I watch in puzzlement as, twenty days ago, the combined Dust and Dragon armadas stream away from Phobos. The telescope’s artificial intelligence tracked the ships with one of its smaller telescopes. If it hadn’t, there would be no way to find the Rim Armada again, with their cold-running engines and in all the billions of radial kilometers peppered with millions of asteroids and the war’s debris. I watch the gloomy image of theDustmakerleading the armada into the asteroid belt. I spot them again two days ago, already a third of the way through the Belt. Now they are a hundred and eighty million kilometers from theTabula Rasa,but their course doesn’t look like it will bring them any closer. They’re on a straight shot to intercept Jupiter, and moving fast.
A second fleet follows from Phobos ten days after the first.
It is led by theLightbringernéeMorning Star.
Two fleets headed for Jupiter. But why?
Knowing the answer lies in their destination, I tell the AI I want a view of Jupiter and wait as the telescopes align. When they have, the planet floats over the pedestal. It dwarfs me in size. Of the one hundred and twenty-one moons that surround the Gas Giant, thirty-two are visible. The others are hidden by the planet’s mass.
For several hours I magnify the image and shift between spectrums of light. What I see over those hours causes me to sink to a knee in disbelief. It’s been so long since I’ve had good news, I don’t believe my eyes. But it is there in front of me. Good news.
And a path, waiting for me.
—
Ten hours later, with repairs on theArchimedesalready underway, I gather Aurae, Cassius, and Sevro in the chamber of the telescope. Sevro cradles a coffee, while Cassius nips at a tiny, seemingly bottomless flask of brandy—a habit I thought he’d kicked on our journey to the Belt.
“We now know Quicksilver is not coming back to the war. As I understand it, most of his fleet was decommissioned and recycled into the materials from which this station was built,” I say.
“So you’re just gonna let that arrogant piece of shit waddle off to the ass-end of space,” Sevro mutters. “He shouldn’t get a happy ending.”
“So you suggest what?” I ask.
“We dropped that coms buoy for a reason,” he says.
“Yes, to blast out his location to the system if he wouldn’t give us his ships. A gun to his head. But if a man has no cash in his pockets why mug him at all?” I ask.
Sevro relents with a sigh. “I don’t even think he likes thoseHomo sapiens.His children. More like human pity shields.” His initial anger has faded, and he’s grown lighter now that he knows as soon as the repairs on theArchiare made he’ll be going home. He glances up at the telescope. “So, what. You found our route back to Mars?”
“In a way,” I say. His eyes narrow. “I did not ask you your opinions when we came here because we were under the orders of our Sovereign and had but one ship. I’m going to ask your opinions after I show you something. Sevro, you and I have already talked, and I know you’re going home. This is not to pressure you, but I want you to know what I know.”
He grows guarded.
I activate the pedestal. The moons of Jupiter bathe the faces ofCassius, Aurae, and Sevro in gloomy golden light. Sevro looks up. Aurae begins to smile until she sees the Obsidian ships.
“In war, especially those that span a decade, it is inevitable for a vulture to appear and prey on the weakened powers,” I say. “Our war finally has its first true vulture. Volsung Fá. He fell on Sefi and the Alltribe before they could set their feet after rebelling from the Republic. He stole her throne, her braves, her navy. Instead of staying on Mars where he’d be overwhelmed eventually, he saw we were weakened in the Belt and started gnawing on our cities and trade posts there. It seems, finally, he’s smelled blood from someone else.
“We were all wondering why we saw so little sign of the Obsidian pirates, many my own old veterans, who were supposed to be raiding along our route to this asteroid. Now we have our answer. They are not in the asteroid belt any longer. They have attacked the moons of Jupiter. The home of the Raa themselves.”
Cassius coughs. “Obsidians…attacking Ilium. That’s suicide.”
“Not this time. In their haste to finish off the Republic, Helios and Dido threw most of the Rim’s naval might into the Core. Two whole armadas, Dragon and Dust, which left only the Shadow Armada and local fleets to guardallof the Rim. It’s three point seven two billion kilometers from Neptune to Jupiter on a good day. Since Dragon and Dust are racing back, we can assume the Shadow Armada is very out of place.” I grin. “They’re caught with their pants down and the vulture’s got them in the ass.”
“There’s still the Ilium Guard,” Aurae murmurs. “No?”
“Volsung Fá beat that garrison,” I say almost like I’m proud of the monster who killed Sefi. “The telescope doesn’t have footage, but I’ve seen the debris. Currently there are no Rim ships opposing him in the moon system that I can see. Those ships he stole from Sefi used to serve on my front line. The Volk navy is tough. Dreadnaughts, destroyers. This is not some minor raid.
“I wasn’t able to see as much as I’d like—they’re clever, using the moons as cover. But it appears—and here’s the weird part—it appears Fá has joined the ships and braves he took from the Alltribe on Mars with the Ascomanni of the Far Ink.”
I gesture to two dozen dim ships skulking between the moons. They are small, corvettes maybe, but their design is like none any of us have ever seen.
Cassius guffaws. Sevro sips his coffee. He knows it’s good news for Mars. Aurae looks like she’s about to throw up. I tame my enthusiasm. It’s the Raa who’ve been made fools of, but it’s their people who will suffer.
“This is the problem with AIs,” Cassius says. “They’re creative little beasts. The Ascomanni of the Far Ink…well yes, some exist. Probably. But they’re so far away. And absolute savages. If any are left. They can’t make ships. Much less challenge Ilium. If you ask me, this AI has spent far too much time alone and concocted a ludicrous fiction.”
“Or Fá has compiled the largest Obsidian navy since the Dark Revolt,” Sevro says. “Maybe he is Ragnar’s da. Let him eat, I say. Chew, chew, evil bastard.”
“Personally, I think he’s a fraud but either way his luck won’t last. He can’t face the armadas coming for him. Not even with the Volk ships. Helios is going to eat him alive. But…I believe it will be absolute chaos in the one hundred and twenty-one moons of Jupiter.”
