the heavy cruisers. âWhy donât the enigmas have battleships?â Drakon continued. âTheir largest ships arenât much bigger than our heavy cruisers.â
âTheir ships are more maneuverable than ours,â Iceni replied. âAnd our least maneuverable ships are the battleships because of all the armor, shield generators, and weapons they carry. Theyâre slow to accelerate and slow to brake and take a very wide radius to change vectors. That sort of sluggish ship may be incompatible with how the enigmas fight.â
âBut what about battle cruisers?â Drakon asked. âArenât those pretty maneuverable?â
âYes. Very swift because they have the propulsion of a battleship but not nearly as much armor and significantly less weaponry and shield strength.â Iceni shook her head, looking at the enigma ships. âI donât know why the enigmas donât have anything as large as one of our battle cruisers. Maybe Black Jack found out the answer to that.â
Drakonâs expression hardened. âWhile he was getting his fleet blown away and stirring up the enigmas to attack us again, you mean?â
She found herself defending the Alliance admiral despite how absurd the idea would have been less than a year ago. âWe donât know if the enigmas would have come back anyway. And we donât know that Black Jackâs fleet was destroyed.â
Malin frowned as he received a report over his link, then faced Drakon. âGeneral, one of our satellites brushed against the edge of a tight-beam communication from this planet aimed toward the Syndicate flotilla.â
She should pretend to be focusing her suspicions elsewhere, but Iceni couldnât help herself. Her eyes went to Drakon, and found him looking at her.
Did you send that transmission?
their eyes challenged each other.
Drakon shook his head in answer to the unspoken question. âThe snakes must still have agents active on this planet,â he said.
âYes,â Iceni agreed. âThe transmission did not originate from any source known to me. Did we get the origin of the beam localized?â
âNo, Madam President,â Malin replied. âThe contact was too fleeting, then the beam cut off. It was a burst transmission, so whoever it was could have sent an encyclopedia of information in the brief time it was active.â
âWe should still be able to get some indication of where it came from,â Morgan insisted.
Malin gave her a bland look. âInitial analysis narrowed it down to this half of this hemisphere of this planet.â
âAnd I suppose youâre happy with that level of incompetence?â Morgan said, her tone growing fiercer.
âIâm willing to accept real-world limitations but have no intention of being satisfied with this level of analysis,â Malin replied, maintaining that indifferent expression, doubtless knowing it would further provoke Morgan.
Drakon made a small gesture, and both colonels fell silent even though Morgan had clearly been ready to fire another verbal volley. âI want you two to check the data the satellite picked up. Do it independently and see if either of you can get a better idea of the signalâs location of origin.â
Both officers saluted, Malin returning to a nearby terminal and Morgan walking quickly out of the command center.
âWhat?â Drakon asked, having noticed how Iceni was regardinghim.
âI watched how you handled that,â Iceni said. âI admit I wonder why you keep those two as assistants despite their unquestioned individual skills. But then I saw how you can use their rivalry. If anyone can narrow down the place where that signal originated, it will be one of those two because theyâre very good at what they do, and neither one wants the other to succeed where they have failed.â
âThatâs pretty much the idea,â Drakon agreed. âThey also