The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

She mimicked his gesture, pointing her own forefinger at him. “Let’s hope neither one of us is foolish enough to force the other to pull the trigger.”

“What do I have to promise to make you feel secure returning to the surface?”

“Your promises mean nothing.” Iceni watched him again, wishing she knew more about the man. “But I do have control of the mobile forces, and I will tell you that if anything happens to me, dead-man programs within their targeting systems will automatically launch a bombardment of the planet using every kinetic projectile aboard these warships.”

“I’d hate to see that happen.”

She couldn’t tell whether or not Drakon believed her. In fact, she hadn’t had the chance to set up such a system. But all that mattered was that Drakon believed she had, or remained uncertain about whether such a system to retaliate for her death existed. “Me, too. I’m glad we understand each other. I’ll be taking a shuttle down soon. I believe a face-to-face conference in a secure location as soon as possible is important. Where will we meet?”

Drakon paused to think. She knew what he was concerned about. If he came to her offices, it would feed the impression that she was superior to him. But if she went to his headquarters to meet Drakon, it would imply that Drakon was ultimately in charge.

“There’s a set of secure conference rooms the snakes maintained partway between your offices and my headquarters,” Drakon finally said. “We already went through them, looking for any snakes hiding out there, but I’ll make sure they’re swept again for snake surveillance gear and booby traps before you land. Is that acceptable?”

It would mean trusting that Drakon and his people would do a good enough job on that sweep. But she would have her bodyguards with her, and they carried their own hidden gear for spotting danger of many kinds. Iceni considered the idea, then nodded. “All right. I’ll notify you when I’ve landed.”

* * *

WHEN she stepped off the shuttle Iceni could see Togo and several of her bodyguards waiting at the ramp. Much farther off, soldiers and military vehicles were positioned around the landing area. “Why are they here?” she asked.

Togo made a helpless gesture. “Security and crowd control. They said. They have not attempted to hinder us in any way.”

“We’ll see if that continues.” At least Drakon had shown the courtesy to keep his soldiers at a distance from her rather than placing them so close they might have seemed to be controlling Iceni.

She started walking toward her offices. “How does everything look?”

If Togo had wanted to say everything is fine, it was the perfect opening, but he didn’t respond that way. “Things could be worse.”

As they cleared some of the barriers around the field, Iceni could see the crowds of citizens still filling the streets. The noise from them, which had formed a low-level background hum that Iceni hadn’t really noticed, rose in volume as Iceni came into view. After a tense moment she realized that once again she was hearing cheers. “For me?”

“You are one of the liberators, CEO Iceni,” Togo replied, his expression deadpan. “The citizens are happy that thanks to you the mobile forces are no longer threats but have become guardians of their safety.”

Iceni, moved by a silly impulse, raised one hand to wave and heard the cheers rise a little louder. It felt good, and frightening. “Drakon is calling himself General now. I need a new title. CEO has too many bad connotations, and reeks of the Syndicate Worlds.”

Togo pulled out his hand unit as they kept walking, the bodyguards behind at a discreet distance. He punched in the query and frowned as he read the response. “There are many possible alternatives. Queen?”

“A good job description but that might sound a bit autocratic to the citizens,” Iceni said.

“There is no sense in telegraphing your intent,” Togo agreed. “Governor?”

“Too subordinate-sounding.”

“Prime Minister?”

“First among ministers? No, I need to be first, period.”

Togo consulted his unit again. “The Man.”

“What?” Iceni asked.

“The Man. Archaic. Very archaic.”

“And obviously not me,” Iceni said.

“The Big Cheese. The Big . . . Kahuna.”

“Are you making these up or actually reading those titles?”

“I am reading them, Madam CEO. How about Czar, Kaiser, or Caesar? The first two were derived from the last.” Togo frowned again. “But they all mean absolute ruler. Leader, Khan, Sheik, Pasha, Sultan, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed . . .”

“I like that last one.”

“And it is fitting,” Togo agreed. “But it might cause the citizens to believe that you have simply altered your brand name and intend to rule the same as a CEO.”

“We can’t have them believing that, can we?” Iceni said.

“How about the President? Or First Citizen?”

“That first one is a possibility. How does one become a president?”