“So you burned up the surface?”
“Not a decision that was taken lightly, I can assure you.”
Caden looked around at the holograms which ringed the conference room. The younger invigilators looked as disturbed by this story as he was; presumably they too had been kept in the dark.
“And Aldava?”
“Aldava seemed to be the same thing all over again. We first became aware of signs of an outbreak there shortly after you left for Herros. When we received the detailed reports of Amarist Naeb’s condition a few days later, we were concerned it appeared to be the same epidemic as before.”
“That’s why we were quarantined at Kosling, after visiting Gemen Station. You thought we might be infected with something.”
“That was a precautionary order, it was not targeted specifically at you. It applied to anyone visiting locations on a very short list. At that point we weren’t certain about anything, we just had suspicions. We were not convinced until after Naeb was examined.”
“But you already suspected that the events were connected.”
“Yes, and what was most terrifying was that Aldava had its own gate: people fleeing the planet could have carried the infection far and wide across the Empire. We had hoped that we could again contain matters using the same method, but with hindsight… that would appear not to be the case.”
“Perhaps because Aldava was not the source,” Caden said. His hands were trembling now. “You let me go to Aldava without so much as a warning. True, it now appears that the infection isn’t transmitted from person to person, but that just means you levelled one of our own planets for no reason.”
“At the time, we did not know much of what was happening in the wider context,” said Creid.
“Oh, yes: the wider context. Tell me, Invigilator Creid, are there any other planets you’d like to admit to glassing?”
“No,” said Creid. “Just those two.”
“Right, ‘just those two’. That’s okay then.”
“Shard Caden, please,” said Bel-Askis. “We all understand the enormity of what we have done. But the entire purpose of Eyes and Ears is to protect the Empire. Your own organisation is devoted to the same end. You must understand why we felt those sacrifices were necessary.”
“Killing other people is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is when you kill part or all of yourself.”
“From the point of view of the Imperial Combine as a society, that’s what happened,” said Creid.
“Seriously?” Caden glared at him. “You’re going to argue semantics, over millions of bodies?”
Creid looked as though he was about to continue, but reconsidered.
“When this is all over, there will be an accounting,” said Caden. “You can be sure of it.”
“I had rather hoped we could rely on your discretion,” said Bel-Askis, “given that the Empire is already experiencing widespread civil unrest.”
Caden bunched his fists under the desk.
“I don’t really see how you think the necessary counter-strategies can be explained away without reference to past failures and successes.”
“I don’t understand,” said Bel-Askis.
“Your intervention at Woe Tan— at Parable Light. That outbreak was likely the start of what is happening now, if you are correct that the epidemics are identical. Your actions there only stalled its progress. At Aldava, your tactics failed. Both of those incidents will doubtless inform decisions we make in the future. If I am involved in making those decisions, or carrying them out, I am at some point going to have to explain how I know what I know.”
“Welcome to our eternal dilemma, Shard Caden,” said Bel-Askis. “May I suggest that full disclosure of the facts should wait until — as you say — ‘this is all over’. Our priority now is to safeguard Imperial interests.”
“And Imperial lives, Invigilator. Lives.”
“Quite so.”
Caden’s stomach tightened into a knot as a terrible thought occurred to him.
“Will you glass Meccrace Prime?”
“No.” Bel-Askis shook his head. “For a number of reasons.”
Caden gave a sigh of relief, but the rational part of his brain cautioned that any small change in circumstances could mean that — in a heartbeat — the decision might be reversed.
“Which are what exactly?”
“Firstly, Fleet couldn’t get a battle group near the planet if they tried. The enemy left many sentries behind, and Command is reluctant to launch a counter-offensive at this time.”
“So you would if you could?”
“We don’t plan on it. Meccrace Prime is strategically important, and it has abundant natural resources, a huge population, and significant investment value. Additionally, whatever damage might be caused by not containing the planet, it is likely that we are too late to reverse it anyway. The eventual aim is to take back the system, not destroy its worlds.”
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
“Are you asking for the people still on the planet, Shard Caden? Or for yourself?”
Again, Caden glared at Creid.
“It is true that I lost a friend and colleague on Meccrace Prime, Invigilator,” he said. “And it is also true that I have been denied the means to return and discover his fate. But don’t think for a moment that he is my only concern there.”
“It might interest you to know, Shard Caden, that the Home Council has ordered a number of operations with a view to learning more about our enemy.” Bel-Askis smiled gently as he spoke.
“Operation Keystone, yes,” said Caden. “I had heard. In fact I will be a part of it. But I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“Not just Keystone,” said Bel-Askis. “Whispers have reached us of a joint Shard-MAGA initiative which is to target Meccrace Prime.”
“I’d very much like to be a part of that.”
“I’m sure you would,” Bel-Askis said. “But I suspect that your involvement in Keystone is intended to keep you away from the Meccrace System.”
“Why?”
“My guess is that it’s feared you might be too personally invested in… objectives other than the mission.”
