Micah still had a problem. He had shut down all illegal operations, but there would be traces. He had gone out of his way to cover his own tracks, but he was painfully aware that others hadn't been so careful. At the least, he could be caught in the undertow when they were sucked down. In addition, there was always the chance that one of the others had gathered evidence on Micah to use as a bargaining chip.
Even if he were not directly implicated, Chu-Lo would use it as an excuse to cashier him; and without his Fleet retirement pay as cover, it would be difficult to enjoy his hard-earned money.
He'd done what he could. The only subspace comm on Thaeron was in Micah's office, and Micah made sure it was secure. He'd contracted some of his illegal contacts to upgrade the office's security so even they couldn't penetrate it. It'd been expensive, but he'd run tests using his Marine infiltrators. Nobody would get into that office without Micah's knowledge.
That meant any agents' reports would have to be sent through normal channels; i.e. by mail sent by ship; and Micah had the outgoing mail scanned before being forwarded. He'd already identified six FIS agents, and intercepted their reports. So far, they didn't have anything solid on him. That wouldn't last, though. Sooner, rather than later, those FIS agents were going to turn up solid evidence on somebody, and the wall of silence would begin to crumble.
The Emperor's conspiracy had come at just the right moment. A lot could happen when the shooting started. Records could be lost or damaged. People could be killed.
Above all, no one would be pursuing any investigations until the shooting stopped — if there were any evidence left when the shooting stopped. Or any investigators.
He shrugged and dismissed the matter from his mind. Instead, he focused on the impact of his intervention in the Emperor's plans. The Emperor would be furious, of course. But he would be trapped. He couldn't admit that he'd been plotting with a Sector Viceroy to give away an entire sector without consulting the imperial senate. Not without Cord to speak for him.
No, Eron XXIV would have to grit his teeth and pretend to be grateful to have a rebellion put down. Micah tried to visualize the Emperor's face as he awarded Micah the Imperial Star for spoiling his plans. He chuckled. Not only could he bury any evidence of — and witnesses to — his illegal activities, but he would actually be doing his duty as a Fleet officer; preventing the loss of an entire sector. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the latter factor meant as much to him as the former.
Micah and Van-Lyn waded into a flurry of activity. They had to make sure that all of the ships were battle-ready. No skimming, no substandard supplies, no disappearing inventory. Oh, Micah didn't expect much fighting, at least not in space. He shouldn't have to invade every inhabited system. He'd only need to control the Sector government long enough to return it to the Emperor: a few months, a year at most. Cord would have to die, of course.
Micah actually made contingency plans to cause some fighting. He had people and evidence to dispose of. But armed conflict between the unarmed people of the rim worlds and his own overwhelming military force was hardly likely. He'd had to think of something, a pretext to provoke some armed resistance.
He had complete control of the Thaeron system, of course. However, everything there was defensive. No matter how powerful the fortified moons, no matter how well armed the satellites, no matter how many minefields the Fleet had here, it would all be useless to him. Hmm. Could he take some of the armed satellites along? Possibly. Have to look into that.
Nevertheless, the only things that really mattered were his ships. Well, those and enough Marines to occupy Haven City.
With that battle group to overcome a virtually unarmed sector, there should be little trouble. For one thing, Cord didn't know that he knew about the giveaway, or that Micah would even consider attacking and taking over the sector. Even if he found out somehow, there was little Cord could do. Certainly, he had nothing that could seriously oppose Micah's force.
In the meantime, his former co-conspirators must be reassigned to front-line positions out of the reach of the FIS agents, but where harm was likely to befall them if fighting occurred.
The only co-conspirator that worried Micah was Van-Lyn. Van-Lyn was Fleet through and through. The idea of purposely sending Fleet people to their deaths just to conceal his own guilt was one Van-Lyn would find impossible to accept.
Unfortunately, there was no way to put Van-Lyn in harm's way. All Micah could do was try to wheedle and cajole, constantly reinforcing the necessity for total security. Even so, Van-Lyn was a weak link. Why couldn't the old fool realize that the alternatives were a blaster bolt to the back of the head or the rest of his life on a prison planet? Micah needed him and Nemesis for the moment. But once the fighting was over, it might be necessary to arrange something. Perhaps a traffic accident or a street robbery gone bad…
Chapter III
It was a relief to escape Haven’s freezing temperatures and get back aboard the Old Bitch. Unfortunately, it had been a long time since I’d computed a ballistic. By the time we got into space, Rawl was openly admiring my command of invective.
“Okay,” I began, “Now, it’ll take Hari half an hour or so to get Con roused and sobered up, and we're a couple of days from our jump point, so why don't you give me a quick overview of what's going on? It'll take more than a week to make the three jumps to Outback, so we'll have plenty of time later for a formal briefing.”
Rawl shrugged. “We've known of Jonas’ plans for about six weeks now. The Viceroy has been on sub-space with every planetary head of state in the sector. All but six have agreed to support the Viceroy. Three of the six are those where the peoples’ only concern is survival. The others are taking a ‘wait and watch’ position. When this is over, they're liable to regret that decision.
“Jonas is being very cautious, for him,” Rawl continued. “We don’t believe he’s aware that the Viceroy knows about his treachery. We can't be sure of his plans, of course, but we think he expects the Viceroy to invite him to Haven for the ceremony, and plans to bring his dreadnought and enough other forces to seize the Viceroy and the planet. We’ve been very careful not to make him suspicious. Routine messages are still flying both ways, with both of us pretending nothing is wrong.”
“When is the announcement supposed to take place? How long have we got?” I asked.
Rawl shrugged again. “The Viceroy estimates that we can't wait more than six to ten months. If we don't announce it within that time, the Emperor will probably do it himself.”
I frowned. “That's not much time to put together enough force to fight a dreadnought and three battle cruisers. Exactly what force does he have, anyway?”
“He has complete control of the Thaeron system, of course,” Rawl replied. “But except for the supply base on the planet itself and the orbiting repair docks, everything there is defensive. The fortified moons, the satellites, the minefields are all useless for attack. The only things that really matter are his ships. Well, those and his Marines.”
“All right,” I said, “Can you run down the ships for me?”
Rawl nodded. “To begin with, he has Nemesis, the dreadnought.” He shuddered. “I’ve seen Nemesis. She alone could be enough to take the sector. He also has three battle cruisers, Fearless, Dauntless, and Relentless, and five destroyers: Eagle, Gyrfalcon, Harpy, Predator, and Raptor. He had a corvette as well, but Fleet HQ recalled it for pirate interdiction or something.”
“Come to think of it,” he added, “He is a bit short of auxiliaries. As far as we know, he just has one transport for the Marines, and one fleet courier.”