by Terry Mixon
“The fact that the Singularity destroyed my escorts, killed my officers and courtiers, and kidnapped me is going to spark another war. They must’ve realized this before they acted, hoping that my loss would destabilize the sector I’m in charge of. They’ll have been mistaken, but people often fool themselves into thinking that their chances of success are greater than they in fact are.”
He once again turned to face One Twenty-Four. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll manage to change the law so that you’re considered a person. I also can’t assure you that, even if that happens, the Imperial Marines will accept you.
“What I can do is promise to put the full weight of my support behind you. For what your guardian has done for me, I hereby swear to do so. That means that I’m going to take her under my direct protection, and by extension, you’ll be under my wing as well.
“You cannot give me your bond, but on your behalf, I’m going to demand hers. If this is what you truly want, you need to know that it will probably bind Grace to my service for the rest of her life. Knowing that, do you still wish to proceed?”
Grace started to say something, but the man held up his hand and silenced her without taking his eyes off One Twenty-Four. “I need to hear what this young woman has to say for herself. Her answer is going to determine how we proceed.”
One Twenty-Four swallowed. “I cannot force another into doing something on my behalf that will bind them to another. I’ll accept whatever fate the Empire decides to give me on my own.”
“Please,” Grace said softly. “I’m more than willing to do this for her.”
The man smiled. “I know, but the fact that she’s unwilling to throw you to the wolves tells me that she’s a decent person at heart, even if she is from the Singularity, and that’s what I needed to know.”
He rose to his feet and turned toward Grace. “The Imperial Marines believed that releasing you from service is a polite fiction to provide cover for their actions to prevent all-out war. However, they’re going to discover that they’re quite mistaken.
“As you are no longer bound to the Imperial Marines, that frees you up to accept other oaths. Are you prepared to swear yourself to my service?”
Grace nodded. “I am.”
“Kneel.”
As soon as Grace lowered herself to the floor—which didn’t seem to be an easy task in powered armor—the man extended his hands in front of her, palms up. Grace put her gauntleted hands in his and looked up at him.
“Do you, Grace Tolliver, swear to serve me as your personal liege for the remainder of your life or until such time as I choose to release you from my service?”
“I do.” Her voice was firm.
“Then I accept your service and, in turn, promise to return that service with protection. As my sworn woman, you shall never want for succor. So long as your sword is held in my service, I shall be your unbreakable shield. On my oath to Emperor Marcus, I so swear.”
When Grace made to rise, the man shook his head. “We’re not quite done yet. While I’m confident that other accolades will be coming your way, it’s probably best to get some of this done before the full scope of your actions becomes clear.
“If you hadn’t chosen to be Andrea’s champion, it would be far easier for the emperor to reward you as you deserve. As things stand, I suspect that circumstances and the general feelings of the peerage will prevent him from being as generous as he could. That being the case, I’m going to do as your subordinate did and perform the actions that I believe he would approve of so that I will be the one taking the blame.
“The first action is one that I’m certain he’d do in any case. I hereby name you a Knight Commander of the Imperial Order with all prerogatives pertaining thereto.”
He smiled at her wryly. “My father was a man of the old school, and I received the colée—a blow to the head—rather than a sword to the shoulder, but we can spare you that, at least. Only the diehard traditionalists insist on something so violent these days.”
Grace raised an eyebrow and pointedly eyed her powered armor. “My lord, I’m no wilting flower. I am—I was—an Imperial Marine and a combat officer. You can’t possibly rough me up any worse than Sergeant Na did in the advanced hand-to-hand course.
“Don’t leave room for anyone to ever say that I was coddled. That kind of insult would be—if you’ll forgive the irony—a slap in the face. Do it.”
“Then never let it be said that I denied you the full experience.” He drew his hand back and slapped her across the face with a loud crack.
One Twenty-Four was shocked, even though she’d known it was coming. Imperials were… strange.
Even though the blow had rocked Grace’s head to the side, she returned her gaze to his face and seemed smugly satisfied for reasons that One Twenty-Four couldn’t explain. The redness on her face was already fading, probably being fixed by the medical nanites.
“Let that blow be the last one you receive that isn’t answered by me, and through me, my liege lord, Emperor Marcus,” the man said gently. “Violence offered to you is violence offered to me; offense offered to you is offense offered to me. From this day forward, I and those loyal to me will stand at your side against any foe, no matter their station or power.”
He turned his face toward One Twenty-Four. “My father was a hard man, but, in my defense, she did insist.”
“If you are the duke—and why is your name different than your title?—then what happened to your father?” One Twenty-Four asked.
“When I said he was a diehard traditionalist, I wasn’t kidding. He was killed while hunting, having picked prey that was more than capable of hunting him back. Honestly, I still miss him, but I think that would’ve changed as I grew older. He could be a hard man, too.
“As for the name, titles remain constant, but family names can and do change over time. The original DeSantis line died out millennia ago due to sickness. The emperor back then appointed a new duke. That new line was extinguished in battle with the Singularity hundreds of years ago, and the Fowlers were raised to the title. And here we are.”
