The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

by Jack Campbell

  “Then which do you recommend?” Iceni asked, knowing how she sounded from the way the specialists on the bridge were taking care to avoid doing anything that might attract her attention. “The light cruisers or the heavy?”

  Marphissa stabbed one finger at her display. “The heavy. Whoever is in charge of the snakes will be on the heavy. If we decapitate the snake force, the others may take some time deciding who is in charge, or even call superiors elsewhere for instructions.”

  “Or they may go on and hit the battleship in some vital spots while it can’t defend itself.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  A frustrated pause. “Get the heavy cruiser.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  Of course, if the snakes had rigged the fuel cells on the battleship to explode, and the soldiers couldn’t disarm the sabotage in time, the battleship was going to be blown apart regardless of how the engagement between flotillas went. And she couldn’t dive back into watching how the soldiers were doing, not when her flotilla was less than five minutes from clashing again with the other warships.

  The box formation of Iceni’s flotilla was actually coming in from slightly above and to the side of the other formation and would cut at a diagonal through the other flotilla during the firing pass. Marphissa was aiming straight for the heavy cruiser at the center of the other formation, and Iceni could see the units in the other flotilla beginning to pivot a bit so they would be bow on to the attack while continuing in the same direction toward the battleship. “Combined closing speed of point one six light this time,” Marphissa commented. “And only a small deflection on the targets. We should have good hits.”

  “So should they,” Iceni replied.

  There was nothing else to do but wait and watch the other flotilla rapidly swell in size, then in an instant be right there and in the next instant be gone, the heavy cruiser Iceni was riding rocking from impacts and alarms warning of damage. “All units come starboard one three zero degrees, up zero seven degrees, immediate execute,” Marphissa was ordering.

  The flotilla began curving around to try to catch the other force again. Most of the flotilla, anyway. “CL-924 and HuK-2061 have suffered propulsion damage,” the operations specialist was saying.

  At the same time, the combat specialist was reporting on damage to their own ship. “Hell lance battery one is inactive. Missile launcher three disabled. Several hull penetrations, no critical systems lost.”

  “Get the penetrations sealed,” Marphissa ordered. “I need that missile launcher back online.”

  “We don’t have the means to repair it,” the combat specialist replied hesitantly. “Damage is too extensive. We’ll need repair support.”

  Marphissa clenched one fist, shaking her head. “If this were an Alliance warship, we’d have enough people and parts aboard to fix damage like that. Damn the Syndicate bureaucrats and their cost-cutting ‘efficiencies.’”

  Iceni remembered the same frustration from her time in the mobile forces, having to wait to repair any significant damage until civilian contractors could arrive. “We can change that, but it won’t happen overnight.”

  “Thank you, Madam President. The other flotilla must have concentrated their fire on this cruiser. It’s a good thing they had fewer heavy cruisers than we did.”

  Reports were also coming in on damage to the other side as the sensors on Iceni’s warships spotted and evaluated whatever could be observed, and Iceni could see damage markers blinking into existence on the symbol of the lone heavy cruiser in the other flotilla. “At least we hurt him worse than he did us.”

  The extra firepower of Iceni’s three heavy cruisers had made a difference, inflicting serious damage on the enemy cruiser. “He’s completely lost maneuvering, drifting away from the rest of his formation,” the operations specialist said.

  “But he’s not dead yet.”

  “No. It looks like he still has comms to the rest of his force, and there are some weapons assessed still operational.”

  Iceni turned a narrow-eyed look on Marphissa, who was frowning in thought. “I think we should go for the kill on the heavy cruiser,” Marphissa said.

  “Why?”

  “Because we can’t catch the rest of the other flotilla before it reaches the battleship. But if the commander on that heavy cruiser gets scared enough, they will be yelling for help and may order back their own units to save them.”

  Another set of bad choices to choose from. “There’s no way of catching the light cruisers?”

  “Not unless they turn back toward us.”

  “A possibility that you didn’t mention when asking me to concentrate our fire on the heavy cruiser!” Iceni tried to suppress anger and frustration, knowing that she had to make the decision quickly and still worried about what might be happening on the battleship. Go for the head. When dealing with snakes, always go for the head. “Get the heavy cruiser. This time I want it destroyed.”

  “Yes, Madam President!” Kommodor Marphissa adjusted the course of her units, curving away from a stern chase of the light cruisers and HuKs remaining in the other flotilla, and aiming for the crippled heavy cruiser. “Twelve minutes to intercept.”

  “Get my attention at five minutes.” Iceni turned to focus on the display showing the soldiers again.

  Many of them still showed empty passageways. A few revealed worn-looking mobile forces personnel in the engineering and fire-control citadels, their faces still reflecting disbelief and joy at the arrival of rescuers. Rogero and some soldiers with him were still stalled outside the bridge.

  But roughly half showed engineering spaces, most of them with ranks of fuel cells looming nearby, the soldiers’ points of view swinging as they hastily examined the area for evidence of sabotage.

  “I can’t see anything here that shouldn’t be,” an unfamiliar voice complained, probably one of the engineers on one of Iceni’s heavy cruisers. “Try to find something that doesn’t belong,” the engineer instructed the soldiers.

