“But, who fired it? And how did it get past our fighter screen?” she demanded. She had intentionally deployed so many fighters and charged them with the primary mission of spotting and eliminating any missiles heading toward the Thetican sun. Evidently, one had slipped through, but how?
“After review,” said Adiger, “we could not identify the source. Nor did any of the logs from the battle record a missile fired in the direction of the Thetican System’s parent star.”
“So, you’re telling me that an isotome weapon was somehow deployed, by someone, who went completely undetected, and the result of it was the total loss of the Thetican System, all lives on the surface of the planet, and the utter annihilation of half our fleet—and nearly all of the remaining enemy fleet—and that is the only explanation we’ve got?”
“I’m afraid so, Your Majesty,” said Adiger.
She looked at each of the others, expecting one of them to volunteer more information, but none did.
“Gentlemen,” she said. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said Sir Gregory. “Although I would guard your expectations, My Queen, all ships have already reported their footage and observations, and we have already analyzed it.”
“Then analyze it again,” snapped Kalila. “At the very least give me some proof that the Rotham did it. We need to pin the blame on someone, and it must have been them, unless some third party was there…”
“We cannot prove the missile came from a Rotham starship,” said Sir Gregory. “We can assume it did, since no human ship was armed with such a weapon, and no other ships were present during the action, but it seems a strangely illogical move on their part. More of their ships were destroyed by the subsequent shockwave, and they surrendered any hope of ever gaining Thetican System as the useful foothold it would have been, a strategic vantage point within The Corridor.”
“They also slaughtered billions of our people and deprived us of that same strategic foothold,” said Kalila. “I have no doubt they did this out of spite, or revenge, once it became clear that they would lose the battle. What I need from you, is to identify the ship that fired the missile. So I can point the blame accurately and bring the perpetrator to justice.”
“I shall do my best,” said Sir Gregory, not looking optimistic.
Kalila was about to give further instructions when she spotted Garrick enter the bridge and stand patiently at attention. He was one of her spymasters and she’d charged him with keeping her apprised of the situation at Ophiuchus. By the grim look on his face, he didn’t come here to report good news.
“You’re all dismissed,” said Kalila, waving her advisors away.
Garrick approached her. “I have a report, Your Highness.”
“Ophiuchus?” asked Kalila, knowingly.
“Yes, Your Majesty. The planet…” Here it comes, she thought. The news of brutal invasion. “Remains ours.”
“What?” asked Kalila, almost too surprised to sound happy. “Then, Sir Reginald?”
“Killed in action, I’m afraid,” said Garrick. “In fact, all ships dispatched to defend the system have been lost.”
Kalila bowed her head, giving brave Sir Reginald a moment of silence out of respect. He had not volunteered to lead that battle, but neither had he shirked the duty when she gave it to him. A profound loss, to be certain.
“If all ships were lost,” said Kalila, “how is it that the planet still remains ours? Did Caerwyn’s fleet not invade?”
“They did not. After the battle, they withdrew. My intelligence suggests they are on their way to Capital System.”
“That makes sense,” said Kalila, thinking of how Raidan and his forces were nearly there, threatening to bomb the planet if they didn’t hand over Caerwyn Martel to him on a silver platter.
“If I may have your leave?” asked Garrick. “I have matters that require my attention and nothing further to report.”
“Of course, on your way.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he bowed, then left. She wondered how much the spymaster knew, how much he’d figured things out. Do you know the plan? She thought, watching him walk away. Do you know about the deals that went sour? Can you tell me who destroyed the Thetican star?
No matter how well she had planned things, and how many deals she had made through her various connections—a network that was vast and deep—nothing seemed to be going the way it was supposed to. Certainly Thetican System wasn’t supposed to be lost! She thought of the billions of lives that had perished, souls briefly terrified as they stared upon their approaching doom, only to be massacred in the blink of an eye a few moments later.
That wasn’t supposed to happen, she thought. None of this was supposed to happen. She’d had everything meticulously planned. Everything was to follow a certain design, one that should have been foolproof and sufficient to defend her people. For that was all she had ever really wanted, to protect them. Now, though, as she looked back on recent events, she knew she’d been more than betrayed. And the seeds she’d planted had reaped her a harvest of blood and chaos that she had never asked for.
Can no one be trusted in this galaxy? She wondered, as she walked to the command position to meet Captain Adiger.
She wondered how everything had gone this wrong. And whether that meant Caerwyn had won, despite Raidan’s brash gambit. Her fleet was in ruins, and now, should Caerwyn defend himself from Raidan long enough, he would stand unchallenged as the leader of the Empire…and he would probably be the last one at that.
In all of my planning and after all of my effort, have I accidentally sat Caerwyn upon the throne and given him my father’s crown?
“How may I serve you, Your Majesty?” asked Adiger, bowing as she arrived at his side. His words broke her concentration.
“Yes,” she said. “I want a status report on all our surviving ships—everybody who made it out of Thetican System. They are to be deployed in small groups in each of the various loyal systems of The Corridor. Order them to conduct immediate repair and resupply, we may need to see battle again. And soon.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” said Adiger. He commanded his station chiefs to relay the orders to the scattered fleet.
