Rebellion's Fury Read online

  A small group stepped into the room, four men and three women. They were all Asian in heritage, as were most of the people in the Hegemony, and although they clearly had different ethnic ancestry, they all wore the colorful silk attire that dominated the formal wear of that massive nation. All except one, a woman, who wore a western-style suit. Nerov’s eyes focused on the woman, who’d been in the rear rank at first. Now she could see the woman wasn’t Asian like the others.

  That’s strange. She almost looks like . . .

  Her mind froze. No, that’s not funny. For an instant, she’d thought the woman was Asha Stanton, the former federal observer. The woman who’d been in charge of the federal forces during the initial months of the rebellion. The woman who’d allowed Robert Semmes to build concentration camps, to punish rebel soldiers by arresting their families and locking them up in deplorable conditions where many of them died. But that wasn’t possible. There was no way Stanton would be with a Hegemony delegation.

  “Captain Nerov,” the woman said, stepping away from the Hegemony group and walking toward her. “I was told you were here, but I couldn’t really believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. You are to be commended for getting through the federal blockade. That couldn’t have been easy.”

  Nerov felt her stomach heave, and she barely held back the bile that threatened to empty from her stomach. It was Stanton. She didn’t know how or why, but her thought went immediately to federal treachery. Had the feds gotten to the Hegemony? Was her mission already hopeless?

  Her hand moved down to her side, to the place her pistol usually stayed. But there was nothing but the soft material of her dress. Not that I could kill her here anyway—there were guards everywhere, and shooting a guest of the Hegemony diplomats was not the best way to achieve a desirable outcome. Still, she figured it would have been about fifty-fifty if the gun had been there. And she didn’t have a doubt she could have put a nice wide hole in Stanton’s head before the guards took her down.

  Okay, starting over wasn’t the worst thing she could imagine. This was.

  “You? It’s not possible. Life has its twists and turns, but this is ridiculous.” Nerov looked over at Stanton, feeling as stunned as she had earlier, in the reception hall. She’d been speechless when she’d first seen the former federal observer, typical fedspeak for military governor, and then the dam broke and she asked a stream of questions in rapid succession. Stanton had stopped her and suggested the two of them find someplace more out of the way to talk, and as unwelcome as anything from the federal official’s mouth might have been, she had to agree on that count. “Next thing, Everett Wells is going to walk through the door, and we can all have a reunion.”

  “Everett is dead, Captain Nerov.” Stanton’s tone was sorrowful. “He was caught by the federal authorities trying to help me enlist Hegemony aid for your rebellion.”

  Nerov tried to maintain her poker face as her thoughts reeled. “Dead?” She felt a wave of regret. She didn’t think much of any feds, but she had to admit, Wells had been a decent man. A bit of a fool, perhaps, but someone she believed actually tried to do what he thought was right. That was something that could be said about an infinitesimal minority of people in Nerov’s worldview.

  “Yes, unfortunately. He killed himself in captivity . . . to avoid torture. And the likelihood that he would break and alert the federal authorities about our efforts.”

  Nerov shook her head. “I am sorry to hear that.” The news of Wells’s death was distracting, and it blunted some of the initial hostility she’d felt toward Stanton.

  Then, her mind just registering what Stanton had said: “Trying to get the Hegemony to aid Haven?”

  “Yes, Captain, though I know that may be difficult for you to accept. But that’s exactly why I’m here at all. We were in the process of attempting to secure the Hegemony’s acknowledgment of the declared republic and its intervention in the conflict. As I still am doing now. Everett and I both realized Alpha-2 . . . Haven . . . had no real chance to win, not without foreign recognition and support. So we utilized my family’s connections to gain access to the Hegemony government. We have long had business dealings there, except, of course, during the years of the war.”

  Nerov’s head was spinning again. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but a year ago you were trying to defeat that very rebellion, were you not?” Her anger and dislike for Stanton were returning. “You are a federal official, a cog in that horrible machine. You expect me to believe we are somehow allies now?”

