They crawled under the edge of the open hatches, pushing up to tilt the glider back. It was a little heavy but, working together, they rocked it back enough to scramble out onto the beach.
Water lapped around Asten’s feet and he looked up at his surroundings. There were dunes above the beach and several buildings behind them, while past a headland further south more buildings were visible. It wasn’t the same city he and Selina had seen earlier but it was clear that Naima hadn’t come in blind when she’d picked their landing spot.
“Come on,” she told him and he followed her over the dunes.
As they came onto a street, several people stared at them.
Naima raised a hand in greeting. “Hi there. We were just -”
The people turned and ran.
“Well, so much for hospitality,” she said to Asten. “I wonder what’s going on around here right now.”
“What do you mean?” Asten asked.
“I mean after everything that was going on up there, I expected this place to be bombarded into fine powder by now. But maybe the Imraehi have done the smart thing and called a ceasefire.”
“One can only hope,” Asten said. “Although, I doubt any of our friends up there want to bombard the planet.”
“After what we heard up there,” Naima said, “I’m genuinely surprised that every city here isn’t smoking rubble.”
Asten nodded. For a few happy minutes, he had forgotten about the exchange they’d overheard between Admiral Seirvek and Lord Ardeis. Now, he remembered everything all too clearly. The destruction of Kerali and the surrounding region of Phalamki. And, among the hundreds of thousands who would have been killed in such an attack, it was almost a certainty that Selina’s father had been one of them.
Naima looked at him with concern. “Are you all right?”
Asten nodded. “It’s just all catching up with me. That’s all.” He put aside his grief for the time-being. “But even if the Imraehi did what they did to the Phalamkians on a dozen more Frontier worlds, our people wouldn’t retaliate by doing the same. That may be the way Ardeis likes to fight but it’s not our way. We don’t target innocent people.”
Naima sighed. “No. You’re right.” She looked around at the nearby buildings and turned back to Asten. “What about stealing a ship? Would you have any objections to that under the circumstances?”
Asten shrugged. “We can always return it later. And someone did steal mine.”
Drackson ambled across the deck of one of the Liberator’s large hangars. The Albatross was nestled in at one end of it, behind a squadron of Phalamkian Kites and an assault shuttle.
There were a few mechanics about but as none of the fighters had been launched during either the Kataran or the Imraehi stages of the operation, there was little maintenance to be done and the work was nothing more than a routine inspection.
The silence was remarkable to Drackson, considering everything that had just taken place, and the calm almost defied belief given how little time had elapsed. There had been many strange moments in his life. Right then, several of them swam about in his mind, rising up from the depths of his memories. However, the sensation of standing on that almost silent hangar deck, after the staggering death and destruction that had occurred only a few hours earlier, was one of the strangest he recalled.
Now, everyone on board the Albatross was sleeping. Alia. Jiang. And Selina. But sleep wouldn’t come for him. He wished he could talk to Maia and Zak but he knew they were occupied in work of their own. And, given the personal tragedy that had just struck them, he knew they’d have their own issues to work through right then as well.
He heard someone approaching and turned around to see Jiang. She wasn’t asleep after all. She looked perplexed as she gazed at the rows of Phalamkian Kites.
Then she came over to him. “I don’t know how I got here but I suppose I have you to thank.”
Drackson smiled. “Actually, it was Alia. She realized your tracking beacon was still transmitting and piloted the ship in to pick you up and get us out again. That was quite a field of debris you led us into there.”
“What happened?” Jiang asked.
Drackson shrugged. “I hardly know myself. But offhand I’d say we won. Whatever that means.”
Jiang sighed. “Whatever that means.” She looked around again. “I couldn’t help noticing that the Albatross is in a hangar. But these Phalamkian Kites don’t match up with what I know of Hie’shi Tridents.”
“This is the Liberator,” Drackson said. “Maia and Zak came in and bailed out Admiral Seirvek’s forces when the enemy started destroying his ships with some kind of secret weapon.”
