no, I won't feel guilty for executing his partner in treason!'
Van-Lyn was frowning, his expression thoughtful. After a few moments, he sighed. 'Much as it worries me to find myself agreeing with you, Admiral, I'm forced to it now. Eron's betrayal is obvious.' He shuddered. 'I still find it difficult to believe. If it weren't for the codes on that message, I'd be certain it was one of your tricks.'
Micah grinned. 'If I could forge documents as good as that message, I wouldn't have to worry about FIS investigations.'
The two officers set aside their mutual dislike, and set to planning their response to the Emperor's shocking treason.
'The action plan itself is simple, Jamin,' Micah began. 'As the Emperor's military representative, Cord is certain to invite me to the ceremonies when he assumes power. Well, we'll attend, all right. All of us. Every warship that can break orbit, and at least a battalion of Marines. We'll mount a full-scale assault on the Viceroy's palace, and seize the planet.' He grinned. 'This is the first time I've been glad that Haven is such a horrible place. We'll only have to control a million or so people.'
Van-Lyn frowned. 'Let me make sure I understand this, Admiral. You want to take our entire force? Even Nemesis?'
Micah nodded. 'Of course.' He raised a puzzled frown to Van-Lyn's face. 'I must admit I'm surprised, Jamin. I thought you would certainly approve. After all, the more overwhelming show of force we make, the less the likelihood we'll actually have to fire on Empire citizens. And Nemesis is essential for that display. No one can ignore a kilometer-sized globe bristling with weapons. Besides, everybody knows that dreadnoughts carry planetbusters.'
Van-Lyn nodded, but his expression remained troubled. 'Oh, I understand that, Admiral. And I approve. But it will take months to get Nemesis ready for space.'
Micah frowned. 'Are you telling me, Captain, that your ship is not deployable?' His tone was dangerous.
Van-Lyn shook his head. 'I'm telling you that Nemesis is two and a half centuries old. The last time she engaged in combat was over a hundred and fifty years ago. For the past fifteen years, she's been nothing but an orbital fort. Her systems consist of two hundred and fifty years' worth of jury-rigging and jerry-building. Her design specs fill four memory chips. But the documentation on the modifications, such as it is, fill sixteen chips. And that doesn't include undocumented jury rigs. Even with the base's facilities, it'll take months to get her spaceworthy.'
Micah nodded thoughtfully. 'Well, we should have months. Cord and the Emperor won't rush something this big. They'll take their time, make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed. Of course, they won't be expecting us!'
His grin resurfaced. 'We're going to mess up a lot of planning, Jamin. We'll go in hot, seize Haven, which means the sector, and then loudly announce that Cord was planning a rebellion. Then, we'll formally return the sector to the Emperor.' The grin turned malicious. 'The Emperor will have no choice but to accept, especially if Cord isn't around to contradict our version of events. Sheol, Jamin, he may end up being forced to award us medals for spoiling his treasonous little plan.' The grin faded. 'But we're going to have to get very busy. We only have a few months to get our entire fleet battle-ready.'
Van-Lyn looked annoyed. 'I wouldn't award yourself the Empire Star yet, Admiral. We still have a few problems in the way.
'One is Cord himself. I doubt he'll just sit around waiting for a chance to surrender the sector.'
Micah waved a hand in dismissal. 'Pah! Cord's a nothing. A nobody. No breeding at all. No background. Why, his father was just a royal tutor! If he hadn't grown up in the imperial palace with the Emperor, no one would ever have heard of him.'
Van-Lyn shook his head. 'He may be a commoner, but he's tough and smart. Don't underestimate him, Admiral.'
Micah shrugged. 'That just makes it more likely that he'll be killed resisting arrest. We'll have the element of surprise and overwhelming force. I don't care how tough and smart he is; without ships and weapons, we can brush him aside.'
Van-Lyn shrugged, his expression skeptical. 'Perhaps. I certainly hope you're right, because the other major problem is our own people.'
