The Lost Stars 01-Tarnished Knight

by Jack Campbell

  Togo consulted his own reader. “Just prior to Colonel Dun’s hidden office’s being broken into, she sent a burst transmission to C-625. The cruiser would have received it half an hour before it entered the hypernet gate.”

  “Do we have any idea what the message was?”

  “No,” Togo replied. “Colonel Dun’s equipment self-erased and -destructed. I have been unable to determine whether or not General Drakon’s people have been able to recover anything from it at all.”

  “I see. Anything else?”

  “There are widespread rumors that during the attack on the facility, one of General Drakon’s closest aides, Colonel Malin, attempted to murder the other, Colonel Morgan. I believe this actually occurred, or something like it that could be interpreted as an attempt by Malin to kill Morgan.”

  “Interesting.” Iceni had believed that Drakon kept that sort of thing under control. “From what I have seen of them, I would have thought Morgan would have tried to kill Malin, not vice versa.” She drummed the fingers of one hand on her desk, frowning in thought. “Take another look at Colonel Morgan. Dig for whatever you can find now that we also have access to the snake files. I need to know more about her.”

  “As far as we can determine, she is not sleeping with General Drakon.”

  Which gave Drakon a few points for common sense, Iceni thought, as well as possibly some credit for ethics. Technically, superiors in the Syndicate Worlds were required to avoid having subordinates as sex partners since it was far too easy to abuse power that way. But in reality it had long been common practice, and almost every other CEO turned blind eyes to the abuse because they didn’t want to give anyone reasons to check them for their own violations of the law. “One of the reasons I trusted Drakon enough to work with him was because he’s not sleeping with anyone who works for him. But Morgan is attractive enough in many ways to have been able to attach herself to some CEO more powerful than Drakon, especially after he got exiled here. She chose to come here with him. All my instincts tell me that Morgan intends playing a deeper game than simply sleeping her way to the top.”

  “There is a widespread belief that a few of her rivals have vanished in the past,” Togo noted.

  “Yes. Get into every file, check every source, find out what you can. I need to know what she might do.”

  “And Colonel Malin?”

  “Him, too.” Iceni paused in thought again. “My impression has been that Malin is careful, controlled, and wants to leave behind Syndicate ways of doing things. But if he tried to kill Colonel Morgan during that military action, it would have been a hasty, impulsive act, and one fully in keeping with Syndicate ways of doing business. See if you can find out who the real Malin is.”

  After Togo had left, Iceni sat looking at some documents on her screen but not really reading them. Why didn’t Drakon tell me about the message Dun sent? I wonder what was in it? My source says Drakon’s workers haven’t been able to get anything out of Dun’s equipment. The failure to inform me about internal problems with his staff is another matter and more understandable. No CEO ever admits to that kind of thing going on even if there are dead executives littering all of the conference rooms and the survivors are busy trying to wash the blood off their hands. But I’ve always thought it was a sloppy way of doing business. Only the boss should be deciding who gets the axe.

  That was a joke, wasn’t it? Sort of a pun. Too bad there’s no one else in this star system who would find it funny.

  Another incoming message arrived, from Sub-CEO Akiri on C-448. “Madam C—excuse me, Madam President, there has been an unexpected development.” Akiri paused, plainly reveling in being the bearer of important news, while Iceni seethed at the small delay in actually hearing that news. “One of the Hunter-Killers with C-625 did not enter the hypernet gate with the other mobile forces. It remained, and we have just received a transmission from HuK-6336 saying that they have overcome the ISS agents and those loyal to the Syndicate Worlds and will be joining us. HuK-6336 reports substantial personnel casualties in overcoming the snakes and loyalists, but says all equipment is operational.”

  “Good,” Iceni said. “What about the three HuKs loyal to me that were shadowing C-625?”

  “They are still about a light-hour from the hypernet gate, awaiting further orders.”

