by Terry Mixon
“Good,” he said with a nod. “That leads to the next topic. What do we do about the Trojans? The OWA has people everywhere. As soon as we start cleaning them out, things will get very ugly.”
“Can’t be helped,” Nuremburg said with a frown. “We can’t leave them where they are. The deaths in battle will be bad, but at least the civilians left will be free. If we leave the OWA alone, they’ll just keep committing atrocities and more people will die in the end, probably in more terrible ways, too.”
“I’m afraid Commodore Nuremburg is correct,” Jahoda said. “We have to strike now before they have a chance to dig in. The longer we wait, the harder and bloodier this is going to be.”
Brad nodded in response, grudgingly accepting the inevitable. “We need to finish cleaning out the refueling facility—and we may as well restock our own ships. I’ll contact tankers in the rest of the Jovian system to come take what they can, too. We’ll destroy the base and any fuel left once that happens. At the very least, we’ll blow it when we head back for Io.
“We’ll need transports to take the OWA prisoners as well. As far as the high-value captives, Agent Falcone is trying to get a lever on them to decrypt the computer data we recovered. Keep your fingers crossed on that and we might be able to plan for exactly the odds we’re going to face.”
“What about the civilian prisoners and the hostages?” Captain Nah asked. “We need transports for them, too. We can’t just take them to the nearest settlement. The OWA is still in control there.”
“I’ll ask for something along that line as well,” Brad assured her. “They can go to Io for now.”
A low chime on Captain Nah’s wrist-comp indicated an incoming signal. She excused herself and had a short exchange with whoever was on the other end before disconnecting.
“We have a large number of ships inbound,” the officer said grimly. “Bet’s they’re friendly?”
Brad rose to his feet. “No bets. Everyone to your ships and go to battle stations.”
To his utter surprise, the ships were friendly. He didn’t find out until he had the entire task force arrayed for battle, but the incoming signal was from Oath of Vengeance and he was looking at an image of Michelle moments later. Flanking her were Sara Kernsky and Saburo.
“Brad,” she said in the recording, still too far away for a two-way conversation, “This is Michelle aboard Oath of Vengeance. We’re leading a mercenary force out to help you clear the trailing Trojans. We got word that you found the refueling facility and we’re bringing tankers to clear off what we can and some transports for the prisoners.”
His reaction was a mixture of relief and gratitude that his wife had been on top of this, especially when the clock was ticking down. And, honestly, the mercenary ground forces would be a more welcome sight in the settlements than the Fleet Marines, given public sentiments.
He sent a brief response but waited for the incoming ships to get close enough to respond in real time before he called Michelle back.
“You’re a lifesaver,” he said as soon as she came on the channel. “You’re just in the nick of time.”
“Of course I am,” she said smugly. “I can’t claim all the credit, though. Director—excuse me, Admiral—Kernsky has been paying very close attention to what you were doing. As soon as we were sure you were committed to the attack on the refueling facility, we set out. You’re not set up to deal with lots of civilian prisoners and Cadre scum.
“We brought a variety of ships to take them all back to Io for sorting out. We also have tankers to get what fuel we can. Waste not, want not.”
“Perfect,” he said. “We’re going to send ships to break the OWA hold on the other settlements, but the mercenaries will be welcomed more readily than Marines. That isn’t to say we won’t provide the muscle we can. Who is going to command the troops?”
Michelle grinned. “General Saburo. His promotion is under Admiral Kernsky’s banner and the rank is only temporary, unless of course I want to see him keep squirming for a while longer once the fighting is finally over.”
He noted that neither Saburo nor Kernsky was on the bridge of his former flagship now. “Excellent. Where are they?”
“On their way to your flagship. This is the kind of planning that needs to happen face to face. I estimate they’ll dock with you in about twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be sure to be there to greet them. Love, this is going to be an ugly fight.”
“No uglier than life under the OWA,” she said with a shake of her head. “Don’t let this drag you down, Brad. We’re with you. You didn’t cause this tragedy, but you will end it.”
She looked down at one of the repeater screens at her knee. “I have to go. Looks like it’s time to get our ships into position, and I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”
“Nothing you can do will ever embarrass me,” he assured her. “I’ll try to find time to come see you during the next few days. I really, really need to feel you beside me.”
“I’ll make sure and get the wine ready,” she said in a sultry voice. “Now go kick some ass, lover.”
As soon as he broke the com connection, one of his aides started fanning her face and grinning. He felt himself reddening but said nothing about her antics.
“I’ll be in the docking bay if anyone needs me,” he said, clearing his throat.
The blush had almost gone away by the time he’d walked down to the bay. The shuttle from Oath of Vengeance was on final approach and Major Papadakis was there with an honor guard. He briefly wondered who had tipped her off.
“Temperature too high?” she asked after taking a look at his face. “I can call Engineering and have them kick the cooling up.”
Now he knew who’d called her. Everyone thought they were comedians, including him on occasion.
“I’m good,” he assured her. “Thanks so much for asking.”
They stood in silence as the shuttle came to a halt and the passengers started debarking. The first out the hatch was Admiral Kernsky, followed closely by General Saburo.
