“Talk to me, Commander,” he told Rhine. “What am I looking at?”
“Some of those are freighters,” his tactical officer said dryly. “Give me a moment.”
More data codes attached themselves to the icons, and despite Commander Rhine’s reassuring pronouncement, a disturbing number of them were definitely warship codes.
“All right,” Rhine said. Data codes continued to appear as his team and the Duke’s computer continued to analyze the signatures around them. “So, I have the TCNI delivery here.” A gold circle flashed on the screen around a cluster of ships. “That’s eight destroyers, two cruisers, four passenger ships to bring the Nova Industries transit crews home, and a cool dozen freighters full of munitions and spare parts.
“The destroyers, here,” eight of the icons flashed orange, “are in high parking orbits and nobody is really paying attention to them. The cruisers, unfortunately, are a different story.”
The two icons flashed with bright red highlights, and more details flowed onto the screen.
“The cruisers are TCNI Phoenix-class ships,” Rhine noted. “Nine and a half million tons, sixty missiles launchers and thirty ten-gigawatt lasers. We’ve got heavier guns, armor and electronic warfare, but her defensive laser suite is on par with ours. They are nasty pieces of work.”
“And, Commander?” Kole asked.
“And those two ships are being swarmed with Míngliàng Security Flotilla personnel, heavy lift, and work shuttles,” Rhine replied. “Can’t say for sure without going over their records, but I’d say they’re less than sixteen hours from at least preliminary operational status.”
“They’re rushing,” the Mage-Captain said.
“They’re rushing hard,” Rhine confirmed. “And, well,” he highlighted a set of fourteen icons in a protective hemisphere above the cruisers, “I think I see why.”
Kole looked at the icons, each marking an active MSF Lancer-class destroyer.
“I’m missing something, Commander,” he said dryly.
“According to what the MSF gave us, they usually only keep half their ships at home,” Rhine noted. “If they’ve got fourteen here, they recalled everybody.”
“And they’re wondering where ships fifteen and sixteen are,” Kole said grimly. “If everybody’s here… they know somebody didn’t come home. Do you think they guessed what happened?”
“That’s above my pay grade,” the tactical officer said bluntly. “Either way, in less than twenty-four hours, the MSF is going to command enough firepower to make the Navy blink, let along the Patrol.”
Mage-Captain Kole Jakab considered the situation for a moment, looking at the fourteen ships already starting to maneuver towards him. No matter what they thought was going on, intercepting an unknown warship was always a good idea – good practice for the crews if nothing else – but this could go very downhill, very fast.
“Commander Rhine,” he said crisply, “take the Duke to battle stations. Lieutenant Rain,” he turned to the junior officer holding down coms, “please inform Hand Montgomery of the status of those cruisers and request that he come to the bridge as soon as possible.”
As the shaven-headed young officer grabbed her microphone and started to bring up the intercom, the lights outside the bridge began to strobe, and the warbling tones of the alarm echoed in from the corridor.
#
Damien wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when the battle stations alarm woke him up. He’d meant to be awake when they arrived in Míngliàng, but dreams of laughing madmen with buttons that killed millions had blurred with visions of floating in deep space without protection, making it difficult to sleep.
Even as the intercom chimed for his attention, he still took a moment to breathe deeply, controlling his rapidly beating heart. In reality, he’d stopped General James Montoya from detonating his bombs, and the rogue General had died for his attempt to blow up Ardennes’ cities. That didn’t stop Damien’s subconscious from blowing them up in his dreams two or three times a week.
The floating in deep space without protection was new, but it was hardly a shock.
His heartbeat finally slowed to something more tolerable, he accepted the intercom request as voice only.
“Montgomery here.”
“My lord, it’s Lieutenant Rain from the bridge,” a voice told him. “We’ve arrived in Míngliàng, but it appears that TCNI’s shipment beat us here.”
“Understood. What’s our situation?” Damien asked crisply, rummaging through his closet to assemble a new black suit.
Rain summarized the status of the Security Flotilla, the new ships, and the rapidly mobilizing cruisers while he dressed. When she finished, he clasped the leather collar holding his Mage medallion around his neck and smiled grimly down at his wrist computer and its communicator.
“I’ll be in my office in two minutes, Lieutenant,” he told her. “What’s our time delay for coms?”
“A little over six seconds, sir.”
“All right. Send a stand down order to the MSF under my authorization,” Damien ordered. “If you can locate Admiral Phan as well, I would appreciate it. I’ll have a message for her and the Governor as soon as I have a chance to look at the data myself.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he told her, smiling against his fatigue at the young woman’s nervous enthusiasm for dealing with him.
#
Stepping into his office, Damien tapped a series of half-unconscious commands on his wrist computer, connecting it to his console and the ship’s systems, and bringing up the tactical plot across his massive window wallscreen.
Lieutenant Rain’s summary had been succinct and complete. He was quickly able to identify the active warships of the MSF, the two cruisers in full mobilization mode, and the swarm of freighters from Tau Ceti Nova Industries.
The fourteen destroyers maneuvering on an intercept course for the Duke were probably the most worrying. The last time the Duke of Magnificence had run into MSF ships, they’d been forced to destroy them. To see them maneuvering so aggressively suggested huge problems.
