‘We’ve been told to check all the sleep pods,’ Leeforth added. ‘They’re planning to put a full contingent of two hundred Marines aboard before we go. We’re getting no broadcasts from New Earth either, so we don’t have much information on what’s happening.’
‘There’s been a lot of media coverage around the Herosians still being a threat,’ Aneka told them. ‘CFM has been a little more balanced than some of the other channels, but people are pretty worked up. Several ex-Navy types who went into politics were elected to the Representatives and there seems to be a move to continue the fighting.’ Neither of the two officers seemed shocked. ‘Nearly half the prisoners taken on Lonar seem to have vanished. No one who has come back has been allowed to talk to the press, and the Navy isn’t allowing anyone, even Elroy, to visit them.’
‘So far I’m not too surprised,’ Ape commented.
Aneka shrugged. ‘Winter came back from Shadataga with us to give the Jenlay the rules for becoming students there. You can learn science you haven’t dreamed of before, but only if you put down your guns. Or that’s the basics.’
‘And I’m sure that’s gone down well.’
‘We haven’t had an answer yet, but now you’re back we expect things to heat up. We know someone’s manipulating the media, and we’re pretty sure a Jenlay frigate fired off those nukes at Beryum. Someone wants this war to continue so they can grab Herosian worlds.’
‘But, in the state they’re in, the Herosians are no threat,’ Leeforth said.
‘That’s why they want to attack now,’ Ape replied. ‘It makes too much sense. Damn.’
‘I didn’t join the Navy to go beat up defenceless aliens,’ Leeforth said, frowning. ‘What do we do?’
‘Hopefully,’ Aneka replied, ‘you won’t need to do anything. If they do decide to push for continued hostilities, Abby will pull the Old Earth ships out and the AIs will restart the Herosian network. We think that’ll stall them.’
‘Maybe,’ Ape said. He did not sound as though he was too convinced.
High Yorkbridge, 28.9.530 FSC.
Vice Admiral Part, an older officer whom Aneka had something of a dislike for, had been promoted to full Admiral as a result of the demise of Admiral Farmer in the Battle of New Earth. As Core Fleet’s leader, it was given to him to present the Navy’s plans, so it was he who stood in front of various assembled dignitaries in a conference room in the Administration building.
There were about twenty Representatives in the audience, as well as all the available Vice Admirals, Senator Elroy, Pierce, and Truelove, but the primary reason for the presentation was the non-Jenlay. Abby and Norden were in the room to hear what he had to say. The presence of Winter and Aneka had produced several objections which both Elroy and Abby had denied. Technically, Winter was there in an advisory capacity, and Aneka was there as her bodyguard carrying as much firepower as the Marines stationed around the room.
Part cleared his throat and a number of graphics appeared on the wall behind him. Aneka scanned over them, determining that they said nothing useful aside from identifying six systems in the border space between the Jenlay and Herosians.
‘Al, what do we have on those?’ she asked, just as Part began to speak.
‘As we all know, the Herosians initiated a conflict with us which is currently in a holding position. We have secured the worlds they captured with some difficulty. Our intelligence gathering continues, but interrogation of prisoners taken on Lonar has determined that there are six key systems which are acting as the primary rallying points for a Herosian counterattack.’
‘One of them,’ Al said, ‘has a Herosian Navy base in it, but it is primarily a Helium-three mining facility. Four are mining colonies. Heavy metals, iron, aluminium. One provides most of the food for the Herosians in the region.’
‘Right…’
‘In order to secure our position,’ Part went on, ‘and ensure that the Herosian threat is effectively eliminated, we plan to take these worlds placing a barrier between Herosian space and ours which will–’
‘This intelligence,’ Winter said, interrupting him, which appeared to annoy him as much as Aneka expected it would. ‘You say that you got it from the prisoners on Lonar?’
‘That is correct,’ Part replied.
