by M. D. Cooper
Both of the women were suspended in mid-air, life-support tubing running out of ports in their abdomens. Their eyes were closed—he assumed they were unable to open them—and they never opened their mouths, but their chests rose and fell in a slow rhythm.
At present, the pair were breathing in unison, though he’d noticed it wasn’t always the case.
“Stars, I wish I could throw a sheet over them,” he muttered to himself. “Or at least put them out of their misery.”
To his surprise, he saw Lara’s hand twitch, and he realized that the woman might be able to hear him. He was about to rise and approach her, when Astrid, Farsa Station’s administrative AI, informed him that Lady Armis had arrived.
There, this should look imposing enough.
A moment later, Armis strode into the room—alone, as he’d ordered. Even without any guards or attendants, the woman moved as though she commanded everything around her.
Her hair was an iridescent blue, and cascaded over her shoulders like a shimmering waterfall. She wore a long green dress, just the right hue to augment her hair, the look almost making her appear as though she were a forest glade, drifting into the stark room and lighting it up with her presence.
“Commander Korin,” Lady Armis said, inclining her head in respect. “Thank you for agreeing to see me.”
“Lady Armis.” Korin did not rise as she approached. “I assume you’re here to turn Lady Marion over to me?”
“Commander. You don’t really think I took a grave personal risk in rescuing her only to turn her over, do you?”
Korin shrugged. “Was worth a shot.”
Armis laughed. “I suppose it was. Gets it out of the way, too. Marion has claimed sanctuary with me. Until there is a proper tribunal, there she will stay. And with Katrina away, we’ll just have to wait.”
“If not to discuss Lady Marion, what is the purpose of your visit?” Korin asked. “I don’t have authority from Katrina to handle matters of state.”
“No, I suppose not,” Armis said, glancing at Lara and Hana. “I have to say. I really am not a fan of Katrina’s taste in decorations.”
Korin couldn’t help a small grimace, and Armis spotted it.
“Neither are you, I see.”
“I say kill them or free them.”
“Oh?” Armis arched an eyebrow. “Life imprisonment isn’t an option?”
“Often, a sentence like that is only marginally less cruel than what they’re experiencing now. Unless they escape. Then you may as well have freed them to begin with. Best to just end it.”
“How pragmatic of you,” Armis replied, looking the two women up and down once more. “Tell me, can they hear us?”
“I suspect they can, yes,” Korin replied. “Though I wonder how sane they are anymore.”
Armis began.
Korin clenched his teeth at the thought of what Katrina had done at Selkirk. He understood the point she had been trying to make, but chances were that the people in that factory were completely innocent.
His own family had been pawns of the canton rulers as far back as any of them knew. Seeing Katrina casually murder unsuspecting citizens had caused him to realize that she was not a significant improvement.
Not to mention the list of names he perseverated over constantly—the Adders he’d lost, taking Kurgise for reasons he still didn’t fully understand.
Still, Korin knew he was no saint. He’d committed more than a few cruel acts during his time as a guard at Revenence Castle.
We do what we have to.
When he didn’t reply to her charges, Armis took a step closer and leant in, her eyes boring into his.
Korin shook his head.
Armis nodded and straightened.
Korin snorted.
Armis didn’t reply, but she shifted her stance from one that was subtly alluring to one that was more commanding. Not that she wasn’t still alluring.
Not that Korin was foolish enough to think that anyone in the Midditerra System wasn’t out for number one. Armis wanted something from him, that much was obvious.
Korin found that hard to believe.
Korin knew she had a point, but he didn’t want to admit it. Not yet. Not without proof, at least.
The thought had crossed Korin’s mind. If the Bollers got Katrina, they would probably leave. They had no reason to engage in a protracted battle with the MDF and the cantons. But it seemed that they were willing to commit resources to get Katrina.
Korin felt his mouth go slack. There it is. Armis had laid it out for him; she was talking treason.
Which didn’t seem to bother Korin as much as it should.
