"I'm sorry, sir, that's not the way it's going to be. Those are colonial fighters and I'm not going to go back and tell Kruger that we ditched them to save a surveillance computer which has already done its job. Beyond that, if we don't have those fighters for the run back home, I don't think we'll make it. We've put a real burr in the ear of the Cats and they'll want our hides as vengeance. This is going to be a running fight all the way home."
"Listen, son, I hate to pull rank, but I think you should know I'm a full admiral in the fleet."
"I know that, sir, but I am captain of this ship."
Vance looked at him appraisingly and after a brief span of seconds, which to Jason seemed like an eternity, a thin smile creased Admiral Vance Richards' face.
"Aye aye, sir. I'll have a landing area cleared."
Jason inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, sir," and he headed back to the bridge.
"Message for you, sir."
Jason nodded and went over to the communications officer and saw that Paladin had established a laser link.
"Thanks, laddie."
Jason sensed that something wasn't right.
"Are you all right?"
Paladin nodded and then lowered his head for a second.
"Jason. Ian's gone."
Jason felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. He stood silent
"I told the lad to run for it, he stayed to get me out instead. They burned him with a missile spread meant for me."
"Damn it all to hell," Jason whispered.
"Aye, lad, damn all of it," Paladin sighed.
There was a moment of silence and then Paladin finally stirred.
"By the way, did you get the message out?"
"On its way."
"I think the old proverbial manure is about to hit the fan when that arrives."
"It's only just started," Jason replied coldly, remembering the holo display of the new Kilrathi carriers. He realized that chances were they might already be heading to Earth. The armistice was a fraud as he always knew it was, and by falling for it, the Confederation might very well have lost the war. But for the moment it was hard to think of that. He had just lost one of his closest friends and that was all that he could grasp.
"Sire, there has been an accident."
Jukaga looked up from his desk at the aide who was bowed low, trembling.
"Go on."
"Sire, we've just received a burst signal that the Emperor's personal cruiser suffered a reactor detonation, and that all aboard are lost."
"Oh, really, how tragic."
The aide looked up at him, confused by his tone.
"You are dismissed," and he turned away, barely able to hide a flashing of teeth in satisfaction. So it had worked as planned. Getting a reactor fuel tube aboard, with the tiniest of pinholes drilled into it, had been a chore. The fuel rod had been a trick thought up years ago, the idea being to have smuggler craft carry it into the frontier region and sell them off, with the hope that the rods would eventually wind up on Confederation ships. The rod would then rupture in the white hot heat of the pulse engine reactor and cause a chain reaction detonation. The idea never worked, but he always remembered where they were stockpiled while everyone else forgot. It had taken a little maneuvering of computer shipping files to get it into the right place, knowing that the Emperor's ship never left Kilrah without an entirely new load of rods on board.
He smiled. Yes, that had been masterful, and it helped when one of your own deep agents worked on ship maintenance. Fortunately, the poor fool never even really knew what he was doing, which made the plan leak-proof.
A moment later there was a flurry of angry roars in the corridor outside. As he stood up the door slammed open.
Prince Thrakhath strode into the room.
Baron Jukaga knew that in spite of all his effort at self-control his mane was bristling with fear. He struggled to bring it under control.
"Surprised to see me?" Thrakhath growled.
Jukaga stood, speechless and then finally recovered.
"I just heard of the tragedy, the Emperor?"
Better than you had hoped for," Thrakhath snarled.
"Whatever do you mean, my Prince?" Jukaga replied, angry with himself that there was the slightest of tremors in his voice.
"That is for you to figure out," Thrakhath stated coldly.
"I don t understand what you are moving towards.
Thrakhath stood silent, eyeing him coldly. He could see the Baron regain his self control. What was enraging was the simple fact that the Emperor, through intuition or information had suspected that his ship would be destroyed, but as to how it would be done they had never figured out, and still did not know and most likely never would. His only real hope had been to so startle the Baron as to make him say something foolish and incriminating and that, Thrakhath could already see, had failed. It was obvious now that the Baron will claim that he was being blamed unjustly. If directly accused, the other clans might very well rally to his side as they had once before after Vukar.
Thrakhath snarled angrily, seeing that his bluff had failed.
Thrakhath, still glaring at Jukaga, waited for him to speak.
"What are these two reports I just received," Jukaga finally said, motioning to his comm screen. "regarding a bombing on Earth and that the spy ship was located too late before it sent a burst signal out?"
"It means that we have to move for war now."
"That is madness," Jukaga snapped, regaining his full composure. "The plan called for another four and a half eight-of-eights of days."
"Impossible now," Thrakhath replied. "Many of the humans are already blaming us for the bombing, and with the information regarding our fleet it means a renewal of war."
Thrakhath smiled.
"And an end to your weak scheming."
"What is the truth about this bombing?" Jukaga asked coldly.
"Oh, undoubtedly one of their own did it and then will blame it on us. Perhaps the attempt on the Emperor can be linked to it."
Jukaga hesitated.
"They would never do that, kill their own military leaders like that. There's more to it than that."
"Are you accusing me?" Thrakhath snapped.
Jukaga looked at him coldly but knew it was best to back off.
"And how did this signal get out? We suspected the carrier was in that system and we knew that their scout ship was running back towards it. How could this have happened? There should have been a carrier and a full cruiser squadron there."
"And are you accusing me of a fault in that as well?" Thrakhath asked quietly.
"You don't understand at all, do you?" Jukaga finally replied. "If we had but waited the year, they would have fallen into our hands, weak and divided. Now, they will feel nothing but rage at a betrayal of their trust, they will fight with a fanaticism you have never seen.
"Remember I warned your father and uncle of this back when the war started and they so foolishly decided to open with a surprise attack."
"Then it is your job to disarm them of this fanaticism, and if you fail and they do not submit . . ."
"Then what?" Jukaga snarled
"I will annihilate their worlds and no one will be left alive, no one, and you will be responsible."
CHAPTER NINE
"Show that transmission from Tarawa on the main holo."
"Big Duke" Grecko, the Marine general of the Joint Chiefs and the only survivor of the explosion, settled back painfully in his chair. Geoff Tolwyn looked over at him anxiously. The bleeding from the lacerations to his back and neck had soaked through the bandages and his shirt, staining the khaki a dark red. Geoff wanted to say something but knew it was useless. Grecko was a Marine, and would bite the head off of anyone who tried to show sympathy.