‘And these are the staging sites for a counterattack, implying that forces have been moving there since the loss of the Herosian network…’
‘They received word via a courier vessel prior to the arrival of the liberating force,’ Part stated, smiling. They had thought of that one.
‘I see. Unlikely, but let’s move on. You want to attack… Well, we have Gothriam, population one hundred and ten thousand Herosians and a few million sheentoe. No significant military presence, but it does supply meat to most of the region. Four planets with high reserves of minerals and facilities for processing them into metals useful in the construction of starship hulls. Again, no military presence. And then there is Tandu, which does have a Navy facility there, primarily a fuel production and maintenance station.’
‘Your information is out of date,’ Part replied, ‘we have–’
‘My information is two days old, Admiral,’ Winter replied. ‘There have been no significant Herosian military movements in several weeks. They are sticking to their own worlds, unsure of the situation beyond the systems they are in. They are entirely on the defensive. Let me make this clear, there is no Herosian threat.’
‘Norden?’ Abby said, looking at her military advisor.
‘The most likely source of any Herosian counterattack would be Hadyad,’ Norden replied, his voice calm. ‘It is thirty-four parsecs closer to Jenlay space than the nearest of Admiral Part’s targets and is the Herosian equivalent of Dokar. Heavily fortified, a large military presence. Removing its main food supply and eliminating major reserves of materials and fuel would obviously weaken it, perhaps to the point where it can be taken, but at considerable loss. It still remains the most apparent target if the aim is to eliminate the potential for further aggression.’
‘It seems,’ Elroy said, ‘that we are talking about economic warfare at best, Admiral.’
‘These systems are being fortified,’ Pierce stated. ‘Hadyad needs them to move forward and taking them is the first step in stopping a war which–’
‘Is over,’ Abby said, her tone flat. ‘As far as we are concerned, further aggression against the Herosians is unnecessary and, frankly, appears more like a land grab. We will take no part in it. Our ships will be returning to Earth as soon as possible.’
‘And I will be returning to Shadataga,’ Winter said. ‘Disappointed as I am, I’m forced to admit that the Jenlay are not ready for what we want to teach. The Herosian communications network will be reinitialised starting tomorrow.’ She got to her feet, Aneka, Abby, and Norden following suit.
‘Senator?’ Pierce said.
‘What?’ Elroy replied. ‘I agree with them. You kept me entirely in the dark about all of this. You present me with unsubstantiated “intelligence” as justification for assaulting some weak targets and expect me to defend our position to people with their own sources of information more up to date than yours. I am possibly more disappointed than Winter is. If you can substantiate a real threat before they leave, I’ll try to talk them into staying.’
He got to his feet and followed the others from the room. Aneka thought he looked weary. She knew how he felt.
~~~
The Gobari Club was a modern building trying to look like something much older and grander. Most of the rooms, especially the gaming rooms, were large and featured thick, mock-marble columns. It had two drawing rooms with big, comfortable chairs where its patrons could gather to discuss their latest gambit for winning such-and-such an ancient battle. On the upper floors were smaller rooms and many of these were now occupied by members needing a place to live given that their homes in the Islands had been demolished.
Some of the rooms were, however, simply smaller drawing room
s, reserved for private discussion, and Jason Pierce sat in one of these, his eyes on a large graphic on the wall which was of Admiral Gobari, whose name graced the club. The picture had been taken and then manipulated to make him look more regal, but he still had a vaguely disapproving expression on his face.
‘If we can’t provide Elroy with enough evidence to keep the Old Earth ships here, our position will be severely weakened,’ Admiral Part stated from another chair. He sounded irritated, annoyed. He was a passionate man and, in Pierce’s opinion, ill-suited to the role the Committee had given him. ‘Can we manufacture something fast enough?’ Part added.
‘Which will fool Winter?’ Pierce replied. ‘I doubt we could do that with several months to prepare. She clearly has access to some form of intelligence network we know nothing about. No, we need to isolate her, and Elroy. Ensure that their information remains out of the public domain. That is already underway. Then we can push forward without the Old Earth fleet.’
