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Sitting on the lounge in his apartment on Corsida, former Commodore Hallyd stared at Admiral Roth half in horror, half in shock. “Did you kill those men?”
“Don’t be naive,” the admiral replied, taking a seat across the room from him. “It’s wearing thin. I just had the local authorities pick them up. Corinthe’s surveillance team were all dressed in civs so my men took their identification tags and made an anonymous call. You see, without proper identification, nondescript government agents on surveillance detail look a lot like loitering hoodlums.”
“The local authorities will contact Corinthe to verify their story though,” Hallyd pointed out.
“Eventually,” Roth agreed. “But we’ll be out of here by then.”
“We?” Hallyd asked. “What exactly have you dragged me into?”
The admiral smiled. “Well, you may not believe it but by finally standing up to Corinthe, you’ve become a person of some use to me.”
“Well, I don’t want to be used,” Hallyd told him. “I think I’ve been used enough.”
“That nonsense won’t work with me,” Roth said, his voice cold. “All right, you’ve been used. You were Corinthe’s buffer between him and the senior ranks of the navy. You lent him credibility through your support. Well, when you’re playing the victim, Hallyd, remember that you went along with it. You sat there, telling us to carry out Corinthe’s directives, wasting my time and the time of everyone else who walked into that office of yours and you were handsomely rewarded for it. Your phony commission. Your obscene salary. This place. So don’t you dare sit there sulking and telling me how hard you’ve been done by.”
“I left,” Hallyd told him, hanging onto the precious little dignity he had left. “When Corinthe lied through his teeth about that incident at the shipyards, fabricating the number of casualties and planting the whole thing on Minstrahn insurgents, I made a stand.”
“Yes, you did,” Roth told him. “But if you think that pardons all your past sins, then you’ve got another thing coming.”
“What are you going to do? Throw me in the brig?”
“It’s tempting,” Roth replied, “but no. You’ve got a lot of inside information on Corinthe, Hallyd. That’s why he’s got you under twenty-four hour surveillance and that’s why I’m moving you to a secure location where he can’t watch you. We’re leaving straightaway.”
“Why?”
“These men who’ve been following you will kill you if they think you’re a threat to Corinthe and believe me, you are now.”
“Because of you?” Hallyd demanded.
“Yes, because of me,” Roth conceded but without apology. He stood up and several men Hallyd didn’t recognize entered the room behind him. “However, given the amount of rubbish you’ve thrown my way, I think I’m entitled to return the favor. Get used to it, Hallyd. You backed the wrong man. Didn’t you think that was going to catch up with you?”
“Where will you take me then?” Hallyd asked, giving in as he climbed to his feet.
“I’m not taking you anywhere,” Roth replied. “I have pressing business to attend to and I’m on a rather tight deadline. My men however will take you off Corsida to a secure location for about a week or so, by which time—one way or another—your troubles will be over. You will of course cooperate with them in all their inquiries and provide them as much information as you can about Corinthe’s activities.”
“Or what?” Hallyd asked him.
“Or they’ll bring you back here and we’ll let Corinthe form his own conclusions about your absence.”
––––––––
For the crew of the Lady Hawk, the remainder of the trip to where Draedon’s ships were waiting was uneventful. It was an overnight trip as far as their body clocks were concerned and when they woke the next day, they felt well rested.
Soon the ship was nestled in a hangar, the equipment they’d brought was unloaded, and Asten and the others went to find the general.
To his pleasant surprise, Selina was with him.
––––––––
“Well,” Draedon said after Asten had recounted what had happened on Nemasil. “What do you make of it, Selina?”
“No doubt what everyone else has,” she told him, drumming her fingers on the desk beside her. “Whoever these men are, they’re clearly up to no good and I can only assume it’s connected with the upcoming attack.”
Asten furrowed his brow. “What attack?”
Draedon grimaced. “Bad news travels so fast now, it’s impossible to keep up. Corinthe’s about to carry out his attack on the Phalamkian system.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s hardly a secret,” the general replied. “The entire Federation knows about it.”
Asten was quiet for a moment. “It’s because Selina’s Battle Titans were involved in the attack on the shipyards, isn’t it?”
