The three sat at a table on one of the palace’s outdoor patios, with a view of the ornamental vegetable gardens. It was a deceptively serene environment, yet the Constellation was anything but serene. Riomini ate his omelet with distracted efficiency; Ishop had not yet touched his food. Michella watched one of the assistant chefs out in the garden, directing a kitchen worker on the herbs and vegetables to gather for the evening meal.
She set down her teacup, sloshing the hot liquid onto the delicate saucer. “We cannot take weeks to respond, as we did with the first Constellation fleet. Candela must be punished. When will your ships be ready to launch, Selik?”
“Within days, Eminence. The force I brought back from Theser is still mobilized, and we are running final checklists on all operating systems and armaments right now. Now that we’ve tasted the blood of the enemy, my fighters are enthusiastic. We’ll trounce Candela, destroy Administrator Hu, and avenge the barbaric murder of Governor Undine—”
Ishop interrupted. “That doesn’t answer the question of why Undine was on Candela at all. She was arrested on Theser—that’s why Lord Riomini chose that planet as his target in his first place. In fact, my Lord, didn’t you assume that your attack already killed her? It seems a little disingenuous to be outraged that the rebels murdered her afterward. Why would General Adolphus move a political prisoner to Candela?”
Riomini puffed up, angry at the comment, and Michella knew there was no love lost between the men. Nevertheless, she scowled at Ishop. Was he trying to be funny? She said, “There must be something important on Candela. Another reason to strike there as soon as possible.”
Riomini’s annoyance began as an affectation to impress the Diadem, but he grew genuinely angry as he continued. “General Adolphus won’t be content with merely securing the independence of the Deep Zone. According to Governor Goler, Adolphus has captured our hundred warships, and now his operatives tried to assassinate you, Eminence. Mark my words, he will try to conquer the Crown Jewels next if we don’t stop him.”
Ishop’s husky voice sent a chill down Michella’s spine. “And he also has the aliens with their telepathic powers and their … their pools of slime! He could be massing them for a full-scale invasion. The contamination has already subsumed his population, including Keana Duchenet. The aliens could have spread throughout the Deep Zone to Candela, for all we know.”
Riomini pushed his plate aside and leaned forward. He seemed to be having second thoughts. “Eminence, we’ve already lost the main fleet, and Commodore Hallholme took his strike force. If I launch yet another large group to Candela, I fear the Crown Jewels won’t be adequately defended.”
Michella sipped her favorite black tea slowly; it was an expensive imported brand, with enhanced caffeine to give her energy in the morning. “I’m more worried about the rebels than about my own nobles.”
Riomini shook his head. “I wouldn’t be so sanguine, Eminence. While I’m away on the battlefield, some other noble might make a move against you. Perhaps I should stay behind to organize the defenses?”
Michella had not seen Riomini’s hesitant side before. Maybe his level of aggression and “courage” depended upon how heavily the odds were stacked in his favor. “Selik, have you lost your stomach for the fight? This is wartime, and no leader can rest on old laurels. I thought you would embrace the opportunity for more battlefield glory, to give you an edge over Enva Tazaar and your other rivals.”
He looked insulted. “How much more do I need to do to prove myself? What is Enva Tazaar doing for the war effort, compared to my contribu—”
Michella cut him off. “I don’t need to compare. It is my perception that matters, not yours.” He straightened in his chair as if he had been slapped. Her smile was no smile at all. “Selik, you’re a skilled battlefield commander, but you’ll have to be more than the equal of General Adolphus.”
The Black Lord composed himself. “We don’t know what truly happened to the original fleet, Eminence. And Governor Goler has given few details.”
Ishop snorted. “I doubt if we could believe him even if he was more forthcoming.”
“We can hope that Redcom Hallholme inflicted severe damage on the rebel defenses before he was captured—if he was captured at all,” Riomini said. “I had my own operative aboard the fleet to see that errors were not made. I don’t believe she would have let me down. It’s possible the fleet is simply unable to report to us.”
