Stars of Blood and Glory (10 page)

“
The captain will decide which
mission is best to take,” Roman interjected, turning to face the
young lieutenant. “We are not Federation soldiers—it is not our
fight.”

“
Have you forgotten who slagged
Tajjur V?” Yuri shot back. “Who slew our mothers and sisters and
exiled us from our homeworld? If we’re ever going to have a chance
to avenge ourselves, this is it.”

“
Vengeance makes for poor
business,” said Roman, his voice low. He narrowed his eyes. “Or
have you forgotten who is in command of this ship?”

Lieutenant Avanadze drew in a deep breath as
his wife quietly urged him to back down. For a second, he looked as
if he would lash out again, but the anger slowly deflated out of
him and he sat back in his seat, shoulders slumped.

“
All right,” he muttered, “but
still, I think we should—”

“
As the sergeant has made clear,
this decision is not up for debate,” said Danica, her voice sharp.
“If you would rather enlist with the Federation, then you may go
with my blessing.”

“
We’re fine,” Maia interjected
before her husband could say anything. “Yuri is just a little
overzealous, that’s all.”

Just like all of you young
upstarts,
Roman thought to himself.
Your memories are too short to remember
who conquered our homeland first.

“
I have no doubt that we will all
see a great deal of action quite soon enough,” said Danica. “If the
Federation campaign keeps going as well as it has been, I’m sure
the Hameji will see to that.”

The older officers chuckled, including Roman.
Yuri and Maia did not, while in the back of the room, the girl from
Gaia Nova looked on in silence. Danica keyed her wrist console, and
the holographic projection shifted to a starmap of the local
sector, with the New Vela and New Rigel systems in the center.

“
The princess is traveling on at
least two stolen passports. Fortunately, the palace guard has
tracked down most of the ones she’s using. Our intelligence
indicates that she left the main station just yesterday, on a
third-class passenger liner headed for New Vela. Flight schedules
indicate that she should arrive at the seventh planet in a little
over an hour.”

“
If she’s still traveling under
that name,” Zura muttered. “What’s to stop her from leaving on one
passport and jump ship before she arrives on another?”

“
Unfortunately, not very much,”
said Danica. “For that reason, we need to move out as soon as
possible. The palace guard has given us all the clearances we need,
so once we arrive, our task should be pretty straightforward.
Roman?”

“
All soldiers are either on board
or en route to ship,” said Roman, already connected to the network
through the datalink implants in his head. “The last ferry shuttle
should arrive at station in less than forty-five
minutes.”

Danica nodded. “Very good. Let me know as
soon as they’re all on board.”

“
Pardon me, Captain,” said
Mikhail, “but suppose this girl trades her passport for a less
traceable mode of transport?”

“
The palace guard gave me a
detailed profile on this girl,” said Danica. “I haven’t had a
chance to read it extensively, but from what I can tell, she’s far
too sheltered to get very far on her own. It’s possible, of course,
that someone might kidnap her, but there’s not much we can do to
prevent that at this point. For now, we must assume that she’s
traveling under one of the fake names and has obtained passage to
New Vela. If the situation changes, we’ll change with it.” She
paused to survey the room. “Any other questions?”

Corporal Tajjashvili raised his old,
calloused hand.

“
What kind of payment can we
expect for this job?” he asked, leaning back in his chair as he
folded his arms.

“
Standard rate, plus a bonus of
eighty thousand Rigelan Yen per person upon the princess’s safe
return.”

The shift in enthusiasm was like the flare
from a supernova. Several of the officers whistled or slapped their
knees. “These Rigelans must be desperate,” Mikhail said to no one
in particular, grinning from ear to ear.

Danica waited patiently for the chatter to
die back down. “We don’t usually take jobs of this type, but the
terms for this one were lucrative enough that I decided to make an
exception. If there are no more questions, we leave in forty-five
minutes.”

Roman chuckled. With everyone thinking of the
ways that they would spend their money after the mission was
completed, the meeting was all but finished.

As the officers filed out of the room, Danica
gave Roman a brief but meaningful glance. He nodded and stayed
behind the main group, waiting for the rest of them to leave. When
they were gone, Danica walked over to the door and keyed it shut,
so that they were alone.

“
How is Lieutenant Al-Najmi
doing?” she asked, folding her arms.

“
She seems to be reasonably
competent,” said Roman, carefully choosing his words. “I have not
yet seen her in action, so of course I cannot be certain, but I
think she will be strong asset.”

“
Do you trust her?”

He hesitated. “Do you?”

Danica sighed and rubbed her forehead,
betraying a degree of human weakness that she didn’t normally let
the others see. Roman recognized it as the normal tension that one
always felt in the air before every new mission. For his men, that
tension translated into excitement and boyish anticipation, but for
the commanding officers such as Danica and himself, the weight of
responsibility tempered their enthusiasm.

“
Of course I trust her, Roman.
It’s the rest of the men I’m worried about. She’s the only Gaian on
a crew of hardened Tajji soldiers—it’s going to be hard for her to
fit in.”

“
This is true,” Roman grunted. He
remembered how she had sat at the back of the room during the
briefing, watching impassively without saying a word.

“
If there’s any disunity between
her and the others, that’s going to hurt our fighting
effectiveness,” said Danica. “I want you to try to reach out to her
and build some rapport. I know she’s not technically under your
command, but if you could take her under your wing, I think it
would help tremendously.”

Roman clenched his fingers into a fist and
bristled. “You wish for me to become mentor to this girl?” A
strange warmth grew in his chest, making his muscles cringe and
sending short bursts of pain through the non-cybernetic parts of
his body.

“
Not a ‘mentor,’ exactly. But if
the other men see you both take to each other, that would help them
warm up to her.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but realized
he had nothing to say that wouldn’t contradict her. He drew in
another long breath, and realized his natural arm was shaking.