  “Tell them to proceed on their missions to the other star systems. I need to know what’s going on at Lono, Taroa, and Kahiki. Make sure the commanders of those HuKs know that anyone who recruits more warships for our star system can expect to receive suitable rewards.”

  “Yes, Madam President.” Akiri looked a bit disappointed because he had no chance at those rewards, but there was no way she was going to let one of her heavy cruisers go wandering off. They were needed right here.

  Well, that news wasn’t planet-shaking. A single HuK didn’t have much capability. But it was a small piece of good news, so she wouldn’t turn her nose up at it, and she desperately needed every warship she could get her hands on. I’ve put up a good front. I wonder if Drakon suspects how much I haven’t told him, especially about how worried I am with such a small flotilla to stave off any attempt at reconquest by the Syndicate Worlds government. They say the stars help those who help themselves, but the shipyards here can only produce warships up to the size of heavy cruisers, and that only one or two at a time if I order them to build nothing else. The government on Prime would have heard about the revolt here eventually, but C-625 will bring word to them much faster than I’d hoped. Thanks to Black Jack, Prime doesn’t have much, but it won’t take much to brush aside a flotilla built around four heavy cruisers. It will take my own HuKs a while to reach the jump points for the stars they’re visiting, and then a while for the jump transits. Time I don’t have to spare.

  If we don’t find more warships soon, this may be a very short-lived revolution.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THREE days without a disaster. That made it three good days.

  Drakon sat going over the latest reports. The citizens were suitably enthusiastic about real elections for low-level local officials, and the propaganda about taking it all slow seemed to be working to keep all but the hotheads happy. The hotheads themselves were being monitored by the police, and if they got too warm, they would find themselves being cooled off the hard way.

  He paused, watching a vid of snake families being lifted to the merchant ship that would haul them to Prime. Crowds of citizens watched the shuttles lift, cheering wildly. Having spilled the blood of the actual snakes, the people seemed satisfied with expulsion from the star system for the family members. As the shuttles closed on the merchant ship, the virtual windows in their passenger compartments would show a dozen heavy cruisers and numerous smaller warships approaching the planet or orbiting nearby. The majority of those warships were illusions, but hopefully the deception would fool the families, who would surely be interrogated when they reached Prime. Win/win. Iceni had a good idea there. I just wish we could be sure we have eliminated or found every snake in this star system.

  I’m actually certain that we haven’t. There are more out there somewhere. If those four turned snakes I’m hiding try anything or contact anyone, I’ll know it the instant it happens, but I doubt that they were tied into anything like deep-cover programs. That’s not how the snakes worked. They kept as many secrets from their own lower-level workers as they did from the rest of us.

  Everything seemed to be going well, but Iceni had been increasingly moody and irritable as the days went by. “Malin,” he called over the command circuit, “do we have anything new on what President Iceni is doing?”

  “I learned a short time ago,” Malin offered, “that the commander of one of the heavy cruisers, someone named Akiri, has been transferred to an assignment on the surface of the planet. His new title will be Adviser to the President on mobile forces issues.”

 
“Adviser to the President, huh? Which entails what?”

  “We have no specifics on the job, General,” Malin replied.

  A job with no defined purpose? Ha. I’ve seen that maneuver before. Iceni wanted Akiri out of where he was but didn’t want to raise any fuss over it, so she “promoted” him to a meaningless job. “What do we know about Akiri?”

  “An undistinguished record, no known mentor or sponsor. Command of that unit was the highest he would ever go.”

  That fit. After a few months, when no one was any longer paying attention, Iceni would probably slide Akiri into some obscure job suitable to his limited talents. “Who took over command of the cruiser?” Drakon asked.

  “An executive named Asima Marphissa who was second-in-command. She’s been promoted to sub-CEO. There were a number of more senior executives bypassed in favor of Marphissa.”

  “Hmmm. It sounds like President Iceni is grooming this Marphissa for bigger things.”

  Malin nodded, his eyes distant with thought. “The new flotilla commander?”