  “Captain, let me be blunt. We are not friends. We do not share political philosophies. As far as I’m concerned, your little planet, whether you call it Alpha-2, Haven, or paradise itself, is utterly irrelevant. I did not choose my assignment there, and I did not wish to be there. The relative success of your rebellion cost me dearly in career prospects, not to mention the risks I’ve been compelled to take to redeem my position. But we share an enemy. Robert Semmes is evil to the core, and he is as well connected politically as it is possible to be. He will crush your rebellion if he can, and he will exact a terrible toll on the people of your world. After that, he will return to Earth a hero and come after me for his personal revenge. So you don’t have to like me, and I don’t have to like you, but fate’s twisted ways have put us on the same side, in a manner of speaking.”

  Nerov wanted to argue . . . except everything Stanton said made sense. She’d come to Earth ready to do whatever she could to save Haven, but in all her wildest, most nightmarish imaginings, this eventuality had never occurred to her. “So, what do you propose we do?”

  “Well, I have made excellent progress with the Hegemony Inner Circle, and from what I have heard, you have the Union officials intrigued. As I see it, both powers are leaning toward recognition, but neither will move without the other. I am not surprised that Damian Ward was able to secure a victory against Semmes. It is not taking much of a stretch to say the better man won there. But we both know that triumph will be short-lived unless we can cut off the flow of reinforcements and supplies to the planet. And to do that, we will need not only recognition, but full-scale military operations. A game of chicken, Captain Nerov, if you are familiar with the concept. If we can get the combined Union and Hegemony fleets to Epsilon Eridani—perhaps under the guise of a trade convoy—they will outnumber the federal forces there by a considerable margin, and if we can maintain some level of secrecy, we can prevent the federals from transferring more naval units. The forces on site will be compelled to withdraw, and the senate will have to face a choice of letting Alpha-2 go or fighting an all-out battle with both opposing superpowers.”

  “What will they do? You know better than I would.”

  “Indeed, that is true, but I’m afraid I don’t honestly know—it’s a bit of a gamble. Alistair Semmes may try to force a confrontation to save his son from another humiliating defeat, but even a man of his ability and influence has limits to his power. The cost of fighting on Alpha-2 has become critical. The economy was just beginning to improve since the end of the last interstellar war, but now it has fallen into a deep recession. A renewal of hostilities with the Union and the Hegemony would almost certainly cause a full-scale panic and depression.”

  “So you’re saying we’ll either get the federals to back down . . . or we’ll start another full-scale war?”

  “I never said the stakes were low, Captain. But it’s the only bet that offers your world a real chance at independence.” A pause. “So, are you with me?”

  Nerov nodded, almost without thinking about it. Actually, thinking too much about the current situation was about the last thing she wanted to do. “Yes, but we still have to get the Union and Hegemony to commit. I know they are interested, but it’s a gamble for them, too. What’s in it for them? Yes, if the federals back down, they will be able to weaken and humiliate their enemy, but it would be at a significant cost in mobilization and deployment expenses. I can’t imagine the outlook for their own economies is any better than F
ederal America’s.”

  “You understand the situation better than you think, Captain.” Another pause. “There is something else we can do, a way to sweeten things for our potential benefactors.”

  Nerov stared at Stanton, just knowing she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear. “Go on . . .”

  “If you were to offer certain concessions—rights to imports and exports of various types—it just might be enough to tilt things in favor of action. I wasn’t kidding about the Union and Hegemony fleets coming in the form of a trade convoy. Money is truly the universal diplomatic language. Of course, any deals would be secret, withheld from the federal authorities until after they’ve withdrawn from the planet, but there’d be ships ready to take advantage of that partnership right off the bat. If anything, it would be a further benefit to Haven—supplies and such at hand to start the rebuild and all that.”

  Nerov didn’t quite like how she seemed to hand-wave away the idea of “the rebuild and all that,” but she caught the basic gist of the plan. There was still one problem, though.

