The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

by Jack Campbell

  Kontos grinned. “Yes, Madam President.”

  “Then you are promoted to Kapitan-Leytenant, effective immediately, and appointed second-in-command of battleship B-78. Congratulations.”

  The next call was to Colonel Rogero. “Are your soldiers enjoying the accommodations aboard B-78, Colonel?”

  “Yes, Madam President.” Rogero wasn’t wearing his combat armor, of course, but he still somehow carried the aura of being ready for anything. Iceni found it a dangerously pleasant sensation. “Though in truth there’s so much space, and so few crew,” Rogero added. “It’s a little spooky.”

  “Is everything in place?”

  “We are ready for anything,” Rogero affirmed.

  That was a code phrase, meaning that, if necessary, Rogero’s soldiers would turn on the crew and ensure that the battleship reached Midway. It was ironic, considering her own doubts about Rogero, but she had to count on him to ensure that Kontos or some other members of the battleship’s crew didn’t decide they wanted some other destination.

  In truth, some of the delay in the battleship’s being ready had been her own fault. Some of the technicians had covertly installed overrides where overrides were strictly prohibited by Syndicate regulations. Only someone able to get inside the three citadels could have installed the overrides. But now, if anyone chose to try to hole up in those citadels again, Iceni could activate the overrides and quickly gain access to the inside of the three citadels.

  Naturally, there was always the chance that the technicians would talk, despite the certainty of what Iceni would do to them if they told anyone. But between fear and the rewards promised for their discretion, the technicians would almost certainly stay quiet. Iceni had long ago learned that, like threats, promises of rewards were best kept. She had once worked for a man who thought the opposite and routinely stiffed his subordinates and workers on things he had pledged for them. Business as usual, until the night an assassin came for that boss, and his guards, employees who had also had promised rewards yanked from them, looked the other way.

  She took care of those who worked for her. That was simple self-interest. But even workers who had been treated well could decide to betray those they worked for. Thanks to the heroics of Kontos and the other surviving members of the outfitting crew, she had gained control of this battleship. No one, no matter how heroic, would take that control away from her.

  But it was still a long way to the jump point at point zero three light speed.

  * * *

  “SOMETHING is happening at Lono,” Colonel Malin reported.

  “Dangerous something?” Drakon asked.

  “It could be. A merchant ship that came from there said it saw three heavy cruisers and a number of smaller escorts.”

  Lono. Only one jump away, with enough firepower mustering there to blow away the single heavy cruiser that Iceni had left at Midway. “Did you find out anything about the HuK that President Iceni sent to Lono?”

  “Yes, sir. According to what the merchant ship heard, sometime ago a HuK appeared at the jump point from Midway, took off across the Lono Star System without pausing, and jumped for Milu.”

  So much for that HuK. Someone had decided to go home or take other independent action. “What can we get to Lono to confirm what that merchant reported about a flotilla?”

  “All we could do is requisition another merchant ship, General.”

  Something slow. “We need scouts out, Colonel Malin. How can we get scouts watching the nearest star systems for trouble?”

  “It’s a mobile forces issue, General,” Malin said.

  “And we’re damned short of mobile forces.”

  Malin stiffened as his comm alert sounded and he checked his reader. “A HuK has arrived at the jump point from Kane. There’s a message coming in from it. It’s eyes only for you.”

  “Route it to me.” Drakon waited impatiently until the message popped up on his queue, then tagged it.

  Iceni smiled triumphantly at him. “I am happy to report that I have defeated a snake-controlled flotilla at Kane and gained control of the battleship being outfitted here. As soon as the battleship is ready to move, we will proceed back to Midway.” Attached to the message were some files listing detailed events.

  Drakon scanned the files quickly. “President Iceni hasn’t lost any units. She actually picked up a few more. Plus the battleship.”

  “How long until she gets back?” Malin asked.

  “She didn’t say. Call that HuK and tell it to divert to the jump point for Lono. The HuK is to pop in, look around Lono, then head back here.” The Syndicate flotilla at Lono might already be on the way to Midway, in which case it would arrive before the HuK even got to Lono to find it empty of threat. That couldn’t be helped. “How much chance do you think that heavy cruiser we’ve got, C-818, would have against a flotilla with three heavy cruisers in it?”

  Malin shook his head. “From what I have been able to learn of C-818’s commanding officer, she would probably run rather than fight.”

  “And I can’t replace her because of my deal with President Iceni. But C-818’s commander could have an accident and need to be replaced. Morgan would take care of that.”

  “Sir, I advise against that action. C-818’s commander is remaining on her unit in orbit. She is wise enough to know that is the safest course of action for her personally. As long as she is on that warship in orbit, reaching her will be hard to achieve, and deniability would be even harder to achieve if something happened to her.”

  “Damn. Then all we can do is hope that whatever’s at Lono doesn’t get here before President Iceni gets back.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “THIS is Executive Level Two Fon, acting commanding officer of CL-187, for President Iceni.”

