“There are plenty of reasons, starting with the fact that something like that could ruin the whole plan before it gets off the ground,” Williams said harshly. “If he strikes too soon, out of panic or some misguided notion of protecting Kilrathi honor or whatever the hell it is that makes Cats like him tick, we could be right royally screwed. What if he didn’t get the carrier, either? Or what if he did, but lost too many of his own resources to follow through with an attack on Landreich? A strike into Landreich space that didn’t result in a clear-cut victory for Ragark-and I’m talking about taking the Landreich system itself, not just grabbing up outlying outposts or winning a couple of minor engagements-an attack that didn’t overrun this part of the frontier could trigger Confederation intervention before we have a chance to build the case against the government and launch our coup. Then we’d be back where we were when Blair took out Kilrah with the T-Bomb.” He paused. “And don’t forget that our pirate friend has another secret to sell. Us.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that Ragark wouldn’t like it at all if he found out we were trying to manipulate him into an attack. If Banfeld told him about Belisarius, and what he knows about what we’ve been doing the last few months, Ragark might back off entirely. And that would be even worse than letting him go off half-cocked.”
“Yeah, I see your point.” Mancini nodded. “Ragark’s predictable within certain narrow limits, but there’s no telling how he might react if any of this other stuff comes out. Okay, we don’t want him going to Ragark. How do we stop him? Your man Delgado?”
Williams shook his head. “Not a chance. Banfeld’s too canny to be caught by a lone assassin, and he’s well-protected. Delgado would turn down an order like that cold, and I’m not sure I’d blame him.”
“What, then? We don’t have the resources to stop him.”
“No, we don’t.” Williams allowed a cold smile to crease his puffy features. “But the Landreichers do. And they’ve got plenty of motivation, too, after the attack at Vaku.”
“But they don’t know…”
“That can change. Easily.” Williams showed his teeth in an expression that reminded Mancini uncomfortably of a Kilrathi warrior anticipating a killing. “We leak what we know about the Hellhole base to one of our people in Kruger’s government. He passes it on to the Navy, and Kruger sends his fleet in to smash Hellhole before Banfeld gets away. We’ve got a narrow window to make it work, but Delgado will buy us as much time as he can.”
“That could work,” Mancini said. “Who do we own in the government who could do the job for us?”
“We don’t own him, but I think Councilman Galbraith is the man. His son’s a captain in the Navy, and they’re both ambitious as hell. I’m sure they’d both be pleased if they could be the ones responsible for evening the score for that tender that was lost.”
“Not bad…” Mancini paused, a wolfish smile lighting up his own face. “Not bad at all, Commissioner. We can also use this to our own advantage, maybe help the plan along a little.”
“Oh? Tell me.” Williams leaned forward again, intrigued. He’d been improvising his way out of a crisis, but it sounded as if Mancini saw something even better.
“For months we’ve been doing our best to counter Kruger’s claims of Kilrathi raiding by building a case for pirates operating on both sides of the border. Now we’ve had a demonstrable pirate attack on a unit of the republican fleet, and the people involved-Tolwyn, Richards, Bondarevsky, and so forth-are unimpeachable witnesses. All we need to make the case perfect is a real, live pirate base and a genuine pirate leader, Banfeld. It’ll go a long way towards making our whole case for us.”
“Very good, Colonel,” Williams said with a smile. “Excellent. If we could go a step further and stir up some political opposition to Max Kruger as a result of it all, we might even be able to sidestep the whole mess with the carrier at Vaku. Let them think he’s been directing all his energies-and all the Landreich’s resources-against the wrong opponents after all.”
Mancini gave a nod. “That’s one option. As close to bankruptcy as Kruger’s government already is, how do you think the Council would react if they found out what he’s been investing in? The refit on that supercarrier must be costing a fortune. Their factory ship alone represents a major investment that ought to be earning its keep instead of producing spare parts for a derelict. Not to mention the money Kruger’s been spending to bring in surplus ConFleet ships and high-priced outside talent.”
“Councilman Galbraith’s the man to use, for this part of the operation as well as the other,” Williams said slowly. “He’s already miffed that Kruger’s been bringing in people like Tolwyn and Bondarevsky. Makes his son’s career that much less spectacular, and Old Man Galbraith’s got political ambitions for his son the would-be naval hero. Probably figures on having Kenny win some spectacular fight and then beat Kruger in an election, with Daddy pulling the strings afterward. Might just work, if Kenny can manage to land the op that takes out Hellhole.”
“So…we leak what we know to Galbraith and let him ask some hard questions in Council about the carrier and some of the other rearmament policies.” Mancini rubbed his jaw. “Do you think the Council will really pull the plug on him? The war party’s still strong. Hell, Galbraith’s no pacifist. He just wants to squeeze out Max.”
“It doesn’t really matter what the final vote is,” Williams said. “The point is, it’ll slow things down all around. Kruger will be facing a political crisis and won’t dare throw any more resources at the carrier until there’s some land of decision. And more delays give Ragark more time to get his plans in motion.” He paused. “Sounds like our best plan. By God, Mancini, we might pull this off yet. Even if we did damn near lose it all to Zack Banfeld.”
Commander’s Office, Guild Base
Hellhole, Hellhole System
2330 hours (CST)
The door to the office swung open soundlessly, and the figure silhouetted against the lights out on the tarmac stood for a moment as if unsure of what to do next. After a moment he let the door close behind him and hit the locking stud. Only then did his fingers touch the light plate. When nothing happened he started to curse in Spanish.
“Please, Antonio, such language,” Zachary Banfeld said quietly. “There’s nothing wrong with the lights. I just overrode the wall plate from here.” He tapped a control on Delgado’s desk, and the lights came up bright.
Delgado gaped at the laser pistol Banfeld held trained on him with an unwavering aim.
“What-what do you think you’re doing?”
Banfeld smiled. “All your precautions, Antonio, and you didn’t think that I could monitor your power usage, did you? When I found out you were making a hypercast so soon after our meeting this afternoon, I just had to know who you were sending to.” He shook his head. “It took time to get the back traffic downloaded from the comm satellite at the jump point…and even longer to crack your codes. But once we had your message to Williams, well…” He shrugged, but the barrel of the laser pistol didn’t shift at all. “Three days to bring the Highwayman’s stealth systems back up to standard, eh? Imagine the shock when the work crew discovered that you had simply tampered with the control mechanisms, and the stealth generators turned out to be fine after all. I can leave tomorrow…”
The traitor’s eyes flicked toward the comm gear.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m told we can produce an excellent computer simulacrum to keep your friends Williams and Mancini quite happy. You’ll continue to make reports as needed.” Banfeld paused. “I wish I didn’t have to leave so quickly, Antonio. I’m sure a few days with our persuasion specialists will have you eager to spill everything you’ve given away about Guild activities. But I really do have to be on my way, so I’ll have to defer the pleasure of listening to you scream until I get back.”