Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (35 page)

It was true. He’d resigned himself to reaching captain just before his half-brother cashiered him.

Kelsey didn’t give him a chance to respond. “You’re commanding a fleet in space. A superdreadnaught, two battlecruisers, and two destroyers. And you’ve inherited a Fleet base. We can’t have a mere commander running this show.”

“So, you think I should be a captain like Breckenridge? I wouldn’t fight a field promotion like that.”

She shook her head. “Not exactly. And I’m not talking about a field promotion.” She pointed her finger toward him. “Poof, you’re an admiral.”

He blinked in surprise. “Excuse me? No, I’m not. Even as the leader of this mission, you don’t have the authority to promote me like that.”

“As the direct representative of His Imperial Majesty, I do. The last instructions from Emperor Marcus allow me to act with the emperor’s voice. If my father wants to object, he can overrule me when we get home. He won’t, I assure you.”

Jared started to argue and forced himself to stop and breathe. “I’ve worked hard to avoid any hint of favoritism. This is wrong.”

“No, it’s not. I know just how far your career has fallen behind because of people wanting to avoid even the appearance favoring you. Admiral Yeats told me that you would have been a senior captain in charge of your own task force by now if you’d been anyone else. As far as I’m concerned, I’m making up for lost time. Besides, tell me that a ship like this would be under the command of anything less.” Her expression dared him to argue with her.

The moment was surreal. He knew deep inside that she was going somewhere she shouldn’t. “If I can’t convince you this is a mistake, perhaps I can insert a bit of reason. Perhaps it would make more sense if you made me a commodore or vice admiral instead.”

Kelsey jutted out her chin somewhat defiantly. “I appreciate your modesty and restraint, but I’ll stick with my original intention. Take command of your fleet, Admiral Mertz. Don’t get any ideas about arguing with me later, either.
Invincible
, log my orders promoting Jared Mertz to the rank of admiral and also his assignment to this ship as the commanding officer of this fleet.”

“You’re taking my ship, too?” That hurt. More than he’d expected it would.

She shook her head. “Don’t look at it that way.
Athena
was your ship. You took
Courageous
because the opportunity presented itself. This isn’t any different.”

After a moment of silence, she continued. “You’re going to have to move a lot of people around to get this ship fully manned. And there are all the people coming in from
Spear
and
Shadow
. Besides, tell me that Commander Graves doesn’t deserve his own command. And a promotion. Actually, don’t tell me. I’ve already made that call. He just doesn’t know he’s about to become Captain Graves, commanding officer of the Imperial battlecruiser
Courageous
.”

She stood and put her hand on Jared’s shoulder. “You know we’ll probably accumulate more ships to take back with us. And when we deal with the people on this planet, they need to see you for what you are, a senior Fleet officer. Trust me on this.” She squeezed his shoulder and headed out the hatch.

He watched her leave with a hollow feeling inside. This wasn’t right, but he didn’t have any options other than accepting her promotion or resigning his commission. He didn’t have the luxury of the latter gesture.

“Congratulations, Admiral,”
Invincible
said.

“Admiral in public, Jared in private, please.” He rubbed his face. He really was going to catch every kind of hell when he got back home. The sad thing was that he couldn’t deny Kelsey’s logic.

“
Invincible
, I want you to start compiling the data on those orbiting weapons systems. I’m more than half inclined to blow them out of space, but I’m not sure I want the people on that planet loose. For all we know, they might be ready to come out in force and take the system.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll have it for you shortly.”

Jared left the impressive office—his impressive office—and headed back toward operations. He still had an attack to plan and execute if he wanted to rescue his people.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Kelsey’s next stop was marine country, where she upended Talbot’s world when she made him a marine captain. There were no marine officers among the rescued prisoners. The other officers thought they might have all perished in trying to defend
Spear
against the weapons platforms. She’d be willing to bet that most of the marines on that ship hadn’t survived.