A note from the bridge flashed onto his screen, noting that Lieutenant Rain had identified Phan’s flagship and was ready to transmit to Phan and the Governor.
Facing the almost concealed dot where a camera had been embedded in his window, Damien hit the button to start recording.
“Admiral Phan, Governor Wong,” he greeted them. “By now your ships should have already received the stand down order from my people. Let me reiterate it: stand your ships down and return them to orbit of Míngliàng. Given the events of the last few days, an aggressive approach by the Míngliàng Security Flotilla will result in my being forced to order Mage-Captain Jakab to defend his ship with all necessary force.”
Firing the message off into the ether, Damien waited, watching the plot for a change in profile on the part of the MSF ships.
It happened before they could have received his message, all fourteen ships simultaneously flipped end for end and started accelerating back towards their initial positions. Apparently he hadn’t needed to be quite so harsh, but better to over-react verbally than actually have to open fire.
Finally, a minute or so after they would have received his message, Phan’s reply arrived.
Her image appeared on the wallscreen, replacing the tactical plot with a translucent image of Admiral Phan, her space-black skin blending with the void behind her and the bridge of her flagship bustling around here.
“Lord Montgomery,” she greeted him stiffly. “I apologize for the hastiness of our reaction. Two of our destroyers are several days overdue and we are very much on edge. We were preparing for a search when we received your order to restrict our operations to three light years.” She paused.
“We still need to search for our missing ships, my lord. I’m glad you’re here – we are going to need an exception to allow a small task force to follow our patrol’s path.”
Da
mien sighed. There went any hope that the two ships that had jumped them hadn’t been Míngliàng Security Flotilla ships. It was still, he supposed, possible that they’d been attacking civilian shipping without Wong or Phan’s knowledge, but that theory ran up against the fact that the Wil Scarlet had been jumped by a full squadron of destroyers – half the MSF’s original strength.
“Admiral, Governor, I’m afraid I know what happened to your destroyers,” he said quietly into the camera. “I have answers to some of your questions, I suspect. I don’t think you’ll like them, and I have many questions for you. Questions whose answers I had better like,” he told them grimly.
“These are all matters best discussed in person, not over even the most encrypted link. The Duke of Magnificence will be in orbit in a little over two hours. I will need you both to meet me aboard as soon as we make orbit.”
He paused the recording, considering for a long moment if he should include more information, or make the order clearer, then sighed. Both Phan and Wong were intelligent people or they wouldn’t hold the roles they did. They’d understand.
He hit send and went looking for coffee. It was going to be a long day.
#
The Admiral’s and Governor’s shuttles arrived within a minute of each other. Damien stood at the side of the Duke’s shuttle bay with an honor guard of dress uniformed Marines as the two spacecraft settled carefully down in the spaces cleared for them.
Invisible from inside the bay were the two Secret Service snipers Amiri had hidden in a control booth and the squad of Marines in exosuit battle armor waiting down one of the access corridors. Damien hadn’t even bothered to object when his bodyguard and Mage-Captain Jakab had informed him of the security measures – after all, the only attack on the Duke had been launched by Míngliàng ships.
Governor Wong exited his shuttle first, accompanied by his husband and two dark-suited bodyguards. Admiral Phan was only moments behind, accompanied by Commodore Metharom and two men who wore junior insignia on their black and blue MSF uniforms but radiated bodyguard.
The two Míngliàng parties combined and crossed to where Damien was waiting, Governor Wong Lee taking a slight lead and offering his hand to the Hand.
“Lord Montgomery,” he said crisply. “It is good to see you.”
Damien shook his hand, then Admiral Phan’s in turn. He nodded to Wong Ken and Metharom genteelly before returning this attention to the Governor.
“Your Excellency,” he returned the greeting. “I’m not so sure you’re going to be so glad to see me once we’ve spoken. If you and Admiral Phan can join me in my office, Mage-Captain Jakab will see to the Minister and the Commodore’s needs.”
Wong looked unsurprisingly taken aback, but slowly nodded.
“Of course, Lord Montgomery,” he agreed.
#
Damien led the way towards his office in silence. Both Phan and Wong were significantly taller than he was, but they were both noticeably struggling to keep up as he stalked through the corridors of the starship.
Finally reaching his destination, he crossed the office to stand at the massive observation window, looking out at the planet below – and the clearly visible lights of the Míngliàng Security Flotilla’s two brand new cruisers and their swarm of attendant support craft.
“Wow,” he heard Wong breathe behind him as the Governor got a glance at the massive space Damien had co-opted for his relatively spartan office. The two Míngliàng officials walked up behind him, both staring out the window.
“That is quite the view you have, my lord,” Wong continued after a long moment. “Makes me want to move my office into orbit.”
“Ken would never forgive you,” Phan told him. “He hates space.”
“That is neither here nor there,” the Governor admitted, stepping up to stand beside Damien and look down at his planet. “You told us, Lord Montgomery, that you knew what had happened to our two missing ships. You also,” he continued darkly, “said we wouldn’t like the answers.”
