The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) (37 page)

***

Given the choice between spending the entire evening with his daughter and meeting the Centauri Confederation's diplomat, Lucius would have gladly foregone the latter.  Even so, he was dressed in his best and his daughter was back with Emilee by six, and he met up with Captain Daniel Beeson in the lobby of the military apartment building.  The Faraday native looked more than a little uncomfortable in the crisp dress uniform of black and gray.  No doubt some of that was from unfamiliarity with the social occasion.

For that matter, Lucius was a bit nervous.  Back on Nova Roma, he had attended a number of social events.  Unfortunately, his father's treason had made him and his sister into social pariahs.  Events like this had gained an unpleasant mental connection.  He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and smiled at Captain Daniel Beeson, “Ready to go, Daniel?”

“Yes, sir,” the younger man said.  He was just as tall as Lucius remembered, but he still hadn't put on much weight since the liberation of Faraday.  Stress and the loss of his entire extended family had made him lose most of his spare weight.  “Though I'm not sure
why
you wanted me along.”  He sounded a bit irked, but then again, Lucius's secretary had probably contacted him only a few hours ago.  Lucius was certain that Daniel Beeson would get over his irritation.  For that matter, the competent young man had survived far worse than short notice for a social evening.  He'd gone against his father's wishes and signed up with Lucius back when the
War Shrike
first arrived at Faraday.  Then, after their flight from the Chxor task force that seized the system, he had come back to infiltrate the planet and help lead an insurrection against the Chxor.  He found out then that his entire family –mother, father, cousins, uncles and aunts– were all executed by the Chxor.

He had survived all that, to rise to command the Desperado-class battleship
Peregrine
in combat against the Balor.  But the
Peregrine
and Lucius's old vessel, the
War Shrike
, had both been returned to the Nova Romans. 

“I've invited a number of our officers to attend,” Lucius said cordially.  “Consider it a broadening experience.  The Centauri will have some of their officers present, as well.  Meet them, talk a bit, get to know them as people.”  It also would give Lucius a moment to broach his own suspicions to Beeson and to get him to look into the rumors that he'd heard from Perkins.

Lucius stepped outside and was surprised to find Sergeant Timorsky standing next to an aircar.  “I called for a cab,” Lucius said.

“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Timorsky said.  “And Colonel Proscia mentioned you might want someone professional to accompany you aboard the Centauri ship, maybe someone who knows their tactics.”

Lucius pursed his lips.  “I hardly think their diplomat will stoop to kidnapping or assassination of a head of state.”

“Well, sir,” the Marine said, “I don't know about that.  But it doesn't hurt to have someone who's good in a fight, does it?  Besides, Lance Namori and I happened to have the evening free.”

Lucius just shook his head.  “Very well.  Sometime I'll have to figure out why you and Lance Namori have so much free time.”

“One of life's great mysteries, sir,” Sergeant Timorsky answered with a level voice.

Lucius sighed but he ducked into the back seat of the car, followed by Captain Beeson.  He sat back in the comfortable seat and looked forward at Lance Namori.  “Lance Corporal, I know that you and Sergeant Timorsky are very close-mouthed, so I would assume this goes without saying... but, what Captain Beeson and I are about to discuss cannot be spread about, am I understood?”

“Absolutely, Baron,” Namori answered.  “If anyone asks, you were talking boring stuff about fashion and sports.  Couldn't make heads or tails of it, sir.”

“Thanks,” Lucius said.  He looked over at Captain Beeson, “Daniel, I'm going to ask you some questions and I want your honest opinion, don't hold back and I want to know everything you know, understood?”

Captain Beeson looked suddenly attentive, “Yes, sir.”

Lucius heard Lance Namori brief Sergeant Timorsky as the aircar took off, headed for the spaceport.  “Some rumors have come to me, from various sources.  Rumors about reinstating Amalgamated Worlds, rumors about conquering planets with the Dreyfus Fleet.  Have you heard similar?”