  “I don’t know what you think I can do about that. I’m not a member of the Provisional Congress, and I have no authority to conduct trade negotiations.”

  “You are Haven’s representative to the Union, are you not?”

  “No . . . I mean, I guess. I have no official mandate. My purpose was to get Ambassador Kutusov back here, that’s all.”

  “But the Union has treated you as an ambassador, haven’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “So why are you making this more complicated than it has to be? Make whatever deal you have to. You can sell it to the Havenites later.”

  Nerov was going to argue again, but she stopped herself. She didn’t know if it was being around so many people who lied constantly for a living, but telling the truth, about her authority, about trade deals, about anything, just didn’t seem so important. Not compared to gaining the aid her people needed.

  She laughed. “You’re a pretty good diplomat yourself. Very well, I will do it. Think of what would be the most attractive to offer, and we will see if we can get this done. Every day and week that goes by is that much longer for the feds to recover from their defeat and resume the offensive.”

  “Excellent.” Stanton hesitated, an uncomfortable look on her face. “I have one other thing to ask of you, Captain Nerov. A personal favor.”

  Nerov felt a wave of anger. She was already hating herself for working with Stanton, and she wasn’t of a mind for doing favors. “What?” she asked curtly.

  “There is someone I’d like to find on Haven. She may be lost, or she may be in trouble. I really don’t know. But I would like to help her.”

  Nerov looked at Stanton. Whatever she’d expected the federal to ask of her, this was definitely not it. “Who?”

  “Violetta Wells.”

  Nerov was shocked again. “Governor Wells’s daughter?”

  “Yes, I . . . I promised Everett I would do all I could to make sure she was safe. Robert Semmes would . . . well, it would be bad if he found her. He is a vengeful man, and he blames Everett and me for what happened last year.”

  “Why do you care? Wells is dead. What does it matter what happens to his daughter?”

  “It just does . . . to me. Everett Wells killed himself to keep from telling the federal investigators about me. In return, I promised to do what I could to find his daughter. Do you know where she is? I will give you some currency for her, and if she wishes to return to Earth, I will arrange transport as soon as the blockade is over.”

  Nerov almost laughed. She considered lying, not telling Stanton anything, but her normally suspicious instinct told her Stanton was genuinely concerned. “She is fine, or at least she was when I left. She is part of the rebel army. Rather, she is part of General Ward’s staff. My guess is, she is as safe as anyone on Haven can be now, unless, of course, the army is defeated and destroyed before we are able to arrange aid.”

  Stanton sighed with relief, and Nerov’s impression confirmed what she’d thought. Stanton’s interest in the girl was real.

  “You think I’m a monster, that it’s not possible for me to be concerned about someone for selfless reasons. But Everett Wells did what he promised, and I intend to do the same.” She hesitated, and then she added, “Thank you. For telling me. We don’t like each other, that much is clear, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together, and treat each other with some level of respect.”

  Nerov had the urge to argue, to tell Stanton eight different ways to reproduce with herself, but she realized her new ally was correct.

  She extended her hand. “You’re right. It seems fate has thrust us together, on the same side this time.”

  Stanton reached out and grabbed Nerov’s hand, shaking it firmly. “Shall we go back and see to our respective contacts? The Hegemony is inclined to do as I ask, but they will not act alone . . . and I’d be surprised if you didn’t find yourself in a similar situation with the Union. Why don’t we see what we can do about that?”

  Chapter 39

  Just Beyond Outermost Planetary Orbit

  Epsilon Eridani System

  Andrei Kutusov stood on the flag bridge of the battlecruiser Kirov, Sasha Nerov right at his side, both staring at the main display. Vagabond was docked with Kirov, Nerov’s vessel a small bump off the side of the Union’s massive flagship. She’d intended to fly back into the system in her own ship, but the Union authorities had insisted their sole link to Haven’s government, and their new ally, travel in something better protected than a rickety old free trader. Nerov had a faith in her vessel she knew was hard for others to understand, but she’d adapted well enough to her new role as a diplomat to know when she had to humor her new friends.

