Queen of the Pirates (32 page)

“As you command, Admiral,” he whispered between kisses.

HOMECOMING

Chapter XLII

Date of the Republic March 14, 394 Jumpspace Approaching Petron

“What do we know?” Jessica asked.

It was a small group today gathered on the flag bridge. They were deep in Jumpspace now, and trying to coordinate a score of vessels to a mid–hop stopover for a conference would be nigh–impossible. Especially when several of them weren’t exactly friendly. Certainly, she would have done it had it just been
Auberon
,
Rajput
,
Supernova
, and
Sky Dancer
. Those captains knew their jobs.

No, best to stick to the plan. There were too many moving pieces right now. Too many unknowns. To many maybes.

“The landing was advertised well in advance,” Denis Jež said. “The only issue is the rough timing. We’re moving at the best average speed of the rest of these laggards, so the window for arrival is about twelve hours wide. Figure we’ll come in a little ahead of center.”

She nodded and turned to the flag centurion. He had not had much to do that was interesting on the Promenade. Things that could have been handled by a signals yeoman, except for so many of the people at the other end of the line being potential enemies. Occasional polite diplomacy to prickly pirate–types, for the most part. Flirting with pretty girls, according to Marcelle.

“Are we ready for war, Enej?” she inquired.

“Secure channels have been established with
Supernova
and
Sky Dancer
, Commander,” he grinned back at her. “I have also spent some time with their key officers, people the king and David Rodriguez identified as safe, teaching them our vocabulary and some tactics, so they have an idea which way to jump when the flag goes up.”

Jessica felt a warm smile grow. “Gold star, Enej,” she said. “Very good idea.”

That might be the difference between life and death out there. She had been too busy with the Big Pictures Things. It was nice to know she had a crew like this to catch things she might drop. Creator knew she was going to drop something. Hopefully, not the
Big Thing
.

Jessica turned to the three women at the far end of the conference table: Tamara Strnad, Iskra Vlahovic, and Moirrey Kermode.

Moirrey first.

“How close did we get?” Jessica held her breath.

“Five of the Mark I, ma’am,” Moirrey replied, her grin growing into a smile that threatened to engulf her whole face. “Eleven of the Mark II.
Mischief
made grand.”

“You do realize,” Jessica said with a tease to her voice, “that one of these days First Lord Kasum is going to take you away from me and stick you in a weapons design facility with a big budget and a staff, right?”

“You won’t let him, will you, ma’am?” Moirrey seemed on the verge of despair suddenly.

“Never, Moirrey.”

Jessica turned to the other two.

“We have committed
Mischief
, ladies,” she said. “What’s the load–out?”

Tamara spoke first. Not that Iskra would speak much, anyway.

“
Auberon
has four of the Mark I’s, Commander,” Tamara said calmly, professionally. “Gaming scenarios suggest Imperial carriers with flight wings, rather than main–line warships, so we’ll have them loaded two and two, first in the missile racks. Just in case, I plan to have crews down in the bays with stealth missiles on sleds, ready to swap out with about four minutes warning, if you need sneaky first.”

“Reasons?” Jessica asked. Again, top–notch crew, thinking ahead. She felt less like a commander and more like an Academy instructor, grading PhD candidates. These people were among the best.

“Defense Centurion suggested a scenario where an enemy carrier or mothership starts off with a lot of bluffing and talk, rather than going straight to launch. You might want a swift–kill opportunity. Probabilities were ranked pretty low, but above zero. This gives you the most flexibility to engage. We figure things might get to knife–fighting very quickly.”

Jessica nodded. Lot of gold stars today for her crew. They might just pull this off. Creator knew it might be nearly as bad as when the Red Admiral ambushed them at
Qui–Ping
last year.

“Iskra?” Jessica asked last.

Jessica was rewarded by a smile she rarely got from her otherwise–dour and quiet flight deck commander.