  Iceni rested her head on one hand as she watched the message. Light cruiser CL-187 was about four and a half light-hours distant and nearing the second planet, so this wasn’t exactly timely news, but it was also the most recent information she had received from that part of Kane Star System. Her own flotilla, crawling along in company with the battleship, was itself still nearly thirty light-minutes, or sixteen hours’ travel time at its current velocity, from the jump point for Midway.

  “We will arrive at the second planet in company with the freighter carrying refugees from the mobile forces facility in three hours,” Executive Fon continued. “It has been my pleasure to carry out your wishes, President Iceni, and to assist in ensuring the safety of the refugees.”

  Executive Fon was groveling like a real executive, Iceni thought, something any snake in disguise would have trouble counterfeiting.

  “We have been speaking with our people on the second planet,” Fon said. “They tell us there has been much celebrating and a few demonstrations over the form of the new government, but no fighting. We anticipate no problems recovering our people from the planet before we head for Cadez.”

  That was good news. She was tired of watching people kill each other as the iron discipline of the Syndicate system disintegrated. A little break from that violence would be welcome, and perhaps the lack of violence would help restrain the more radical workers from gaining control.

  “Once we have completed our escort mission and retrieved our people, CL-187 will return home to Cadez. The use of the hypernet gate at Midway would make this journey much quicker, easier, and less hazardous for us. We hope, in light of the service that we have rendered, that you will permit us the use of the hypernet gate when we arrive at Midway.”

  Well, of course. They had wanted something from her. No wonder Fon and his light cruiser had done as Iceni had asked. The collapse of the Syndicate Worlds hadn’t altered the way people handled business like that.

  “When we arrive at Midway, we will be happy to provide you with an update on the latest information we have from Kane,” Fon added. “For the people, Fon, out.”

  Very good. He was smart enough to also dangle that offer as a gesture of goodwill. It would
cost the light cruiser nothing to provide Iceni with that valuable update, but they hoped her gratitude would ensure the use of the hypernet gate unhindered.

  Iceni straightened herself, checked her appearance, then hit the reply command. “Executive Fon, you and your unit will be welcome at the Midway Star System. I will look forward to hearing the latest information about Kane from you at that time. I anticipate no problems with your free access to the hypernet gate at Midway in light of your service to me and the citizens of Kane. For the people, Iceni, out.”

  Nearly five hours before CL-187 got her message, and sixteen damnable hours before her flotilla could jump for Midway. Followed by six days in the gray purgatory of jump space. Though the seemingly endless creeping through normal space even to get to the jump must also qualify as a form of purgatory.

  But at least this type of purgatory had an end. Iceni sat on the bridge for the last hour as her reunited flotilla approached the jump point. She was returning with a battleship, three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and nine Hunter-Killers. Still a small force by the standards of the recent war, but no longer one that could be brushed aside.

  Once she got the battleship operational, that is. “You may jump the flotilla for Midway when you are ready, Kommodor Marphissa.”

  The stars vanished again.

  * * *

  THREE days into their journey through jump space. Three days left to go. By the end of that time, the strangeness of jump space would have begun wearing on them. Iceni remembered the feeling all too well, the sensation that your own skin belonged to a stranger, that you were intruding somewhere not meant for humanity. When it came to that, it wasn’t like she wanted to stay in jump space any longer than she had to anyway.

  Iceni’s hatch alert chimed. She checked her surveillance and security devices, confirming that only Marphissa stood there and that she was unarmed. “Enter, Kommodor.”

  Marphissa stood for a moment after entering the stateroom, as if uncertain of herself. “Madam President, I wanted to say something to you.”

  “You’re grateful for command of the battleship.” Iceni waved her off. “That’s understood. I think you can handle it.”

  “No, Madam President. It’s not about me. I wanted to tell you, to thank you, for what you did in Kane. For ensuring that those citizens from the mobile forces facility were saved.”

  Iceni leaned back and regarded Marphissa curiously. “Did you know any of them?”

  “No, Madam President.”

  “And you surely knew what a threat their ways of thinking posed to you and me personally, as well as to the stability of our home.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  “And you knew that they had killed everyone on that HuK that tried to escape during the fighting on the facility. Mobile forces personnel like yourself among them. So why did their fate matter to you?”

  Marphissa hesitated again. “It is very easy to kill, Madam President. Too easy. Saving a life is harder, and not expected. I wanted you to know that I am grateful that, despite all of the things you have just accurately noted, you still strong-armed that freighter into saving those citizens.”

  “All right.” What else was there to say? “I had my reasons. Let me tell you, if those citizens had killed our people, had destroyed one of my HuKs, I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to save them.”

  “That would have been justified,” Marphissa agreed, “even if it was not just.”

  “What?” Iceni sat straighter. “Not just?”

  “What I mean, Madam President, is that if those citizens had done that, not all of them would have been responsible. The leaders would have given the orders, and some might have followed them, but others might have thought those orders wrong and not participated in the destruction of the HuK at all.”

  “And what does that have to do with anything?” What is Marphissa driving at?

  “The entire group would have been punished, Madam President, regardless of their individual actions.”

