undercover investigation for almost a year, and they arrested several dozen of Micah's officers and men for participation in a huge theft and smuggling ring. Why, Micah himself had been subjected to an intense grilling that lasted almost a full day.
He'd protested of course. He'd immediately returned to Prime and complained directly to the Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Fleet Admiral Chu-Lo himself.
He'd been shocked and humiliated. The old man had not only offered him no sympathy, he'd called him an incompetent fool, among other things.
His brother hadn't been much better. He'd called Micah names, too. His own brother — and his younger brother at that! He'd told Micah they'd get him out of this last scrape, but there would be no more help from the Jonas family. Micah would be on his own. Micah's protests were ignored. The family would buy him another star, and arrange a transfer, with no charges filed. Then they'd be finished with him. No more money to supplement his Fleet salary. No more influence used to get him his choice of assignment. Micah would be cut off from the Jonas family's wealth and power.
So, Micah was promoted to Rear Admiral, appointed Commander, Rim Sector, and shipped off to Thaeron, as far from Prime as Fleet Admiral Chu-Lo could find. He'd been here for six years now, and it was obvious he'd be here until he retired in ten years.
But Micah wasn't taking his humiliation lying down. He'd show them. He'd show them all!
Micah wasn't stupid. He'd learned how his officers and men had betrayed him, and the mistakes that had gotten them caught. Surely, as the Commanding Officer of an entire sector's forces, he'd be able to do a better job — and make sure he wouldn't get caught. He'd make his own fortune. When he retired, he'd return to Prime in triumph. He wouldn't have to piddle along on a Rear Admiral's retirement pay or worse yet go to his brother, hat in hand.
He'd done it, too. He had over thirty million crowns stashed in numbered accounts on half a dozen worlds near Prime. Directly or through intermediaries, Micah had a piece of every illegal enterprise in the Thaeron system and many others throughout the rim. By judicious use of his transfer authority and by trading on the Jonas name, he'd managed to surround himself with people he could trust — trust to help him defraud the Empire.
He'd even managed to get back at his brother. One of his clandestine contacts had underbid Jonas, Inc. on a supply contract then, with Micah's help, provided less than the required amount of substandard weapons system power cells. Micah had simultaneously denied his brother the lucrative contract, and made nearly a million from it.
But Micah was careful, even though he seemed to be getting away with everything. He constantly reminded himself that the traitorous officers at his last command had thought they were getting away with it, too, until FIS grabbed them.
So he wasn't too surprised when he discovered that an investigation was underway. Oh, the indications were subtle: several new officers and enlisted people transferred in, unrequested. Files accessed without apparent reason. Other seemingly minor occurrences. It all added up to FIS. However, Micah had set up warning systems and several alarms had gone off.
Micah still had a problem. He had shut down all illegal operations, but there would be traces. He had gone out of his way to cover his own tracks, but he was painfully aware that others hadn't been so careful. At the least, he could be caught in the undertow when they were sucked down. In addition, there was always the chance that one of the others had gathered evidence on Micah to use as a bargaining chip.
Even if he were not directly implicated, Chu-Lo would use it as an excuse to cashier him; and without his Fleet retirement pay as cover, it would be difficult to enjoy his hard-earned money.
He'd done what he could. The only subspace comm on Thaeron was in Micah's office, and Micah made sure it was secure. He'd contracted some of his illegal contacts to upgrade the office's security so even they couldn't penetrate it. It'd been expensive, but he'd run tests using his Marine infiltrators. Nobody would get into that office without Micah's knowledge.
That meant any agents' reports would have to be sent through normal channels; i.e. by mail sent by ship; and Micah had the outgoing mail scanned before being forwarded. He'd already identified six FIS agents, and intercepted their reports. So far, they didn't have anything solid on him. That wouldn't last, though. Sooner, rather than later, those FIS agents were going to turn up solid evidence on somebody, and the wall of silence would begin to crumble.
The Emperor's conspiracy had come at just the right moment. A lot could happen when the shooting started. Records could be lost or damaged. People could be killed.
Above all, no one would be pursuing any investigations until the shooting stopped — if there were any evidence left when the shooting stopped. Or any investigators.
He shrugged and dismissed the matter from his mind. Instead, he focused on the impact of his intervention in the Emperor's plans. The Emperor would be furious, of course. But he would be trapped. He couldn't admit that he'd been plotting with a Sector Viceroy to give away an entire sector without consulting the imperial senate. Not without Cord to speak for him.
No, Eron XXIV would have to grit his teeth and pretend to be grateful to have a rebellion put down. Micah tried to visualize the Emperor's face as he awarded Micah the Imperial Star for spoiling his plans. He chuckled. Not only could he bury any evidence of — and witnesses to — his illegal activities, but he would actually be doing his duty as a Fleet officer; preventing the loss of an entire sector. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the latter factor meant as much to him as the former.
Micah and Van-Lyn waded into a flurry of activity. They had to make sure that all of the ships were battle- ready. No skimming, no substandard supplies, no disappearing inventory. Oh, Micah didn't expect much fighting, at least not in space. He shouldn't have to invade every inhabited system. He'd only need to control the Sector government long enough to return it to the Emperor: a few months, a year at most. Cord would have to die, of course.
Micah actually made contingency plans to cause some fighting. He had people and evidence to dispose of. But armed conflict between the unarmed people of the rim worlds and his own overwhelming military force was hardly likely. He'd had to think of something, a pretext to provoke some armed resistance.
He had complete control of the Thaeron system, of course. However, everything there was defensive. No matter how powerful the fortified moons, no matter how well armed the satellites, no matter how many minefields the Fleet had here, it would all be useless to him. Hmm. Could he take some of the armed satellites along? Possibly. Have to look into that.
Nevertheless, the only things that really mattered were his ships. Well, those and enough Marines to occupy Haven City.
With that battle group to overcome a virtually unarmed sector, there should be little trouble. For one thing, Cord didn't know that he knew about the giveaway, or that Micah would even consider attacking and taking over the sector. Even if he found out somehow, there was little Cord could do. Certainly, he had nothing that could seriously oppose Micah's force.
In the meantime, his former co-conspirators must be reassigned to front-line positions out of the reach of the FIS agents, but where harm was likely to befall them if fighting occurred.
The only co-conspirator that worried Micah was Van-Lyn. Van-Lyn was Fleet through and through. The idea of purposely sending Fleet people to their deaths just to conceal his own guilt was one Van-Lyn would find impossible to accept.
Unfortunately, there was no way to put Van-Lyn in harm's way. All Micah could do was try to wheedle and cajole, constantly reinforcing the necessity for total security. Even so, Van-Lyn was a weak link. Why couldn't the old fool realize that the alternatives were a blaster bolt to the back of the head or the rest of his life on a prison planet? Micah needed him and Nemesis for the moment. But once the fighting was over, it might be necessary to arrange something. Perhaps a traffic accident or a street robbery gone bad…
Chapter III
It was a relief to escape Haven’s freezing temperatures and get back aboard the Old Bitch. Unfortunately, it
