by Blaze Ward
“Fools, Premier?” Wakely asked in a voice dripping with the kind of sarcasm that would be more appropriate on first–year freshmen.
Jessica kept her ideas on the topic to herself. She knew the reputations of some of the men involved on the other side. Many would be fools. How many depended.
“Fools, Dr. Okafor,” the Premier replied. “And please, at least for tonight if not longer, call me Judit. All of you.”
“Judit,” Wakely replied warily. “Fools?”
“Fribourg is governed by an entire class of aristocrats wedded to the idea of their innate masculine superiority,” Judit continued.
Jessica could see an angry fire burning at the back of the Senator’s eyes. It was one she frequently shared.
“Admiral Emmerich Wachturm has tried to kill Jessica Keller a number of times,” Judit said, pointing. “Because he has failed, he has been demoted, retired by command of the Emperor himself. Now he is a Distinguished Scholar at their own fleet academy, teaching a new generation of students, but no longer a personal threat to the borders. They do not consider that she might be better than him. She cannot be, simply because she is a woman.”
“I still do not see the greater connection to foolishness. Judit.”
Wakely had migrated slowly into something like an orbit of Jessica, close and perhaps drawing strength from the person she knew best in the room.
Judit smiled like a shark.
“They will see six powerful women meeting,” Judit concluded, holding up a hand and gesturing around the room. “And many of them will decide that we spoke of nothing more serious, more significant, than getting our nails done, a topic, you will note, for which I am already famous in some quarters.”
The whole room chuckled. Judit Chavarría was indeed famous on Ladaux, and much of the Republic, for hosting mani/pedi parties. Jessica suddenly wondered how much of that was a cover for evenings like this one. Suddenly, several other things about Judit’s reputation and success as a politician made more sense.
Wakely’s eyes narrowed and grew canny, but she held her own counsel.
Jessica decided to step in and rescue her friend, however little rescue a woman like Wakely Okafor needed.
“So what shall we discuss over cocktails, Judit?” Jessica asked carefully.
“You,” Judit replied, pointing a finger at her that looked remarkably like a gun. It slid sideways like a turret to point at Wakely next. “And your co–conspirator.”
Jessica said something like “Erp?”
Judit smiled.
“Specifically, Operation Harbinger.”
Ah.
It was Jessica’s turn to clam up and listen, lest she say something stupid to the very women that might approve it. Or deny her request.
“Petia is here as the Fleet’s resident tactical and strategic expert,” Judit continued. “One who can give me an opinion not coloured by the obvious affection Nils Kasum has for one of his favorite students.”
Jessica nearly bit her tongue rather than speak.
Judit continued to gesture around the room like a bull fighter, slowly drawing them in with a highball glass instead of a cape, but no less effective.
“Hennigan is building the lance that will lead the charge.”
“Wakely was the inspiration behind the plan.” Judit waved a hand to dismiss Jessica and Wakely’s attempt at a reply. “I have read the paper Jessica wrote for your class, Wakely. And little birdies have whispered in my ear.”
Judit speared Jessica with a keen eye. Jessica understood now how this woman had come to be at the pinnacle of power. She was that sharp, that dangerous.
That good.
They all were, else they wouldn’t be here. But still.
“The President and I represent the Republic,” Judit continued, gesturing to herself and Calina. “History and circumstance have put the six of us in this position, that we can initiate a crusade that just might challenge the very tenets of the Fribourg Empire, and possibly rock it to its core.”
The rest of the room seemed to disappear into Judit’s eyes as she and Jessica stared at each other for several moments.
“Jessica,” Judit said, barely above a whisper. “If any other officer had proposed this idea, I would have laughed them out of the room. And seen them to shore afterwards.”
Judit took a breath. All of the other women took a breath with her. The air hung heavy and still, like the most dangerous parts of the water.
“Will it work?”
Jessica fought down the gleeful giggle that threatened to erupt out of her mouth. It would be inappropriate. Probably.
She took a drink of her champagne instead, into a suddenly dry throat.
Cocktail parties were still a new thing to her. Apparently, they were very much like her usual tactical puzzles to solve on the fly, maneuvering a fleet in six axes.
This was strategic planning. This was her area of expertise among these women. Among most humans.
“Can it?” Jessica began. “Yes. Will it? We cannot know until we try. But I believe that not making the attempt would be a mistake.”
“Why?”
Judit’s eyes were fire now.
The other four women became shadows around Jessica, because only one mattered. One woman would determine if she would be given this chance.
Right here. Right now.
She was reminded of the opening notes to the aria that was the battle that would be known to human history as First Ballard. The implicit promises made for battle with the Red Admiral.
Death or glory.
“Everybody agrees,” Jessica stated flatly. “It is impossible to actually conquer and hold a hostile planet for any meaningful length of time.”
“And yet,” Petia stepped into the conversation now from Jessica’s left. “You think you can succeed.”
It was not a question.
