Queen of the Pirates (40 page)

“I see.” He rose to shake her hand across the desk.

“Thank you again, Command Centurion,” he said quietly, sincerely. “I asked
Aquitaine
for help with a pirate problem. I could never have imagined what you would accomplish.”

“See that you don’t screw it up, Governor,” she replied. “I would hate to have to come back here at the head of a hostile fleet.”

A
Corynthian
fleet. Her fleet.

The governor nodded. He saw the same thing.

Jessica took her leave quickly.

Outside, she found Marcelle and two marines waiting for her. Moirrey Kermode leaned against the armored ground vehicle, waiting, and lit up with a smile when Jessica emerged.

“Did it go well, ma’am?” Moirrey asked, bubbly from her own trip to the family farm.

“Well enough, Moirrey,” Jessica said as they all climbed into the vehicle, Marcelle driving up front with the marines. “I’m ready to go home now.”

Epilogue: Ladaux

Date of the Republic May 26, 394 Fleet HQ, Ladaux System

It was the same cozy spot, deep in the bowels of the Officer’s Club at Fleet Headquarters.

The Marquette Room.

So little had changed. And so much.

Jessica focused on just maintaining her equilibrium tonight. It had gotten easier over the last two months. That wasn’t the same as easy.

She put on the face she had inherited from the Goddess of War and entered the room.

Joshua greeted her by name at the door and fawned over her as he escorted her to that same table, back in the corner. Premier Tadej Horvat was already there, along with First Lord Nils Kasum and a mostly empty bottle of red wine.

As before, Jessica sat on the outside next to Nils.

“Nils,” she said lightly with a nod as she sat. “Tadej.”

She could see the suddenly appraising looks on their faces as they nodded, somewhat taken aback.

Jessica felt about a hundred years old.

Joshua poured her a glass of wine and departed.

They drank in companionable silence for a bit.

The men obviously were expecting her to say something. That was an effort doomed to failure.

Jessica felt so tightly wrapped up that she might implode. Not that she would ever show it.

“I’m not familiar with that uniform.” Tadej had cracked first, indicating her choice of clothing this evening with a hand.

Jessica glanced down, mostly for show.

It was not what they had been expecting her to wear to this place.

Desianna and Moirrey had been mostly responsible for the outfit. Arnulf had almost always preferred dark grays, so they had started there and worked outward.

Grays. Diplomacy. The art of the unsaid, as well as the said.

Charcoal gray pants, so tight as to be stretched on, in case she needed to move into combat suddenly, as a Queen of the Pirates might. Those same knee–high black leather armored combat boots from
Bunala
. Over her sports bra, a light gray pullover with a mock turtleneck collar. Atop that, a slate–gray jacket, in a shade midway between the shirt and the pants. It was longer than a bolero, but not much, just to the top of her hips. Functional for shipboard, with pockets inside, and a useful waterproof shell she could wear on the ground on any sort of moderately unpleasant day.

And it fit perfectly, as one would expect with Desianna and Moirrey so intently focused on the task.

On each wrist, a single band of color as wide as her fingers. It was a deep maroon, almost the color of the wine she drank.

On her left breast, over her heart, a stylized logo of a beautiful woman with blue skin and four arms, holding a saber, a
main–gauche
, a severed head, and a planet, specifically Ian Zhao and
Petron
respectively, in this instance, although these two men wouldn’t recognize that.

At each side of her collar, a single hexagon, solid and the size of a Lev coin, forged with gold taken from one of Arnulf’s favorite bracers.

Jessica’s hair had gotten halfway down her back. She had it pulled back tonight into a simple tail to stay out of her way, although she tied it more forcefully in place when dancing with the fighting robot.

She was going to need a new robot soon. Settings Five and Six were no longer the challenge they had been when she went to
Corynthe
. Now, she kept beating this one nine–falls–in–fifteen at setting Nine.

She wondered what that said about her.

