Retreat Hell (12 page)

Not that there’s very much
, she thought, ruefully.  Marines weren't encouraged to be packrats; even officers had strict limits on the number of personal possessions they could take with them from deployment to deployment.  All she really had was her bank account and a handful of civilian clothes, all of which she'd purchased a few months ago.  She wondered, suddenly, what her former comrades would have made of them.  It had been Blake who’d led the panty raid on a barracks occupied by a regiment of female Imperial Army soldiers ...

And didn't we all suffer for it
, she recalled.  Officially, no one had known who to blame, but Command Sergeant Patterson had known ... and she hadn't seen the funny side.  They’d been on punishment duty for weeks before Han exploded into war ...

The thought gave her a sudden pang of bitter regret.  Angrily, she pushed it aside and checked her wristcom.  There was an hour until departure, just enough time to inspect the various units and make sure they were all squared away.  And if someone was late boarding her ships, they’d regret it.  Jasmine had no intention of tolerating someone who couldn't remember when they were supposed to board her ships, whatever excuses they offered.

She called for her aide, then headed for the hatch.  If nothing else, she told herself, she could lose herself in work.

***

Sword
hummed quietly as Mandy sat down in her command chair, then inspected the display as her crew brought the ship to full readiness.  The Commonwealth Navy had been good to her, she knew; apart from the heavy cruiser, she had four light cruisers that had been captured from Admiral Singh, nine modern cruisers designed on Avalon and twelve destroyers.  It was a mixed formation, but almost all of her ships had been intensively modified and upgraded.  And, behind them, there were ten heavy transports, carrying the CEF and its supplies.

She smiled, rather wanly.  Unlike the Empire’s designs, the new transports were armed.  They were still no match for a warship, but they'd be able to give a pirate ship a nasty surprise or two ... if there were any pirates left.  Between the Commonwealth, the Trade Federation – and, to be fair, Admiral Singh – the pirates had largely been exterminated.

“Inform the squadron,” she ordered, once the checks were complete.  “They are to follow us out.”

“Aye, Captain,” the communications officer said.

Mandy felt her smile grow wider.  “Then signal System Command,” she said.  “We’re departing on schedule.”

She tapped her console, switching her display to a near-orbit view. Avalon had once had only a single orbital station and a handful of satellites orbiting her.  Now, she had several dozen orbital installations, while others were clustered near the asteroid field or the gas giants.  Given time, the industrial base they were building might rival Earth’s legendary productive capability.  It was already considerably more efficient.

“Take us out,” she ordered, quietly.

***

The stealthed platform hung thousands of kilometres from Avalon, well away from the standard orbital tracks used by the traffic running in and out of the system.  It emitted nothing, nothing that could be tracked back to its source.  There was no way, its designers believed, that it could be detected save by the worst possible kind of bad luck.  A starship could pass within bare kilometres of the platform and miss it completely.  All it did was watch.

Its passive sensors noted the squadron leaving orbit, recording the size and composition of the squadron as it picked up speed.  Once it had a complete record, the platform activated its laser communicator and sent a signal flickering across the void.  It repeated the message ten minutes later, then waited.  The acknowledgement arrived two hours later.

Following its orders, the platform resumed its silent watch on the planet.

And waited.

In particular, there might be outside elements that had a vested interest in the conflicts coming to a particular end.  On Stan’s World, the corporation that owned and operated the planet had the ear of lobbyists who worked to sway the Grand Senate – and worked to ensure that the declared military objective was the restoration of the corporation’s control over the planet, not a compromise truce that might have pleased both sides.

-
Professor Leo Caesius. 
War in a time of ‘Peace:’ The Empire’s Forgotten Military History.

“That’s the latest intelligence report, Admiral,” Lieutenant Foxglove said.  “There won’t be any update for at least another week.”

“Thank you, Emma,” Admiral Rani Singh said.  “That will be all.”

The younger officer nodded and retreated, leaving Rani alone with her thoughts.  Emma Foxglove was young, a newcomer who had been conscripted into Wolfbane’s expanding military shortly after the planet had lost contact with the Empire.  Somehow, despite the chaos, her superiors had recognised that there was a capable intelligence officer hiding under her shy exterior and streamlined her into the military’s intelligence section.  Rani had taken the girl under her wing shortly after her arrival on Wolfbane, understanding the value of developing personal ties with intelligent and capable subordinates.  Of such relationships, she knew, excellent command teams were forged. 

And they will be loyal, when the chips are down
, she thought, as she turned to stare out of the viewport. 
When the shit hits the fan, it is always a good idea to have people who are loyal to you personally
.

