She placed a hand on each of the two dead men. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry.” The sun felt warm on her face. She closed her eyes and waited for word that Four Corners had been taken.
Chapter 11
P.D. 948
Emily’s Personal Journal
I lost two men today.
I think I will remember their faces for the rest of my life.
Chapter 12
P.D. 951
The Conspirators
On Darwin
The admirals from the Tilleke Empire, Dominion of Unified Citizenry and Cape Breton met in the same hotel in Darwin to plan the war. They all dressed in civilian clothes, but there was no mistaking what they were: men and women who had spent their lives in the military, accustomed to command. This was their third meeting, and it would be their last. After today there would be no more meetings, just a signal. A simple, coded signal to launch the greatest war in the history of the League of Human Worlds. They had given the operation a code name now, ‘Family Reunion.’
As always, Michael Hudis chaired the meeting, but said as little as possible. He was not a military man and did not pretend to know the admirals’ task better than they did. The meeting was cluttered with the warp and the woof of the fabric of war: signal codes, routes, target designations, designation of attack forces, endless logistics, and chains of command. The task of coordinating three different forces that would be fighting in at least two separate sectors was a formidable task, but that did not make it any more interesting to the civilian observer.
Finally there was a pause. “You still haven’t told us about your new weapon,” Hudis remarked to the Tilleke admiral.
The Tilleke admiral was a tall, handsome man and a member of the royal family, Hudis couldn’t remember what — a count or a duke or something.
“Nor will I now, Citizen Secretary,” the admiral replied. “It works, that is all you need know.”
“You’ve tested it then?” Hudis pressed.
The admiral nodded. “Oh, more than tested it, Citizen Secretary. We have actually used it. Just last month. The operation was quite successful. When the time comes the Vickies will be in for a nasty surprise.”
Hudis filed this away, and made a mental note to review the news for reports of missing ships within the last sixty days. “Your Emperor realizes that during the next few months the public statements of the Dominion will be increasingly hostile and belligerent towards the Tilleke Empire?”
“Yes, yes, we’ve been through this before,” the Tilleke admiral said impatiently. “We have no doubt the Vickies will believe every word of it. Arrogant fools.”
“You should be thankful the Vickies are so arrogant,’ Hudis said. “That is how we are going to beat them.”
The admiral leaned forward. “Emperor Chalabi remains concerned that other nations might intervene at an inopportune moment. Our intelligence operatives have not discovered anything, but we acknowledge that our spy network is not as extensive as the Dominion’s.”
Hudis paused a moment while a servant entered the room to refresh their drinks. The man, goggle-eyed behind thick glasses, topped off water glasses and put out a fresh bottle of cold white wine. He fussed over the table until one of the admirals snapped at him: “That’s enough, man. Get out and don’t bother us again!” The servant bowed hastily and withdrew, apologizing as he went.
There are only three other nations of note,” Hudis continued. “Sybil Head and the Sultenic Empire will sit on the sidelines as long as there are no attacks on their principal planets. There is even some chance the Sultenics could be persuaded to side with us if we are doing well, but if things go as planned they will not have time to mobilize.
“Refuge will side with the Vickies, but we’ve known that all along. Their navy is small, however, and by the time they mobilize, the fate of Victoria will have been decided.”
The admiral frowned. “There is a fourth nation, The Light. What of them?” he queried.
Hudis barked out a short laugh. “The Light? A bunch of religious fanatics with a small navy made up of small ships. They’re not a serious threat!”
The Tilleke cocked his head thoughtfully. “Hmmm…we have had dealings with The Light. They can be quite…nettlesome.”
Hudis snorted in derision. “How many battleships do they have? How many cruisers?”
The Cape Breton admiral had been listening. “Oh, The Light has a military force, all right, but their entire doctrine is defensive, not aggressive. They have enough forts and ships to make invading The Light like wrestling with a porcupine; you can win, but you might regret it later.”
“And your fleet building?” asked the Tilleke admiral. “Is the Dominion on schedule?”
“Our fleet will be twice as large as the Vickies think it is by the time we launch the attack,” Hudis said, unable to keep a note of smugness out of his voice. “When we give you the signal, we will be ready to attack Victoria from two fronts, while the Tilleke Empire deals with the Vickie fleet that goes to rescue the Arcadians.”
“And don’t forget our force,” said the Cape Breton admiral. “It won’t be as large as yours, Citizen Secretary, but it will give the attack a formidable edge.” This was overt posturing, of course. Cape Breton would supply access to the worm hole into Victorian space and some supply ships, but its navy was small and antiquated.
The meeting broke up. One by one, Hudis shook the hands of the foreign admirals, except for the Tilleke admiral, who would have been repulsed by the idea of touching a commoner. “This is our moment,” he told them. “Our time to strike against the Vickie oppressors, to take our rightful place. All of us our depending on you. Don’t fail us.” And then they were gone, leaving only Hudis and Admiral Mello, leader of the Dominion Space Fleet. Admiral Mello shared the brusqueness of his soldiers.
“Pretty words, Citizen Secretary,” he said. His rolling vowels gave away his upbringing in the streets of Cape Town, a coal mining region in Timor. “But it doesn’t change the fact that if the Vickies have one fucking whiff of what we’re up to, it will be us who’s walking into a trap, not them.”
Hudis shrugged. “Security is good, Admiral. Less than fifty people in three nations know about this. And no one else will know until the operation begins.”
The admiral was not placated. “It also doesn’t change the fact that even if the plan works, our force will still be smaller than the Vickies’.
Hudis said: “Well, Admiral, when you are small force attacking a larger adversary, it is always important to remember the first rule of military strategy.”
The admiral looked puzzled.
Hudis smiled humorlessly. “The first and most important rule, admiraclass="underline" If you take on a bigger adversary, you’d better win.”
• • • • •
When Hudis returned to his suite, he was not surprised to find Colonel Inger from the Dominion Security Directorate waiting for him. Hudis knew what he was there for and looked sourly at him.
“How many this time, Colonel?”
Colonel Inger made a show of looking at his notes. “Three, Citizen Secretary. Perhaps four.”
“Who?” Hudis demanded.
“Two drivers who have seen the Cape Breton people. And the waiter.”
Hudis had a fleeting image of the thin waiter with thick glasses and receding hair who had hovered over the tables. “Well, which is it, have we been infiltrated or are you going to murder three people because you think they might be spies?”