Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (16 page)

“Keep the systems ready to depart at a moment’s notice.”

Unlike his last time aboard, Captain Breckenridge was waiting at the dock. He looked worn and angry. “Highness. Commander. Time is short. I’ve taken the liberty of reserving a small conference room on this deck. This way, please.”

Two unarmored marines stood outside the hatch and snapped to attention as they approached. Breckenridge gestured for Kelsey to precede them. “If you’ll take the head of the table, Highness, I’ve prepared an update of the rescue operations.”

Jared started to follow her in, but Breckenridge yanked him back. The hatch slid shut even as Kelsey whirled toward them. He reached for his neural disruptor, but the marines beat him to the draw. They had pistols aimed at his head before he’d touched it.

“What the hell are you doing,” he snarled as Breckenridge took his weapon and handed it to Meyer. “She’s second in line to the Throne.”

“I’m doing what you should’ve done, Commander. I’m protecting her from her own bad judgment. The two of you have managed to kill thousands of Fleet personnel. I will not allow you to endanger the Empire one moment longer. I hereby place you under arrest for gross incompetence and treason.”

“You’re insane. You can’t possibly do anything without the cooperation of
Courageous
or the Pentagarans.”

The older man smiled. “I’m very resourceful. Marines, take him to a holding cell. I’ll be along directly.”

Chapter Sixteen

Kelsey almost made it to the hatch before it slid shut in her face. She started to bang on it, but stopped. That wouldn’t do any good. She had no leverage and the smooth metal wouldn’t give to brute strength. Even hers.

Breckenridge had trapped her. She had the neural disruptor she’d appropriated from the dead destroyer captain’s safe tucked away in a place they’d be unlikely to search, but she’d have to be very careful. They had Jared.

The marine armorer had been able to reset the lockout on the weapon to her implants with a little trouble. The rebels had made the weapon so that only the person with the correct implants could use it.

It had also been set to lethal levels when she’d checked. That didn’t say very nice things about the woman who’d owned it.

The screen came to life, showing a smiling Captain Breckenridge. “Highness.”

“Have you lost your mind?” she snarled.

“Thankfully, no. I regret to inform you that I have serious concerns about your judgment and stability. I have no choice but to take you into protective custody. Due to your horrific injuries, I must confine you. My apologies.” The last came in a smug tone.

She felt her eyes narrow. “My judgment? My stability? You’d best look to yourself if there is a problem, Captain. Jared and I have made the best calls possible. You? Not so much. How many good men and women lost their lives because of you today?”

Rage clouded his expression. “All because of your incompetent half-brother. His lack of judgment got us into this battle and cost the Empire three ships and almost two thousand people. We should never have been involved in this fight. And from this point forward, we will not be.”

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine how you intend to do that. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but our ships can’t get home. Sooner or later, the rebels will come looking for the ship you destroyed and the one we captured.”

“Let them. We won’t be here. I intend to take our people through the unexplored flip point. We’ll find another way home.”

“And leave the Pentagarans to die? Are you insane?”

“No. I’m pragmatic. Something you try. These are not our people and we should never have been involved in their business. You will call
Courageous
and instruct them to surrender to my officers.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I will not. In fact, let me make this as clear as I can. I’m ordering you to release us at once and surrender yourself.”

“I’m sorry to see you being so unreasonable, but I’m not surprised. Very well. I can force Mertz into obeying my orders. If I make it clear that your health is dependent on his cooperation, he’ll comply. A ruse, of course.”

She showed him her teeth. “You don’t know the first thing about my brother. He won’t give in to you. No matter how this plays out, you’re ruined. You must know that.”

“We’ll see. I’ve taken the precaution of putting bedding, food, and a portable toilet to the rear of the conference room. You’ll be staying there for the foreseeable future. I’m not foolhardy enough to risk letting you out. We’ll speak again soon.”

He stepped aside and she saw Commander Meyer standing behind Breckenridge. She gave him a pleading look. “Commander Meyer, please. Explain this to him. You can’t let him do this.”

