The Iron Admiral: Deception (8 page)

He took out his pen and signed one document, then the other. Azzenaar did the same. Frensberg licked his lips. He hated shaking hands with toe rags. He held out his hand and Azzenaar engulfed the fingers with tentacles that moved like worms. His skin crawled. At least the flesh was soft and dry, not slimy.

“Now all that remains is for us to coordinate the attack,” Azzenaar said.

If he understood the body language correctly, the ptorix was satisfied. Tepich had better hurry up and bring that system engineer to the research lab. Now they were on a timetable.

****

Somewhere in Malmos

 

“We have to do something,” Sean said. “The clock’s ticking.”

“She never goes out on her own,” Pyndrees said. “And we’ve got no chance of getting to her in the Fleet complex.”

Sean frowned at the screen. Allysha’s icon rested on the middle Fleet tower. Tepich had said three months. Three weeks had already passed with no end in sight.

 

At least with this new identity Sean was able to get rid of the stupid little beard. Liam McNeill was no more, of course. Jak Constaz had replaced him; younger, fitter with more hair. His eyes were green and his hair was dark red. The shape changers had done a good job.

Pyndrees, too, had undergone a change. Elric Hudson was still a buyer for a large firm but his appearance was quite different from that of Kris Hybent.

Sean dropped into a chair and put his feet up on the kaff table. “We should’ve tried when she was in the city with Leonov’s wife.”

Pyndrees swung around. “I told you then, and I’ll tell you again. I saw two obvious guards and I’d wager a week’s takings that the tall blonde was an agent, as well. There were probably others. If we’d tried a snatch, we’d be finished.”

Sean raised a lip in a snarl. “I’ll be finished anyway if I don’t deliver her.”

Pyndrees sat down and started to clean his fingernails with the tip of a knife. “You’ll just have to be patient. Be ready to take a chance when it arrives.”

****

ProserpineandIntrepid , thought Allysha as she closed her apartment’s door. But first, maybe a bit of Fleet tradition.

 

“Brew me some kaff, Albert, then tell me what you know about love lilies.”

Allysha took her cup over to a chair while Albert talked.

“It’s something of a Fleet legend, Allysha. It harks to the times when space travel took months or years and even moving from a planet’s orbit to a point where a ship could transfer to shift space could take days. Captain Isaac Ishkar finally found the woman of his dreams. But he was called to war before they could marry. He knew months would pass before his return and, having very little time to do much else, he organized with a florist to send his lady one of these flowers every week to remind her of him until he could return.”

“Hm. And did he?”

“Yes. He was captured and imprisoned so he wasn’t able to return for two years, but then, at last, they were married. And now it has become something of a tradition for male Fleet officers to declare their intent by giving their lady one of these flowers.”

One. He’d sent her ten. “Are they expensive?”

“It depends on the time of the year. Perhaps I should say, they are always expensive. When supply is low, they are extremely expensive.”

“Why is that? Surely they’re cultivated?”

 

“They are. But the cultivated blossoms are not of the same quality.They lack the fragrance and glowing color of the wild stock.”

He’d sent her the wild ones, of course. Never mind. For now, Allysha had more important things to do.

She went to her study and set up her techpack. All she needed now was access to the maintenance logs forProserpine andIntrepid .

****

Hours later, Allysha rubbed her face with her hands. The security was tight, with passwords that changed over time. Even then, the encryption algorithms were complex. But if an InfoDroid could get in, so could she; if an InfoDroid could unencrypt, so could she. And she’d found out, working with her team, which subsystems to look at for her own investigation.

 

First, she found footage of Jossur before the battle of Forenisi. The planet had two space stations; the military station was in the outer orbit, a gleaming oval dotted with nodules. Allysha supposed they were the retracted service connections. Several smaller ships were docked. She searched forward in time.

The

station was still in place, in stationary orbit but the ships docked to it changed. In the last image, a massive ship almost dwarfed the station. A similar vessel hung in orbit close by. The two ptorix battleships, both eight kilometers long from tip to stern, curved layers on top of each other, horn-like appendages and tentacles sweeping into space. In contrast to the Confederacy Fleet’s matte black, these

ships sported swirling designs in deep purples and violets, the ptorix colors of anger and aggression.

