“We have lived at their mercy for generations,” Eirene said, warming to her favorite subject. “Everything the queens-marshal before me have done is to secure Chaonia’s independence. This task is our chief duty, the reason for our existence. Our territories have been fought over and annexed by outsiders for long enough.”
Sun broke in to forestall a lecture whose content she could quote in her sleep. “Once the Yele League was bound by the treaty you forced on them, you turned your attention to our border with the Phene.”
“It was the next necessary step.” Where Eirene directed her artificial eye a red laser traced the path of her campaign. “My grandmother retained Troia System when the Phene had to retreat and regroup after their attempts to invade the Yele League failed. Why did she expend so many resources to hold on to Troia?”
Sun managed not to roll her eyes at the question. She’d learned this lesson when she was seven, but it was exactly like her mother to keep treating her as a child.
“Because Troia System is a bottleneck. A gateway that can be reasonably well guarded by a strong network of orbital stations and a garrison fleet. Anyone trying to enter Chaonia from the Hatti region or from Karnos has to go through Troia.”
“Yes. Its defensive value is critical to Chaonia’s security. It’s also a perfect springboard for our fleets. By moving outward into the Hatti region via the Kanesh route we are encircling Karnos one system and one beacon route at a time.”
“If we didn’t hesitate and instead pushed straight from Troia through our foothold in Aspera System direct to Karnos itself, then—”
“You’re always getting ahead of yourself. That’s my point. Do you appreciate how long it took Chaonia to get its neck out of the yoke imposed on it when it was annexed by the Phene Empire? How often our ancestors had to bite their tongues when the Yele called us weaklings and collaborators because we didn’t have enough strength to evict the Phene when they first occupied us? How many times our people had to accede to the demands of the Yele League when they began strutting around crowing about how they alone had ever defeated a Phene fleet, and against such odds? Their endless speeches! How the Yele love the sound of their own voices! And let us never forget how my father and brothers died one after the next in battle against Hesjan raiders and their Yele instigators. Leaving me young and untried to continue the fight.”
“You’ve told me the story more than once.”
“Yes, so I have. I’ll continue to tell it until you hear me. You’ve grown up with what I’ve built. You’ve never had to slog through the mud, not as I did. I’ve got those cursed arrogant Yele under control, for now. Meanwhile the Phene are a behemoth whose heads are only slowly waking to the prod of our tiny spears upon its ass end. With the defeat at Na Iri they’ll not slumber any longer, nor blame their setbacks on the incompetence of their regional bosses. They’ll come for us, mark my words.”
“How far do you mean to go against the Phene?”
“If we take Karnos, we will control a permanent barrier to their aggression.”
“If?”
Eirene barked out a curt laugh. “Does when suit you better? Karnos is massively protected because of its valuable placement and superb resources. We need those resources to refill our empty treasury. But its seven beacons make it hard to hold without an overwhelming military presence. That means in order to take Karnos we must first rebuild and refit all our damaged ships while also producing more hulls for the campaign. Production, repair, and inventory must double. Triple! The demands on our citizenry will be extraordinary. Campaigns are won and lost on supply. So your next assignment is to tour the industrial parks and the Fleet and Guard training camps on Molossia and Thesprotis—”
“What?” Sun jumped to her feet. “What? You’re sending me on a show tour, to be trotted out for local banquets and inspect raw recruits?”
“Sit down!”
Sun gripped the edge of the platform.
“If you don’t sit down, then I’ll know you are unfit for further responsibilities.”
Shaking, Sun sat hard, bumping the chair to one side.
“That’s better. Your contribution to the victory at Na Iri burnishes you. Right now, we build. You will do your part, exactly as I command you to do. Do you understand?”
Keep your temper in check.
“I understand.”
Eirene snapped her fingers. The virtual display of stars, and lineages, vanished.
“You’re dismissed. There’s a palace corvette waiting to take you to Chaonia Prime. Once there, you’ll gather your Companions and leave for Thesprotis. Imagine how delighted all your hosts will be when the Handsome Alika arrives in town. Zàofù will provide you with the itinerary. It’s already been arranged.”
As the last word dropped, Eirene blinked on her personal net and turned her attention to a different task. Sun tried to rise but a weight had shocked her legs into immobility. She’d done well; she knew she had. Yet it wasn’t enough for her mother. Maybe nothing would ever be enough.
As a hatch opened and two Companions strolled in laughing at a joke known only to them, Eirene caught Sun with the laser edge of her gaze.
“Why are you still here? Go.”
4
History
While Octavian made his security check of their assigned cabin on the palace corvette, Sun settled into a seat and opened a virtual three-dimensional model of Molossia System. She spun the solar system, watching its six planets rotate on their axes and revolve around their star, positions shifting relative to each other.
Five of the planets anchored a beacon. Each beacon was tethered to its planet, caught like a far-flung moon at the farthest limit of the planet’s gravity well. A control node attached to the outermost rim of the beacon’s spiral coil monitored departures and arrivals. The coils of the still-working beacons had a faint and rhythmically pulsing phosphorus glow rather like a pulse. It was a weirdly soothing but also unsettling sight.
She pushed the view farther out to focus on the triple heart of the republic. The systems of Chaonia, Molossia, and Thesprotis were all scylla systems, each having five beacons although not all were still operable. Most importantly, the three systems all connected to each other, a rare, rich network called a Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence. This interconnectedness had made Chaonia, Molossia, and Thesprotis into natural allies, especially in the long interregnum after the collapse of the Apsaras Convergence. A tendency to trade and ally with each other in the troubled aftermath had caused their once disparate cultures to meld. Eventually, under the first queen-marshal, the systems united as the Republic of Chaonia.
When Octavian sat down opposite he studied the three-dimensional map, then opened it farther to show all of the territory under the governance of the republic.
“What do you see, Princess?” he asked. She wondered if the words were a deliberate echo of her mother and how he could even have known what the queen-marshal had said.
“I see history.” She traced a path with her right forefinger. “I see Chaonia, Molossia, and Thesprotis, the three core systems of our republic. I see the outlying territories brought in system by system by Queen-Marshal Inanna’s successors. I see how Great-Great-Grandfather Yǔ kept the peace during the period Chaonia was a vassal of the Phene Empire. How Great-Grandmother Metis managed to retain control of Troia System after the Phene withdrew.”