by K. B. Wagers
“So why haven’t the Saxons blown them up?”
I tapped a hand on the console. “According to Jia, it was because they still had her in custody and were trying to get the lock codes from her. I’d hazard a guess that now they’re trying like mad to learn whatever they can from them even if they can’t get the things to fly.”
“There will be Indranan technicians as prisoners also,” Hao said, and I nodded.
“I’m hoping they’re keeping some of them in the shipyard and didn’t send all of them down to the surface. If they’re trying to reverse engineer anything they’d need some techs there. Cooperative or not, it wouldn’t matter.” I leaned back in my chair. “We’ll need a few, I suspect. So breaking them out is the priority.”
“So your plan is to fly in, take the shipyard, break the techs out of prison, get the ships, and take the system back?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, but essentially yes.”
“Might I suggest something other than brute force? Since storming a Saxon-held shipyard is likely to get us all killed?”
“You’re being awfully lippy today.”
“Digging through someone’s brains for a computer chip does that to me.”
“Yatta!” Dailun thumped the console and grinned at Zin. “That should do it.”
Code started crawling across the screen and Zin nodded in approval. “Looks like it did. Good job.”
Dailun nodded, first to Zin and then in my direction, before he scrambled out of his seat and headed off the bridge.
“Rai.” I keyed up the com link. “We’re ready to go.”
“Haiya. You have coordinates for me yet?”
“When we’re far enough away from Midway that I can be sure no one’s listening in.”
Rai grumbled, but I held firm. We couldn’t be certain that Captain Earnest had told us the truth and I wasn’t taking any chances—beyond trusting Rai not to sell me out—about the location of Admiral Hassan’s fleet.
“Auho!” Zin waved a hand in the air.
“Gotta go, Rai. I’ll send the coordinates when we hit the rendezvous point.” I hopped out of my chair and leaned over Zin’s shoulder. Hao took the pilot chair and began running through the departure checklist.
“Colonel Hume was on Canafey Minor overseeing Governor Ashwari’s interrogation. It’s all here, ma’am. Their plans for the system, troop strength on the ground, and how many ships they sent to take the system.” Zin began feeding me pieces of information via our smati link as fast as he could decode them. “It corroborates what Nakula and the governor have told us, but there’s even more detail.”
“They sent more troop carriers than actual destroyers.” I muttered a curse. “Because they knew we’d pulled the 44th Fleet out of there. Phanin must have told them.”
“That’s good news for us though, Majesty. Easier to take the system back if there’s only a handful of ships able to do battle.”
“We’re not taking the whole system back.”
Zin frowned. “You didn’t argue when Hao said it. Hang on.” He grabbed me by the arm to steady me as the Pentacost lifted off from the dock.
I threw Hao a look, but the man just grinned. “No sense in just stealing a few ships, little sister. Not when you can take the whole system. You’ll have your admiral’s fleet plus fancy new ships. I just assumed you didn’t want Saxons camping out in your backyard.”
“Okay, fine. So what’s your stealthy suggestion?”
“I’d think that if we brought them the Empress of Indrana they’d let us in with open arms.”
Zin and I both stiffened.
Hao uncrossed his arms and looked at us. “Really?”
“Sorry—it’s automatic. A lot of people have been trying to kill me lately.”
He shook his head. “I am hurt. You are family.”
I made a rude gesture at him. “I said I was sorry. Keep going. What’s the plan?”
“Those Saxon ships are bound to have extra uniforms. We take those and march you to the detention center of the shipyard. Bust out the techs and take them back out with no one the wiser.”
I exhaled, rubbing at my forehead. “I need the techs to work on the ships in dock. It would be easier for them to hack into them from the shipyard command center rather than an actual ship.”
“How much easier?”
“They’d have heat, air, and gravity?”
Hao muttered a curse. “What precisely do you need them to do?”