Caden sputtered incoherently.
“That’s military thinking for you,” said Bel-Askis. “But I’m sure the mission on Meccrace will include an imperative to search for certain high profile missing persons. You must have faith in our MAGA friends.”
“I suppose I will have to,” Caden said. His vision burned with the indignation of it all, and his mind cleared away the resentment with difficulty.
“In any case, Keystone must succeed. Hence the name. I am given to understand that your experiences with the enemy are the very reason why you are the nominated Shard.”
“It makes sense.” Caden shrugged resignedly. “If there is any Shard more qualified, I don’t know of them. Although I would no longer be surprised to find that that too had been kept from me.”
Bel-Askis appeared to suppress a sympathetic smirk.
“Speaking of which, I left Meccrace Prime with Doctor Bel-Ures. You spirited her away the moment we reached Herses, before I could learn anything of value. Why was that?”
“Truth be told, we thought she might be a Sleeper,” said Creid. “She was posted to Gemen Station.”
“After Meccrace fell, we suspected that Branathes might have been trying to extract her. We had no knowledge of Voice at that point, as you know.” Bel-Askis said.
“Now you have shared the sordid past with me, will I be allowed to speak with her again?”
Bel-Askis and Creid glanced at each other.
“For what purpose? She won’t tell you anything different to what we have discussed here.”
“Because, Invigilator Creid, I’d like to hear more from her about Site Bravo. Which you seem to want to keep quiet for now.”
“Oh dear,” said Bel-Askis. “She told you about that?”
“It was a slip of the tongue on her part,” Caden said
. “She stopped when she realised I had no idea what she was talking about.”
It was a small lie, but one that might earn him credit with the doctor should he ever have the chance to speak with her again.
“I don’t see that telling him can do much harm at this point,” said Creid.
“Simply put, Site Bravo is the sister facility of Gemen Station,” said Bel-Askis. “It was not felt prudent to develop warheads and their payloads at the same location.”
“Why make them in the first place?”
“When Parable Light was infected, the Empire’s first suspicion was that the Viskr Junta was responsible. Oh it was long before the war, that’s true, but we already knew we were transgressing in their territory. Everyone expected consequences to arise at some point, so that was where the blame fell most naturally.”
“So the Empire imagined a way they might have done it, the weapons they would have needed, and built their own version?”
“Eventually. By the time the war actually happened, there had been a sea change within the Home Council and nobody had the will to order such weapons deployed. Their development was delayed over and over, and has of course gone through several design iterations in the intervening time. The missiles would have made little difference to the Perseus conflict anyway, since their intended payload proved difficult to perfect until very recently.”
“And what was the intended payload?”
“Viral. It was to target the Viskr genetically. Viskr, and only Viskr.”
“Right. And that is what is cached at Site Bravo?”
“Amongst other things, yes.”
“So… when did anyone last speak to Site Bravo?”
Bel-Askis and Creid’s faces both froze.
“You know, during this crisis in which ships, facilities, and colonies are going dark? Do they check in on a schedule? Are they defended? Has anybody contacted them?”
“I don’t…” Bel-Askis began, his voice faltering.
“It will be done,” said Leksis. “Immediately.”
Caden watched the invigilator tapping at her holo, and wondered what it must be like to have senior colleagues who managed to overlook such matters.
“I wouldn’t expect a response,” he said. “They’re probably all lost to us by now.”
“Time will tell,” Creid replied.
“The Rasas stole the warheads,” said Caden. “You think they won’t go after the payloads too?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Shard Caden. It is a distinct possibility. But it is by no means a certainty: those warheads can carry different payloads, with almost no modification.”
Caden considered the view. Logically, the invigilator was correct. And with all the strange reports, wild rumours, and painfully long silences emanating from the farther colonies, the one thing that did seem certain was that the enemy’s objectives were anything but predictable.
“Here’s a question for you,” he said. “Since the infection must have been already spreading on Aldava when the warheads were stolen on Herros, how do you think it began there?”
Bel-Askis answered. “We don’t know. But we do know it started slowly, before accelerating with phenomenal speed.”
“It would have to be transmitted through a medium that would guarantee universal exposure,” said Geneve.
“It’s not airborne,” said Caden. “I was there with an entire squad of MAGA troops, and nobody was infected.”
“Then how?”
He thought for a moment. “Barrabas Fled lies in an arid area; water is the only thing everyone living there would source from the same place. And the only citizen I can say with certainty was not affected had his own separate supply. Gemen Station would have had a contained source — easy to contaminate.”
“I’ll send out the order,” said Bel-Askis. “Water supplies are to be sampled on any world where an operation is already being conducted.”
“If we can isolate the source now, we might have a chance when the warheads start flying. Assuming, of course, that Invigilator Creid’s proposition was correct.”
“The more I hear, the more inclined I am to agree with his prediction,” said Bel-Askis.
