The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

“I don’t know,” Iceni answered. “And that bothers me. Who would I be? I’ve spent my life, as you have, being careful, being afraid, toeing the line, playing the system, sometimes being a victim and sometimes being a victor. When we stuck our necks out, those necks, and the rest of us, ended up here in exile. Which was lucky because those necks could have been chopped off. Now the system is ours. We could make it what we want.”

“Like that thing about the trials?”

“Like that.”

Drakon felt himself really smiling, not just faking the gesture. “I guess that is nice to think about.”

“At least when none of our aides or assistants or guards are around to keep us on guard. It’s like living in a straitjacket sometimes, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Drakon agreed. “Freedom is, well, frightening in some ways. But we’ve never really had it, so we don’t know what it could be.”

“If you could do anything, absolutely anything, right now, what would you do?” Iceni asked.

“Um . . .” He didn’t want to answer that honestly, because he had always found women with that kind of curiosity, that kind of intellect, to be extremely attractive. But he doubted that Iceni would be flattered by an expression of physical desire, right now, for her, even if the desire was generated by her brain and not the other parts of her. “I don’t know. Run naked into the woods, I guess.”

Iceni laughed. “Really? What an interesting idea. What made you say that?”

“It was the craziest thing I could think of,” Drakon said.

“It sounds like fun. Let me know if you ever decide to do it.”

If only he could trust her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DRAKON preferred simple plans. They had fewer things that could go wrong. Even the simple parts could turn into a total goat rope, but if you kept the parts limited in number, that at least offered a chance to limit the number of goat ropes you would have to deal with when the plan hit reality head-on. “Not bad.”

Malin checked his own readout of the plan, and Morgan gave Drakon a surprised look. They knew that “not bad” wasn’t the same as “good to go.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Morgan asked.

“Only one thing.” He pointed to the display over his desk where the plan for entering the Taroa Star System played out in three dimensions. “You’ve got one freighter loaded with half of one brigade coming in early and alone to surprise and capture the primary orbiting docks before the rest of the force shows up. That’s good. It’s critically important that we capture those docks intact along with whatever is being built there and the skilled workers building it. But your plan calls for you to use part of Gaiene’s brigade, with Morgan along to represent me, while Malin and I follow with Kai’s brigade, the rest of Gaiene’s soldiers and Senski’s local brigade.”

“I can handle it,” Morgan said, bridling.

“Yes, but in action you and Gaiene are both very aggressive. What’s needed there along with Colonel Gaiene is someone to watch the flanks and rear, someone to make sure we get whatever is being built in that main construction dock—”

“I’m just as good at that as Malin, there.”

“—and someone who can immediately deal with the Free Taroans before they realize that we stole their primary docking facility. That’s me.”

It was Malin’s turn to object. “Sir, that lead freighter is going in without any escort. If there is even one light mobile unit in the Taroa Star System, and it is under control of the snakes or Syndicate loyalists, then it could choose to intercept that freighter. That would put you at very great risk.”

“The last word we had is that there are no Syndicate or snake-controlled mobile units at Taroa,” Drakon said. “If one has shown up, it won’t be hanging around the jump point for Midway. It’ll be at the fourth planet, where most of the population is and the snakes and Syndicate loyalists are fighting the other two factions. Our freighter will be able to evade it for long enough if a warship like that comes for us, and once the rest of the force shows up, we’ll have enough firepower to make it run.”

“General, you are too important to risk yourself that way. If the loyalists have any nukes emplaced on those docks, they can blow the entire thing to hell if they realize in time what’s happening. I can—”

“No,” Morgan broke in. “I can handle it.”

“You’re both good,” Drakon said, “but this is my job. Morgan, you’ll ride with Colonel Kai, and Malin, you’ll be with Colonel Senski. End of discussion.”

They talked a bit longer about details, working those matters out, then Malin left.

Morgan paused before leaving, however. “If this is because you think that Gaiene would hit on me if we were on the same ship, you’re wrong.”