Read Duty from Ashes for Free Online

could channel it and that was exactly what she planned to do. There was a great deal she needed to take care of before she could leave for the day.
    *     *     *
    The three men looked at one another, silence hanging comfortably between them as they waited for the page to leave. The young man, really nothing more than a boy, sketched a bow in their direction before backing out of the room. A moment later, the reinforced door slid shut behind him, locking out all prying eyes and ears.
    Even so, personal and professional paranoia had kept the three alive and had become such a deeply seated part of their lives that it might have well have been part of their genetic makeup. There was a soft buzz and a quick flickering of the lights as shields went up inside the room. Designed not only to prevent surveillance by artificial means, it would also warn them if anyone tried to tap into the room or if they tried to make entry. It was just one of precautions they had agreed upon before deciding to meet face-to-face. There were simply too many people, both on Midlothian and elsewhere, who would view their current activities with scant favor.
    “Have we received any information from Cassius Prime?” the man sitting at the head of the table.
    “No, but then I didn’t expect to hear anything yet.” The man to his left, Mikhail Federov, reached out and entered a quick command on the virtual keyboard in front of him. He took a moment to scan the information he’d called up before continuing. “So far, everything has gone according to plan. Our allies —” He spat out the word. “—did exactly as told. They took out the orbital defense and communications platforms before starting the planetary attack. As you know, they followed their usual tactics there. They pounded what they could with bombs and then sent in the ground troops. It was a bloodbath and they are now stripping the capital of tech, anything they can sell or use themselves and rounding up prisoners. As I said, all according to plan.”
    “And the courier ship they reported entering the system as the attack began?” Alexander Watchman, Commissioner of Intelligence Services for the Republic of Midlothian, looked from Federov to the third member of their group, Admiral Horace Boniface.
    “We can’t be sure one way or the other, sir,” Federov said. “The reports from Commander Hughes are inconclusive. All he could confirm for us was that the courier came out of hyper right on the edge of the Anubis ’ detection range. They didn’t pick up anything on sensors to indicate a message had been sent but we all know the Callusian communications hardware leaves a great deal to be desired.”
    “But?” Watchman prompted, his voice soft, his eyes glinting dangerously.
    “Fuercon knows about the invasion. Whether the courier got word out or they found out through their own intelligence network, we don’t know. But they are taking steps to not only keep their home system safe from another attack but to take the fight to the Callusians.”
    “We know that there is a taskforce comprised of ships from Fuercon’s Second Fleet that has taken up a defensive picket near the Cassius System,” Boniface said. “Third Fleet has moved closer to Callusian space and joined forces with the Badenberg Confederacy. Unless I miss my guess, they will soon be launching an all-out attack on the Callusian home system.”
    Waterman leaned back, his expression thoughtful. Federov and Boniface hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already know or suspect. Still, it would have been nice to have received some good news for a change. This entire operation had seemed cursed from the start. But they were too deep into it now to call it off. If they withdrew their support, both in military advisors and in money, the Callusians would be quick to betray them. Worse, if the Callusians decided to attack, Midlothian would fall. Its military was too small, despite a technological advantage. So they