  “How can I find something that doesn’t belong when I don’t know what does belong?” one of the soldiers replied in exasperated tones.

  “Look for something that looks like it could explode.”

  “I thought everything down here could explode!”

  “It can! You want to find the things that could explode but aren’t supposed to be there, so they don’t blow up the things that could explode but are supposed to be there!”

  “What?”

  Rogero’s voice broke in. “Just scan as much as you can as fast as you can. Engineers, tell me what the most effective means of setting off the fuel cells would be. That might help us narrow our search.”

  A pause, while the images of the fuel cells continued to stream past, then another voice came on. “Actually, if you want to make sure they all blew, you’d want to ensure the cells didn’t just rupture but were hit hard enough to detonate.”

  “What would that take?” Rogero asked.

  “Umm . . . ten-kiloton nuclear device or larger.”

  “We can detect nukes. There aren’t any down there.”

  “Then . . . oh. It’s not in the fuel cell area at all.”

  Another engineer’s voice. “You don’t mean sympathetic ignition?”

  “Yes, that would do it.”

  A third engineer’s voice. “That’s obvious, isn’t it? If you work the calculations—”

  Rogero, almost shouting this time. “Where. Is. It?”

  “Primary feed for the fuel cells. If you rig the feed to release all energy in a single event instead of a controlled release into the power core, you’d get a blowback into the fuel-cell storage area, which would detonate the rest of the cells in storage, and the entire stern of the battleship would be blown to atoms. That’s assuming the power core didn’t also overload—”

  “Get to that feed,” Rogero ordered his soldiers. “You in engineering control, I need a software check to see if any snake viruses are in the propulsion-re
gulation systems or power-core-regulation systems.”

  “But, Colonel,” one of the soldiers protested, “the snakes said the fuel cells—”

  “Run that statement by one more time and see what’s wrong with it! ‘The snakes said’? Doesn’t that mean the truth is going to be anything but that?”

  “Five minutes, Madam President.”

  Iceni jolted her attention back to the bridge of the heavy cruiser. Drakon had apparently been right about Rogero’s virtues as a leader. “We may save the battleship after all.”

  “What?” Marphissa asked with an appalled look. “Something—?”

  “Never mind. Where’s the rest of the other flotilla?”

  “Here.” The other flotilla glowed brighter on Iceni’s display, the vector from it leading inexorably to the battleship. “Fourteen minutes before they can open fire on the battleship. I’ve warned the shuttles to get on the opposite side of the battleship so they can’t be targeted.”

  “Good.” The course of their own formation was bending just as relentlessly toward the damaged heavy cruiser.

  “The damaged heavy cruiser is putting out escape pods,” the operations specialist said. “One . . . two . . . three.”

  Marphissa frowned at the display. “Only three? We can’t have killed that much of the crew already.” Red danger markers flashed on the displays. “The cruiser is firing its still-operational hell lances? We’re still far too— Damn. They’re firing on their own pods.”

  “Who’s in the pods?” Iceni demanded. “Snakes or crew members trying to escape the snakes?”

  “Three more escape pods just ejected.”

  “We’ve got comms from one of the pods,” the communications specialist cried. “Kommodor, they say they’re crew, trying to escape and surrender. The snakes control the bridge.”

  Marphissa looked at Iceni. “Are they really crew? Or escaping snakes? What do we target?”

  “The cruiser. If the snakes turn out to be in the escape pods, we can easily run them down later.”

  “But if the cruiser is already controlled by what’s left of the crew—”

  “Then they waited too damned long before taking over.” Iceni kept her tone cold to hide the sick feeling in her gut. I have to decide now. I hope I’m right.

  “One minute to intercept.”

  Marphissa tapped a control. “All weapons target the cruiser. We want a kill this time,” she ordered in a flat voice.

  The flotilla flashed by the heavy cruiser, hell lances and grapeshot slamming into the crippled unit, and as they curved away, Iceni watched the display light up. “We blew their power core. Did the escape pods get far enough clear to survive the core explosion?”

  “Yes. They took some damage, though.”

  “They’ll have to live with it for a while. No. Send that damaged light cruiser and HuK to intercept the escape pods,” Iceni ordered. “They can handle that. Get the rest of us back to the battleship.”

  The remainder of the other flotilla was still aiming for the battleship, but they would see the fate of the heavy cruiser at any moment. Iceni, trying to guess how much damage the light escorts could do a battleship without operational shields, touched her comm control. “All units in the flotilla approaching the battleship, this is President Iceni. Be aware that my forces have seized and now control that battleship and everything on it. A portion of its weapons are operational.” Almost pure bluff since the soldiers probably couldn’t get to any of the few working hell lances in time to fire them at the approaching warships. “All the snakes aboard it are dead. Your flagship has been destroyed. Any unit that ceases attacking my forces will be granted mercy. Stop fighting for the Syndicate system. It failed. Fight for yourselves. For the people, Iceni, out.”

  And she waited. Waited for the light-speed message to reach the other flotilla, itself only a couple of minutes from reaching the battleship, and for the light from any reaction to come back to her.

