Falcone Strike (3 page)

“They are also not taken seriously,” the Leader of the Opposition said. “There was no need for you to defend the admiral.”

Kat met his eyes. “If I had failed to rebut the accusations,” she said, “it might have lent them credence.”

The prime minister smiled, humorlessly. “There is little so conspicuous as a man ducking for cover,” he said. “Your knee-jerk defense of a fellow officer might have lent credence to the charges against Admiral Christian . . . particularly, I might add, as you were trying to defend a position that seems flawed, even if it was entirely accurate. It was lucky, I suppose, that you didn’t indict Admiral Morrison.
That
would have set the reporter among the politicians.”

“It was not my intention to cause a political crisis,” Kat said, after a moment. She had difficulty in believing that
any
political crisis could be caused by ticking off a gadfly, but politics was a funny business. Maybe Deveron had friends who needed to stick up for him, if only to avoid being thought fools for believing his armchair theorizing. “If I have caused a problem, I sincerely apologize.”

“You have created a major headache,” the prime minister said. “Do you have anything you wish to say in your own defense?
”

Kat hesitated, then took the plunge. “Merely that I should be on the front lines, not here,” she said. It was hard to keep the bitter frustration out of her voice. “I am profoundly unsuited to serve as a political or military spokesperson—or anything, apart from a starship commander.”

The prime minister nodded, then looked at the First Space Lord. “Tobias?
”

Grand Admiral Vaughn nodded curtly. “Captain Katherine Falcone,” he said. “It is my obligation to inform you that your active duty career has been suspended, prior to a full investigation by a board of inquiry and possible court-martial proceedings. During this period of time . . .”

Kat barely heard him. The world seemed to fade out around her for a long moment, leaving her feeling dizzy and unwell. If she hadn’t been seated, she knew her legs would have buckled. Her career was doomed. Even if the inquiry decided in her favor, she would never hold command again. Telling off a gadfly had cost her everything and . . . and the best she could hope for was either to find private employment or remain stuck on Tyre.

“That won’t be necessary,” a commanding voice said.

Kat glanced up sharply. One of the wallflowers had stepped away from the wall, coming into the light. But who would dare to interrupt the grand admiral? “It is remarkably hard to blame Captain Falcone for pointing out the many flaws in Deveron’s position,” the wallflower continued. “I do not see any reason she should be penalized for it.”

“Your Majesty,” the prime minister said. “There are political concerns . . .”

Kat stared. The king? She’d seen King Hadrian a few times, but he’d always been wearing robes or uniforms . . . both of which had drawn attention away from his face. He’d been able to blend into the wallflowers easily, simply because it would never have occurred to her to think of them as anything other than part of the furniture. But, now that she knew who it was, it was easy to match his face to the portrait hanging from the wall. Her father rose and bowed; she followed hastily, then returned to her seat. She’d never met the king formally outside court
!

“
But those political concerns pale in importance compared to winning the war,” King Hadrian said. He didn’t seem concerned about the lack of protocol. “Victory salves many wounds, Arthur, while defeat renders them immaterial.”

He took a seat at the end of the table, then smiled. “Captain Falcone, it is my very great pleasure to offer you command of Operation Knife,” he said. “I believe it would be ideally suited to your talents.”

Kat forced herself to think coldly and logically, despite the multitude of shocks. Her career had been ruined—she knew that for a fact—and then saved by the improbable appearance of King Hadrian himself. But she hadn’t heard him enter the room after the door had shut, which meant he’d been watching her ever since the meeting had started. Had he planned the whole thing? And, if so, why? To see what she would do if confronted with the prospect of losing everything? Or merely to make it clear to her just how close she’d come to complete disaster?

“I would be honored,” she stammered. She knew nothing about Operation Knife but it had to be better than being put in front of a board of inquiry. It crossed her mind that the king might have planned matters so she’d feel obliged to accept, but he’d hardly need an elaborate charade to convince her to take the job. She’d been so bored on Tyre that she would have happily accepted a mission that involved returning to Cadiz or one of the other occupied worlds. Given how many times she’d pestered the Admiralty for a new assignment, the king had to know she wanted to be somewhere, anywhere, else.

“Very good,” King Hadrian said. He looked at the grand admiral. “By the authority vested in me, under the War Powers Act, I am assigning Katherine Falcone to Operation Knife. We will, of course, play up the fact she is a hero to convince the grown-ups to keep any threat of a political crisis under control. I refuse to sacrifice an officer to a moron’s delusions of grandeur.”

“Yes, Your Maj
esty,” the grand admiral said.

King Hadrian smiled, then winked at Kat. She couldn’t help smiling back. King Hadrian was only two years older than her; indeed, he was one of the youngest monarchs ever to take the throne, wielding very real power. God knew her mother had sometimes whispered that Kat would make an ideal princess, then a queen, even though it was unlikely in the extreme. The king had obligations, after all; he would have to marry a commoner to keep the bloodlines strong and prevent inbreeding. There had been no real chance for a relationship even if they’d spent plenty of time together.