  “Could be, though Iceni will probably wait a month or so before doing that for the sake of appearances since Marphissa is being boosted over people with more seniority. See what you can learn about why Iceni has taken an interest in this Marphissa and whether it’s going to be a full-bore patron relationship.”

  “Yes, sir. Is there anything else?”

  Drakon hesitated. “President Iceni strikes me as being increasingly temperamental over the last few days. Do we have any indications of what might be making her unhappy?”

  “She has encountered Morgan, sir.”

  “Very funny. I already have to deal with one volatile female in the form of Morgan. I don’t need another in President Iceni, and it’s not like what I know of her. I think something has her seriously worried. See if you can find out what.”

  Malin spoke carefully. “We are maintaining troops at a higher state of alert than called for by the situation, General.”

  “You know why that is. I need to be ready to react fast if we learn that President Iceni is getting ready to move against me.”

  “She is very likely worried that the heightened alert status means that you intend moving against her unilaterally, sir.”

  “Are you advocating that I stand down? That would give her a lot more room to maneuver.”

  “You know my assessment, sir,” Malin said. “I am confident that President Iceni is willing to accept partnership with you and will only strike at you if she believes that you are preparing to strike at her.”

  “You’ve been wrong in your assessments sometimes. I’ll think about it. I’m also worried about more Colonel Duns popping up. I know we can trust Colonels Kai, Rogero, and Gaiene, but the locals are another matter.”

  “Colonel Morgan is investigating all of them as you directed,” Malin said. “She is thorough, as well as highly distrustful. It is unlikely that anything will get past her.”

  And that assignment kept her and Malin from interacting too much for a while. Drakon nodded. “When I get Morgan’s report, I’ll make a decision. Did we ever learn anything that would tell us what was in the transmission Colonel Dun sent right before she died?”

  “No, sir. There wasn’t anything recoverable in Dun’s equipment. We do know that it went to the cruiser that was taken over by the ISS agents aboard and not to anyone else in the star system. The cruiser does not appear to have relayed that message back into the star system to anyone on this planet before it entered the hypernet gate.”

  What had Dun wanted to tell the snakes on that warship? What had been important enough to be what Dun surely suspected would be her last transmission to anyone? But thinking about that led back into memories of seeing Malin aiming at Morgan’s back, and Drakon didn’t want to go there. “Let me know if we get any clues as to what the message was.”

  “Perhaps President Iceni might have some ideas of what the message could have been,” Malin suggested. “She is in constant contact with the mobile forces and has experience in commanding them.”

  “That’s possible.” Drakon sat back, rubbing his eyes. “I didn’t see any sense in telling her about it until I had some idea what it meant. And I don’t entirely trust the mobile forces anyway. Maybe that’s what’s giving President Iceni problems. Is she concerned about the loyalty of those warships? If more of them went the way of that cruiser, it could be real bad for us and weaken her own position relative to me.”

  “I will see what I can learn,” Malin said.

  “What about that assistant of hers? Togo? Could she be worried about him?”

  “He is very loyal to her as well as very dangerous, sir. Extremely valuable to President Iceni, and he is also one of her most effective weapons.”

  “Really?” Togo had seemed distinctly unthreatening at the meetings where Drakon had seen him, but then a real pro would maintain that sort of low profile. “Can he be bought?”

  “I doubt it, but I can make some discreet inquiries through third parties.”

  If Togo couldn’t be bought, and he was both deadly and important to Iceni, he would have to be dealt with too if Drakon was forced to move against her. “Is he anything you and Morgan couldn’t handle if it came to that?”

  “I would be hesitant to take him on myself. Morgan could probably do the job, but it would be a challenge even for her. However, I strongly advise against such a move. Taking out Togo would be a declaration of war against President Iceni and might spur her to make some rash actions against whoever she thought was responsible.”

  “Is there anything going on between them?”

  “No, sir. Purely business, subordinate and CEO.”