“Not exactly,” Draedon said. “As I’m sure Lord Erama mentioned to you, Federation forces have been making moves against the Phalamkian system for some time. However, Corinthe’s now released his evidence that the Phalamkians are assisting us so he can push his schedule forward. And with the public support he’s gathered, he can send a much larger task force now.”
“How large?” Asten asked, not sure he wanted to know.
“Several sector fleet divisions at least.”
He glanced across the room at his half-Phalamkian friend.
Selina shook her head and smiled. “It’s all right, Asten. I’ve told General Draedon and I’ll tell you. We knew this might happen when we involved ourselves in the Resistance and we accepted the risk. We want to stop Corinthe’s suppression of the independent worlds along the Frontier just as much as you do so believe me when I tell you, we have no regrets.”
“However,” she said, addressing everyone, “now that we’re facing the consequences of the risk we took, we have to work out how we’re going to deal with them. And I think the four traitors Asten found are important.”
She turned back to him. “Do you think you would recognize them if you saw them again?”
“Well, I don’t know if I could pick them from a line-up of the entire Phalamkian race,” Asten replied, “but I think I’d know.”
“Good,” Selina nodded. She clasped her hands as she thought everything over, then addressed the room. “When the Ipaatid system was taken, we saw it was necessary to upgrade our planetary shield to withstand an attack from Federation cruisers.” She smiled. “Now, I’m not afraid to boast when it comes to Phalamkian technological know-how and when I say our shield can now repel any attack, I mean it. It’s been tested. Seriously tested, with dozens of Battle Titans firing at it with everything they had.”
“You fired on your own planet?” Asten exclaimed.
Selina shook her head. “We fired on our own shield. Of course, it was carefully monitored from the ground and the firing was controlled but we made sure it worked. Now, I’m not saying this to brag or go jingoistic on you all but I think this is related to Asten’s little run-in on Nemasil.”
“I see,” Draedon said.
Selina nodded. “I think the Federation must know about our shield and if any attack on the Phalamkian homeworld is to have even a chance of success, they’ll have to take it down. Preferably beforehand. Because once it’s up, no one’s going to be able to go planetside to make a strike on the generator.”
“So the only chance the Federation has is to put saboteurs in place before their warships even arrive,” Asten told her. “And you think these four characters I saw on Nemasil could be the saboteurs they have in mind.”
“Exactly,” Selina said. “I mean, they’re hardly going to send a contingent of shock troopers. Good saboteurs should blend right in so no one realizes they’re there until it’s too late. Which is why I was hoping you could remember what these particular individuals looked like.”
Asten felt as though a huge weight of responsibility had been laid on his shoulders. Yet... he cared about Selina. And her homeworld was about to be attacked by the largest task force the Federation had used so far in its campaign of annexation.
“Well,” Asten said, “it looks like I’m going to be liaising with the Phalamkian ground security then. Did Corinthe broadcast the attack date?”
“It’s in a week.”
“That doesn’t give us much time then. I’m going to need to familiarize myself with the complex where the shield generator is housed and meet the people who operate it. Maybe with some luck, I can find your saboteurs before the attack. Assuming of course the ones I saw on Nemasil aren’t middlemen and the real saboteurs are a different group entirely.”
Selina frowned. “The thought had occurred to me. But we’ll see.”
“When are we going?”
Selina looked at Asten with a touch of pity. She knew how attached he was to the Lady Hawk and how close he was with Drackson and Carla. “Today.”
Asten nodded and glanced at his crew, such as it was. “Well...”
“Do you want us to come with you?” Carla asked.
“Up to you,” Asten said. “I don’t know what you could do to help though.”
At this point, Drackson spoke up. “I don’t know either but I do know that the Lady Hawk is a damn good ship to have in a fight. So if the Federation’s intending to bring a task force to surround the Phalamkian homeworld, then we should be there too, holding the line.”
“I don’t know...” Asten replied, glancing Draedon’s way. “Who else will be holding the line?”
“The whole resistance,” Draedon told him. “Eight or nine months ago, we wouldn’t have had the strength to hold back an attack of this nature. I had my poor pilots sitting by helplessly, recording footage of forced occupations to counter Corinthe’s propaganda machine, all the while telling them not to get involved. However, times have changed. Actually, you’ve played a large part in that because through your efforts, we’ve gained some very strong allies. But anyway, I spoke with Admiral Garam this morning and he said the attack on the Phalamkian system could mark the most critical point in our campaign. He’s already alerted all our divisions and soon, every fighting unit in the Resistance will be making its way to the Phalamkian system, including our own.
