by Blaze Ward
It was the only ship here capable of standing up to her force.
“Frigates are starting to range on us with Primaries,” Li called out a little louder than necessary. “They’re ignoring the tug.”
“Shift us back a little and let T-243 and Achterberg get ahead of us,” Jessica ordered. “Let’s see if they’ll take the bait. And tell Volgograd, Irtysh, and Yenisey to pour all their fire into Robert Fitzwalter for now. The frigates are just an annoyance.”
Her force had come in close enough to one station that fighters from the other one were still just now forming up to come over and engage. Bad planning. They should have had the two stations closer together, or put both of the wings on one. This let her cut them in two to start the battle.
Commander Li nodded and began transmitting orders. Right now, the two fleets were still separated, lobbing beam fire and missiles at each other. Soon enough, those other twelve StarFighters would be close enough to add their weight to the mix. She needed the catamaran broken or surrendered by then.
As Jessica watched the battle unfold, it helped that the catamaran was designed to be surrounded in combat. She could fire any direction with a good compliment of beams, but Pops hadn’t given them a ship designed to fight other cruisers. Qin Lun had the edge there, with her StarFlower mount. If the defending fighters could break through the Twenty-Seven boats, or the other squadron could finally catch up, Archangel and T-243 didn’t have the sort of all-around firepower for this situation.
She just needed to push.
“There she goes,” Li stabbed the screen with a finger.
Sure enough, Robert Fitzwalter had pivoted on her frame and was diving and accelerating to try to get away from the punishment. Fleeing from battle, apparently, but not surrendering.
“Keep Primaries on him until he escapes,” Jessica called. “Put all other beams into the missile frigates first, then the gun ones.”
“Fighters?” Li asked, “They are beginning to engage at long range with their own missiles.”
“How’s Kingston’s squadron doing?” Jessica spun the board around to show six fighters instead of the original twelve, and those racing downwards like the catamaran in an attempt to escape.
“Modern escorts, antique SnubFighters, Admiral,” Li answered. “Not a fair fight.”
“None of them are fair, Li,” she countered. “Hammer the frigates until they break, and then we’ll go after the remaining flight wings.”
“Roger that, Admiral,” he replied.
Jessica leaned back and let the warriors around her conduct their battle. With Robert Fitzwalter seriously damaged and fleeing, the rest had about as much chance as a mob of chickens in the farmer’s yard, and Jessica Keller coming after them with an axe.
CHAPTER LXII
IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF JESSICA KELLER, QUEEN OF THE PIRATES: SEPTEMBER THE TENTH AT RAMSEY
JESSICA SAT in her office and watched her personal screens, looking down from high orbit over the southern pole of Ramsey. A crippled LWC Robert Fitzwalter had eventually managed to limp into the shadow of one of the orbital stations. They each had a pair of Type-4 emplacements and Jessica didn’t feel like spending the casualties necessary to crack one of the stations open.
That wasn’t why she was here. She had transmitted Vo’s package to anyone capable of listening a few hours ago, and then sat back and let the information infect the people of Ramsey.
Three of the frigates that she had fought were effectively scrap, while the other two had eventually managed to make it to safety as well. Nine of the twenty-four StarFighters that had been defending the system survived, but none of them had escaped damage.
Her own damage had been moderate, but she had started out from a position of strength and surprise, and exploited both ruthlessly.
Queen Jessica of Corynthe owned this system. At least for today. Certainly, civilians had escaped during the fighting and would tell someone that the redcoats had come here. She could expect a heavier squadron to appear at some point, but Aquitaine’s local Fleet Centurions would have to put together a big enough force to make her give way. She had taken some damage, but not enough that she couldn’t sit here for a bit and taunt the defenders.
Time to get to work.
“What’s the news on the ground like?” Jessica asked as she emerged from her office.
Even bad coffee and good food had been enough to rejuvenate her.
“Panic,” Jakob Li said as he looked up with a serene smile. “Every news show was discussing it, but we’re starting to see a crackdown now. Reruns of old comedy shows suddenly, instead of the nightly news.”
