Petron

by Blaze Ward

  Was she willing to face metaphorical, and perhaps literal assassins in her quest for justice?

  “First Lord, I swore an oath to Fleet Centurion Kosnett and General zu Arlo that I would bring this information to your attention, come hell or high water,” Andrea felt her spine go rigid. “I have done so, but more importantly, I was commissioned an officer and a gentlewoman under your very authority to serve in the Republic of Aquitaine Navy, as high of a calling as I am aware. Finally, I am an Officer of the Court, so I serve Justice itself. To fail in those beliefs would be worse than the risks of seeing this mission through to its logical conclusion.”

  “When you met Command Centurion Ming, you informed him that, in your professional opinion, these materials quite possibly constituted evidence of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Centurion,” the First Lord ground on like a slow avalanche of lava easing its way down a hill slope. “Would you be willing to stand before a grand jury and give testimony? Not just for yourself, but also for General zu Arlo?”

  “First Lord, as I take my oaths seriously, I can do no less,” Andrea declared, even as she felt a spike of cold, deadly adrenaline shoot through her belly and wrap itself around her soul.

  They fell into silence, punctuated only by the air systems breathing quietly in the background. Andrea felt both of the others studying her for any possible weakness, but she had spent the entire flight here doing the same and burning even the possibility of it out of herself.

  She would not fail. She had given zu Arlo her word. Now it just remained to see where the First Lord would take all of this, something nobody could guess ahead of time.

  “Centurion Velazquez, you are hereby attached to the Office of the First Lord of the Fleet,” the woman said. “You will report to Command Centurion Akash Ming until such time as you receive other orders. Command Centurion, you will arrange for Centurion Velazquez to present herself and her materials before a grand jury where she will give testimony. All of this is to remain classified and secret at the high levels of naval security until the Judge Advocate General or I advises you otherwise. Are there any questions?”

  “Just one, sir,” Andrea said. “My Yeoman, Raoul al-Salah, will need to be brought under the same orders.”

  “Akash, you will see to it,” the First Lord said. “Dismissed.”

  Andrea rose with the man and followed him to the door. A voice stopped her at the threshold.

  “Centurion?” First Lord called out, causing Andrea to turn back and see the woman’s seriousness flash into the briefest smile. “Good job. And good luck.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Andrea saluted and exited.

  Kosnett had warned her what might come next. As had zu Arlo.

  Now she just had to find the courage, the audacity, to bring it off.

  Regardless of the costs.

  CHAPTER LXX

  IMPERIAL FOUNDING: 183/10/19 IFV VALIANT, PETRON SYSTEM

  “HOLY SHIT,” Tom heard the words escape his mouth before he could stop himself. “What the hell happened here?”

  “IFV Hans Bransch reports that all of those other vessels are Republic manufacture, sir. Even though they are flying Corynthe colors right now,” Everett said from his spot across the table. “Looks like someone attacked Petron and got their asses handed to them. I’m getting a signal from the station now. Queen’s compliments and about time you boys made it to the party. Unquote.”

  “Let zu Arlo know to break out the nice uniform, Everett,” Tom breathed out a heavy, almost happy sigh. “Form us up in two lines, following Valiant and Titania in with corvettes in escort position and all weapon systems locked down to an admiral’s orders. I’m going to go take a shower while you have the flight deck prepare a least-travel course for two shuttles to pick up all the captains and haul them to the station.”

  “Roger that, Admiral,” his Flag Commander said with a smile. “On it.”

  Tom indeed broke out the nice uniform for this. He and Denis would be in red today, and escorting the General, but it was obvious that they were late to whatever had happened. And it must have been a doozy. He had no idea what could have happened that would leave that size of a force so utterly mousetrapped.

  Except that Lady Moirrey was out here. Had been out here since the assassination riled everyone up, along with Yan Bedrov and Iorwerth Nakamura, the famous Pops. God only knew what that group had done, but it looked like it would overturn the entire galaxy.