“Like nets?” Jiang asked.
Drackson looked at her in surprise. “Yeah.”
Jiang nodded. “The stinger nets,” she murmured.
“They took out the orbital platform that was firing the things,” Drackson said, watching Jiang for a response. “But apparently, the platform stopped firing a little bit before Maia’s task force destroyed it. And that’s the same platform you were on, wasn’t it?”
Jiang nodded. “Yeah.”
Drackson put a hand on her shoulder. “Then you may have saved dozens of cruisers, Jiang. Along with the lives of all the men and women on board them.”
Jiang didn’t smile. “Maybe.”
Drackson frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang hesitated, her gaze flitting down before she lifted her head up and looked at her friend. “I don’t know if I could say this to anyone else but I know you’ve had your ups and downs over the years so maybe you might understand.”
“I think you’ll find I’m a pretty good listener,” Drackson assured her. “What do you want to tell me?”
Jiang then poured out the story of everything that had happened after her arrival on Imraec Tarc. The tentative alliance she had formed with Vismach and the events that had followed, ending with the massacre at the Imraehi research facility. Then she recounted, in less detail, how she had ended up on Orbital Six and then in the battleroid where Alia had found her. Throughout it all, Drackson didn’t interrupt. He listened without judgment until she had finished the whole story.
“You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about, Jiang,” he told her when she was done. “You didn’t kill those people and there’s no way you could have known what Vismach was going to do. Believe me, I’ve done worse in my time. There’s no reason why you should lose a minute’s sleep over any of that.”
Jiang tried to smile. “But I did steal some poor guy’s diving equipment.”
Drackson put his hand on her shoulder. “All in a good cause.”
However, the moment of levity passed and Jiang’s faint smile faded once more.
Seeing the doubt and anxiety in her gaze, Drackson kept talking. “Maybe I can tell you a few stories of my own and give you a basis of comparison. Now, Naima knows a few of these and so do a handful of close friends but don’t go telling Alia all this. It might ruin their good opinion of me.”
As Drackson spoke, Jiang found some of her better humor returning. “All right.”
So Drackson launched into some of his stories and, as Jiang listened, they whiled the time away until a couple of hours had passed. Then Drackson’s communicator vibrated.
He unclipped it and switched it on. “Drackson here.”
“Hey there,” came a familiar voice. “It’s Zak.”
“Zak?” Drackson said. “You sound exhausted.”
“I am exhausted,” Zak replied. “But all the same, I thought I should give you the news.”
“Is it good news?” Drackson asked. “I think I’ve had more than enough of the other kind.”
“Yes. It’s good news. This time. We’ve got a small freighter approaching and we’ve assigned them to the hangar you’re in now. Naima and Asten are on board.”
“That is good news,” Drackson said.
“And there’s another ship coming in too,” Zak added. “But since your hangar’
s getting pretty full there, we’re going to have to send them to another one. But it’s another mutual friend of ours.”
Drackson’s eyes widened. “Carla?”
“Alive and well,” Zak said. “And with a hell of a story to tell you too. Oh, and she’s towing the Lady Hawk.”
“How she’d pick the Lady Hawk up?”
“Part of the story,” Zak said. “Anyway, I thought you’d like to know. Now you’ve got some news to lift your spirits.”
“Thanks, Zak,” Drackson replied. “My spirits needed a bit of lifting.”
“I thought they would,” Zak replied. He hesitated for a moment. “Um... Do you know where to find us on this ship?”
“Yeah, I arranged a guided tour for myself a little while back,” Drackson replied. “Why?”
“Oh, it’s just that... when Selina wakes up, I thought she and Asten might like to come up.”
Drackson nodded, swallowing before replying. “Yeah, sure. I’ll let them know where to find you.”
27. The Inquiry
Maia’s gaze drifted over the members of the panel from one end to the other.