Allysha switched toProserpine’s visual log and found the exact moment when the ship transferred out of shift space well within the Qito Jossur system.

Proserpinecame out fast. Jossur hung ahead, a blue-green ball streaked brown and white. The military space station blazed with light. She recognized two docked ships as frigates. One battleship was tethered

on the far side of the station away from the planet. The second battleship drifted close by.

Proserpinehurtled on, hardly slowing. Jossur grew rapidly larger. According to the Confederacy ship’s vector, she would pass the planet with the space station—and the planet—to starboard. The image showed the target; the battleship attached to the space station.

The missiles launched. The ptorix battleship’s shields weren’t even up.Proserpine powered past. The images now came from-rear mounted sensors. The target ruptured. The second battleship had also been hit. Explosions bloomed soundlessly; one, two, three, four, five, six along the length of her hull. All of them were candles in comparison with the massive internal detonation that burst the space ship open.

The

one tethered to the space station seemed to be out of control, its vector altered by the force of the attack. The footage ended asProserpine transferred out of the system.

Allysha’s head dropped. Saahren had told her the truth. But if this was the truth, everything she’d ever heard on Carnessa about the attack was false. One more test. Images could be altered, but the maintenance logs couldn’t lie. Allysha looked for the shift drive figures and the sub-light data. Dates and times and velocity.

 

She didn’t know the details but what Erascu had told her made sense. How long hadProserpine and Intrepid been in the Qito Jossur system and at what speed? As a comparison, she found another trip whereProserpine had gone into orbit. He was right. Both ships had simply passed through the system.

They hardly slowed down and beyond the planet, they moved to transfer back to shift space.

Allysha’s mind whirled with questions. Okay, Saahren’s version of the events at Qito Jossur was true.

But Xanthor himself had given a public lecture in Shernish, decrying the Confederacy Fleet for having bombarded a planet. Xanthor wouldn’t have lied. Not Xanthor. He’d been almost an uncle to her, all her

life. She’d spent hours at his house, played with his children, learned about ptorix culture from him. Like her father had been, he was a professor at Shernish University, committed to developing better understanding between humans and ptorix. And yet, he must have either lied, or he’d been convinced in some way that the ptorix version of events was true. So many other questions nagged. Had Saahren really sent Anxhou’s son, Admiral Xendo, back home or had Xendo died in the fire-fight at Forenisi?

More to the point, was Saahren’s attack on Jossur justified? He said the planet was a legitimate military target—but he would, wouldn’t he? Planetary bombardment or not, billions of Tors died along with her father. Maybe he even planned that the battleship would hit the space station and bring them both down on the planet, so it looked like an accident. And then there was the greater issue. The Tors said the citizens of Forenisi wanted to return to the Imperial fold, while the humans said they wanted to be part of the Confederacy. Even if she could find answers to all the questions, even if she accepted that her father had been a legitimate casualty of war, it didn’t really change anything.

Saahren was stillChohzu the Destroyer, the great space demon, sworn enemy of the ptorix.

ChapterNine

Allysha finished dressing and twirled experimentally in front of the long mirror in her wardrobe. Yes, she looked good. The cream material draped beautifully and the gold sequins around the hem and neckline really did add a feature. She matched the dress with strappy gold shoes with a small heel. Let others break their necks with fifteen centimeter spikes. She had just finished putting on gold earrings when Albert, her apartment’s Information System, spoke.

“Lieutenant Bristol is here, Allysha.”

Allysha picked up her bag and met Todd at the door.

 

He wore his white formal uniform, with two narrow gold stripes on his shoulders, while a short row of campaign ribbons added color to his left breast. The well-cut, fitted jacket, designed to complement wide

shoulders and a narrow waist and hips, suited Todd’s powerful body well. Sandy blond hair cut short, blue eyes, rugged rather than handsome. Yes, he looked wonderful.

“My, don’t you look smart?”

Todd stood there, gaping like a landed fish. “Oh, man,” he stammered, “you look fabulous.”

Allysha smiled. She hadn’t worn a dress since she left Shernish, half a lifetime ago. “Thanks, Lieutenant.