  “You know how much ground that can cover, Bran.” After the call ended, Drakon found his thoughts fixed on Iceni and Togo. What did it matter to him if she did use Togo to satisfy her physical needs? It happened all the time in CEO ranks. But he had never been comfortable with the idea, a stance that only seemed to lead to frustration since nearly every woman he met worked for him, and those who didn’t work for him could too easily be assassins working for someone else. It had been far too long, and that just made the pressures of his job a bit harder. Maybe that’s what’s bothering Iceni, too. Maybe it’s been a while for her. Too bad she and I couldn’t . . . Yeah, right. Two CEOs in bed together? Who decides who gets to be on top?

  But even though he dismissed the idea, it kept lingering in the back of his mind until he gave up in disgust and got up to work out.

  Before he left his office, though, Drakon paused, thinking. He made another call. “Colonel Malin, inform all ground forces unit commanders they are to stand down to alert status four effective immediately.”

  He had sent her a clear peace offering. It would be interesting to see how Iceni responded.

  * * *

  “GENERAL Drakon, we have received authorization codes from President Iceni’s office allowing us to link to the mobile forces units in this star system. We can now monitor their readiness states.”

  So, she had returned his gesture in kind. Both of them still had their weapons, but both of those weapons had been powered down. Drakon started to relax, but he tensed a bit again at Malin’s next words. “I also should inform you that Colonel Morgan has returned from her latest inspection and investigation,” Malin reported, his voice and face extremely neutral. “I believe that you can expect to see her in the very near future,” he added before ending the call.

  Great. Now what has Morgan’s pants in a twist? Maybe she found another Colonel Dun situation, but if she did, why wait to tell me until she got back? That’s the sort of problem Morgan would want to address right away and with some form of lethal weapon. Sighing, Drakon waited for her to show up.

  As Malin had predicted, he didn’t have to wait long.

  Morgan didn’t quit
e slam open the door to his office, but that was because she knew better than to pull that sort of drama with Drakon. “How long had Rogero been working with the snakes?”

  So that was what this was about. Even Morgan knew that she couldn’t go after Colonel Rogero, or Kai or Gaiene, without clearing it first. And apparently she had also learned that Drakon already knew all about Rogero’s situation. Only Malin could have told her that, and he had probably enjoyed watching her reaction.

  Drakon leaned back, deliberately casual, as he answered. “Colonel Rogero had been working for the ISS for a few years.”

  “And you didn’t tell me?” Morgan was seething, looking dangerous as well as angry.

  “I figured you’d find out.”

  “But you told Malin?”

  “He figured it out, too,” Drakon replied, being careful not to add before you did. When that message had come for Rogero while the Alliance fleet was transiting through this star system, it had made it all but inevitable that both Morgan and Malin would eventually follow that thread to its source.

  Morgan leaned forward, her hands resting on the front of his desk, still angry but also curious. “Why? Why is Rogero still alive? He’s been a source for the snakes. He could have ratted us all out before we took down the snakes.”

  “No.” Drakon kept his calm demeanor. “I knew from the first day that Rogero had been approached by the snakes and told to cooperate or else. He told them nothing about me that I didn’t want him to say. Rogero helped lull the snakes into thinking I wasn’t planning anything.”

  “He was your agent? Doubled against the snakes? But what about the Alliance, General? What about the fact that Rogero’s loyalty is so far compromised that he’s involved with some enemy bitch?”

  “I knew all about that, too. I knew about it when I got Rogero transferred back to my command, and that took some string-pulling. The government wanted Rogero stuck on a labor-camp staff on some hellhole world until he died. That’s where he and the Alliance officer got involved with each other, at the labor camp where Rogero had been transferred for using his head in a crisis instead of just following procedure.” Drakon reached out and grabbed his drink, taking a long slug of caff. “I gave some snake exec the idea of using him as a source against the Alliance, so the ISS helped me get it done. The snakes set things up for the Alliance woman to get liberated and Rogero to send and receive messages with her. I knew that they’d also tell him to report on me, but that way I knew who one of the snake spies was.”