Queen of the Pirates (36 page)

The fighting circle evaporated like a soap bubble.

Arnulf’s staff, no damn it, her staff, took charge, under the watchful eye of
Auberon
’s marines. The pirate captains might have blades as a mark of their manhood and authority. Her marines had guns and attitude. Everyone else was going to be exceedingly polite.

Jessica handed the blades to Daneel and took a towel from an unseen hand to wipe herself dry.

The men here had seen enough of her chest today, so she quickly climbed back into the sports bra and undertunic. The rest could wait.

“An Imperial squadron has dropped out of Jumpspace,” Enej continued as she dressed. “
Auberon
and David Rodriguez aboard
Sky Dancer
have both launched everything and challenged them, but they continue to come in. They appear to be led by that missing 4–ring,
Wei Chi
and Garth Agano.”

“What are we facing?” Jessica asked, oblivious to the rest of the mob standing around them listening.

“From
da Vinci’s
scans,” Enej said, “three of the big 4–ring motherships,
Wei Chi
,
Valhalla
, and
Siberia
, plus a 3–ring, a 2–ring, and a 1–ring. The Imperials have an Escort Carrier, two Carrier Tugs, and a trio of escort corvettes.”

A laugh got her attention. It was harsh and mirthful. Inappropriate.

She turned to Jing Du, standing now, with her dragoon’s paw holding him by the scruff of the neck.

“You have failed,
Aquitaine
,” he sneered. “Your reign will be barely longer than Ian Zhao’s. By nightfall, another king will be crowned.”

Jessica felt the growl start deep in her stomach.
Was it going to be necessary to destroy
Corynthe
in order to make it a better place?
She thought of her uncle’s farm, how he burned the fields in the fall, after the harvest, to fertilize them for the spring.

Very well. If it took that level of destruction to get their attention, it would have to do.

This would be the diplomacy of the blade. The only kind these people apparently understood.

“Put me on the general push, Enej,” she said sharply.

“Go ahead.”

“Pilots and captains of
Corynthe
, this is Jessica Keller,” she said, intoning her words carefully, formally, to deep space, just as she had done when she read aloud her orders to take command of
Auberon,
once upon an eternity ago. “By right of combat, I am your queen. I will have your oaths, or I will have your heads.”

She paused to let the words sink in.

Queen of the Pirates. Yes, it would be the diplomacy of the blade.

“The enemy squadron is
Wei Chi
and her allies,” she continued. “If they will not surrender or retreat, they must be destroyed. Otherwise, you will become just another world suffering under the Imperial yoke. I will not allow that.”

She paused again, looking around the mob until she found Ian Zhao’s second in command, a man named Yan Bedrov. He looked nothing like the former king, so she hoped that he was not a brother, or a cousin.

Or a fool.

Jessica fixed him with a look that commanded.

The man blinked for a moment, deer in the headlights, before he understood and dropped to one knee before her, head bowed in duty.

As if on cue, the rest of the room did the same. Including Daneel and Desianna. Within moments, only Jessica and her people and Jing Du remained standing.

Now, time to rattle cages.

“Cho Ayaka Nakamura, callsign
Furious
,” Jessica continued, naming the hotshot girl pilot from
Sky Dancer
, “you will take command of the
Corynthe
flight wing.”

“But I’m not senior, ma’am,” the young woman gasped into the radio.

“Did I stutter,
Furious
?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Is this too much for you to handle?” she asked, well aware that every pilot was marked by their ego.

“Negative.”
Furious
sounded like her namesake now.

“Then
take command
.”

“Roger that,” Furious replied. “Hey, Enej–baby, can everyone hear me, flag–boy?”

Jessica watched her flag centurion turn beet red.

Obviously, he and the pilot had apparently gone beyond a purely formal working relationship somewhere along the way. She would have to ask him at some point, but not today.

“Affirmative, Cho,” Enej said, apparently grinding his teeth in embarrassment as the men around him smiled.

