New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) (15 page)

"After such an open act of aggression, there would be going back..." the head of my guard said thoughtfully. "The Orange House would never forgive the Ravaash race for such an attack."

"I know. That is why my landing ships from the Sigur system will capture the Forepost-12 beacon at the same time. Forepost-13 will be attacked from the Oort system. And a fleet from Hnelle will capture another two systems: Forepost-11 and Tialla. Only that way can the three isolated territories that will be part of the future government unite and provide for travel and transit between one another. This is very important."

The Chameleon thought for a very long time, and even went into "thinking mode" again, but I didn't hurry him at all, understanding the weight of the decision before him. Finally, the head of my guard answered:

"My Prince, you can count on us. The Chameleons will capture the Sss and Li Colony warp beacons and turn them off."

"Excellent, my friend. In that case, let's go to the others. Now is the time to announce our grandiose plans to our old friends."

W
e were sitting on large soft pillows in a spacious circular hall with no windows. The only source of light was the sun coming through the transparent ceiling, which made the room somewhat dim even in the middle of a sunny day. In Popori de Cacha's words, it had been built by Chameleons just today from aerated concrete, and would be a museum in honor of the captain of
Surprise-1
. But today, this room would serve as the location of a historic meeting of "conspirators," all gathered with the goal of leaving the Orange House. I had already declared my intention to my subordinates to create an independent Unatari State, and explained my reasons for doing so. The reaction of those gathered was one of measured approval. There weren't any shouts of joy, but there wasn’t strenuous objection either. The general opinion of the captains that had come over to my side was voiced by Oorast Pohl:

"My Prince, this is the best way out your Highness could possibly suggest. My friends and I have worked honestly our whole lives, fighting for the good of the Empire, which is why the prospect of being punished on false pretenses for treason was making us very upset. You can count on us all the way, Crown Prince!"

Admiral Mike ton Akad didn't take any time to think about it either:

"Your Highness has long been famous for doing things that seem unusual at first glance, but turn out to have been right after some time has passed. Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, I am with you!"

Colonel Gor ton Vulf simply raised his hand, showing his agreement with the previous speakers as well. Everyone present was staring at Ayna, who was the only one present not to have stated her own opinion. My assistant thought for a long time, then said:

"I am completely on Crown Prince Georg's side, but before the beginning of active measures, I want to be sure that no one close to us will suffer. I, like many of those here, have relatives and close friends in Orange House territory. There can be no doubt that they might suffer or be used for blackmail or political games by our enemies."

Those in the hall began to think. Their faces grew gloomy. Before their determination was totally extinguished, I said:

"Thank you, Ayna, for bringing up such an important issue. As quickly as possible, I expect each of you to compose a list of individuals to be evacuated to systems that will be under our control. If they cannot all be evacuated, they should at least be warned. We must protect our relatives and friends."

Katerina ton Mesfelle shook her head:

"Georg, it's hardly possible to get so many people out unnoticed. Many of them are probably under observation as it is. Our enemies are sure to notice the preparations and come to their own conclusions."

"If we cannot evacuate them secretly, then we'll have to do the exact opposite: evacuate them right out in the open. Information can be a weapon in the modern world, and there are those that can wield it very skillfully. Katerina, today I need a huge report, as scandalous as possible, about how the Orange House is threatening those close to the Unatari military, even civilians and young children. Cobble together a whole series of interviews with different soldiers, and overlay that with facts about how their families are under threat. Well, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how to do that."

Katerina nodded, confirming that there wouldn't be a problem with the material.

"Afterwards, make sure the story is picked up by news channels the Empire over. I'll earmark some funds for just that purpose so the reports can be shown in prime time on several Imperial planets. The howling and indignation will be frightening! For the next two or three days, the Orange House won't be able to do anything but rebut the accusations coming in from all sides and declare that they are not party to the persecution, so you can be sure that they won't dare detain anyone. We will show these scandalous news reports to all ships of our Star Fleet, including to those not currently in Unatari. After that, I will sign an official order as fleet commander saying, 'In light of the possible threats to the life and or freedom of those close to Unatari Fleet crew members, I order you to go make sure all your relatives and close friends are safe.' If anyone needs, I will even officially provide the funds to take their families somewhere secure. What do you say?"

Everyone kept silent for a long time, quite shaken-up by what they had heard. Obviously, the experienced military officers had not spent much time around journalism types, so they had a weak notion of how these kind of "breaking stories" could be simply concocted from thin air. Finally, the graying captain of
Bride of Chaos
raised his hand like a schoolboy at his desk.

"Yes, I think it'll work. But there's another important issue... Prince, you alluded to potentially fairly large expenses. What do you see in the financial future for this new government? I mean, we'll have to pay upkeep on five battleships, fifteen heavy and almost eighty light cruisers. It's not a small amount of money. Won't the fleet be paralyzed simply because there's nowhere to buy any fuel for the reactors or rounds for the cannons?"

"There are actually two questions there, and they're both important," I noted approvingly. "Repairing damaged starships, and manufacturing ammunition, drones, armor plates and even light ships will all be capabilities we will have in the Unatari State. My assistant Ayna can tell you more about the present financial situation of the future government."

The tall muscular girl stood up, turned on her palm-top and brought up a table with rows of numbers on the wide touch-screen table we were sitting at. Then, Ayna delved into our financials:

"Before you is this month’s net income report. The first line of income is the sale of valuables from
Queen of Sin
. All the auctions went through, the payments have come in, and the items have been given to commercial courier services for shipment to buyers. Insurance and all required documents have already been filled out by me, so delivering them is no longer our problem. Net profit, after considering commissions and other expenses came to seven hundred twenty-five million credits."

