The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

Drakon made a dissatisfied face. “And you lost two other cruisers as well?”

That stung. “I lost one other cruiser, Kolani’s flagship C-990. She sabotaged it. C-818 took a lot of damage to its main propulsion, but I already have other units en route to take it in tow so we can have repairs done. We will have four heavy cruisers to defend this star system.” Not until Iceni had said it did she realize how pathetic that force level really sounded.

But Colonel Malin commented before anyone else could. “That’s not much, but compared to what else is available out here now, and to the government on Prime, it’s a significant defense force.”

“You can’t catch the last cruiser? C-625?” Drakon asked.

“It’s one and a half light-hours distant, General,” Iceni replied. “Do you have any idea how many billions of kilometers that is?”

“I’ve marched enough kilometers to know how far one is,” Drakon said, his voice growing sharper. “Maneuvering is a matter of planning ahead and outthinking the opponent.”

Iceni smiled humorlessly. “I only wish space combat were as simple as ground combat.”

“Simple?” She had apparently touched a nerve. Drakon openly glared at her. “I’m sure everything is all clean and easy and sterile up in space, where you can slam shots at the enemy and never see their faces, let alone the blood and bodies, but it’s different and harder in the mud.”

Visions of the nightmare images from C-990 flashed into Iceni’s memory. To her own surprise, her voice came out fairly steady. “You may be seriously underestimating the impact of war even amid the silence of space.”

Something in her tone nonetheless registered on Drakon, whose anger shaded into careful study of Iceni. “Did you lose many people up there?”

“No. Except on C-990.”

Togo intervened, speaking emotionlessly. “There were no survivors on C-990. Internal fighting killed everyone.”

“Internal.” Drakon nodded and sat back. “That must have been ugly. All right. There are four heavy cruisers and some lighter units. I’ve got enough ground forces to hold the planet easily, especially once I get all the local troops up to speed now that I don’t have to worry about stepping on the toes of any CEOs a hundred light-years from here.”

Iceni, regaining her own composure, brought up a display of this region of space. “According to the latest information we have, there are a few other mobile forces in nearby star systems. I’m going to send individual HuKs out to those star systems to invite those warships to join with us. The last we heard, there were mobile forces units at Taroa, Kahiki, and Lono.”

“Nothing at Kane, Laka, Maui, or Iwa?” Drakon asked, naming the other four Syndicate star systems that could be reached from jump points at Midway. Being able to access such an unusually large number of other stars directly had given Midway its name.

He didn’t have to ask about the eighth star that could be reached from Midway. Pele had been abandoned to the alien enigma race a long time ago. Every Syndicate ship sent there since that time had vanished without a trace.

“Not to our knowledge,” Iceni replied. “The warships we send to Taroa, Kahiki, and Lono will also give us current information on what is happening in those star systems and anything they know about other places. Once they report back here I’ll send another wave out to check the remaining neighboring star systems.”

“Good plan,” Drakon approved.

Iceni watched him, judging her next move. Despite the fact that they had launched a rebellion together, they knew very little about each other as persons. Their coordination had of necessity been through the briefest possible means, all communications and the rare personal meeting in the course of their Syndicate duties carried out with official faces on. Anything else might have compromised their cooperation and plans to the ever-watchful snakes. Their official records were well-known to each other, but the things not in those records remained ambiguous. She knew Drakon’s face, but what lay behind it was another matter, and he surely felt the same regarding her.

Making up her mind to confront a volatile issue, Iceni leaned forward. “Now that you’ve agreed with my plans for the mobile forces, I’d like some input on what your assets are doing. I understand that there are ground forces guarding the snakes’ family complexes.”

“That’s right.” Drakon met her gaze without flinching. “All snakes have been pulled from the complexes. All that’s left are families.”

“What do you intend doing with them, General?”

Drakon paused, then blew out a long breath. “I’m still considering options.”

To his left, Colonel Morgan managed to convey disapproval without moving a muscle or making a sound.

Togo spoke into the silence that followed. “They will never be welcome, or safe, within this star system.”

Once again, Drakon displayed simmering anger. “Then what are you proposing?”

“It is too late to let the citizens resolve the issue for us—”