“Sound Red Alert,” I ordered, keying the intercom. “All hands to battle stations. I repeat, all hands to battle stations.”
The massive battleship had emerged from the wormhole beyond the moon, but that wouldn’t prevent Roger from hearing chapter and verse from the Secretary-General, or even from Captain Shalenko. How would he react? Roger was smart enough to see the flaws in the system, but unlike me, he had strong ties to the ruling class. Years ago, I would probably have trusted him, but after Muna…I no longer knew who I could trust. What side would Roger be on?
“Captain,” Samantha said, “I’m picking up encrypted signals from Earth to the Kofi Annan. I think they’re trying to warn her Captain of what’s happening here?”
“Damn you, Roger,” I muttered. Either through planning or a horrendous stroke of bad luck, he was in a position to reverse most of what we’d done. It would still be bloody — and the UN’s self-confidence would have taken a ghastly set of blows — but he might still come out ahead. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I looked down at the display. Seventeen starships were in excellent condition, but a handful, including Kitty’s ship, were damaged. Kitty had jumped out to the asteroids and wouldn’t have the slightest idea that something had gone badly wrong at Earth. By the time she knew, it would all be over unless I sent a ship after her…and, even so, she would still have to repair her weapons before she could intervene.
“Contact the fleet,” I ordered. “Order them to form up on us, apart from the Gabriele. She is to fly directly to the asteroids and inform them of what’s happening here.”
“Aye, sir,” Samantha said. “They’re acknowledging.”
The Kofi Annan’s icon seemed to dominate the display. I considered hailing him and trying to talk sense into him, but I needed the time to form up my small fleet. It looked as if our first battle was going to be our last, unless Roger decided to switch sides as well. I’d welcome him. He might be related to some of the most corrupt and vernal men in existence, but there was no doubting his competence. He wouldn’t have been able to keep command of the battleship without it.
I watched the fleet forming up on my flag. We were hopelessly ill-prepared, I realised. We hadn’t had a chance to practice operating as a fleet yet, let alone anything else. Some of the ships still had crewmembers who didn’t know what was going on, perhaps even people preparing to retake the bridges. I thought of Muna and Deborah and scowled. At least I had my dissidents in the brig. Muna had deserved better, somehow. I hadn’t realised just how loyal she was to the UN.
“Link us into the fleet communications system,” I ordered, quietly. The downloads from the other starships wouldn’t tell me what I needed to know. No one had bothered to set up a system to monitor the process of a mutiny and coup, a serious oversight. If we won the coming fight, we’d have to update the systems…hell, we’d have a lot to do. I knew hundreds of sections that needed improvements. I could build a real fleet without having to worry about pleasing the UN any longer.
And if Roger won? I’d die a free man, at least.
“Aye, sir,” Samantha said. I skimmed through the downloads quickly, trying to read between the lines. It was hard to be sure, but most of the starships seemed to be under firm control. I saw one data line and smiled. Luna Base had declared for us and there seemed to be fighting in some of the settlements. I just hoped that Luna City survived. The crewmen would never forgive me if it were destroyed in the fighting and all the women were sucked out into space. “They’re standing by.”
She broke off. “Captain, the Kofi Annan is hailing us,” she said. “They want to talk.”
“On screen,” I ordered. Roger’s image appeared in front of me. He looked older than I remembered — it had been three years since I’d seen him on Heinlein — but he also looked surprisingly competent. He wore dress uniform on his own bridge and carried a pistol at his belt. “Roger.”
“John,” he replied. He sounded tired and wan. “I don’t know what you have in mind, but it won’t work.”
“It will,” I said, pretending a confidence I didn’t feel. The battleship might have been an expensive waste of resources under normal circumstances, but the unique battle we were about to fight would play to its strengths. We couldn’t let it break the siege of Earth or the UN would be able to regain control of the orbiting stations. It would still trigger a civil war within the war, but that wouldn’t be much of an improvement. “Do you know how close Earth came to destruction three days ago?”
“No,” Roger said, flatly. “John, what you’re doing is treason against the human race itself. You’re turning your guns on the hands that created you and turned you into an officer in the Peace Force. What will happen to Earth if the Colonies manage to break free while we’re fighting a civil war?”
Wars are never civil, part of my mind whispered. “Roger,” I said, “three days ago, a Heinlein starship took out Asteroid One, after we took out — murdered — an entire city on their planet.” I thought about how many of the Political Class had been killed in the attack and shivered. If they’d remained alive, they would have been good hostages. “What happens next time? Will they sneak something through the defences that will kill the entire planet? It’s technically possible. You and I both know that this war is beyond being won, but it can be lost. What happens if no one says stop and makes it stick? How many people do you want to die?”
I leaned forward. “Do you remember,” I asked, “when we were both Lieutenants on Heinlein? I asked you if the war was worthwhile and you said that it was. You were wrong and the war has now reached the point where they can slaughter civilians in vast quantities as well. The war will keep stretching our system until it breaks completely. Why not join us instead?”
“Because…what you’re doing may not create something better,” Roger said. It dawned on me that our debate was public. The entire system would be listening to us arguing. “You might create something worse. Even if you don’t want to be Emperor yourself, someone else will take what you have created and try to build an empire on a pile of skulls. You might even be right and the Colonies will take advantage of the pause to hit back at us. John, please, give up. I can plead for leniency.”
“No,” I said. “I won’t betray everyone who died.”
Roger’s image vanished from the display. “I’m picking up targeting sweeps from the battleship and one of the cruisers,” Lieutenant Carolyn Lauderdale reported. She’d taken the tactical console after Muna had been…indisposed. “They’re powering up their weapons and making it very obvious.”
“Perhaps hoping that we would surrender,” I said, darkly. What was the other cruiser doing? Was it in the midst of an internal power struggle, or was something else going on? “Load missile bays and lock weapons on target. Prepare to engage the enemy.”
I looked over at Samantha. “The primary target is the Kofi Annan,” I added. There was little point in trying to coordinate the battle. We’d have to wing it and hope. Luckily, there was only one battleship in Roger’s force. He’d have to be lucky and we’d have to be unlucky. How much did he know? If he knew about the asteroids, what would he do? “Inform all ships. When we open fire, they are to engage and fire at will.”
“Aye, sir,” Samantha said. “They’re acknowledging.”