Fowler returned his attention to Grace. “My final action is one that the emperor would hesitate to make, so I will risk his wrath by doing it myself. In the name of Emperor Marcus and as his direct vassal, I hereby elevate you to the peerage at the rank of baroness.
“I have more than enough personal land on DeSantis to create the barony. When the emperor created the Duchy of DeSantis, he set aside a healthy chunk of wildland on all the continents for future growth.
“One of those reserves is on our small southern continent. It’s a rugged place, full of mountains, imposing hills, and absolutely breathtaking forests. With you as the first holder of this title, I think that I have the perfect name for it: the Barony of Iron Mountain. That suits your personality. Rise, Lady Grace, Baroness Iron Mountain.
“As your co-commander, I’ll get around to doing something similar for Captain Anders when time permits. Others like Sergeant Na will get knighted, as well as receive other rewards from the crown through me, but we’ll have to sort that out when time permits.”
One Twenty-Four didn’t understand any of what she’d just seen or heard but could tell that Grace was stunned, and not only from the blow to her head. She was going to have to ask for an explanation when they had time.
Even as she was thinking that, a loud klaxon began sounding from overhead. She didn’t know what it meant, but Grace was instantly on her feet, and Fei was already pulling One Twenty-Four out of the chair and grabbing her helmet to hand it to her.
Before she could ask what was happening, the overhead speakers came to life, and she heard Captain Anders’s voice ringing out authoritatively.
“All hands to battle stations. The enemy destroyers have returned. We’re going to have to fight after all.”
36
Grace raced to the bridge with Andrea hot on her heels. Na split off and followed Duke DeSantis as he went to get his men ready to help d
efend the ship. They had plenty of time to get into position. The destroyers were almost certainly still hours away.
The bridge was a hive of activity when she arrived, even if almost all the stations were unmanned. The ship was still in orbit around the gas giant, which might be a good thing, all things considered. If the destroyers didn’t think anything was wrong, they might be more susceptible to an ambush.
Not that she was looking forward to a fight like that. While a heavy cruiser could normally handle two destroyers easily, Gargoyle was damaged and undermanned. She also lacked the implant systems that would usually allow a Fleet crew to operate the ship at a higher level of effectiveness.
Anders turned at their entrance and acknowledged them with a dip of his head, not slowing as he gave orders to the men and women at the consoles around him. Based on what Grace could hear, it didn’t sound as if they were about to get underway anytime soon.
Once he’d finished giving his initial instructions, Anders turned his chair so that he could see her clearly. “The destroyers came through the flip point and are headed our way. They’re only moving at cruising speed, so I don’t believe they know what’s going on at this point. The commercial orbital doesn’t seem to be aware that we’ve seized the ship, so there’s no reason anyone else should be either.
“We were still getting all of the primary systems checked out, and we hadn’t left orbit yet. Honestly, that might be a lucky break. If we were in motion, that would certainly raise some concerns for them. At least for a little while, we should be able to sit here and lure them closer. If we can lull them into a false sense of security, we might be able to ambush them.”
Grace wasn’t sure how likely that was, but if their chances in a straight-up battle were poor, they needed to fight dirty. If nothing else, the weapons they had aboard Bright Passage should be able to screw up at least one destroyer.
But that would only work if the enemy didn’t suspect what was coming.
“How likely are we to fool them?” she asked, stopping by his chair and keeping Andrea in the corner of her vision.
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you,” he warned. “They were satisfied with a brief acknowledgment that they’d returned to the system and were on their way to meet up with us, but when they get closer, it’s an almost certainty that whoever’s in charge over there is going to want to speak to the legate.
“When that happens, we’ll try to put them off, but as soon as they figure out what’s happening, the game is up, and they’re going to come in hot and fast.”
“So, what do we do? If they’re going to come in shooting no matter what tricks we try, how do we make sure that we survive this in good enough shape to get the hell out of the Singularity?”
“We’ve already moved Bright Passage into a different orbit,” he said. “No time to recover any of the cargo we liberated, so we’ll have to hope the duke honors his promise to pay for them at full value.
“She’s going to be a lot closer to them, based on their current course, but since she’s still in orbit around the gas giant, they’re not going to see her as a direct threat. I’m hoping they’ll dismiss her as just part of the scenery and focus on us.
“She’s only got the minimum crew required to move and fire her weapons. If she can knock one of the destroyers out of the fight, I’d say our odds are pretty good. We’ll almost certainly lose her, but I’m hoping the crew can eject before the destroyers take her out. Basically, this is going to be a situation where they fire the weapons and abandon ship immediately.”
Grace didn’t like the sound of that.
“Are we going to be able to get enough of our weapon systems online to fight? What about our battle screens?”
He shook his head. “The battle screens are power hogs. Since we only have one fusion plant, and it has stability issues, I’m leery of trying anything that chancy. If we do bring them up, we won’t have power for the beam weapons or the engines. We’d be a stationary firing platform.
