Barbarians at the Gates (60 page)

His subordinates watched the dispatch in silence. They saw how the Federation Navy had secured Bester and then departed up the Asimov Chain to Sphinx, followed by the Internal Security operations on the planet’s surface. The bloody massacre of the surrendered personnel and the brutal crushing of the early uprisings against Federation control played out in front of them, a mocking reminder that they’d be fools to trust any promise made by the Senate.

He knew Caitlin hadn’t known about it when she’d surrendered. She might be dead now.

“Some of you have been considering that it might be best to try to negotiate with the Federation,” he said flatly.

No one bothered to dispute it.

“As you can see, the Federation took the surrenders, promised good treatment...and then slaughtered the surrendered personnel in cold blood. That was no accident, my friends; that was cold-blooded murder. The Federation killed men it had promised to spare, along with their families and children!”

He looked around the compartment, his eyes moving from face to face.

“That is the fate that is in store for us when they arrive,” he pointed out. “If we surrender, they will kill us and our families once we are helpless. That’s why I will
not
surrender to the Federation Navy, not now, not ever. And if any of you want to surrender, you can move to Jefferson and wait for them to capture you.”

No one said anything at all.

Admiral Justinian took a deep breath.

“We may not be able to stop them from killing us,” he concluded, “but by God, we can make them
hurt
!”

An ambush at point-blank range is nearly impossible to survive.

-Observations on Military Tactics
,
3500 A.D.

Harmony System, 4097

“Crossing the mass limit now, sir,” the helmsman said.

“Transmit our IFF codes and the admiral’s message,” Roman ordered. “Notify me the moment he replies.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the communications officer said.

Roman felt exposed as
Midway
flew deeper into the Harmony System, even though he knew the remainder of the Grand Fleet would be coming in behind him. Still, if Admiral Justinian decided to fight to the last,
Midway
would be almost completely on her own.

Four hours ticked by as they advanced into the system.

Roman ordered the launch of stealth recon drones, which would allow them to develop an outline of the system. What they picked up wasn’t encouraging. As the Sector Capital, Harmony had been heavily industrialized before the war, but Admiral Justinian’s men had clearly been busy. Harmony’s current level of industry now ranked with Kennedy or Roosevelt; given a few more years it might match Earth. Worse yet, the planet itself was heavily defended. That wasn’t a surprise, but Roman had still been hoping for a bit less in the way of fortifications.

Roman knew it would be difficult for the Grand Fleet to take the system by force.

“Captain, I am picking up a message,” the communications officer said, finally. “They’re welcoming us to the system and requesting that we rendezvous with their fleet so the admiral’s representatives can be transferred to meet with the admiral.”

Roman nodded slowly. There was no hope of a two-way conversation at this distance and no real hope of convincing Admiral Justinian to board his ship instead. He consoled himself by thinking,
At least Admiral Drake’s wife isn’t in danger this time.

Besides, even if it was a trap, it would only close around
Midway
. The remainder of the Grand Fleet was too far out of range.

“Transmit back an acknowledgement,” he said. The feeling of being exposed was growing stronger. The IFF signal they were pulsing out would allow them to be tracked by passive sensors alone, which meant that anyone lying in wait would be able to target his ship without any betraying emissions. “Inform them that we will rendezvous with their fleet in—” he checked his console “—two hours and thirty minutes.”

He felt no calmer when
Midway
finally slowed near Justinian’s fleet. It wasn’t a particularly large fleet, but it still possessed more than enough firepower to reduce
Midway
to atoms. Nine superdreadnaughts—two of them clearly damaged—five battlecruisers and twenty-seven smaller ships, surrounded by a cloud of starfighters. It wasn’t an insignificant force, not on the pre-war scale, but the Grand Fleet would destroy it in short order if it had the chance. Roman was mildly surprised that the admiral hadn’t insisted on meeting on or near Harmony itself—as they had anticipated—and had been preparing to argue that point when it had been rendered moot. He tried to tell himself that was a good thing.

“Hold us here,” he ordered. They were well within shuttle range, but at the absolute edge of missile range. It wasn’t a particularly trusting position, but then he wasn’t a particularly trusting man. He keyed his console. “Shuttlebay One, are you ready to fly?”

“Aye, sir,” the shuttlebay operator reported. “Captain—ah, Commodore—Bowery has been checked out on the shuttle, and is ready to launch.”

“Good,” Roman said. “Clear her for departure.”

He settled back in his command chair as the shuttle departed, heading towards one of the undamaged superdreadnaughts. One of his crew had suggested rigging an antimatter bomb in the shuttle and detonating it if negotiations broke down, but Admiral Drake had vetoed the suggestion, as that would be seen as an attack on Admiral Justinian under a flag of truce. Roman had accepted the rebuke with ill grace.

“Captain, she has reached the admiral’s ship,” the sensor officer reported.

Roman nodded.

“And now, we wait,” he said. He looked over at the tactical officer. “Keep us at condition-one. If they start moving to attack, I want to be out of here before they get into point-blank range.”

* * *

The squad of guards who met them at the shuttlebay were brisk, formal and very efficient. Caitlin and Henrietta were both strip-searched and scanned using the most advanced sensor technology, while the shuttle itself was practically dismantled by shuttle techs. Once their identities had been confirmed and the shuttle itself had been pronounced clean, they were escorted to the superdreadnaught’s flag bridge. The cry of astonishment from the admiral when he saw his daughter made everything worthwhile.

“I thought you were dead,” the admiral said, hugging his daughter tightly. “I thought...”

Caitlin wasn’t too surprised. He’d had years to regret sending his daughter to marry a stranger, in hopes of binding two warlords together. At least she was alive.

He gave Caitlin a hug as well, and then settled back in his command chair, all business.