Caden continued. “And we need an antibody test. As soon as it is practical to do so, Fleet, MAGA, and Eyes and Ears personnel should be screened in a controlled fashion. We already know there is probably widespread infiltration; we now have a chance to weed out the Sleepers amongst us. Anyone with those antibodies in their blood goes straight under a scanner.”
“I’ll have a team aboard the Vavilov start work on that at once,” said Creid. “It should be a fairly simple matter to devise a blood test.”
“If there is nothing else you want to confess to me, or share, I’m afraid I now need to leave. Keystone awaits.”
“By all means,” said Bel-Askis.
Caden swept his gaze around the room, at the holographic representations of the men and women whose wits and wiles were supposed to protect humanity.
“I’m going to be transferring to the Disputer shortly, but if anything of significance arises I expect to be informed.”
“Of course.”
“It’s a time for cooperation, Invigilators. Don’t make me come back and insist.”
Still simmering, Caden rose from his seat and stepped away from the desk. He paused, turned back towards the holograms.
“There is one thing I think you all might want to consider after I have left.”
“What is that, Shard Caden?” Bel-Askis asked him.
“Chances are, at least one of you is a Rasa.”
— 04 —
Operation Keystone
“Well?”
“Diagnostics are complete, Captain. All drive systems are operating normally. We can get ready to leave just as soon as you like.”
“Excellent.”
Helia Thande shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. The tug of gravity felt wrong, even with Disputer handing over that function to Fort Herses. The fields emitted by the station’s generators were steadier, true, but the fact was that beyond the docking ring they were not quite perpendicular. Her hips and spine could tell.
“Start making preparations to get underway,” she said. “I want to be en route to Maidre Shalleon as soon as possible, and I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”
The deck officer nodded and walked away.
“Ma’am?”
“Commander.”
“The manifest, Captain. You asked me to check it over.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Thande took the holo offered by her new XO, but did not look at it. Instead she stared at the other woman’s wary face.
“Something the matter, Commander?”
“No, Ma’am. It’s just…”
“Spit it out.”
“Begging your pardon, Ma’am, but they say you killed your last exec.”
“And I did. What of it?”
“Nothing Ma’am, it just makes me uneasy.”
For a moment Thande was taken aback. She had already assured herself of understanding from the crew who had been present on the command deck when she killed Yuellen. She had not considered that others might not be so empathetic.
“Commander Yuellen was an enemy agent,” she said. “He continued to try to sabotage the operation of this command deck even after he was exposed and imprisoned. I will expect you to speak candidly with me, Commander, as an executive officer should. I don’t want you bowing and scraping and creeping around just in case I decide to shoot you through the heart. Unless, of course, you too are an enemy agent?”
Her new commander stared back at her, apparently oblivious to the humour she had tried to offer. It was not something Thande often did, which — she thought — was possibly what threw the XO.
“Would I know if I were, Ma’am?”
“Good point.”
The XO seemed galvanised by Thande’s assent. “Those people who tried to take over the ship—”
�
��Take over the fleet,” said Thande.
“Yes, the fleet… how do we know they’re all gone? How will we find them out?”
“I’m quite confident that someone will be working on some kind of test, a way to identify them,” said Thande. She did her best to smile reassuringly at the younger woman, but found it uncomfortable. “It would perhaps be best though if we were not constantly second-guessing ourselves all the way to Maidre Shalleon.”
“Of course, Ma’am. Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry, Commander. It’s a question that needed asking, and it has also been plaguing me. But for the moment, we need to focus on the job at hand.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“And do stop calling me Ma’am, you make me sound like I’ve a hundred Solars behind me and just as many cats pawing at my skirts. You’re the XO. You call me ‘Captain’ when we’re on the bridge; when it’s just you and me…”
Her new commander half-smiled expectantly.
“…Well, we’ll see about that later.”
“As you wish. Ma— Captain.”
“Now, which one of those apes is currently in charge of Bravo Company?” Thande asked. “I’d like to at least make it look as though I’m liaising with our MAGA colleagues.”
“I believe that would be…” the XO said. She drew out the last word as she tapped on her holo. “Lieutenant Volkas. He’s been acting up since Captain Pinsetti was killed.”
“He’s still not been replaced? “
“Apparently not. It looks as though their entire battalion has been thrown into disarray since the Second Fleet got pasted. I guess MAGA aren’t in too much of a rush to redeploy them.”
“I see. Well send him to the wardroom as soon as possible; I’d like a word with him before we arrive at the rendezvous. Send the Shard too.”
“Yes, Captain. I’ll let them know at once.”
Thande left the XO to her work and walked to the wardroom. The sounds of the command deck ceased abruptly when the hatch closed behind her, and she made herself comfortable behind the desk.
She flicked on her holo, but stared straight through the information it displayed.
The drive diagnostics had shown nothing was wrong; just the same as the diagnostics she had ordered for the navigation systems. So why were the ship’s jumps getting less and less accurate?
Books One to Three Omnibus (Armada Wars) Page 66
