And, inevitably, because the universe seems to enjoy mocking the hopes and the plans of mere humans, a freighter carrying urgent news had arrived at the jump point from Maui Star System within an hour of the departure of the Recovery Flotilla.
Which was why he was once again meeting with Gwen Iceni, who had seemed unusually irritable since their last one-on-one meeting. This time, though, Colonel Malin was briefing them while Iceni’s assistant Togo watched with the closest thing to disapproval his deadpan expression ever revealed.
“The news from Maui concerns the Supreme CEO in Ulindi Star System,” Malin reported.
“Supreme CEO?” Drakon checked the star display. Ulindi was one of three stars that could be reached from Maui. Another one of those stars was Midway itself. “What does that mean?”
“I’d say it was pretty self-explanatory,” Iceni commented shortly.
Malin, experienced in dealing with superiors who didn’t always get along with each other, continued speaking as if he hadn’t heard the remark. “From what we have learned despite all attempts to keep anyone from finding out what is happening at Ulindi, it means that CEO Haris managed to kill the other CEOs in that star system and overawe all opposition.”
Drakon squinted at his display, mistrusting what he was reading. “Haris is the snake CEO. How did he get the Syndicate government to sign off on a title like Supreme CEO?”
“Haris is no longer answering to the Syndicate government.”
“A senior snake rebelled?”
“Yes, sir.”
Drakon looked toward Iceni. “Do you know Haris at all?”
She shook her head. “No. I never associated with snakes.” Relenting a bit, she added more. “Even snakes can be ambitious. This Haris might have seen his chances of gaining more power falling away with every star system that left Syndicate control.”
“So he decided to start his own little empire?”
Malin brought up a new image on the display. “General, reports from Maui say there is a strong flotilla there from Ulindi. It was on its way to the jump point for Midway, but halted that movement when merchant ships arrived reporting the presence of the Alliance fleet. That news was outdated when they got it. Black Jack had left Midway soon after the freighters carrying the news to Maui.”
“It bought us time,” Iceni said. “Good.”
“A little time. It leaves us with six days to act, Madam President,” Malin explained. “A freighter headed for Rongo via Maui left Midway three days ago, doubtless taking word of Black Jack’s departure with it. The freighter would have taken four and one-half days in jump space to reach Maui, would have passed on its information, and the Ulindi flotilla would have headed for the jump point for Midway. It would probably be half a day before they reached it and jumped for Midway, after which another four and half days would bring them here. Factoring in everything, the Ulindi flotilla should arrive six days from now.”
“That is very little time,” Iceni complained. “I can’t argue with your timeline, though. They won’t delay any longer once they hear that Black Jack is gone. Apparently, Haris wants to expand his little empire. But that flotilla at Maui does not look like a force aimed at conquering this star system.”
“No, Madam President, it is not. The Ulindi flotilla consists of a single C-class battle cruiser and four Hunter-Killers. If there are ground forces embarked, their numbers are very limited.”
“No ground forces?” Drakon pondered that. A flotilla built around a battle cruiser could do a lot of damage to a star system. But it couldn’t take over that star system. Even if Midway surrendered under the threat of bombardment, Ulindi’s control of this star would last only as long as it took the battle cruiser to leave. “How much else does Ulindi have?”
“According to our best information, only one heavy cruiser, which must have remained at Ulindi to protect Haris. The ground forces at Ulindi total perhaps a division, but most of that is recently raised and barely trained. Less than a single brigade of former Syndicate soldiers form the core of Haris’s ground forces. The rest of internal security at Ulindi is handled by local militia, police, and snakes.”
“Not much to build an empire on. That sounds like barely enough to maintain control of Ulindi. What’s he planning then?”
Drakon had addressed the question to both Iceni and Malin. Iceni frowned and spoke first. “He must know that we intervened at Taroa. Maybe he heard about our push to get a much tighter defense agreement with Taroa even though the government there is supposed to be keeping it secret.”
Malin shook his head. “Our offer to Taroa is widely known all over that star system. More than one Free Taroan government official must have talked freely.”
“Which means Haris heard about it,” Drakon said.
Iceni made a fist and almost slammed it onto the table before controlling herself. “I should have realized that trying to tie Taroa much more closely to us would cause local problems. Haris sees us as a threat to his ambitions and wants to hit our mobile forces before we can take advantage of Taroa’s resources as well.”
“That makes sense,” Drakon agreed. “Anyone planning on empire-building out here could well see us as rivals who need to be taken down as soon as possible.”
Malin spoke diffidently. “There is another possibility given the composition of the Ulindi flotilla. In Kommodor Marphissa’s absence I discussed the situation with Kapitan-Leytenant Kontos.”
“You did?” Drakon glanced at Iceni again. “What did Kontos say?”
“He thinks they want the battleship.”
Chapter Ten
Drakon had to pause, startled. “The battleship?”
“Of course,” Iceni said in a low voice. “We’ve tried to keep the battleship’s status secret, but there’s probably not a soul in this star system and every nearby star system who doesn’t know it still has a skeleton crew and is far from combat capable. They plan to swoop in, take the battleship, then haul it home to finish it.”
“Which is how we got the battleship from Kane in the first place.”
She gave him an aggravated look. “I fully intend that our theft of the battleship will be the last successful attempt to steal it. If Supreme CEO Haris wants to become a local power, he needs more firepower, and it looks like he’s trying to build that up the same way we are, by taking it from someone else less prepared to defend it. Why did Haris have to have a battle cruiser?”
“Is there any chance we can take them with what we’ve got?” Drakon asked.
Iceni shook her head impatiently. “Even if the Recovery Flotilla hadn’t hauled half of our strength with them, it would have been very touch-and-go to defeat a flotilla built around a battle cruiser.”
“Any ideas?” Drakon asked Malin.
“No good ones, sir,” Malin replied. “Our mobile forces are simply too badly outmatched. We could try sending the battleship somewhere else and leaving it there until Haris’s flotilla leaves.”
“We couldn’t have the battleship stay here and avoid that flotilla?” Drakon asked.
Iceni shook her head. “No battleship can outrun a battle cruiser. They’d be run down in fairly short order. The same thing might happen if we send the Midway to some other star system. Anyone else who saw it would see a perfect and very valuable target to acquire for themselves.”