The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

A job with no defined purpose? Ha. I’ve seen that maneuver before. Iceni wanted Akiri out of where he was but didn’t want to raise any fuss over it, so she “promoted” him to a meaningless job. “What do we know about Akiri?”

“An undistinguished record, no known mentor or sponsor. Command of that unit was the highest he would ever go.”

That fit. After a few months, when no one was any longer paying attention, Iceni would probably slide Akiri into some obscure job suitable to his limited talents. “Who took over command of the cruiser?” Drakon asked.

“An executive named Asima Marphissa who was second-in-command. She’s been promoted to sub-CEO. There were a number of more senior executives bypassed in favor of Marphissa.”

“Hmmm. It sounds like President Iceni is grooming this Marphissa for bigger things.”

Malin nodded, his eyes distant with thought. “The new flotilla commander?”

“Could be, though Iceni will probably wait a month or so before doing that for the sake of appearances since Marphissa is being boosted over people with more seniority. See what you can learn about why Iceni has taken an interest in this Marphissa and whether it’s going to be a full-bore patron relationship.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything else?”

Drakon hesitated. “President Iceni strikes me as being increasingly temperamental over the last few days. Do we have any indications of what might be making her unhappy?”

“She has encountered Morgan, sir.”

“Very funny. I already have to deal with one volatile female in the form of Morgan. I don’t need another in President Iceni, and it’s not like what I know of her. I think something has her seriously worried. See if you can find out what.”

Malin spoke carefully. “We are maintaining troops at a higher state of alert than called for by the situation, General.”

“You know why that is. I need to be ready to react fast if we learn that President Iceni is getting ready to move against me.”

“She is very likely worried that the heightened alert status means that you intend moving against her unilaterally, sir.”

“Are you advocating that I stand down? That would give her a lot more room to maneuver.”

“You know my assessment, sir,” Malin said. “I am confident that President Iceni is willing to accept partnership with you and will only strike at you if she believes that you are preparing to strike at her.”

“You’ve been wrong in your assessments sometimes. I’ll think about it. I’m also worried about more Colonel Duns popping up. I know we can trust Colonels Kai, Rogero, and Gaiene, but the locals are another matter.”

“Colonel Morgan is investigating all of them as you directed,” Malin said. “She is thorough, as well as highly distrustful. It is unlikely that anything will get past her.”

And that assignment kept her and Malin from interacting too much for a while. Drakon nodded. “When I get Morgan’s report, I’ll make a decision. Did we ever learn anything that would tell us what was in the transmission Colonel Dun sent right before she died?”

“No, sir. There wasn’t anything recoverable in Dun’s equipment. We do know that it went to the cruiser that was taken over by the ISS agents aboard and not to anyone else in the star system. The cruiser does not appear to have relayed that message back into the star system to anyone on this planet before it entered the hypernet gate.”

What had Dun wanted to tell the snakes on that warship? What had been important enough to be what Dun surely suspected would be her last transmission to anyone? But thinking about that led back into memories of seeing Malin aiming at Morgan’s back, and Drakon didn’t want to go there. “Let me know if we get any clues as to what the message was.”

“Perhaps President Iceni might have some ideas of what the message could have been,” Malin suggested. “She is in constant contact with the mobile forces and has experience in commanding them.”

“That’s possible.” Drakon sat back, rubbing his eyes. “I didn’t see any sense in telling her about it until I had some idea what it meant. And I don’t entirely trust the mobile forces anyway. Maybe that’s what’s giving President Iceni problems. Is she concerned about the loyalty of those warships? If more of them went the way of that cruiser, it could be real bad for us and weaken her own position relative to me.”

“I will see what I can learn,” Malin said.

“What about that assistant of hers? Togo? Could she be worried about him?”

“He is very loyal to her as well as very dangerous, sir. Extremely valuable to President Iceni, and he is also one of her most effective weapons.”