“The Vajrayana are advanced ships with the capacity for self-sustained flight and preprogrammed maneuverability. They require far less womanpower than a normal ship. Theoretically we can slave them all under the control of one ship and order that one to warp from the system. The others will follow.”
“I don’t like that ‘theoretically’ bit you threw in there.”
“Me neither, but it’s the best we’ve got. They haven’t been fully tested yet. Anyway, that will be easier to do from the command center than from the bridge of one of the ships.”
“It’s easy enough to modify the plan. We are still just going to take the whole system though, right?”
I couldn’t really argue with him. Especially since I was more annoyed that all Hao had done was show me I was starting to think more like an empress than a gunrunner.
The bigger picture was that we win back the Canafey system, and now was as good a time as any. Plus, I didn’t have a home base of my own, and Canafey would make the perfect spot.
“I would think warping out, getting people on those ships, and then warping back in with the Vajrayana fleet and all of Admiral Hassan’s ships would be enough to subdue whatever forces the Saxons have at Canafey.”
The biggest problem was getting from the detention center to the command center. “What if, when you take me into the detention center, I demand to see the commander of the shipyard? Chances on them complying with that?”
Zin thought it over. “Pretty good, I’d say, Majesty. Given your notoriety.”
“The alternative is a shoot-out. But either way it’s the best way into the command center without a lot of casualties.” I made a face. “Zin, what about Captain Earnest?”
“What about him, ma’am?”
“This plan would go a lot smoother if we had him on our side. Can we convince him to walk us into a Saxon-controlled shipyard without betraying us to the guards?”
Zin shook his head. “I doubt it, Majesty. In all honesty, I don’t think he’d do it. It’s not that he’s particularly loyal to Trace as his king. He’s loyal to the idea of the alliance. His wife is from one of the Alliance worlds, not from Saxony proper.”
“If we threaten his family?”
“His parents are dead. His wife and child are all he has left. We bought some goodwill not killing his team, but I don’t think it’s enough to get him to betray his kingdom.”
“Realistically, what’s waiting for him back home besides being shot as a traitor?”
Zin shook his head. “He hasn’t given us anything of major value. And since he’s the only ranking officer alive, he gets to tell the story of how we got the drop on the other Shock troops.
“Plus, technically he is a prisoner of war, ma’am. Official declaration of war or not, we were at war with the Saxons the moment Trace shot Emmory and tried to kill you.”
I rubbed both hands over my face. “I want to talk with him.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“Majesty, Fasé is asking for you.” Emmory’s voice sounded in my head.
“I need to go see Fasé,” I said to Zin. “Stay here and keep working on that information. I want everything you can get out of Hume’s smati. I’ll message you before I go to see the captain.”
“Hail, we’re almost at the rendezvous point,” Hao said.
I passed the coordinates for Admiral Hassan’s location on to him via the smati link as I headed for the stairs. At the same time I started sending Alba the information I’d gotten from Zin an
d from Hao. I needed someone else to put the mass of details we’d just discussed into something legible for presenting to Admiral Hassan.
I was sure Emmory would balk at the idea of using me as bait anyway, despite the fact that one way or another I had to be in that shipyard.
“Majesty.” Fasé lifted her head as I came in the room, but Emmory helped her sit up. Blue-purple bruises decorated the fragile skin beneath her golden eyes, and her fingers were knotted together.
“Fasé, you are looking well.”
“Not well, Your Majesty, but I wanted to see you. Emmory told me you spoke with Bina and the others have been notified.”
I sat on the bed. “How can we help?”
Her smile was wan. “You cannot, Majesty. I have violated the laws of my people. I have enjoyed your empire, but you cannot do anything to help me. Promise me.”
“But you—”
“Good intent or not, Majesty. It is wrong to bring life from death. Only the gods have that kind of power. Only the immortal ones should have that kind of power. We are too weak for it. Even now I think of the feeling when I returned Emmory, and I—” She broke off and shuddered.