Diadem Michella frowned. “Then those ships are no help whatsoever. We’ll make our own statement. Wipe out the colony on Candela, but don’t stop there. Send simultaneous attack teams against five additional DZ worlds and scorch them to slag before the rebels can cut the stringline. Then return here for a new assignment. Such a decisive show of force should take care of the rebellion as well as silence any unrest here in the Crown Jewels.”
“It will be my pleasure, Eminence. The breakaway planets will fall like dominoes.”
“I don’t want to play the General’s game,” she said, “I want to smash his entire game board.”
“After hitting Candela and five other DZ planets,” Ishop Heer said, “maybe they should try to head for planet Hallholme immediately, rather than returning to Sonjeera. Supposedly, each stringline terminus is mined, but maybe one group will get through.”
“I don’t like it,” Riomini said, hesitant again. “After we crush six planets, our ships may not have the firepower to proceed against Adolphus.”
The Diadem sniffed. “Then don’t lose any ships, Selik. Commodore Hallholme is going after Adolphus, and your ships would help ensure a victory.”
Riomini saw he would not win the argument. “Very well, Eminence. I shall do my best.”
Michella smiled and sipped her tea. “Meanwhile, I have a nice send-off for Selik’s battle groups. Since the rebels executed a loyal territorial governor, it seems only fitting that we do the same here.”
61
General Adolphus felt uneasy and angry as he arrived at Candela with fifteen of Hellhole’s warships. He did not want to reward Tanja Hu for the trouble she had caused—her brash action had destroyed any chance of reasonable negotiation, and she had likely put Carlson Goler at extreme personal risk on Sonjeera. He told himself that by devastating Theser, Lord Riomini had already destroyed any chance of peace, but that did not excuse the barbarity Tanja had done.
With his achievement of the new stringline network and rallying the planets against Sonjeera, Adolphus had led the Deep Zone to independence, but he was not a dictator. In fact, he had steadfastly refused to be crowned a supreme ruler, holding up the corrupt Diadem as a terrible example. In the brief time since cutting themselves off from the Crown Jewels, the frontier planets had not established a formal government with a constitution and rigorous procedures; even though the other planetary administrators looked to him for leadership, they had not agreed to accept his rule. And he had not tried to impose it. He could not afford a constitutional battle at the moment, or defections from other DZ planets.
Even so, Tanja had not made his task easier.
When the stringline hauler arrived from Hellhole, the fifteen warships dropped from their docking clamps and peeled off to take up stations in Candela’s orbit next to her other six warships. He considered sending a scout ship down the line to Sonjeera to blow the mined substations after all, severing Candela from an attack.
But he decided to speak with Administrator Hu first, hear her explanations, and reprimand her if necessary. Most importantly, he had to do damage control; this could not become a catalyst that made the Deep Zone alliance crumble.
As his passenger pod descended to the landing zone near Saporo Harbor, Adolphus requested an immediate meeting with the planetary administrator. Tanja Hu was not at all surprised that he had come. She answered on the codecall screen, “I am at the iperion mines, General. Meet me out here.”
* * *
In a safe zone near the mine entrance, Adolphus paced back and forth, waiting for the adm
inistrator. His arrival here did not at all mirror the joy and freedom he had felt upon visiting Ridgetop, his only previous excursion away from Hellhole.
When she emerged from the tunnel, she had removed her protective hooded suit and scrubbed herself clean of the ultrafine, toxic iperion dust. As she walked toward him, smoothing her dark hair, she looked fiercely independent, concerned but unapologetic.
Her resentment toward the excesses of the Constellation government had grown over the years, and she blamed her planet’s hardships on the Diadem’s greed, with good reason. But since the beginning of DZ independence, her personality had taken on an increasingly hard edge.
He faced her and spoke preemptively. “You’ve lost perspective. Candela depends on your thoughtful, reasoned leadership. You let your people down and put them in danger.”
