by B. V. Larson
“Aye aye, sir.”
Engels spoke up. “Captain Zholin, use random evasion and keep your nose reinforcement up in case of mines or long-range fire from those Ruxin fortresses. They’ll know we’re coming soon enough, and we don’t yet know whether we’ll have to face their capital fleet, or whether they’ve been tricked into leaving.”
“Aye aye, ma’am… though to be frank, I am captain in name only. Indy has proven reasonable up until now about everything but combat, but…”
“Maybe I ought to address that.” Engels smoothed her jacket. “Indy, can you see and hear me?”
“Of course, Commodore Engels.”
“I haven’t been given that title.”
“Is that not the mode of address toward one who commands multiple ships, but is not an admiral?”
Engels gave a half-shrug. “It could be, but it might conflict with Commodore Straker’s prerogatives.”
“Clearly, Straker should be promoted to admiral, given the size of the fleet. After all, I alone am worth twenty dreadnoughts or more.”
Straker knew an opening when he heard one. “So you’re under my command?”
“Self-evidently. Your forces captured my body and energized my mind to consciousness. You are, in effect, my creator. I owe you my existence.”
“All right… I hereby promote myself to the rank of admiral. Commander Engels is now Commodore Engels. Indy, since you’re under my command, you take my orders, right?”
“All orders that do not irresolvably conflict with my conscience.”
“Fair enough. I designate you as an acting ensign. Therefore, you’ll also take orders from the officers I’ve appointed over you. Agreed?”
“Of course, Admiral Straker.”
“Good. Zholin, you’re now really the captain of that ship. Let Engels or me know if you have any problems with our new ensign.”
“Admiral,” Indy broke in, “I—”
Straker snapped, “Indy, ensigns don’t interrupt conversations between senior officers without permission. At least, for anything less than an emergency. Is this an emergency?”
“No, sir.”
“Then wait to speak, and run your opinions through your captain. Understood?”
Indy did not reply.
“Indy?”
Silence.
Zholin said, “We’ll handle it, sir. Indomitable out.” The screen blanked.
“I think she’s sulking,” Engels said with a certain show of alarm. “She’s very young, Derek, and untrained. You may’ve been too harsh.”
“She needs to toughen up.”
Engels leaned in and lowered her voice. “I remember one young cadet at Academy who was very happy to have a boss who treated him decently.”
Straker half-nodded in acknowledgement. “Fair enough. But that can’t be me. The big boss has to be aloof.”
“The big boss is also the good guy. The XO is the hammer, and that’s me. Zholin or Zaxby can be the one she turns to. Probably Zaxby. He knows a lot about humans, but still understands how it is to be an outsider.”
“Pass that on to him, then.”
“Duh.” She smiled.
“Okay, okay. You got it covered, Cadet First Engels.”
“We’ve come a long way.”
“Yep.” Straker went over to circle the holo-table. “I see everyone here but Loco with Task Force Hilmar.”
“They might be here, just far enough away their light hasn’t reached us.”
“Or he might be sulking too. Gone rogue. Do you think I was too hard on him?”
Engels spread her palms. “I wasn’t there for your spat. Tachina’s influence is a wildcard, though. Fortunately, he’s not the centerpiece of this campaign. You and the battleship are.” She regarded him for a moment.
“What?”
“I’m wondering why you haven’t ordered your flag moved to Indomitable.”
“I was going to.” Straker turned away, wondering that himself. He didn’t have a quick answer, so he took the time to think about it while pacing around the table. “I guess I decided not to when I found out what Indy was. I don’t want to put the fate of the whole Liberation in the hands of some AI that might go nuts.”
“Fair enough. But she’s by far the most survivable ship we have, and Indy’s shown no sign of malice. Just the opposite, in fact.”
“I hate not being able to fully control the forces under me.”
Engels pointed a finger-gun at him and cocked her thumb. “Bingo. You thought Indomitable would be a simple machine expansion of your power, but now she has a personality. Frankly, you don’t like personalities.”
“Me? Not like personalities? I like you and Loco. And Zaxby. Don’t I?”