“Right,”
Furious
called. “You heard the boss. All friendly fliers identify yourselves with a radio beacon of
Monarch
.”

“
Monarch
?” a man’s voice called, one of the other pilots out there. “What’s up with that, Nakamura?”

“Jessica Keller, Queen of the Pirates,
Wolfhound
,”
Furious
replied. “We are now
The Queen’s Own
.”

Jessica smiled regally at the men around her.

The Queen’s Own.

Ξ

Jessica took three strides to stand before the man who had been Ian Zhao’s right hand.

He looked up as her boots appeared in his line of sight.

It was the look of a man who expected to be next on the chopping block.

“I will take command of
Kali–ma
,” she said, loud enough to be heard by everyone, but speaking only to him. “We will go out to meet these Imperial interlopers and convince them to go home.”

She waited for him to nod, and start breathing again as she nodded regally down at him.

Jessica turned to the rest of the room and sized them all up, her face turning more serious, more ominous.

“
Warlock
,” she said to the man, “you will take charge of
Supernova
. Other warship captains will join us, or resign their commands, right now.”

Heads looked up at her and nodded. She gestured them to stand. Her anger at this moment probably could have soured milk.

“If you command a freighter or stripper, you will remain here with my palace staff and my marines, until I get back.”

Jessica softened her scowl to smile at these men. It was the same smile she remembered on Nils Kasum’s face more than once.

Her life depended on the captains around her now.

“Gentlemen, Garth Agano wants a war. Let us not keep him waiting.”

Chapter XLVI

Date of the Republic March 14, 394 Above Petron

The bridge of the 4–ring Mothership
Kali–ma
was cramped. Not as tight and claustrophobic as
CR–264
or
Rajput
, but nowhere near as open as
Auberon
, or even
Brightoak
. Still, Jessica found it homey.

She sat where Ian Zhao had most recently been resident. Before her, on her right, her flag centurion sat, with his comm–marine and the radio close by. Enej’s shadow, Yeoman Orly, was the smallest marine
Auberon
carried, both by side and weight, and, according to
Navin the Black
, probably the meanest. She smiled at the pirates like a woman getting ready to beat up an entire dock–side bar by herself.

On the opposite side was the man who had been Ian Zhao’s second in command. Yan Bedrov was tall and skinny, and still very nervous. He also had a marine escort, but this one was not a radio tech. Instead, Navin had sent First–Rate Spacer Arlo.

The two marines could not have looked less alike, but they watched the bridge like hawks, conveying the certainty that they could take on the pirate vessel’s entire crew alone and win.

Just like she was about to do.

“Gentlemen,” she announced as everyone settled. “I don’t know your ship that well, and I don’t know you. I will assume you are as good as my crew on
Auberon
until you show me otherwise. And
Auberon
’s people are very good.”

She turned to size up Bedrov, her new first officer. “Yan,” she said simply, “I will command the Flag, that is, all vessels. You will handle general orders and translate them into commands for this crew.”

She waited until he nodded and then pointed at Enej.

“This man is my flag centurion,” she continued. “He will transmit orders to the rest of the friendly forces. You command the flagship, so everything
Corynthe
forces do will be based on our movements. Questions?”

Yan Bedrov bit his lip in thought. “What do you know about Motherships, Captain?” he asked, falling back into some level of what passed for normalcy, at least for him. Professionalism. It was a good start.

“Good defensive armaments and shields,” Jessica replied. “Nothing in the way of big guns, since you rely on the flight wing for your hitting power.
Auberon
or
Rajput
could slaughter a mothership or one of the Imperial vessels if we get close. We have to stay back because we can’t take on that many fighters.”

“Right,” he agreed. “And the sensors are kinda crap, because who needs good scanners, except to send the rings off. Permission to set an initial course for the squadron?”

“What do you have in mind, Bedrov?”

“Bring her around to zero–five–zero, come to max speed, plus ten degrees,” he called to the pilot.