“Sonja,” the king said. “Why don’t you brief us on the current situation?
”

Kat looked up as another wallflower stepped into the light. She was a tall woman, wearing a naval uniform without any rank insignia, suggesting she was almost certainly an intelligence officer. There was something about the way she moved that suggested she’d been seriously injured sometime in the past, as if her body had been completely regenerated and she had yet to recover all of her facilities. Or she might have actually been on active service, once upon a time, and had her body altered to meet certain specifications . . . Kat pushed the question aside, absently. There was no way she’d ever know.

“Your Majesty, Honored Sirs,” Sonja said. Her voice was calm, perfectly controlled. “The war situation is bad, but not disastrous.”

She tapped a switch and a holographic star chart appeared in front of them, hovering over the table. Kat felt her insides clench as she saw a handful of stars shaded red, including both Cadiz and Hebrides, homeworld of her former XO. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Commander William McElney had been reassigned shortly after
Lightning
had limped back to Tyre and she hadn’t heard anything from him since, not even a brief electronic postcard relayed through the StarCom network. It suggested he was doing something secret . . .

. . . and, given what she knew of his family connections, she had a feeling she knew precisely
what
he was doing.

“The current situation,” Sonja said. “There are five star systems currently under enemy occupation; six, I should add, if one counts Cadiz. In addition, two more star systems are under siege and enemy-raiding formations have struck deep into our territory. Our current analysis suggests that the enemy is intent on reducing the defenses of Castor and Pollock before proceeding any further, although it is possible they will eventually decide that neither world is worth the effort of conquering while the main body of our fleet remains intact.”

Kat frowned. Neither Castor nor Pollock was an industrial behemoth, although she had to admit that Pollock had a sizable space-based industry to protect. The Theocracy might want to bring its religion to as many worlds as possible, but there was little point in wasting time and effort seizing two immaterial worlds while the Commonwealth was scrambling to tighten the defenses and launch a counterattack.
She
had a feeling the Theocracy was hastily preparing a second series of offenses to be launched as soon as it could.

“There is some disagreement among the analysts about the true state of the enemy’s fleet train,” Sonja continued. “One school of thought believes that the enemy wouldn’t have launched a major offensive before assembling its supporting elements, while the other points to the data and claims that the enemy has been having major supply problems from Day One. What
is
clear is that the Theocracy has been moving supplies forward in heavily guarded convoys, as if it fears even minimal losses. My
personal
opinion is that the second school of thought is correct.”

And we know they were caught on the hop
, Kat added mentally.
They probably wanted to wait to launch the offensive; we merely caught them by surprise and forced them to jump their plans forward.

“Overall, however, we are forced to remain on the defensive until we have completed our transition to a war economy,” Sonja concluded. “This has obvious weaknesses, starting with the fact it leaves the initiative in their hands. They may overcome their problems before we overcome ours, and resume the offensive.”

“Thank you,” King Hadrian said. “Admiral?
”

The grand admiral cleared his throat. “Operation Knife has two major objectives,” he said. “First, to force the Theocracy to react to us for a change, diverting their strength from the front lines and buying us time to gear up for war. Second, to make contact with resistance movements within the Theocracy itself and provide assistance, as well as gather intelligence on the true nature of the enemy. We have very few insights into the enemy’s sphere, as you know well, and we need to know more about them.”

Kat nodded wordlessly.

“You will be given command of a small squadron of starships, mostly older models we can spare,” the grand admiral added. He didn’t use the word
expendable
, but Kat heard it regardless. “For this, you will be given the brevet rank of commodore, although I’m afraid you will not receive the salary or the staff. You will take your ships into enemy space and proceed as you see fit: attacking convoys, trading posts, industrial nodes .  .  . everything you can find, provided it belongs to the enemy. Your overall task is to disrupt the enemy’s ability to resupply the front lines and go on the offensive, while gathering intelligence and making contacts we can use to continue to undermine the Theocracy and take the offensive into their territory. You will continue your operations as long as reasonably possible.”

Kat glanced at her father, whose face was completely impassive. The operation would be a challenge, but it was one she would enjoy; it certainly wasn’t a punishment. But, on the other hand, they would be deep within enemy space. If something went wrong, they would be trapped and unable to retreat . . . and no one would ever know what had happened to them, at least until the war was won. Hell, even
get ting
into enemy space would be tricky. The Seven Sisters Hyper-Route was likely mined or guarded by now.

And if we run into formidable defenses
, she thought,
we might be wiped out before we realize just how badly we’ve fucked up
.

“You will also be given a handful of fully loaded freighters as your fleet train,” the grand admiral informed her. “We do not expect you to be able to maintain operations for longer than six months once you arrive on station, unless you manage to capture enemy weapons and turn them against their masters. Depending on your success rate, we may manage to ship additional supplies to you, but that may prove chancy.”