Tanja looked strong but shaken, and she replied, “General, hear me out. I may have made a harsh symbolic gesture, but Undine committed murder. As Candela’s administrator, I was within my rights to impose a sentence of death.” She raised her chin. “I executed one person. Lord Riomini murdered every single person on Theser. If Diadem Michella is willing to annihilate an entire planet, how can we ever reach meaningful peace terms with her?”
He shook his head. “There was a glimmer of possibility before, but now it’s gone. You changed the entire nature of the war.”
Her hard gaze met his. “With all due respect, General, Theser changed the nature of the war. The Deep Zone no longer has the option, under any circumstances, to forget that atrocity. Thanks to your reinforcements, I have twenty-one ships to guard Candela. I plan to fight.”
Quelling his anger, he chose his words carefully. “You are the administrator of this planet, but your actions endangered the entire Deep Zone. The lawyers and philosophers can debate it at great length, but right now our main concern is to prepare for an attack. I share your conviction that Candela is likely a target for the Diadem’s retaliation. The question is, are you willing to cut the Sonjeera stringline? It’s the only way to be certain.”
“It’s not so simple, General.” She led him into the mine administration shack outside the shaft opening. “I just received an emergency message pod sent from a secret loyalist who works in the Constellation military. Someone named Dak Telom? Not good news at all. There is indeed an attack planned against Candela—as well as five other DZ worlds. They intend to create a complete bloodbath. Scorched earth, no survivors … just as they did to Theser.”
When Tanja gave him Dak Telom’s report, he read with growing alarm—not just Tanja’s gruesome delivery of Undine’s head, but also the arrest of Governor Goler and the assassination attempt on the Diadem. The events had pushed her into a frenzy of reaction.
“Which five worlds?” he asked, scanning the report again.
“Unknown, General. Apparently, they’ll be chosen at the last minute.” She gave a grim nod. “So, you see, even if we cut the Candela stringline, that wouldn’t help the others.”
The General’s mind spun. Despite their frantic buildup of ships, the DZ Defense Force could not provide enough ships to protect all the frontier worlds. “Even if we cut all the stringlines, there isn’t time to spread word throughout the Deep Zone and instruct them to blow the substations. If Lord Riomini is ready to launch, we’ll never accomplish it quickly enough.”
Tanja had obviously thought this through. “And if any one of those target worlds loses control of their terminus ring, then Riomini’s task force can get onto our stringline network and find their way back to Hellhole. Unless we can stop those ships, the Deep Zone could fall.”
Adolphus paused to consider the magnitude of the problem, the unraveling of the DZ network and the failure of his plans. He looked over at Tanja. They did have one other chance. “Take me out to the shadow-Xayan colony.”
* * *
The seed colony of shadow-Xayans on Candela had only a hundred people. The prefab buildings were supplemented with exotic, organic shapes constructed through the combined mental powers of the awakened aliens. The shiny surfaces of the colony structures gleamed in hazy sunlight.
Expecting Hellhole to be the target of a devastating retaliatory attack, the volunteers had come here for safety. Now they were directly in the crosshairs.
The alien Tryn glided forward on her long caterpillar body, accompanied by slender, quiet Tel Clovis. After Adolphus described the crisis and asked if they could use their telemancy to help, Tryn spoke with pride, her voice vibrating. “I hoped you would call upon us, General Tiber Adolphus.”
Clovis said, “We have all seen the images of Theser. We established this satellite colony to keep us safe from the Constellation fleet. We promised to help defend this world—and all of you.”
The General said, “We can cut the stringline from Sonjeera and isolate Candela, but it won’t protect the other worlds under threat. We can’t warn the rest of the DZ in time—we don’t even know which planets are targeted. I am out of conventional options. Mr. Clovis, I am hoping you have some ideas.”
Tryn wavered back and forth as she pondered. Beside her, Clovis seemed to be connected with the alien, sharing thoughts with her. More shadow-Xayans emerged from the settlement buildings and came in from the thick surrounding jungles.
