by Jay Allan
“It is my pleasure, Ambassador Kerevsky.” Ciara nodded slightly as she spoke.
Villieneuve sat down, and then he gestured for Kerevsky to do the same. Ciara stood for a moment, sitting only after both Villieneuve and the Confederation ambassador had.
“So, Ambassador…I presume you come here on matters related to your recent war.”
“Yes, First Citizen, indeed I do…though I daresay it is the Rim’s war and not just our own.”
“That is still a matter of some opinion. I must, of course, wonder if the Confederation has made appropriate efforts to maintain the peace. From the data I possess, this Hegemony is quite advanced technologically. They would make a very attractive trading partner, and a strong ally. I ask this with no disrespect intended, but who was the initial aggressor in this conflict? Did not your White Fleet invade the Hegemony’s space?”
Kerevsky sat calmly. Villieneuve was trying to provoke him, but he wasn’t going to allow himself to be so easily manipulated. “I would characterize events in somewhat of a different manner. Certainly, the White Fleet inadvertently visited a world the Hegemony claimed as its own, but that was purely accidental. As you know, almost no one on the Rim suspected human populations still existed so deep beyond the Badlands, much less such a vast interstellar polity. As soon as Hegemony vessels appeared, Admiral Barron attempted to communicate, offering to withdraw at once…but his efforts were rebuffed, and his fleet attacked.”
Villieneuve sat with a vague smile on his face. “I do not doubt your integrity, Ambassador, but surely you know well that different eyes see things in various ways. For example, were we to discuss the causes leading to the last war between our nations, I am willing to wager our points of view would vary enormously. You would, no doubt, see us as the aggressors, while I would point out that the Confederation’s policy of strangling my people economically was the primary cause. I suspect little would be gained from the exercise of exchanging such thoughts.”
“No doubt that is so, First Citizen…but regardless of intent, or success or failure in our initial encounters with the Hegemony, there can be little doubt they have invaded the Rim in massive force, and pushed aside every attempt to stop them.”
“Correction, Ambassador…they have invaded the Confederation. Yet, you are presumably here to urge me to commit the Union to your struggle.”
“Most of the Rim nations fight at our sides, First Citizen. They see this as a struggle to preserve the Rim’s freedom.” Kerevsky wasn’t sure how hard he should push. He’d never met Villieneuve, but he’d always heard the man was cool and deliberative. There was something unsettling in his eyes, though, a glassy, glittering look. Still, he didn’t have time to waste, and that meant pressing forward. “Also, I believe the Hegemony forces attacked your own Union fleet approximately eighteen months ago, did they not?”
Villieneuve’s smile vanished, replaced by a scowl. “What you refer to was brought on by the traitor Denisov and his unauthorized aggressive movement against the Hegemony. They responded to his foolish actions, yes…but you will note that while they have seized numerous Confederation systems—including your capital, I might add—they have not invaded the Union, nor seized a single world from us.” A pause. “But you should know all of this, Ambassador. The criminal and his pack of traitors have allied themselves to you already, have they not?” Villieneuve was silent for a few seconds, staring directly at Kerevsky. “Of course, any alliance between our nations to combat the—as you put it—'dire threat to the Rim,’ would be subject to your turning the traitor over to us at once.”
Kerevsky had expected Villieneuve to be difficult, but he’d hoped to defer discussion of the Union fleet serving at the front. If was a difficult situation to say the least, and one that defied easy solutions. Turning Denisov over to Sector Nine was out of the question, of course, even if it had been possible to sacrifice the admiral and maintain the loyalty of his fleet.
That’s what makes us different from the Union…
But Kerevsky was uncomfortable at how long his thoughts had paused on the idea of surrendering Denisov. The Confederation’s survival, the whole Rim’s, depended on defeating the Hegemony.
How different would it be? Denisov could die in combat with far less gain…
He clamped down on the thoughts, extinguishing them like a fire, with waves of self-loathing in the place of water.
“That, of course, would be one of many subjects to discuss.” Kerevsky might not be a diplomat at his core, but he’d picked up a few skills of the trade in his journey. Vagueness and procrastination included.
“I’m afraid it will have to be the first topic of discussion, Ambassador. I couldn’t even begin to discuss a possible treaty with a power harboring the vilest traitor in Union history.”
Kerevsky was scrambling, trying to come up with something to say, some way to dance around the issue…but Villieneuve saved him, for the moment, at least.
“But where are my manners, Ambassador. You have had a long journey, and you must be tired.” He looked toward Ciara. “The Minister here will see that you and your staff are assigned appropriate quarters. We will begin serious discussions after you have enjoyed some of our hospitality.”
Kerevsky almost said he wasn’t tired, that time was of the essence, but he stopped himself. It was pointless. Villieneuve was not ready to conduct talks. Whether he wanted time to confer with his advisors, or to spy on Kerevsky and his people, the ambassador didn’t know. He even gave about a fifteen percent chance that the ‘hospitality’ he was headed for was a subterranean Sector Nine cell somewhere. But that was the chance he took when he’d accepted the mission.