“Fasé.” Emmory’s voice was calm, and seemed to help her agitation. “That’s enough for now. We’ll talk about it later. Go back to sleep.”
She lay back down and closed her eyes, and her breathing evened out almost immediately.
“Majesty, outside.”
I followed Emmory into the hallway. “I see why Bina said not to talk with her about it. What do we do?”
He shook his head. “A crisis of faith isn’t something that’s easily solved, Majesty. No matter what we believe, Fasé believes she’s done something unforgivable.” He looked at the ceiling. “I will keep talking to her, but I fear there is not much we can do until the Farians get involved.”
“Bugger me. See if you can get in touch with Captain Gill through Caspel. Maybe if we talk to her about this, she can do something?”
“I don’t know that it will do any good, but I can try.” Emmory smiled slightly, but shook his head. “We can’t force her to do anything. Your authority doesn’t supersede her faith.”
“I was afraid of that.” I tapped him on the arm. “Zin cracked into Colonel Hume’s smati. We’ve got the Saxon numbers at Canafey. And we’ve got a plan for taking back the system.”
“The system?” Emmory raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were just going in after the ships?”
“The plan changed,” I said with a grin. “Come on, I’ll let Alba explain.”
Emmory didn’t take the news that I’d be going into Canafey as well as I’d hoped.
“Absolutely not. We get to the fleet and you’re staying on Admiral Hassan’s ship until this is over.”
“Emmory, it’s the best plan we’ve got. Their guards will be down thinking they’ve beaten us. Even if we can’t convince Captain Earnest to help, we’ll figure something else out to conceal the fact that the Saxons bringing us in as prisoners aren’t Saxons at all.”
“If you get killed, where does that leave us?”
“Alice is perfectly capable of leading an empire, possibly even better than I,” I replied and threw my hands in the air. “I let you have the ships in Midway. That was an unnecessary risk. This one is necessary.”
“I won’t let you, Majesty.”
“You can’t stop me.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I have the lock codes.”
You could have heard a shell drop in the room. In what under less stressful circumstances would have been comical, my BodyGuards looked at each other in silent question. Jia stared at me with a horrified expression over the com link. Only the gunrunners—both those in the room and those watching on screen—seemed unsurprised by my announcement.
Emmory visibly struggled to get his voice even before he looked past me at the image of Jia on one of the screens. “Governor, please tell me you kept a backup copy of the lock codes.”
“I’m very sorry, Ekam Tresk. The codes are protected from copying. The whole file must be transferred.”
The look Emmory shot me was deadly, but I answered it with a smile. “You need me. This is the best plan and you know it.”
“Okay,” Zin said, deliberately walking between us and breaking up the staring contest. “You win, Majesty. Let’s hear the rest of the plan.”
I watched through lowered lashes as Zin brought Captain Earnest into the Pentacost’s galley. The young Saxon’s eyes flicked from me to Hao to Emmory and then back to me as he sat down at the table.
“Day of reckoning is at hand, I see,” he said.
I ran a finger over the rim of my mug. “I like to think it’s just a conversation, not anything quite so planet-shattering. Would you like something to drink?”
“No.” His defenses were up, as expected, and rather than a frightened young man, a Shock Marine was staring back at me through those blue eyes. “Whatever you’re going to ask me, whatever you want me to do, the answer is no.”
“You don’t even know the question.”
“I don’t have to. I’m not going to help you with anything else. I don’t care what you do to me, ma’am.”
“Honor and loyalty I get. However, spare me the macho bravado. Trust me, you would care, everyone does in the end,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “I don’t have time for it, Captain. I’m trying to save lives.”
“Indy lives.”
“Saxon lives,” I countered, coolly, and watched his eyes narrow. “Do you really want Saxony to go to war with Indrana? Your home is right on the border, Captain; you don’t think there’s a damn good chance your wife and child would end up as casualties?
“I’m not threatening them,” I said with a hand up before he could say anything. “I’m asking you to think about what happens when two giants fight. Do you really think they care about the ants that get trampled underfoot in the process?”
