Starship's Mage 2 Hand of Mars (24 page)

But better for a Mage to have been clearly involved than for them not to make it home.

“I see they’re giving up on talking to us,” he said softly, spotting the two new icons on the scanners - flashing orange as ‘unidentified’ contacts. The contacts turned red a moment later as Sierra dialed them in and labeled them as hostile.

“And they’re not playing games,” she replied. “Those are jet interceptors - I think they’re guessing who we are, and guessing right.”

“Can you take them?”

“If we were outside the city, I’d just disappear,” Sierra said grimly.

“That wasn’t the question.”

“It’ll depend,” she replied. “Ground control has an accurate guess of what we are. But if these guys trust their radar… they’ll come in fat and sloppy.”

Damien glanced at the icons closing - and closing in fast and high. They weren’t breaking the speed of sound, but they were pushing close against it. They were at most a minute outside of range.

“Good luck,” he told her, and settled his own mind - clearing his thoughts to more easily channel magic.

“And… now,” Sierra whispered and hit a button. Damien felt the gunship shake as two decoys launched from the back of the aircraft, and two missiles flared out from the launchers tucked under the rotors.

At the same time, she dove down, driving the helicopter closer to the ground even as more contacts flared onto the display - four missiles launching from the jets.

Damien focused on the missiles. Those were something he could deal with without being obvious. Practice and training let him pick out the tiny dots of the weapons as they approached, and he reached out with his magic.

Force ‘gently’ grabbed the two lead weapons, shoving them off their course - and into each other. Fire lit up the night sky as the warheads exploded. Sheltered in the light of the destruction of the lead missiles, Damien reached out and
crushed
the trailers, leaving their damaged chassis to fall - hopefully harmlessly! - to the street below.

Without magic interrupting their flights, Sierra’s missiles were more successful. One hit a decoy, adding to the fireworks in Nouveaux Versailles’ sky. The other slammed into the lead jet fighter and detonated, scattering the high-tech aircraft in pieces across the city.

This was apparently more than the other interceptor’s pilot was expecting. The aircraft jerked away from the fireball that had been his wingman and climbed
high
, blasting out of the Phantom’s range at high speed.

“Sucker,” Sierra whispered. “Missed your chance - now you get to watch me
disappear
.”

Glancing away from their attacker, Damien realized they were now well clear of Nouveaux Versailles’ Central District with its constraining towers. As the jet interceptor flashed away, clearly intending to prepare for another run, the Legatan woman hit a set of commands.

Suddenly, instead of imitating a civilian helicopter, the Phantom was imitating empty air.

It was hard to read body language from the tiny dot of an aircraft on a radar screen - but Damien was sure he could see the pilot’s confusion nonetheless.

#

Mage-Captain Jane Adamant jerked awake to the alert. Years of practice had trained her to awaken instantly, but she still could swear she’d only been asleep for a few moments as she pulled herself from her bed and tapped a key, accepting the transmission voice-only.

“Captain, it’s Lieutenant Fiero,” her junior communications officer, the woman currently stuck manning the station in the middle of the ship’s night, greeted her. “Tau Ceti
f
RTA has forwarded an Alpha One priority transmission from Mars.”

She shook the final dregs of sleep from her eyes. Alpha One from Mars almost certainly meant from the Mage-King himself - and even
battleship
Captains didn’t receive many missives directly from the King.

“Forward it to my cabin,” she ordered. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

By the time the Captain had grabbed a robe and wrapped it around her body against the slight chill of the cabin, an icon had appeared on both her cabin console and the PC discarded on her dresser. Belting the robe tightly closed, she touched the icon.

An authentication prompt appeared, demanding her personal identification and security codes. While the Transceiver Mage at the array would have heard the entire message, those individuals were among the most tightly screened and highly cleared individuals in the Protectorate for just that reason. Once the messages were recorded into the system, the security and encryption went back on.

No-one had yet worked out how to transmit anything except the voice of the speaking Mage via the Runic Transceiver Arrays. In an era of massive data transfers and computers capable of storing all mankind’s knowledge that fit in a wristwatch, the only instantaneous method of interstellar communication was somewhat less capable than an early telephone.