They were better odds than the spacers at the front faced.
“Come with me, Ambassador. We will see to your lodgings…and I will order food prepared for you and your aides.” Ciara’s voice was stone cold, not a hint of anything but obedience to Villieneuve’s orders.
But the look was still there in her eye…barely detectable, but there. He was sure of it.
“Thank you, First Citizen, for your kind hospitality. I look forward to our first session of talks.”
But he was looking forward even more to what Ciara had to say once they were alone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bridge
CFS Hermes
Megara, Olyus III
Year 320 AC
“There’s definitely something going on, Andi.” Vig’s tone wasn’t panicky, but there was definitely some edge to it. “I wouldn’t say they’ve put out a full-scale alert, but they’re definitely looking for something. For us.”
Andi just nodded. She’d been sure almost since Hermes had transited into the Olyus system. She wasn’t sure how much of that was keen analysis of the data and how much the grim pessimism she’d applied to most of the things in her life, but she’d been watching every ship movement Hermes’s passive scans could track. Many of them were normal enough, the standard traffic around a fleet and base the size of the one at Megara, but she’d pegged at least forty she thought looked suspicious. She knew the old saying, about the signs that predicted fifty of the past ten disasters. She knew the Hegemony fleet didn’t have that many ships chasing Hermes. If they’d launched that kind of search effort, it would be obvious.
But she was certain some of those ships were looking for her, at least looking for something.
“Let’s stay on our current course…for now.” Hermes was cruising toward Megara, her engines shut down. Andi had held off the urge to increase her ship’s speed, to get there faster…but the more she accelerated on the way, the more she’d have to decelerate, when she got close to Megara, deep within the maximum danger zone for detection and interception. She’d been holding back the contents of her stomach for almost two days, now…and the last thing she wanted was to blast the engines at full right before she reached her target.
She glanced over at the display again, a quick check of Hermes’s position relative to Megara. Everything w
as on target, exactly where it should be, but she was still nervous, and she shifted around in her chair, telegraphing her edginess and fear rather more directly to her people than she’d have liked.
Her thoughts drifted back to Tyler. The fleet will be on the way by now.
Her crew didn’t know just how tight their operational window was. They didn’t need to know, but little else had occupied Andi’s thoughts for the past two days. She was determined to do what she’d been sent to do, and she’d reviewed every aspect of the operation at least a hundred times.
“Vig, while we’re coasting along…I want the comm units checked out, and I mean thoroughly. Tell Lex I want him to make damned sure the system is ready, and the codes are in place.” Andi didn’t elaborate. She didn’t need to share with her crew the certainty she felt that if Hermes reached Megara orbit, her people would have moments only, perhaps seconds, to complete their mission. Then, they’d be on the run, trying to escape before the Hegemony forces could secure a hard lock on their position from the transmission.
Or, they’d be dead.
“Yes, Andi.” A few seconds later. “Lex advises he has already checked out the comm units…but he will do it again.”
Andi’s mouth had been open, a kneejerk intent to respond to the first part of Vig’s report, though her friend had addressed what she was going to say before she had the chance.
Righter was the best engineer Andi had ever known, save only for Anya Fritz, who was outright superhuman. She knew she should count on his ability, and relax in the near-certainty, at least, that if she could get Hermes in position, the comm unit would be ready.
But Andi never relaxed about anything…and something told her this wasn’t the time to start.
* * *
Where the hell are you? And, who are you? Why have you come here?
Tiergan stared at his screen with a withering intensity. He had lines running in various directions, projected courses for…for what? He didn’t know. It was possible he was still chasing a ghost. He’d reported his contact, and his suspicions, and fleet command had responded by adding two other squadrons to his own. There were more than twenty ships now looking for whatever he’d seen, though as the hours had passed and turned into days, he was sure his fellow officers were losing faith in his suspicions.
He’d even come close to losing it a few times, but when it came right down to it, he was certain there was something out there. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be a large force, nothing that could seriously threaten the inner defenses. No substantial fleet could have gotten through the scanner net at the transit point, not even if every ship had been equipped with one of the enemy’s stealth units. He’d have picked up energy displacements, shielding leakages…something.
“Ysintl and Herinth are to alter the vectors to 320.089.101 and increase thrust to fifty percent. I want both banging away on active scanners at full power.” That would tell whoever was out there he was looking for them, but it didn’t matter.
Whoever is out there is no fool. He or she already knows we’re looking…
Garara was at the center of a formation of escorts deployed over trillions of cubic kilometers of space. Tiergan had held a number of his ships near the transit point for a long while, too long, he’d finally decided. Whatever he’d detected—if it was anything, and he believed it was—had long since moved in-system.
He glanced over at the Megara defenses. His search area had been moving closer to the Confederation’s former capital, an inevitable tightening of the search zone. That was a gamble, of course but he simply couldn’t look through the entire system. He was already combing a vast volume of space, and it would have required hundreds of ships to search the whole system thoroughly. Fleet command had taken his report seriously enough to assign him increased resources to investigate, but not enough for that.
