Tolwyn scanned the audience for a moment before continuing. “The name of the craftsman was Sindri. It’s the FRLN’s custom to name tenders after mythical smiths and craftsmen, and the tender we lost today was named for this mythic Norse character. Like the dark elf, we were plagued by flying insects…and they did more than just distract our Sindri. So I think it only appropriate that we call our ship after the weapon that Sindri made, marred perhaps but still a powerful force that will smite the enemies of the Landreich wherever we find them.
“Thor’s hammer was called ‘Mjollnir.’ And that is the name I think we should give to this ship, our war hammer. Our thunderbolt.“ He paused, milking the moment for all the drama he could draw. ”Ladies and gentlemen, I give you FRLS Mjollnir!”
The pronouncement was greeted with applause and even a few cheers. Bondarevsky smiled despite himself. Under ordinary circumstances such a choice of names wouldn’t have been likely to go over well. It was an awkward, archaic name, and drew on esoteric knowledge of ancient mythology. A bureaucrat assigning names from a computer list might have come up with it-that was surely how someone had arrived at something like Sindri in the first place-but it wasn’t the sort of name to inspire any enthusiasm or win contests among the crew.
Yet Tolwyn’s little speech had made it the perfect name for the carrier. Wherever they went, whatever they did, whichever battle honors they won in future encounters, they would always know that the name of their ship commemorated the thirty-two who had given their lives helping to forge a new weapon of war for the Landreich’s arsenal.
In a way the choice even honored Viking, the dead pilot, whose ancestors in Earth’s remote past had likely worshipped the god of Thunder and told stories of how he’d acquired his great weapon. Bondarevsky thought for a long moment, then allowed himself a brief nod of approval. It was fitting, however you looked at it.
FRLS Mjollnir…the Hammer of Thor.
Guild VIP Office, Guild Base
Hellhole, Hellhole System
1631 hours (CST), 2671.015
Hellhole had taken a pounding during the Kilrathi attack on the Landreich back in the days preceding the Battle of Earth. The Landreich base there had served as a field headquarters for the president’s personal task force, and when the Cats had launched their assault they’d devastated the tiny Landreich colony before they were turned back by the Free Republican Fleet. The harsh conditions on the planet coupled with the complete loss of the original colony had made resettlement a chancy proposition at best, and the Landreich’s government had decided against any such attempt.
That had suited Zachary Banfeld just fine. In fact, he had spread around plenty of money among the members of the Council to encourage them to vote down Kruger’s request to invest in a new outpost there. Hellhole’s strategic position squarely on the border between Landreich and the nearest Cat colony had made it useful to the Republic’s war effort. But that same position made it just as valuable to the Guild. Once it was certain the Landreich wouldn’t be coming back, Zachary Banfeld’s people had moved in to set up a base of their own on the single marginally habitable planet that circled the binary system.
Now, sitting at his desk in the office reserved for his use when he visited the Hellhole base, Banfeld was feeling frustration and worry. Bonadventure had brought him back after the abortive fighting at Vaku, and remained in orbit overhead. But though this base was a secret, known only to a few key men in his organization, Banfeld was concerned about the possible fallout from the failed attack.
“Are you sure you can’t get Highwayman ready any faster?” Banfeld demanded of the man sitting across from him. “The clock is ticking.”
“Can’t move any faster,” Antonio Delgado told him. The commander of the Guild’s secret base on Hellhole was a large man with a bristling black beard and swarthy skin. He accorded little respect to anyone, even the leader of the Guild, but he could get away with it. He was one of Banfeld’s best base commanders, even if he had joined up with the Guild less than three years back. Before that he’d been a mercenary resistance leader Banfeld’s people had dealt with during the Cat occupation of Siva. “Not if you want the cloak working. Three days, minimum.”
‘Three days,“ Banfeld repeated, getting to his feet and pacing restlessly across to the window that overlooked the tarmac where a small party of base workers were busy opening up the access ports along the sides and stern of the scoutship Highwayman. Banfeld knew Delgado was right about the estimated time to complete the work, but that didn’t make him any less anxious.
The battle in the Vaku system had shaken the privateer leader badly. After making his plans so carefully, his strike force had been thoroughly rebuffed, and a quarter of his best pilots had been lost before they’d been able to disengage from the unexpectedly potent supercarrier. Now there was no question of trying again, not with his available resources. Banfeld hadn’t become a power in this sector of space by throwing good money-or men-after bad. But the trouble was that there were sure to be people on that carrier who knew about Bonadventure. That meant his connection to the attack might come to light, and that would threaten his cozy position inside the Landreich.
And by the same token all the original reasons for taking that carrier out of action still remained. If the Landreich gained the upper hand in the arms race against Ukar dai Ragark, there was an end to the healthy profits the Guild had enjoyed. Especially if Max Kruger declared war on the Guild in retaliation for their attempt to hijack his pet project.
The only way to deflect the double threat was to get the Landreich embroiled in combat now. Kruger wouldn’t have time or resources enough to go after the Guild once he had Kilrathi ships knocking on his front door. In fact, he’d need the Guild, with its black market contacts and its pipeline to the arms dealers Kruger relied on back in the Confederation. It was just possible that by the time the dust cleared Max Kruger would owe too much to Banfeld to move against him…but only if Ragark struck now, before the Landreich could respond to the news of the attack on the supercarrier at Vaku.
There was only one way to guarantee that. Banfeld would have to reveal what he knew to the Cats. News of a supercarrier fitting out inside the Landreich, a Cat supercarrier at that, would probably be enough to goad even a cautious leader like Ragark into action. And, if not, there was that other tidbit of information, news that there was also an Imperial heir alive and well on that same vessel. That was sure to interest Ragark. And hopefully it would lead him to strike now, while he could still catch the carrier at Vaku and eliminate it with a raid in force.