“I would also like a list of the casualties on my desk within the hour,” added Kalila. Like the blood bath that had been the Apollo Yards battle, she intended on reading each and every name of every soldier or crewman who died in her service. Even though this time it would likely be easier to read the survivors than the deceased.
“Yes, of course, Your Highness.”
“And, finally, do we have any intelligence as to the whereabouts of the Rotham attack fleet? Surely some of them must have escaped the system.”
“Our scout ships traced their jump signatures to deep inside the DMZ,” said Adiger. “It appears that the Rotham have ordered a full retreat.”
For now, anyway, thought Kalila. “Thank you, Captain, that will be all.”
***
Caerwyn’s motorcade made slow progress to his bunker. In all, it consisted of fifty armored vehicles, including several heavily-fortified luxury cars that were identical to one another. All the better to disguise which car he was truly in.
“Damn that maniac Raidan,” whispered Caerwyn to himself.
“Pardon me, Your Highness, did you ask something?” said the attendant sitting across from him as they made their way slowly along Capital World’s rain-slicked streets.
“No, nothing,” said Caerwyn, annoyed. He wanted to appear strong, to seem defiant of Raidan’s threat, and dismiss it, but after reviewing the tactical capabilities of the Harbinger, along with Raidan’s other ships, Caerwyn realized that the threat was a serious one. Serious enough that if he stayed in his estate, or in the palace, he might die from orbital bombardment. If he hid, he would almost certainly survive, but the risk to the public was great enough that, should Raidan prove himself a psychopath and make good on his threat, it could easily be enough to raise a ri
ot against him. And Caerwyn Martel was not about to be the first king of the Empire to be ousted by a torch-wielding mob.
Which led him here, in this miserable convoy surrounded by guards and retainers, each of whom had been highly paid to ensure their loyalty. And as they lumbered around every corner, inching their way toward the secret underground bunker’s entrance, Caerwyn expected them to encounter resistance. He wasn’t the most popular king that Capital World had ever seen—not yet—which meant that many thousands, or even millions, or more, of the planet’s citizens would likely be happy enough to give him up in order to save their own asses.
Ingrates and cowards, thought Caerwyn. A king should not have to cower before his own people. He should be able to boldly sit his throne and command the respect and love of all! Not go hiding down some murky tunnel into an underground fortress so he can protect himself from his own people. His own subjects!
At least he knew his fleet had left Ophiuchus and was making swift progress toward Capital World. It would take it time to get here, but once it did arrive, his fleet would make short work of the Harbinger and any of the rest of Raidan’s squadron. All Caerwyn had to do was survive long enough for that to happen.
True, Raidan would probably show his fury when Caerwyn could not be found and delivered to him, and some would suffer his wrath. But so long as Caerwyn himself remained safe, in an undisclosed location, he was more than content to let the planet burn—if that’s what it took—until his forces arrived to save the day.
CHAPTER 03
“Close the door; I think that’s everybody who is coming,” said Hadriana Cydney; she was one of the people’s elected Representatives of Olympia. Like everyone else gathered with her in the musky basement of the Assembly Hall in a nondescript utility room, she was a member of the Imperial Assembly. As she examined the faces around her, she counted nine members of the Assembly—including herself. That wasn’t a very strong number, but among them were some of the most powerful and influential figures in the legislative body.
“All right,” said Representative Ogden as she slid the door shut.
“For God’s sake, keep your voice down,” said Representative Brady. It was hard to tell in the dim light—the single light source left everyone’s face half obscured—but Representative Brady seemed the most anxious of the lot. Though everyone seemed on edge. As well they should be.
“It’s all right,” said Hadriana. “Nobody can hear us in here. We’re safe to speak freely.” This may have comforted the others a little, but it didn’t act as the springboard of discussion that she had hoped it would. Instead the others stared at her silently, clearly expecting her to be the first one to speak any words that others might consider treasonous. Very well, then, I will, thought Hadriana. “Thank you all for coming,” she began. “With that out of the way, I think it would be best for us to jump straight to the matter at hand and discuss the elephant in the room, as it were.”
“You mean the fact that this very building will likely be bombed in the next couple of hours, and you’ve decided that we should meet underneath it?” asked Representative Ogden.
“I was thinking more along the lines of…discussing what our options are,” she said. “And whether or not we’re interested in entertaining Asari Raidan’s demands.”
“Give him the king?” asked Representative Ogden, sounding appalled—although Hadriana knew he was faking the emotion. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am serious,” said Hadriana, hoping to embolden the others if she spoke out first and loudest.
“But even discussing such a thing is treason,” said Representative Ogden. “We are all, now, accessories to treason, just by listening to you.”
“And yet you came,” she said, looking first at Representative Ogden and then at each of the others in turn. “Ogden, Brady, Easton, Taylor, Baldwin, Taggart, Blackmore, and Nichols, my esteemed colleagues, it is our sworn duty to protect our people. Is that not why we are here?”
They nodded or otherwise murmured their assent.
