Firemask: Book Two of the Last Legion Series Read Online Free PDF

the
Corfe
when he visited the Cumbre system last. I don’t know if
Caud
Williams failed to recognize those patrol craft, or chose to keep quiet, or possibly informed Planetary Governor Haemer of them. Both men are dead now, so it doesn’t matter.
    “But the evidence now is quite clear. Our supposed friend, Alena Redruth, is the pirate, the one who’s successfully blockading Confederation ships, if any, from reaching us and vice versa.”
    The Council grew into a hubbub of shock, disbelief. Rao waited patiently.
    Kouro was the first to speak or rather wail, somewhat coherently.
    “But what does this
mean
?”
    “It means, just for openers,” Rao said, “we’ve got more than one enemy to worry about. The next time Protector Redruth offers his support, I imagine it will be made in even stronger terms than before. A man who’s willing to chance angering the Confederation certainly will have no hesitation seizing Cumbre’s resources, given half a chance.”
    “And what will we do?”
    “I’ve taken a vow to the Confederation,” Rao said. “As have all my officers. If anyone attempts to overthrow the legal government of Cumbre, we’ll fight.”
    “But they’ve got starships, heavy equipment, a far larger army, don’t they?” This came from another Council member.
    “So the fiches tell us,” Rao said.
    “Can we beat them?” This was from Jasith Mellusin.
    “I don’t know,” Rao said honestly. “That’s why I came here. We need to put Cumbre on a war footing immediately, or face the likelihood of attack, possibly invasion.”
    “Another question,” Jasith said. “This is important to me, and to my father’s mining companies, which I’ve inherited. Before the war, when Protector Redruth visited us, he said that he wanted to increase the amount of ore shipped to his system, that he was going to build a lot more ships than he had.
    “But this hasn’t happened. My advisors told me the matter was never brought up again to my father, and we can’t find any memos or contracts in our files. Do you have any idea what might’ve happened?”
    “I don’t know,”
Caud
Rao said. “If I were cynical, I’d say that Redruth is waiting for a more favorable opportunity.”
    “Like just taking them?” Jasith asked.
    “I’d guess that thought must’ve occurred,” Rao said.
    Jasith made a face, but said no more.
    “One question that’s a little aside from the main matter,” a woman asked quietly. She was new to the Council, a ‘Raum appointee, and Rao puzzled for her name. Jo Poynton.
    “Yes?”
    “I’m not familiar with interstellar travel,” she said. “Is the only route, if that’s the correct word, through Larix and Kura?”
    “No,” Rao said. “But it’s the most economical and commonly used by far.”
    “If the Confederation was still intact, or still concerned about frontier systems like Cumbre, and if they had repeatedly tried one route without success, wouldn’t they most likely try a second, or a third?”
    “I certainly would, if I were a Confederation official.”
    “Yet nothing has come from them since the
Malvern
,” Poynton said thoughtfully.
    “So even if we believe your investigation, which certainly sounds credible, the question remains: Something must have happened to the Confederation, to the thousand thousand worlds of our empire, something beyond the petty machinations of this Redruth.
    “We know from reports by newly assigned troops and emigrants there were civil risings throughout the empire, including major riots on Capella. Many worlds were put under martial law. There were unconfirmed reports that entire sectors of the empire dropped out of contact or, worse, declared some sort of unilateral independence.
    “But what catastrophe could have produced this sudden silence, this complete breakdown of all communications?
    “I wish,”
Caud
Rao said slowly, “I could even hazard a guess. But I cannot.”

CHAPTER
3
    Njangu Yoshitaro leaned against the orderly room