“Why not take the best?” asked Hallington.
“The Excalibur four should give us a significant advantage in a fighter fight, so the midrange pilots should still be able to beat anything they go up against.”
“Who do you want as CAG?” asked Lacey.
“Convince Walter to take your place on Sceptre, or come up with someone else, and you can be CAG. It’s temporary, and if we don’t come up with big ship drivers we can trust, you’ll be permanently assigned to Sceptre.”
He didn’t look happy.
“Look, I know you hate such a big ship, but you were adamant you didn’t want one of the new dreadnaughts either. I’d just as soon have you leading them. But frankly, you’re wasted in a fighter or corvette, so you got Sceptre so Annette could move to Turmoil. As it is, I don’t have a captain for Katana now either.”
“Move Simhausen to Katana,” suggested Hallington. “While we’re moving squadrons about, we can give her three as well. She could give the Dreamwalker task force a second carrier, and bring them up to six squadrons of fours.”
“Fine, do that. Gertrude’s ready for her oak leaf. You want to give it to her?”
“Yes please.”
“I’ll get Syrinx to organize rifts for you.”
He nodded, and I turned to Jack, who’d not said anything so far.
“I’m going to load you up with our marines, and at least a battalion of troops. Might be Lufaflufs, but I need to talk to Annabelle first. Chances are, we’ll need to do several board and secure operations, and having Orion’s Star there as well, should intimidate anyone who would have otherwise fought.”
“How will you replace us on the choke point?” he asked.
I told them.
“You want Homer and Bonko ready to load up?”
“Might as well. We can’t really use them here. Pick up General Slim as well. With Scimitar’s passing, we have the spare assault frigate, so may as well use it. Custer can come with me for team one.”
“Will do. Any chance of taking some dragons? I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”
He was grinning now.
“Working on it. I’m hoping for a squad of both dragons and wyvern, if not a platoon of each. But the diplomats are still negotiating.”
The negotiations hadn't stopped me laying in a pallet of beer from Dragon’s Rest, as the planet was now called. I’d had to buy mine, as soon as we had an exchange rate set up. George on the other hand, received his pallet as a gift, along with a second mixed pallet of everything else alcoholic they had to offer. Samples were already in circulation testing the potential market for them.
“What do you need from the rest of us?” asked Bigglesworth.
“Hold the line. And keep on with your other tasks. If I need you, I’ll call.”
“And after?” asked Jedburgh.
“Hopefully we have some candidates for you to choose from, and something for them to fly. And lots more troops to use.”
Four
“The council signed off on your plan.”
David Tollin was sitting in my personal office in my suite, since I’d refused to go to Terminus and meet the council. I was passed it, but still giving them the ‘I’m narked at you’ look. Saying you were over something was a popular expression with a good intention, but actually meant the opposite and told everyone you weren’t. I wouldn’t be over it for a good long time, but I was passed it. Subtle distinction. Yes.
“I’m so glad.”
“Don’t be like that Jon. They’re politicians used to giving orders to their military. And it was worth a try, in spite of you being adamant it wouldn’t work. They’ve adjusted their thinking now.”
I said nothing, just looking him in the eyes and being serious. He went on.
“I made sure they know the dangers down the track if things go the way you want them to, but they accept we need more allies now, regardless of potential future problems. The first part is already in place. The Bhockah are ready to join the Imperium now.”
“The panthers?”
“Yes. We sent some of Jane’s now jump drive equipped limousines to get diplomatic teams. She had to change out the chairs for something bigger, and they’re here already, and signing in a few hours’ time. The cheetahs, lynx, jaguars, cougars, lions, and leopards, of a dozen different system groups, are all very unhappy with the Keerah as well, and as long as we can seal off their space, they all want to join us too.”
“That will make the council a bit unbalanced. I hope they all like each other. The last thing we need on the council is cat fights.”
“Apparently not, but they do agree on some things, especially now with half of them being in imminent danger from the Trixone, and the Keerah not adequately defending their space. I don’t blame them either. We expect to have the whole lot on board in a few days.”
“Good. What do we get?”
“Their primary militia fleets have already been recalled into their own space, so when you seal them up, everything except police units will be seconded to the Imperium navy. It’s a requirement for joining. It also solves one of your problems I think.”
“Which one?”
“The vacant ship slot if Lacey goes with you.”
“How so?”
“You remember that Bhockah captain you dealt with originally?”
He’d joined Arthur for a mission and had his ship trashed before we made it there. Mind you, Arthurs had been trashed as well, so it was no indication of anything negative. If anything, it showed a willingness to go in when the odds were against you.
“Yes.”
“He’s asked to be able to captain one of our ships, and learn Imperium tactics by being part of the existing fleet. What he learns can then be taught to their other captains. We’ve tentatively said yes, on the proviso you agree.”
