by Kal Spriggs
Garret shook his head. In some ways, the plan reminded him of his father's machinations... in others, it sounded far too optimistic, without the decades of jaded political favor trading and ambition. “I... I can't just quit, you know, even assuming I wanted to do so. I'm signed up for the duration of this contract, at least, and another couple extra years, besides.”
“We understand that, Garret,” Jessica said. “But we also know that your commander could cut you loose, if you asked. And this kind of offer is not one that comes every day. Dammit, Garret, we need you.”
Her words echoed their final conversation, a decade ago, and a wash of pain went through him as he remembered her tear-filled eyes as he had turned away. He nodded slowly, “I can see that. Still, it's not a decision I can make lightly.” Under the War Dogs, he could rise high, perhaps even taking over an independent command as the company continued to expand. I could retire, he thought, no responsibilities, no worries, and all by myself... no friends, no family, and utterly alone. Garret would never have considered himself the kids in the backyard and barbeque type, but just now, seeing Jessica and his brother... it gave him pause.
“We don't want you to rush into it,” Jessica said softly. “This isn't a small decision. For that matter, we'd like you to get more combat experience. We're going to place one of the privateer squadrons under your command.”
Garret remembered his ulterior motive for coming. “What is it you aren't telling me?” He looked between them and saw masks settle over both their faces. “You've got something over Admiral Mannetti and Admiral Collae. Collae might back something like this from the standpoint of building an ally up, but Mannetti is a pirate. She's not into charity or goodwill, she's got a bottom line.”
Harris pursed his lips and shot a glance at Jessica that Garret couldn't read. Neither answered him for a long moment. The sound of Garth and Abigail laughing seemed incongruous with the serious expressions Harris and Jessica.
“Look, at least tell me that it's secure,” Garret asked. “It's got to be something physical or some kind of information she needs. Please tell me you have someone competent in charge of protecting it.” He almost laid out all his cards, asked them straight out about Brokenjaw Mountain, but he didn't want to push them too far.
“It is secure, more secure than you might believe,” Jessica said softly. “And it will stay that way... even if we might wish otherwise.” She looked, for a moment, as if she felt like she had said too much.
“The full answer,” Harris said, “will have to wait until we are absolutely certain we can trust you...”
Garret scowled, “You offer me command of your military forces but you don't trust me enough to tell me about whatever this is? This feels all kinds of dangerous... and trust me, with people like Mannetti and Collae, there's no such thing as too secure.” He sighed, “But I'll accept your answer and I'll think about your offer.”
“Good,” Harris said.
“One more thing, Garret,” Jessica said, her voice light. Garret heard the solid steel under the silk glove though, “If you get my little sister killed, I swear to you, no matter where you run, no matter what you do, no matter how essential you are to our plans, I'll kill you myself.”
Garret's gaze went over to where the cheerful young woman played with his nephew. She glanced over her shoulder, as if she sensed his gaze and gave him a merry smile and wave. Garret sighed, “I promise you, Jessica, that I'll do everything I can to keep her alive. That said, she's a big girl, she makes her own decisions.”
“Well,” Harris said into the icy silence that followed. “Garret, have you caught yourself up on the lacrosse teams, yet? New Texas still insists they have the best team...”
***
Faraday
United Colonies
October 19, 2403
Lucius stood as the Emperor of Nova Roma stepped into the conference room. “Thank you for coming to this meeting, your Highness,” Lucius said politely. He gave a nod to Admiral Mund and even managed a civil nod at Admiral Balventia.
“Of course,” Emperor Romulus IV said. “Though I must admit I wanted to speak to you on another subject.”
“We wish to begin rear area raids against the Chxor, immediately,” Admiral Balventia said brusquely. “We feel the Dreyfus Fleet is too slow to keep pressure on the Chxor, we need to push at their stress lines and multiply their issues. Destruction of their supply convoys would make their defense tenuous.”
Lucius winced, “I applaud the idea. However, some information we have just learned has suggested that would cause us all rather more issues than you might realize.”
Admiral Balventia grimaced, “I realize that you wish to maintain security of this system, however, even a light force could secure the perimeter and prevent anyone from ascertaining that our forces have withdrawn for long enough that you could return some of your own forces to secure the system.”
Lucius looked over at Kate Bueller and Reginald. Kate spoke up, “There is an issue with that. It has to do with our newest visitor.”
At the looks of confusion from the Emperor and his two advisers, Lucius said, “Shadow Lord Invictus gave us a bit more information for the puzzle. Apparently there are currently five Shadow Lord fleets in shadow space, just outside the system. They're all prepared to attack, to gut the support structure of the Dreyfus Fleet and eliminate the threat that we pose to them. The only thing holding them back, apparently, is the agreement that your great-grandfather made with them. That makes your fleet inviolate to three of them... and would force them to not only avoid attacking but to attack Shadow Lords Gargant and Sanctus if they attack.”
“What?” The Emperor demanded, “But that's absurd. Why would they find themselves bound to that at this point? We can't possibly uphold our end.”
“Not at this moment, but your family has upheld their end for the past eighty years,” Reginald said. “And the Shadow Lords are bound by their own sense of honor. If they violate that, their own followers would turn on them.”