  Again.

  He had missed having Reif handy, but Achterberg was there in orbit, so hopefully his old friend would be able to shed some light on things. Tom was just as much in the dark as the men with him on the shuttle.

  They were met with a literal red carpet, rolled out to the doors of the two shuttles and a full formation of men and women in all their barbaric splendor lined up and smiling. They might have been laughing quietly too, from the looks Tom was getting.

  He had never seen the pirates of Corynthe in their native element to be able to judge, but there was what looked like a captured Republic of Aquitaine Navy fleet outside, and a newly purchased, ex-Imperial one as well. Plus the fleet collectively referred to by his own group as The Wedding Guests. St. Legier still had more firepower in orbit, but not many other planets.

  Following protocol, Tom and Denis emerged next to last, just ahead of Vo, walking past the lines of locals and then all their own captains to the raised platform where Her Majesty, Jessica, Queen of the Pirates looked like a veritable war goddess in gray as she watched them with an enigmatic smile on her face.

  Tom saluted. Denis saluted. Vo saluted. The strange man with the carved staff thumped it once and the formality dissolved like a sand castle in a rising tide.

  Suddenly, he was surrounded by old friends, shaking his hand and thumping him on the back, all these Imperial Captains who had traveled with Jessica, as well as Wiley and few others he knew. Someone broke out the wetbar and handed him a highball glass that appeared to be half juice of some fruit he didn’t know by taste and half pure ethanol.

  Tom took a sip and promised himself that the rest of the glass would be left on a table at some point, in case one of his engineers needed to degrease a generator or something. He sure as hell wasn’t drinking it on an empty stomach.

  And then Jessica was there. Vo got a hug first, then Denis, but Tom knew better than to be surprised when it was his turn. Nor when Moirrey joined in and Tom ended up somehow holding a gurgling and laughing sixth-month-old. He knew how to handle them at this point in his life. His son Jakob had started a family, so he got to be the grandpa that spoiled the little ones. Mallory would probably get married soon, too.

  “Dare I ask?” Tom said to Jessica as he realized the two of them were in the middle of a bubble of faces, almost like a dueling circle.

  “I dinna play nice, Tom,” Moirrey offered as she stepped close, joining them in the center. “Ya comes here with yer fist out, ya should expects me to whomps you in the nose. Them nice Republic folks forgot their manners. Taughts them better.”

  “Well, in your name, we just did the same to Grantham and then Tilou,” Vo spoke to Jessica as Tom made faces at Dina.

  “Yes,” Jessica said. “We got a courier yesterday, directly from Ramsey with a priority message. They are asking for peace, apologizing for everything, and asking me specifically what it would take for my various fleets, plural, to stop destroying their worlds.”

  “And?” Tom asked, aware that the two of them had had this very conversation on the day he departed to take command of the fleet out there from Denis.

  “And I’m angry, Tom,” Jessica said. “I have not yet conceded the need to take my fleet a few other places and make enough stink that they never forget.”

  “Don’t do it,” Denis spoke up, stepping to stand in that inner circle with the folks that would probably end up deciding the fate of the galaxy. “I’ve talked with Tom and Vo about this on the way here, and everyone needs to understand how close we are to setting everything on fire right
now.”

  “Denis?” Jessica asked.

  “Salonnia is next on Vo’s shit list after you settle Lincolnshire, Jess,” Denis said. “Tom’s fleet could finish off anything between here and Anameleck Prime, if he chose to. You’ve got enough firepower in orbit right now to end Lincolnshire as an independent nation if you were of a mind, but what happens after that?”

  “You tell me, Denis,” she said carefully, relaxing some as she spoke. Stepping back from the precipice, maybe. “Sounds like you’ve given this the most thought.”

  “Lincolnshire comes apart like a glass vase under the impact of a hammer, Jessica,” Denis replied. “Done. You could easily spall off worlds and make them offer you tribute instead of Ramsey, but how soon until they turn into full-on pirate worlds in outright rebellion to your authority, and not just the places that occasionally forget to pay their Corynthe taxes?”