He laughed softly. Maybe I’m forming a habit.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hana twitch, her brows pinching together.
&nbs
p;
Armis shrugged.
A SURPRISING PLAN
STELLAR DATE: 02.07.8512 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Castigation
REGION: Approaching Kora, Midditerra System
The Castigation and Verisimilitude drew within two light seconds of the MDF ships protecting Teegarten, finally close enough for real-time communication—albeit with an annoying lag.
Katrina pulled up the MDF Flight Commanders on the Castigation’s holodisplay.
All three were colonels who had previously served under Admiral Gunter, and now Odis. She suspected that one of them, Colonel Myla, felt as though she should have taken Gunter’s place.
The woman may have been right. Odis’s reticence hadn’t diminished with his promotion. If anything, it had increased. Colonel Myla, on the other hand, had fire in her belly and was more than ready to beat the Bollers back.
“Lady Katrina. I like what the AIs have come up with,” Myla said as soon as the holodisplay came online. “But it’s too passive. We can hit the Bollers hard. Push them back.”
Katrina shook her head. Maybe there was too much fire in Myla’s belly. “Remember, Colonel Myla, this is not the only attack we’re bound to face. They’ve already launched kinetic salvos at over a dozen stations. Some are even headed toward Persia and Farsa.”
Myla gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Those are of no concern; the canton ships around Persia can take them out. But if we let these Bollers destroy Teegarten, they’re going to be emboldened. They’ll hit harder. Stopping them here is paramount.”
“I don’t disagree,” Katrina replied. “But what do you have to offer that doesn’t weaken us elsewhere?”
“Not a lot,” Colonel Safra said with a snort. “If willpower was enough, Myla would push them back herself, but we just don’t have the ships for this.”
“They only have five light cruisers in the formation,” Colonel Greg added. “We have eight light cruisers, and now five cruisers. We outclass them, and we have Teegarten’s rails.”
Katrina had considered more aggressive options on the flight from Nesella to Teegarten. She would like nothing more than to kick the Bollam’s World fleet back into the dark layer, but she couldn’t work out a way to do it that didn’t sacrifice the majority of her ships.
And if she failed, there would be no one to shepherd the fleeing civilians.
For a moment, Katrina saw Juasa’s face hovering before her.
“I knew you cared,” the visage said before smiling kindly.
Katrina blinked it away as Myla replied to Greg.
“We have the canton ships. At least thirty have weapons on par with a destroyer. They—”
“Wait,” Katrina said. “What are those, on Teegarten?”
“What are what?” Jordan asked.
Katrina pulled up a visual of the station, as it was retreating around the back of the planet on its orbit.
“Those two ships. Docked at the bottom of the station’s central spire.”
“Sexy, aren’t they?” Jordan grinned. “Those are a pair of planet pushers that Canton Selkirk stole almost a hundred years ago. I forget who from, but they got in a tax dispute with the MDF leader at the time, and the ships ended up there. They’ve been an off and on point of contention, but neither side wanted to give, so they just sit in Teegarten’s impound.”
“Do they work?” Katrina asked.
“They’ve been scavenged. A lot,” Colonel Safra said. “I’d be shocked if the lights turned on.”
Katrina couldn’t help a small laugh.
Katrina only paid half a mind to the three colonels as they argued over small alterations to Sam’s plan.
Demy didn’t reply for almost a minute, and Katrina knew the woman was reviewing options. While she waited, she returned her focus to the colonels.
“Right,” Greg was saying to Myla. “I’ll just sacrifice all my ships so you can get the glory. That sounds great.”
“Well, someone has to do something!” Myla yelled back. “We’ve gotta protect the station. We all know that they’ll only be able to evac a fraction of the people.”
“I might have something that can buy us time,” Katrina interjected.
“Oh yeah?” Myla asked, and Katrina raised an eyebrow. Myla lowered her voice, adding a modicum more respect. “Lady Katrina.”
