The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) (52 page)

“Agreed,” Admiral Balventia said with narrow eyes.  He glared at Lucius, as if certain that this must be some false threat, engineered to deny him his chance to prove his skills once more.

“Very well,” Emperor Romulus said with a sigh, “Then I must ask that you step up your preparations to attack again, Baron.  We
must
not let the Chxor continue with their preparations.”

“Agreed,” Lucius said.  He glanced at his own civilian advisers, “Which is why I'm leaving in the morning to rejoin the Dreyfus Fleet... aboard a Nova Roma vessel, if you would be so gracious as to assist, your Highness.”

“Why...” the Emperor frowned, “Oh, so that the Shadow Lords would hesitate to attack you en route.  Yes, I think I can assist.”

“Sir,” Kate said, somewhat frantically, “You can't leave with everything going on here.  What am I supposed to do about your... about both the men who claim to be your father?”  The note of panic in her voice was almost amusing.

“I think I'll have to agree with our Foreign Minister,” President Sara Cassin said.  “Even to deal with the ambassador, we would almost certainly need you.  To deal with the one from Shadow Lord Imperious we definitely need you and your expertise.”  The woman had a harsh frown, almost as if she thought Lucius were avoiding his responsibilities and gallivanting off to war. 
In some ways,
Lucius thought,
I suppose I am... I
really
need to spend more time here, very soon it will be time to retire my military command.
  The thought made him ache.  He had never sought political power... only to command in battle, a skill in which he at least felt confident of success.

Lucius shook his head, “No, madame President, you don't need me here to deal with them... with either of them.”  He shook his head, “The thing that has bothered me about the pair from their arrival is that the dramatics of their reveal was designed to put me off balance.  You don't do that kind of thing if you are bargaining in good faith, you do it if you want to put the other person at a disadvantage.”

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“I'm saying that neither of them is my father,” Lucius said.  “And we're going to say that, publicly and openly.”  He looked at Kate, “I want you to put the Iodans on it.  They're smart enough with biology that I'm sure they can find something out of place.  Have them prove that both of them are imposters.  Keep them both talking until then.  Don't commit to anything, but make it appear that we want what they're offering.”  He wished he had thought to get the Iodans involved earlier, but the odd aliens had mostly withdrawn to the Zeta Tau system, other than a small contingent here on Faraday to serve as their representatives.

Kate frowned, “But that's not operating in good faith.  Leading them on diplomatically, it's deception that they can make public if they're wanting a reason to attack.”  She seemed inordinately concerned about that, in Lucius's opinion.

“Shadow Lord Imperious couldn't care less about public opinion,” Lucius said.  “As for the Centauri, well, that's why we're going to prove they didn't bargain in good faith, first.  The embarrassment should be enough to make them back down.  If it doesn't... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  The thing to remember, Imperious will attack or control us if he can and the Centauri Confederation is already at war on multiple fronts.  They can't afford
another
war if they can't get their own people behind it.  The important thing is: we already have our allies,” Lucius looked right at the Emperor as he said that.  “We will
not
throw them to the wolves because someone else comes along.”  At his words, the Emperor stood a little straighter, Admiral Mund gave a confident nod, and even Valens Balventia looked a bit less sour.

“But,” Alicia Nix asked, “you're assuming the Iodans
can
prove that one or both of them are fake.  Or that my people could, for that matter.  What if one of them is genuine?”  She looked worried, as if he had put their entire strategy upon her shoulders, which he had, in a way.

Lucius shook his head, “Let me make this as clear as I can.  I don't doubt that the Iodans can find
some
discrepancy, something wrong, really,
anything
that we can weight with enough attention to prove that they lied and therefore we have no choice but to reject both offers of alliance.”

“Wait, you're saying that even if they can't find enough to prove it... we need to say it is enough?” Kate asked.  “That's... well, I guess that would work.”  Her face took on a thoughtful expression as she contemplated how to approach it from that perspective.

“We're going to lie?” President Sara Cassin asked uncomfortably.

“You're going to lie about your own family?” Admiral Balventia said, almost at the same time.  “How could you do that to your own blood?”  His expression was disgusted.

Lucius looked between them, his expression solemn.  “I have a strong bond to my family... to my daughter and to my sister.”  He sighed, “Regardless of who those two men are genetically... they came here in support of plans to cause me emotional trauma with the intent to rush me into a decision regarding the safety and prosperity of a nation that has selected me as their leader.”  Lucius felt a hard mask fall over his face.  “I do
not
like being manipulated, especially not by someone who claims family ties to me.  I especially do not like it when they represent powers that would see the people I have defended reduced to powerless vassals at best... and slaves at worst.”  He met the President's eyes, “If either one of them
was
my actual father... then he has forsworn those ties in trying to deceive and betray me.”

President Cassin slowly nodded.  A look at Valens Balventia showed a mix of emotions, too complex to figure out. 
At least he didn't reject everything I said out of hand,
Lucius thought.  “In the meantime,” Lucius said to Kate, “our priority must be to secure our own system and to build alliances with those who seemed willing.  If we have any serious offers to join, we can begin working that, but keep it quiet.”  He sighed, “What I want is to announce it all at once, the good, the bad... all of it.  If nothing else, it will cause our enemies to hesitate, to take time to consider.”  Lucius brought up a star map and highlighted three systems.  “This information does not leave this room, am I understood?”  His gaze swept the men and women in the briefing room.  Slowly, each of them, even Admiral Balventia, gave him a nod.

“I'm going to change our assault timeline.  We're hitting the Chxor almost as soon as I get back to Melcer.  My goal is to liberate the Nova Roma system within the next ninety days.  As a part of that, we have to seize Danar within the next month.”  That was the important part.  They could do without Tehran, but they had to take Danar.  As Anthony Doko had said it was the key. 