  “Quickly enough,” Jessica said. “Why would that be a bad thing?”

  “Because Corynthe has nowhere to go but sideways along the periphery, when they want to seed new colonies, unless you start conquering Lincolnshire worlds and trying to hold them in the face of such resistance. And there are precious few Thuringwells on that arc. I checked.”

  “What would you propose instead?” Vo asked now, concentrating on his old friend. “If you go one way, you’ll eventually have to end-run Salonnian space along the edge of the galaxy. The other direction and you’ve got that gap of darkness between galactic arms. Why not conquer Lincolnshire?”

  “Aquitaine won’t allow you to hold it,” Denis said. “Even if you could, which you can’t, not without Casey having to commit huge, expensive fleets out here to counter the huge fleets Horvat would quickly send to push you back.”

  “You have a better solution to propose, don’t you?” Jessica asked.

  Tom had heard parts of it, but even then Denis had been playing close to the vest. And while the two of them had served together and respected one another, Denis had been her right hand for over a decade. And everything that that sort of thing entailed.

  It was the sort of relationship he and Charlie d’Noir had. Maybe better, if that was possible.

  “Force Lincolnshire to sign a treaty of neutrality with everyone,” Denis said. “Corynthe, Salonnia, Aquitaine, and Fribourg. You guarantee their current borders, with your own fleets if need be, and require that they trade with everyone equally, instead of letting all the merchant power and profit flow to Ladaux, while everyone else has to smuggle things. Aquitaine gets off rather easy for all the shit they’ve started, but loses that shield on their border that lets them meddle this far out on the frontier. Salonnia minds their manners or both you and Casey come after them at the same time. And maybe Vo comes after them anyway, to clean their act up and stop being criminal gangs. If cross-border trade with everyone is legal, why do you need a criminal conspiracy for a government, anyway?”

  Tom blew out a heavy breath as he digested the incredible implications. It just might work, especially if Casey was in favor, and he knew she would be. It would completely reshape the outer edge of the galaxy, and still leave Aquitaine space to explore that one, long border across the space between galactic arms.

  That always showed as darkness on a map, but Tom knew how much of that was a lie. There were many stars out there, but they weren’t as dense as inside the arms. You could sail for long stretches, but you also moved faster because the clouds weren’t nearly as dense with materials slowing you down.

  It left everyone with space to explore along at least one of their borders. And Jessica probably had a decade before the fools at Ramsey could rebuild or buy enough ships to even consider being a problem. Jessica, but more likely David, would not be sitting on their hands during that time.

  Tom realized that everyone had fallen silent. Forty people surrounded them, poised to hear the one woman who could make that decision. He was just sorry that Casey wasn’t here to contribute her thoughts, but these two women would perhaps forever be that far apart.

  If both nations presented a credible threat to the fools in the middle, maybe that would be enough?

  “Who are you and what have you done with Denis Jež?” Jessica finally smiled and asked the man.

  Denis grinned sideways and shrugged.

  “You would always listen to alternatives, Jess,” he said. “But only well-thought-out campaign plans, with all implications covered and several fallback options filled in. And I might have learned something from you over the years about how to plan a campaign like this.”

  She laughed, and Tom heard the future in those tones.

  “I can’t commit David to something like that,” she said, gesturing the man to step out of the ring of watchers and join them at the center of things. “David?”

  “Peace with both Lincolnshire and Salonnia?” David asked. “If what Moirrey, Yan, and Pops have been telling Uly and me is true, then we can make it work. How do we keep Aquitaine honest?”

  “If we can spall Lincolnshire off, they’ll have to handle that becoming a real frontier first,” Jessica said. “I’m more concerned about Salonnia and Fribourg. Will they go for it?”

  “I speak for the Crown, Jessica,” Vo’s deep voice suddenly silenced all the whispers around them. “Ritter of the Imperial Household, like someone else I know.”