She watched him plot his movement on a flat screen until Enej and the comm–marine brought their projector on line and put the sphere where he could reach.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Bedrov said as he moved the image around. “Here, Cap’n. Puts us in line with the sun on their approach vector. Probably not worth much, but he were an ijit for coming in where he did.”

“They were sitting out there waiting for the coup,” Jessica retorted, careful not to invoke their dead captain right now. “I like this course. Initiate it and have the
Corynthe
forces form on us.”

“That reminds me.” She turned to Enej. “Open a channel and hail
CR–264
. I really need him right now.”

The flag centurion nodded and spoke into a sound–deadening microphone, one hand absently holding on to an earpiece.

Enej turned to her with a wicked smile. He flipped a switch on the comm to fill the bridge with Robbie Aeliaes’ voice.

“Flag, this is
Brightoak
and an escort squadron from
Lincolnshire
. Requesting orders.”

Brightoak
? Here? This was suddenly, at worst, a fair fight.

Jessica smiled wickedly herself.

Yan Bedrov began to look nervous. “Captain?”

Jessica reassured him with a smile as she reached for the mic.

“
Brightoak
, this is the Flag, aboard
Kali–ma
,” she said, quickly doing the math in her head. “Attach your two local escorts to
Auberon
while you bring
CR–264
to join up with my squadron soonest.”

“On the way, Fleet Lord Keller,” Robbie said with the same sarcastic smile in his voice she remembered from when she had commanded the destroyer squadron from
Brightoak
and he had had
Vigilant
.

Wheels began to turn in her head.

“Enej, what’s the balance of forces?”

The projection zoomed back to a much larger area.

“Enemy forces include nine carriers of various sizes and three escort corvettes.”

Nine. Jessica was briefly in awe, even considering that they were second–tier vessels and pirates.

Nine carriers.

“Incoming forces appear to be right about one hundred melee fighters and roughly twenty–five heavier craft, comparable to our S–11 Bombers,
Damocles
and
Starfall
.”

He spun the projection again, adding four new dots for the
Aquitaine
Destroyer Leader named
Brightoak
and three Fleet Escorts/Cutters to the two groups of friendly vessels.

“We have
Auberon
, plus three carriers,
Kali–ma
,
Supernova
, and
Sky Dancer.
And apparently three fighters from the 1–ring mothership
Baba Yaga
. Captain Larionov sent the only three that could fly, while his ship and the rest are undergoing long–term repairs out on the lunar platform.”

“Larionov?”

“You borrowed his blade today,” the flag centurion said diplomatically.

Oh.

“We have fifty to fifty–five melee fighters, fifteen strike fighters, plus
Necromancer
and
Cayenne
. There is nothing on the other side comparable to the DropShip, let alone the GunShip.”

“They have double our flight wing. We have firepower,” Jessica smiled. “And Moirrey.”

She considered the projection. It was messy.

Auberon
sat at one point of a triangle, with
Rajput
and the two
Lincolnshire
vessels close by and the whole Wing airborne.
Cayenne
was probably asking for permission to fly with whatever strike she ordered. He was like that.

Her three Motherships were breaking out of close proximity to the orbital station and climbing up out of the gravity well as
Brightoak
and
CR–264
raced down and around to join them.

The enemy force sat much closer to the edge of the gravity well. Still inside, where they couldn’t quickly escape to Jumpspace, but far enough away that they could probably flee if they felt they needed to.

Jessica considered
Sarmarsh IV
again. This very vessel meeting with the Red Admiral and planning the sort of show of force that would convince people to keep Ian Zhao as their new king. She had given the conspirators ample warning to time this little escapade, but they didn’t have the Red Admiral in charge over there. That was probably her single greatest saving grace right now.

Still, there were a tremendous lot of them out there.

She studied the projection.
Wei Chi
and the Imperial Carrier
Admiral Schmitz
sat at the center of their little knot, surrounded by a ring of other ships, and then a hornet’s nest of little signals.