One of the captains gave a surprised whistle, and the others clearly found it funny. Ayna, though, waited out the brief interruption and continued:

"Another thirty-five million for monthly taxes from Unatari. A bit from the other systems too, a total of two million per month. There haven't yet been any production deliveries from the ice processing facilities, so there's a bit more there too. You need to also consider the fact that on top of all this, we're sending seven million to the Orange House tomorrow, and another three to the Throne World."

My assistant grew silent, waiting for my reaction. I thought for a bit, and approved:

"We won't stop paying taxes to the Empire, given that Unatari will remain part of the Empire. And we'll have to pay all the taxes for this month to the Orange House, otherwise Duke Avalle will perk his ears up a bit too soon, and that might interfere with our plans."

My assistant nodded in agreement and continued:

"The main part of the expenses column is maintaining two fleets. We also need to include buying necessary materials for docks and maintaining scientific laboratories in planned expenses. After paying all the taxes and expenses, our total monthly income will be four hundred seventy-two million credits."

Here I took a word:

"In this month, our main income was from selling valuables. Obviously, that is was a one-time windfall. But we can add income from the ice factories to next month, as well as ore production in the Sss system, and we'll also have to figure out taxes in the insect systems. I suspect that there should be a great deal more there as well. So, we have enough money to maintain the fleet, even considering the fact that our main ships are not here in Unatari at all."

Seeing by their faces that they weren't understanding, I began laughing and told them about my three-hundred-starship reserve fleet, currently in the Fia system. When I revealed that we still had the
Uukresh
, and a second that was practically already built, functioning production lines for manufacturing new drones with Alien technology and a research complex, smiles began lighting up on the captains' faces.

"My Prince, with such forces at our disposal, we could even take the Orange House Capital!" Oorast Pohl grew happy.

But I had to reign him in there:

"That won't work yet, my friend. I still see two unsolved problems at hand. First, crews. Even here in Unatari, we are already about forty-percent below capacity. And though the fleet in Fia doesn't have such a problem, we need to find another twenty thousand crew members somewhere for the new mothership and frigates or corvettes. Problem number two: landing soldiers and terrestrial divisions in general. Unatari's land army, together with law enforcement officials, totals around sixty thousand people right now. That is enough to protect the population from criminality, but clearly not enough to capture a densely populated planet of, let's say, six billion inhabitants. That is why we'll have to figure out a way sooner or later to solve the manpower problem. Does anyone have an idea?"

I turned to Gor ton Vulf, and the colonel said, somewhat sheepishly:

"It's a difficult question, my Prince... For the planet of Unatari, with a population of just sixty-three million, the potential in drafting soldiers isn't so great, especially if we're talking about finding qualified personnel for a star fleet. On Unatari, there simply aren't enough experienced technicians, engineers and navigators for all of your Highness's ships. There is also a problem with army divisions. And even if you raise the number of people in the army by ten times, the problem won't be solved immediately. A man doesn't become a landing soldier, assault soldier or tank driver without many years of long training. Sending untrained cannon fodder into battle simply makes no sense, and we aren't in an appropriate situation to spend quite that prodigiously right now, especially with our modest mobilization reserves. As far as I understand, the new government will not contain any other inhabitable planets..."

The gazes of those gathered were trained on the touchscreen, where I had brought up a map of the systems that made up Perimeter Sector Eight and the Swarm. I took the laser pointer and circled the new systems:

"Colonel, we have four star systems here, which are inhabited by Iseyek. The population there is high. Hundreds of millions if not billions of insects. And that is my assignment for you: figure out if it is realistic to mobilize reserves from them. Also, in the insect capital system, Dekeye, there is a
Tria
landing ship that the Swarm once gave me for carrying out missions to defend their territory. Perhaps, we could come to an agreement about using the
Tria
again. That is why my first-order mission is to fly to Dekeye, meet with Nai Igir, the Swarm Queen, and explain the political situation. If the praying mantises remain our allies, then great. I'll find out what it will take to get their landing ships again. If the Iseyek decide to be neutral, not so great, but also bearable. The main thing is to make sure the insects don’t think it a good time to take back lost territory. On the one hand, it's not very likely. But on the other... who can understand their inhuman collective reasoning? When they left our fleet out to dry in Kej, no one was expecting that either!"

I stopped sharply, as one of my bodyguards walked into the room. He gave a deep bow and said:

"My Prince, the space shuttle from the frigate
Ghost-5
has entered the Unatari atmosphere and is requesting permission to land here on the island of Chameleons. They do not know the current password."

"Allow them to land. Ladies and gentlemen," I stood and turned to those gathered. "Let's go meet our old friends and companions."

* * *

The red-hot armor of the shuttle was crackling as it cooled down. The heat radiating from the chassis made it impossible for us to get any closer to the closed door. But from the other side of the partition, a metallic scratching could be heard. Colonel Gor ton Vulf immediately took a step backwards and said, pointing to the row of indents around the perimeter of the tightly battened-down doors:

"They're opening it from the inside. They've already turned the lever. And now a stream of cold carbon dioxide will rush from the nozzles and quench the door. I recommend that you all step a bit back so you won’t get scalded by the hot air."

Then, a sharp hiss rang out, and the door went aside. In the dark space, there was something huge and spindly, and it shot out in my direction. The guards grabbed for their weapons in concert, but I stopped them with a wave, having recognized my bodyguard in time.

"Phobos!!! Who painted you like that?! Although... Don't tell me. I recognize the artist's style."

The huge Alpha Iseyek's shell was covered in black and gray blotches, which formed the backdrop for three-eyed skulls and other elements characteristic of Princess Astra royl Veyerde's painting.

"My Prince, this Astra is to draw, when to be in bad mood," confirmed the Alpha Iseyek as he stepped out in front, making way for the other shuttle passengers.