other at all times.
“Put the couriers further back. Then look into getting supplies from the planet. The least they can do is top us off and feed us with fresh food while we're here covering them,” the admiral stated.
“Aye aye, sir.”
He had two plans in mind. The first was to fall back to Horath should the enemy come in with more force than his flotilla. Given that he had nothing bigger than a battle cruiser, it wouldn't take much.
Barring that he fully intended to send a signal to tell the couriers to scoot if he was cut off and then run into Sigma. There was no way he was going to try to fight and most likely die for nothing.
Of the two options, he preferred the second one. At least that one he had a chance of surviving. If he fell back, he'd been privately warned that he wouldn't survive the wrath of the emperor.
Chapter 39
Horath
"Ma'am, we've confirmed that the images of the prisoners, though tainted by a layer of embedded viruses, are real."
"Say that again?" the countess asked, turning to the commander. They were in Conference Room D gathering bits of intelligence the emperor might use in his upcoming state of the Empire address. Not that she expected it to be a rousing success.
"I thought you'd like to know. The royal family too I mean," the commander said, coughing into his fist when she leveled a look on him. "I'm not trying to curry favor or anything, ma'am, just doing my job," he said, pushing a memory chip over to her.
"I see," she said, taking the chip and sliding it across the desk to sit in front of her on her blotter. "I'll let the emperor know. But don't release this information prematurely. We don't know how it will effect morale, and I'd like the families to know first rather than hear it from the media."
"Yes, ma’am," the commander said, bobbing a nod.
She turned to the others. "Now, what other good news can we pass on for, His Majesty?" she asked mildly as her fingers curled around the chip.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Catherine checked on the time and then on Elvira. She knew the game her lover was playing; Elvira hated public events and was trying to get out of it.
What she didn't know was that Catherine was banking on the last-minute foot dragging. It was giving them a bit of an excuse to run late, and the storm raging off the coast would keep them from landing at the capital as they'd originally planned. If she timed it right, they'd be forced to land
elsewhere and then be brought in by air car. No doubt palace security was currently scrambling to cover that contingency.
"Sorry, sorry," Elvira said as she rushed out of her office. "I'll get changed and …," she paused when she saw Catherine and one of her aides holding a bagged uniform. "Oh!"
"Got you covered. We do need to get going though," Catherine said mildly.
"Um, okay, let me just pee first," Elvira said, rushing off to the loo.
Catherine rolled her eyes to her aide and security. "No hurry. Nerves," she mouthed. The aide smiled indulgently. "No pressure," she said in a louder voice. "It's not like we have to be anywhere important," she drawled.
"I heard that!" Elvira retorted. "You know how hard it is to pee with you pressuring me?" she demanded from behind the closed door.
Catherine just shook her head and rolled her eyes to her audience.
-~~~///^\~~~-
The House of Lords had never been so empty, Roland Markov, the new prime minister, noted grimly. Over a thousand pirate lords had left the star system. Even some of their proxy holders had fled.
Just about every family had sent some away or had departed leaving a cadet branch member to hold their proxy vote. Only the die-hards remained. He watched as the robots and janitors cleaned the place before the union address later that evening. The chamber was echoingly empty.
The cabinet had been hit too. Most likely the ministers of energy, education, and the Vizir of industry were in enemy hands. There was no report of them making it to Finagle or beyond. That was a shame; he could really use Baron Deweter's hand with industry at the moment.
He waved a hand to indicate the seats. "Okay, this won't do," he said when they had finished marking the seats that would be empty. "Get me some people. Get me, I don't care, staffers, janitors, whoever can look like some of the lords and put them in the empty seats. Make sure they've got a clean suit or dress." the prime minister ordered. "I want this place packed with supporters for the emperor and the cameras."
His staff nodded and got to work making calls.
-~~~///^\~~~-
The emperor was polite and somewhat cordial to his supporters as he made his way down the rows to the front podium. The herald had called him at the door, announcing his presence. He shook hands and murmured polite thanks to the supporters along the path. He even exchanged a couple of salutes in passing to those in uniform.
His wife and youngest children were with him of course. Kevin looked particularly splendid in his cadet uniform. He made a mental note to have the lad bucked to ensign though. His middle son Joseph was not there; he had been selected to sit it out on the ship he was currently deployed on.
He privately seethed at the lack of his eldest daughter's presence. Her shuttle had been delayed due to weather. She had been diverted to another strip and then had been forced to come in a roundabout route to avoid the storms raging over the spaceport.
He made a show of giving his mother a hug and peck and then seating her next to Lord Su, the First Lord of Law. He took Irazebeth's hand gently, kissed it to make her smile on que, then gently saw to her seating next. There was a ripple of pleasure over that sight, but not as much as he'd hoped.
Once the room was called to order, he waited as the prime minister made his address formally announcing him and then he took the podium.
He kept on topic as he surveyed the assembly. It was easy to hit each department and lay out the basic goals for them. Many he could do in his sleep; they hadn't changed since the previous year.
He could easily pick out the missing faces just from seeing the unknown people sitting in their place. Someone had tried to fill in the blanks, but they hadn't quite achieved the proper result. He made a mental note to ream someone's ass for that. They'd obviously left it to the last minute, a couple of the stand-ins looked like they were in ill-fitting outfits, most likely borrowed.
