Because he happened to be looking at Grolmann, he was the first to notice the change in operational tempo. A group of shuttles—first four, then eight, then a full dozen—detached from her troop bays and began to descend toward the planet. Sikander wasn’t terribly familiar with Dremish small craft, but similar vehicles in Commonwealth service carried as many as thirty troops. That would be a couple of companies, at least, or possibly a full battalion if they launched a second wave.
“Captain!” he called. “The Dremish are launching assault shuttles from General von Grolmann. It looks like a large landing force.”
Markham glanced at the display showing the Dremish ships. “It seems so. Mr. Randall, I need your best guess about their combat power and their intentions. XO, let’s go to Condition Two. We’re almost there anyway.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Randall replied. He conferred with his intelligence specialists.
Chatburn stepped over to a nearby comm station and thumbed the all-call selector. “Now set Condition Two. Repeat, now set Condition Two throughout the ship.” That would bring Hector to one step short of general quarters; at Condition Two, half of the ship’s crew reported to their battle stations, and the ship’s engineers readied the ship’s power and damage-control systems for potential action. A ship could stay at Condition Two for hours by rotating personnel on and off watch, but wouldn’t be caught completely unprepared if action threatened.
Captain Markham moved over to her battle couch and took her seat. “Communications, transmit to SMS Panther,” she said in a cool voice. “Panther, this is Hector. What is the destination of the landing force currently deploying from General von Grolmann, over?”
There was a short delay before the Dremish cruiser’s reply came over the bridge speakers near the captain’s seat. Sikander recognized Captain Harper’s voice. “Hector, this is Panther. The Gadiran government has requested our assistance in dealing with the ongoing unrest in Tanjeer. We are complying with their request, over.”
Markham looked over to Randall. “Mr. Randall, check with our contacts in the Royal Guard and find out whether they asked the Dremish for help.”
Randall nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We’re on it.”
“Panther, this is Hector,” Markham said, renewing her transmission. “Where do you intend to land your troops, over?”
“Hector, we are deploying to establish a safe perimeter around the Tanjeer spaceport,” Harper replied. “No Aquilan citizens or property will be threatened by our forces. Restoring order is frankly to the benefit of any power with interests in Gadira, over.”
“This isn’t your problem, in other words,” Markham said without transmitting. Her frown deepened.
“Captain, we have a quick assessment on the landing force,” Randall said. “Twelve of their Falke-type assault shuttles can land a combat team consisting of an infantry battalion with a dozen light combat flyers and a heavy-weapons section. If Grolmann is fully loaded, she’ll have two more infantry battalions backed up by a heavy-armor company on board. They might not have the numbers to garrison the capital, but they can smash up any number of insurgent formations.”
“Or Royal Guards,” Sikander pointed out. Gadiran soldiers in obsolete Montréalais vehicles wouldn’t stand much chance against the soldiers of a first-rate Coalition power such as Dremark; numbers might not matter much in that kind of confrontation. The flight of assault shuttles accelerated down and away from the big Dremish transport, weaving and jolting as they entered atmosphere.
Markham nodded, but did not reply to Sikander. “Did the sultanate request their help?” she asked Randall.
“No, ma’am. They have no idea what the Dremish are talking about and want to know where they’re going.”
“I feared as much,” the captain said. She glanced up at Chatburn. “We can’t allow an outright occupation of the planet. How do I convince Harper to stand down?”
“Stall for time?” Chatburn suggested. “Give them a chance to think it over and decide whether they’re ready to risk a major incident.”
Markham keyed her comm panel again. “Panther, this is Hector actual. Captain Harper, we are aware of no request for intervention from the Sultanate of Gadira. Given that, your landing force appears to be substantially in excess of the limits imposed by the Tanjeer Agreement of 3062. We request that you suspend your landing operations until the situation can be clarified, over.”
This time there was a long pause. “Hector, this is Panther actual. Captain Markham, we have learned that Sultan Rashid el-Nasir is no longer the head of the planetary government,” Captain Harper said over the comm link. “We are engaged in discussions with the provisional government of Bey Salem el-Fasi, the new planetary authority. They have asked for our help in restoring order, and we feel compelled to safeguard our interests by providing whatever assistance we can. Our ground operations will continue. Panther, out.”
“That arrogant bastard hung up on us!” Markham snarled under her breath. Sikander tried to think of another time he’d heard Markham swear, and couldn’t come up with one; her patience was fraying rapidly, not that he could blame her. The captain took a moment to compose herself, then spoke to Chatburn. “I think we may need to express our disapproval more forcefully. XO, please set Condition One.”
Chatburn nodded, and pressed the general-quarters signal. “General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle stations,” he announced. “Set Condition One throughout the ship. All stations report readiness.”
Sikander did not have far to go; his battle station was the master weapons console. He stood up and pulled his battle armor from the storage bin behind his seat. The standard Navy working uniform could be sealed to create a serviceable vacuum suit for a short time, but for full combat readiness all hands pulled on torso armor, heavy gauntlets, magnetized boots, and armored helmets. He left open the faceplate for ease of communication; if the compartment was suddenly holed, his helmet was designed to close instantly. While Sikander shrugged on his gear, the bridge crew quickly changed over. Some hands currently on watch left to go to battle stations elsewhere in the ship, while others who hadn’t been on the bridge hurried into the compartment; Peter Chatburn left to go take up his position in the auxiliary bridge, while Angela Larkin and Karsen Reno joined the rush of incoming personnel and quickly pulled on their own battle armor before taking their stations at the torpedo console and the secondary-battery console. A well-drilled crew aimed to set battle stations within three minutes; Captain Markham usually insisted on two and a half.