“
I know that your prejudices run
against her,” said Danica. “But you’re also in a unique position to
understand each other. For example, your neurological implants are
very similar to hers, and I’m sure that affects how you both see
things. At the least, it’s something you have in common with
her.”

“
Perhaps,” said Roman, not
committing to anything.

Danica sighed. “I don’t want to ask anything
that’s too difficult of you. This is more of a personal request
than an order, so if it’s too much to ask, please let me know. But
as one old friend to another—”

“
Of course,” said Roman. “For
you, of course I will do it.”

Danica smiled and put a hand on his natural
arm. “I have no doubt you’re the right one for this task, Roman.
The men all say you’re like a father to them.”

“
Perhaps, Captain. But you—you
are their mother.”

She laughed in a clear, honest way that was
only reserved for her closest friends. “A stern old hag of a
mother, I’m sure.”

“
It is why they feel so much at
home.”

“
Well, may it long be so. Thank
you, Sergeant.”

Roman saluted before stepping out of the
room. Even though the gesture was as crisp as it ever had been, it
was all he could do to keep his hand from shaking.

* * * * *

Katsuichi tried not to think of Hikaru as his
admirals and commanders filed into the board room. Several of them
eyed Colonel Webb with suspicion, but the Federation officer merely
smiled in return, his men gathered around him at the far side of
the table. In the center, a semi-transparent holographic image of
the white-dwarf star Eyn-Gatta hovered in the air, rotating slowly
to give everyone a clear view. Red rings marked the orbital paths
of the major asteroids and settlements; the star had no planets to
speak of. A cluster of triangles represented the last known
positions of the Hameji battle fleets.

“
Commanders,” said Katsuichi once
everyone was seated. “I have called you together to discuss our
battle plans for the upcoming operation. I know that many in the
Federation are wary of moving offensively at this point, but the
slowness of the Hameji advance and the fact that they have not yet
entered the rift convinces me that we can act swiftly and
decisively to halt their advance.”

A few of the commanders nodded in approval,
but many of them stared at him with blank faces, unconvinced.
Katsuichi nodded to Admiral Uematsu.

“
Our latest intelligence
indicates that the Hameji fleet is orbiting at a mere point-oh-five
AU from the system sun,” said the old man. “The star’s magnetic
field serves to both shield their movements and prevent all but the
smallest hit-and-run attacks.”

“
Well, of course,” said one of
Colonel Webb’s men. “If one of our battleships tried to jump in on
their current position, it could end up falling into the system
sun.”

“
That’s why we won’t jump onto
their position directly,” Katsuichi explained. “Our first wave,
commanded by myself and Colonel Webb, will jump to this position
here.” A point flashed on the holographic image, just on the
opposite side of the Hameji fleet from the star. Five blue
triangles represented a significantly reduced force—about half of
the Rigelan battle fleet.

A murmur rose from the commanders around the
table, mostly from the men under Colonel Webb’s command. They
seemed significantly less disciplined than Katsuichi’s own
officers. He nodded to Admiral Uematsu, who waited patiently for
the commotion to die down.

“
The Hameji have positioned two
satellite clusters on equilateral orbits to monitor the far side of
the system sun. Knocking out these satellites will create a blind
spot extending outward like a cone about point-five AU in
length.”

Katsuichi leaned forward with his hands on
the table. “The first wave will draw out the Hameji fleets by
posing as a failed attempt at a surprise attack. In the meantime,
we’ll take out the satellites remotely with a series of jumped
warheads, giving the rest of our forces an opening to move into
position for a pincer movement along the orbital plane.”

He keyed a command on the datapad at his
seat, and a large darkened cone extended around the back end of the
star. Ten blue triangles in two separate clusters flashed into
existence within the cone, while the red orbital changed to an
arrow pointing directly at Katsuichi’s fleet. As the Hameji forces
moved up the gravity well to attack, two blue arrows extended
around either side of the star, and the Federation reinforcements
swung around as quickly as comets to attack the Hameji fleet on
both flanks.

“
The second and third waves will
graze the surface of the star, using a gravity whip maneuver to
accelerate their attack and make a deadly projectile bombardment,”
Katsuichi explained. “The magnetic field should hide our numbers
until it’s too late.”

“
But what about the first wave,
Your Highness?” one of his own commanders asked. “Where will you be
during all of this?”

“
I will be at the head of the
first group, leading the attack.” Anything less would be an insult
to the promise he’d given his father.

A series of murmurs rose around the table,
this time from his own men. “But Your Imperial Highness,” blurted
Commander Takahashi, “no one has made a direct assault on the
Hameji and succeeded. What should we do if you fall?”

“
We must not fall,” Katsuichi
said grimly. “And if it is true that no one has yet beaten the
Hameji in open combat, then let us be the first!”

Most of the Federation officers frowned or
rolled their eyes, but Katsuichi’s men nodded in approval and
respect. Colonel Webb rose to his feet.

“
It is a daring plan,” he said,
“and I see no flaw in it. The Hameji won’t be expecting a direct
attack—there’s a chance it might work.”

“
But the timing must be perfect,”
said Admiral Uematsu. “How do we know that the Federation forces
will coordinate with ours?”

“
The fifth and sixth wings have
agreed to join this operation,” said Colonel Webb, his voice
radiating confidence. “They have already been briefed, and have
agreed to form the pincer attack. The third fleet will be held in
reserve about a light year outside of the system, in case it
becomes necessary to call for reinforcements.”

Katsuichi turned to the glass display behind
the table and keyed it open. The room became silent as he lifted
the heirloom sword from its base and brought it out so that all
could see. As he did so, all of the Rigelan commanders reverently
rose to their feet.