She stood up, stretched, and joined him at the table in order to limit eavesdroppers. “No. You love me as a lover and Loco like a brother, but you don’t like me from time to time, and Loco even less. If you had your way, you’d turn him into a smaller version of yourself. And Zaxby you’ve never liked. You eventually figured out you respect him, somewhere after the fifth or sixth time he saved our asses.” Engels smirked sadly. “That’s not like. Now, you find out Indy pushes back, and you don’t much like it. She’s stolen your toy out from under you. I bet you’re secretly hoping she takes the deal and moves her brains into something else. Then you can discard her from your plans and use Indomitable how you like, as a battering ram to get what you want.”
Straker felt anger rising along with his voice. “Is that bad? To liberate people? I’m sorry I have to break a few eggs along the way, but Indy is a fluke of alien technology. There’s no reason she has to be part of the battleship itself. It makes no sense to let a pacifist run a warship. It’s like putting a vegetarian in charge of a cattle drive. Even if there were a reason, I’d expect her to make the sacrifice. The convenience of one being—not even her life, mind you—versus the freedom of trillions? You bet. You’re gods-damned right. She has to get with the program, or get out of the way.”
Engels gave him a helpless look. “I can’t argue with your reasoning. All I have is my gut that tells me it’s wrong to bully a young being into doing something that may scar her for life.”
“That’s exactly why she needs to transfer her brains.” Straker hardened his voice to give orders. “Choose a ship. Something mid-sized, big enough to keep her safe, but something we can afford to lose. A destroyer, maybe. We’ll make the transfer as soon as we can, because we’ll need Indomitable’s weapons to smash those fortresses around Ruxin.” He looked straight at Kraxor, who was attentively watching the interplay. “If we don’t, you won’t be liberating your homeworld any time soon. Right?”
Kraxor nodded solemnly. “I agree with Admiral Straker. If Indy will not attack, the defenders are unlikely to surrender.”
“No doubt a lot of your people are manning those fortresses.”
“Manning? No. Crewing, for certain. But as in the rest of the Mutuality, the majority of those aboard the fortresses will be from other systems, so that they will feel less compunction at turning their weapons on the planet below. And those Ruxins aboard will be the most invested in their own oppression. I feel little remorse at the prospect of sacrificing them, and some innocents. It must be done.”
Straker pointed his bladed hand at Kraxor. “There you go. A man after my own heart.”
“I am—”
“Yeah, yeah, not a man. Not all men are human.” Straker turned back to Engels. “Find and prep a destroyer. Then get everyone following Indomitable toward Ruxin. We’ve waited long enough. Carry on, Commodore.” Straker turned his back on her, feeling as if his fate hung in the balance.
The comtech spoke. “Commodore—Admiral Straker, I mean—I have an incoming message for you personally.”
“From?”
“It’s on an Unmutual encoded channel. He identifies himself as General DeChang.”
Chapter 30
Ruxin System, Battlecruiser Wolverine, Edge of Flatspace
; Straker raised his eyebrows at the news that General DeChang wanted to speak with him. He turned to examine the holo-table at the center of Wolverine’s bridge and noticed the forty or so ships of the Unmutuals had arrived near the Liberation task forces. Near enough, anyway, but out of easy weapons range.
Indomitable was cruising inward toward the planet Ruxin, so she was a non-issue—and five battlecruisers plus sixty-some smaller ships were more than enough to face down the Unmutual fleet. In fact, Straker had a crushing advantage, not so much in numbers as in tonnage of big ships. DeChang had nothing larger than a destroyer.
“Admiral?” the comtech prompted.
“Tell him Admiral Straker will comlink soon.” Making the man wait a little while informing him Straker considered himself an equal in rank was to his advantage. Besides, there were a couple of thoughts he needed to finish.
So DeChang had gotten wind of this rendezvous. Not surprising, considering the vast number of personnel that knew, spread over almost two hundred ships and many worlds. Any spies or informants within the Liberation could easily send messages to drones. If an entire small ship—say a courier or a freighter—were crewed or captained by Unmutuals or Mutualists, it could have simply left the fleet. Nothing was holding the movement together except the Liberator’s reputation and the common interest of the people who joined him.