She smiled as she studied the planet below.  Wolfbane might be the most populated and developed world in its sector, but from orbit it was impossible to see any sign of human life, at least with the naked eye.  Instead, Wolfbane was as blue and green as every other major human settlement.  But, in orbit, it was surrounded by industrial nodes, starship yards and everything else required to sustain a major interstellar presence.  Had the Empire survived, Rani suspected, Governor Thaddeus Brown would have gone far ... if the Grand Senate, recognising a prospective rival, hadn't killed him first.  Rani considered herself a military officer – she had nothing, but contempt for the shadowy world of corporate wheeling and dealing – but she had to admit that Governor Brown had done very well for himself.  Before the Empire’s fall, he’d played seven colossal interstellar corporations off against one another to ensure that he reached the coveted governorship. 

And after the Empire’s retreat he took control of the sector
, she thought. 
How many others could have done that without civil war
?

There’d been dozens of different competing factions in the sector, all suddenly freed from all restraints.  Somehow, Governor Brown had manipulated all of them, so seamlessly that Rani couldn't help wondering if he'd anticipated the Empire’s fall just as she’d done and made preparations before the collapse became obvious.  By the time the dust had settled, Governor Brown was firmly in control, with a large military and a growing space fleet to back up his word.  Rani was privately relieved that she hadn't encountered his empire prior to losing control of Corinthian.  He would almost certainly have seen her as a threat.

But Governor Brown had his weaknesses as well as his strengths.  Some of his military officers were restless, blaming him and his ilk for the fall of the Empire; some of his corporate allies thought they, not him, should wield supreme power.  Rani, on the other hand, had come to him as a supplicant.  Her pride groaned every time she admitted it, even in the privacy of her own mind, but she couldn't allow herself to cling to a delusion.  He’d had a use for her purely because she had no power base of her own on Wolfbane.  She needed him more than he needed her. 

He'd been decent with her, Rani knew, even as he’d made it clear that she wouldn't be completely trusted until she’d proved herself.  He hadn't humiliated her publicly, not like some of the Imperial Navy officers she'd known would have done, but neither of them were in any doubt where the power resided.  Or
had
resided, Rani knew.  The time she’d spent on Wolfbane hadn't been wasted.  Building up the groundwork for a power base of her own had just been a matter of time.

She pushed the thought aside as she turned away from the viewport and examined the intelligence report.  The Commonwealth – she felt a flicker of old anger which she ruthlessly suppressed – was sending a large military force to Thule, precisely as she’d anticipated.  As always, principles had proved no match for political reality on a galactic scale.  Whatever the Commonwealth might have said about not interfering in local politics, it couldn't risk allowing Thule to slip out of its grasp, let alone join Wolfbane.  All they'd needed was the hint of outside involvement and they'd drawn the correct conclusions.

Rani had been a serving naval officer long enough to know that it was impossible to direct an operation from light years away.  The Grand Senate might not have learned that lesson, but
she
had.  Instead of trying to control events, she’d put her pieces in place and given them orders to take advantage of the developing situation as they saw fit.  It would introduce an element of unpredictability into the equation, but it was a price worth paying.  Besides, she knew – all too well – that the unpredicted popped up with monotonous regularity.  All that really mattered was that the Commonwealth was taking the bait.

She looked through the report and found the second note, buried in the appendix.  No one, apart from a handful of her staff, knew about the second part of the operation.  It wasn't something she intended to let anyone know about, not when it was crucial to her private plans as well as the march to war.  After all, war was inevitable.  Wolfbane and the Commonwealth could not hope to co-exist, let alone Wolfbane and the Trade Federation.  Rani fully expected to play a major role in the war ... and use it as her stepping stone to galactic power.

And if that meant the deaths of untold thousands of people?

One can’t make an omelette,
she reminded herself,
without breaking a few eggs.

She keyed her wristcom.  “Contact the Governor,” she said.  For some reason, Governor Brown hadn't bothered to declare himself Emperor.  She wasn't sure if it was an appeal to the Empire loyalists, such as they were, or a reluctance to state his power and control too openly.  “Inform him that I have news.”

***

There were Kings and Princes on a hundred worlds, Governor Thaddeus Brown knew, who had palaces less elaborate than the Governor’s Mansion on Wolfbane.  But then, he didn't inhabit
all
of the giant building, not when it was the centre of sector government as well as the governor’s private residence.  He kept one floor to himself, as his private territory, and left the remainder to his subordinates.  There was no need to give himself airs.

He’d never really cared for the trappings of power.  Some of his fellows had lost themselves in the pleasures brought with their ranks; the wine, the women, the drugs banned to the common folk ... but Thaddeus had never really been tempted.  They ate and drank the finest foods and most expensive wines until even the most careful tailoring could not disguise their bulging bellies.  And yet Thaddeus was almost inhumanly thin.  There were those who saw him, with his bald head and sharp blue eyes, who thought him a monk.  But Thaddeus knew what was important.

Power.  It was power that was important, power to break the universe to his will ... and, compared to that, what was wine, woman and song?  A man with power could take another man's woman any time he chose.  Or anything else he happened to want.