Wait…
He was staring at the screen, at the course projections and estimates he’d superimposed over the scanner readings. He’d seen something, then again. It was an intermittent contact…very intermittent.
But it was directly on one of the roundabout courses he’d plotted for a vessel approaching Megara.
It was far from conclusive—so far, he hadn’t even bothered to report it—but he was completely convinced now. There was something out there.
And it was heading toward Megara.
He reached out, his hands almost flying over the controls, cutting out the other course data, and directing all scanning resources along the chosen line. It was a hunch as much as factual analysis, but he was going to go with it.
He was sure he was tracking something…and its course suggested strongly its destination was Megara.
“Course change…Utara, Ghoslan, Overon. And us. Bring us in for a roundabout approach to Megara. We’re going to overshoot by three hundred thousand kilometers, and then we’re going to come back in from the sun side. Full thrust, all ships.”
He’d found what he was looking for, at least he’d gotten a trace of it. Now he had to be careful. If he made it too obvious, his target might abort or change course. He would have moved in immediately, but he had a general vector, not a precise location. He didn’t know where the ship was…but he was pretty sure he knew where it was going.
And he was going to make damned certain he was waiting for it when it did.
* * *
“We’re ready to make a final approach to Megara, Andi.”
“Hold current course and velocity for now, Vig.” Andi was still staring at the screen, as she’d been doing almost nonstop for eighteen hours. Her eyes burned, and her back ached…she was feeling sluggish from the stims she’d taken. But she hadn’t moved from her perch on the bridge for more than five minutes at a time in more than two days.
She’d pegged two groups of Hegemony ships. One, she was pretty sure, was some kind of freight convoy carrying something vital. It was inbound to Megara, decelerating hard. It was possible those ships had detected her, but they could have plotted a much less obvious course than the one they were taking if they were concerned about an enemy ship lurking somewhere nearby.
That was what troubled her about the other group of ships. They had been moving in the general direction of Megara, but then they zipped past the planet, coming within two hundred thousand kilometers, but showing no signs of angling in to establish orbit.
That could have been normal enough—the system’s second planet had a few mining and scientific outposts on it. It was possible the Hegemony was utilizing those for some purpose, that the ships heading in-system were bound for there.
But she didn’t buy it. And, as she watched, she only became more convinced. The course was all wrong for a voyage to Olyus II, or anywhere else in the system.
Whoever is commanding those ships…he at least suspects we’re here…
Her eyes narrowed as she tracked the line the enemy ships had taken so far. They were coming right for Megara…and then they branched off.
Trying to throw us off?
There was no way of knowing. One instant, she was sure, and the next, she was convinced she was being paranoid. No one was sure Hermes was there…or there would be a general alert in progress. There were at least three hundred warships near enough to Megara to respond, and so far, save for the ones she was watching, none had made any suspicious moves.
“Vig…I want you to listen to me. We’re going to be very precise. When I give the word, we’re going to move into orbit as quickly as possible…full thrust when necessary. We’ve got to make sure the transmission hits all of the surface, and that means nearly a full orbit. We have no idea where Rogan or any surviving Marines are. I figure we need to make it just over three-fourths of the way around.” Her fingers were moving over her workstation, calculating the exact numbers. Seventy-six-point nine percent. “I want all weapons ready, and I want engines prepared for an emergency blast out of orbit as soon as we’re done.”
“Understood, Andi.” Her friend sounded nervous.
She didn’t blame him.
He should be flat out terrified. And, he probably is...
Andi figured she had a decent chance of making the transmission, even of hitting every part of the surface with it. Getting away after was something else entirely. They had a chance, of course. If her life had taught her anything, it was never to give up. But that chance felt like it was becoming more and more remote as her eyes moved over the screen.
I think the technical term is piss poor...
The transmission would be like a signal flare, and whoever was searching for them was clearly no fool.
“Now, Vig!” She reached out, an instinctive move when expecting a high thrust maneuver, but Hermes was a new ship, outfitted with the latest in dampening technology. She felt an instant of pressure, and a few hard jerks, but nothing more, save for a moderate feeling of increased weight. The display confirmed that Hermes’s engines were blasting at almost 50g, but it felt like no more than 1.5g to her.
The stealth units were supposed to hide her ship at any level of energy output, but that assumed pre-raid Hegemony tech. She’d have bet her last credit the enemy had made at least some kind of progress on tracking cloaked ships…and she was practically waving a torch to anything that could get even partially through the field.
She hadn’t planned such a bold move so close to Megara, but if those other ships were on to her anyway, then time had become her biggest problem.
“We’re entering orbit in twenty seconds, Andi.”
She was still staring at the screen. If those ships are on to us, you’ll know in a few seconds.
They would have to adjust to match her sudden change in vector and thrust, and that would turn her suspicions to fact.