“If we’re lucky,” Damien replied. “If we’re lucky, this is the end…but it could all too easily be only the beginning of the end.”
#
Chapter 41
Winton had spent a great deal of time, when the Legatans had first given him the Link communicator, learning how it worked and checking over its system. The old man was far too familiar with the ways these kinds of games were played, and he’d been unsurprised to discover that the communicator had been set up to inform his Legatan partners if it was moved.
He’d disabled that functionality before he’d brought the Link aboard his ship, and the system was happily telling the President of Legatus that the old ex-Keeper remained in orbit of Alpha Centauri, even as his ship drifted in deep space a mere light-year from Sol.
“This is a disaster,” George Solace admitted bluntly. “McClintlock did the right thing—we gave him that writ for a reason—but the timing could not be worse.”
“I gave you the technology you need over a year ago,” Winton pointed out. “Surely, you’re not entirely without capabilities now.”
He knew exactly how many of the new carrier groups Legatus had commissioned, but the “mere” mercenary Solace believed him to be wouldn’t.
“We have some ships,” Solace admitted. “Less than ten percent of our target strength. There was debate over how to acquire the…core units for the engines.”
“If Alexander attacks now, are you in danger?”
“No, Partisan, Alexander won’t move so obviously,” the Legatan replied. “He’s already signaled his choice of weapons: the Mage Guilds and economic warfare. He’ll try to starve us out, deny us shipping.”
Solace shook his head.
“It will only strengthen our will,” he concluded. “He will hand me the hammer I need to finish the debates and accelerate the collection of the core units. We will have our new fleet before the Mage-King decides to stop pretending to be gentle.”
Winton carefully did not smile. It took quite a leap of mental logic to classify the Mage Guilds refusing to ship to the UnArcana systems without protections as economic warfare on the Mage-King’s part, though he wasn’t surprised that Solace had made it.
“How soon will the Republic be born?” he asked instead.
“We’re waiting to hear back from the last systems,” Solace told him. “Some have decided to lick the Mage-King’s boots like beaten curs, but I think we’ll have ten systems to form our Republic of Faith and Reason.”
“What do you need from me?” Winton asked. “My resources are limited, but what aid I can give, I will.”
“Are you certain no one will be able to recognize what the engines are?” the President asked.
“There are no more Keepers, Mister President,” Winton replied. “Their order is done and their secrets died with them. Only I and your production teams have enough information to realize what fuels the Republic Fleet.”
“Good,” Solace said with a firm nod. “I will not see the Eugenicists win, Partisan. If there is anything else in the Keepers’ archives that could aid us…”
“I do not believe so,” Winton told him. “I will check. If I find anything, I will let you know.”
“Otherwise…” The President shrugged. “Our own information networks in Sol have been damaged, and McClintlock, quite sensibly, destroyed all of the Link systems before being expelled. Your assistance in keeping us informed will be invaluable…and will be appropriately compensated.”
“Of course. My services are yours, Lord Protector.”
Solace smiled coldly.
“I am not Lord Protector yet, Partisan. But soon.”
#
The Link systems retracted back into the roof, and Winton turned to look at Kent Riley.
“You played a dangerous game, my protégé,” he pointed out. “I don’t think Solace realizes why his people were blamed for the attack on Council Station, but you placed us at risk.”
“I didn’t expect to be caught by Montgomery,” the younger ex-Keeper admitted. “Nor did I expect the Augment to roll over so easily, but I must admit it worked out perfectly. Legatus was blamed for both the annihilation of the Keepers and the arming of BLF. Anyone who has ever heard the code name Nemesis Sol is dead.”
“His Majesty has sent a Voice after you,” Winton warned him. “They picked her well; her record is intimidating and she was a good chunk of why Montgomery managed to catch you at all. She will not be easily shaken from the trail.”
“The trail leads to nowhere,” Riley pointed out. “Even if she identifies the ship, I didn’t take it all the way to Tau Ceti. Let her hunt me, boss. It’ll drag their resources and evidence against us into the open—without threatening you.
“I am expendable.”
“I expected Montgomery to be more distracted by the threat of losing his job,” Riley conceded. “I won’t make that mistake again. Our new First Hand is a dangerous foe.”
“He is but one man, and what has been set into motion will grind him up like so many others. Montgomery will be useful to us in the long run, I think, our unwitting ally more than our foe.”
“Perhaps we should recruit him?” Riley suggested. “Injured or not, he remains powerful.”
“And straightforward, painfully so,” Winton replied. “No, Montgomery is most useful when our targets are the Protectorate’s enemies. Remember, when the dust settles, it is the Protectorate we want to preserve.
“I want Montgomery alive. Let’s not send any more assassins at him, shall we?”
“I didn’t,” Riley admitted. “Took me a good couple of days to even work out who had.”
“If you didn’t attempt to assassinate him, Riley, who did?” Winton asked. He believed the younger Mage, and from that base he could learn who had tried, but if Riley had already learned the answer…
“I only confirmed it just before I left Sol, and I think it’s something we may be able to find value in,” Kent Riley, known as both “Kay” and “Nemesis”, told his mentor. “It seems that certain of Alexander’s allies saw the Hand as a detriment…one that would go away if said Hand was dead.”
#
A string of Hindi curses echoed through the dark office as the light switch failed to work.
“I must apologize for that, Councilor Granger,” a smooth voice said in the shadows. “We need to speak, but I would prefer not to be identified. We’re also being jammed, if you’re thinking about your panic button.”
“This is Council Station,” Suresh Granger, Councilor for Tau, snapped. “You will not get away with this!”
“With what?” Winton asked, amused. “I’m no threat to you, Councilor, I just wish to have this conversation without interruption or identification.”
“I will neither be bribed nor threatened,” Granger replied. “What do you want?”
“It’s not necessarily what I want, Councilor Granger, but what I know…and what you might want.”
Even in the dark, Winton could see the other man freeze.
“What do you mean? Who are you?”
“The important thing today, I think, is that I am the man with the proof that you attempted to have Damien Montgomery murdered.”
Granger’s continued stillness was all the confirmation Winton needed.
“And since I am certain that you do not want that information to reach the Mage-King or the new First Hand, well…then I guess what I want does matter, doesn’t it?”
###
Damien’s adventures will continue in the UnArcana Rebellions series
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Other books by Glynn Stewart
Starship’s Mage
Starship’s Mage: Omnibus
Hand of Mars
&nbs
p; Voice of Mars
Alien Arcana
Judgment of Mars
Castle Federation
Space Carrier Avalon
Stellar Fox
Battle Group Avalon
Q-Ship Chameleon
Rimward Stars (upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)
Duchy of Terra
The Terran Privateer
Duchess of Terra
Terra and Imperium (upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)
ONSET
ONSET: To Serve and Protect
ONSET: My Enemy’s Enemy
ONSET: Blood of the Innocent (upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)
Stand Alone Novels
Children of Prophecy
City in the Sky
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41