Responsibility of the Crown by G. Scott Huggins

Author:G. Scott Huggins [Huggins, G. Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Mythology Press
Published: 2021-05-17T22:00:00+00:00

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Part III: Grave Responsibility

Chapter 11

Azriyqam forced herself to swallow the last bite of raw shellfish. Most of her diet had come from the sea, one way or another, but even on Ekkaia, only the best of the fish was saved to eat raw. Here, on the beach there was no choice. Even though Senaatha was more than capable of starting a fire, Avnai had quashed that notion.

“We’re fortunate that it’s a cloudy night,” he’d said. “That means if the Talion can get its planes out to search for us, it’ll be a lot harder for them to locate us, but the human eye can see a candle flame at over a mile. And the Consortium trains its pilots well. They can see a campfire for miles, so we daren’t risk it. It’s bad enough we’re trapped here on the beach.”

Azriyqam looked over at Senaatha’s long, motionless bulk. She was too hurt to move herself, too large to be moved, and she didn’t have the energy reserves to transform. Feeding her was going to be a problem.

“Can they launch their planes?” she asked Avnai. “Senaatha started a fire when she broke out.”

“She caused a lot of damage,” Avnai admitted. “If we’re very lucky, it may have sunk her, but battlecarriers are loaded with gasoline and explosives, and so are very well-equipped to fight fires. The captain won’t stop looking for us until he’s forced to.”

“Why not?” asked Merav.

“He can’t afford to,” said Elazar. “Senaatha severely damaged one of the Consortium’s most powerful ships and then escaped with all of us. At the very least, this makes him appear an incompetent fool. He knows that if we escape we will be able to report to our own ambassador that the captain violated our diplomatic immunity, which is technically an act of war.”

“Can’t he say what we did is an act of war?” asked Azriyqam. “He could tell everyone that Senaatha attacked his ship for no reason.”

Elazar shook his head. “The Consortium would be widely doubted if it tried to press such a claim. Especially since everyone knows that Crown Prince Avnai was effectively a hostage there. Leading such a desperate attack, he’d likely have been killed. It’s not a realistic gamble for the kingdom to take.”

“More importantly,” said Avnai, “the success of the attack will bring an investigation down on Captain Eute. High Command will want to know how it could have succeeded, and even Commander Wiegand knew he was operating well outside his authority.”

“So did Lieutenant Rathe,” murmured Azriyqam.

“He can’t silence his whole command staff. More than that, did you notice who he had stomping into our quarters?”

“Do you mean those soldiers in the black uniforms?” asked Azriyqam.

“Yes, them. Those weren’t marines. They were Pax Security. I’d no idea they were aboard. Why would they be? This situation stinks of politics.”

“Politics?” asked Azriyqam.

“Internal Consortium politics, I mean. PaxSec is charged with protecting the interests of the Consortium above everything else. They and their commander, General Berian, hate the fact that Allied States exist at all.

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