A Rising Thunder

not going to jump either way until we know what Filareta did, but Malachai and I have discussed our options. Obviously, if he’s pushed ahead and the Manties have collapsed, figuring out how to spin it is no problem. If he’s backed off, on the other hand, we point out that both he and Tsang have demonstrated yet again the Solarian League Navy’s abhorrence for the kind of blood fests the Manties seem perfectly willing to embrace.”

“And if he’s gotten his ass blown off like Crandall?” Quartermain asked grimly.

“My feeling is that he’s smarter than Crandall. I think he’ll have backed off if it looked to him like he was going to get hammered. And I think the Manties will have let him, to be honest.”

“Why?” Quartermain could have sounded incredulous, but her tone was genuinely curious.

“I think they’re crazy, but I don’t really believe they’re the bloodthirsty maniacs we’ve been describing to the newsies, Omosupe, and neither should you. Think about it. They had Tsang dead to rights, and they didn’t even try to engage her. They let her turn around and hyper out. With her tail metaphorically between her legs, perhaps, but they let her go. If they were really contemplating pushing a war against the League, would they have let that many of our superdreadnoughts get away from them? ‘Live to fight again another day,’ is the phrase, I believe.”

“I don’t know how much faith I’d care to invest in that particular theory, but it’s not as completely insane as I thought it was going to be before you explained,” Quartermain said. “On the other hand,” her eyes narrowed once more, “that still doesn’t explain why you specifically wanted to see me and none of the others.”

“It wasn’t because I wanted to see you and none of the others,” Kolokoltsov corrected. “I wanted to see you without seeing all of the others. In particular, without seeing Nathan and Rajani. I figure there’s actually a pretty good chance the two of us can stay below their radar horizon, but if I’d started adding others…”

He let his voice trail off, and she nodded. She’d thought that might be it. For that matter, she’d made a mental bet with herself about the topic he wanted to discuss.

“All right,” she said. “We’re here; they aren’t. What is it you want to talk about?”

“This damned Manty blockade,” he said frankly. “One reason I didn’t want Nathan or Rajani here was because the last thing we need right now is more posturing. But having said that, I have to admit the Manties have moved faster and a lot harder than I thought they were going to. Closing their own termini is bad enough; if these reports that they’re closing down other people’s termini are true, they’ve escalated it further than I really expected they were going to.”

Quartermain started to say something sharp and pungent, but she didn’t. At least he was admitting he’d made a mistake. Besides, it wasn’t as if kicking him the way he deserved was going to do any good at this point.

“And?” she said instead.

“And I need to know where we stand as of what we know right now. And where you think it’s going to go in the next few months. Even in a best-case scenario, our economy’s going to get hammered — assuming Filareta hasn’t already solved all our problems, of course. I know that. But I need to know what you and Agata are planning to do to mitigate the damage. I’m not expecting any kind of miracles,” he added hastily as her blue eyes began to harden once more, “and that’s not why I’m asking. I’m asking because I need to know how to go about positioning us to implement the best patch-up job the two of you can do. I know you and Agata are working closely together, so I figure talking to you is pretty much the same as talking to both of you, without the problem of talking to Nathan and Rajani at the same time.”

“You’re going to have to talk to them sooner or later,” she cautioned in a slightly mollified tone. “The economic implications for any kind of sustained war effort are going to be painful—incredibly painful, to be honest — in the long run. We’re going to find ourselves needing the protectorate service fees worse than ever, even in the best case I can imagine, and that’s going to be Nathan’s and Frontier Fleet’s bailiwick.”

“I’ve already figured that out, and when I have to bring them in, I will. But before I do that, I want the best briefing I can get. I want to speak to them from a position of strength, and that means knowing what the hell I’m talking about and knowing you, Agata, and I are all on the same page. Fair?”

“Fair enough,” she conceded, and settled back in her chair.

“First,” she began, “as Agata and I have already pointed out, the effect on our interstellar commerce is going to—

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Are you sure about this, Commodore?”

The man on Commodore Sean Magellan’s display wore the gray and black uniform of Agueda Astro Control and a profoundly worried expression. Magellan didn’t blame him; he was more than a little unhappy about his assignment himself.

But unhappy wasn’t the same thing as hesitant, and he felt the eagerness simmering in his blood as the moment approached.

“Yes, Captain Forstchen,” the commodore replied far more calmly than he felt. “I’m quite sure.”

Captain Lewis Forstchen’s gray-blue eyes looked even more worried at Magellan’s response. He clearly didn’t like where this was going, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it.

“My government’s not going to like this,” he pointed out.

“I’m afraid there’s a lot of that going around these days, Captain,” Magellan said. “And the good news is that we don’t really need your help for this transit. So you can just sit back and watch, and your own sensor records will prove that’s all you did.”

Forstchen started to say something else, but he stopped himself in time. As Magellan had just pointed out, electronic records of his and the Agueda System in general’s innocence might come in very handy in the not-too- distant future. Personally, Magellan expected that “not too distant” day to be considerably more distant than Forstchen apparently did.

On the other hand, it could turn out Forstchen had a point.

“For the record, Captain,” he said, “your objection and your government’s protests are formally noted. And on behalf of my government, I extend the sincere regrets of the Star Empire of Manticore for the potentially invidious position in which the Agueda System’s been placed. Unfortunately, the current…unpleasantness between the Star Empire and the Solarian League leaves us little choice. I regret that, but I’m afraid I’ll have to be moving on now.” He inclined his head courteously at the com. “Magellan, clear.”

The display blanked, and he turned to the compact, squarely built captain on the far smaller display linking him to HMS Otter’s command deck.

“Are we ready, Art?” he asked.

“Just about, Sir,” Captain Arthur Talmadge replied. “Mind you, I’d really have preferred not to dispense with Astro Control’s services quite so cavalierly.” He smiled. “I know our charts were updated just before we left, but I find myself longing for a local guide.”

“And if we could’ve found a local guide for this terminus anywhere in the home system, he’d be right there on the bridge with you,” Magellan pointed out with a half-smile of his own. “Since we couldn’t, he isn’t. So let’s not spend our time dwelling on things we wish we had and don’t.”

“Point taken, Sir,” Talmadge agreed, and the glanced at his own executive officer. “Ready, Colleen?”

“Yes, Sir.” Commander Colleen Salvatore nodded.

“David?” Magellan asked, looking at Commander David Wilson, his own chief of staff.

“Yes, Sir. Jordan just receipted Malcolm Taylor’s and Selkie’s readiness readiness signals.”

“Thank you.” Magellan looked back at Talmadge. “The Squadron’s ready to proceed when you are, Captain Talmadge,” he said in a much more formal tone.

“Very good, Sir,” Talmadge responded with matching formality.