The Barbarian Bride (The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire Book 3)

by Christopher Nuttall

  But it was not to be, she thought. Emperor Marius had already been planning survey missions deep beyond the Rim by the time the war had begun. And now, we have to depend on someone who risked everything to save my homeworld.

  “He is not to learn of the bases,” she said, making a swift decision. “The information must not reach the Federation.”

  “Understood,” General Stuart said.

  “But otherwise, we will support him to the hilt,” she added. “I’ll discuss the future of the Federation with him, after he secures Boston.”

  General Stuart frowned. “You intend to stay on the front lines?”

  “It’s not quite the front lines,” Li corrected him. “But if we lose, we may as well start packing our bags and heading further into the Beyond.”

  “Very well,” General Stuart said. “I must insist, though, on you having bodyguards with you at all times. You cannot, you must not, be risked.”

  Li snorted, then nodded reluctantly.

  “Very well,” she said. “I suppose those men you sent to kidnap me would be good for the job, wouldn’t they?”

  “We’ll see,” General Stuart said. “Mercenaries are not always reliable.”

  * * *

  “Well,” Sanderson said, “I think we’re probably going to be sent to the ice mines somewhere.”

  “Shut up,” Lieutenant Caleb Roebuck muttered. “I thought she was going to have us all executed at once.”

  Uzi kept his amusement and frustration to himself as he studied the updates from the planetary defense network. His plan with the shuttle had been perfect, completely perfect; he’d kill the two Outsiders and signal for help, ensuring that the Federation Navy took Chang Li into custody before she recovered from the stun bolt...

  ... and then it had failed, simply because he hadn’t even begun to consider that Admiral Garibaldi would switch sides. He’d ruined everything.

  For the first time in a long career, Uzi found himself seriously considering abandoning his mission and just retreating into the shadows. It would hardly be impossible to steal a courier boat or find passage on a freighter, even though it meant admitting defeat. Admiral Garibaldi had seen him, back when he’d been inserted on Hobson’s Choice; he’d know Uzi by sight if they encountered one another again. And even if he didn’t, it wouldn’t be long before someone started asking questions about the shuttle’s power failure. That would be more than enough to reveal the presence of an infiltrator.

  And yet, he was a loyalist. The Federation needed him. He didn’t want to just back out and escape when he still had a job to do.

  “Uzi?” Roebuck asked. “What do you think they’ll do?”

  Uzi glanced at the younger man. He’d practically been mentoring the Outsider, teaching him how to be a more effective commanding officer, all the while measuring Caleb Roebuck’s back for the knife. Roebuck had promise, he acknowledged inwardly; he wouldn’t have been too out of place in the Federation Marines, even if it was as just another stupid greenie lieutenant who had to be mentored before he got a bunch of men killed. And Roebuck was smart enough to ask for advice...

  “We were ordered to stun the Senator and take her to the shuttle,” he said, simply. It had definitely been the oddest set of orders he’d been given, up to and including the orders to sneak into a planetary rebel’s office and kill his cats. “They can’t hold us accountable for what we were ordered to do.”

  “She’s the boss,” Sanderson said, mournfully. “She can order us killed on the spot.”

  “I don’t think she will,” Uzi said, as reassuringly as he could. In the Federation, during the days of the Grand Senate, being worried about getting the blame for following orders wouldn’t have been too bad a reaction. If a senior officer had made a mistake, his first instinct would be to search for a scapegoat. “She might be angry, but she’ll be angry with the person who issued the orders, not with us.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Roebuck said. “But what do we do now?”

  “We wait and see what our orders are,” Uzi said. They’d docked the shuttle on the space station, then been herded into a private compartment and told to wait. “I don’t know about the pair of you, but I could do with a nap.”

  “Yeah,” Sanderson agreed, morosely. “And I bet the Senator thinks we should be taking a permanent nap.”

  “I can stun you, if you’d like,” Uzi offered, only half in jest. Stunning them both would at least allow him to think in peace. He needed to do something about that shuttle before a technician took a close look at the drive failure. “You’d be sure of a good sleep.”

  “And a banging headache the morning afterwards,” Sanderson said. “I’ll sleep the natural way.”

  “Look on the bright side,” Uzi called, as Sanderson rose to his feet and headed for the bedroom. “You’ll have one hell of a story to tell the girls on Nova Athena.”

  Sanderson gave him a one-fingered gesture and stepped through the hatch. Uzi smirked, then returned to his silent contemplations as Roebuck also headed for bed.

  What the hell should he do now?

  Chapter Five

  This was not their only advantage. Indeed, thanks to a far superior educational model, the average Outsider crew might have two or three times the efficiency of its Federation counterpart.

  —The Federation Navy in Retrospect, 4199

  Spinner/Boston, 4101

  There was no way in hell, Marius had already decided, that he was going to miss watching from the CIC as his battle squadrons readied themselves to return to Boston. Commander Lewis had objected, of course, but he’d ignored her. If they were about to run into a blocking force, if they had to fight their way through, he was damned if he was lying in his cabin while Captain Watson directed the battle.