“The missiles are easier. All we have to do is get enough trained crewmen to operate them, and we’ll be able to reload and keep firing. While some of the batteries are still offline due to battle damage, we’ve got more than they do.
“The problem is that we’re a fragile firing platform. Without those battle screens, and without the ability to maneuver, we can be damaged enough to prevent us from escaping once the fight is over. In other words, we’ll win the battle and lose the war.”
Grace had no experience with space combat, so she’d have to take his word on that. She knew the Fleet officer would use every bit of tactical maneuvering he could to win this fight, but the chances were high that they’d end up being boarded.
“I should probably get the platoon split up between engineering and the bridge,” she said with a sigh. “That’s where they’re going to come if they board us. Since they’re almost certainly not going to use the standard docking tubes, we can expect boarding pods similar to the ones we used to get on board. That means we’re not going to be able to guess where they’ll breach.
“They’re also going to be using powered armor. Thankfully, we’ve got more than enough to equip the entire platoon. Those destroyers do have twice the number of marines we do, though. As the defenders, we’ll have a force multiplier, but it could come down to the wire.”
“I think you’re right,” he agreed. “The destroyers are still a couple of hours out, so you need to get everybody armored up and harden all the defenses you can. This is going to give us time to get the missile batteries manned, and we might be able to take out some of the boarding pods before they get to the ship. I’m not going to promise that, but I’m not going to exclude the possibility either.”
“I knew the risks when I signed up,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll take charge of the group guarding the bridge. Sergeant Na will take care of engineering. I’ll have to leave some of my people guarding the prisoners because the very last thing we need is for them to get loose in the middle of this fight. If that happens, we're done.”
She turned to face Andrea. “I can’t detail anyone to guard you, so I’m going to send you to engineering with Fei. You’re not trained to use powered armor, and I doubt very seriously that we could get any fitted to you because of your size, so you’re going to have to stay concealed and use your weapons more like a sniper.
“And before you decide that you want to argue with me, you need to remember what’s at stake. If you take unnecessary risks, one of the marines is probably going to get killed trying to save you. This is not the time to prove how brave you are. This is the time to show how smart you are. Do you understand me?”
Andrea nodded. “I’ve seen powered armor in operation. I have no desire to be directly in the sights of a weapon like that again. At least not when I’m so ill prepared to defend myself. With your permission, I’ll go join Fei in engineering so that she can tell me what she wants me to do.
“If I might make a suggestion, perhaps you should preemptively stun the prisoners before the fight begins. I’m not certain if that violates some rules of behavior for your people, but if they are a threat, you should neutralize them.”
Anders pursed his lips and nodded. “Not exactly according to Queensberry’s rules, but I think that’s an excellent idea. The antiboarding weapons in that section are functional, so when it starts looking like things are going down, I’ll trigger them. One less thing to worry about, and your marines can focus on the real threat.”
Grace gestured toward the hatch. “Get moving, Andrea. By the time you get to engineering, I’ll have already given Fei her orders. Stop by the armory and pick up some of the heavier weaponry. Whatever hiding place you end up in, you’re going to want to have weapons that are actually useful against powered armor.
“You’re going to have to time your attacks well, because as soon as they realize you’re a threat, they’ll blast the area where you’re hiding.
“I’m certain that Fei will give you the s
ame orders that I am, but I want to stress this right now. Spread those weapons out and make sure that once you fire a shot, you’re already moving before they can return fire. That’s how snipers stay alive in a close-contact fight like this. Mobility is life.”
Andrea nodded. “I’ll do that. And remember that you don’t have to lead from the front. You should stay inside the bridge and let the rest of your people form the defensive bulwark. If you’re out front, you can’t be directing them as cleanly as you would be when you’re not ducking every incoming plasma shot.”
Without waiting for a response, the girl raced out of the bridge.
“You know, if she survives the next few months, I think she might make a decent marine,” Anders said thoughtfully.
Grace nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Then she turned to glare at him. “And just so we’re clear, I’m not happy with what you did. I’m her guardian, and you had no right to make a decision like that. I don’t want you ever doing anything like that again.”
The Fleet officer grinned unrepentantly. “I doubt very seriously that I’ll have to. This is more of a once-and-done sort of situation. I’m going to get my ass reamed for doing it, but since that’s my only transgression, my career is going to survive. If you’d made that call, they’d lock you up over misuse of Imperial property or some such.
“Sergeant Na is going to get a lecture about following my instructions when she should’ve said no, but as a noncommissioned officer, she’ll probably be shielded from any real consequences, because it’s our responsibility. The same thing for the doctor. He was just following orders.”
Grace had to admit that Anders was right, but it still galled her.
“Do you think it’s going to make any difference?” she asked quietly. “Is the Empire going to change the law to recognize her as a person? Even if they do, will the Imperial Marines accept her as a recruit?”