Part 55 (1/2)

Campbell hesitated. ”There is a certain logic to it,” he hedged. ”Depending on the strength and type of mines, they could pose a significant danger to the Komitadji's hull-mounted sensors and weapons emplacements.”

”Do you think that's what Mr. Telthorst is concerned about?” Lles.h.i.+ pressed.

Campbell glanced down onto the main command deck floor, as if checking to see if Telthorst was on his way back from his own rest break. ”Not really, sir, no,” he conceded. ”I think he mostly wants to keep the Komitadji in pristine condition for the victory flyover of the Supreme Council cathedra.”

”That was my impression, as well,” Lles.h.i.+ said. ”So that's agreed. We ignore him.”

”Yes, sir,” Campbell said, not looking particularly happy. ”Sir... permission to speak freely?”

”Certainly.”

Campbell seemed to brace himself. ”Any Adjutor a.s.signed to a s.h.i.+p like the Komitadji is by definition a highly placed official. He has a great deal of power; and you and he have not gotten along as well as everyone might have hoped.”

”So far, you're stating the obvious,” Lles.h.i.+ said. ”Are you suggesting I abandon my military duty in favor of watching my political back?”

”I'm suggesting it might be prudent to try to find some middle ground,” Campbell said. ”A compromise that allows him to save face while at the same time not putting our people at unnecessary risk.”

”I see,” Lles.h.i.+ said, studying his face. ”And all of this wise counsel is welling spontaneously from your own sense of decency and compa.s.sion?”

Campbell's lip twisted, just noticeably. ”Mr. Telthorst called me into his cabin yesterday after we chased away the net defenses. He told me that you had brought the Komitadji to Seraph without orders, and said that if your irrational defiance persisted he might have to relieve you of command.”

”And he offered you my job?”

”No, I think he intended to put on the commodore's tunic himself,” Campbell said, a trace of disgust seeping through his rigid control. ”He mostly wanted to see whose side I would be on if that happened. To find out whether or not I would join in mutiny against lawful authority, I believe is how he put it.”

”Interesting,” Lles.h.i.+ murmured. ”I appreciate your candor. And I won't ask what answer you gave him.”

Campbell's face reddened slightly. ”Sir-”

”Carry on, SeTO,” Lles.h.i.+ said, turning and stepping back to his station. Seating himself, he swiveled away from Campbell and called up the Komitadji's fuel consumption for the past four hours.

So there it was at last. It had been a long time in coming; but Telthorst was finally preparing to challenge his control of the Komitadji. And for him to be sounding out Lles.h.i.+'s senior officers, he must be feeling pretty confident that the time and opportunity were rapidly approaching.

Lles.h.i.+ sighed, a silent lungful of air that seemed to come from the center of his soul, his thoughts drifting back to the day he'd been given his first commission and sent aboard his first s.h.i.+p. Then, the Pax Defense Fleet had been exactly that: a bulwark of protection for the people of Earth and her fellow worlds. The Supreme Council had been supreme in fact, not just in name, and the Adjutors simply an advisory arm of the government charged with watching finances and expenditures.

Now, nearly half a century later, it had somehow all turned inside out. The military's primary mission had become one of conquest, its strategy and tactics driven by money and profit and gain. Money to feed the Pax's hungry coffers, profit for the delight of the shadowy men who were the real power behind the Council; gain that was immediately turned around and used to finance the next conquest.

The Komitadji had been built for only one purpose: to be so huge and so terrifying that its very appearance would frighten wayward colonies into surrendering without wasting valuable resources on useless defiance. Perhaps even as they had reluctantly authorized the necessary funds the Adjutors had looked forward to the day when they could take the s.h.i.+p for their own, to control it without having to work through the military chain of command.

Now, it seemed, Telthorst was ready to make that move.

And as far as Lles.h.i.+ was concerned, he was welcome to it.

It was a surprising thought, one that was almost as stunning to Lles.h.i.+ himself as it surely would have been to Telthorst if he'd heard it. For a flag officer to quietly give up his s.h.i.+p to a civilian-especially a brash, inexperienced, coin-bisecting Adjutor-would have been unthinkable to the young Ensign Lles.h.i.+ fresh aboard his first s.h.i.+p.

But the older Commodore Lles.h.i.+ could see clearly the road the universe was taking. The Adjutors had been winning steadily for the past thirty years, gathering more and more power and influence to themselves. They had slowly and methodically trained everyone from the lowliest Pax citizen to the highest members of the Supreme Council itself to think solely in terms of costs and profits and losses.

And Lles.h.i.+ was tired of fighting them.

Perhaps Telthorst would prove to be a competent commander. Probably not. But either way, at this point it wasn't worth a battle that would tear his crew apart in a power struggle. Certainly not in the middle of action against a hostile force.

Because no matter how incompetent Telthorst turned out to be, even he couldn't do anything to seriously threaten the Komitadji, not even with all the help the Empyreal Defense Force could muster. Perhaps if he embarra.s.sed himself badly enough, it would at least slow the Adjutors down in their rush to total power.

So let the Adjutor have his moment of glory. In the meantime, the real commander of the Komitadji had an a.s.sault to plan. Signing off on the fuel reports, he keyed for the latest reports from Sensor and Tactical and began to read.

Chandris's familiarity with hunters.h.i.+p procedure and personnel had gotten them a tow car without any questions being asked. It had taken a little more finesse to get them a spot at the launch strip, where an amazing lineup of s.h.i.+ps was waiting, but she'd managed to pull that one off, too.

But it was quickly apparent that no amount of charm was going to get them past the Angelma.s.s catapult.

”You must be kidding, Gazelle,” the operator said, his voice firm. ”Don't you read your own agency's reports? All travel to Angelma.s.s Central has been shut down. Period; end of comment; close file.”

”Then I suggest you reopen that file,” Chandris said acidly. ”This is a rescue mission, set up and blue three-coded by High Senator Forsythe himself.”

”A what?” the operator demanded. He still sounded firm, but Kosta could hear a trickle of doubt now in his voice.

”What, your ears need cleaning?” Chandris said. ”A rescue mission. Someone finally counted heads

on the evac shuttle and realized they left someone on Central. We're going out to get her.”

”Oh, h.e.l.l,” the operator muttered. ”Who is it?”

”Comm supervisor named Jiselle,” Chandris said. ”You know her?”

”Met her once,” the operator muttered. ”Not worth rescuing, if you ask me.”

”High Senator Forsythe apparently doesn't share your opinion,” Chandris said. ”Now, are you going

to 'pult us, or do we have to drag him out of his meeting and have him personally explain to you what exactly a blue-three means?””Okay, okay, come on in,” the operator said. ”I'm calibrating now.””Thank you. Out.”

Chandris snapped off the comm and got the Gazelle moving. ”Jiselle?” Kosta asked.”The comm supervisor I talked to after we were attacked and I had to bring Hanan back in a hurry,” Chandris explained.

”And the blue-three?”