  If only because we’d lose, he thought, as the final status reports flashed up in front of his display. The fleet’s engineers had done what they could to repair the damage his starships had taken, but they were still critically short in a number of areas. In hindsight, firing off so many missiles might have been a mistake. Punching our way into the system would be tricky even if we had a full weapons load.

  “Send the drones through the Asimov Point,” he ordered. Commodore Yu hadn’t left anything on station on the near side of the point, as far as his sensors could tell, although that meant nothing. A cloaked starship could have noted his arrival in the system and jumped back through to Boston to prepare a hot reception. “And stand by to send the first ships through.”

  “Aye, sir,” Ginny said. She peered down at her console. “Drones launching... now.”

  She paused. “Sir, a courier boat has just come into sensor range, heading towards the Asimov Point,” she added. “Its IFF marks it as being attached to Fifth Fleet.”

  Too late, Marius thought, vindictively. Unless, of course, another courier boat traveled the other chain of Asimov Points...

  He pushed the thought aside, sharply. “Order her to shut down her drives and prepare to be boarded,” he said. There was no time for wool-gathering. “If she refuses to answer our hails, fire on her the moment she enters weapons range.”

  “Aye, sir,” Ginny said.

  Marius nodded to himself as the new icon flashed towards them. Courier boats were the fastest things in space, but their crews were still largely dependent on the Asimov Point to get from place to place. The courier boat Roman Garibaldi had dispatched could either surrender or reverse course and try to run back to Nova Athena, he thought; there was no way it could get through the Asimov Point without entering his engagement envelope. And a courier boat was practically defenseless.

  “She’s altering course,” Ginny snapped. “Sir, Captain Angstrom is requesting permission to give chase.”

  “Denied,” Marius said. The courier boat wasn’t a problem, as long as she didn’t have a chance to pop through the Asimov Point before it was too late. “Order Angstrom and his ships to hold position on this side of the point. If the courier boat returns, they are
to blow her to atoms.”

  He turned his attention back to the display as Ginny started to issue orders to the fleet. The drones had returned, telling him things he didn’t want to know about the brooding fortresses on the far side, but they did seem to be on standby, rather than ready to repel an offensive through the Asimov Point. No doubt, in the wake of the crushing defeat the Outsiders had suffered the last time they’d tried to punch their way into the system, the crews were taking the opportunity to do some maintenance while the threat of attack was very low. Unless it was all a trick...

  No, he told himself, firmly. We have to go through the Asimov Point.

  Ginny turned to look at him. “Your orders, sir?”

  “Send the first elements through the Asimov Point as planned,” he ordered. It was a gamble, one hell of a gamble, but there was no choice. The only alternative was skulking around the Rim until they were finally run down and destroyed, if their ships lasted so long. “And ready the remaining assault pods for deployment.”

  He tensed, despite himself, as the first starships approached the point and vanished. If the defenders did intend an ambush, they’d spring it... now. And his ships didn’t carry anything like enough assault pods to force their way into the system. His mind raced, considering hundreds of desperate attack plans, before the next set of drones popped back into existence on the near side of the point. The first starships had entered the system without trouble.

  “Take the rest of the fleet through,” he ordered, curtly. “And stand by all weapons and defensive systems.”

  His stomach gave a twinge of unease, just one, as the superdreadnaught passed through the Asimov Point and entered Boston. Hundreds of new icons flared to life on the display; twenty-one heavy fortresses, thirty-seven support cruisers, hundreds of starfighters and thousands of mines and automated weapons platforms. If Commodore Yu had wanted to block his path, he knew, she might well have succeeded. But his fleet was already through the Asimov Point and heading out of her engagement range...

  “Picking up a signal from the command fortress, sir,” Ginny said. “They’re asking what happened at Nova Athena.”

  Then Roman didn’t manage to get a message back in time, Marius thought. He felt a wave of relief, followed by a flicker of the old confidence. Sloppy work, young man.

  He smirked to himself as he leaned forward. If Commodore Yu didn’t know what had happened, the prospect of violent resistance was minimal. But it would still be unwise to push her too far, particularly if she was loyal to Roman Garibaldi instead of the Federation Navy or Marius himself. He cursed the Grand Senate under his breath — they’d done so much to wear down the navy’s loyalty to the Federation — and keyed his console.

  “Commodore Yu, this is Emperor Marius,” he said. He’d spent a great deal of time trying to decide what lie to tell her, knowing that his words would be spread across the Federation and — perhaps — used against him. “The fleet successfully secured Nova Athena. Admiral Garibaldi is currently preparing an offensive deeper into enemy space.”

  He paused. “I’m detaching an officer to assume command of the system,” he added, “but the remainder of this fleet needs to return to Earth immediately. Dispatch every fleet replenishment unit you have to rendezvous with my battle squadrons prior to our transit through the Asimov Point. We’ll replenish while in transit.”

  Tapping the console again, he sent the message to Boston. Commodore Yu was a logistics officer, according to her file; she wouldn’t be in command of any of the fortresses, regardless of tradition. And, hopefully, she’d send the replenishment ships without question. The thought of depriving Roman Garibaldi of the logistics he’d need to push onwards to Earth amused him, particularly as Roman wouldn’t be able to punish Commodore Yu for her actions without undermining his own position. She’d merely followed legitimate orders from her superior officer.