  Tom watched Lady Moirrey blush furiously but she remained silent.

  “If you can get Lincolnshire to neutrality, I will enforce the behavior of Salonnia,” Vo continued in a deep, angry tone. “And Fribourg will be a signatory to such a treaty, as well as a guarantor. Aquitaine will have to honor that, or be facing us across that long border.”

  “Can there truly be peace?” Jessica looked around at the many men and women around her. “We have smashed them, and are in a position to finish them off, but, as Denis said, we might bring this part of the galaxy permanently down in flames.”

  “I believe we should try peace, Jessica,” Vo said. “One last chance for some of these people, but as Denis reminds me, we stand at the cliff’s very edge. I am willing to forgo my vengeance if we can take this moment instead to reshape the galaxy into a better place.”

  The giant man studied her and Tom held his breath, along with everyone else.

  Jessica, instead of answering, turned to David Rodriguez with a serious face.

  “David, if we do this, I will retire to be Dowager Queen,” Jessica said. “In that, you and Lincolnshire can both have a clean slate, since you didn’t destroy their fleets or threaten their worlds. You will sign that treaty, not me. But I will help enforce it, just as Tom, Vo, Denis and the others will. What is your decision?”

  Tom held his breath. He didn’t know David Rodriguez as a person, merely as the Regent who had spent the better part of a decade enforcing Jessica Keller’s will while keeping the seat warm.

  “I will have peace, Jessica,” the man who would be king said. “But I will still build you a flagship, in case you need to return to Petron and remind people that you are, and always will be the Queen of the Pirates.”

  Tom smiled and remembered to breathe. He could see explaining this to Em and the Emperor, or at least being there as a witness when Vo laid out the future of the galaxy.

  “Someone find me the Envoy from Ramsey,” Jessica called out, presumably to Misra. “I’m going to make that man an offer he dare not refuse.”

  Around them, Tom joined the others in clapping and whistling.

  Maybe, just maybe, they could save the galaxy, after all.

  PART SIX

  EPILOGUES

  EPILOGUE – ANDREA

  DATE OF THE REPUBLIC NOVEMBER 20, 405 THE REPUBLIC SENATE, LADAUX

  Centurion Andrea Velazquez had gotten what she considered to be the best tickets on the planet this morning, seated at the center of the overhead gallery, above and behind the place where the man who represented the Loyal Opposition stood when he faced off with the Premier of the Aquitaine Senate. If this was a rugby match, the mi
dfield line would have just about run through her seat, giving her the chance to see everything as it was going to unfold below her.

  Today was one of those days when the Premier had to face off with this entire legislative body in an ancient tradition called Question and Answer. Any Senator could pose a question to the Premier in open session. Frequently said questions bordered on ribald, if one had the right speechwriter, capable of dancing right on the line of rude without ever crossing it. Many weeks, the floor of the Senate would be filled with gales of laughter.

  Andrea didn’t expect that sort of performance today. She had spent a week giving testimony and answering questions, as well as assisting her bosses, including Miles Candalan himself, First Fleet Lord and Commander of the JAG itself.

  First Solicitor of the Navy.

  She had worked twenty-hour days preparing, and somehow they had managed to maintain the complete secrecy necessary to have her seated here watching.

  No civilian was allowed on the floor of the Senate during Q&A, not even aides to one of the Senators, as it was always feared that such an assistant could be a ringer, feeding their boss the necessary jokes and one-liners to make everyone pay attention.

  You lived or died by your own wits on this floor. If you dared swim with those sharks.

  The room was rolling with laughter now, the result of some pithy observation about local taxes on Anameleck Prime and using them to rebuilt the Dragon Gates with giant dragon statues to improve the tourist draw.

  Andrea wasn’t laughing, but that was the seriousness of what was coming next. She alone in the auditorium saw the man rise and take a deep breath before he began to address the Chair.