“And it seems the other independent worlds along the Frontier are taking an interest in this too. It looks like they finally understand what we’ve been telling them all along. That if they don’t help each other then sooner or later, they’ll find their own worlds under threat and they’ll be very much alone. So when I say the whole resistance will be there, it’s more likely an understatement than an exaggeration. Phalamki will be unlike anything we’ve been involved with before.”
“Talk about things moving fast,” Asten said.
“Well, they say the whole universe can change in the blink of an eye,” Draedon told him with a smile.
“True,” Asten replied. “But I’ve never seen it demonstrated so literally before.”
“Neither have I, to tell you the truth.”
“Still though, that changes things a little.” He turned to Drackson. “Are you sure you want to be caught up in the middle of that?”
“We’ve seen action before,” Carla reminded him before Drackson could reply. “Quite a lot of it recently.”
Asten sighed. “You’re right. And I guess you and Drackson can take care of each other.”
Drackson smiled. “That’s right.”
“But,” Asten asked, “can you really handle the Lady Hawk with just the two of you?”
“May I make a suggestion?”
Everyone turned to Draedon.
“I’ve always been interested in ships and I think I know a bit about your precious Lady Hawk. Now, if I’m not mistaken, it’s from the A.N. Ynarvon line of gunboats that were manufactured on Tanem several years back. An LM-505 made to specifications set by Novatech Systems and Aurora Prime during one of their brief joint ventures. Is that right?”
“Yeah,” Asten said, impressed.
“It wasn’t much of a line,” Draedon continued. “The decision to have external contractors build them seriously backfired in terms of quality control. Construction standards were highly inconsistent and most of the gunboats were subsequently melted for scrap metal. However, for a little while, a number of them were made really well and I’m guessing that’s when you picked up the Lady Hawk. Then it was hit and miss until Novatech Systems and Aurora Prime abandoned the line. Honestly, I don’t know why they ever have joint lines. They always end in tears and lawsuits. But anyway, how am I going so far?”
“Pretty good.”
Draedon smiled. “It’s like I said. I’m interested in ships. It’s useful obviously to know a bit about them in my position but it’s also something of a hobby. Anyway, your Lady Hawk was actually designed to be crewed by five people. Four in the cockpit and one rear gunner. So I’d suggest you talk to our pilots and see if some of them might join your crew for the duration of this thing. The way I see it, it’d be a win-win situation for everyone involved. Zak, for instance, could command Sigma squadron from a more heavily shielded ship while one of our trained pilots who doesn’t have their own ship yet can fly his Harskan Cortek, and another pilot in the same situation can man your rear guns. Then instead of two people trying to fly the Lady Hawk, or even the usual three, it would have a full crew. And just imagine how good it would be in a fight then.”
“And perhaps my sister Maia can join the crew as well,” Selina added. “Then you’ll have two experienced commanders on board. Plus, she’s been training with Sigma squadron for the past couple of months to keep up her skills as a fighter pilot. She and Zak work well together.”
“Sounds good,” Asten said, turning to Drackson. “Well, you’re the captain now. What do you think?”
“I think that should work nicely.”
“Well then,” Draedon said, “I’ll leave you to make your arrangements then.”
“Sure.” Asten turned to Selina. “Ready when you are.”
“Well, you’d better say goodbye to your friends,” she told him, “because we’re going right now.”
“Sure.” He turned around. “Well, you heard the lady.”
“Yeah,” Carla said, hugging him. “Be careful, Asten.”
“You too.”
As she released him, she brushed away a few sudden tears. Leaning toward her, Asten brushed some she missed and she gave him a little smile.
Asten then clapped a hand on Drackson’s shoulders. “See you later, big guy.”
“Look after yourself,” Drackson told him.
“I will,” Asten replied. “Take care of the ship.”
Drackson smiled. “I will.”
“And take care of yourself too.” Asten turned back to Selina. “All right. I’m ready.”
––––––––
Tejav was a very important planet within its region of the Federation. It was neither a tourist draw-card nor a major center of industry but it supplied several worlds with basic agricultural produce they could not grow themselves. But it was still a sparsely populated planet of large uninhabited spaces that, apart from the cargo carriers that came to transport its produce, was ignored by the rest of the Federation. So it was ideal for the meeting Admiral Roth had arranged with his agents.