I’ve tried to look the part for you.”

“Oh, man.”

“Hadn’t we better go?”

He had a cab waiting for the short hop over to the Parliamentary complex where the ball was held. She and Todd joined other couples walking up the marble staircase to the foyer, already filled with white-uniformed officers and their partners. Lights sparkled off rank insignia and campaign medals, sequins and jewelry. The women’s fashion varied from formal and elaborate to downright skimpy, from simple black to kaleidoscopic confections, while the non-military male partners wore standard, somber evening dress. Voices ebbed and flowed, refined and cultivated here, jovial and laughing there. She and Todd wove their way between guests and waiters carrying trays of drinks, looking for the rest of their group. Admiral Leonov and his wife Irina chatted with a group of other senior people. She ducked behind Todd. She hadn’t told them she’d be here and if they saw her, they’d be sure to tellhim .

“There’s Anna and her boyfriend,” Todd said.

Allysha waved at them. Anna’s red dress suited her hair and skin and showed off her figure without being too revealing.

Todd nudged her. “Well, look at that. Hassan and Siri have come together.” He jerked his head.

Hassan, handsome and debonair, held Sirikit’s hand. Her flowing, multi colored gown and the gold jewels in her long black hair complimented her beauty. She really was a stunner.

“Huh. She could have done better than him.” Todd snared two glasses of sparkling wine from a passing waiter and handed one to her.

Allysha smiled. Chalk and cheese, Todd and Hassan; and not just in looks. Todd didn’t approve of Hassan’s playboy reputation. “I think he might well have met his match.” She chinked her glass gently against Todd’s. “Here’s to a pleasant evening.”

He flushed, blue eyes twinkling.

Tensan and his wife Jingsu were the last to arrive. “The babysitter was late,” Tensan said, scowling.

“Not to worry. Let’s go and find our table,” Allysha said.

They followed the thinning crowd into an enormous formal ballroom. Above their heads the Galactic lens formed a backdrop to a fleet, a battle cruiser in the center with its accompanying cruisers and frigates around it. All holos, of course, but so well done. The Fleet’s symbol, a three quarter view of a stylized spiral galaxy, hung on the back wall above a low stage where a twenty-piece orchestra provided background music.

Tables surrounded a large dance floor. Allysha and her group threaded their way toward the back, well away from the more favored locations where the distinctive ornate gold collars of the admirals dominated. She searched the senior officers, nerves bouncing in her stomach. No, Saahren wouldn’t be here. Irina had scorned the very thought. He hated this sort of event. Besides, even if he did turn up, he’d

never notice her sitting way back here.

Todd leaned closer to her, placed a hand on her arm. “Is everything all right, Allysha?”

“Yes. Fine.” She needed to relax, settle down. She’d come here to do Todd a favor and jumping like a startled rabbit every time she saw an admiral wasn’t going to help.

“Come and dance?” Todd said.

“Sure.”

Todd wasn’t the best dancer in the world but it didn’t matter. The music filled her soul with rhythm. She used to dance with Sean and they’d been good; very good. Huh. What a time to bring her ex-husband into her mind. But the recollection was just a memory. Not happy, not sad. She didn’t even really care to

know where he was, what he was doing.

She twirled in the dance. A glimpse of a golden collar sent her heart racing. No, not someone she recognized; an older, shorter man.Pull yourself together, woman.

The bracket ended and they returned to the table, edging past other revelers.

“That was fun,” she said, grinning.

And it was. The room buzzed and glittered as the officers of the Star Fleet enjoyed themselves. The music competed with laughter and conversation and the dance floor added a swirl of color. The tension she’d felt early drained from her shoulders.Relax, have some fun .

A few hours later, raising her voice a little to be heard, Allysha said, “I think I’d like to sit this one out and catch a breather.” She wriggled her toes inside her shoes. They ached.

Sirikit nodded. “You wore sensible shoes; I didn’t.” She lifted a shapely leg, displaying the spikes on her heels.

Tensan fetched drinks. She sipped while Todd told a funny story about his father, who had been exec officer on a frigate before he retired. They all leaned toward him, intent on his words over the din.