It did solve the problem. Move Sato to Sceptre, thus putting a one star on her, and have the Bhockah captain take Dauntless, which was one of the two original dreadnaughts, and thus older tech. Sato wouldn’t be all that pleased with the move, being a small ship man, but also wouldn’t say anything against it. He’d just do his short serious Japanese bow thing, and obey orders.
“Fine. That works for me. Jane?”
“Jon?” came from the room coms.
“Tell Lacey I solved his problem, and if he’s already spoken to Walter, tell him he’s off the hook.”
“Confirmed.”
“Have Sato take over Sceptre, and prepare Dauntless for a big cat crew.”
“How many of the crew?”
I turned back to David.
“Is the captain here already?” He nodded. “With a bridge crew?” He nodded again. I thought for a moment. “Okay, move Dauntless’s crew to Homer with Jack’s permission, and put the Dauntless XO in command. It’s temporary until we roll out another ship needing a crew. Have the XO stay long enough to give the panthers an introduction to the ship and AI.”
“Confirmed. Dauntless will probably want to do a custom panther avatar. You okay with that?”
“Sure. The AI’s can look however they like. You know that.”
“Just checking.”
“What about the cat admirals?” I asked David. “Are they on board with this?”
“There are no cat admirals.”
“How did that happen?”
“The Keerah only allowed them a single one star, and all of them were mobilized as soon as the Trixone attacked. They were on fleets you moved forward, and are now all dead. The Bhockah captain is actually their senior officer. In fact, he’s the most senior of all of the cat militia.”
“That makes things easier. I can put Dauntless into their formations as flagship if need be.”
Maybe not. It needed some thought. Mixed formations were always a problem.
“Once the signing is all done, I’ll have Jane collate their formations for you, and where they are.”
“Send all that to Susan Bentley. And ask her to whip up a traini
ng schedule for the panther captain and his crew.”
Susan was technically the fleet commander in my absence. And it saved me getting involved. I had enough to do without worrying about herding cats.
“Are we mapping their space, Jane?”
“In progress. The comnavsat freighter has already completed Bhockah space, and is moving now to the next nearest. Give it a few hours.”
“Any Keerah movement towards any of them?”
“Not that I know of. Nothing heading for the panthers anyway. Once the network is up, I’ll push out a few jumps, so we get warning. But I’d recommend sealing off their space before the Keerah figure out what’s happening.”
“Do we need to wait for signings?” I asked David.
“I don’t see why we need to. I’ve been informed all their civilian traffic has been recalled as well. So the sooner the better, as the tigers are likely to miss the civilian traders first. And in any case, sealing jump points is reversible, isn’t it?”
“It is. Fine. I’ll do a fast run around their space in a Lightning with Jane as soon as the nav network is up, and do the jump point changes all in one go. Are they offering shipyards?”
“No. But they can build shipyard modules to our specifications.”
“Get Bob working on that, Jane.”
“Confirmed. Do you want a jump drive limo?”
“Sure. May as well.”
“I’ll get one ready.”
“You do that.”
“I will.”
David was grinning. I let her have the last word, and shook my head from side to side.
“I saw that!” she said.
David started chuckling.
Five
I found the whole team sitting comfortably in the main cabin of the limo.
Not only the team, but Aline’s security detail as well. I was still getting used to having them decorate the walls next to whatever room I was in, and following me around. One of the things I was still figuring out was if I wanted to get to know them or not. Aline was settling into her new role really well, and both of us were more relaxed now. But having security people follow you around all the time wasn’t my idea of either necessary, or a good thing. Everyone said I’d get used to it. Maybe.
Everyone was in uniform for once, and the armbands were not showing anymore thanks to George, making them look like a proper uniform again. He’d even added a nice little extra, so we didn’t need to take them off anymore. When you shifted to a belt, the armbands were moved to the belt, appearing like suspender loops on normal pants, without the pants.
Annabelle was also with the team, and it reminded me we needed to talk about troops. While Vonda was the ranking general, Annabelle was more in touch with the day to day troop movements. I stopped at the door into the cockpit.
“Any particular reason you’re all coming along?”
“Sightseeing,” said Alison.
They all grinned at me. Granted, we were going into an area of space no human had been before, but the limo had no windows, just screens. All they’d see was what Jane showed them, and they could see it more comfortably back home after, than by going along.
“Fine. Enjoy.”
I went through into the cockpit, and found Jane sitting in the pilot’s chair. She didn’t move, and pointed me towards the jump seat. I glared at her, but she ignored me. Technically it was her ship, and I was a passenger. I closed my mouth, and sat where indicated.
Like most pilots, I hated not being in control. Jane knew this. And obviously didn’t care.
“Restraints on,” she said, broadcasting it into the main cabin for everyone.
She waited for everyone to buckle up. With no warning at all, the ship started jumping. Every couple of seconds the view outside shifted, as we jumped from system to system using the new jump drive. I could have rifted us there faster, but Jane was still playing with the drive, and experimenting with how far it would jump without using a significant amount of power.