There was a groan from the engine compartment as he eased back on the thrusters of the nondescript transport he was flying. It wasn’t much of a ship but that was the point. Nobody would take much of an interest in it. To all observers, he was a farmer returning home after a short trip offworld. It hadn’t cost him much and it had felt good to get his hands dirty, making the thing flyable again.
Below him, fields stretched to the horizon, punctuated by occasional lakes, forests and the odd mountain range here and there. He eased his ship down to one of the latter and landed near the edge of the foothills beneath it. As he disembarked, he took in a deep breath of the clean air and admired the view. Sunlight glistened off patches of snow on the ridgeline above while around him, a few scattered trees marked the dividing line between a small forest further back in the hills and the rolling green country below.
After a cursory look at his surroundings, he made his way down the hill to a small unremarkable house resting on the edge of the plains. The farmer who built it had abandoned it years ago when it became obvious he couldn’t grow his specialist crops there. The nutrient mix in the soil kept the grass flourishing but little else, and trying to change it had been more trouble than it was worth. However, his efforts hadn’t been wasted. When Roth’s agents discovered it, they had recognized its potential as a useful meeting ground and Roth had made a point to keep it well maintained.
Aside from deep space, if there were anywhere in the Federation where he could have a face to face meeting with one of his intelligence units without a chance of a third party listening in, this was it.
Turning the wooden handle, he opened the door and stepped inside. Natural light pouring through large windows filled the various rooms, although there were electronic controls that served to lower insulation panels over those same windows to keep the house warm during the winter months. It was an interesting contrast of the traditional and modern. The plastered brick walls were more in keeping with the overall aesthetic of the place though.
He walked down a short hallway and stepped into a circular room in the center of the building. There was a small lounge that curved around one half of the room, affording anyone who sat there a lovely view of the mountains stretching away outside.
He smiled at the woman seated there. “Khalin.”
His operative, however, didn’t smile back.
So much for best laid plans. “What’s wrong?”
She nodded to the room’s other entrance. “I’m sorry, Commander.”
“It’s not your fault,” Roth told her, turning to the entrance. There had always been the possibility this might happen sooner or later.
“Why don’t you come in, Corinthe?” he suggested. “There’s plenty of room for the both of us.”
With a solemn expression, Khalin’s partner Epcar entered the room and stood behind him. Then, two armored soldiers stepped through the door and flanked the entrance. Then Corinthe appeared.
Here was a man whose face was known to everyone in the Federation. He was tall with thinly cut gray hair and a lined face with cunning gray eyes. Surprisingly, given the enormous popularity he enjoyed, it was not a charismatic face. But he had an authoritative quality about him and had practically built his career on it.
“I hope we can put aside any pretensions, Admiral,” he said. “Your people told me everything.”
“I know,” Roth replied, staring him straight in the eye. “I instructed them to cooperate if they were ever put in a situation such as this. They’re good people and I would not have them bring undue risk to themselves. And you might as well let them go. They aren’t going to tell you anything else. They can’t. They have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the other units I have working for me and no way of contacting them unless it is provided to them by me.”
Corinthe smiled. “Commendable. I see though that you have no compunction about bringing undue risk to yourself, Admiral.”
“If that’s a threat, you’re wasting your time.” It wasn’t false bravado. Admiral Roth had fought in the Levarc War as both a pilot and a member of elite commando units. As well as being placed in the heaviest fighting in the entire conflict, he’d escaped from a Levarc prison camp. After all that, there wasn’t much that could rattle him.
“Come now, Admiral,” Corinthe replied. “There’s no need to be uncivil. I was complimenting you on your leadership.” He took a few steps forward, putting himself in front of his men. “You see your problem, Admiral, is that you play everything close to the chest. You guard your various agendas closely and you think everyone else does too. For the entire time I’ve been in office, you’ve been playing espionage games behind my back, looking for my concealed hand.” He raised his hands in front of him with open palms. “But you see, Admiral, both my hands are in plain sight. They always have been. I want to bring the Frontier nations under Federation control and that’s what I’m doing.”