Her codes input, the file began playing, the even voice of Mage-King Desmond Alexander filling her cabin.

“This message is for Mage-Captain Adamant aboard the
Righteous Guardian of Liberty
, from Desmond Michael Alexander. Authentication is Kilo Kilo Seven Nine Victor Charlie One Six.

“Captain Adamant, I am not certain what information has reached you with regards to the events on Ardennes. I will summarize these events as I am aware of them, as much of what has been previously disseminated has turned out to be incorrect.

“As has been announced, Hand Alaura Stealey is dead. However, new evidence has confirmed that her death was the work of Mage-Governor Michael Vaughn,
not
the rebellion.

“I have also confirmed that the destruction of the city of Karslberg was
not
the work of the rebellion. Karslberg was destroyed by
Navy
munitions, Captain Adamant. Munitions fired from Mage-Commodore Cor’s warships.”

Adamant paused the message to curse. She’d known Adrianna Cor in the Academy - the woman had been brilliant but arrogant, tied up in her own views of how the world should be. Skill had driven the other woman up the ranks faster than most, but it looked like that was coming to an end.

Sighing, she restarted the Mage-King’s recording.

“Given that both the local government and Navy forces in the Ardennes system have been compromised, we need to deploy external resources to secure the system before we can attempt to fix the clusterfuck it is clear Ardennes has become.

“You’re it,” the Mage-King told her flatly. “Consider this message notification of your promotion to Mage-Commodore. Paperwork will follow with the appropriate physical couriers, but you’ll need the authority.

“You are to assemble a task force of sufficient force to secure the Ardennes system, assuming full resistance from both the Ardennes Self Defense Force
and
Mage-Commodore Cor’s Seventh Cruiser Squadron.”

She paused the recording to curse again. The promotion was welcome, but enough firepower to take on an entire cruiser squadron? If she wasn’t starting with a battleship, it would be impossible. As it was… she swore again, then unpaused the recording.

“If Mage-Admiral Segal does not have sufficient vessels to spare, you will commandeer combat units from the Tau Ceti System Fleet,” Alexander continued, as if such things were straightforward. “Under any circumstances, you will depart Tau Ceti within twelve hours of this message.

“Once you arrive in the Ardennes system, you will neutralize
all
warships in the system and secure the orbitals. As soon as practically possible, you will place yourself under the command of Hand Damien Montgomery.

“I leave the disposition of your Marines and securing the surface to your judgment and that of Hand Montgomery,” he finished. “I promised Hand Montgomery he’d have support in three days, Mage-Commodore. I trust you to honor my promises.”

There was a pause in the recording.

“I am not sending you because you’re all I have available, Commodore,” he said quietly. “I’m sending you because you’re the
best
I have available. I do not expect you to disappoint me.”

The recording ended, and Adamant learned back in her chair, eyeing the innocent little icon carefully.

It was a lot to take in at once.
Hand
Damien Montgomery was a new one - it seemed hers wasn’t the only promotion going around. She
should
be able to get the ships she needed out of Segal, but it could be a problem. The old man was notorious for not giving up warships once he’d got them.

But Segal also wouldn’t let the Navy look bad, and if she had to commander ships from a star system government, the Navy couldn’t look worse.

Sighing, Adamant stood and crossed to her closet. She was going to have to wake the old Admiral up either way, and she was damned if she was doing that in a bath-robe.

#

Either Mage-Admiral Segal
slept
in his uniform, or he was much faster at waking up and dressing than Adamant was. His staff only ran five minutes or so of delaying action before they connected the newly minted Commodore to the man.

Segal was a short man with broad shoulders and salt and pepper hair. His eyes, when he met Adamant’s gaze, were dark but calm.

“Mage-Commodore Adamant,” he greeted her. “Congratulations.”

“Your staff is good,” she said admiringly. She didn’t think they would have had a chance to let the Admiral know about her promotion before connecting him.

“A presumption, Commodore, not my staff,” Segal told her calmly. “You were due for that promotion. Any emergency sufficient for you to wake the system commander would be such that you were being deployed out-system, which would inevitably come with said promotion.

