Commodore Rupert Brent-Cochrane, on the other hand, was clearly enjoying Stacy’s discomfort. Brent-Cochrane — the name signified a pairing between two different branches of the Thousand Families — was young, ambitious and completely ruthless. He had carried out two scorching missions of worlds that had dared to rise in revolt against the Empire and ruled his crew with an iron hand. A tiny medal on his uniform marked him as a member of the Disciples of Gor, a cult that existed within the Thousand Families and some of their most trusted sycophants. Few knew for sure what they did behind closed doors, but some of the rumours were terrifying. The man might have been classically handsome — the result of expensive modifications by body-shapers — yet his eyes told the true story. The Commodore was even more of a sadist than Percival.
William Derbyshire, Imperial Intelligence’s Head of Station, looked uncomfortable and well he might, Penny knew. Imperial Intelligence had clearly failed badly, for they hadn’t detected the mutiny plot, let alone prevented it from being carried out. Percival would be looking for scapegoats and, unless Penny missed her guess, most of the blame would fall on Imperial Intelligence. They should have had agents onboard the Observation Squadron and none of them, it seemed, had picked up any hint of what was about to happen. It seemed, even, that most of the agents had been sent back to Camelot with Stacy Roosevelt.
“An entire superdreadnaught squadron lost to rebels,” Brent-Cochrane said, finally. He grinned nastily at Stacy. His connections were almost equal to hers — and, Penny had to admit, he was a great deal more competent. “What were you thinking?”
Stacy flinched under his smile. “I was carrying out orders from my family,” she said. It sounded weak, as if she was desperately searching for excuses. Penny doubted the grown-ups in the Roosevelt Family would be pleased when they heard what had happened. Instead of given them Jackson’s Folly, Stacy had given them a monumental embarrassment. “I was…”
She turned suddenly to look at Derbyshire. “Why didn’t Imperial Intelligence pick up on the plot?”
Derbyshire didn’t smile at her. “As yet, we have had no time to study the intelligence feed from the Observation Squadron,” he said. Penny knew that he meant he needed time to find a way to cover his ass. “However, if only a tiny fraction of the crew were involved, it would be very hard to pick up any warning before it was too late.”
“And then you let them board you,” Brent-Cochrane mocked. “What were you thinking?”
“There is no point in assigning blame now,” Admiral Percival said. Penny smiled inwardly, despite the throbbing pain on her cheek. Percival still needed the Roosevelt Family, needed them enough to cushion Stacy Roosevelt’s fall. “Our mission is simple. We have to destroy or recapture those superdreadnaughts before they wreak havoc.”
“I know,” Brent-Cochrane grinned. “We launch a flight of shuttles and claim that they are more rebels trying to escape…”
He broke off as Percival glared at him. “How exactly do we recover those ships?”
There was a long pause. The blunt truth, they all knew, was that Walker could be anywhere. By now, he could be in the next sector, or far beyond the Rim. He’d declared war on the Empire, which meant that he would have to keep attacking… but also that he would be able to choose the time and place of his attacks. In order to defeat his force, Percival would have to intercept it with one of his own superdreadnaught squadrons. Penny had run a brief comparison and realised that there were hundreds of possible targets… and only two superdreadnaught squadrons that could be deployed to cover them against enemy threats.
The smart thing to do, she knew, would be to call in help from one of the other sectors, but Percival had already rejected that suggestion. Indeed, he’d slapped her for even mentioning the possibility, for he would look extremely bad when his peers heard about the loss of the superdreadnaughts. If he could hunt down and destroy the rebels quickly, his reputation could be saved, but unless the rebels flew right into the teeth of Camelot’s defences — which was not likely to happen — it would prove impossible.
“The first priority is to deal with Jackson’s Folly,” Percival said. “They may have been involved in the mutiny; certainly, they used the planet as a base to plot their operations.” Penny, who knew that there was no intelligence even suggesting that possibility, held her tongue. “They have to be prevented from aiding the rebels any further.”
“So we scorch the planet and occupy the smaller worlds,” Brent-Cochrane suggested eagerly. “That would prevent them from being of any assistance.”
“No,” Percival said. Stacy looked as if she wanted to say something as well, but held her tongue. “We need the worlds intact and their populations alive.”
He straightened up. “Commodore Brent-Cochrane; you are ordered to take your superdreadnaughts to Jackson’s Folly and occupy the planet,” he said. “You will take with you four divisions of Security Division troops and additional squadrons of smaller ships — I will assign them to you tonight. The rebels may seek to engage your ships. If so, I expect you to defeat them and prevent Walker from causing any further harm.”
“Of course, Admiral,” Brent-Cochrane said.
“Penny, you will go with him,” Percival added. “I want a full report from you personally.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Penny said. She was almost relieved, for she had a hunch that there was more bad news to come. She didn’t want to be near Percival when it arrived. “I won’t let you down.”
Chapter Ten
“You do realise,” Anderson pointed out, “that this isn’t the most secure of places?”
Colin nodded. After supervising the transfer of the Annual Fleet’s cargo to Daria’s transports — most of the original transport crews had volunteered to join the rebels, rather than go back to the Empire and explain what had happened to the cargo — he’d taken the Shadow Fleet on a long trip out to the Rim, where they’d halted at a hidden facility belonging to the Freebooter’s League. Colin himself, however, had taken Shadow and travelled to Sanctuary, an asteroid habitat along the Rim. It was a black colony orbiting a dull red star — hence unknown to the Empire — but it was surprisingly populated.
But then, perhaps it wasn’t such a surprise. The Empire’s expansion had driven the independent colonies out ahead of it, past the Rim. Millions of humans lived in hidden colonies, some working with others to try to build a civilisation, others hidden away so well that not even their fellows knew that they were there. Colin remembered reading a report of a hidden colony of survivalists on a world the Empire had settled, only stumbling over the colony by accident. The Rim might be dark and cold, at least according to the Empire’s propaganda, yet it teemed with life.
Daria had promised that she would put the word out along the Rim, once the Shadow Fleet became a fleet in truth. Since Colin had arrived, he’d spent time chatting to everyone who was interested, including representatives from other hidden colonies and settlements, some of whom were tired of hiding. He hadn’t realised just how many starships there were along the Rim, all of whom were completely off the books as far as the Empire was concerned, or how much trade there was between the Rim and the colonies at the very edge of the Empire. The massive Family-owned shipping lines might not call at the black colonies, but other starships did, their crews colluding with independent colonies to keep them alive. Some of them, Daria had admitted, were pirates, although the line between good and evil blurred along the Rim. If pirates brought life-saving supplies to hidden colonies — or even poor legal colonies — no one was going to question where it had come from. Besides, sticking it to the Empire was a tradition along the Rim.