The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

Another message, this one directly to every other ship in Kolani’s group. “I have assumed direct command of all mobile forces within this star system. You are to acknowledge my authority and pledge personal loyalty to me. I expect your immediate reply.”

The earliest she would hear a response from Kolani or any of the ships with her was twenty minutes. “Let me know the instant any of the mobile forces with Kolani begin to alter their movement,” she ordered Akiri.

Akiri shook his head. “All of the light cruisers and HuKs with Kolani are under the guns of those two heavy cruisers. They won’t be able to bolt without fighting their way out.”

“Correct,” Iceni agreed, her tone implying that she had already taken that into account.

“But if any of them turn on Kolani,” Executive Marphissa pointed out, “their weapons will be within easy range of those heavy cruisers. A sudden, surprise volley could inflict crippling damage.”

Iceni smiled. “Yes.”

“But won’t Kolani be watching for that?” Akiri asked.

Having subordinates who identified problems instead of ignoring them (or worse, being oblivious to them) usually pleased Iceni. But subordinates who raised every possible difficulty without identifying positive aspects or solutions were another matter. This time Iceni raised an eyebrow at Akiri. She could do that in a way that inspired real fear in those junior to her, and now Akiri paled slightly. “Yes,” Iceni repeated. “She will have to watch the mobile forces with her and worry about fighting us at the same time.”

“I see,” Akiri agreed hastily, then busied himself working with his display.

From the corner of her eye, Iceni could see a well-concealed but still-apparent look of disdain on Marphissa. None of the line workers on the bridge betrayed any signs of noticing what had happened, however, which implied that this sort of scene had played out before, most likely when CEO Kolani browbeat Akiri. When Iceni had heard that Kolani had more than once publicly raked Akiri over the coals, she had known that would make Akiri easy to recruit. But Iceni also found herself sympathetic to why Kolani would have chewed out Akiri and wondering why Kolani hadn’t already replaced him. Kolani wasn’t known for a high degree of tolerance for workers who didn’t do their jobs to her standards. And there wasn’t anything in Akiri’s personal record that should have inhibited Kolani from sacking him. There was an inconsistency in her treatment of Akiri, a problem that Iceni bookmarked in her brain to come back to and investigate when time permitted.

At the moment, though, she had to endure a forced period of waiting while still staying alert and focused. Waiting until replies came from Kolani and the other mobile forces ten light-minutes distant. Waiting until she knew how well Drakon’s attacks had succeeded. Or failed. Iceni found her eyes resting on the portion of her display showing the surface of the planet below this cruiser. ISS facilities were highlighted because of the fighting at those locations. If she received information that one or more of Drakon’s attacks had failed, it wouldn’t be hard at all to designate one or more of those facilities as a bombardment target. Point, assign, launch. Simple. And part of a city, and everyone living in that area, would be destroyed.

I launched bombardments at Alliance worlds. That wasn’t hard. I didn’t think about the citizens under those aiming points. Are people in the Alliance called citizens? Why don’t I know the answer to that? I killed them, and I don’t even know what they called themselves.

Of course, that made it easier to kill them.

I never had to participate in an internal stability operation, dropping a bombardment on one of our own worlds to quell rebellion or riot. I was lucky. But here I am potentially facing the same decision.