After thirty-six hours in the cockpit, all Kira wanted when she finally got out of her fighter was a shower. The nova fighters hadn’t been able to take a break for a day and a half, with the Arti Clans having just enough firepower left to make even taking possession of surrendering stations dangerous.
“Kira, Admiral Kim wants us at a senior officers’ briefing in five minutes,” Zoric’s voice greeted her as she hit the deck. The cruiser Captain was probably on the bridge, though she had almost certainly slept in the last day.
“Okay,” Kira said in a swift exhalation. “I… I might be late, because by starfires and deep space, I am going to shower before I do anything else.”
“I get it,” Zoric agreed. “I’ll cover for you. I doubt Sagairt is going to be any faster. He isn’t even aboard Perseus yet.”
“Thanks.” Kira looked around the deck for Cartman and gestured the other woman over to her as she started for the ready room.
“Mel, I have a briefing with the Admiral,” she told her friend. “I’m going to shower and get political, I suspect. Make sure everybody else in the squadron gets their asses to a rack. Things are looking under control for now, so let’s take advantage of it.”
“No CSP?” Cartman asked.
“Gunships have it for now,” Kira replied. “We’ll launch fighters to back them up in six hours, but the group’s been running since we got here. They have to rest.”
“Not arguing, but wanted to be sure,” her subordinate said as they reached the showers. “What about you?”
“Rank hath its privileges,” Kira said dryly. “In this case, meetings on four hours of naps in the last forty.”
* * *
At least Kira was able to take the meeting from her office. She initially joined the virtual conference with an avatar as she was dressing, allowing her to hear the briefing even if she couldn’t easily participate.
“Officers, I appreciate you joining me,” Admiral Kim greeted everyone. “I know a few of you have been run more than a bit ragged since we arrived here, but there are updates everyone needs to hear.
“First, and most critical to the moment, we are now fully in control of the Arti System,” she said firmly. “Major General?”
Major General Mazhar Costantini took over the focus of the virtual conference’s camera. He was a tall and heavyset man with dark skin and hair and a level, calm expression.
“Thank you, Admiral,” he told Kim. “As of twenty minutes ago, we have established communications with every station in the Arti System. I suspect that most of the promises of cooperation from settlements outside the core clusters are nominal at best, but since we now control the shipyards, it’ll do.
“Our current estimate is that there are approximately four hundred settlements of various types in the Arti System, with an average population of under fifteen thousand. Only about a hundred of these settlements were originally constructed by other Cluster powers, which means that a large chunk of them are…”
He paused thoughtfully.
“Potentially hazardous to their occupants,” he concluded. “Once I have more resources from home, my first order of business is probably going to be inspection and repair of those habitats. But…as of now, we have also taken control of the remaining gunships and weapons platforms in the system.
“The full presence of the Coalition Fleet is no longer required, though I have asked Admiral Kim to provide some level of security detachment.”
“That was part of the plan,” Kim confirmed. “The destroyers Armed Sedation and Nightmare will remain here with the Thirty-Third RRF Gunship Flotilla. The Thirty-Third will also be responsible for examining the captured gunships and seeing if any will be brought into our service.
“The key point for everyone is that we have succeeded in our mission in the Arti System,” the Admiral told them. “If nothing else comes of this operation, that is six million people who will shortly be more than one system failure from death.
“We can feel good about that, even if the price is always too damn high.”
Kira was carefully not doing the math about the gunships and weapons platforms their initial nova strike had taken out. The gunships alone would have each had at least twenty people aboard. The defensive installations could have been anywhere from a dozen to several hundred.
“Unfortunately, we also received an update from several of our governments,” Kim continued after a moment’s pause. “Our mail came on the RRF courier some of you may have seen, and I’ll be releasing it after this meeting, but I wanted to make sure that all of our senior officers received the news at the same time and the Coalition Fleet was able to approach it as a team.
“We will not be receiving our Bengalissimo Fleet contingent,” she told them all firmly. “Battle Group Civet was assembled as planned but instead of leaving to support us, Admiral Rossella Gaspari made a different choice.”
That was never a good sign. When a fleet officer in command of a battle group chose to do something other than their orders, the possibilities started at treason.
“As of our best intelligence, King Isidoro is dead,” the Admiral concluded. “Admiral Gaspari’s battle group made a dangerous short nova into orbit of Bengalissimo itself and their marines stormed the orbital fortresses before anyone knew what was happening.
“Redward Intelligence presumes that this was prearranged with multiple parties,” Kim noted. “There was insufficient resistance on the orbital fortresses or in the capital city. Plus, many of the marines from the fortresses joined Gaspari’s troops when they stormed the Parlamento Bengalissimo.
“The exact final nature of the affair is still being established, but the government of Bengalissimo has been overthrown,” she concluded. “King Isidoro was executed on a planetwide broadcast. Prime Minister Petit’s fate is unknown, but the information we’ve received from the Redward Embassy is that there has been at least one round of mass executions of Members of the Parlamento.”
The virtual conference was dead silent. Kira had read up on the history of the Cluster. Most of the governments represented in the Coalition Fleet had seen coups in the last century—the Yprian Federation was brand-new, but the events leading to its formation had involved both coups and forced annexations.
Still. Bengalissimo had been one of the bright spots of the Cluster, up with Redward as one of the stable and powerful systems everyone looked up to. No one had expected to see a military coup there.
“Does this impact our mission?” Shang asked, the mercenary asking the question everyone was wondering.
“Hopefully, it does not,” Kim said grimly. “But that depends on the messages and orders your governments have sent you. My orders from Their Majesties are to continue the operation and to move on the KSR-92RR System as soon as we can.
“My intention is to wait two more days to see what updates arrive from your governments and to make certain that Major General Costantini’s governorship is solidly in place,” she continued. “The Coalition Fleet will then move against the Kaiser Clans.
“Understand that if you do receive recall orders from your governments, I will not hold that against any officer here,” she told them all firmly. “While I would prefer that all of your ships remain with us, I understand duty comes first.”
Kira’s headware told her that the conference was alive with side channels linking officers to each other. She could easily open one to Zoric or Sagairt—though she noted that the RRF fighter officer was still present via avatar.
“Do we have other questions?” Kim asked. “I want to make sure we all understand as much of the situation and the potential consequences as we can.”