“You have no idea how resolute the captain is, Highness,” Meyer said with a wooden expression. “Once he makes up his mind, there’s no altering his course. Nothing I say will change this situation.”

Breckenridge smiled and clapped the other man on the shoulder. “See? He knows me so well. This is what a good executive officer is like. Loyal to a fault. We’ll speak again soon, Highness.”

The screen went dark.

Kelsey used some of the choicest phrases she’d picked up from Talbot and the marines. Dammit. How was she going to get them out of this?

She beat on the hatch, but it didn’t give. There were no other exits and her weapon wouldn’t go through a bulkhead.

If she’d brought one of the marine knives, she could have conceivably cut her way through the bulkhead. It would have taken a while and they would no doubt have stopped her, but they’d have had to open the hatch to do it.

That was the first thing she needed to do. Get the hatch open. If she could manage that, escape became at least conceivable.

Fifteen minutes of pacing left her as uninspired as she started.

She whirled toward the hatch when it slid unexpectedly open. Commander Meyer stood outside. The two marine guards had their weapons out and pointed at her midsection. The tall officer stared at her haughtily. “Back against the bulkhead, Highness.”

She considered the odds. Panther, the Old Empire combat drug combination, boosted her reaction time and she might be able to take them before they killed her. Maybe.

The marines advanced. Once they were inside Meyer shot them in the backs with Jared’s neural disruptor. They collapsed.

“This is an amazing weapon. Come on, Highness. It won’t be long before someone finds out you’ve escaped. We have to get you off this ship right now.”

“We need to capture this ship. Order your people to stand down.”

He shook his head. “That won’t work. The captain has too many loyal people for me to take him down and if it comes to my order against his, I’ll lose. He’s made his stand. Imagine your brother’s crew supporting Graves against him. Not going to happen. We have less than ten minutes to get you off this ship or you’re not leaving. Captain Breckenridge has gone too far to back down now.”

She looked at the stunned marines on the deck. “So have you.”

“This isn’t how I saw things going,” Meyer said ruefully. “I still can’t quite imagine how I ended up opposing my captain.” He opened the hatch and scanned the corridor. “Just walk like nothing is wrong.”

She followed him out into the corridor and tried to behave normally even though the skin between her shoulder blades itched. Everyone they passed stared at her.

“You did what was right and what’s best for the Empire,” she said as they walked.

“I did what my oath required of me, in any case. You are the voice of authority and the captain is wrong to disobey you. I don’t agree with everything you’ve done and I’m worried that you’re leading the Empire into a war we cannot win.”

He waved his hand at her when she started to speak. “I’m not trying to be argumentative. I’ll do my duty even if I don’t agree with you.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say. I want to hear opposing points of view. I certainly don’t think I have all the answers. What I will say is that it’s easy to look back when the dust settles. It’s harder when you’re in the moment. Like when you made the decision to free us. Tomorrow the perfect plan will pop into your head. If you wait for the perfect plan, you’ll never do anything.”

They entered a lift and she had to shut up since there were other people present. Meyer took them up a few decks and exited. “We’re going to the brig. I’m going to get Commander Mertz out of his cell and we’re going to make our way back to your cutter. I’ll call Captain Breckenridge to get him to allow your cutter to depart. By the time he realizes that I’ve helped you escape, you should be most of the way back to
Courageous
.”

“You mean ‘we’ don’t you? You’re coming with us.”

He shook his head. “That’s not going to be possible. He’ll discover the ruse much too quickly if I’m not here to distract him. I’ll likely go right into the same cell your captain occupies now,” he said with a wry smile. “Talk about a career limiting decision.”

“He’s going to be furious. You need to come with us.”

“It’s the only choice. If he has you in his sights, he might do something drastic to prevent your escape. I cannot and will not risk your life when I can prevent the danger in the first place.”

“Well, come up with an alternate plan. I’m ordering you to come with us.”

He sighed. “You don’t make things easy, do you, Highness? Aye, ma’am. Orders received. Follow my lead and please try to avoid hurting anyone too badly. These people are just following orders.”