Jessica was reminded of the recent defense of her Master’s thesis against a panel of experts similar to this group, on this very topic. Far less enthusiastic experts, who had still granted her a Class II Degree over it.
She nodded at her friend.
“Something Dr. Okafor, Wakely, said during one of her early lectures,” Jessica replied. “Something about the manner in which Imperial worlds are governed at the local level, in contrast to how we do it. She and I have spoken extensively about it since then, and I did my thesis on what we now call Operation Harbinger.”
Jessica felt three pair of eyes drift past her to her left suddenly. She could almost feel the strength and calm power Wakely projected back at the others, another woman not to be trifled with.
A rock that could not be broken.
Judit’s eyes never left her.
“I have identified five Imperial planets,” Jessica continued. “Each is slightly different, but all of them exhibit the same level of fragile rigidity that I believe could be fractured by application of the right leverage.”
Jessica took a deep breath and finished her tiny cocktail.
“If we did it right,” she said simply, handing the glass back to the President of the Republic for a refill. “They will conquer themselves. And when the word spreads, other worlds might do the same.”
Judit’s fire was banked, perhaps.
“Do you honestly believe that you could unravel the entire Fribourg Empire, Keller?” she asked.
“Judit,” Jessica replied, letting some of her own fire come to the fore finally. “That is my job, my mission, my oath. To destroy Fribourg.”
“Are you willing to put your reputation, your entire career, behind that statement?” the Premier asked carefully. “To go down with it if it fails?”
“Judit, I do that every morning when I put on that uniform. The difference here would be the number of men and women who might get killed or wounded if I’m wrong.”
“No, Jessica,” Judit continued. “If this fails, your career will be effectively over. Are you willing to accept that?”
Jessica bit back the
first retort that crossed her tongue. And the second one. They were past that point. This was for everything.
“Yes.”
Ξ
Cocktail parties apparently frequently included dinner.
Jessica had snacked earlier, unsure what to expect. Now she sat at a cozy round table with the five other women, as men and women of the Household Staff cleared dinner plates and delivered dessert tarts on cute little chilled tiles.
Jessica had never really been a fan of oversized, sharable trays of Chinese food. After tonight’s adventures, she was going to have to have a chat with her chef, Nicolai Aoiki, Master of the Wardroom.
She looked at the five other faces, bright with excitement as they had let her do most of the talking, with occasional questions for Wakely or Petia. They seemed to be on her side, so far.
Judit’s face grew serious, though, as she contemplated the enormity of the proposed undertaking. Jessica grew still first.
“Wakely,” the Premier said carefully. “I’ve done my research. I know you believe that this can be made to work.”
“And yes,” Wakely replied. “It is an enormously risky, dangerously fragile task we would undertake, Judit.”
“I would propose one change,” Judit continued. “It is a small one, in the overall scheme, but I think it would have vast implications, both politically as well as militarily.”
Jessica felt the whole room grow silent, grow still. This entire evening might have been arranged to come to this moment. She had made her case, backed solidly by research and experience. She was willing to put herself on the line to do this.
But her intuition and reputation would only get her so far. Judit and Calina had to get behind it and push.
It wasn’t enough to acquiesce. They needed to be seen championing the affair, if it was going to work.
“Wakely,” Judit said with quiet gravity. “I would like you to be there, representing the Senate.”
Jessica watched her former professor’s face fall slack.
“What?” Wakely asked sharply.
“Jessica will be in command,” Judit replied. “The historical term is Margrave. But the campaign calls for a political specialist on the ground, filling the role of Palsgrave, or Palatine. Jessica proposed several officers, many of them highly–qualified former students of yours. I want a civilian on the ground, acting as Governor to the local administration. You are the single most qualified person in the Republic to handle that task.”
Jessica held her breath. Wakely being on board would make so much of what she needed to do easier, since the woman had helped craft much of the scheme.
Her refusal might doom it.
They all watched, hypnotized, as Wakely took a sip from her glass.
“I’m not Fleet,” she offered carefully.
“And you will not propose military solutions, Wakely,” Jessica said quietly. “I will have ten thousand experts on organized warfare handy, offering me advice. We only get one chance to do this right.”
Wakely turned to stare at her. The rest of the room faded into a fog as Jessica calmly returned the look. Gone were professor and student, hashing out options and probabilities over beer. Gone were friends talking over dinner.
They had come to the crux. Jessica knew she could win the war in her lifetime. Wakely’s help right now might shave a decade off the task.
For a moment, Jessica envisioned herself on a bridge somewhere, watching the skies of the Imperial Capital at St. Legier as bombs and missiles rained down on that world.
Something of it must have shown in her eyes.
“Jessica?” Wakely asked.
After two semesters together, and all the time after, they had reached that level of shorthand.
“There is nobody I want more for this, Wakely,” Jessica replied.
Wakely scanned the rest of the room, settling on Judit.
“Palsgrave?” she inquired heavily, almost formally. “That is a term that has very specific legal and political implications, Judit.”
Judit smiled. Jessica had seen others with that smile. Sharks smelling fresh blood in the water, just waiting to pounce upon some injured foe.