“Good, that means that the government is trying to suppress this, rather than owning up to it,” she smiled back as she took her station.
“Should they admit it?” Li asked, a little confused now.
“If they were proud of it, yes,” she said. “Now they are starting to act like children with hands caught in cookie jars. People are going to ask hard questions. Remember, Ramsey and Lincolnshire are republics, like Aquitaine. Officials are elected to do things, and can be removed as well.”
“Oh, right,” Li said. “So now what?”
“Now we see what they want to do about it,” Jessica said. “Perhaps they’ll ignore it and hope we go away. This is what the moral and ethical high ground was like when I was fighting against Buran. We could have bombarded any of a number of planets into submission, and instead just blew up their ships. Eventually, I went after their shipping as well, but Lady Moirrey and friends managed to kill Buran himself before things had to get completely out of hand.”
“Admiral,” one of the men around the outer edge of the room spoke up. “I’ve got a signal from the ground, specifically asking to speak with you.”
“Who’s on the other end?” Jessica asked, turning to pick the man out.
“They claim to be Ramsey’s government, sir,” he replied. “Governor Chavarría speaking.”
“Interesting,” Jessica noted. “And about time. I presume they are scrambling the circuit?”
“Affirmative, Admiral,” he said. “Nothing serious, but enough that the casual listener is blocked.”
“Record everything and prepare to play it back in the clear on all frequencies when we’re done,” Jessica ordered. “If she wants to behave, we might not, but I have absolutely no trust for the woman right now.”
“Coming up on channel four, sir.”
Jessica pressed the button to bring up the image. Indeed, there was the old Premier who had once made history by sending Jessica Keller to Thuringwell and the first, honest peace between the two nations in decades.
Judit had aged. Her black hair was showing gray underneath where she hadn’t been in to have it touched up in too long. There were tired lines in her forehead and around her eyes from the last time Jessica had seen her.
Jessica saw those same signs of aging in the mirror each morning, but she wasn’t the sort of clothes horse that rated her personal value on her looks. She had tried being a blond, once upon a long time ago. Being young and beautiful as a way to get ahead.
She could have maintained it, had she wanted. Without the constant battle of daily exercise, Jessica would have ended up looking like a plump housewife, like her mother. But letting her hair be its natural dark brown was enough. It had finally given up and started to turn silver. She would be fully white in a decade.
Judit was fighting tooth and nail to not lose that battle, but it was already done. At least the Palatine was seated at a desk with a camera facing her, so she could show off her perfect nails, still the woman’s signature.
“Jessica,” the Governor nodded as the screens synched.
“Judit,” Jessica replied.
“Arlo makes some very damning accusations in the video you transmitted,” Judit said. “I should sue you both for libel and slander.”
“Name the jurisdiction, Judit,” Jessica sneered happily. “I’ll be sure to meet you there with all my la
wyers and as much of the press corps as I can pack into my fleet.”
“Why are you doing this, Jessica?” Judit asked. “This doesn’t apply to you, you know.”
“Judit, you tried to assassinate the man at my wedding,” Jessica snapped. “Now you’ve conned Lincolnshire into starting a two-front war. Against me, I might point out. You’re doing Horvat’s bidding to restart the bigger war because that man’s ego is unable to accept the peace.”
“And you’ve gone and escalated it by drawing in Fribourg, Jessica,” Judit offered. “We would have never let it get that far out of hand.”
“No,” Jessica agreed. “You would have paid off the Dukes to keep the Empire out of it as long as possible with the possibility of a peace and trade treaty. That’s no longer an option, Judit. Now the only question is if you really want a full war with the rest of the galaxy.”
“We still have Lincolnshire,” Judit snapped.
“Today, Judit,” Jessica said. “Look at the sky overhead. I’ve just broken your local fleet.”
“With an Imperial fleet, Jessica,” Judit growled. “You’re the one pushing.”