“Standard fleet tactics call for something like the
Mischief
missiles,” Iskra said, “what Moirrey calls Archerfish, to be put on the big hitters.
Necromancer
,
Damocles
, and
Starfall
. That’s a dumb idea. They’ve already got lots of firepower. Twelve missiles. Twelve launch rails on
Jouster
’s group. Sending him out loaded for bear.”

Jessica did the math. Certainly not the way she would have executed it, but she could see the advantages to surprise. And she could plan accordingly.
Jouster
would be the hammer that kicked in the front door, rather than
Necromancer
. Unpredictable. Good.

“Very good,” Jessica said after a beat. She felt like she had said that a lot today, and would probably say it more. She simply couldn’t have done all of this without these people, these utter professionals, working at the top of their game. It felt right.

“I have no idea if they’ll try to jump us the moment we arrive, or wait.” Jessica stopped long enough to sip her nearly–forgotten coffee. “The original plan called for an assassination attempt to succeed, by methods unknown, followed quickly by the arrival of an overwhelming force that is supposed to cow us into submission and withdrawal.”

She took a breath to meet everyone’s eyes.

“I have no intention of dying in
Le Beau Geste
out here. Grand gestures of futility are for idiots,” she said. “That being said, this is the back end of beyond. We’re better flyers and gunners than they are. Your people have proven that, especially at
Callumnia
. So if it’s close, we just might fight. Nelson said it best, once upon a very long time ago. ‘Aquitaine expects,’ ladies and gentlemen. So do I.”

Chapter XLIII

Date of the Republic March 14, 394 Petron System

Just like they had at each of the stops of the Promenade, Jessica had Denis Jež drop
Auberon
out of Jumpspace well out from the edge of
Petron
’s gravity well. This wasn’t a combat assault, drop hard and fast, crash launch the wing, go immediately to close combat.

At least, it wasn’t supposed to be.

They certainly didn’t need to show off. Or show the bad guys just how good they were. That might have to come later.

Auberon
came out high and wide, anyway. Well above the ecliptic, far enough out that nobody would be close.

The big projection on the flag bridge continued to light up with vessels as they arrived or were identified.

Sky Dancer
was already there, and had apparently been early enough to launch half her wing, although they were flying around as escorts rather than strafing anyone. In David’s case, that might just be paranoia. He had the most to prove with many of these people, and the most to lose if things went wrong. Reliable and competent.

For a moment, Jessica considered recruiting him for the
Republic of Aquitaine
Navy. He could probably give Tomas Kigali a run for accurate, long–distance navigation.

Maybe a race sometime? She smiled wickedly.

Supernova
, with King Arnulf aboard for this last leg into home, had dropped dead–center into the target. Fortunately, nobody was waiting for them. If he wasn’t the king, she might have considered saying something, but she doubted he would listen. Arnulf’s style was brutal and straight–forward. As were most of the pirates around here.

They had made that clear with their flying, these last few months.

Two–dimensional killers, generally thinking of the ecliptic plane as
ground
and everything in terms of
up
and
down
. It was a bad habit to get into, when there was no gravity. If their prey had been any good, they might have had to up their game.

Jessica was reminded of that first duel, when she had just arrived on
Petron
. The one that almost killed
Warlock
. She looked over at him now, carefully quiet at a training console to one side, watching and absorbing, but not saying anything.

He smiled back at her. That made the day brighter. She wondered what he would do now, when he had the opportunity to return to the top of
Corynthe
society. Would he stay? Did she want him to?

Ian Zhao’s 4–ring Mothership,
Kali–ma
, came in low. Not particularly close to anyone, but not that far away.
Auberon
still had every big gun aimed at her as soon as she dropped into realspace. Aleksander Afolayan,
Auberon
’s Gunner, knew what her priorities were. Denis hadn’t said anything, either.

After several minutes of nobody doing anything, Jessica spoke into the general comm to the bridge.

“Sensors,” she said in that formal voice she used to get everyone’s attention. “Do we have a catalog of all the players handy?”