“Yes it does, Wakely,” the Premier grinned, pointing at the President and then herself, and the other women. “A woman President and a woman Premier. In a warship manufactured by a woman, in a Navy led by a woman. A campaign commanded by two women. In the Republic, we would think nothing of it. Find the best man or woman for the task and send them off.”
“But the Empire does not think that way,” Wakely concluded. “On top of everything else, this will strike at the foundations of their culture, their civilization, their assumption of masculine superiority. This is Níðhöggr gnawing at the very roots of Yggdrasil.”
“I owe those bastards for Ballard,” Jessica growled quietly. “For what they did to Moirrey and Arlo and Suvi. For Alexandria Station. I want Karl to sleep nervously for the rest of his life, fearful that the beams beneath his empire have rotted and will give way without warning.”
Wakely took a deep breath, but Jessica could already see the commitment in her eyes.
“Yes, Judit,” she said quietly. “I will do this thing.”
Jessica smiled with the other women. This was just the first of many rude surprises Fribourg had coming.
Chapter II
Date of the Republic February 16, 396 Fleet HQ, Ladaux System
Nils smiled to himself.
Being First Lord of the Fleet had many perks, but today was one of the rare moments when he truly got to enjoy himself.
Ships were commissioned and decommissioned almost constantly, as construction met age and battle damage. He could not attend every ceremony personally, but he would not have missed this one for the world. That he was seeing the fruits of his own decade–long labors to get the Navy to this point was just icing on an otherwise lovely cake.
Nils looked around the Locking Station on this space dock. The space enclosed was huge, even by the standards of Fleet Headquarters. But it was both necessary and fitting.
Looking through the big bay window in the middle of the far wall, two meters tall and nine meters long, he could see the newest addition to the Republic of Aquitaine Navy getting ready to slip the reins and take to deep space.
No more Builders Trials. No more Acceptance Inspections. She had passed every step with flying colors, and stood ready. Poised. Dangerous.
Spacers were a superstitious lot. A ship did not get her name painted on the bow until she was ready to be Accepted Into Service, lest the gods and demons of deep space take offense.
Indeed, while her hull number was one of the first tasks on the list, a ceremony completed almost as soon as the first two planks were welded together, nothing more was done along those lines. Construction crews would only ever refer to her by that number after that.
Until she had a name.
Just an hour ago, a special crew, filled with some of the most senior staff at the foundry, had finished that last ceremonial touch. Nils was reasonably confident that Master Builders did not ever handle such tasks personally, regardless of their seniority, but today was special. That man had a personal connection to this project far and above the normal.
He had earned it.
For more than a year, she had been officially nothing more than hull number SC–006, the sixth Star Controller the Republic of Aquitaine Navy had built. They were the largest warships in space, combining the firepower of a Dreadnaught with the entire flight wing of a Fleet Carrier. With their escorts, they were pocket fleets unto themselves, able to do literally that, control the space around a star.
An hour ago, Miguel Keller had finished Naming this vessel, as far as the foundry was concerned. She could now be sent on her way.
Now the Navy took over. In the far distant past, the tradition had apparently been to shatter a bottle of champagne across the bow of a ship when commissioning her. That made sense in an era of water and wood. In the frozen depths of space,
it was a waste of good champagne and an icy mess to clean up.
These days, the ship’s Sponsor opened the official bottle, pouring the first glass for the Command Centurion who would take charge. For the last nine months, Denis Jež had been the senior officer in charge of construction oversight. That had been part of his reward for the years of service when he had been overlooked on the frontiers.
Before Jessica.
Nils looked around the crowd that had gathered, tearing his eyes away from the great, gray beast floating so close.
He missed standing on a deck in command, some days. Especially days like this. But there were other rewards.
The dock was filled with people, mostly Navy but with a significant civilian population as well. Today was something special for everyone.
He couldn’t see Jessica, but that wasn’t unexpected. She would be keeping a very low profile. This day belonged to Jež and she was a stickler for making sure her people got their chances to shine.
Jež himself was back in one corner, heads together with several other command centurions. Jessica’s Merry Men, from what he could see. Dangerous conspirators, but only to Imperials.
Premier Chavarría was in another corner of the space, chatting with Tadej Horvat and several Senators and their families. That was where most of the civilians were keeping themselves.
Most of the space around him were uniforms. Nils had tried to keep as much of the crew of the old ship together as he could, retirements and promotions notwithstanding. He had done a pretty good job at it, since most of these people wanted to be here. There were even two extremely Senior Chiefs in engineering that had put off retirement specifically so they could be plank–holders, members of the first crew of this proud, new vessel.
A sound brought Nils back to the present from his wool–gathering.
A door had opened along one wall and the traditional Fife–and–Drum team was playing a marching tune as they slowly filed into the room, taking center stage, facing the now–silent crowd. Behind them, several rows of officers and crew lined up in formation as well.
Today was obviously going to be something more interesting than the normal ceremony.