“I purchased this fleet, Judit,” Jessica smiled. “They aren’t on loan, like First Expeditionary was against Buran. Fribourg decided to decommission them, and I bought the hulls and recruited the crews. This addition gives me enough firepower to annihilate Lincolnshire’s entire navy if I chose to. Just like I could have broken Robert Fitzwalter into two pieces and let the wreckage rain down on you on the surface below. The only thing that will protect Ramsey after this is Aquitaine, if they decide to continue this war with me.”
“And so we shall, Jessica,” Judit snapped. “Some of us remember our oaths and our loyalties.”
“Really, Judit?” Jessica let her voice do the cutting now. “Which oath was it that made it easy for you to assassinate an Aquitaine officer on detached duty? A duty assignment, if I recall, Premier Judit Chavarría herself approved. You sent Vo Arlo to St. Legier, Judit. If I were you, I’d be more worried that Vo might decide to come here to Ramsey personally. He has enough of a fleet at his fingertips to eliminate this planet. And I’ve spoken with him. He’s angry enough, too.”
“What do you want, Jessica?” Judit asked finally, controlling her anger.
“I want peace, Judit,” Queen Jessica replied casually. “But not with you. I want Lincolnshire to decide that they would rather treat fairly with me than to worry for the rest of their lives that Aquitaine is going to use them as a tool to stir up trouble, costing Lincolnshire lives because the Republic’s politicians are too big of cowards to do their own fighting. But it will come at a cost, Judit. Let the people holding your leash know that Lincolnshire can have peace with Corynthe, but the cost is their treaty with Aquitaine. As long as Ramsey is Ladaux’s lapdog, I will recognize no boundary, nor any peace.”
“Is that all?” the Governor sneered.
“It is,” Jessica smiled. “That packet has already been sent to various elements in the Republic of Aquitaine Navy, Judit. Eventually, you and Tad are going to have to discuss it in open Senate session. Perhaps you’ll invite me under diplomatic immunity to give testimony on that day. I wish you luck.”
Jessica reached out a hand and cut the signal.
“Transmit that conversation in the clear to every receiver on every channel,” she ordered with a smile. “Ramsey can decide if they want to continue to be the front line in somebody else’s war, or if they’d rather sit this one out. Give everyone here two hours and then we’ll set sail for the rendezvous point and resupply.”
“Got it, Admiral,” Li smiled. “Next stop?”
“That’s up to Aquitaine, Commander,” Jessica replied.
CHAPTER LXIII
IMPERIAL FOUNDING: 183/09/22. IMPERIAL PALACE, STRASBOURG, ST. LEGIER
TODAY, Casey hadn’t felt like traveling, so she had simply ordered Em and his assistants to call on her at the palace. Part of that was merely pique on her part, but also she wanted to see if those men would actually burn in the presence of sunlight, like the rumors about such spies. Cameron had joined them as well, giving the entire affair a legal and official imprimatur.
Casey looked across her dining room table at the men. Em and Cameron were at the two ends, and four spies sat across the moat from her.
“Gentlemen, I have read your various reports,” Casey began slowly. “Magan Gerig is deep enough into various conspiracies that he could probably be brought up on charges sufficient that the House of Dukes would vote to strip him of his rank, if not to actually have him executed. If we do not act now, though, then in time the energy of the situation will slowly fade and we will run the risk of looking like we’re settling old scores. Should we take him down immediately?”
She liked the way Em and Cameron looked uncomfortable at such a plan of action, while the four spies shrugged almost in unison, like a practiced choir.
“We serve Your Majesty’s will,” the oldest man, the one wearing a naval captain’s uniform replied. “If you choose to withhold the sword today, there are always other options later. They lack the elegance of an ethical solution today, and thus we hesitate to suggest them, but they remain in the toolbox.”
“Cameron, I understand that Gerig is largely ostracized by his peers at present,” Casey turned to the man. “How long will that remain the case?”