“All right,” he said. “Admiral Drake’s message said that you were peace envoys. What do you have to say for yourself?

Caitlin had known Admiral Justinian for nearly twenty years. There was something in his voice that was odd. Soft...and dangerous.

“Admiral Drake is willing to offer you and your senior personnel, myself included, internal exile if you surrender without further bloodshed,” Caitlin told him. “Junior personnel will not be persecuted by the Federation.”

His face was completely expressionless. That was not a good sign.

“The same offer, in other words, that they made to Bester,” Admiral Justinian said. His voice was very cold. “The same offer they wantonly betrayed.”

He keyed his console and the report from Bester played. Colonel Scudder must have wanted to send a very clear message to the population, so he’d broadcast the executions live on every news and communications channel. An entire star system had seen the Federation not only go back on its sworn word, but slaughter small children who hadn’t committed treason.

Caitlin felt sick.
Had Admiral Drake known about it?
she asked herself.
Had the Senate ordered it, against Drake’s wishes?
There was no way for her to know.

“Surrender is not an option,” Admiral Justinian said.

Caitlin found it impossible to disagree, even though she’d given her parole. If Admiral Drake had lied to her...where did that leave her? She wrestled with her conscience for a long moment, trying to convince herself that she could rightfully break her sworn word. An oath breaker was owed no consideration by others, she told herself.

“Captain Garibaldi took me in,” Henrietta said. “He protected me at risk of his own life—and career ...”

Justinian rounded on his daughter.

“I’m sure he’s a perfectly good man,” he snapped. “But the Senate ordered the deaths of everyone who surrendered on Bester! Why the hell should we surrender when all we face is certain death?”

He turned and met Caitlin’s eyes. “We will lose the coming battle,” he said, “but at least we will make them hurt.”

There was no time to say a word before the admiral keyed his console.

“All units, this is the admiral,” he said. “Open fire!”

* * *

There was very little warning. “Captain, they just locked active sensors onto our hull,” the sensor officer reported. “They’re...”

“Incoming fire,” the tactical officer snapped. “Multiple missile launches; I say again, multiple missile launches!”

“Helm, get us out of here,” Roman snapped, as
Midway
spun in space. There was little point in returning fire against the behemoths targeting the tiny cruiser, but they could still launch ECM drones that would confuse the incoming missiles. Or perhaps it wouldn’t. They were still broadcasting their IFF right across the system. “Launch countermeasures and cut the IFF!”

The math didn’t add up, he realized. They’d been at extreme range when the enemy opened fire, but they weren’t able to get away from it before the missiles struck home. Admiral Justinian had fired enough missiles to destroy the ship several times over.

“Bring up the point defense and engage as soon as the enemy missiles enter range,” he ordered. “Launch shipkillers as emergency counter-missile defenses.”

Midway
shivered as she launched the shipkillers towards the enemy missiles. The bean-counters would complain loudly when they saw the cost, but he had a dark suspicion that their concerns were about to be rendered moot. The ship was humming around him as her drive built up power, yet it wasn’t going to be enough to escape. The point defense went to rapid fire as the missiles came closer and closer, winnowing their ranks, but too many of them were going to get through the defenses.

“Reroute all power to shields,” he ordered grimly. It risked overloading the shield generators and total collapse, but there was no other choice. “Signal Admiral Drake—do a complete dump. He has to know what happened here.”

They almost made it, but a handful of missiles entered terminal attack range and went to sprint mode. Four missiles struck
Midway
, one after the other, slamming the ship into an uncontrolled spin through space. A fifth slammed home a moment later and, just for a second, the artificial gravity flickered and reversed. Roman had a moment where he saw the ceiling coming up to meet him, and then the world went black...

* * *

The tactical officer looked up, sharply. “They fired on
Midway
!”

Marius stared, unable to believe his eyes. He’d sent Captain Bowery to Admiral Justinian with a fair offer—more than fair—and the man had opened fire. Why?

What was going through Justinian’s head? He had to know he couldn’t beat the Grand Fleet; hell, considering Justinian’s current position, he couldn’t even fall back to Harmony before the Grand Fleet entered missile range. The remains of his fleet were going to be crushed...it wasn’t as if Marius could show them mercy, not now.

He shivered. The admiral had even thrown away the life of his daughter.

“All units, accelerate to flank speed,” he ordered. He felt as through a stranger was speaking through his mouth, someone hard and cold, willing to do whatever it took to win. “Prepare to engage the enemy.”

“Aye, sir,” Raistlin said.

Magnificent
shivered slightly as her drive pushed her forward, heading right towards the enemy formation. Admiral Justinian wasn’t even trying to run! He was coming towards them, as if he hoped he could bull his way into energy range.

“Admiral Mason is requesting permission to launch starfighters, sir,” Raistlin told him.

“Granted,” Marius said. It was overkill, but he didn’t care. The object was to win; he’d worry about the level of force used later. “Status of
Midway
?”

Raistlin checked the readings. “Adrift, total power failure,” he said. He sucked in a breath. “But everyone’s alive, their communication officer has reported; she’s a very lucky ship.”

“She has a very lucky captain,” Marius countered. “Order a destroyer to be detached for SAR duties; I want everyone pulled off that ship, if possible.”

He watched grimly as the two fleets came into missile range. It might not be possible to pull
anyone
off
Midway
, not if the internal compensators had failed. Indeed, the only proof that they had
some
power left was that the ship was still intact. Losing the magnetic containment fields that held the antimatter would have blown the ship into dust. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind and concentrated on the oncoming fleet. Admiral Justinian didn’t seem to be launching his own starfighters on strike missions; instead, he seemed to be focusing on antifighter defense and keeping Marius’s starfighters off his back.