Micah flushed, and his expression turned dangerous. 'What do you mean? Are you saying that our own people might disobey my orders?' He swelled up visibly. 'They're Fleet, and they'll do as they're told!'
Van-Lyn shrugged again. 'They're Fleet, but they're not robots. Many of them have been stationed here for years. Some even consider themselves rimworlders now. Most, especially the officers, pay attention to the sector news. They've seen the good Cord has done for the sector. Besides, Cord's nearly fanatical loyalty to the Emperor is well known. It may not be easy to convince them that Cord's a villain.'
Micah's flush of anger began to fade as he realized that Van-Lyn had a point. After a moment, he released his pent-up breath with a mighty whoosh. 'You may be right, Jamin. If so, this is probably the most serious problem we'll have. How do we handle our own peoples' foolish support of Cord and their blind loyalty to the Emperor? If we just circulate the message, at least half of them will think it's a fake and a forgery. We have to come up with a way to deal with our own people before we can even begin to work on fighting Eron's treason.'
The planning went on far into the ship's 'night.' Micah and Van-Lyn began screening their subordinate officers. They made up lists; officers they could count on, those whose loyalties were in doubt, and those most vocal in their support of Cord. Micah and Van-Lyn determined to sound out those on the second and third lists, finding out who was reliable and who was not, and shifting their duty assignments. When the shoe dropped, Micah wanted people that he could trust in positions of authority and power.
There would be resistance, of course. Non-routine reassignments would generate questions and resentment. However, Micah was confident that he could handle it. After all, he was the supreme Fleet officer in the sector. He also controlled access to communications with higher authority.
After Van-Lyn left, Micah became lost in thought. Van-Lyn's hatred and contempt irritated him more than he'd like to admit. Oh, he guessed he was rather a mystery to the old man. Why would a member of one of the wealthiest families in the Empire become involved in smuggling and any number of other illegal activities?
Van-Lyn just didn't understand. Coming from a certain social strata required a certain very expensive lifestyle. Certainly, his Fleet salary had never met his needs. Joining the Fleet had been his father's idea. He'd discovered early on that young Micah had no interest in or talent for business. When he finally ran out of patience, Jonas Senior had decreed that Micah accept the Fleet commission he'd purchased. So Micah had joined the Fleet, after being told in no uncertain terms that if he resigned, he'd be cut off from his father's money and power. His younger brother had become heir apparent to Jonas, Inc.
For a long time, all had gone well. True to his word, Micah's father, and later his brother, had used money and influence liberally to ensure Micah got fast promotions and plum assignments, well away from any danger of injury or death.
Micah's luck ran out during his last posting. Commodore Jonas had been given command of a supply base comfortably close to Prime. For over three years, he'd spent most of his time shuttling between his base and his vacation home on Prime.
Micah sighed as he stared out the viewport at the planet orbiting below. His planet, just as Nemesis was his ship. At least under his control. The old Emperor had deeded the entire Thaeron system to the Fleet. Micah snorted. Not that it was that much of a system.
Oh, it had a G9 star, and a system of 12 planets; but only Thaeron was inhabitable. Not that Thaeron was such a bad planet. In fact, it was very Prime-like. However, except for a few square miles devoted to the Fleet base, and a scattering of facilities to provide rest and recreation services, the whole planet was uninhabited. It was pretty from space, though. Well, to be honest, it was a nice planet. Those R amp;R facilities featured everything from snow skiing to lazing on tropical beaches to hunting Thaeron's weird fauna.
The system was heavily fortified, though it had never been threatened. Micah had many of the fields of drifting minefields dismantled after complaints from the captains of the rim tramps that made Thaeron a regular port of call.
Micah dragged his thoughts back from the view. He'd been happy at his last command. Life had been good.
Then some nosies from the Fleet Investigative Service had descended on his base. They'd been pursuing an