The question was, why was he now joining them? Most likely throwing in his lot with a winner. So how should Straker handle this “help,” help he probably didn’t need? Could he afford to turn away anyone who wanted to join the Liberation? As long as DeChang had purged his organization of the rot Ramirez represented, he couldn’t afford to be picky—or alienate a trained military group. They might decide to rebel against Straker just like they rebelled against the Mutuality.
What was it he’d read once? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Okay, so he’d welcome DeChang—just as long as Ramirez wasn’t part of the deal. Carla would be happy to see Ellen Gray again, too.
“Open the comlink,” Straker said, moving to the flag chair.
“Comlink open to the Unmutual destroyer Brisbane.”
DeChang, looking suave and urbane as ever, appeared on the screen standing next to Captain Gray, who sat in the captain’s chair of the Brisbane’s bridge. “Hello again, Admiral Straker. You’ve done well for the cause of liberation. I am truly impressed. Trillions of humans will thank you.”
Nice touch, Straker thought. By putting someone the Breakers knew and worked with alongside him, DeChang was sending a message of reconciliation. So, Straker might as well be magnanimous.
“Thanks, General. I took some gambles and they paid off. Before we have a group hug here, though, tell me what you know of Ramirez.”
DeChang grimaced, and Captain Gray’s face turned to stone. “She found her way back to us. We court-martialed her and sentenced her to exile. She’s gone.”
“I’d have given her death.”
DeChang took a deep breath. “What’s past is past.”
“Not entirely. What about Cynthia Lamancha?”
“Who?”
“Karst’s girlfriend. Ramirez kidnapped her as a hostage.”
“Karst. Karst…” DeChang glanced at Gray. “One of ours?”
Gray tapped at the screen on her chair. “Yes. One of Ramirez’s, really. Young troop. We thought we’d lost him. You want his record?”
“That’s all right. Admiral Straker, we’ll check among my people. For now, we’d like to join you in liberating Ruxin, and in coordinating our fleet with yours.”
“You’ll place yourself under my command?”
DeChang hesitated. “I’ll acknowledge your supremacy and guidance, but my people must stay together.”
Straker lifted his eyebrows. “That’s fine, but if anyone wishes to leave, they can. That’s part of the Liberation. People have the freedom to go.”
DeChang smiled. “So people can also join us if they so choose?”
“I suppose.” Straker felt as if he’d just been outmaneuvered, but couldn’t put his finger on how. “But don’t let me hear that you’re actively recruiting from among my people. I don’t want factionalism to set in, and you’re another faction.”
“But we can recruit from the liberated star systems?”
“Sure, as long as you’re liberating people. I’m sure Captain Gray would never go along with anything shady.” Straker tried to spear Gray with his eyes from across the vidlink.
Gray stiffened, while DeChang spoke. “Admiral, you have far more force than we do. We have no interest in betraying you—and we were working against the Mutuality long before you took up the cause. I give you my word that we’ll deal in good faith with you and help the Liberation wherever we can, as a part of it, not as a separate faction. In return, we simply want your blessing to operate freely and peacefully within liberated territory. When the time comes, we’ll want to establish ourselves as a sovereign entity, just like Ruxin or Sachsen or any other liberated system. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“Perfectly fair. But as far as I’m concerned, Ramirez will always be a stain on the Unmutuals, and as long as she’s out there somewhere, she’s a loose snake that I’d rather you’d decapitated. She tried to murder me, my woman and my friends and cover up her crimes. So if you really want my good will, you’ll send me her head in a coldbox.”
DeChang held up a hand to keep Gray from speaking. “If we ever have her in our power again, Admiral, we’ll turn her over to you for your justice. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough. Get your fleet moving and follow us in to Ruxin. We’ll consider you a separate task force and you can fight together if there’s any to be done—but I’m hoping Indomitable will cow them into surrendering. Or perhaps we’ll have to smash all the fortresses, though I’d much rather preserve them for defense.”
