“Both. If that’s—”
“It’s fine. After you talk to the citizens up here and get me that information on the hull that’s under construction, feel free to talk to citizens down on the planet. Let your people know that you’re all right. By the time you talk to them, I’ll have let the Free Taroans know why we’re here.”
Drakon took a few moments to check out his appearance, trying to look impressive but not too intimidating. The Free Taroans had open comm links, of course, broadcasting their propaganda and seeking recruits. Drakon’s comm software easily hijacked one of the those circuits. “This is General Drakon of the Midway Independent Star System. My soldiers now control the primary orbiting dockyard in this star system. We have come here to assist the Free Taroans. The leaders of the Free Taroans are to contact me as soon as possible using this circuit.”
That ought to produce a quick reaction.
How the Free Taroans would react to this unasked-for help had been the biggest variable in the planning. If the Free Taroans balked, if they were more afraid of Drakon’s aid than they were eager to win, then things might get a bit complicated when he insisted on holding on to the docks.
He would have to wait and see. There were some things that couldn’t be solved with soldiers.
Chapter Sixteen
The response from the Free Taroans took about half an hour, about what he had expected from a group that seemed to think voting on everything was the way to do business.
He recognized the woman who answered, but in that haven’t-I-seen-her-before way rather than precise identification.
She saluted him. “Sub-CEO Kamara. I once served in a force under your command, General Drakon.”
Kamara? Now he remembered. Not the finest sub-CEO that he had ever worked with, but far from the worst. She had been good enough to impress herself on his memory. “You’ve joined the Free Taroans?”
“Yes. A number of the Syndicate troops did. We’re tired of being slaves.” She said that pointedly, eyeing Drakon as if it were a challenge.
“I’m not interested in becoming anyone’s new master,” he assured Kamara. “I brought forces to help the Free Taroans win here.”
“That comes as a great surprise to us. Naturally, we’re worried about other surprises. What is expected in exchange for your aid?”
Drakon smiled grimly. “What we get from the deal is simple. We win when you win. Midway doesn’t want the snakes to achieve victory here. I shouldn’t have to explain why. What we’ve heard of the third faction here makes it sound like they would be as bad as the snakes as far as we’re concerned. Taroa is our neighboring star system. We’d like it controlled by someone we can work with.”
“That’s it?” Kamara’s skepticism was clear.
“There are no preconditions though we’ll be interested in negotiating agreements once the Free Taroans are in power.”
“What about the docks?” Kamara pressed.
Drakon shrugged in a show of disinterest. He didn’t want to get into his and Iceni’s intentions for the docks until after the Free Taroans had committed themselves. “We’re also here to recruit workers. Shipyard workers, specialists, that kind of thing. No draft. No slave labor. Hiring. If someone wants to come back with us on those terms, I don’t want the Free Taroans telling them they can’t.”
Kamara didn’t answer for a while. “Of all the CEOs I worked with,” she finally said, “you were the only one who actually put himself on the line for his workers. Even though my common sense is telling me that you’re only doing this because it’s part of some scheme to control us, I don’t think we can afford to turn down this opportunity. Nor can we prevent citizens who want to accept your offer of employment from taking that offer as long as it is actually a free decision on their part. But I don’t have any final say. I’ll discuss it with the interim congress, and we’ll let you know our decision. How many troops do you have here?”
“Right now I have about half of one brigade.”
“Only half of a brigade? That’s not much, but it might be enough—” Her eyes shifted to one side. “We just spotted a force arriving at the jump point from Midway.”
“Right,” Drakon agreed, pleased that the others had finally shown up. “A heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, four Hunter-Killers, and five modified freighters carrying another two and a half brigades of troops.”
Kamara watched him, tension back in her posture. “That’s a substantial force. Enough to give anyone the edge here. I assume that if the Free Taroans don’t agree to accept your aid, you’ll offer it elsewhere?”
Drakon shook his head. “No. I told you. The Free Taroans are the only group here that we’re interested in helping.”
“And if we win with your help? How many of those soldiers stay?”
“On your planet? None of them.” This dock, on the other hand… “We need them back at Midway when they’re done here.”
Another pause, then Kamara made a helpless gesture. “We probably have no choice but to believe you. Are we allowed to speak with anyone up there? Any of the citizens?”
“Sure. Why not? The snakes managed to kill a few of the workers here before we got them all, but everyone else is safe. I’ve had the place locked down while we ensured everything was secure, but I’ve started lifting that. I’ll lift the comm restrictions, too.”
“I will talk to the congress,” Kamara said, but this time her tones carried more conviction.
Long ago, a large staff might have been required to plan and coordinate the movements of almost three brigades of soldiers from the orbital facility to the planet’s surface. But that kind of housekeeping work was what automated systems excelled at since the variables were few. Plug in current force data listing troops and equipment, shuttles and freighters, and the locations of all those, then let the software produce a detailed solution, issue the necessary instructions, and monitor progress. Malin and Morgan could easily keep an eye on everything to see if glitches developed and still have plenty of time to assist Drakon with other planning that was made much more complex by unpredictable human behavior.
The headquarters of the Free Taroans had once been that of the Syndicate Worlds planetary forces, so it was well fitted out, though much of the equipment was older than that at the facilities on Midway since Taroa didn’t have the strategic importance or the priorities for upgrades that provided.
Drakon looked at a map floating above the table in the main command center. The virtual globe slowly rotating beside it allowed someone to choose an area to zoom in on and change the area shown on the map, but it was set to show most of the occupied southern continent. Taroa’s northern continent was big, but so high in latitude that it consisted of frozen desert plains and glacier-choked mountains. Aside from a few research and rescue stations with only a small number of occupants, no one lived there.
The populace so far had stayed on the much more pleasant southern continent, which straddled the planet’s equator. At some point in the not-too-distant past as measured by the life of worlds, something had ripped the planet’s surface there, causing masses of lava to boil up and form that new continent. Life had recovered from what must have been a catastrophic event by the time humans arrived to find a continent filled with knife-edged volcanic mountains and hills that separated lushly forested valleys.
“Screwed-up place to fight a war,” Morgan commented. “You take one little valley, and there’s a natural wall protecting the next.”
Sub-CEO Kamara nodded. “That’s one of the things that has kept us stalemated. It’s very easy to defend the ground on this planet. The airlift available to us and the other groups got knocked out early, so we couldn’t leapfrog over the ridges. A lot of the slopes between valleys are too steep even for armor to get up them, so it’s foot soldiers slugging it out meter by meter, up one ridge and down the next. It doesn’t take many ridges before you run out of foot soldiers.”