‘With the Herosian communications network up, Hadyad will counter anything we attempt to do in any of our target systems. So far we have had few losses. If the public starts seeing bodies returning, their zeal for revenge will be difficult to maintain.’
‘We can’t support excessive expenditure on this operation.’ The speaker was Dreyman, the CEO of a company which produced materials for high-tech equipment. ‘We have considerable investment waiting to roll out here, but if we have to hire mercenaries to defend the systems…’
‘We need to determine that these AIs have made good on their threat,’ Pierce said, ‘but I agree that our plans will be made significantly more difficult if the Herosians are aware of the situation. However, I do have a backup plan. It will require additional expenditure, but the results will be far greater than anything we have previously imagined.’
‘What additional expenditure?’ Dreyman asked.
‘What plan?’ Part demanded.
‘Admiral, did you see any reports on an incident Jansen and Narrows were involved in following the return of the Delta Brigantia from Negral? It concerned a world named Eshebbon…’
BC-101 Hand of God, 30.9.530 FSC.
‘I’m sorry you have to be leaving under these circumstances,’ Elroy said, his hand clasping Abby’s almost as though he did not want to let go.
‘Diplomatic channels will remain open,’ Abby replied, smiling at him. ‘We expect to hear from you soon. If things change we want to know about it so we can get things back on track.’
‘Of course.’
‘From you, mind, Jackson,’ Abby stated firmly, even if her tone was soft and she was still smiling. ‘You be careful.’ Her smile shifted to a grin. ‘And I’d like my hand back.’
Returning her grin, Elroy released her hand and turned to Winter. ‘You’re leaving too. I’m glad you’re back with us, but you’ve left me with more problems than solutions.’
‘I’m still with you,’ Winter replied, ‘even when I’m not, and we’ll get to the solutions eventually.’
‘The media has been pushing for a “Safe Border” policy for the last day and things are simply getting more militant. Polls in the Navy suggest that there is a strong desire to go out and press our advantage. Things are not looking good.’
‘Someone is directing this, a group, probably, but a small one with good information management skills and a strong desire to see the war continue. If we can eliminate that group, or discredit them, we can turn this around.’
‘We’ve got a Navy full of people fired up with righteous indignation and a sense of power.’
‘No,’ Aneka said, breaking in from where she was leaning against a wall waiting for the goodbyes to end. ‘No, I think you’re wrong. That would be good. “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion,” Alexander the Great, quite a general so if that scared him you should take note. I think the Navy is full of sheep. Maybe sheep who just beat a wolf and think they can do anything, but sheep. Sheentoe, yes? We need to find that lion, or we need to be very afraid of the army of sheentoe, because there’s no telling what they’ll be willing to do as long as someone gives them orders.’
Part Four: Contraband
Odanari, 20.10.530 FSC.
Daniella Bishop could not sleep. It was not an unusual occurrence and she was employing her normal remedy for it. The sun had been up for just over an hour and she was walking out to the lagoon with the heat making her skin feel wonderful. A swim would either wake her up, and then maybe she could nap in the afternoon, or exhaust her enough to let her sleep in.
There was no one on the island she needed to wear clothes for, so she was not wearing clothes. Butler and the Ross sisters were used to her behaviour and ignored it. It was likely that Olivia or Melissa was up by now; generally one of them would get up at dawn even if Steven was not on the island. They would be in the house, however, and she would walk around the outside to get to the small bit of ocean she was about to swim in.
And Steven had been called to New Earth on business. He had said something about the Admiralty wanting new ships, but Daniella had not been especially interested and had not paid attention. She had wanted something else, and he had been too much in a rush to give her what she wanted. At least he had seemed annoyed, though she was not sure whether it was about her or the stupid Navy.