  “We’ll soon know if negotiation or conflict will resolve this situation, Ambassador.”

  She had been on a first-name basis with Kutusov for some time, but she’d gotten the impression that the Russian enjoyed calling her “ambassador,” even though he knew full well she had no such official designation. Still, she’d negotiated the entire treaty between the powers, agreed to a wide array of trade deals with both the Union and the Hegemony, and signed the documents on behalf of the Haven Republic. She was astonished at just how far she’d overstepped her authority, but then she figured those who’d sent her were just rebels. If Cal Jacen can call himself a senator, then I can call myself an ambassador.

  “Yes, Andrei.” That’s what had her concerned this entire trip. She didn’t know what had happened in Haven in the weeks she’d been gone, or what would happen in the space around the planet. The combined Union and Hegemony fleets should be enough to overwhelm the federal forces in the system. But even if the blockading ships withdrew, that didn’t mean the feds wouldn’t be back. If the senate decided to fight to the end for Haven, they could assemble a fleet capable of matching the forces of their enemies. Haven’s rebellion had cast a shadow across the entirety of human-occupied space. Federal America had a choice now: let its wayward colony go . . . or cast all of mankind into another full-scale war.

  The potential scope of what she’d helped to bring into being was just coming into focus, and she wondered if Haven’s victory was worth the risk of millions of deaths in a war that could quickly spread out of control.

  “Ambassador Kutusov, I have Admiral Taggart on the main comm line.” Admiral Bellakov’s voice was tight, hard. It was clear the officer was ready for battle, if that was how the situation developed.

  Kutusov glanced at Nerov and nodded. “It’s time.” He’d been placed in charge of negotiating with the federal forces in the system. Nerov knew the ambassador had a difficult choice himself to make. If he let the federals go without a fight and they reneged on any agreements, he would have sacrificed the chance to inflict enough damage to affect the outcome of a new war. But if he refused, if he sent Bellakov’s forces into battle, he would lose any chance to end the conflict without galactic bloodshed.


  “Put him on the main channel, Admiral.” There was no point in secrecy, not now. The spacers of the fleet would know soon enough if his diplomacy succeeded or not.

  “Admiral Taggart, I am Andrei Kutusov, representative of the Eurasian Union. I am authorized to treat with you on the current situation in an effort to avoid conflict between our respective nations.”

  “Ambassador Kutusov, there is no need to treat on any matters. Your forces have entered the space of Federal America without permission or authorization. You have violated the terms of the recent treaty between our nations, and you have committed an act of war. I insist that your forces withdraw at once. If you do, I will make every effort to encourage the senate to overlook the violation and maintain the peace we have enjoyed for the last five years.”

  “Well spoken, Admiral, but I’m afraid we disagree on the details of the situation. This space belongs to the Republic of Haven, which, per official proclamations being delivered even now to the senate on Earth, is now officially allied to both the Union and the Hegemony. This combined expeditionary force under the command of Admiral Bellakov has been dispatched to provide aid and support to the Republic.”

  The line was silent. Nerov exchanged glances with Kutusov. She knew the response that was taking so long would be the first hint as to how the situation would progress. Taggart’s forces were at a disadvantage, but from what she’d heard of Federal America’s admiral, that wouldn’t stop him from fighting.

  “I must categorically dispute your assertions, Ambassador. The planet Alpha-2 and the Epsilon Eridani system belong to Federal America, and the purely internal disturbance now in effect is of no concern to the Union or the Hegemony. I repeat my demand that you withdraw from the system at once.”

  Nerov considered herself a good negotiator, hardened by years of bargaining with some of the lowest elements of human society. But Taggart’s tone was unreadable, at least over the comm. Her mind bounced back and forth between expectations that the federal officer was ready to fight, and that he would negotiate a settlement of some kind. She hoped Kutusov’s experience would give him a better read, but a quick look at the diplomat’s face told her he had no idea, either.