Kat nodded. There would be no StarCom, no FTL transmissions; she would be unable to request supplies without actually sending a ship back to the front lines and demanding assistance. It was highly unlikely that any reinforcements would reach her in time to make a difference, even assuming they were dispatched as soon as the message arrived. She would have to be careful, very careful. If there was one thing both sides had learned from the Battle of Cadiz, it was that the consumption of missiles in wartime had been grossly underestimated; both sides had practically shot themselves dry. And it was unlikely she’d be able to adapt any enemy weapons to shoot from her missile tubes.

The Theocracy fired our missiles, but they parked them in open space
, she thought. Firing the missiles wouldn’t be a challenge; the trick would be luring the enemy to engagement range in the first place.
Maybe if we attach them to the hulls . . .

She pushed the thought aside as the king spoke. “Captain Falcone, do you accept the mission?
”

“
Yes, Your Majesty,” Kat said, quickly. If nothing else, it would get her away from Tyre and back into deep space. The prospect of death hadn’t bothered her since she’d nearly been killed on her first cruise. Being captured, she suspected, would be far worse. The Theocracy wouldn’t hesitate to kill her as unpleasantly as possible, then bombard the datanets with recordings of her final moments. “It will be my honor.”

“You will receive formal orders tomorrow,” the grand admiral said. “Until then, I suggest you remain in your mansion, away from the media. Publicly, you will have been sent to Hammersmith to assist in developing war-winning strategies. It will look like a punishment, I believe, to Deveron and his ilk.”

“Thank you, sir,” Kat said.

“You may return to your home now,” the prime minister said. “Duke Falcone, if you would care to remain . . . ?
”

“
Of course,” Kat’s father said.

Kat nodded, then rose to her feet and saluted, formally, to the table. The king winked at her while the prime minister and the Leader of the Opposition merely nodded back as Kat turned and walked out of the room. An equerry met her as soon as the door closed and beckoned her to follow him into a smaller waiting room. Kat glanced around in surprise, then tensed automatically. It felt very much like a trap . . .

“Captain Falcone,” King Hadrian said as he entered through another door. “It’s a pleasure to talk with you in private, at last.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Kat said. Up close, the king looked surprisingly normal, but there was an inner stubbornness that reminded her of herself. His short dark hair topped an angular face that was both handsome and charismatic, although she had the feeling he had yet to grow into his looks. The smile he gave her was both warm and rakish. “And thank you . . . thank you for earlier.”

“The politicians are often too concerned with playing politics to realize where the true interests of the kingdom lie,” the king said. He looked her up and down once, then smiled again. “Please, relax and have a seat. I don’t bite.”

Kat forced herself to sit down in one of the comfortable chairs. The king was both part of the aristocracy and above them, one of the few who could and would call out aristocrats for bad behavior. His position, as long as he enjoyed the support of the dukes, was almost untouchable, granting him vast power over the Commonwealth. And yet, there were strong limits to what he could do. Some of her father’s enemies would not be amused at how he’d saved her from the consequences of not thinking before she spoke.

She cleared her throat, feeling like a little girl. “Aren’t you meant to be in the meeting, Your Majesty?
”

“
It’s mainly boring details concerning war production,” King Hadrian said. He waved a hand, dismissively, then sat down facing her. “Not that they’re not important, of course, but I cannot afford to get bogged down in the little details. I have to concentrate on the bigger picture.”

He smiled at her again. “And the bigger picture suggests that beaching you for telling a particularly annoying halfwit to go bugger himself isn’t a good idea.”

“I didn’t tell him to go bugger himself,” Kat protested.

The king affected surprise. “Really? I was watching the morning news and
it
said that you slapped him across the face, breaking his jaw.”

Kat groaned. “I didn’t even
touch
him!
”

“
Stories do have a habit of growing in the telling,” the king said. “And . . . well, a halfwit like him has enemies. They can indulge their fantasies of someone beating the crap out of him, safe in the knowledge that any actual court case will prove your innocence.”

“I should sue for libel,” Kat muttered.

The king smirked. “Is someone claiming you thumped him actually
libel
?
”

He shrugged. “Not that it matters, in the end,” he added. “The bigger picture says that the Commonwealth needs you doing what you do best, out on the front lines—or, in this case, well beyond them. A know-it-all-who-doesn’t isn’t particularly important, not when the fate of the Commonwealth itself is at stake.”

Kat looked down at her hands. Months ago—it felt like years— she’d been horrified when her father had used his influence in her favor, granting her a command she knew she hadn’t earned and one she realized everyone else would know she hadn’t earned too. Now, she’d proved herself worthy of command . . . and the king had done her another favor, saving her from the consequences of her actions. And if someone believed the more exaggerated stories, they might think she’d been saved from more than a few ill-chosen words.