Two marines outside an armored hatch came to attention as they approached. The hatch was open and Meyer headed inside with a sharp nod to them. Three Fleet personnel manned the inside of the brig. Two ratings, one male and one female, flanked one of the cell hatches and a female officer sat at the console.

The officer stood when she saw Meyer. “Commander.”

“Lieutenant Jacobs. Captain Breckenridge has instructed me to bring Commander Mertz to him on the bridge. Bring him out.”

She frowned. “That’s contrary to my instructions, sir. He ordered me to lock him down and only to release him on his direct orders. I’ll need to call him and verify the order. Sorry, sir.”

Meyer smiled. “I completely understand. Please do. I wouldn’t want you to get into any trouble.”

As soon as she lowered her eyes to the console, he drew the neural disruptor from inside his uniform tunic and shot her. The blue beam took her down and he whirled to face the hatch.

Kelsey had been primed for something like that, so she was able to draw her own pistol and rush the guards as they gaped at the unexpected attack.

The female guard was slightly quicker on the uptake, so Kelsey shot her. The princess’ augmentation brought her into hand-to-hand range of the man before he could draw a bead on her. She ripped his weapon right out of his grip and ducked far enough to the side to allow his fist to pass by her head.

Just because she could fight didn’t mean she wanted to take a fist to the face.

She heard Meyer firing behind her and hoped he got both the marines before they opened fire.

A shove sent the man she was fighting into the bulkhead and she shot him. He collapsed without any further trouble.

Commander Meyer didn’t need her help. He’d dropped both the marines without any problem.

“It looks like you’re a much better fighter than I expected, Commander,” she said. “I didn’t need to give you a talk before the boarding, did I?”

“This isn’t the same. These people trusted me. This was more like a sucker punch than a fair fight.” He looked at the small weapon in her hand. “And that little thing is even more unfair. I had no idea you were armed.”

“That was kind of the idea. Senior Sergeant Talbot tells me that fair fights indicate a lack of planning and imagination. Mostly on my part.”

Meyer dragged the marines through the hatch and closed it. “When those people were trying to kill us, I didn’t see any lack of planning or imagination on your part. Unlike myself. I froze. I’ve never been in anything like that.”

He tapped the controls on the console and the cell opened up. Jared stood there, gaping at them. Meyer extended the neural disruptor to him.

“If you intend to get out of here, Commander, you’d best get moving. The escape window is closing.”

Jared took the neural disruptor from the other man and tucked it into his tunic. “You’re helping us?”

“My oath to the emperor doesn’t agree with Captain Breckenridge’s plan. We have just a few minutes to get to your cutter.”

When Meyer headed for the hatch, they followed. “How are we going to get away from
Spear
? They have to release the docking clamps or the cutter won’t be going anywhere.”

“I’ll call the bridge when we get down to the docking level. I can get them to release it.”

“What about Captain Breckenridge?”

“I have a plan, but the princess has forbidden me to execute it.”

She looked at Jared. “He wanted to send us off and call Breckenridge away from the bridge. He’d be captured for sure.”

The lift deposited them at the cutter deck. Jared followed Meyer out. “You’d do that for us?”

“No,” Meyer said. “I’d do that for her. And for my own sense of honor. It’s still the best plan. I recommend you change her mind. Time is short.”

Jared opened his mouth to say something, but the alert klaxon went off. Captain Breckenridge’s voice came through the overheads. “All hands, this is the captain. We have two escaped prisoners on the loose. Be on the lookout for Commander Jared Mertz and Princess Kelsey Bandar. Both are armed and dangerous. Commander Meyer, call the bridge at once.”

Meyer gestured toward the cutter. “Get inside. I’ll call him. I may be able to get it released if I make him think you haven’t made it here yet.”

He touched the communications panel on the wall. “Bridge, this is Meyer.”

“Sean,” Breckenridge said, “Mertz has escaped. The princess’ guard is not responding. She escaped somehow. Where are you?”

“I’m on the docking level. They haven’t made it here yet. If their ride has left, it’ll make it much easier to recapture them.”