“The Kataran stage of the operation,” she said, “was quick and decisive. The resident Imraehi saw it was a no-win scenario. They could inflict damage on our task force, yes, but since doing so would be to assure their own destruction, they carried out the only option that was available to them under the circumstances. The circumstances that we had established.”
“They could have acted otherwise,” one of the panel members said. A Calae stag. “They could have utilized the same strategy Ardeis used against Admiral Seirvek’s force at Imraec Tarc.”
“Perhaps,” Maia conceded. “But that was a risk that we already faced. Since Admiral Seirvek would be arriving at Imraec Tarc at any moment, the most sensible approach seemed to be to subdue the Imraehi swiftly and ensure a prompt agreement to our terms.”
“Admiral Seirvek took the exact same approach over Imraec Tarc,” the Calae said. “And the results were disastrous. The death toll on Phalamki -”
“Was entirely not his fault,” Maia said, cutting him off. “He had no foreknowledge of the threat that the Imraehi had made. And it wasn’t an open threat anyway. It was a shock tactic intended to be delivered to us after the event. It’s only by the chance discovery made by the crews of the Lantern and the Albatross that we were aware of the danger before it occurred.”
“That seems reasonable,” the Calae replied. “Very well then. However, the massive losses suffered by his own task force cannot be excused so readily.”
“The weapons used by the Imraehi,” Maia explained, “these ‘stinger nets’, are something we have never encountered before. Admiral Seirvek had no prior knowledge of these weapons. Nor did he have any knowledge of their capabilities. And, once the danger was apparent, he immediately withdrew his task force to prevent further loss of life. I see no fault in his conduct.”
“So you don’t believe Admiral Seirvek should face any disciplinary charges over this incident?” the Calae asked.
At this, Rear Admiral Karaeil of the Hie’shi High Command, leaned forward, narrowing her eyes in irritation at the Calae’s manner. “It is not in the jurisdiction of this committee to pass disciplinary charges against the officers of any member states. A Hie’shi tribunal will determine whether or not Admiral Seirvek’s actions were appropriate under the circumstances.” She turned to Maia, softening her gaze. “You do not need to answer the question, Lady Erama.”
“Perhaps not,” Maia said. “But since our friend here has asked my opinion on the matter, I’d like to offer it all the same. I believe that Admiral Seirvek acted professionally under very trying circumstances.”
“He risked the lives of millions of United Frontier citizens when he refused to bow to the Imraehi’s demands,” the Calae pointed out.
Maia held her ground. “And he prevented others from playing with the lives of our people by sending a clear message that such tactics do not protect those who employ them. And he was not gambling on a whim. He knew he could cripple the Imraehi defenses swiftly enough for his purpose. What Admiral Seirvek was hoping to effect was that by crippling them fast enough, he would prevent them from contacting any of their other terrorist cells. And he succeeded in that.”
“I understand the intention behind his actions,” the Calae said, “but it was not I who first suggested he was risking millions of lives. He himself said, and I quote,” - here the Calae looked at a pad - “I have gambled with the lives of millions. I don’t know if I am fit to continue in my duties.”
“That shows,” Maia said, “that not only is Admiral Seirvek capable of making difficult decisions that are sometimes required of commanding officers, but that he can still retain his moral compass while doing so. His statement simply shows the conscience of any reasonable individual.”
At this, Haiss Garam, former admiral of the Cirtan navy, addressed the Calae as well. “I believe, Tameir, that Lady Erama has more than sufficiently addressed your concerns. And I would kindly remind you, as Rear Admiral Karaeil has already pointed out, that passing judgment on Admiral Seirvek is not the job of this committee. We have already heard the admiral’s account of his side of the events. Now it is time to hear the rest of Lady Erama’s, would you agree?”
The Calae folded his muscular arms and huffed. “Very well. I’ve read it already but...” He gave an apologetic nod to Maia. “Please continue with your statement.” He gave Garam a sideways glance before looking back at Maia once more. “Feel free to summarize the main points of the matter.”