Even if they had, she didn’t know them. She didn’t trust them like she did Talbot. He’d just have to suck it up.

She called Charlie Graves and promoted him to captain. That was the appropriate rank for a battlecruiser command. She’d have to get him some implants to make
Courageous
happy. He seemed just about as reluctant as Jared had been on getting the news. She suspected he thought she’d be overturned when they made it home.

Kelsey had a lot more people in mind to promote, but that could wait until things settled down. And when the medical people weren’t harassing her. Doctors Stone and Guzman didn’t seem to accept that her nanites had her in good shape.

The wound on her leg was healing well enough. They wanted to pop her into the regenerator, but other people would benefit from regeneration far more than she would.

Yes, her wound hurt, but her implants told her it was healing well. The painkillers in her pharmacology unit kept the pain to acceptable limits.

Talbot knocked on the hatch to her appropriated office in marine country. Someone had gotten him an updated uniform tunic with the correct rank. He looked good.

“Time to armor up,” he said. “You sure I can’t convince you to sit this one out?”

“I’ve already promised to let your people take the lead.”

“Right up until you decide to do something dangerous. Look, I’m not going to argue about it, but you need to start looking at the big picture. Let us take the risks. If you die, we’re screwed. And I’d miss you.”

Kelsey shook her head. “As long as you remember you’re the marine CO, I’ll stay where you are. Let’s go see if my armor is ready.” At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before it was as scarred as the woman from the emperor’ vid.

They really didn’t have any idea how heavily defended the orbital weapons platforms were. They didn’t fire on the probes that stayed above them, but they might have internal defenses that were not so picky.

Even if they managed to get the orbitals under control without too much trouble, they still had to rescue the people trapped on the planet. A planet run by Rebel Empire humans that she really didn’t understand yet.

She hoped they could keep the orbitals intact. Their damaged ships would eventually leave, though they had already decided to leave some people at the station. These people wouldn’t be able to stop an organized expansion by a planet full of technologically capable people.

Of course, the idea of keeping them pinned down with the threat of destruction from orbit made her stomach churn. Perhaps that wouldn’t prove necessary. She wouldn’t know until she learned more.

They armored up and boarded the pinnaces. They’d take one of the stations as a group. They really didn’t have enough marines to try for all three at the same time.

The approach was as nerve-wracking as she’d imagined. There were docks on the topside, so they entered that way with weapons ready.

To find no resistance whatsoever. No people, no weapons platforms. Nothing. The computer on the station was in complete control. It didn’t even have life support turned on. No gravity, no heating, and no atmosphere.

Carl Owlet hacked into the computer after a few hours of work. Once he had access, adding their ships’ IFF codes to the approved list proved trivial.

They visited each of the other orbitals and found the same situation. By the time they had complete control of the orbital space around Harrison’s World, she was beat. So were the marines. The island the destroyers had taken the prisoners to was in darkness, so she ordered an early morning assault. There might be Rebel Empire humans down there. Visibility would help and a few hours wouldn’t make a difference at this point.

* * * * *

The ships moved into position as soon as the sun was over the horizon at the island. The pinnaces dropped as they had on Erorsi, as though they expected to take fire.

Which turned out to be prudent. Half a dozen weapons emplacements on the island opened fire during the last leg of their drop, blowing two pinnaces out of the sky. The remaining pinnaces took the weapons out, but that meant more dead marines. Taking this system was by far the bloodiest horror Kelsey had ever witnessed.

Talbot had insisted she wait for the second wave, so she landed without incident. He was directing his people to set up a perimeter. There were a bunch of buildings in the facility, but no sign of humans. No mobile weapons, either.

Marines set up portable weapons to cover the island in case the locals decided to attack. They only intended to get their people and withdraw, but they had to be secure while they did it.

There were signs the base personnel had left in a hurry, but quite some time ago. No bodies, thank God. Just a big mess. A cursory sweep of the nearby buildings turned up no sign of their people.