With a sigh, Daniella slipped into the water and began a rapid crawl into deep water. Thirty metres out, she lifted her head, pulled in a long breath of air, and dived. Sunlight sparkled around her for the first couple of metres, but she kept on going, swimming down into the blue water until it turned almost black and she was surrounded by darkness, and she was still not at the bottom.
And there she hung, moving her arms slowly to keep herself there in the cool, dark water. It was peaceful here and she loved it. Her mind was still. The cool water always seemed to take away the heat she felt within her on the surface. She could forget who she was, and where she had come from, and everything that had happened to her. She could become… nothing, and there was always the urge to stay there, to let the caldera claim her and never go back to the things she did above.
But when her lungs started to ache she always gave in and started back into the light. By the time she reached the surface, she was starting to hurt and she could feel the heavy weariness in her limbs that meant she had stayed down almost too long. She began a far slower crawl toward the beach. She would go to the back and lie beside the pool in the sun until her body recovered from the dive. If it was Melissa’s turn to be up, maybe she could be persuaded to…
A glance at the beach to check the distance showed that the brunette was, indeed, awake, but there was something odd going on. The girl was running out of the house, but she got no more than a few metres before tripping and collapsing onto the sand. She remained there, not moving, and Daniella quickened her stroke a little. Why was Melissa just lying there?
The reason appeared in the doorway just as Daniella got to the beach. It was a man, dressed in black combat armour, the visor of his helmet tinted black against the sunlight. He looked almost like a robot and he behaved with as much dispassion as one. He saw the wet, naked, lithe young girl coming out of the water, raised his rifle, and fired.
Tristar Township, New Earth.
Video calls were getting far more solid since Aneka had her upgrade. A full-sized image of Winter’s Number Six avatar was standing in front of Aneka, though only she could see it, or hear the audio.
‘We’ve noticed some odd traffic on the networks coming out of Odanari,’ the projection said.
‘Odd is one of those relative terms?’ Aneka replied, twisting the statement into a question.
‘Communication failures with several islands and one of the larger hotel complexes which happens to be remote from the others. A few people saying that they’ve spotted trails from ships in the upper atmosphere, but nothing should be flying. There are rumours flying about that the Herosians have come back.’
/>
‘Okay, a little odd. I don’t suppose you have a probe over there?’
‘We did not think it necessary.’
‘Huh. You want us to go over there? It’d be… half a day in Gwy.’
‘Not yet. We’ll see whether there’s further noise. Teldarian, by the way, is on New Earth. His yacht arrived yesterday.’
‘Good for him. Technically I’m not on New Earth, so I don’t think he’ll be dropping by.’
The image nodded and said, ‘I’ll let you know of developments,’ before vanishing.
‘Let Cassandra know about Odanari,’ Aneka said to Al. ‘She can keep an eye on the media traffic.’
‘Are you going to mention it to Ella?’
Aneka looked across at the pool where her red-haired lover was doing laps. ‘When there’s more to go on. Currently it’s just some random events and a lot of paranoia.’
‘A valid point.’
Ella chose that moment to haul herself out of the water and walk over to where Aneka was sitting. Without preamble, she sat down in Aneka’s lap and settled against her.
‘You’re wet,’ Aneka pointed out.
‘You’re in a bikini.’
‘Which you engineered to turn transparent when wet.’
The redhead giggled. ‘I did, didn’t I? It’s not like the people here haven’t seen you in less.’ Which was also a valid point, and Ella was topless. ‘Anything interesting happening?’
‘Nothing of note. Apparently Teldarian is in the system, but he doesn’t know we’re here so I don’t think he’ll be visiting.’
‘Hey, now that we have the Amethyst Hyde, does that mean they won’t be giving us coffee?’
‘Probably. Luckily the fabricators on the new Hyde make drinkable coffee. I may miss that though.’
‘There had to be some sort of downside to all the new shiny. You know, we’ve been here for a couple of weeks and we’re doing nothing.’
‘I know, love. And then we’ll be running around as though our knickers were on fire with no warning. That’s what happens in situations like this.’
Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame Page 11