  “And what would you have preferred I do differently if that had been the case?” Iceni asked. She could easily use her tone as a whip to indicate displeasure or disagreement, but she kept her voice composed out of curiosity to learn Marphissa’s reasoning.

  “A trial, Madam President,” Marphissa said.

  “A trial?” That again? “To produce a finding of guilty that has already been determined? What’s the point of that? You sound like those citizens I heard about before we left, the ones who think our justice system needs to be fixed.”

  Marphissa paused once more before answering. “Do you believe the justice system that we have inherited from the Syndicate Worlds needs to be fixed, Madam President?”

  “Offhand, no,” Iceni said. “It delivers punishment quickly and surely. The guilty do not escape. What would I fix?”

  “The purpose of a justice system isn’t to punish the guilty, Madam President. Punishment is easily administered. The reason a justice system exists is to protect the innocent.”

  Iceni stared at Marphissa in astonishment. “Where did you learn that?”

  “The Syndicate Worlds tried to eliminate every document, every book, that didn’t match their own beliefs, but it is very hard to destroy every thought that humans have committed to writing.”

  “The underground library?” No one officially knew such a thing existed, but unofficially everyone had heard of it, and many found ways to access it. Rather than being a single building or process, Iceni had heard the underground library compared by the ISS to an infestation of electronic vermin, springing up in every star system, wriggling into every possible access, popping up someplace else as fast as one way in was sealed off. “You can’t believe everything you read. Punishing the guilty is necessary for any system to survive, for anyone to be able to feel safe. That must be our priority.”

  “The guilty?” Marphissa asked, her breathing getting deeper and faster. “And if an innocent person is instead punished?”

  Iceni shook her head. “There are no innocent persons. We are all guilty of something. It’s merely a matter of the degree of guilt and the seriousness of our crimes.”

  “That is what we have been told, Madam President! What if there is another truth?”

  “How can we compromise security and say that we are protecting the people?” Iceni demanded.

  “Protecting the people? Madam President, the legal system of the Syndicate Worlds protects only those with power and wealth and punishes only those too weak to save themselves! If the goal is to protect the people, then why are the crimes of those who rule us never punished?” Marphissa stood rigidly straight now, her eyes registering defiance and perhaps some fear.

  No matter how many thought it, no one was ever supposed to say it. Not to anyone superior in position. It was one of the first rules that everyone in the Syndicate Worlds learned, or they became early casualties of their own lack of discretion. “You presume much based upon our short working relationship,” Iceni said in her coldest voice.

  “I presume much based upon who I think you are,” Marphissa replied. “Madam President, no matter your own motives, no matter how you act, what of the others in authority? You may protect us from injustice and punish only those who deserve it, but what of the others who control our destinies? What controls them?”

  Iceni sat watching her silently for a long time, unable to think of an adequate response. The traditional reaction of a CEO to her words would have been to have Marphissa arrested and turned over to the snakes. Unless Marphissa knew something about Iceni that she didn’t want the snakes to know, in which case the prisoner would unfortunately die in an accident prior to the snakes’ gaining custody. The snakes were gone, but someone else could easily be found to fill the same role if Iceni were the sort to do such a thing to someone who had served her well and shown no disloyalty otherwise. It rankled Iceni that Marphissa had correctly judged that she would not take an action like that. “Kommodor, you should return to your duties,”
she finally said.

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  “Kommodor.”

  Marphissa paused in the hatch, turning to face Iceni and stand at attention, lacking only a blindfold to look like someone already facing a firing squad.

  Until she spoke, Iceni wasn’t sure what she would say. “I much prefer those who speak their thoughts to my face to those who speak them behind my back. I will think on what you have said.”

  Wise enough not to offer a reply, Marphissa saluted and left.

  Iceni ensured that the hatch was sealed again and all security active, then sat and closed her eyes. Does that fool think that I’ve never suffered from the Syndicate so-called justice system? I know its flaws as well as anyone.

  She had never sold her body, but she had been forced to yield it twice, each time to men who were far enough above her in the corporate hierarchy to know that they were safe against any penalty for their actions. Even as young and inexperienced as she had been then, Iceni had known that if she had tried to charge them with crimes she would have been the one convicted of “unjustly defaming” Syndicate officers. She had instead turned her desire for revenge into a climb for power, so she could get into a position to strike back, but both men had died before she could do so, one in an industrial accident and the other during a battle with the Alliance.

  How many others had suffered the same way that she had? She would not be a victim. She would find a means for revenge. But revenge had been denied her by chance.

  Marphissa had avenged herself for the death of her brother. A death brought about only by an allegation of wrongdoing. Should only the strongest have a means to justice? And that form of justice had only been vengeance. Nothing that Marphissa, or anyone else, did could have brought her brother back to life after he was executed for the crime of being accused of wrongdoing by someone who profited from that accusation.

  Did punishment truly serve a purpose when all knew it was a weapon with no guidance, mowing down low-level criminals but also anyone unfortunate enough to fall under suspicion or to have something someone more powerful desired?