“Indeed,” Damien replied. “En route to Sherwood, we intercepted a pirate attack on a Sherwood registry freighter. She was attacked and killed, and then the pirates attacked the Duke of Magnificence. Both ships were destroyed.”
“Wait, you can’t mean…” Phan trailed off.
Damien tapped a command on his wrist computer, and the wallscreen overlaid on the massive window lit up with the tactical recording of the attack, and the sensor details on the two destroyers.
“Both pirates were Lancer-class destroyers from Tau Ceti Nova Industries Batch Twenty-Four-Fifty-D,” he told her calmly. “A batch that the Míngliàng Security Flotilla purchased all eight units of. Two of your ships, Admiral, attacked a Royal Martian Navy vessel carrying a Hand of the Mage-King of Mars.
“Do you understand?” he asked softly, “why the presence of multiple cruisers in Míngliàng orbit now makes me very concerned?”
“My lord, I swear to you on all that is holy, if ships of mine were engaged in piracy I did not know,” Phan pleaded desperately.
“I accept that as a possibility,” Damien told her. “Nonetheless, I have no choice but to restrict the operations of the MSF to the Míngliàng system.”
The Admiral swallowed, glancing at the Governor for support, then back to him.
“I understand, but our ships… our people…”
“The Sherwood Patrol is also under the same order,” he told her. “I have also ordered all ships currently in the Antonius system to remain there and suspended shipping from Sherwood. The same applies here. There will be no shipping to or from the Antonius system until the Royal Martian Navy is present in sufficient force to provide security.”
“And how long will that be?” Wong demanded. “That is a massive portion of our industry, one of the life bloods of this system’s economy!”
“No more than two, perhaps three, weeks,” Damien replied. “I have already requested reinforcements from several sectors. Admiral Medici should be arriving with ships from Nia Kriti inside three weeks, and more ships will follow.”
“We have the forces to maintain our own security,” Phan pointed out.
“Yes,” Damien conceded. “But the evidence I have to hand, Admiral, is that both the Patrol and the Flotilla have been aggravating factors in this situation. You will suspend all operations. My people will also require full sensor logs from all of your ships, and any backups from the two missing vessels.”
“For what?” she demanded.
“To see what truths or lies may be concealed within them,” he said bluntly. “Admiral, the Patrol lost a frigate four weeks ago, to an attack by ships that matched the emissions signature of Flotilla destroyers. I have evidence of a rogue faction inside the Patrol’s ranks that they are trying to root out on their end. Currently, I have no evidence except your word that the attacks on Sherwood’s shipping weren’t authorized by you.”
“Attacks?” Wong interjected. “More than just the two you’ve told us about?”
“Attacks, Governor,” Damien confirmed. “More, in fact, than you’ve reported to me on your shipping – including the death of one of Governor McLaughlin’s youngest nephews. Both of your systems have seen your civilian jump-ships – especially those heading to and from Antonius – come under attack by what appears to be the other system’s militia.
“So we are restricting your militias to their home systems,” he continued flatly. “The Protectorate has already assumed responsibility for security at Antonius. Dreams of Liberty will protect your people until Admiral Medici arrives.”
He turned to face Wong and Phan, both of whom looked more shocked than anything else.
“I intend to stop the dying and the violence,” he finished. “Keeping everyone happy isn’t on my agenda.”
Chapter 26
“My team is still going over the data the MSF provided, but one of our initial conclusions was huge enough that I felt it necessary to call this meeting,” Commander Rhine said briskly,
gesturing around at the small collection of officers and aides once again gathered in the Duke’s conference room.
“What did you find, Commander?” Damien asked.
“On the left, my lord, you’ll see the full spectrum diagrams for the eight ships Míngliàng purchased from Batch Twenty-Four-Fifty-D,” Rhine pointed out. Images of eight destroyers, with a wide variety of colors and notations, appeared on one third of the screen. Damien could read parts of the diagram, but not all of it – but he could tell that all eight were quite similar.
“In the center, is the general emission profiles for that batch as provided by TCNI to the Navy,” the tactical officer continued. A single diagram of a destroyer appeared, still with a wide variety of colors and notations, now with ranges and shading.
Damien could read them well enough to tell that all eight of the MSF ships fit in the ranges and shading given. That was the purpose of the profile the shipbuilder gave the Protectorate government, after all.
“As you can see, there is no question that these eight ships are the entire batch that TCNI built,” Rhine noted. “They all fit the pattern TCNI recorded, and all of them have the hull numbers and other identifiers to match back to TCNI’s records.”
“I’m sorry, Commander,” Damien said softly, “but we know all this already. What’s your point?”
“My point is these,” the Navy man replied, and the last third of the screen lit up with two more spectrum diagrams. “These are the spectrum diagrams of the two ships that attacked us. As the Duke was directly engaged with them, we have everything our sensors could pull, which is much better than even the regional militias would be able to assemble.”
“So you’ve identified the ships?” Amiri asked, leaning in and studying the diagrams. Damien wasn’t sure his bodyguard could read them, but he could… and what he was seeing was strange.
Voice of Mars (Starship's Mage Book 3) Page 18
