Jack Campbell - Perilous Shield

Frowning with concentration, Toirac shrugged. “A demonstration of force? Something to distract the Syndicate forces?”

“I don’t see—” Marphissa’s gaze had settled on the Syndicate flagship. A battleship, far too powerful for her flotilla to engage. Only an insane commander would try to attack the battleship while almost all the Syndicate escorts were chasing the new cruiser. “Run this,” she ordered. “An intercept on the Syndicate battleship. Can the Syndicate heavy cruisers and HuKs catch the new cruiser and get back to the battleship before we get there?”

Everyone from Toirac on down stared at her for a fraction of a second, then instincts instilled by Syndicate training in obedience to orders took over, and hands flew across displays. “No,” Toirac announced before anyone else, smiling at having displayed his skill at maneuvering calculations. “That is, if we did that, they couldn’t get back before we—”

“Then we’re going.” She had already set up the maneuver on her own display. “All units in the Midway Flotilla, this is Kommodor Marphissa. Execute attached maneuver immediately. Out.”

Four hours later, on the inhabited planet, President Gwen Iceni watched the unfolding situation near the hypernet gate as the light from the events finally reached her. Alerted to the arrival of the new cruiser, she watched it begin to flee, watched the Syndicate flotilla, commanded by CEO Boyens, send a strong force in pursuit, saw her display confirm that the new cruiser was doomed, saw the ships of the Midway Flotilla, her warships, also accelerate into new vectors. What is Kommodor Marphissa doing? She can’t—

Iceni stared in disbelief as the vectors on Marphissa’s small group of warships steadied out. They were headed straight for an intercept on Boyens’s battleship, a single warship that was more than a match for everything combined in the Midway Flotilla.

It had all happened four hours ago. Marphissa’s entire flotilla— No, my entire flotilla —had probably already been wiped out.

“If she has somehow survived, I will personally kill her!”

Togo, standing impassively near Iceni in response to her summons, wisely avoided saying anything.

It was a shame that Sub-CEO Akiri, who had briefly been on her personal staff, had been assassinated by a snake agent months ago. Right now she really wanted a mobile forces officer nearby so she could scream at him.

On the display above Iceni’s desk, the Midway Flotilla had steadied out, accelerating for all it was worth toward an intercept with the Syndicate battleship. “Oh, isn’t that wonderful! Icing on the cake!”

“Madam President?” Togo asked.

“Look! Do you see those two symbols? They mean that those two Hunter-Killer ships are on tracks to collide with the Syndicate battleship! Not a close firing run! A collision!”

A slight frown creased Togo’s usually smooth brow. “How did the Kommodor convince the crews of those two ships to obey such an order?”

“She didn’t have to! There are remote command circuits. With the right codes, Marphissa can take over control of other ships in her flotilla. I entrusted those codes to her, and now she’s using them to do something that will cost me an immense amount of support!”

This time Togo nodded in understanding. “Because it will be perceived that you sent those two crews to their deaths. The crews of the other mobile forces units will not take that well.”

“Nor will the citizens! I’ve been keeping the citizens happy with a trickle of changes that improve their lot and grant them more freedom. If I were a normal CEO, they wouldn’t blink at my throwing away the lives of their fellow citizens like that, but they expect me to be different.”

“You have codes that override the override codes that you gave to the Kommodor,” Togo pointed out.

“And it would take four hours for my override of her override to get there! Which is about three hours too long,” Iceni got out between gritted teeth.

“The action does not seem characteristic of Kommodor Marphissa,” Togo offered.

Iceni glared at the display. “Characteristic or not, she’s doing it. I want to get rid of Boyens and his flotilla, but not in a way that’s going to undermine my position. News of this will spread to every nearby star system, and everyone will see me as nothing more than a typical CEO.”

“They will respect you if—”

“I do not have enough firepower to rule this region of space through fear!” Nor do I want to. I would have to do things to reinforce that fear, and I have done too many things like that already. Togo knew of some of those things, had followed her orders to carry out some of them, but he did not know everything. Not by a long shot. “This action could destroy our chances of a much stronger mutual-defense agreement with Taroa.”

She forced herself to sit down and breathe slowly. How to deal with the fallout from this? Not only the loss of most of my flotilla but also the deliberate use of two warships and their crews as projectiles.

Togo cleared his throat diffidently. “Some of the Syndicate ships are altering course.”

Iceni looked up at the display, seeing the heavy cruisers and Hunter-Killers that had been sent in pursuit of the new cruiser turning back. “They’re going to reinforce the defenses around the battleship.” But Marphissa’s warships continued on their attack run even though their mission had now become not simply hopeless but clearly impossible. What is she trying to accomplish?

The answer came to Iceni moments before she saw Marphissa’s ships break off their attack and bend back toward their previous orbit. “It was a bluff. Damn her. She scared Boyens into letting that new cruiser go.”

“CEO Boyens will be angry that they escaped,” Togo said.

“Very angry, yes.” Can I use that? Oh my, yes. I can use that. The frustrated anger of a short time earlier had become elation. Not only had Marphissa been far more clever than expected, but the recent events had given Iceni the sort of idea that could finally break the impasse between CEO Boyens and everyone else in this star system. “I need to contact that new cruiser. He could be very helpful to us. Notify General Drakon that I need to speak with him privately. Just him and me. Don’t give me that look. There are still snakes around, and I can’t risk any of them hearing the plan I just came up with.”

“If Madam President no longer believes I can be counted upon—” Togo began, his posture and voice stiffer than usual.

“It’s not that.” It’s that this is exactly the sort of situation where I can use Colonel Malin’s status as an information source to my advantage while also limiting the chances that anyone will guess what I’m planning. She managed to muster up a reassuring smile for Togo. “You’re too close to me. If you’re known to be involved, everyone will try to find out what’s going on.”

Togo did not look comforted by the weak rationale. “Madam President, I must caution you that General Drakon is certain to be working against you. He will use any apparent closeness between you to his advantage.”

“Closeness?” Iceni asked sharply.

“There have been… rumors.”

“There will always be rumors. I can’t let my actions be constrained by gossips who haven’t matured since leaving school as children! Get that message to General Drakon while I contact the new cruiser.”

Drakon gazed steadily at Iceni, turning her proposal over in his mind. I’m not expert on mobile forces tactics, but the concept seems sound. “You think this might work?”

“I think it has a good chance,” she said, “but we can’t send Togo. Everyone will notice his absence and assume he’s on some special mission for me.”