The Lost Stars: Imperfect Sword Read Free Page A

see there?”
    “Nothing, Madam President.” Togo gazed steadily back at her, now betraying no emotion, his words flat. “There was nothing in her eyes. It was as if I were gazing into a patch of space devoid of stars; no light, no life, nothing but cold and emptiness.”
    “I see.” Iceni sat back, eyeing Togo. “What are her vulnerabilities?”
    “She . . . is very confident in herself. I remember that. It did not bother her that I had looked directly in the eyes of a supervisor.”
    “Can you tell me anything else about her?”
    Togo made a throwing-away gesture with one hand. “She will show no mercy at all to you and honor no agreement.”
    Iceni smiled. “I assumed both of those were true. Thank you.”
    Despite the dismissal, Togo paused. “Madam President, I have heard rumors concerning General Drakon’s staff.”
    “Yes,” Iceni said, still smiling. “You missed some very important information about Colonel Morgan.”
    Togo hesitated, thrown off by that announcement. “I have been told that Morgan is under arrest.”
    “Not technically correct. She remains off-limits. Do you understand?”
    “She is a threat,” Togo said. Did she only imagine a tinge of weariness in his voice as he repeated that warning for perhaps the twentieth time? “Eliminating her would remove a serious danger to you and send a powerful message.”
    “It would send the wrong message.” Iceni waved one flattened hand in a cutting motion to signify the subject was closed. “Have you learned anything else about whoever is trying to stir up trouble among the citizens of this star system?”
    “No, Madam President. But I will find them.”
    She waved again, this time in clear dismissal, and Togo left.
    Iceni sighed, wishing again that her problems could be solved by simply having Morgan killed. But she had seen too many CEOs fall because they had thought they could kill their way out of any difficulty. It was a simple solution that rarely solved the problem, instead usually generating new enemies faster than they could be killed.
    She faced a bigger and more urgent problem at the moment, anyway.
    Iceni called up a display above her desk, one centered on the star Midway. Planets and numerous other objects whirled slowly about the star. Bright symbols indicated the warships she had to defend everything here. Four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, twelve Hunter-Killers. A dangerous force in areas where Syndicate authority had collapsed or was tottering, but not adequate to defend against the battleship that CEO Boucher would be bringing. Iceni didn’t trust Boyens, but she had no doubt he was telling the truth about that.
    In order to defend this star system, Iceni needed her own battleship, but newly constructed
Midway
still had a lot of work that needed to be done before she could engage in combat. The battle cruiser recently acquired from Ulindi was much closer to being ready to fight, once the damage inflicted on the renamed
Pele
when it was captured from so-called Supreme CEO Haris’s forces was repaired.
Pele
might be ready before CEO Hua Boucher arrived here. But what could a single battle cruiser do to stop a battleship?
    I have no idea how to do that. But I know someone who can do it if anyone can.
    This only involved mobile forces, so it wasn’t a matter that required consultations with Drakon even if she wasn’t still more than annoyed at him. Iceni checked her appearance, sat up straight, composed her expression with the ease of long practice in looking like she was in charge and able to handle anything that came at her, then tapped the control to send a message. “Kommodor Marphissa, there is another Syndicate flotilla en route here, one equivalent in strength to the previous attack. I have been told that it could arrive as soon as five days from now, but you should assume it could show up in only four days. We have strong reason to believe the flotilla will be commanded by a snake CEO named Hua Boucher who