Юн Ли - Revenant Gun

Jedao checked the status summary. By now, Tactical Two was well out of reach of immediate danger. He tipped his head back and grinned. “Let’s.”

“Sir,” Talaw said sharply, “if Inesser and the Compact’s swarm are willing to cooperate, they possess more than enough bannermoths to employ any number of grand formations. To say nothing of the political implications.”

“I know,” Jedao said, blood singing. They were almost in battle. He could taste it. “It’ll make them confident that they can beat us.”

Tactfully, no one mentioned that the other side might, indeed, be able to beat them.

The Kel might be obliged to follow orders, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t ask questions. Jedao had a panel with tiny triangles in one-to-one correspondence with every moth in his swarm. He’d memorized which moth and which commander went with each one. Right now, most of them were lit up to indicate that the commanders wanted to talk to him.

Fuck that. “Communications,” Jedao said, impressed that his voice didn’t waver, “open a line to all moth commanders.”

“Line open, sir.”

What was he supposed to—“General Shuos Jedao to all moth commanders,” came out of his mouth. Which meant he had better continue talking or he’d make everyone even more nervous. “We have sighted the Three Kestrels Three Suns and believe that Protectorate and Compact forces are working together to thwart us. Unluckily for them, they have to go through me before they can get to you.” Am I smiling? I think I’m smiling. What the fuck is wrong with me?

Enough braggadocio. “All combat units, formation Wave-Breaker. Commander Talaw, refuse the primary pivot but don’t hold the Revenant so far back that the enemy can’t get a good look at us. Swarm will advance toward the limit of Isteia Station’s fixed defenses until the defense swarms react and I specify otherwise.” He expected to be specifying otherwise very damn soon, since he couldn’t imagine that Protector-General Inesser was going to sit on her ass and watch, but no need to confuse his commanders with his thought processes. “Acknowledge.”

The panel lit even more brightly as the moth commanders sent back their acknowledgments. Jedao had worried that reducing each one to a triangle of light in a matrix would make it hard to remember them as people, each commanding a voidmoth full of crew. But every candling light was as distinct and memorable as a face. Commander Talaw was at the top of the first column, as befit the senior moth commander, and the rest of the entries in the first column corresponded to Tactical One’s bannermoths. Commander Nihara Keru headed the second column, which corresponded to the second tactical group’s moths; her column alone remained dark, because she’d been sent to Kujen’s service. The third column represented Tactical Three, and so on. Beside the communications panel, an identically formatted panel offered him a quick visual overview of the swarm moths’ status. If his moths took damage, they would light up in varying intensities of red. Right now, the status panel was all yellow-green, indicating that the moths were in the process of modulating into the desired formation.

It didn’t take long for Jedao’s swarm to trigger the desired response. “Sir,” Communications said in a strained voice. “The Three Kestrels Three Suns has opened a line to us. They request parley.”

Well, why not? Jedao couldn’t imagine that anything the enemy said would dissuade him from his mission. “Commander Talaw,” he said. He could use this as an opportunity to wring some information from his opposite number. “Take the call for me.”

Meraun frowned in his direction. The rest of the command center stuttered into an uncomfortable hush.

“Delighted, sir,” Talaw said, sounding enthusiastic for once. “Connect me to Three Kestrels Three Suns , Communications.”

Jedao had piped the relevant display to his own terminal as well. Thus he received a splendid view of the Three Kestrels Three Suns banner, along with the particular header that meant it was a prelude to parley, not battle. (How many unnecessary wars had the Kel gotten into because the other side didn’t understand fussy Kel notions of propriety? Something to look up later.) Three black kestrels, outlined in gold, touched wingtip to wingtip over three gold suns arranged in a triangle balancing on its vertex like an upside-down mountain. Unusually for a Kel emblem, the field was a blue very close to Andan blue.

Inesser herself responding? Jedao thought. This could prove interesting.

Inesser’s image unsmiled at him. Her uniform, in full formal, mirrored Jedao’s almost perfectly. The only difference was the empty spot where he had the Shuos eye insignia beneath his general’s wings. And, of course, the medals. She had a lot more medals than he did.

“This is Protector-General Kel Inesser,” the woman said. Her voice was low and brisk. “So this is where you disappeared to, Talaw.”

Shit, he’d fucked up already. Jedao mentally kicked himself. Just because he had amnesia and everyone was new to him didn’t mean everyone else was new to each other.

An electric tension descended over the command center. The Kel wanted Inesser. They were vibratingly unhappy at having to oppose her. He’d have to deal with that as quickly as possible.

Worse, which way would Talaw jump? They’d made no secret of the fact that they disapproved of Jedao.

Talaw, focused on the conversation, hadn’t noticed Jedao’s sudden dismay. “General,” Talaw said, their voice deepening, and not in a friendly way. Just as importantly, they’d said “General,” not “Protector-General.” “I advise you to retreat.”

Inesser narrowed her eyes at Talaw. “I would never have mistaken you for a crashhawk, Commander .”

Talaw didn’t flinch at the emphasis. “I don’t answer to you.” At their side, one of their hands closed into a fist.

Jedao was certain of two things. One, Talaw felt they owed loyalty to someone in the swarm. Two, that person wasn’t Jedao. Then who?

Talaw’s glance flicked sideways. And then Jedao knew. Talaw wasn’t concerned about Jedao. Talaw was concerned about Dhanneth.

Friends? Jedao wondered. Lovers? Hawkfucking was forbidden, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Inesser was speaking. Her voice sharpened. “Either submit yourself to proper Kel authority or withdraw from this system immediately, Commander.”

“Perhaps we should skip the pleasantries and go straight to the shooting,” Talaw said.

Fox and hound , Jedao thought with a mixture of horror and delight, Talaw’s baiting her. Excellent.

Inesser arched an eyebrow. “If that’s how you want it,” she said. “Protector-General Inesser out.”

“Well,” Talaw said, “that was quick.”

Meraun tapped her fingers on the edge of her terminal. “I know the general. She’s not going to waste time talking when there are upstarts to be crushed.”

Did everyone but him know Inesser? Or, horrible thought, did he know Inesser? Another thing he should have looked up earlier. No help for it now, though.

Communications’ voice sounded positively glum. “All the hostiles have bannered the Three Kestrels Three Suns, sir.”

Jedao knew what that meant. The Compact had ceded control of its forces to Inesser, even if only for the duration of this fight. If he understood the situation correctly, this wasn’t the coup for Inesser it might have been under the old system. The Compact’s Kel served voluntarily . If they judged that Inesser was abusing her authority over them, they could quit.