“You’re an Imperial. You’re cleared to know, Vice Hecto-Commander Abliar. More so than me, even. If you were to ask after the old name of my punching bag, I’d be forced to spill.”
“I see,” said Lafier, who faced Jint: “What do we do? Should I hear what she has to say, even though by all rights, you should be the one talking to her?”
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, Fïac Lartnér,” said Atosryua, “but just in case — you’re forbidden to tell Lonh-Dreur.”
“I know that. I’m a soldier, too.”
Jint hesitated. He trusted Lafier, but he couldn’t entrust everything to her. The lives and livelihoods of the people of his home were on the line. “Let me ask you one question.”
“You’re free to ask.”
“You’re not going to launch space strikes on the planet, are you?”
“Is that why you’ve been glaring like that this whole time?” said Atosryua, a smile playing on her lips.
“Am I not cleared to know the answer to that, either?” he remarked.
“No,” she replied without hesitation, but not in a cold or cutting way. “Maybe Investigator Yestesh can ask me a question I’m allowed to answer?”
“Yes,” said Yestesh. He cleared his throat. “The Empire holds to a handful of general principles. One of them is that unless there is some pressing urgency, the celestial bodies belonging to a star fief, especially a landworld, cannot be attacked without the approval of the system’s liege. To your knowledge, has that principle perhaps been revised?”
“It hasn’t budged a micron,” she declared. “Does this assuage your concerns, Lonh-Dreur?”
“Not quite yet,” he persisted. “Do you believe my territory to be in a pressing state of emergency?”
“Not at the moment.”
“And further down the line?”
Atosryua furrowed her brow. A moment later: “How nice it would be to see the future, Lonh-Dreur. But much to my chagrin, I can’t.”
Jint stared hard at Atosryua’s face. She still looked as gorgeous as all Abhs, but he thought he saw a tinge of woe in her expression. He hoped it was nothing, but...
“I beg you,” Jint whispered to the Royal Princess. “If there’s a chance of a space strike, you’ve got to put a stop to it, no matter what.”
“I don’t have that authority,” Lafier whispered back. “But I’ll try.”
“I’m begging you,” he reiterated.
Jint understood full well that, royal princess or no, she didn’t have the power to block a military program. But he was out of options.
He faced Atosryua again: “Before you leave, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Please drop us off at the Hyde Countdom,” he requested.
At present, the only way to enter the star system of his home planet was to hitch a ride with Trample-Blitz Squadron 1. Alongside the raid ships, they might be able to cope with any unforeseen contingencies. It could be the case that he’d have his hands totally tied, but it sure beat stewing over the circumstances of Hyde from the next system over.
“I don’t mind. But you won’t be allowed to touch down on the landworld, Lonh-Dreur.”
“I know. I just need to get permission to communicate with the landworld from orbit.”
“I can’t promise you’ll be allowed to.”
“But it’s not impossible, right?”
“All I can promise is that I’ll try my best to create an opportunity for you.”
“That’s enough for me.”
“But how will you return? There’s no guarantee we’ll come back here.”
“When the order to unseal the Hyde Portal arrives, it’ll reach this place, too, won’t it? I’ll have them keep this ship on standby here. If you could have it come give us word when the time comes, I’d be fine with that. I’ll have you pick us up.”
“We might not be able to wait until your ship comes,” said Atosryua. “You might end up having to spend two or three days in an escape pod. Is that okay with you?”
Jint winced at the prospect, but immediately snapped to. “Well, if I could get you to drop me off at the Duchy of Estohto, I can catch a flight from there.
Atosryua nodded. “Understood, Lonh-Dreur. I’m permitting you to hitch a ride. You can use the Flicaubh — there are acquaintances of yours aboard that ship who I’m sure you regard fondly. And there’s already someone who’s hitching a ride on it, too.”
“Who, ma’am?”
“I can’t say.”
“Is that confidential, too?”
“Heavens no. I just don’t want to ruin the surprise. Just because I come from a noble house without a pedigree doesn’t mean I’d be so gauche.”
“Oh, okay. Understood,” he replied tersely, not really in the mood to trade quips with the Commandant. “Now then, I’ll take my leave.”
“See you some other time, Quartermaster Rearguard Lynn. I really regret that I can’t give you the details of this little trek at this stage.”
“Me too.”
A while later, and Lafier alone was left in the conference room, facing Atosryua’s hologram. “Now then, let’s hear it, Baroness of Febdash.” I’m fairly certain Trample-Blitz Squadron 1 just aims to do training exercises there, she thought. It would provide the finishing touches on their familiarization voyages. While the Hyde Countdom was a frontier territory-nation that couldn’t provide much in the way of support, this was a time of war. Perhaps the military brass wanted its ships to train in sectors more akin to actual warzones.
“Our squadron’s objective is to conduct combat training exercises in the Countdom of Hyde,” said Atosryua, her tone stiff and formal. It appeared as though she’d decided, at this juncture, to place more importance on imperial court hierarchy than on military rank.
Lafier felt a wave of relief. At the same time, she had to wonder whether this was worthy of confidentiality to begin with.
“However, our squadron consists of twelve ships.”
“What do you mean?” She tilted her head in puzzlement, but soon hit on what Atosryua was insinuating. There were only six ships in Vorlash.
“You split the squadron in two?”
Atosryua nodded wordlessly. “The purpose of the exercise is to bring the Hyde Portal under control and defend it from the other half.”
“So the other six ships are the ‘enemy’ of the assignment, heading towards the Hyde Portal from the opposite direction.”
“That is correct.”
“There’s no contact between halves?”
“We can’t exactly be in communication with the enemy, no.”
“In that case...” The worst possible outcome came to Lafier’s mind. “The other ships, the ‘enemy,’ might reach the Hyde Portal before you.”
“If they’re not doing everything in their power to do so, they would have to be charged for insubordination.”
“But what happens if the ‘enemy’ enters the Portal first, and gets attacked by the landworld...”
“I don’t know,” said Atosryua, shaking her head. “But a counterattack is very much in the realm of possibility. In fact, so long as their level of firepower is unclear, a counterattack would be the obvious course of action.”
“According to Jint, the landworld can’t have enough firepower to be a threat.”
“But there isn’t a way for us to make that judgment. Not for me or for my ‘enemy’ ships.”
“Can you not afford to take more discretion than normal?”
“I’ll have the Count of Hyde submit the relevant information to us. I don’t have the power to compel him to do so, but the circumstances being what they are, I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige my request. Then I will make my judgment. Either way, we can’t inform the enemy unit about this.”
“You can’t get in touch with them, whatsoever?” Contacting them would mean canceling the exercise, but the Commandant had that authority.