It was difficult to keep track of where we were on the navmap, going as fast as we were, but I gained the sense we were jumping two or even three systems at a time.
“Any restrictions on going three systems instead of one?”
“Yes.”
“Such as?”
“Like everything else, power use. Single system jumps use very little, so you can string a lot of them together, and take a little bit longer. But when you start hopping two or three systems at a time, you use more power, and it takes longer to recharge.”
“So you could in theory do a one hundred system jump?”
“Yes, but you’d run the jump power down so far, you couldn’t make another one immediately after. Essentially that’s what George did. Only his jump went closer to a thousand, with an uncontrolled energy use. So he arrived there with no power at all. Chaos on the other hand did the same distance in about twenty minutes, and had no real power loss at all. It’s a matter of scale, and how desperately you want to get somewhere in an instant. For most of our uses, one system at a time is still very fast. But for now, I’m still experimenting.”
“Is that the only thing you’re experimenting with?”
“No. In theory, there is another advantage to the jump drive.”
“Like what?”
“If I can work out how, it should be possible to visit systems which don’t have any jump points. For now, we use known jump points and planets as a fixed point for same place jumping across systems. But we should be able to plot a jump without using them, as long as the navmap has more than just jump capable systems on it. And if we can do that, and find habitable planets, we can offer relocation to societies who want to be left alone.”
“Like the dragons?”
“That’s what I was thinking, yes. It could work the other way around too. A society desperate for contact with other species, and unable to leave their home system, could potentially swap planets with a society wanting total isolation. Or we put a trade station there, and join them up with the outside galaxy.”
“Have you talked to John Slice about that?”
“Not yet. I want my ducks in a row, before I make his eyes light up with credit signs.”
I laughed. John Slice was a civilian now, and he’d made his fortune by discovering habitable planets no-one else had found jump points to. I could see him getting excited about being able to scout systems we couldn’t currently get to. The man was a true explorer.
I dragged my thoughts back to the mission.
“What order are we doing this in?”
“I thought closest-to-the-Trixone order. I’ve plotted a minimum distance course.”
Expressions of delight were coming from the room behind us, and I gave Jane a speculative look.
“I’m giving them the best views, instead of flickering all of them.”
I found I didn’t actually care. The view ahead was shifting so rapidly I couldn’t make out anything, and yet, it didn’t bother me. I wondered for a moment if I was getting jaded with space travel. Then again, I’d been jumping around the core so much recently, almost everywhere felt like a ‘been there done that’ place.
And suddenly I had a view, as we came to a stop. Not one of the all-time great space vistas, but at least it wasn’t flickering. Jane looked at me.
“First jump point?”
“Yes.”
She zoomed in the navmap, so I could see where we were, and overlaid a set of colour shadings to show each species’ space. There were a set of red lines between several which didn’t overlap.
“What are the red lines?”
“Where instead of blocking the jump point so nothing can jump in or out, you need to change the jump point so it joins to a different one, on both ends.”
“Are we making a single cat space?”
“Yes. The council agreed to it a few minutes ago, so trade between them can continue by ship, with us only placing a single trade network station in the center of the newly created joint space.”
“So they want a hub, joining to Terminus, rather than each having their own local hub?”
“Yes. They trade extensively, and didn’t want their ship crews losing their livelihoods. We did the same originally as you’ll recall.”
We had. Both Naranja and the Democratic Union only had one station on the network as well, for the same ship trade based reasons.
“Suits me. I only need to move a single station then.”
“Actually no. The Panthers are going to supply a station themselves, given it’s almost in the center of their combined space, so Syrinx can do the links to it.”
“Fine with me.”
I concentrated on the jump point, forming the intent to have anything going through, sent back the way it came, on both sides. I felt an energy shift as it took effect, and nodded to Jane. She took us into the jump point, and we did indeed pop out in the same place. A jump to the other side and a repeat, resulted in the same thing.
“One down,” said Jane.
“Many to go,” I ended.
The jumping began again.
Six
“That’s not good,” said Jane.
And it wasn’t. We’d arrived at the first of the cheetah jump points, and found a small Keerah fleet had jumped in shortly before. We’d known something was there, but thought it was likely a trader convoy, and hadn't bothered checking it. The fleet was mainly destroyers, with a single cruiser flagship, totaling six ships.
“Probably not. We’ll go find out what they intend after I do this jump point.”
Jane nodded, and I concentrated. The shift happened, and I nodded back at her. We’d stopped testing the jump point changes after the third one, with the exception of one of the redirected jumps, just to be sure.
The next jump put us in front of the Keerah fleet, but not too close. Jane opened a channel. The screen showed a white tiger in command.
“Human,” he said. “What do you want?”
“I’m Imperator Hunter. Please state your intentions in this system.”
“I don’t care who you are. The planet ahead is suspected of treason, and I intend to determine their guilt, and meet out punishment.”
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