Captain Beeson looked away.  He took a moment to talk, “Yes, sir.  Most of it from the same people.  Some other stuff as well.”

“What else?” Lucius asked and his eyes narrowed.

Captain Beeson looked down at the floor.  “Some nasty rumors, mostly, sir.  Rumors that you'd become unhinged... that Admiral Dreyfus was acting in your stead.  Some other stuff, like that Kandergain had twisted your mind, made you a puppet.  I knew
that
was a load of crap... but speaking out against that kind of thing draws attention.”

“What kind of attention?” Lucius asked.

Captain Beeson grimaced, “Well, sir, you know we turned over the
War Shrike
and the
Peregrine
to the Nova Romans.  Well, it didn't feel good to give up my command, but I accepted it.  And the word was, as our crew transferred over, that I would step into a new ship as the commander.”  He looked up and met Lucius's eyes.  “But that didn't happen, sir.”

Lucius nodded, “And I'm sorry for that.  You're a damned fine officer, I should have made sure there was a command slot available for you.”

“But there
was
,” Captain Beeson said.  “Only I was told I had to interview for it, that there were other commanders who also were eligible.  There was a review board, chaired by Captain Zappala.  They asked all kinds of questions, some of them were really odd, and then afterward I heard that Captain Paulos received the
Arapahoe
.”

“Odd, how?” Lucius asked.

“What I thought about Amalgamated Worlds,” Captain Beeson said, his voice level.  “Whose orders I would follow in a crisis.  What I thought about rogue nations like the Colonial Republic.  You know, odd... unless someone was trying to see who would be loyal.  I think they might have let me slide, though, except I asked what any of this had to do with being a United Colonies officer right at the end.  After that, Captain Zappala pulled me aside afterward and told me that things would go bad for me if I tried complaining about the board's results.”

Lucius felt his blood go cold.  Outright threats and what amounted to a political screening, both going on under his nose.  How could he have missed this... and why had his officers not come to him, already?  “This is news to me, but it shouldn't be.  I can promise you that I will act on it... but I need to know more.”

Captain Beeson sat back.  “You want me to investigate, sir?”  He sounded both surprised and anxious.  Lucius could tell the other man was conflicted.  On the one hand, there was loyalty to the United Colonies.  On the other was loyalty to the Fleet... yet that same loyalty had not been returned.  Lucius could see the thought as it flashed across his face.  Some faceless group seemed bent on twisting the Fleet to their own political agenda and in the process they had left Captain Beeson without a command.  That same group might well be behind the apparent disgrace of Anthony Doko.  Lucius saw determination harden Daniel Beeson's face and he knew for certain that he hadn't misjudged the other man.  “What authority and resources will I have?”

“I want this to be as official and above the board as possible... but I need to know how deep the rot goes, so that we can address it,” Lucius said.  “First thing, gather together a group of people you trust.  I've selected a few that I think are trustworthy, Ensign Perkins will be here tonight and I'll arrange introductions with some of the others.  Ideally, a mix of backgrounds so this doesn't seem like some kind of witch-hunt.  I want officers and senior enlisted involved.  Right now it looks like a small group... but we don't know nearly enough to move.”

“And when the time comes to move?” Captain Beeson asked.

“Then I want to take all of these conspirators at once,” Lucius said sharply.  “And even if we aren't certain who is involved at first, I want to take as many as we can, especially the leadership.”  Lucius locked eyes with the other man, “You will put together a team that will arrest the leaders of this cabal... no matter how high they rank, am I understood?”

Captain Daniel Beeson met his gaze with confidence.  “Absolutely, sir.”

“Good,” Lucius said.  “Now, I believe we've arrived at the spaceport.”  Lucius nodded at Lance Namori, who had climbed out and opened the door for him.  Lucius stepped out and started towards the waiting shuttle, Daniel Beeson and his escort following behind. 
Now to see what the Centauri Ambassador has to say
, he thought.

***

Santa Cruz, Garris Major System

Colonial Republic

October 4, 2403

“Azure squadron, break left!” Garret snapped out.  He saw his squadron begin to shift, but too slow.