He tried for a rousing speech but fell flat when he mostly ignored the elephant outside the star system's door. Some applauded but many were mostly silent or only rose to gently clap when their neighbors did.
His anger grew but he kept it contained, even trying to use the passion to fire them up as he went to his finale. "There will be no further retreat. Our gallant fighters will fight and if necessary die to protect our home star system from the invaders. And they will be victorious!" He expected a cheer, but none came. "No one can beat us! Not now, not ever! We are the chosen ones, rising up from the ashes of the Xeno war and we shall be victorious!" he said, raising a fist over his head.
The applause was a bit late but it came. He nodded once and then turned from the podium to the prime minister. Roland tried to look like he was comfortable, but he clearly wasn't. Still they shook hands and murmured good speech in each other's ear for the benefit of the cameras.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Once he was alone with his wife and mother in one of the conference rooms, Piotr let loose a stream of invective.
"My, such spit," his mother said in a mock admiring tone of voice. He turned a glower on her. "I'm glad you saved up that fire for now and vented it here rather in front of the lords and the entire planet! You wouldn't have had much support left. You might not have made it out of the chamber alive," she said with a shake of her head.
Irazebeth frowned, glancing at her mother-in-law.
Jezebel merely smiled, resting her hands together on one knee. "But, it's over now," she said with a shrug, "for another year. Hopefully, it will get better from here on out."
"Hopefully," Irazebeth echoed though deep down her gut twisted at that line. The lack of certainty bothered her deeply.
Piotr growled and then waved a hand as he poured himself a drink. "Well, there is always a Fed POW camp. I understand Mason is enjoying that," he said sarcastically as Catherine slipped into the room.
He turned a glower on her. "I could have used you here!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"I was delayed as you know, Father. Shuttles are fickle things; you know how they can get delayed," she said with a bit of irony in her tone. She went over to the bar and poured herself a drink. She paused and turned to the other ladies and indicated the bottle.
"I'm fine," Irazebeth murmured, waving a hand. Her grandmother made a slight shake of her head.
"What was this about Mason being alive?" Catherine said as she added ice.
Her father had been about to take a sip. He paused to look at her over the glass, then lowered it. "I received confirmation from Sabine's office the day before. I didn't mention it in the speech because no one needs to know."
Catherine nodded. Mason being alive might put him back in play long term though she doubted it. There was no way the Feds would trade him. Besides, the empire had nothing of value to trade him for. They could of course put him in charge of some puppet government … if they won.
"When did you first know?" she asked.
"Does it matter?" he demanded.
"I didn't know," Jezebel said quietly. "I'll have to have a chat with my people over that oversight," she said firmly.
"Again, does it matter?" her son demanded. He turned and threw the glass against a wall. It shattered, spraying its contents all over the wall and making the ladies flinch at the show of violence and bad temper.
Catherine, however, heard some soft hissing and stopped herself. She frowned and then blinked when she saw slight whiffs of smoke coming from the wall hanging. She could smell something acrid and wrinkled her nose.
A hard hand knocked the bottle out of her hand. She turned in surprise to the bodyguard who had just appeared out of nowhere. The black apparition pushed the bucket of ice and glass to the side and then touched his ear. The doors were flung open and more guards came in.
"What is this? What's going on?" the emperor roared.
Silently Catherine pointed to the wall hanging, which was now in tattered pieces. He turned and then stopped and stared at it.
"Poison," Irazebeth hissed, clearly shocked. "Acid?"
"Quite possibly," Jezebel said dispassionately as they were hustled out.
"I want the people responsible for this room. I want their heads; do you hear me?!?" The emperor demanded. "And whoever supplied that drink!"
Catherine just shook her head as they were split up. Quite an evening she thought in annoyance.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Elvira's eyes were wide as she was ushered to Catherine's side. “What's going on? What happened? Security just got tight!” She had traveled with Catherine but she'd been separated so Catherine could bear the brunt of her father's wrath alone.
Catherine nodded. Her lips pursed in a thin angry line. “Someone just tried to kill us.”
Elvira gasped. “An assassin?”
“Poison. Most likely acid in the drink my father and I were about to have.” Catherine shook her head at Elvira's expression of horror. “Oh, I'm fine. Father threw his glass against the wall, and it shattered spraying the acid all over the wall hanging. That's how we found out. Another second and he and I would have both been in a miserable state or death.” She shuddered. “I've seen someone die from acid. It's not a pleasant way to go.”
Elvira shivered.
-~~~///^\~~~-
The emperor sat in his chair seething as Saddam Ghadaffi and Countess Newberry laid out what they'd found out about the latest attempt on his life. “The bottle had no prints other than the housekeeping staff. The recording of the room confirms she just picked the bottle up to dust under it,” Saddam stated, showing them a clip. “The acid was actually a binary acid, one part mixed in the ice, the other in the glasses. None of the glasses had any prints.”
“Obviously someone was careful.”
“We have found three other contaminated glasses. Two lords were killed by acid poisoning,” Saddam stated.
“So, what, you are telling me this wasn't a direct attack but a random one?” the emperor demanded.
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?” the emperor demanded, fingers beginning to curl as his anger rose.