“Kelsey, we have visitors,” Talbot told her over the command channel. “There’s a boat approaching the dock nearest the landing field.”

“On my way.” She headed back at a run and arrived just as the boat docked. It looked big enough to hold a lot of people or cargo. A number of people came down a portable walkway, a few of them dressed markedly better than the rest. Similar to what Kelsey had seen in the pictures the captain of the Rebel Empire destroyer kept on her walls. Rebel Empire nobility.

And here she was dressed for battle, not diplomacy. Maybe gunboat diplomacy.

The marines spread out and covered the people as they walked down the dock. Kelsey made the call to show no fear. If these people wanted trouble, she’d give it to them.

“Talbot, you’re with me. I want a few marines behind us, but not too many. We’re not afraid of these people.”

“Right.”

She took her helmet off and shook out her hair. She really ought to cut it back if she was going to wear a helmet this often.

The people from the boat stopped at the halfway mark and a woman in noble garb kept walking. Kelsey stopped Talbot with a gesture and went to meet her.

The woman had dark, wavy hair pulled back into a tie. Her dress was of silk or some similar fabric. She eyed Kelsey’s armor with an expression of disdain.

“I will speak with your senior officer.”

Kelsey considered explaining her Imperial heritage, but decided that might get a hostile reception. It would be best if they thought Kelsey and her people came from the Rebel Empire for as long as possible. “My name is Kelsey Bandar and these men are under my command. I’ve come to recover our people. The AI controlled ships brought them here a short while ago. If you know where they are, it would behoove you to tell me.”

“They were taken off this island at the AI’s command, under threat of retaliation. If you want to get them back, I demand to speak with your senior officer. I will return to my ship to await his or her presence.”

The woman turned on her heel and swept back to the ship. Her people fell in behind her.

Kelsey returned to Talbot. “Well, that could have gone better. It might save time and effort to have Jared come down and deal with her.”

“That should give us time to complete our search of the facility. It seems like our people aren’t here. She might be telling the truth about having them.”

“Then she’d better get used to the idea of handing them over,” Kelsey said grimly.

Kelsey put in a call to Jared. His image appeared in her mind’s eye. He was back on the flag bridge. They must’ve restored its control systems. She gave him a summary of her encounter and decision not to declare themselves the true Terran Empire.

“That’s probably for the best. You can’t unsay something like that. She can talk to me from here. Have Talbot send her a communications unit.”

“I’ll take it myself.” She returned to her pinnace, grabbed a tablet off the rack, and headed back to the dock. Her armor would be close enough to the pinnace to act as a link. And she wanted to be there when the two of them spoke.

A group of muscular men met her on the dock. She stopped short of them and displayed the tablet. “I have our commanding officer on the line. He’s prepared to speak with your leader.”

They had a brief discussion and one of them went to get the woman. She looked displeased at having Kelsey summon her.

“The communications device could have come to me on my ship.”

“My armor is acting as a relay. I prefer to stay on the dock. Who are you?”

The woman sniffed. “That is between me and your commanding officer.”

Kelsey smiled. “I see. Well, let’s get this going, then.”

She initiated a vid call to
Invincible
. Jared appeared on the display. The view was set widely enough that Kelsey could see every station was manned. Hardly necessary, but he probably wanted to make an impression.

The woman took the tablet when Kelsey handed it to her. She stared into the vid with a condescending expression. “Who am I addressing?”

Jared frowned and leaned forward. “The man with a fleet in orbit around your planet.”

The two of them stared at one another for a moment before the woman backed down. “I am Undercoordinator Abigail King, a regional leader on Harrison’s World. I am authorized to speak on behalf of Coordinator Olivia West. We’ve taken possession of your crewmen and wish to discuss their repatriation and other matters of state, Admiral…”

“Admiral Jared Mertz. I’ve taken control of this system and your orbital space. I’m willing to discuss whatever you like, but not while you have my personnel held hostage.”