“Could Invictus be lying, trying to deceive us?” Emperor Romulus IV asked uncertainly. The tone of his voice suggested he really didn't want to be stuck in the system. Lucius couldn't blame him. The man had driven his crews hard to bring them up to a fighting standard. In Lucius's opinion, they could use a few months of additional training and workup, but he also understood their desire to get back into the action.
“He's almost certainly trying to manipulate us,” Lucius said confidently. “From what I understand, that's his method of operation. However, since we were his invited guests, he was required by his own code to speak to us honestly. He couldn't lie about the five fleets or the agreement... he wanted us to know about what is protecting us, so that we could use it against his true enemies: the other Shadow Lords.”
“That seems rather petty,” Emperor Romulus IV said. “He's maintaining this standoff to hurt the others, but your survival can't work in his favor.”
“Spiteful is something that all the Shadow Lords are by definition, your Highness,” Reginald said with a nod of emphasis. “Invictus might be doing this from just the amusement of his fellow's frustration... or he might be doing it to keep them distracted. He told us five fleets were out there... but he didn't say how much of his fleet was present. It could very easily be that Invictus told us this because we continue to distract the others while his forces are free to operate unopposed by them elsewhere.”
“That's... devious,” Emperor Romulus IV said softly. He looked at Admiral Mund, “But that essentially keeps our forces pinned here.”
“It would,” Admiral Mund said. “Our initial deployment plans were to send out large raids to hit some of the Chxor convoys and infrastructure. Assuming that the Shadow Lords view our main fleet as the preventative measure... well, then we can't pull enough forces out of that without making the raider units too small.”
“Agreed,” Admiral Balventia said with narrow eyes. He glared at Lucius, as if certain that this must be
some false threat, engineered to deny him his chance to prove his skills once more.
“Very well,” Emperor Romulus said with a sigh, “Then I must ask that you step up your preparations to attack again, Baron. We must not let the Chxor continue with their preparations.”
“Agreed,” Lucius said. He glanced at his own civilian advisers, “Which is why I'm leaving in the morning to rejoin the Dreyfus Fleet... aboard a Nova Roma vessel, if you would be so gracious as to assist, your Highness.”
“Why...” the Emperor frowned, “Oh, so that the Shadow Lords would hesitate to attack you en route. Yes, I think I can assist.”
“Sir,” Kate said, somewhat frantically, “You can't leave with everything going on here. What am I supposed to do about your... about both the men who claim to be your father?” The note of panic in her voice was almost amusing.
“I think I'll have to agree with our Foreign Minister,” President Sara Cassin said. “Even to deal with the ambassador, we would almost certainly need you. To deal with the one from Shadow Lord Imperious we definitely need you and your expertise.” The woman had a harsh frown, almost as if she thought Lucius were avoiding his responsibilities and gallivanting off to war. In some ways, Lucius thought, I suppose I am... I really need to spend more time here, very soon it will be time to retire my military command. The thought made him ache. He had never sought political power... only to command in battle, a skill in which he at least felt confident of success.
Lucius shook his head, “No, madame President, you don't need me here to deal with them... with either of them.” He shook his head, “The thing that has bothered me about the pair from their arrival is that the dramatics of their reveal was designed to put me off balance. You don't do that kind of thing if you are bargaining in good faith, you do it if you want to put the other person at a disadvantage.”
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“I'm saying that neither of them is my father,” Lucius said. “And we're going to say that, publicly and openly.” He looked at Kate, “I want you to put the Iodans on it. They're smart enough with biology that I'm sure they can find something out of place. Have them prove that both of them are imposters. Keep them both talking until then. Don't commit to anything, but make it appear that we want what they're offering.” He wished he had thought to get the Iodans involved earlier, but the odd aliens had mostly withdrawn to the Zeta Tau system, other than a small contingent here on Faraday to serve as their representatives.
Kate frowned, “But that's not operating in good faith. Leading them on diplomatically, it's deception that they can make public if they're wanting a reason to attack.” She seemed inordinately concerned about that, in Lucius's opinion.
“Shadow Lord Imperious couldn't care less about public opinion,” Lucius said. “As for the Centauri, well, that's why we're going to prove they didn't bargain in good faith, first. The embarrassment should be enough to make them back down. If it doesn't... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The thing to remember, Imperious will attack or control us if he can and the Centauri Confederation is already at war on multiple fronts. They can't afford another war if they can't get their own people behind it. The important thing is: we already have our allies,” Lucius looked right at the Emperor as he said that. “We will not throw them to the wolves because someone else comes along.” At his words, the Emperor stood a little straighter, Admiral Mund gave a confident nod, and even Valens Balventia looked a bit less sour.
“But,” Alicia Nix asked, “you're assuming the Iodans can prove that one or both of them are fake. Or that my people could, for that matter. What if one of them is genuine?” She looked worried, as if he had put their entire strategy upon her shoulders, which he had, in a way.
Lucius shook his head, “Let me make this as clear as I can. I don't doubt that the Iodans can find some discrepancy, something wrong, really, anything that we can weight with enough attention to prove that they lied and therefore we have no choice but to reject both offers of alliance.”