“Finally!” Emperor Romulus IV said.

“Why so soon?” President Cassin asked uncomfortably.

Lucius looked over at Kate, “That's how long I want to draw out our discussions, both with the Centauri Confederation and with the other emissaries.  At that point, I want things finalized.  Make it clear to them that we need to know where people stand... with us or against us.”

“Some of these emissaries are from a very long way away,” Kate said.  Lucius was certain she was thinking of the Shogun's envoy.  For that matter, Lucius knew that the Shogun could be a very valuable ally.  Then again, having dealt with Mike Noguchi before, Lucius knew that the man was both dangerously capable and extremely intelligent.  The Shogun would have sent him with enough independence to make compromises.

“I know,” Lucius said.  “But I'm certain that either they've been given enough leeway to bargain or that we probably couldn't bring them around to our side without any big display.”  He turned to meet President Cassin's worried face, “The reason I'm breaking it down, us and them, is not for conquest or attack.  We're going to need support, because at that point we will be at our point of furthest extension.”

“You'll be at your weakest,” Admiral Valens Balventia said thoughtfully.

“Exactly,” Lucius said, with a nod at the other man.  He hoped the thoughtfulness was due to realizing how much Lucius trusted the Emperor and not from some suddenly hatched plan to stab the United Colonies in the back. 
Cross that bridge when we come to it as well,
Lucius thought.  “The Dreyfus Fleet represents a huge combat force, but it is condensed, with the vast majority of its firepower and sustained combat ability in the form of its Crusader-class vessels.  The rest would work well to occupy, at most, one or two systems and to perform a fighting retreat against any kind of serious assault from one of our major enemies.”

Admiral Mund nodded slowly, “The Chxor, the Balor, and the Shadow Lords, each of them could muster enough forces to defeat not only them but what we have marshaled here.”

“Exactly,” Lucius said.  Though, privately, he added the Centauri Confederation and the Tau Ceti Separatists to that list.  Either of those two nations certainly had the manpower and given his suspicions about the nature of their conflict, he suspected they could free up the forces for such an attack.

“At that point, our enemies will have the most to gain from an attack as well,” Lucius said.  “They could seize Nova Roma, the Dreyfus Fleet, and even the Balor ships we've captured but not been able to repair,” Lucius said.  “The United Colonies becomes the best target at that point... and our enemies have to know it.”

“Why adjust the times, then?” President Cassin asked.

“Because it will throw their preparations off, if they have them,” Kate said.  “It matches some of the Centauri behavior too, they're building a story, an agenda, and I wouldn't be too surprised if it matches when they expect you to launch your final assault on Nova Roma.”

“Right,” Lucius said.  He took a deep breath.  “Now, all of you, and
only
you, know the actual plans.  I'm going to personally brief Admiral Dreyfus and select members of his staff.  No one else is going to have the full picture.  We need to keep this very close, we simply
cannot
let this get out.  Given transit times, any scouts will see us launch our various attacks, they can estimate from there, but unless they have a force present, they can't act.”

“What about the Shadow Lords, do we just trust that they will hold, even if it looks like we'll take back Nova Roma?” Emperor Romulus IV asked.

Alicia Nix spoke up, “I've run some analysis, based off of food and fuel expenditures.  Even with refuel and resupply vessels, they can't stay on station much longer.  My guess is that they'll start to withdraw forces within the next sixty days.  Given the... unique method of their resupply and the fact that they have lost their main supplier in Nova Roma, I estimate that they can't afford to keep their fleets stationary for that period of time, not without weakening themselves so that one or another will attempt a surprise attack.”

“They will indubitably turn upon one another if even one of them seems weakened or overextended,” Reginald said.  “It is their nature, they are so given to their feuds at this point that even the fragile balance they have now cannot long last.”

His comment met with silence and Lucius spoke before anyone else could think of some other reason their plan couldn't work. 
As if I need them to add to the running list I've got in my head,
Lucius thought dryly.  “Very well.  Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your time.” 
Now the easy part... I just need to pull this off,
Lucius thought,
and key to that is seizing Danar
.

***

Garris Major System

Contested

October 19, 2403

Reese couldn't tell much, through the bag over his head, but it seemed like his captors had finally reached their destination.  He heard the muffled thumps as their ship docked.  A moment later, the low conversation between his two guards cut off as the hatch opened. 
Maybe this wasn't the best idea,
Reese thought to himself.

“Well, well, well,” a woman's light voice said.  “What have we here?”

Someone ripped the bag off Reese's head. 

He found himself staring into the eyes of Lucretta Mannetti.  Reese felt a wave of relief wash over him.  He gave her a smile and nodded his head, “Lady Kail, pardon my rudeness of not rising to properly greet you, but I'm a bit tied up.”

Despite herself, she gave a sharp laugh, “Ah, ever so charming, Reese.”  She shook her head, “And what brings Lucius Giovanni's brother-in-law to meet with me?”

Reese gave a slight shrug, “I see that, whoever your informant is, he doesn't keep you updated on everything.”  He took a deep breath, “I'm his
former
brother-in-law.”  He couldn't help a bitter twist to his lips.  “Alanis decided to choose her brother over her own damned husband.”

“Ah...” Lucretta Mannetti smirked, “No vengeance like a man made a fool of.  Tell me, did you try to dominate her, to bend her to your will?”

Reese shook his head, “Nothing like that!” He could admit that his tactics had been unorthodox, but he hadn't hit her, threatened her, or even implied that he would. 
Well, not until she revealed her true nature,
Reese thought darkly. “She wanted to...” he trailed off as he realized criticizing her desire to pursue a military occupation would not be the best form with this particular audience.  “Lucius manipulated her into joining the Academy, after we had decided to start a family.”