“Maybe so,” Roth replied. “But it’s not as open as you claim. If we’re not playing charades any more, then we both know there are no Minstrahn insurgents threatening the Federation and that you’ve been maintaining this lie for several years now as a pretence for your campaign. Also, you must have had your own side operations to infiltrate mine.”
“Actually,” Corinthe said, “I infiltrated your side operation with the official intelligence network. You were always rather unfair on them, you know. They’re far better than you give them credit for.”
“That’s not the reason I didn’t use them.”
“I see.”
At the other end of the room, several more armored troops appeared in the doorway. Roth gave them a glance before turning back to the security minister. “So, I’m to appear missing in action under unknown circumstances then?”
“Pretty much,” Corinthe told him with a shrug. “You will be presumed dead but your body will never be found. However, there are plenty of unsolved mysteries in the Federation. Your disappearance will simply be one more in a growing pile, along with the circumstances related to it.”
Roth nodded. “And I suppose my people here won’t be allowed to leave either?”
“No. I’m afraid not.”
“Hm.” Roth looked at the floor for a moment. “If I’m a dead man anyway, would you at least have the graciousness to satisfy me on a point of curiosity?”
Corinthe smiled. “Now why would I do that?”
“Why indeed?” Roth murmured. It had been worth a shot but he hadn’t really expected Corinthe to tell all. Besides, it was clear the time for words was over and already, beneath the facade of his calm exterior, he was priming himself for action. While his ground combat in the Levarc War was a long way behind him, his reflexes still remained.
Throwing his full weight into a powerful cut, he struck Corinthe below the jaw. With a horrible sound, the security minister reeled back, blood gushing from his chin. Behind him, Epcar leapt at the guards there, grabbing one of their weapons while Khalin hit the floor. The guards at the other side of the room seemed unsure of where to train their weapons as the fighting was so close. If they fired at Epcar, they’d hit their own men and if they fired at Roth, they’d most likely hit Corinthe. And the admiral was taking care of that already.
With one hand, he pulled Corinthe’s head down and with the other, he landed him another blow. This time, it was a hard fist to the stomach that caused him to utter a muffled cry of agony that ended in a spluttering cough.
Behind him, the nearest guards were down and Epcar had fired on the guards across the room before they had a chance to shoot back.
Now that the coast was temporarily clear, Roth shoved Corinthe across the room where he crashed headfirst into a wall. The security minister stumbled about in pain and dizziness for a moment and collapsed, rolling across the floor to lie staring at the ceiling with his arms sprawled to either side.
Khalin grabbed a gun from one of the fallen guards and aimed her newly acquired weapon at Corinthe but Roth placed his hand over the barrel, lowering it.
“Not like that,” he told her. “He’ll die a martyr and then one man’s madness will become the Federation’s obsession.”
He ushered Khalin and Epcar through the door they’d come through. Close by, he heard more troops running towards the room, mingled with breaking windows and doors being blasted from their hinges.
“I’ll deal with him later,” he said as he took one last glance at the room and its sole occupant, who was trying to focus his furious gaze on him. “Where everyone can see.”
“So why did you really want to meet us?” Khalin asked as they strode away from the building.
“I was hoping you could do an information raid on Corinthe’s office,” Roth told her. “Acquire whatever evidence we could use to convict him. However, that’ll no longer be necessary.”
“But we’ll never be able to prove what happened here today.”
“I have something rather different in mind,” Roth replied. “Come on.”
––––––––
Inside the homestead, Corinthe’s reinforcements poured into the room where the drama had unfolded but they didn’t give pursuit. Not yet. The first ones to appear set up a small protective perimeter around the room to shield their leader while the next rushed over to attend him. With an agonized groan, Corinthe sat up with their assistance, wincing at the onslaught of a vicious headache.
“Are you all right, sir?” the trooper closest to him asked.
Corinthe glared at him. “What do you think?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean—”
“Admiral Roth has gone AWOL, Commander,” he cut him off. “And it looks like he’s killed four of my men. Or at least incapacitated them. I want you to get back to the ship and inform Corsida. Tell them he is a highly dangerous and wanted fugitive.”
The trooper started to his feet but Corinthe grabbed him and pulled him back down again. “However,” he muttered, drawing the other in close, “just off the record, let’s make one thing clear. I do not want to find him alive.”