The third person was a surprise until he thought about it for a moment. Then he realized that Arbiter Blaze’s grim presence was inevitable.
It was really going to suck to be Youden.
Chapter Thirty
Brad embraced Saburo quickly, then shook hands with the two women.
“It’s good to see you, Arbiter Blaze,” he greeted the woman who’d thrown Jupiter’s support behind him. “I did think we were keeping my presence here at least a little under wraps.”
“If you’re keeping secrets from your allies, you’re doing reconciliation wrong,” Blaze pointed out. “Commodore Bailey understood that much, at least. You left a clever woman in charge.”
“I did,” Brad agreed. He looked past the landed shuttles to survey the refueling station beneath them. “Not a bad place for her, either. The space battle was the easy part of this.”
“And the hard part has barely begun,” Saburo said grimly, Brad’s friend looking on edge. “No one has done the kind of urban warfare I’m expecting here in the cluster. The mercenaries we’ve brought have seen the closest thing to it, but not on this scale.”
“I’ll have Falcone and Papadakis prep a briefing,” Brad promised. “You won’t be going in blind or alone.”
The Asian Jovian native nodded.
“I have four thousand mercenaries under my direct command,” he told Brad. “What did you get me into, Brad?”
“Much the same mess I’m in,” Brad replied.
“Only not as bad,” Kernsky added. “Madrid has a lot more than four thousand people under his command.”
Brad shivered. It was easy to forget that aspect of it behind the calm numbers of ships. Easy to forget that even a corvette or frigate had a crew of between twelve and thirty. Destroyers were easily sixty or seventy—and his cruisers were over three hundred.
And at that, he wasn’t even sure how many ships were going to make up First Fleet for the final clas
h. It depended on if they lost anyone else there in the trailing Trojans.
“We’ve probably got about two thousand Marines ready to go as well,” he told Brad. “I’ll have Papadakis follow your lead. We want merc boots on the ground, not Marines, as much as we can.”
“Nobody out here likes the Commonwealth,” Blaze agreed. “But from what we’ve heard about OWA operations out here, they almost certainly like the Alliance less.”
“That’s what I’m relying on,” Brad confirmed. “In other news, Arbiter, I have a present for you.”
“What kind of present?” she asked. “Should I be hoping for battleships or planning to hide from your wife?”
Brad glared at Saburo to muffle the other man’s chuckle.
“How about Jamal Youden in chains?” he asked.
The humor vanished and Blaze’s eyes went cold and hard.
“You have him?”
“He was trying to coordinate something here,” Brad confirmed. “We haven’t had time to interrogate him or the other senior OWA officers yet, but once the Agency is done with Youden, he’s yours.
“His sins are against Jupiter, and the Commonwealth will surrender him to Jovian justice.” He raised a warning hand.
“After he’s told us everything he knows.”
“He doesn’t get promises of life, Admiral,” Blaze told him coldly. “Jovian law is clear: the Arbiter Guild must confirm any sentence of death under the Governors’ authorities.
“With Youden, I think we’ll just skip the middleman.”
Falcone met them outside the brig with a broad grin on her face.
“That looks positive,” Brad told her.
“Jamal Youden might be convinced that the Lord Protector will rule all humanity, but he’s less convinced that he’ll survive to see it,” the Agent said as she nodded to Brad’s companions. “The moment he accepted we were actually about to start removing pieces, he pissed himself.”
“The Arbiter Guild cannot condone torture, Agent Falcone,” Blaze said quietly. “Youden’s fate is set in stone, but that’s still a bridge too far.”
Brad carefully made sure that Blaze couldn’t see his face. He wasn’t proud of some of his past actions, but he’d definitely used torture a time or two himself. He trusted Falcone not to have crossed that line, but he wasn’t certain…and he wouldn’t blame her if she had.
“Arbiter, the entire star system is at war and we are only a few bad calls away from risking the end of human civilization,” Falcone pointed out. “That said, torture is crap for getting accurate information and is a line I’d rather not cross myself. We have all of the tools, though, and that was enough to get Youden whimpering.”
“Did we get anything useful?” Brad asked.
“He didn’t know shit about their operations here in the Trojans,” the Agent admitted. “I’ve got a few more lieutenants to sweat before I put together a briefing for Saburo here.
“The grander scheme, though? He gave us a lot. The refining gear was heading for a meteor swarm that is expected to pass near Jupiter in a month. They were going to use it as an anchor for a surprise flanking attack with the cruisers here.”
“That fits the Phoenix’s profile,” Brad admitted. “Biggest fucking hammer in human history, and he still wants to come at things sideways. We’ve short-circuited it, then?”
“We’ve short-circuited the fleet part of it, but it sounds like there may be more going on that Youden didn’t know about,” Falcone told them. “He’s a troubleshooter, a roving operative, but he’s not in the inner circle, from what I can tell.”
She smirked.
“From the way he talks, he thinks he’s in the inner circle.”
“Do you still need him, then?” Blaze asked, her voice chilly.
“I think he’s given me everything he can. I’m going to finish the interrogations, then I’m going to take Hades out to the meteor swarm and check in on what else was going on there.”
