The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

Kamara returned the look. “Us? Very few on offensive operations. It’s the loyalists that have gotten chopped up trying to reestablish control over the areas that belong to us, and the Workers Universal, which sent some human waves up the ridges before we killed so many they ran low on wave material.”

“You’ve played it smart,” Malin said.

“I don’t know if it’s smart. I convinced the interim congress to hold off on attacks since we seemed more likely to win by waiting out the loyalists and the workers. But I’ve been under increasing pressure to stage some offensive operations because everyone has been worried about a Syndicate Worlds’ relief force showing up to reinforce the loyalists and pound us flat.” Kamara shook her head, sighing. “I knew I was just buying time. We couldn’t win, and we’d keep getting weaker relative to the loyalists.”

“You did the right thing,” Drakon said. “Maybe you couldn’t have won, but you damn well could have lost a lot faster if you’d bled your forces dry in futile attacks. The Syndicate Worlds government is busy in a lot of places and doesn’t have nearly as much strength to deal with rebellions as it would like. Taroa would be pretty low on their priority list unless they happened to have someone out this way for another reason.” A reason such as recapturing the Midway Star System, but there wasn’t any need to bring that up. “Something else could have happened to even the odds for you. And it did.”

“That was my thinking,” Sub-CEO Kamara said, looking pleased at Drakon’s words. “It’s been a progressively more lonely position to hold, though. So many people want instant results, without thinking about the chances of success or the costs.” She turned to the map, pointing out red splotches in some of the valleys where towns and small cities could be found, usually where those valleys let out on the coastline to allow easier access by water. “The main loyalist strongholds are in these areas.”

“Why hasn’t anyone tried assaults from the water?” Drakon asked. “Real narrow frontages, open fields of fire, jagged reefs just offshore, with thin channels dredged through them that make perfect kill zones, mines . . .” Sub-CEO Kamara shrugged, her bitter expression contrasting with the casual gesture. “It was tried a few times. I tried it, hoping the loyalists would be focused against ground attacks and overconfident about the effectiveness of defenses along the water. I was wrong. That’s where we took most of our losses.”

“Does CEO Rahmin still command the Syndicate loyalists?” Malin asked.

“She did until about two weeks ago. That’s when a suicide squad from the Workers Universal infiltrated the loyalists’ interim capital and blasted their way into her command center.” Kamara didn’t seem particularly upset at the loss of her former superior. “Now there’s a snake running the show over there. CEO Ukula.”

Morgan waved at the map. “If we take out the snakes, do the regular troops keep fighting?”

“That depends on whether they think they’ll die if they try to surrender.”

“Will they?” Drakon asked.

“Some units have committed serious atrocities. They’ll have trouble trying to surrender,” Kamara said as calmly as if she were talking about road conditions. “Others have been a lot better behaved.”

Morgan smiled. “We can split the loyalist soldiers, then. All it takes is contact with the units that will be allowed to surrender.”

“I can give you the identities of those units,” Kamara said. “Managing hidden contact with them may be—”

“No problem,” Morgan said, her smile still in place but now wolflike. “I can handle it.”

Kamara stared at her for a moment, then looked back at the map.

Malin was running his finger across scattered purple blotches on the map, all of them concentrated in urban areas. “This marks areas controlled by the Workers Universal?”

“Roughly.” Kamara’s expression shifted to disgust. “If we can roll up the snakes and turn everything on the Workers Universal, I think they’ll fold pretty quick because they’ve hollowed themselves out. Sure, the workers have gotten lousy deals. But the ones who went with the Workers Universal are a lot worse off now. I told you about the human waves the WUs sent against us. Some real nutcases have taken over there. Their opposition in the workers’ leadership was accused of treason, arrested and shot, or simply disappeared. These days, the ones left in charge are killing as many of their own workers in purges as we are in fighting them.”

“Cannibalization of the revolution once the most radical begin competing for purity,” Malin commented. “It’s happened countless times in the past. Right now, many of those in this star system seeking stability are drawn to the loyalists as protection against the Free Taroans and the Workers Universal. But if the loyalists are defeated, then the choice for such people will be between—”