“Now, since you have managed to wake me up, what is the emergency?”

Adamant shook her head, not quite sure how to respond to the Admiral’s entirely correct pronouncement.

“Ardennes has apparently turned into a worse disaster than we feared,” she told Segal. “Stealey wasn’t killed by the rebellion - she was killed by
Vaughn
.”

“That should be a courier’s task, Commodore, not a battleship’s,” the Admiral observed. “Mage-Commodore Cor possesses more than sufficient space-borne firepower and Marines to remove a recalcitrant Governor. Unless…” he trailed off, and she could
see
the realization hit him in mid-sentence.

“Mage-Commodore Cor has been compromised,” she confirmed. “Information from Hand Montgomery has confirmed that it was
her
vessels that destroyed the city of Karlsberg.”

Segal was silent, the excessively clever Admiral clearly processing what she’d said.

“What is your mission, Commodore?” he finally asked.

“I am to proceed to Ardennes and secure the orbitals, either by the destruction or capture of both the Ardennes System Defense Force and the Seventh Cruiser Squadron,” she explained. “I will need to commandeer escorts from your forces.”

“My dear, you have a
battleship
,” Segal pointed out. “With your re-deployment, my most potent vessel becomes a cruiser. Cor only has cruisers, and the ASDF only has destroyers. How much additional firepower do you need?”

“Mage-Admiral, His Majesty assumes - and I concur - that we must assume that the Seventh and the ASDF will be deployed in concert. I am hesitant to face seventy-five million tons of warships with fifty, regardless of my individual advantage.”

Segal nodded with a sigh, gesturing off-screen as he brought up another computer screen.

“Do you truly believe Cor’s people will follow her into that depth of treason so blithely? What sort of force level are you envisaging?”

“Cor’s people followed her into killing fifty thousand people with an orbital strike, Mage-Admiral,” Adamant pointed out. “After that… if nothing else, she can hold that over them to force their obedience.

“I need at least two cruisers and a destroyer squadron,” she continued. “A tonnage advantage will hopefully help force at least the ASDF to surrender without a fight.”

“Given the area of responsibility of the Tau Ceti Station, I’m not sure I can spare that many ships, Commodore,” Segal pointed out. “We are, after all, responsible for the security of the Yards, as well as the jump lanes around this system.”

“His Majesty also gave me authority to commandeer units from the Tau Ceti System Fleet,” Adamant told him. “My understanding is they just finished construction of a flight of four brand new cruisers - I imagine they’d be ecstatic to test them out with full Navy approval.”

Segal paused for a moment, and then started laughing, a deep braying chuckle that she would never have expected to hear from the older man.

“I see that Desmond continues to have every one of his senior officers’ foibles and weaknesses memorized,” he admitted aloud. “I apologize for dragging my feet, Commodore. It is true that my responsibilities are extensive, but I need
hulls
more than tonnage - where your need is the complete opposite.

“I cannot spare a destroyer squadron,” he continued. “But I
can
spare the Second and Third Division of the Second Cruiser Squadron. Four cruisers should be sufficient for your purposes, wouldn’t you agree, Mage-Commodore?”

Adamant considered it for a moment, checking the statistics on the four cruisers she was being offered. Segal’s offer was actually even better than he was implying - each of the four ships he was offering were brand new twelve million ton
Honorific
class cruisers, out-massing the older cruisers in Cor’s squadron by twenty percent apiece.

“That will more than suffice, Mage-Admiral,” she told him. “If you could inform the ships’ captains in question as soon as possible? I will want to hold a task force meeting at,” she checked the time, “ten hundred hours Olympus Mons Time.

“My orders are to be underway by fourteen hundred,” she added. “My understanding is that Hand Montgomery has co-opted local rebel forces to help minimize ground-side collateral damage, but if we miss our arrival time… they could be in trouble.”

“My experience, my dear Mage-Commodore, is that it is
never
wise to disappoint a Hand,” Segal replied. “Your Captains will be there for your meeting.”

#