The Shadow of Saganami

or all of them will become combat-ready. If we delay even a single day longer than we absolutely must, we potentially give the Monicans and their allies in Mesa the time they need to put their plan into operation. Or, at the very least, to kill and wound more of our people when we finally do move to neutralize the threat.'

'Sir— ' Hope began again.

'My mind is made up, Commander Hope,' Terekhov told her flatly in a voice as unyielding as Hexapuma's battle steel bones. 'If nothing else, think of it this way. If we move in before those battlecruisers are ready, we'll be in the best possible position to dictate the outcome of the confrontation without anyone getting killed. If they can't fight us, they'll have no option but to - surrender-under protest, if they will, but still surrender. At which point we can thoroughly investigate the ships and how they came to be there.'

'And if it turns out they never were any threat to the Star Kingdom, and that you-and the officers following your orders-have committed an unauthorized act of war with the very real prospect of bringing the Solarian League in against us, Sir?' Hope challenged.

'I don't believe it will. If it does, however, Her Majesty will be able to say with perfect honesty that she never authorized our actions. That we grossly exceeded our authority, and that she disavows everything we've done. In which case, the fact that you'll be following my own formal, written orders to you will absolve you of any blame.'

'Sir, with all due respect, your orders cannot absolve any of us of responsibility for knowingly assisting you in committing an illegal act of war, That, at any rate, will undoubtedly be the verdict of the court-martial which convicts any officer who obeys your order of having committed piracy and murder.'

The tension in the briefing room could have been carved with a knife. The other officers sat silent, watching the confrontation between Terekhov and Hope, and he leaned forward in his chair, holding her eyes.

'It's entirely possible that you're correct, Commander,' he said in a cold, precise voice. 'There comes a time in every officer's life, however, when he must confront not simply the possibility of defeat, not even of his own death, but his responsibility to the uniform he wears. To the Crown, and to the oath he swore when he put that uniform on. It's our duty to protect the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its allies and friends from all enemies. That, Commander Hope, is the bottom line of the oath you swore. The oath Edward Saganami swore. We're at the end of a very long, very tenuous chain of communication. It's our responsibility to exercise our initiative and judgment in the face of this threat. And it's also our duty to provide the Queen with the means of disavowing our actions-and us , if necessary-in order to avoid open warfare with the Solarian League.'

'Sir, the fact that you feel it's our responsibility to commit professional suicide in order to deal with a threat which may not even exist doesn't necessarily make it true,' Hope said flatly. 'And I-and my ship-will not participate in this patently illegal action.'

The tension ratcheted even higher, and Terekhov regarded her calmly.

'I don't recall offering you the option of refusing my orders, Commander,' he said, almost conversationally.

'Captain Terekhov,' she replied harshly, 'I don't think you have a choice. You command a single ship. Admittedly, the most powerful single ship present, but only a single unit. And I question, Sir, whether or not your personnel will fire into another Manticoran vessel simply because it declines to join you in an illegal act.'

'I wouldn't question that if I were you, Commander.' Ansten FitzGerald's voice was colder than ice, and Hope's eyes darted to his face. 'This ship and her people will engage whoever the Captain tells us to,' the executive officer continued in that same, frozen voice. 'Especially a mutinous vessel whose gutless, ass-covering excuse for a captain is refusing the lawful orders of her superior.'

'Ansten, that's enough,' Terekhov said quietly.

'With all due respect, Captain Terekhov,' Ito Anders said, 'it isn't. Commander Hope's chosen to suggest she and her vessel would resist your orders with deadly force. She's also observed that you command only a single ship. That is an incorrect statement.' He looked directly at Hope, his dark eyes frozen. 'If you were so foolish as to attempt to carry through on that threat, Commander, and if— as I very much doubt-your people were willing to obey your orders, you would discover that Hexapuma wouldn't be the only ship you would face.'

'You can't seriously be considering cooperating with this!' Hope protested.

'Yes I can,' Anders said calmly. He even smiled ever so slightly. 'My ship is older even than yours, Commander. And, to be honest, she's always had something of a reputation to live down. She hasn't been fortunate in her commanding officers. I'm not going to add to that reputation. In fact, I'm going to clean it up properly at last. And if I have to begin by blowing your worthless ass out of space, I will.'

Hope stared at him, then looked around the other faces around the table, and her mouth tightened as she realized she was alone.

'Skipper,' another voice said then, and her head whipped around as Lieutenant Commander Diamond spoke for the first time.

'Skipper,' her XO said sadly, 'they're right. You're wrong. And our people won't follow you on this one.'

'They don't have any choice!' she snapped.

'Commander, you can't have it both ways,' Terekhov said. 'If they're required to obey you because you're their superior officer, then you're required to obey me, because I'm your superior officer. But if you have the right to pick and choose which orders you'll follow, then they have the same right to refuse to follow your orders.'

'But— '

'This is neither a debating society nor a democratic organization, Commander Hope, and this particular discussion is over. Since you seem to feel unable to carry out my orders, you are hereby relieved from command of Vigilant . Lieutenant Commander Diamond will replace you in command, effective immediately.'

'You can't do that!' she shouted.

'I just did,' he said icily. 'And I will tolerate no further disrespect. You have two choices, Commander, neither of which any longer includes command of Vigilant . You may, if you so choose, disassociate yourself from the Squadron's-' he allowed himself at last to use the term others had already been using '-future actions and return to Spindle aboard the dispatch boat I intend to send there before proceeding to Monica. Failing that, you will remain aboard Hexapuma under quarters arrest until such time as we return to Spindle to account for our actions to our superiors.'

He looked into her eyes, and something inside her flinched away from his blue battle steel gaze.

'Which is it going to be, Commander?'

Chapter Fifty-Five

The Crown dispatch boat from Lynx came out of the central terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction in a blue lightning flash of transit energy. It seemed small and insignificant, lost amid the stupendous, lumbering freighters and passenger ships, but its imperiously strident transponder had priority over them all. Astro Control juggled arrival and departure queues, clearing a path for it, and it streaked towards Home Fleet's flagship under almost eight hundred gravities of acceleration.

It looked even tinier as it decelerated just as furiously to a zero/zero intercept with the massive SD(P), but appearances were deceiving. Tiny as it was, that dispatch boat carried the message that would set millions upon millions of tons of warships into motion.

'What sort of raw meat do you people feed your cruiser captains, Hamish?' Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore inquired acidly.

'With all due respect, Your Majesty,' First Lord of Admiralty Hamish Alexander, Admiral of the Green (retired) and thirteenth Earl of White Haven, said with unusual formality to the woman he'd known since she was an infant, 'that's not really fair.'