“Pegasus got handled more roughly than I like,” McCaig rumbled on the all-Captains channel a few minutes later. “We’re still sorting out the damage, but it looks like we lost a turret and we’re down almost twenty percent of our sublight maneuverability.
“The turret is outright gone, but we might be able to rig up replacement Harrington coils,” he continued. “I’ll keep you all updated.”
Kira nodded. Pegasus had taken the brunt of the fighter strike, at least in terms of damage. Both Deception and Fortitude had taken more hits, but their heavier armor and more powerful dispersion networks had spared them major damage.
“Sublight maneuverability shouldn’t matter too much for the moment,” she told McCaig. “But we are going to need every scrap of everything we can get, people.”
A mental command brought the shared sensor data up in front of everyone.
“I’d wondered why they’d sent a carrier group to the trade-route stop,” she admitted. “They wouldn’t have known we’d be there without knowing we’d be coming to Guadaloop, and the odds of catching us there were low.
“Now we know why.”
A collection of starships in high orbit above Guadaloop flashed red.
“Admiral Avagyan was an unknown—potentially a neutral or even an ally, given her relationship to the Panosyans,” Kira reminded everyone. “Unfortunately, that, ladies and gentlemen, is Carrier Group Temperance. Temperance is an older carrier, sister to the previous Fortitude who was decommissioned five years ago, but she still has a hundred nova fighters aboard.
“If she still has her regular group, she’s also accompanied by the assault carrier Diligent to make up the numbers. We’re still working on resolving the escorts, but we can confidently expect that Collections Agent will now be joining them in-system in about twenty hours.”
There was a long silence on the channel.
“That gives the NRC three, potentially four carriers in-system, plus four cruisers and twelve destroyers,” she concluded. “We are badly outgunned and outmatched, but the plan never called for us to fight them here.”
“We were expecting to stand off their fighters, though,” Zoric pointed out. “We’re not going to be able to do that against over four hundred of them.”
“Is there any reason we should not relocate to a different system to send our ransom demand?” Michel asked. “The plan was Guadaloop, but given this much firepower…”
“Only one, really,” Kira admitted. “And that one, people, is that all of this—everything we’ve done—is a distraction. Our entire operation was intended to seize the Prime Minister and draw the SPP out.
“Now, I do wish the Crown Zharang had told us that we were going to be used as bait to lure the SPP part of their fleet out of the system, but the logic is sound,” she told them. “I fully intend to find ways to convince the Crown Zharang that we are owed more money because of that.”
Blackmail was an ugly word, but Kira was certainly willing to at least threaten full publicity of the Zharang’s involvement to get value for her people.
“But…to complete the intent of the mission we took on, we need to keep those carrier groups out of the Crest for, mmm, at least a few days. A week would be best—and conveniently, that’s how long it should take to get updated information back from the Crest in response to our ransom demand.”
“That was a reasonable ask against one carrier group whose Admiral we expected to be somewhat ambivalent about the whole affair,” Zoric noted. “Against three? With at least two flag officers and a lot of senior and mid-level officers who are loyal to the people we have locked up in our brig?
“We can only dance so much when someone has four hundred–plus nova fighters to play with.”
“And that, my friends, means it’s time to change the music,” Kira said with a chuckle. “We had one set of dances planned, but that’s not going to work.
“Which means we need a new dance, new music and a new plan.”
“And you’ve got one, haven’t you?” Zoric asked, not even trying to conceal the long-suffering sigh that followed.
* * *
Maral Jeong looked no less composed after several days of imprisonment. Even given the amenities in Fortitude’s cells, that was surprising to Kira. She’d expected helplessness to wear on the Prime Minister more.
“So, you return to me, mercenary,” Jeong said calmly after her guard had manacled her to the chair again. She ignored the coffee in front of her, focusing her strangely green eyes on Kira.
“Are you ready to deal?”
Kira chuckled.
“That’s an interesting question,” she noted. “What kind of deal are you thinking?”
“It’s been several days and several novas,” the Prime Minister murmured. “And I am reasonably sure I felt weapon impacts several hours ago, which means the Navy of the Royal Crest is catching up with you.
“You begin to feel the noose tighten around your neck and realize you cannot escape. You cannot survive the wrath of the Crest. Your only hope is to cut a deal.”
“You’re perceptive, I see,” Kira said. “You do realize, of course, that you are aboard this ship as well? If the NRC destroys Fortitude, you will die.”
“I know,” Jeong agreed. “And I would prefer not to, which is why I am prepared to consider a deal. Surrender myself and the rest of your prisoners to the NRC. Surrender this carrier. You will be allowed to go free in exchange for our lives and this ship.”
“I see your offers grow less generous with time.”
“I can wait. As the reality of the situation sinks in, your desperation will grow and your negotiating position will weaken,” the Prime Minister said calmly. “The Crest will not allow this to stand. We can end this, you and I, before you and yours suffer the due punishment for your crimes.
“I am biased,” she admitted. “I wish to live. Therefore, I will permit you to escape that punishment and we will end this without further bloodshed.”
Kira leaned back in her chair and took a sip of the mediocre coffee to conceal her smile.
“I’ll make you a counteroffer,” she told Jeong. “You sign a document transferring ownership of this carrier to me, have the NRC provide one billion crests in bearer chits and order the ships here to stand down.
“I’ll leave you and your Cabinet in a sublight-capable shuttle on the edge of the system and leave with the carrier and the money. I’ll never come back to the Crest Sector, and you’ll live.”
“No.” Jeong stared at Kira like a trapped predator. “I will never order the NRC to stand down. We will pay you nothing. In exchange for our lives, I will permit you to leave this sector no richer or poorer than you entered it, but you will not benefit from this transgression.”
Kira took another sip of the coffee.
“You realize that your stubbornness risks all of our lives?” she noted. “If I fight your fleet, your chances of survival are no better than mine.”
“I will take those chances,” the Prime Minister told her. “I am willing to die, if I must.”
“And your Cabinet?” Kira asked.
“They may be weak, but they will follow me in this,” Jeong snapped. “They have no authority to act alone, regardless of what threats you apply. I have made my offer, mercenary. Do you have anything else to say?”
Kira smiled.
“No, I think I have everything I need,” she told the other woman.