“I know.” Iceni ran one hand through her hair. “It could also be a trap, with mines set to hit anything coming out of the jump point at Kane. But I don’t see any alternative. The prize is just too big. We cannot afford to hesitate.”
Drakon eyed her. “So what’s the problem?”
“There are two.” Her eyes were on his again. “I’ll have to take almost every warship that we’ve got. I’ll leave one HuK as a courier to let me know if disaster strikes here while I’m gone. You’ll be practically defenseless if any other mobile forces show up. And I need to command this mission personally. I think I can trust Sub-CEO Marphissa, but the stakes are too high to risk that she might be tempted to make her own use of that battleship, and she has never commanded a flotilla in action.”
“You need to go personally.” So that was it. “Meaning, you leave me alone here in this star system.”
“Exactly.”
Drakon shrugged. “If you come back with a battleship, then it doesn’t matter what games I might have played in your absence. You’ll have the winning hand.”
“And if there’s no battleship there? Or if it has already got enough weapons active that I can’t take it and come back only with what I took, or even less if I lose some warships, then what?”
He leaned back, rubbing his lower face with one hand. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
Iceni exhaled heavily. “Let’s go over that last statement of yours again, General Drakon, so you can let me know if there’s any portion of it that would give you pause if I had said it to you.”
“That ‘trust’ word might give me some trouble.” Drakon spread his hands. “I can’t give you any hostages that you would think tied my hands. I could promise to not betray you, but what’s the promise of a CEO worth? Mine is actually good, which is why I rarely give it, but I know you have no reason to accept that. I have played straight with you.”
“As far as I know.”
“What’s the alternative, Madam President? We both sit here in this star system, holding guns on each other, until a big enough flotilla from Prime shows up to screw both of us? That’s assuming whoever wins at Taroa doesn’t decide it would be nice to control a hypernet gate and sends that battleship to take over here before the Syndicate Worlds government can get around to it.”
Iceni looked at her hands where they rested on the table’s surface, then back at him. “What do you want for this star system, General Drakon?”
There were many possible answers, most of which would be lies or misdirection. He looked back at her, deciding to answer with as close to the truth as he himself understood it. “Something better than I grew up with. Something worth dying for if it comes to that.”
“I know your record. There have been many times that you could have died for the Syndicate Worlds.”
“And that would have annoyed me. Seriously. Hell, I didn’t care about the Syndicate Worlds. I was trying to protect people I cared about even if they were dozens or hundreds of light-years distant. I didn’t have any choice.” Drakon made an angry and helpless gesture, remembering those years. “Now I do. I want to care about what I’m fighting for. I don’t know exactly what that is. Getting rid of the snakes and the rest of the Syndicate control was an immediate necessity, something I could plan and do, but after that… I’m still figuring that out.”
She watched him silently for so long that he wondered about saying something else. “I am afraid of you, General Drakon,” Iceni finally said. “I am afraid of what you might make me do. I don’t want to see this star system destroyed.”
“I don’t either.” Drakon tapped the table surface for emphasis as he spoke. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“No.”
“Then, as long as there’s any chance of your coming back with a battleship under your control, why would I be dumb enough to try taking over in your absence? Let’s be totally pragmatic here. If I wanted to take over, the first thing I’d have to do is kill you. That way, I have a chance to get the mobile forces, the warships, on my side. Without them, my position is untenable.”
Iceni smiled. “You’ve obviously thought about how to get rid of me.”
“Are you trying to claim that you haven’t thought about what it would take to eliminate me as a rival? The point is, once you leave this star system, I can’t touch you. That means the best way for you to ensure that I don’t take over is to leave. It doesn’t make you vulnerable, it makes you invulnerable as far as I’m concerned.”
She stared at him, then laughed. “General, your logic cannot be faulted.”
“When do you leave? And do we let the citizens know?”
“As soon as possible, and… there are good arguments for telling them and good arguments for keeping them in the dark.” Iceni’s eyes were back on the star display. “If I can’t be found, too many people will conclude that General Drakon might have disposed of the competition. Once my flotilla jumps for Kane, I will have my own staff tell the citizens that I am leaving on a special mission to…”
“Try to bring peace to our neighbors?” Drakon asked mockingly.
“Oh, that’s good. Yes. A mission of mercy.”
“I wasn’t serious. What happens when you get back, and they learn that you were actually on a snatch-and-grab mission for a battleship?”
Iceni smiled at him again. “I’ll have a battleship. Why should I care how anyone feels?”
This time, Drakon didn’t return the smile. “Anyone? Including me? You’ll have a huge amount of firepower under your control.”
“Yes. You’ll just have to trust me.”
At least she didn’t use a derisive tone when she quoted him. “What are you going to use to capture it? Assault parties from the crews of the mobile forces?”
“What can you give me?” Iceni asked.
“A lot more than you can use. Can you bring up the current status on your mobile forces?” Drakon studied the information as it popped up on the display. “Very limited free berthing capacity, and you’ll only be able to haul three shuttles with you. I recommend providing you with three squads of special forces. That’s way too few to tackle the crew of a fully operational battleship, but if this one is still working with a skeleton crew it should be enough.”
“I will accept your recommendation,” Iceni said. “Who will command your special forces?”
“Normally a force that small would be commanded by a lieutenant or a captain at the most.” He saw her uncertainty at the new titles. “That would be subexecutive or junior-executive rank. But you need someone senior enough to be in control of a battleship, someone we have no doubt of in terms of loyalty and reliability, and the more experienced the better.”
Drakon paused to think again. Normally, he would be considering sending either Morgan or Malin, but Morgan was still acting too much like a loose cannon at the moment, and after Malin’s actions during the assault on the orbital facility Drakon didn’t feel comfortable having him out of sight for a while. “Colonel Rogero. He’s the best for this. Aggressive and capable, as reliable as they come, and his subordinates won’t have any problems handling his area of responsibility down here until he gets back.”
“Rogero?” Iceni questioned. “Reliable?”
She knew about the Alliance battle cruiser commander. Drakon had briefed Iceni on that when the message had come for Rogero while Black Jack’s fleet was here. “Absolutely.”
“What about your other senior commanders?”