“We might be able to move the station to a higher orbit, much more quickly than the enemy would expect.
“Are you referring to those planet pushers?” Colonel Safra asked. “Like I said, they’ve been scavenged heavily.”
“My engineer is a miracle worker,” Katrina replied, keeping her voice calm and even.
“Colonels,” Katrina let a smile creep across her lips. “Let’s put together a plan that assumes Teegarten never comes back around the planet.”
DEFENSE OF TEEGARTEN
STELLAR DATE: 02.07.8512 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Castigation
REGION: Kora, Midditerra System
Katrina stood next to the weapons console on the Castigation’s bridge, watching the holo tanks as the first kinetic rounds streaked past the Boller ships.
The MDF fleet was spread out four light seconds from the planet, grouped to protect the three cruisers. The Castigation and the Verisimilitude were in position above and below the planet, waiting for their turn to join in the fight.
The enemy had detected the incoming rail-shots, and shifted to avoid the strikes, but as the MDF ships and Teegarten Station continued to fire on them, the enemy had to spread out further, relying on jinking patterns to make their vectors unpredictable.
“It’s working,” Jordan said from the captain’s chair. “They’re shedding more and more v.”
The enemy ships were now five light seconds from the Boller vessels. The three MDF flights were moving perpendicular to the enemy fleet, the Midditerran ships moving away from the path of the incoming vessels.
The MDF colonels hadn’t fully grasped Katrina’s plan at first, but once they saw the advantage it gave, they’d been enthusiastic about the improved chances of success.
Of course, it would all be for naught if Demy couldn’t get the FGT planet pushers to light up. The plan also assumed that the Bollers would take the most expeditious route around the planet.
So many ‘ifs’, Katrina thought as she watched the three MDF flights report readiness to fire. This was the most risky part of the defense. If the Bollers decided that wiping out the MDF defenders was a priority over taking out Teegarten, it would change everything.
Even though most of the four hundred ships in the Boller fleet were destroyers, they could still crush the sixty ships the MDF was bracketing them with.
But in order to move on vectors to engage the MDF flights, the Bollers would have to brake hard, exposing their unshielded engines to the defensive rail guns around Kora.
Truth be told, the enemy wouldn’t lose many ships, but their losses would
be greater than if they’d arced around the planet, destroyed Teegarten, and then looped back to deal with the MDF fleet afterward.
“Take the easy route,” Katrina whispered.
“Are you worried they won’t?” Jordan asked.
Katrina shrugged. “I’ll worry about it ‘til the deed is done. I still wonder where the rest of their fleet is.”
“What if it’s not anywhere?” Jordan asked. “What if they’re just faking us out?”
“Well, our plan is to win this. So if that’s the case, we just win it and save the day, versus winning it and having that only be the start of our troubles.”
“So you’re going for a win-win?” Jordan said with a laugh.
“They’re engaging,” the Adder on scan announced. “Bollers are firing beams at max range, our ships are jinking. Not firing back yet.”
“Good,” Katrina replied, glad to see that the MDF colonels were following the plan.
The enemy was firing beams right at the hundred-thousand-kilometer range. Scan showed their weapons being deflected by the MDF’s shields, though not as well as she’d like. The MDF ships weren’t jinking widely enough, and some were taking repeated hits from Boller weapons.
Karina saw that it was Myla’s flight that was not jinking enough and taking the most hits.
“Myla…” Katrina whispered. “What are you doing?”
“She’s braking,” Scan announced. “Moving closer to the Boller ships.”
“She’s going to try to engage directly! What the fuck?” Jordan swore.
Katrina watched as the twenty ships in Myla’s flight eased toward the Boller fleet, weathering in increasing barrage of beams.
“What does she think—” Jordan asked, then stopped as it became apparent what Myla was up to.
“That lying bitch.” Katrina clenched her teeth ‘til her jaw ached. “Myla had RMs all along—I flat-out asked if we had any available.”