Still, she looked like a queen. If you looked the part, people had said, others were likely to accept you in it.

Jessica took a breath and fixed her gaze on the Premier of the Republic Senate.

He stubbornly refused to turn to stone.

“It is the uniform of the
Corynthe Navy
, Tadej,” she said finally. “Specifically, the Admiral of the
Corynthe
Fleet. It is one of my many new titles, along with being Queen of the Pirates.”

“I see.” He nodded carefully. “And you are still technically the head of state?”

“I am,” she said firmly. “David Rodriguez is the local regent in my stead. But I am still their monarch until I retire, or die. If I resigned now, it would have been almost as bad as if I had never tried. David would never be able to hold the throne, and one of the other captains would fight him for it. David rules, but he does so in my name, and they will be much more careful. They know I can always return. It is my duty as their queen.”

What did she have to live for at this point, save her duty?

“And will you remain on active service?” Nils asked quietly.

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it?

She could resign her commission and return to
Corynthe
to rule in barbaric splendor, the rest of her life dedicated to bringing that nation up to the standards of the Coreward stars.

But that wasn’t her place.

They had sent her out to learn diplomacy with a friendly power, and maybe chase off some pirates.

Nobody could have envisioned
this
.

Jessica saw Daneel’s easy smile in her mind. Everything still reminded her of him, but being back at
Petron
would make it much, much worse, at least until she had had enough time to grieve.

She wondered if there was enough time left in her life for that.

“I plan to, Nils,” she said. “My place is here. At least today. I cannot foretell the future.”

“And the logo?” Tadej said, vaguely gesturing at her breast without actually doing so.

“That is my other flagship, gentlemen. The 4–ring Mothership
Kali–ma
. The Goddess of War. An interesting Consort to the King of the Fairies.”

Tadej took a drink of wine, obviously to order his thoughts.

He had apparently been expecting a command centurion tonight, not a queen.

His loss.

“Until last week,” Tadej continued, somewhat obliquely, “
Aquitaine
had never had formal diplomatic relations with
Corynthe
. Too far away, on the far side of
Lincolnshire
. Not that important. You can imagine my surprise when an ambassador arrived to present her credentials.”

“Arianne Rodriguez,” Jessica replied flatly. “David’s half–sister. Charlotte’s daughter.”

“Yes,” Tadej said. “And she brought with her two teenage boys she thought would be better served being educated at Ladaux…?”

“Sebastian and Karel. Mei Fan’s sons. Also half–brothers of David, and the children of the woman who poisoned Arnulf, their father.”

Jessica smiled hard at the two men.

“You should consider them young foreign noblemen, to be re–educated in proper decorum and behavior, but not David’s hostages, nor mine,” she said fiercely. “He would have put them to death, as happened to their mother. I expect David’s mother’s hand, Desianna’s, in their survival.”

Tadej nodded knowingly and shared a glance with Nils. Politics.

The three drank in silence.

So far, she could handle this. The two men were obviously at a loss as to how to deal with this exotic creature in their midst. Jessica had to agree. She had had a two–month head start, and was not doing much better.

“Jessica,” Nils finally began slowly, carefully, “when we sent you to
Lincolnshire
, I’ll be honest, this was not what we had intended.”

“No,” she replied from the distant place, a thousand light–years away, where she had often been finding herself recently. “You sent me there to learn, to become a better officer, and to maybe deal with a small trade issue. I had not intended things to end up as they did. Nor had you. In many ways, in many places, I felt I had no choice but to move forward, trusting my instincts and the advice of my advisors. To rely on the training provided by the two of you, although mostly from Nils. I believe I was successful, on balance.”

Tadej laughed sharply, obviously in relief. “Jessica, you have been more successful than either of us dreamed…”

He paused, a sudden look of confusion and consternation on his face.

Nils Kasum’s personal aide had entered the lounge and made a beeline towards them

In one hand, Kamil held a thick folder, actual printed pages, and a serious look on his face.