When she spoke, Tryn’s voice became even more eerie than usual. “Your stringline network is similar to our web of telemancy. The principles are … somewhat parallel.” She turned to face him, and shimmering spiral patterns appeared in her polished black eyes. “We understand that severing the one stringline to this planet would still leave all other Deep Zone worlds open to attack.” She paused. “Why not simply eliminate the central stringline hub at Sonjeera? If you destroy it, then all the Diadem’s avenues of attack would be incapacitated.”
Tanja had a hard, eager grin. “Destroying the Sonjeera hub would throw the Crown Jewel network into chaos and give us the time we need.”
The General began imagining ways to send a large force hurtling back to Sonjeera to attack the hub. But the hub had substantial military defenses in place, and Riomini’s attack forces would also be gathered there. He shook his head. “I don’t have the military power to do anything like that. We don’t have enough ships.” His eyes lit up. “Ah, I think I see where you’re going with this.”
“Correct,” Tryn said. “We might do it with telemancy. From here.”
“We can go on the offensive, General,” Clovis said. “We send a blast along the iperion line, like a power surge. No battleships would be able to stop it.”
Tryn shifted on her wormlike lower body. “To do so would require more telemancy power than anything we have attempted before. It will therefore be necessary for us to draw upon our comrades back on Xaya. We can touch them with telemancy even over such a distance.”
Adolphus remembered that the shadow-Xayans on Hellhole had known immediately when Diadem Michella executed Fernando-Zairic and Cippiq. Tryn’s idea was making some sense. Maybe it could work.
“It is possible, General Tiber Adolphus, even though we have not previously made such an attempt. Perhaps the challenge will teach us to increase our powers and take us closer to ala’ru.”
Clovis sounded like his old self again when he said in a bright voice, “Sir, we would like to try. This is an emergency situation where we don’t have time for more training. And it could save six planets.”
“Or more,” Tanja said.
The General nodded, even daring to feel a glimmer of hope. “We need to try—and we’ve got to do it immediately, before Lord Riomini can launch his ships.”
62
Within three days, the bulk of the remaining Constellation warships returned to the Sonjeera hub from standard deployments throughout the Crown Jewel worlds. In peacetime, the ships were used to emphasize the Diadem’s strength among the core worlds. She realized that unruly nobles needed the occasional reminder.
Now Lord Riomini gathered all those vessels for his dramatic retaliation against the “vi
le Deezees”—Candela, specifically, and five additional rebel planets as frosting on the cake. Diadem Michella knew the Black Lord would be ruthless; she did not need to encourage him in that regard.
With frantic preparations, the six-pronged assault would be ready to launch in less than a day. Riomini would spearhead the destruction of Candela, and he had chosen the other five DZ target worlds, in consultation with Lora Heston, his chief security operative. Heston had damaged her lungs and vocal cords saving him from a clumsy assassination attempt with an incendiary that dispersed acidic smoke. He had never forgotten that, and trusted the woman completely.
Commodore Percival Hallholme had departed more than a week ago for his backdoor strike on Hellhole, but with the uncertain condition of the Buktu stringline, no one could make an accurate estimate of when he might arrive at his target. Riomini had to undertake his own operation without regard to the old Commodore’s timing.
While the ships gathered at the stringline hub, Riomini took every chance to rail against the rebels, pounding his fists, raising his voice. His face reddened in outrage as he decried the barbaric execution of the respected, talented, and innocent territorial governor, Marla Undine. In reality, neither he nor the Diadem had paid much attention to the appointee before—Riomini couldn’t recall if either of them had ever met her—but the public didn’t know that. They responded with predictable fervor.
When he reported his ships were almost ready for departure, the Diadem felt giddy. “Excellent! I shall now announce Governor Goler’s execution as a traitor to the Star Throne. I’ll arrange for a—” She tapped her fingers on the polished desktop in front of her as she pondered. “I think a firing squad is most dramatic. I wish I could pull the trigger myself, but that would not be seemly.”
* * *
Goler felt sick dismay but little surprise when the prison guard delivered the gloomy pronouncement. “When?” Goler asked.
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