Garam rolled his eyes at his colleague on the panel but said nothing.
Maia resumed her account. “When it was safe to do so, Master Zak and I sent down landing shuttles to secure the civilian population centers on Katara and to protect the people from any retaliatory actions from the resident Imraehi. We then assigned a suitable number of ships to maintain an orbital presence and, once we were satisfied that Katara was secure, we took a portion of our ships immediately to Imraec Tarc to assist Admiral Seirvek’s task force. We arrived in time to witness the stinger net attack and, given the immediate danger to our ships, we proceeded to destroy the Imraehi’s orbital stations and any armed enemy ships in the vicinity.
“Once this was done, we believed that the first priority was to ensure that the Imraehi would agree to a ceasefire and discuss terms. Given the massive amount of unexploded mines and battle debris that was already in a decaying orbit by that time, we informed the Imraehi of their situation and offered to use our mine sweepers to clear the debris. They would have otherwise been quite literally held under siege. The Imraehi at this point were willing to talk and a ceasefire was agreed on. We also made the decision to offer amnesty to the members of their various terrorist cells in return for information on what each cell was planning and the location of all their equipment and explosive devices.”
Maia smiled at the Calae. “And since all the unused explosives have now been removed, along with the danger they posed, we believe the merit of this approach has already been amply demonstrated to this panel.”
Tameir frowned. “You are not on trial here, Lady Erama. You don’t need to defend yourself.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Maia replied.
She gained a few smiles from the other members of the panel.
“As for the rest of my account however,” she continued, “there’s not much more to say. We cleared the debris over Imraec Tarc as we said we would. We repaired the damage to our vessels. We held position over Imraec Tarc until an official delegation could be sent to acquire a formal statement from the Imraehi regarding the independence of Katara.” She shrugged. “And then we came home. Unless there are any questions, I have nothing further to add.”
Once Maia had ended her statement, there was a brief adjournment of the proceedings. When the panel returned, Selina, Asten, Carla, Reece and several members of the crew of the Lantern were ushered in. All had had c
lose contact with the deceased Deramar Ardeis and, given the atrocities that Ardeis had committed, the panel was interested in learning a bit more about the man. For their part, each of the witnesses simply recalled what they could remember of their dealings with him. The gist of conversations and the actions he had committed. As to their opinion of him, they ventured none apart from the disdain that the general population felt towards him. Asten offered the insightful observation that Ardeis had been “a bit of an odd character”, referring to the contradictions in the man’s actions, how he seemed to want the Phalamkians to understand him and give him their approval on the one hand yet on the other, how he had orchestrated that devastating attack that left so many innocent Phalamkians dead. Selina then added her own opinion that Ardeis was an ‘awful man’ and it seemed that the witnesses had nothing further to say.
However, Reece stirred after a few moments of reflection and looked at the panel with a thoughtful gaze in his eyes. “Well, he may have been a mass murderer. He may have been a paradox. Craving understanding on the one hand, while doing everything possible to turn people against him on the other, as Asten said. Master of his domain when Selina and Asten met him. A weakened and broken man when we brought him aboard the Lantern. And his authority rejected by his people as we learned later from the surviving Imraehi naval officers. But I was with him when he died and the strange thing is he didn’t seem to think he was a villain.
“And I know that’s a silly thing to say. Of course, bad people don’t consider themselves bad but he was something else entirely. As Selina said earlier, in that recording he’d made for her and Asten, he’d stated that the Imraehi had saved the Katarans from a civil war that would have destroyed them. Then, just before he died, he told me that he hoped others would take care of the Katarans for him in his absence.
“So, in his own way, it seems as though he cared about the Katarans very much. Maybe he thought of them as his children or something. But he seemed to genuinely believe that what his people were doing to them was in their best interests.” He shook his head. “It’s funny isn’t it? The lies we tell ourselves.” He looked back at the panel. “It’s as though, if we repeat them for long enough, we start to believe them.”
Descent Page 27