“Knowing those men, I would guess another six months at the longest,” her Chief of Deputies replied. “Gerig is too powerful of a personality to remain on the sidelines unless the government blackmails him thus. Rather than destroying the man, perhaps it would be enough to force him to resign as Duke and let one of his sons have the title? Without the ability to stand in the House itself to manipulate things, it effectively breaks him. Plus, anything he does at that point is much more clearly treason, since he would not be a Duke working as any part of the government.”
“Is there precedent?” Casey asked.
She hadn’t come across that sort of legalism before, but she didn’t have to know everything. That was why she had these men to advise her.
“There is,” Em spoke up with a sly grin. “Karl IV used it a number of times to break the Dukes to his will without having to necessarily send men out on midnight knocks. Your father and grandfather, as far as I remember, used other tools, but it lets you nullify Gerig without making a martyr of him that others might find useful.”
“I see,” Casey nodded. “Thank you. I swore when I began to reform the government that I would rely on the law to work, rather than the assassins of the Imperial Security Bureau. I would like to hold to that, as much as I can. But I will not allow treason, however thin the veil of rationalizations that someone like Gerig might have tried to obscure his actions behind.”
Casey paused to study these six men.
“Now, where are we with regard to open war against Aquitaine?” she asked.
“General zu Arlo has apparently put the fear of God Himself into their side, Your Majesty,” the Captain said with the faintest smile, gone like rime frost in sudden sunlight. “We have finally received the information packet that he had been distributing to every system his messengers can reach. It is a damning compilation. To date, Lincolnshire has declared war on Corynthe and Salonnia. Salonnia and Corynthe have reciprocated and Fribourg has exercised her treaty requirements to assist. Aquitaine has declared war now on both of the others, but has also made it carefully clear that they do not desire a war with Fribourg, and have been at pains not to cross our frontiers, even as there have been raids on Salonnian systems by Aquitaine squadrons.”
“In other words, a hot peace?” Casey asked. “One that will likely hold right up until the moment that a battle takes place between two of our fleets over allied skies?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Em replied. “I trust Tom Provst to try to keep a lid on things, but all it takes is one shot fired in error.”
Casey put both hands flat on the table and drew in breath. It would be so bloody e
asy to unleash the hounds of hell right now. Fribourg could overwhelm Lincolnshire without a second thought, but that risked a general war across all fronts.
How soon would Tadej Horvat, the man with the cruel mouth, draw the same conclusion and just send his fleets across to raid her worlds? Should she just give up the ghost of peace and move to crush Aquitaine now? She was in the right, since Horvat and his ilk had tried to kill Vo.
But at the same time, she was reacting to this like a woman, rather than an Emperor. Perhaps they were counting on that? Maybe they thought she was too young, too green to effectively command in this situation?
“Let us stand things on their head,” Casey turned to Em. “What would happen if I ordered all Imperial forces, including Tom Provst and Vo, to withdraw? To defend our systems and Salonnia, and then offering Lincolnshire and their allies a status quo ante peace, contingent on them acknowledging the assassination attempt?”
“What does that gain us?” Em asked. “Jessica won’t be bound by it, unless she chooses to be.”
“Nor should she,” Casey said. “But it breaks Horvat’s entire plan off at the knees if I refuse to dance with him. He’ll have to come right out and attack us, in the face of our stated, public preference for peace. As Jessica and Nils have said, much of this appears to be Horvat’s fear and jealousy that we might absorb the Protectorate of Man and grow so powerful in another generation that they’re doomed if they start something then.”
“I’m building new ships as fast as I can,” Em said simply. “Many of those were intended to hunt Sentient sharks across The Holding. I could just as easily send them outward instead. Selling Jessica that old squadron actually frees up space here.”
“So let us offer peace,” Casey stated boldly, turning to Cameron. “We are not at war with Aquitaine. Let us keep it that way as long as they will allow it. Instruct Salonnia that they will join us in making peace with Lincolnshire, and honoring it, or they’ll be on their own. Worse, if they piss me off, I might break them myself as an example for everyone else.”