  And saw one of the other formation’s light cruisers suddenly peel away, bending toward empty space.

  “That got their attention,” Marphissa commented with a grin. “There goes another.”

  “Three HuKs taking evasive action away from their formation,” the operations specialist said. “Because of time variations, the actions don’t seem to have been coordinated.”

  The remaining two light cruisers and three HuKs in the other formation abruptly altered their own vectors, curving upward to avoid the firing envelope of the battleship and cross above the gas giant. As they cleared the gas giant, one more light cruiser and another HuK lurched away from their comrades, leaving the formation down to one light cruiser and two HuKs, which seemed to be aiming toward Kane. “Second planet,” Marphissa predicted. “That will be their objective.”

  “Why run back there?” Iceni asked.

  “Because there are probably some high-ranking snakes on that planet who are going to want to be evacuated. Comms, see if we can get into contact with any of those light cruisers or HuKs that left their formation. Are we to continue toward the battleship, Madam President?”

  “Yes. Make sure the light cruiser and HuK picking up the escape pods are ready for anything. I want to know who is really in those escape pods. If they’re occupied by snakes, those snakes may be armed.” She turned to look at Rogero’s view, seeing the still-sealed bridge hatch. “Colonel, status report.”

  “We found the sabotage to the fuel-cell-feed system. If we’d tried to move the battleship it would have blown its own butt off, if you’ll pardon the phrase.”

  “But it’s not a danger now?”

  “There’s no imminent threat of the battleship’s blowing up, Madam President. But we don’t have control because the bridge is still sealed against us. They won’t open up for me. They think it’s a snake trick. They know you from your transmission, and say if you show up they’ll know we’ve really cleaned out the snakes and it’s safe to open up.”

  That was annoying, but . . . “Is it safe for me to come aboard?”

  “Not entirely. The internal monitoring system is a mess, and what does work runs through the bridge. But if there are any snakes still lurking in the underbrush, we will be able to protect you from them.”

  “All right. We’ll bring C-448 to a relative stop near the battleship and have a shuttle take me over to you.”

  * * *

  IT was very hard to believe that the danger was over. The other flotilla had been defeated, most of its units refusing to fight her anymore as their surviving officers and crews sent out feelers to discover what Iceni intended here at Kane. She would have to let Marphissa handle those for a little while because it was more important to get the bridge on the battleship opened up.

  Iceni walked from the shuttle, through the air lock, and onto the decks of the battleship. Her battleship. The shuttle dock on board wasn’t functional yet, so access tubes and air locks would have to do. As warships went, the battleship was a bit of a fixer-upper, but as warships went, it was also the finest defensive unit she could hope for.

  Colonel Rogero was waiting for her, standing and looking down the passageway toward her as she walked out of the air lock and turned to face him. He began to salute, then his weapon came up and he fired.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ICENI thought that her heart had stopped, only slowly realizing that Rogero had only fired once and that the shot had gone past her. She turned her head, seeing a snake still standing several meters behind her, swaying, a large hole in his chest. The snake’s weapon fell from hands that had lost life and strength, then he collapsed to the deck.

  Rogero jogged past her to examine the snake and confirm that he was dead.

  She swallowed, her heart pounding back into life. “I thought you said your soldiers would provide security for my visit to this unit, Colonel Rogero.”

  “I have guards posted—”

  “Then whichever guard is posted on that hallway is either already dead or soon will be—”


  “Madam President.” Rogero’s voice halted her in midsentencing to a firing squad. “I left that passageway unguarded.”

  She could either order him shot immediately or learn Rogero’s reasons. “Why?” Iceni asked with what she thought was admirable control.

  “Because we knew that the snakes had seeded this unit with surveillance gear, but we couldn’t find all of it in the time we’ve had to work. Any surviving snakes would have known where I had guards on watch, would have known a shuttle was coming in, implying that a VIP was on the way, and would have seen that passageway unwatched. We also know these snakes had been conditioned to fight to the death rather than surrender. A surviving snake, seeing a path ‘accidentally’ left open, would have taken the opportunity to get the VIP using that opening rather than risk an ambush later on, an ambush that could have come at us at any time, from any direction.”

  “And just how did this contribute to my security, Colonel Rogero?”

  “It meant I knew exactly where and when to watch for anyone trying to attack you, Madam President.”

  She stared at Rogero, still angry but realizing the logic of what he had done. “Very good. Don’t do that again.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  “Is that the sort of thing that General Drakon rewards in his subordinates?”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  “I am different, Colonel Rogero. You’d be advised not to forget that. Lead me to the bridge.”

  The short passageway in front of the bridge hatch felt menacing to Iceni as she walked partway down it, knowing that the eyes of the surviving crew on the bridge, and any surviving internal defenses, were focused on her. “This is President Iceni. This mobile forces unit is now under the control of the forces of the independent star system of Midway. I promise you safety. Now open up for us.”

  The wait that followed seemed far too long. She was wondering if she should say more when Iceni heard gears hum into life and the soft hiss of massive bolts being withdrawn. There came a thunk, then the hatch swung inward with the ponderous movements of something that carried a lot of mass.