“Wait, you're saying that even if they can't find enough to prove it... we need to say it is enough?” Kate asked. “That's... well, I guess that would work.” Her face took on a thoughtful expression as she contemplated how to approach it from that perspective.
“We're going to lie?” President Sara Cassin asked uncomfortably.
“You're going to lie about your own family?” Admiral Balventia said, almost at the same time. “How could you do that to your own blood?” His expression was disgusted.
Lucius looked between them, his expression solemn. “I have a strong bond to my family... to my daughter and to my sister.” He sighed, “Regardless of who those two men are genetically... they came here in support of plans to cause me emotional trauma with the intent to rush me into a decision regarding the safety and prosperity of a nation that has selected me as their leader.” Lucius felt a hard mask fall over his face. “I do not like being manipulated, especially not by someone who claims family ties to me. I especially do not like it when they represent powers that would see the people I have defended reduced to powerless vassals at best... and slaves at worst.” He met the President's eyes, “If either one of them was my actual father... then he has forsworn those ties in trying to deceive and betray me.”
President Cassin slowly nodded. A look at Valens Balventia showed a mix of emotions, too complex to figure out. At least he didn't reject everything I said out of hand, Lucius thought. “In the meantime,” Lucius said to Kate, “our priority must be to secure our own system and to build alliances with those who seemed willing. If we have any serious offers to join, we can begin working that, but keep it quiet.” He sighed, “What I want is to announce it all at once, the good, the bad... all of it. If nothing else, it will cause our enemies to hesitate, to take time to consider.” Lucius brought up a star map and highlighted three systems. “This information does not leave this room, am I understood?” His gaze swept the men and women in the briefing room. Slowly, each of them, even Admiral Balventia, gave him a nod.
“I'm going to change our assault timeline. We're hitting the Chxor almost as soon as I get back to Melcer. My goal is to liberate the Nova Roma system within the next ninety days. As a part of that, we have to seize Danar within the next month.” That was the important part. They could do without Tehran, but they had to take Danar. As Anthony Doko had said it was the key.
“Finally!” Emperor Romulus IV said.
“Why so soon?” President Cassin asked uncomfortably.
Lucius looked over at Kate, “That's how long I want to draw out our discussions, both with the Centauri Confederation and with the other emissaries. At that point, I want things finalized. Make it clear to them that we need to know where people stand... with us or against us.”
“Some of these emissaries are from a very long way away,” Kate said. Lucius was certain she was thinking of the Shogun's envoy. For that matter, Lucius knew that the Shogun could be a very valuable ally. Then again, having dealt with Mike Noguchi before, Lucius knew that the man was both dangerously capable and extremely intelligent. The Shogun would have sent him with enough independence to make compromises.
“I know,” Lucius said. “But I'm certain that either they've been given enough leeway to bargain or that we probably couldn't bring them around to our side without any big display.” He turned to meet President Cassin's worried face, “The reason I'm breaking it down, us and them, is not for conquest or attack. We're going to need support, because at that point we will be at our point of furthest extension.”
“You'll be at your weakest,” Admiral Valens Balventia said thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” Lucius said, with a nod at the other man. He hoped the thoughtfulness was due to realizing how much Lucius trusted the Emperor and not from some suddenly hatched plan to stab the United Colonies in the back. Cross that bridge when we come to it as well, Lucius thought. “The Dreyfus Fleet represents a huge combat force, but it is condensed, with the vast
majority of its firepower and sustained combat ability in the form of its Crusader-class vessels. The rest would work well to occupy, at most, one or two systems and to perform a fighting retreat against any kind of serious assault from one of our major enemies.”
Admiral Mund nodded slowly, “The Chxor, the Balor, and the Shadow Lords, each of them could muster enough forces to defeat not only them but what we have marshaled here.”
“Exactly,” Lucius said. Though, privately, he added the Centauri Confederation and the Tau Ceti Separatists to that list. Either of those two nations certainly had the manpower and given his suspicions about the nature of their conflict, he suspected they could free up the forces for such an attack.
“At that point, our enemies will have the most to gain from an attack as well,” Lucius said. “They could seize Nova Roma, the Dreyfus Fleet, and even the Balor ships we've captured but not been able to repair,” Lucius said. “The United Colonies becomes the best target at that point... and our enemies have to know it.”
“Why adjust the times, then?” President Cassin asked.
“Because it will throw their preparations off, if they have them,” Kate said. “It matches some of the Centauri behavior too, they're building a story, an agenda, and I wouldn't be too surprised if it matches when they expect you to launch your final assault on Nova Roma.”
“Right,” Lucius said. He took a deep breath. “Now, all of you, and only you, know the actual plans. I'm going to personally brief Admiral Dreyfus and select members of his staff. No one else is going to have the full picture. We need to keep this very close, we simply cannot let this get out. Given transit times, any scouts will see us launch our various attacks, they can estimate from there, but unless they have a force present, they can't act.”
“What about the Shadow Lords, do we just trust that they will hold, even if it looks like we'll take back Nova Roma?” Emperor Romulus IV asked.