  He leaned back in his chair, studying the system display. Roman and his officers had done a good job, he had to admit. Boston had always been in a good position for industrial development — there were no less than five Asimov Points in the system, three of them leading into new Asimov Point chains — but Roman had built the system up into a formidable fortress during the war. Hell, it looked as though the local industrial base was more efficient than the Core Worlds, although that shouldn’t have been a surprise. The planet’s inhabitants had no doubt their system was on the front lines of a war.

  I should take them all back to Earth with me, he thought, sourly. They’d actually do good work, unlike the whining bastards on Luna.

  It was tempting, very tempting, to try to just take control of the system himself and make a stand. Roman Garibaldi couldn’t be any better prepared for an Asimov Point assault than his own ships, even if he drew supplies from the Outsiders. They’d blown through their own supply of assault pods, he was sure, during their ill-fated attack on the system. But far too many officers and crew on the base would owe their careers to Roman Garibaldi. Their loyalties would be in doubt at the worst possible time.

  Commodore Palin may not be able to hold the system, he told himself. Even though we sent him additional troopers, he’ll be trying to keep thousands of men under control while fighting off an Asimov Point attack

  “Sir, we picked up an acknowledgement from Commodore Yu,” Ginny said. “She’s dispatching the replenishment units now, sir, and she’s requesting permission to dispatch additional supplies to Admiral Garibaldi.”

  Marius smiled, rather coldly. It was a reasonable request, given what Commodore Yu knew, but not one he was inclined to grant. The only problem was that refusing permission, for whatever reason, might arouse her suspicions. As far as she knew, Roman Garibaldi was holding an enemy system after a battle that would have cost his ships hundreds of missiles...

  “Tell her that Commodore Palin will handle such matters,” he said. Once Palin was in command of the Asimov Point, he could tell Yu the truth and force her to decide who she was going to support. “And add a private note. I want Professor Kratman found and returned to the fleet.”

  Oddly, the thought cost him a twinge of pain. Captain Kratman had been his first commanding officer, back when the Matterhorn had led the charge that had sparked off the Blue Star War; Minister Kratman had been one of his first appointments to his cabinet. But there were too many unanswered questions about the Professor and the Brotherhood he served. Who knew what he’d said to Roman Garibaldi, back when Marius had brought him to the system...

  And he taught Blake Raistlin, too, Marius thought. The Brotherhood had played a role in promoting him, back when the Grand Senate was still in power, but it had been surprisingly quiet since he’d become Emperor. And, in Marius’s experience, silence meant that someone was plotting something. How many other young men were seduced into serving the Brotherhood?

  He scowled down at his hands as his fleet crawled across the system, a handful of new icons on the display showing the replenishment ships as they left the planet and headed towards the Asimov Point. Every Federation officer knew to develop a healthy dose of paranoia concerning their superiors — even paranoids had enemies; they knew their superiors wouldn’t hesitate to use them as scapegoats if necessary — and watch them carefully. And yet, he hadn’t thought Professor Kratman needed watching. He’d been one of the few superior officers Marius had genuinely trusted...

  But I was an Ensign, he reminded himself. The idea of the captain bothering to actually notice me was absurd.

  The thought made him smile. Very — very — few ensigns wanted to attract the captain’s attention. They certainly didn’t share downtime with their commanding officer. But he’d trusted Captain Kratman, even after he’d taken up a teaching post at the academy. And yet, now, who knew what he’d been doing? Two members of his class had betrayed Marius’s trust and turned on him.

  “Sir,” Ginny said, nervously. “Professor Kratman is nowhere to be found.”

  Marius blinked. They’d left the professor on Boston, hadn�
�t they? Had he somehow sneaked onboard Valiant, with or without her commander’s permission? Or had he taken a transport back into the Core Worlds? It was far from impossible, even though he would have needed permission from Commodore Yu to depart. A Brotherhood member in the right place and Commodore Yu wouldn’t have known anything about it. Or he might simply have gone underground. Boston was large enough for a careful man to hide indefinitely.

  “Order her to put out an alert for him,” he said. There wasn’t any time to take the planet and organize a search, not when there was no certainty Professor Kratman was still on the surface instead of heading away from the system. “When he’s found, he is to be held in stasis and shipped back to Earth immediately.”

  “Aye, sir,” Ginny said.

  Marius scowled, making a mental note to have the remainder of the Brotherhood hunted down and arrested. He knew at least two others, back on Earth, and neither of them would be able to go on the run without surrendering their influence. Once they were caught, they could be interrogated, revealing the names of their comrades. Or, if they were treated to keep them from spilling the beans, they could become ONI’s test subjects in its endless attempts to break the conditioning and discover the truth.

  He put the matter aside for the moment and turned his attention to the replenishment units, drawing closer to his ships. They’d have to accompany his ships through the Asimov Point — he hoped the crews would be loyal — and on the way to Earth. If they thought better of it, he wouldn’t hesitate to have the marines invade the ships and take control. There was just too much at stake for half-measures.