“We’re on our way.”
***
Admiral Wen Benota, People’s Mutual Navy, pointedly ignored Commissar Proon. The thin man’s name was apt, with his pinched face and beady eyes.
Benota, on the other hand, was large and fat, happy to sit in the padded flag chair of the PMN superdreadnought Beijing, the flagship of his fleet here at Ruxin. Mutualist regulations required full gravity except during combat operations, but they didn’t require him to stand. Proon, however, thought sitting denoted laziness, and so the skeletal man stood or paced for long hours at a time.
No matter. Benota was a hero of the Mutualist Union, commander of the Home Fleet, a man with many friends among the Party. He had leeway to do as he wished, as long as he got the job done.
This “Liberator” had the Committee spooked, though. They’d made a hasty truce with the Hundred Worlds, the “Huns” as they were often called, hopefully before their longtime enemy knew of the Mutuality’s troubles on the outer provinces. The Huns were only too happy for the breathing room, as they were still recovering from their brutal defeat at Corinth and the subsequent loss of border systems they couldn’t defend.
Benota had counseled against giving the Huns that breathing room. In fact, he’d argued for using the Home Fleet, the very fleet he commanded here, to further smash the Huns, to make real headway toward their Central Worlds, maybe even finish the conflict once and for all.
But, no. The Committee was made up of frightened old men and women, more concerned with their luxuries and their concubines than with ultimate victory, unwilling to roll the dice to win. Thus, they squandered an opportunity that might never come again in favor of taking back a few dozen fringe systems that together hardly added up to one Committee World in output.
The theft of Indomitable had changed all that, of course. It had panicked the Committee and had forced him to grudgingly admit the Home Fleet had to be used to end the threat. Even as clunky and unreliable as the battleship was, it represented a siege weapon that could take any world, any system, if it could be made operational. It had to be stopped.
Now, he looked at his holo-table with the t
actical problem in the Ruxin system displayed above it. The enemy had run, and decoded communications indicated they were heading straight for the central shipyards at Kraznyvol. Yet, those communications had been easy to decode. Perhaps too easy.
“What is it we’re waiting for?” Proon’s words formed shrieks. “We must hurry to Kraznyvol. We cannot lose the shipyards!”
“Calm yourself, Commissar,” rumbled Benota. “We must be sure they have truly departed. Perhaps they merely jumped across the system. That is why we have altered course to gain angle on the ecliptic while still remaining at the edge of the curved-space bubble. This also allows us to get closer to Ruxin and its star.”
“Why not transit across ourselves? We will then find out sooner, and if they are there, we may engage and destroy them! If not, we chase them to Kraznyvol.”
Benota sighed. Proon had been a thorn in his side for years, but at least this thorn was familiar. He liked to complain and push, but eventually would yield to Benota’s implacable will. It was tempting to slap him down hard, but doing so would not serve in the long run. The man was not his enemy, and Benota would not make him into one.
So, he answered patiently. “Doing that would burn a great deal of fuel. Our reserves are not high, for we have traveled far, straight from the Committee Systems to get here. Should we do as you suggest, we could not subsequently make Kraznyvol in one jump. We would lose time, not gain it, while we visit a refueling station, or use a gas giant to skim off fusion isotopes.”
“Then jump a scout to their predicted position, to find out.”
“I’ve already sent two low-observable scouts to positions at the edge of the enemy’s detection range. As soon as the light from that area reaches the scouts, they will know whether the rebels have attempted to trick us, and bring word. It will not be long.”
“Why not jump the scouts in close and get the information sooner?”
“Because, dear Proon, except for Indomitable, their fleet is faster than my dreadnoughts. If they think we have been fooled into leaving, they will commit to liberating Ruxin, and we will be able to jump once, behind them, and pin them in curved space. If, however, they see us before they leave flatspace, they can truly jump for Kraznyvol, or for anywhere. This fleet is too big a cat, and they are too small a mouse, to play that game.”