“I’ve already betrayed the Corps; you’re asking me to betray my nation.” He shook his head and looked at his hands. “I can’t do it.”
“I’m asking you to help me stop a war before it starts. How is that a betrayal?” The last few words were clipped as my temper struggled free.
“Hail, take a step back,” Hao said over our smati link. “You won’t get anywhere angry.”
“I’m not getting anywhere period. Why am I doing this again?”
“Because you’re stubborn?”
I couldn’t stop the snort of laughter, and Preston blinked at me as I pushed away from the table. “You’re right,” I said, not to him but to Hao. “Zin, take him back to his cell; we’ll do this the hard way.”
33
Your Majesty.” Admiral Hassan went to a knee, her command staff and the other sailors in the massive bay of the Vajra following suit.
“Inana, I am glad to see you well.” I urged her to her feet and embraced her. “I have some prisoners for you and a few people who could use some assistance from a Farian.”
“Of course, Majesty. Chief Warrant Officer Yash will take them into custody.” Admiral Hassan snapped her fingers and a stocky woman with impressive biceps appeared at her side.
“Majesty.” She bowed low.
“Zin will give you the details,” I said with a smile and a nod.
“This is Lieutenant Hasai Moren,” Inana said.
“Majesty.” The slender young Farian held his hands out, his golden eyes warm. I took them and relief swept through me. “May you be well.”
“Thank you.” I swallowed back my fear. Despite Bina’s warning, my gut was screaming at me about Fasé and I couldn’t ignore it. “Are you the oldest Farian on board, Hasai? We need to speak about Fasé; I sent a message ahead.”
“I am not. The others are on their way. I was told to instruct you to take my sister to your quarters and we will look at her there. The comfort of friends is best in times of crisis.”
“She is your sister?”
He shrugged. “Of a sort. The distinction is too compl
ex for your language.”
“We will take her to our quarters if you will meet us there? I’d like to speak with you all privately before you see her.”
“I will let the others know. Major Morri would like you to be reassured things are not always as bad as they seem. Do you have more injured?”
“Start with him.” I grabbed Emmory by the collar and dragged him forward before he could protest. Hasai performed the same ritual and my Ekam lost his hunched-over posture. The lines of pain that had etched themselves into his face disappeared.
Fasé walked by her kinsman, leaning heavily on Stasia. Hasai only glanced her way with a gentle smile and then moved past to Alba so he could check her arm.
“Masami, Sabeen.” I embraced Matriarch Tobin and then Vandi with genuine joy. “I am so very relieved to see you safe.”
“Be relieved at this one’s charms,” the elderly matriarch replied, jerking a thumb in Sabeen’s direction. “She’s the one who talked an Indranan freighter captain into hiding us from the Saxons and getting us off the planet.”
“He was going to do it anyway, but I may have promised him a government shipping contract as a reward, Majesty,” Sabeen said, her cheeks flushing as she looked at the floor.
My surprised chuckles turned to laughter and the young matriarch blushed harder when I patted her on the back. “Well done. Get with Alba so she has the man’s information. Once things have calmed down we’ll get him on the payroll.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Admiral, allow me to introduce Cheng Hao, Johar, and Bakara Rai.”
After much discussion we’d decided it was best if the bulk of Hao and Rai’s people stayed with the ships, but I wanted these two with me for the discussion of our plan and there was no way Johar was staying behind.
Greetings were exchanged all around, with Johar holding Inana’s hand a little too long. Rai elbowed her, and she rolled her eyes at him but released my admiral.
“If you’ll follow me, I have guest quarters set up for all of you.” Inana cleared her throat and started across the bay. “Everyone has instructions not to interfere with your BodyGuards or your other companions, and they are all authorized to wear weapons on board, though I’d ask if you wouldn’t mind swapping them out for something slightly more friendly toward my ship.”