But when you have the power, you don’t want to threaten it
, he thought, ruefully. 
And that includes not stealing another man’s wife
.

The thought made him roll his eyes.  Sex had never been a particular interest of his; he’d married, because it was demanded of a man in his position, then insisted on remaining apart from his wife as much as possible.  She hadn't objected; Thaddeus knew, without much concern, that she’d taken a long stream of lovers.  That was expected of a woman in her position, particularly one who had entered an arranged marriage.  As long as it didn't get out of hand, he didn't care.

He strode over to the window and peered out over Wolfbane City, the capital of Wolfbane itself.  It was thriving – and he knew, without false modesty, that it was because of him.  His measures to stave off the worst of the economic crisis had borne fruit, at the cost of political freedom and liberty.  The Empire had never been particularly tolerant of free speech at the best of times, but Thaddeus had been worse.  There was no way he could allow naysayers to undermine his work to save Wolfbane and create an empire of his own.

The intercom chimed.  “Governor,” his aide said, “Admiral Singh wishes to speak with you.”

Thaddeus nodded and turned to walk over to his desk.  Admiral Singh was one of his prospective problem children; loyal to herself, rather than the legacy of the Empire.  In some ways, it was refreshing; Thaddeus knew, all-too-well, that half of his more competent senior officers wished for the return of the Empire they’d once served.  But she was also dangerously ambitious.  If she hadn't submitted herself at once, he would probably have had her killed.  But now ...

He sat down and tapped a switch.  The dark-skinned officer’s face appeared in front of him.

“Governor,” she said.  “The report from Avalon shows that they are about to dispatch their forces to Thule.  They may already be on the way.”

“Understood,” Thaddeus said.  He thought, rapidly.  War was inevitable ... and yet, war would bring a predominance to the military.  Would Singh be able to use it to take power and execute Thaddeus himself?  “You are ready to deploy?”

“I believe so,” Singh said.  “The new recruits are learning fast, Governor.”

Thaddeus allowed himself a smile.  Wolfbane’s educational system had been better than Earth’s for years, thanks to his careful monitoring and corporate influence.  Earth’s schools, which produced millions of highly-educated idiots every year, could not be allowed to contaminate Wolfbane.  What use were such students in the corporate world?  And now, with conscription to ensure that the military had no shortage of recruits,
his
students would show the universe what they could do.

“Good,” he said.  He took a breath.  “You may deploy tomorrow, as per Plan Theta.”

“Yes, Governor,” Singh said.  “Singh out.”

She sounded respectful. Thaddeus knew.  And yet there was her devilish level of ambition, glittering in her dark eyes every time he saw her.  If she decided to move ...

He looked down at the table and sighed.  His security officers had ensured that her crew had been thoroughly infiltrated, with dozens of operatives on her flagship alone.  If she showed the slightest hint of treachery, it would be easy to take over her ship and kill her.  Or so he hoped.  Whatever else he could say about her, Singh was a superb naval officer.  She might have taken covert precautions against mutiny already.

Maybe I should have her killed
, he thought. 
But then I would lose her skills
.

Shaking his head, he brought up the latest set of industrial production reports.  He couldn't hope to manage everything on Wolfbane – let alone the entire Consortium – by himself, but he wanted to keep an eye on his people.  If something started to slip, if someone started to grow more ambitious than he was prepared to tolerate, he would have to move.  The price of security was eternal vigilance. 

And the price of survival
, he added silently,
is to ensure that no one can threaten you
.

The Commonwealth was a threat, he knew.  Even if they didn't plan to invade his territory, the mere fact of their existence was a deadly threat – and the Trade Federation even more so, because it didn't assert any political power over local governments at all.  He'd told his people, the countless billions facing starvation or worse after the Empire’s fall, that strong control was the only way to save their lives.  His control had stabilised Wolfbane and made it the centre of a whole new empire.  But if they started to see that there might be another way ...

We have to wage war
, he thought. 
And we have to hope that the Commonwealth kills Singh before she moves against me
.

***

“I want every ship in the fleet ready to go within twenty-four hours,” Rani ordered, as soon as the channel to the CIC had opened.  “We will move to our forward base then.”

“Yes, Admiral,” Caroline – her aide – said.  “A third of the crews are still on shore leave.”

“Recall them,” Rani ordered.  It wouldn't be popular – but it couldn't be helped.  Besides, Wolfbane had a rather more progressive view of what constituted an excellent shore leave than the more restrained parts of the Empire.  Her crews would probably be ready to return to duty by now.  “And then inform the other commanders that I will be holding a conference call at” – she glanced at the chronometer – “2100.”

“Yes, Admiral,” Caroline said.  “I will inform them at once.  Captain Gower, however, may not be available to take the call.  He didn't return from his mandated shore leave period.”