“Keep me informed,” Brad ordered. “I can spare a few escorts if you need them.”
So far as he could tell, the Agency’s carrier had done a good job of using drones without losing them, but he doubted a couple of destroyers would go amiss if Hades was going hunting a long way from home.
“We’ll be in touch before I leave,” Falcone promised. “I’m done with Youden, but I have other customers.”
Brad nodded, then turned to Blaze.
“Arbiter?”
“If you’re done with him, he owes the people of Jupiter some answers,” she replied. “I want him.”
“Pass on anything you learn about the attack,” Brad told her. “But the attack he led was on Jovian soil. He’s yours.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
Blaze stepped ahead. Brad couldn’t resist following along, making sure he could hear what she was saying as she stepped past the Marine guards.
“Jamal Youden?” she asked. “You know who I am.”
He couldn’t hear Youden’s response.
“I have a long list of questions to ask you, Mr. Youden, but let’s get started with the very simplest thing, the one that will make very sure you understand where you sit.”
Youden said something else. Brad was close enough to hear the tone, a wavery forced defiance.
“Jamal Youden, by the authority vested in me by the contracts between the Jovian governments and the Arbiter Guild, I hereby sentence you to death.”
Leaving the prisoners to the tender graces of Falcone and Blaze, Brad led Kernsky and Saburo back to his office and poured them all drinks with a shake of his head.
“Interrogation was never my strong suit,” Brad said quietly. “Ship command or sword fighting, those I’m comfortable with. Getting answers from people? I’m glad to have Kate.”
“And the Mercury mines,” Kernsky said with a snort. “Falcone has a reputation.”
“She does,” Brad agreed. “How’s the situation back at Jupiter?”
“The new Governors are arguing and trying to run rings around each other,” the Guild Admiral told him. “About the only thing they do agree on is that their militias are at your command.”
She shook her head.
“I’m not sure half of the vice-governors and so forth that have fallen into control of their worlds even know how many ships they have,” she pointed out. “None of them are going to be spectacular, you’re going to get mostly frigates and corvettes, but it’s fifty or so of those.”
“Plus the Guild; that evens the odds in a lot of the lighter classes,” Brad concluded. He was pretty sure he still had the edge in cruisers, but Immortal was still the biggest problem.
“Doesn’t help much against a battleship,” Saburo grumped, echoing Brad’s thoughts. “We have a plan for that big bastard yet?”
“Shoot it until it dies?” Brad suggested, then shook his head. “Falcone has a crazy moonshot she’s run by me. It’s a damn suicide mission, though, so I’m leaving it in my back pocket.”
He didn’t need to tell them that it was a suicide mission for him.
“I hope we get some useful intel on the OWA positions here, too,” Saburo said grimly. “There are half a million people and fourteen major settlements in the cluster. If we’re going through them blind, we’re going to lose a lot of people.”
Brad nodded.
“We’re going to lose a lot of people anyway, Saburo,” he warned his friend. “We need to make it clear that we’ll treat surrendering garrisons as combatants—and anyone who kills civilians as a terrorist.”
“That’s the kind of fine line that’s going to come back to bite us,” Saburo Kawa warned. “So long as we decide we get to pick who’s a legitimate combatant and who isn’t, the OWA can argue they get to do the same.
“I don’t want my people getting shot out of hand—and if they’re going to flag anyone as pirates or terrorists, it’s going to be the mercs.”
Brad sighed. Saburo wasn’t wrong.
“You’re right. But we need t
o keep in mind that these people are guilty of terrorism and piracy.”
“Then we try them for that after the war with the evidence we have then,” Kernsky told him. “Blaze will help you put together neutral tribunals. But you have to respect the laws of war, or, well…”
She shrugged.
“As Falcone said, we’re only a few bad calls away from risking the end of human civilization, Brad,” she echoed. “I think that playing games with who gets to be called a uniformed soldier is one of those calls.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“All right everybody. Have a seat, grab a drink, and get ready for the damn home video,” Kate Falcone said sharply. “The data we have sucks. Not in quality, but in what it tells us.”
Brad was one of the handful of people in the room with Falcone, along with Saburo, Kernsky, and Blaze. Everyone else, including every mercenary officer and Marine officer in his fleet in the trailing Trojans, was getting the briefing by video.
In most cases, with the Agency woman blurred out and her voice adjusted by a computer. The OWA knew who she was, but the less they made it obvious who and where she was, the better.
“This is the trailing Trojan cluster of Jupiter,” she continued, an image of the mess of asteroids following Jupiter in its twelve-year-long orbit. “Like the leading Trojans, it’s a cluster of ice and rock that has proven damn useful over the years.
“Our best guess is that the Cadre moved in shortly after we removed the Raeburn Research Laboratory,” she explained. “That, for those who haven’t been briefed, was a covert facility used for the manufacture of illegal chemical weapons used in a number of bloody-handed Cadre operations.
“By the time the Outer Worlds Alliance officially came into existence, the Cadre had taken control of every station in the cluster and had already begun construction of the refueling station.