He won’t be pleased to hear this, she thought. She doubted the political problems on Tyre had gotten any better in the time she’d spent in transit. But he has to hear it anyway.
She walked into her cabin, keyed her terminal for a direct link to the StarCom, and through the StarCom to Tyre, and sat down. Her father had believed that someone had been Admiral Morrison’s patron, and that someone had taken steps to make sure they were never identified, but he’d never quite figured out why. Had they been trying to cover up their mistake in pushing Admiral Morrison into a post that had proved disastrous? Or had they genuinely intended to sell out the Commonwealth to the Theocracy? Kat had seen enough of the Theocracy to know that they wouldn’t hesitate to liquidate the former ruling class if they’d won the war, but someone back on Tyre might not have believed it. Or . . . She shook her head. Who had backed Morrison and why was a question that someone else would have to answer.
Someone would need to have a motive to start a war, she thought. But that would be utterly insane.
The king’s face appeared on the display. “Good morning, Kat,” he said. He sounded vaguely irritated. “I trust you have a good reason for summoning the Grand Admiral and myself from an important conference?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Kat said. She glanced at the stream of details under the display. It was morning on Tyre, wasn’t it? She’d been on Ahura Mazda time for months. “The good news is that we found and destroyed the Theocratic fleet.”
The king’s eyes darkened. “And the bad news?”
“We’ve discovered evidence that they were backed by someone in the Commonwealth,” Kat said. “And that person would have to be very high up.”
Her mind raced. How many people had that sort of power? Any of the dukes could have done it, with a little care; they could have funded the entire enemy fleet out of pocket change and used their facilities to produce spare parts.
But they’d get nothing out of it, she thought as she outlined the remainder of the story. Were they being blackmailed? Had Admiral Morrison genuinely been a Theocratic spy? Or . . . She gritted her teeth. Nothing about the affair made sense, which meant she was missing something. I might not be able to see how any traitor might benefit, but the king or the Grand Admiral might have some ideas.
“I see,” the king said slowly. His face was very composed. “Do you have any solid proof?”
“We have proof that missiles we captured were returned to the Theocracy and used against us,” Kat said, firmly. The records would have to be checked carefully, but she knew in her heart that Janice was right. “And that means that we were betrayed.”
“Again,” the king said. “There are certainly quite a few people who would go to extreme lengths to force us to withdraw from the sector.”
Kat didn’t doubt it. A year of battling to retain enough ships to provide the liberated worlds with at least some degree of protection had soured her on Parliament. She couldn’t understand why her brother, as stiff-necked as he’d been when she was a child, didn’t see that the sector needed protection. Hopefully, now that the Theocratic Navy had been destroyed for good, things would start to calm down. There would be no need to deploy superdreadnoughts. Perhaps they could work out a compromise that kept smaller vessels rotating through the sector.
Peter wouldn’t sentence millions of people to death, she thought. She was fairly sure of that, no matter how irritating her brother could be. But there are dukes and duchesses who would do whatever it took to improve their bottom line.
“Thank you for bringing this to me,” the king said. “How long do you think you’ll need to complete your investigation of the asteroid base?”
“The preliminary investigation should be completed in a day or two,” Kat said after a moment’s thought. She’d seen asteroids searched before, and this one didn’t look particularly unusual. “A more thorough search will take months.”
The king nodded. “Very good,” he said. “Once that preliminary investigation is over, you are to bring your fleet back to Tyre. Do not return to Ahura Mazda. Just head straight for the Gap and return home. Maintain strict communications silence. I also . . .”
Kat blinked. “Your Majesty?”
“It’s impossible to tell who to trust these days,” the king said. “I have a feeling that whoever is behind this, whoever it is, will do something stupidly violent. There are already mutterings in the hallways of power about something truly important being planned. I’d like to have people I can trust on hand in case the shit hits the fan.”
Kat swallowed, hard. It wasn’t obvious, certainly not to an outside observer, but a high-ranking nobleman had considerable resources. A ducal family owned everything from actual warships to clients in high places. Someone who decided to cause trouble could cause a hell of a lot of trouble, particularly if their actions came out of nowhere. And whoever was behind the scheme to keep the sector unstable, whatever they thought they stood to gain, had nothing to lose.
Particularly if they think they can seize enough of the levers of power to overawe any potential opposition, she thought. Someone who captured Tyre’s high orbitals and the orbiting battlestations would be in a position to dictate terms to the planet. And it might just be doable.
“I can’t believe we’re discussing . . . this,” she said. Her father would never have let it happen. “Your Majesty . . .”
“Things have changed while you’ve been away,” the king said. “Politics have gotten nastier, Kat. There’s a subtle war underway for control of the planetary defenses . . . as well as everything else. Clients are being swapped out at a moment’s notice. We might need a fighting force
