Kaur had returned to her ship in a state of utter shock. Nothing in her career had prepared her for something like this. And yet, she seriously doubted the theories put forth by the other Commanders that one of their own governments might have faked such a thing in order to cast Aditi and Gloran into a wide and ugly war.
Nice as it might be to blame someone else, Kaur suspected that none of them really understood just how underhanded and devious the folks atop the Aditi Consensus could be.
She had summoned Arya to her personal quarters, where they had sat in the front room with mugs of hot chocolate as Kaur walked through all the details Phil had discovered, and all the theories her squadron mates had come up with to try to explain it all away.
“Shit,” Arya said when Kaur finally stuttered down into silence like a generator that had broken internally.
“Yup,” Kaur agreed.
That did kind of sum it all up, didn’t it?
“They really don’t know Aditi at all, do they?” Arya asked, concern on her face. “Even after all this?”
“You will not tell them what we are really like, young lady,” Kaur snapped with a smile. “Phil and the others think of us in good terms because they had the luck to encounter Aranyani first. The greatest fear I have right now is that he’s right and we did it. Well, we didn’t, but that an Aditi warship was tasked with making it look like a pirate raid. Kartikeya is a Light Strike Cruiser. They might have been designed for exactly that sort of thing.”
Arya perked right up, but she’d gone from Moat ships to Aranyani instead of serving a stint on some of the…more interesting corners of the fleet.
“Oh?” Arya asked.
“Arya, if it becomes important, you are allowed to tell Phil,” Kaur said now. “Or Heather. Nobody else.”
“What mud puddle have I just stepped in?” her Sub-Commander asked carefully.
“The Consensus is all about the Echelon, Arya,” Kaur reminded the woman. “Ships of the Line in the rear. Stronghold cruisers in the middle. Moat ships up front, either combat or escort variants. If it’s just a small squadron, then a cruiser or Leader aft and two forward forming an inverted triangle.”
“Sure,” Arya noted dryly. “That’s how we keep all the missile-happy folks at bay. Too many Point Guns covering the approaches.”
“There are other classes that don’t get discussed much,” Kaur explained next. “Light Strike Cruisers and long-sailing Moat ships that are generally not part of normal operating squadrons. On paper, they are often classified as diplomatic couriers, because they are used that way, when you need to haul important people somewhere and don’t want to risk pirates or anyone kidnapping them. At least in the old days.”
“But they do other things?” Arya asked sharply.
“I am not legally at liberty to discuss certain things with you, Arya,” Kaur said in a knowing manner that got the woman nodding. “However, it is not outside the realm of things that I might and might not have been part of such shenanigans, when I was a much younger officer.”
“Oh,” Arya replied, eyes huge now. “Phil’s going to be pissed when he finds out the truth.”
“He is already pissed,” Kaur replied. “The problem now is that, like Juvayni, our superiors might order us to break ranks with the squadron, if Phil really sails into an Aditi harbor somewhere and demands answers.”
“What would you do?” Arya asked in a small, uncertain voice.
The woman was only a Sub-Commander, but everything Kaur had done and trained had been geared towards stepping Arya Chaudhari into command of Aranyani when Kaur left. Whether that was promotion to a Ship of the Line or being cashiered in disgrace hadn’t yet been determined.
“I need to play you a section of tape that you are not to admit exists, unless something suspicious happens to me and you suddenly find yourself in at least temporary command of Aranyani,” Kaur said. She rose from her comfy couch and held out a hand to Arya. “Come.”
She led the woman back deeper into her quarters, to her desk, where Kaur located a book on a shelf nearby and pulled out a data chip with no markings. Kaur set Arya down at her desk and plugged the chip into her usual book reader. She powered it on and the face of Director Narang, on that fateful day aboard Khandoba as Heather attempted to move an entire planet out of the way at Vilahana. Kaur’s own face filled the other side of the split screen.
“Listen and learn,” Kaur ordered her First Officer. “You will know where this chip is located if you have to take over my quarters for some reason. Make sure you take it with you later if a new Commander comes aboard.”
Arya had gone gray and wide-eyed, which said something big considering everything the woman had seen from the bridge of Aranyani over the last year.
Kaur hit play and listened to that same conversation as Urumchi and her escorts prepared to sail out and intercept the planetary missile. The discussion of whether or not the man would order Kaur to walk away from Kosnett’s force at the critical moment. The possibility that Kaur Singh would have to mutiny against a direct order from her superior to attack Urumchi, in the middle of everything else, until such time as she could return to Aditi proper, broadcast this conversation over every available circuit in the clear, and then wait for her own officers to arrest her on charges that might include treason.
Narang’s voice took her back to that day. How far they’d come from merely confronting a piracy problem that had gotten out of hand, and watching Phil—helping him even—change the course of history.
Kaur watched along with Arya. The exchange hadn’t taken long. It was so much bigger in her memory, lasting hours.
Arya’s mouth had fallen open. Kaur removed the chip and put it back up on the shelf in the book where it hid. Then she turned to her First Officer.
“Later, I had a secret conversation with Herald Roshni Mishra, on Aditi,” Kaur continued. “Not on the books anywhere. She offered to keep me in command of Aranyani for another year, then move me to a Ship of the Line when Phil’s mission was successful. However, this is where a mere Sub-Commander like you has to cross over into the realm of politics.”
Arya nodded, as if stricken mute. Kaur understood that feeling. She’d been there many times when everything had first unfolded.
“The Herald is a member of the Prakaash Party,” Kaur said. “Beacon, representing the light of knowledge. Speaker Mhasalkar and Sergeant Chaudhary are from the Bhavishy Party. Future. Their alliance has always been prickly. Minor parties like Pahaad aur Baadal or Vyaapaar Vaayu are on the outside, but at any moment, deals might be struck that brought down a fairly fragile coalition and either caused a new government to be formed, or for early elections that might toss out all sorts of folks.”
“Who probably should have been tossed out a long time ago,” Arya finally spoke.
“Keep those opinions to yourself if you wish to keep your career, Chaudhari,” Kaur grinned. “We still remain subservient to the civilian authorities. Even if they are so bent that they have to screw their pants on, as Iveta remarks occasionally.”
Arya grinned back and rose from the chair.
“Now what?” she asked.
“It is entirely out of our hands, Arya,” Kaur said. “Phil is going to brief the Emperor at his first opportunity. Given Gloran, I expect that man to sail to the nearest Aditi world, or maybe nearest base considering the fleet he has with him right now, and demand answers.”
“Will Phil go with him?” Arya asked.
“Maybe,” Kaur shrugged. “If so, we might be allowed as well. And we might not, considering that we represent the perfidiousness of Aditi in this matter.”
“But we would side with Phil and the Gloran Emperor, right?” Arya asked.
“Right up until they pry me out of that command chair and try me for treason,” Kaur nodded.