“Affirmative, Commander,” Giroux replied immediately. “
Supernova
,
Kali–ma
,
Valhalla
, and
Siberia
, of
Corynthe
’s 4–rings, so nearly everyone we know of, lacking only
Warlock
’s old command,
Sunset
. The 3–rings in scan range are
Warduck
and
Sky Dancer
. I also have the 2–ring
Chevalier
and the 1–ring
Ares
in close orbit of the planet. The 3–ring
Andromache
and the 1–ring
Baba Yaga
are undergoing serious repair work at the lunar maintenance yard and are unlikely to be ready to be involved if anything happens.”

“
Wei Chi
’s missing,” Daneel said into the quiet.

“Who commands her?” Jessica asked.

“Garth Agano.” Daneel grimaced. “Rory’s father. And Willem’s. If I were Ian Zhao and I was going to do something as big as we think he might, I’d want Garth involved.”

“Could they be leaving him out?” she said.

“Maybe,” Daneel replied, “but I think it’s more likely he’s out at the edge of the system right now, waiting. If
Salonnia
or the
Fribourg Empire
are involved, they might be out there with him, just waiting to jump down close.”

“Food for thought,” Jessica said.

She turned to the flag centurion, “Enej, compliments to the admiral. Let him know we’re ready to escort him into the station. Break. Denis, maintain red alert, but let’s have
Auberon
and
Sky Dancer
on the corners, just in case. Tuck
Rajput
in close for now.”

“Roger that, commander,” her first officer replied. “Want the flight wing out?”

“No,” she said simply. “I don’t know how quickly anything might break, and I’ll want them ready to go quickly, but they don’t need to be in their cockpits to quick launch yet, except
Jouster
and
da Vinci
.”

How soon until they sprang their trap? Moments? Hours? Days? Would they wait until
Auberon
departed? Certainly, she couldn’t stay more than a few more days without a reason.

Who would be in charge when she left?

Chapter XLIV

Date of the Republic March 14, 394 Orbital Palace Station, Above Petron

Arnulf’s Orbital Palace, a night–sky jewel in geosynchronous orbit above the city of
Corynthe,
really brought home the absolute poverty of the kingdom, in ways that weren’t easily masked. Rather than a sphere, it was just a disk, and not even a particularly large one.

Jessica knew there were two docking bays, opposite each other, but neither was big enough for
Cayenne
to fit, with the dozen or so smaller shuttles that needed to share the space, so she had entered via an airlock slightly around the ring. Now, she trooped her small army of marines and guests and crew through slightly curved hallways and airlocks that were a whole step down in quality from the poorest station
Aquitaine
might build, or the
Fribourg Empire
. Narrower. Shorter. Raw, painted metal in most places, rather than covered with hangings, or plants, or decorations.

Poverty. Even for a king. A proud one, who aspired to bring his nation up to the standards of the rest of the galaxy, if he could just get his people to understand the joys of indoor plumbing.

She snorted. That was a rude thought. Most of the people here were very nice and generally extremely civilized. Just poor cousins to the rest of the neighbors.

That, perhaps, she could help fix.

She glanced over at Desianna, who had chosen to ride the last leg home with her homeland rather than her husband, and smiled. Today, the woman looked like a queen, in an outfit she had apparently been saving for this occasion.

It fell somewhere between a dress and a gown, a shiny material in dark green that blended well with the
Aquitaine
uniforms around her. Her long, dark hair was contained in a mesh net created from large gold rings that made the black and the purple glow all the more. Her leather belt matched with decorated bracers on each forearm, lending her a fierce, nearly barbaric effect, without ever losing femininity.

And gold.

Rings. Bracelets. Earrings. Necklaces. Even a chain around her waist, outside her belt, that just made the whole outfit all the more impressive.

Jessica was happy in her best day uniform.

Partly, she didn’t want to be constrained in formal robes, if things did turn to combat. But also, because this was Arnulf’s
Triumph
. He was the King of the Pirates. And this lovely woman beside her would shortly be at his side.