“Kamil?” Nils said, obviously concerned.

The newcomer approached and handed his boss the folder and then glanced at everyone in the room to confirm their identity before he spoke.

“This package arrived in–system sixty–three minutes ago, transmitted via fast courier and marked
First Lord, Eyes Only
. I took the liberty of bringing it here, because I did not believe it could wait until morning.”

He paused while Nils opened it and read the cover page.

Nils quickly handed the cover document to Tadej without a word as he dug deeper into the details.

“Who do we have that can stop him?” Tadej asked after he scanned it quickly and handed the cover letter in turn to Jessica.

It was an executive summary of an Intelligence Report, normally reserved for a much higher security clearance than she rated. The name at the top caught her attention.

Fribourg Empire
Admiral of the Red, Emmerich Wachturm.

The Red Admiral.

She scanned the rest.

“Is this credible?” she asked simply.

Not
True
. Not
Accurate
.

Credible
.

The language of diplomacy and espionage. Grays and fog. Probabilities and options.

“Yes,” Nils replied tightly. “Our spies report that, as of four weeks ago,
IFV Amsel
and her squadron consorts were preparing for a long–run jump to launch a surprise attack on the Republic world of
Ballard
.”

He looked up at Tadej. “As for what we have to stop him, nothing. I don’t have any vessels big enough that can be retasked and make it to
Ballard
before he arrives. Why
Ballard
?”

Jessica flashed back to the conversation this night above
Callumnia
.

“
Auberon
can get there,” Jessica said into the heavy silence. “And this is partly my fault.”

“How? What have you done?” Tadej had an angry look now.

She remembered again how angry the Red Admiral had been that night. The two men were of an ilk, right now.

“During the Promenade with Arnulf and Desianna, we talked as a group at length about
Ballard
,” Jessica replied, letting her tone calm these two men. “Specifically we discussed the AI who is the provost of the university there. The woman named Suvi. The Red Admiral was quite angry that the Republic allowed her to even exist.”

“And your part in this?” Nils asked.

“Arnulf had asked me about Founding Legends, Nils, looking for how he could turn
Corynthe
from a land of pirates into a nation. I told him about Henri Baudin and the Story Road. The Red Admiral did not respond positively.”

“I see,” Nils said with a nod, a light of understanding coming into his eyes.

Founding Legends. Powerful magic.

Jessica waited as these two powerful men thought, and considered the part she would have to play.

Again, history was demanding her presence.

Nils stared blankly into space for several seconds as he gamed out a number of scenarios in his mind. This was the man who had taught her how it was done, although she probably had passed him now.

A look passed silently between Nils and Tadej. Question. Counter–question. Assent.

“This is not what I had planned next for you, Jessica,” he said finally. “Understand that. Pomp and celebration will have to wait for another day. How quickly can you get underway?”

Jessica had already done the math. “I’ll need most of a day to round up my crew and take on supplies. If you can send along a Fleet Replenishment Freighter, we can travel fast and light. I’ll need
Rajput
,
CR–264
, and
Brightoak
, plus whoever else is handy when we go to break orbit.”

She tried to remember her last trip to
Ballard
, so many years ago.

That had been a happy visit, a newly–minted cornet with two days of shore leave and as much trouble as she could out–run.

This would be very different.

“The
Ballard
militia will have a squadron of local fighter craft stationed, and maybe a couple of Light Cutters?”

“Something like that,” Nils replied absently as he flipped the folder open again and began scanning pages.

“Page one hundred six, First Lord,” Kamil said quietly.

Nils found the page.

“Yes. Eleven fighters, one removed from duty and never replaced. Two small, older–model patrol cutters, mostly for revenue enforcement and search–and–rescue.”

“I will need two weapons packs when I go,” Jessica said, warming to the destiny playing out in her mind.

“Two?” Nils asked, his eyebrows rising.

“One will do to replenish the squadron’s usage at
Petron
. The second is for Moirrey.”