“And our people, the people of this very world, have been threatened with death. With a holocaust of annihilation if we do not give up the life of just one man. Is that not something we ought to consider?”
“That one man,” said Representative Easton, “happens to be the king.”
“Ah yes, the king…” said Hadriana. “But, is he, though?”
“What do you mean?” asked Representative Easton.
“Treason,” said Representative Ogden, “I knew it. I knew it.”
“Calm down,” Hadriana said gently, raising her hands. “I only mean, while it is true that Caerwyn was elected to be the king by our own Imperial Assembly, were not any of you bribed or threatened to vote for him? If not, can you honestly not tell me that, with the rumors swirling about regarding our missing colleagues, that you weren’t honestly just a bit afraid of opposing him?”
“Perhaps a little,” admitted Representative Ogden. The others seemed to agree.
“And if that’s so, then doesn’t that mean he was elected by duress?” asked Hadriana. “Which would negate the election, according to the Articles of the Imperial Charter.”
“That is so, if it could be proved,” said Representative Taggart.
“If he is then not our king, that makes him only a man, and is not the life of one man worth less than the lives of millions, and perhaps billions? Keeping in mind that these lives we’d be saving belong to the very people we swore to protect when we were elected to represent them.”
“We cannot seriously be discussing the ethics of the value of one life for many lives,” said Representative Ogden. “Leave that to the philosophers.”
“And if it is your estate that is bombed, Mister Ogden, with your wife and children in it, will you still be glad that you took that position?” asked Hadriana. This seemed to cow him.
“Miss Cydney,” said Representative Baldwin. “I think we can all see what stop this train of yours is taking us to. And it is also true, I believe, for all of us here, that we have no love for the king. That is, indeed, why we are here at all. But honestly, what would you have us do? Even if we wished to hand Caerwyn over to Raidan, it is impossible. His whereabouts are unknown and he has surrounded himself with a private army of guards. We are but nine politicians.”
“Are we, though?” asked Hadriana. She walked over to the closet and rapped twice on the door. It opened, and two men exited. As soon as their faces became clear in the dim light, everybody began scrambling to get away, only Hadriana blocked the way out. “Order! Order!” she shouted. “These men are on our side.”
The panic slowly halted and the representatives, who had been shoving each other, and her, in an effort to get out, cautiously returned to their original places.
“As you can plainly recognize, these are two of the king’s own handpicked ministers,” said Hadriana. “Allow me the honor of welcoming Sergei, His Majesty’s Minister of Strategy, and Oliver, His Majesty’s Minister of Finance.” Each man bowed when his name was spoken.
“Great, so now we are eleven politicians instead of nine,” said Representative Baldwin. “What difference does that make? We still don’t know where the king is.”
“I know where he is,” said Sergei.
“Well, then, what about his army of guards?” asked Representative Baldwin.
“Trust me,” said Sergei, “when I say that all obstacles may be overcome with the right strategy.”
“I’m out,” said Representative Ogden, standing up. “This is a trap; I can smell it. I’m not a traitor. I’m not disloyal to the king.” He reached the door. “Long may he reign.”
“Representative Ogden,” said Sergei, stopping him just as he was about to open the door. “I recognize you and, under torture, would still identify you. It is too late now to not be here. Like it or not, you are part of this now, all of you, so you might as well do the right thing for your people and your country.”
Representative Ogden turned
around, looking angry momentarily, then returned to his place.
“You two come here and claim to be on our side,” said Representative Easton. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
“That we must depose the king,” said Sergei in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I quite agree,” Oliver said, adding his voice to Sergei’s.
“But the two of you are Ministers of the King, handpicked to serve him,” said Representative Easton. “Forgive me if I am not a little suspicious of your motives.”
“We have had the privilege to serve the king directly, and to see him at his worst. And I tell you,” said Sergei, “the king is not a good man. There is a dark and selfish side to him that will make him a tyrant, not a ruler. I have long believed that he must be eliminated, but now there is a compelling reason to make it happen. We can prevent a horrible disaster from befalling our beloved planet.”
“I too have had personal dealings with the king,” said Oliver. “And I can confirm, through intense and repeated auditing of the royal treasury, that the king has been using those funds as his own personal savings account. Using some of that money to pay bounties on your former colleagues, representatives who tried to flee the system and defect to the queen.”
“So, the rumors are true?” asked Representative Taggart, looking shocked. Despite the man’s apparent surprise, Hadriana was fairly certain everyone in the room knew the rumors were true. Even if most of them had wanted to believe otherwise.
“Yes,” said Sergei, confirming Oliver’s accusation. “They are true. Additionally, the king has had advance warnings of attacks by Kalila’s fleet—specifically against Olympia System—and when I wanted to warn the system, so it could marshal its defenses, the king personally ordered me to stand down.”
This particular revelation, when they’d told her about it earlier, had burned under Hadriana’s skin worse than all of the others combined. The fact that her planet could have been savagely attacked, and very nearly was, and the king had had advance knowledge of the threat, and had chosen not to defend it, or even give Hadriana’s people any warning, it was an outrage!
The Phoenix Reckoning (The Phoenix Conspiracy Series Book 6) Page 4