The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

Turning them back over to the Taroans would be an admission that he had pulled loyalist soldiers up to the orbital docks, as well as risking the six soldiers’ telling the Taroans that others from their units were still in Drakon’s custody.

Besides, he had a responsibility to deal with this.

“Firing squads. Get it done, and get rid of the bodies. They died on the planet. Understand?”

“Yes, General.” Malin turned to go.

“Colonel Malin.” Drakon waited while he halted. “Is there anything else you want to say?” The invitation would give Malin a chance to talk, and for some reason Drakon wanted to know what Malin would say.

Malin took a moment to reply, then faced Drakon squarely. “I request clarification as to Colonel Morgan’s future status, General.”

“Unchanged.”

Was that relief that flickered across Malin’s features?

Another pause, then Malin spoke with extreme care. “General, I realize that I have no right to ask this—”

“It won’t happen again,” Drakon said. He definitely saw relief this time. And he had to tell someone. “I got drunk. I wasn’t thinking. It’s not going to happen again.”

Malin looked down, nodding. “General, she has an agenda. I don’t know what it is, but Morgan is after more than . . . sharing your bed for one night.”

“And what is it that you’re after, Colonel Malin?”

Malin paused. “What I do, General, is always in your best interests.”

Drakon stared at the door after he had left, wondering why Malin and Morgan had used almost identical language to describe their intentions toward him.

That afternoon, he took a shuttle up to the orbital docks, wanting to be quit of the soil of Taroa. He was tired of dealing with people who couldn’t be told to do what needed to be done but had to be convinced. A single, strong leader could get things done.

But they didn’t have that at Midway, either. He had to get Iceni’s approval for things like this. What if she had objected? How could anything with two heads function properly? And what if she heard about Morgan? He shouldn’t care if Iceni heard, shouldn’t care how she reacted to it if she heard, but all of those questions bothered him, further souring his mood.

Even a tour of the battleship hull didn’t help. Going through it only emphasized how much remained to be done, how empty and incomplete the hull was compared to the one that Iceni had brought back from Kane.

It took a while to get all of the soldiers of the three brigades and their equipment as well back up to the docks and the modified freighters. The Interim Congress of Free Taroa dithered and debated, but thanks to copious bribes doled out by Colonel Malin and the efforts of agents working for him, the congress eventually approved the two temporary agreements on self-defense and trade, to last until a government was seated and voted them up or down.

“Major Lyr.” Drakon waved Colonel Gaiene’s second-in-command to a seat. “How’d you like to be a colonel?”

Lyr regarded Drakon with the wariness of a veteran. “What’s the catch, sir?”

“Independent command.”

It only took a moment for Lyr to figure that out. “Here, sir?”

“Right.” Drakon leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk. “You’re a good soldier, a good administrator, and I know how much you’ve done to keep your brigade in top condition.” He didn’t add how important that had been in light of Colonel Gaiene’s more-than-occasional lapses in periods without combat. Lyr knew that Drakon knew, and Drakon never bad-mouthed officers in front of their subordinates. “You’ll keep two companies from Gaiene’s brigade plus one company made up of regulars from Taroa who’ve been judged most reliable. This job will require someone who can operate on their own and also work with the Free Taroans. That part will be tough. You have to avoid being too overbearing with them because we want them thinking of us as partners, but you can’t let the Free Taroans think they can tell us what to do. I think you can handle that.”

Lyr nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“There’ll be a civilian left here, too. One of President Iceni’s representatives whose job is to handle all of the trade and diplomatic stuff that doesn’t involve military or security matters. Freighters should be making fairly frequent runs between here and Midway, so there shouldn’t be any problem keeping me informed. Handle the little problems and try to spot big problems in time for me to act.”

“So,” Lyr said, “nothing too difficult or demanding.”

Drakon smiled, knowing that Lyr meant the opposite. “Exactly.”

“I’ll do my best, General.”

“I know, Colonel. That’s why you got the job and the promotion.” As hard as Lyr’s job would be, Drakon thought, it probably wouldn’t be as difficult as finding a replacement for Lyr as Gaiene’s second-in-command. But, what the hell, I need to grow more senior officers. Nobody ever claimed my job was easy, either.