Fire strobed out from the squadron of fighters that had closed on their flank.  The light guns of the Patriot fighters mostly peppered off the armored hulls of the Hammers as the fighters swept past at high speed.  Garret bit back a curse though as flashing icons warned him of damage. 
Main gun is out,
he saw,
damage to the accelerator coils.
  That was bad.  That meant some of the projectile rounds had punched through the outer hull and deep into his ship.  Who knew what other damage they had caused along the way?  Still, they could bypass that damage as necessary.

“Heller, get the gun up,” Garret said.

“Ya, working it,” Heller said.

“Vector break,” Garret said over his squadron net.  “Shift to evasion pattern three.”  His command was met with acknowledgments.  The gunboats couldn't duel at close range with the lighter fighters.  They'd already loosed their missiles at the enemy destroyers on Commodore Pierce's orders.  A larger ship would mount turrets to deal with harassing fighters, but the gunboats' main defense was avoidance.  Failing that, they needed support.

“Freedom Squadron, this is Azure Squadron,” Garret said. “We're engaged by enemy fighters, need some support.”  Garret forwarded his squadron's coordinates even as he sent evasive maneuvers to his squadron.  Lighter fighters could go through evasive patterns without much coordination, though they still tried to plan that into their attacks.  The big gunboats, though, had larger drives as well as defense screens.  Evasive maneuvers that led to a collision would be disastrous for the big craft.

“Roger, Azure.” A crisp voice said.  “We're headed your way.”

Garret heard Heller's voice, “Enemy's coming back around.”

Garret bit back a curse.  This damned fight was going on too long and felt too much like a setup.  The  convoy they were attacking was owned by the Salazar family, which they had expected some security for.  However, the two cruisers, four destroyers and two escort carriers that met their ambush was far more firepower than anyone had planned for.

Admiral Mannetti had provided the initial information, Garret knew.  She had also given them the initial plan... which had positioned the War Dogs much closer to the convoy than their normal tactics called for.  Ostensibly, that was to prevent any of the Salazar family's transports from escaping... but it also meant that they were within weapons range of the defending forces.  They had also only brought along one of the Halcyon destroyers and two squadrons of their fighters, who had clamped on the hull of the
Warwagon.

At least the
Warwagon
was holding its own against the enemy capital ships, Garret saw.  The ancient dreadnought had hammered two of the destroyers into scrap and had forced the other two to back off.  Garret bit back a curse, though, as he saw one of the cruisers had circled around the flank of the old ship.  The
Warwagon'
s main vulnerability was it's aft area, where its bulky engines prevented it's turrets from firing.

“Azure squadron,” Garret said, “Target update.”  If they went after the cruiser, they would be setting targets when the enemy fighters came back around.  If they didn't, the cruiser might cripple or even destroy their flagship.  Without the
Warwagon,
though, the enemy ships would quickly shift targets to the gunboats and the Halcyon crewed destroyer and fighters.  Garret uploaded the cruiser as their target.  At this range, it wouldn't matter that they only had the standard mass driver rounds rather than the smart ones.  That, at least, should allow them to go evasive after they fired.

“Enemy squadron is forty-five seconds out,” Heller said, her voice tight.  It was one of those peculiarities of life that she sounded even sexier when she was nervous, Garret noted, not that he'd ever tell her that.

“Roger,” Garret answered.  His squadron formed up and indicators came up to show that they had acquired the cruiser.  “Engage,” Garret said over his squadron net.  He squeezed his trigger and only then saw the alert, the main gun was still down.  “Heller, dammit, get the gun up!”

“Working it!” Heller snapped.

He saw the other rounds from his squadron go out.  At this range, the impacts were almost instantaneous.  Fire blossomed from the side of the cruiser as the heavy rounds punched through its defense screen and smashed through its armor.  The enemy cruiser staggered, trailing atmosphere and debris and outgoing fire from it slackened off to a trickle.  It was no longer a threat.