Chapter 112: Command

  Rudy clapped a hand over his ear, but even he wasn't sure if he was trying to block out the sound of the explosion roaring over his suit's com unit or focus his attention on it. “Mrs. Hughes!”

  Chloe's eyes snapped to him. “What about mom?”

  “I don't – dammit! I can't hear.” Rudy shook his head. The roar was dying, but he couldn't do more than hope it was all that was dying.

  “If something's happened to her,” Chloe said, “you have to tell me.”

  Rudy focused on her. A sheen like silver sweat glistened on her face and the hands bared by her loose-fitting prison garb. The erinyes, Megaera. The – he couldn't help himself – parasite.

  “Mrs. Hughes,” Rudy said, forcing himself to stay calm because it was the only way to keep Chloe calm. “Are you and Mili okay?”

  “W-we're fine, Rudy,” Ellie said, and Rudy and Chloe both started breathing again. “But it's chaos out here. Your brother –”

  “I know.” Rudy switched the communication from Ellie to a silent channel and strode to the center of the chamber.

  Otto was fighting for his life and their company. Fine. He had that right.

  Didn't mean Rudy had to agree with him.

  At the center of the chamber, Otto was locked in argument with Ferrill and Avalon. Nobody looked like they planned on backing down.

  Rudy shouted, “All Algreil Aerospace units.”

  He actually managed to get the mob to shut up for a second.

  Even Otto. For a second. “What do you think you're doing?”

  “I'm ordering all of our company's assets to stand down and stop firing their weapons inside Etemenos. You came damn close to killing my future mother-in-law and you are killing a whole hell of a lot of innocent people.”

  Behind Otto, Jack Hughes stirred in his seat, glaring at the man he thought was his boss.

  Said man apparently thought so, too, because he almost laughed when he said, “You're ordering?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then consider yourself ordered to sit down and shut up,” Otto said. “Playing your stupid game is only going to make this take longer and hurt more people.”

  “That's not your call, Otto.” Rudy stepped closer to the screen. “It's mine.”

  Otto cocked his head. “Really. And how do you figure that, bro?”

  “Because I'm the acting Oligarch of Algreil Aerospace,” Rudy said. He clenched his fists and dredged up the crap he'd poured over when he first hatched the idea of he and Chloe going public. “According to clause seventeen of the estate and succession plan you laid out: 'in such cases as Oligarch Otto Abeir Algreil shall, for a duration of three or more months, be incapable of discharging his duties toward the board and shareholders of Algreil Aerospace, his duties will pass to Mr. Rudolph Kaine Algreil. The permanent settlement of the position of oligarch will follow after a period of no less than one month and will be decided by the board of directors in consultation with the Algreil family.'”

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  Rudy gulped down a breath. “It hasn't been any damned month,” he said, “and the board isn't here on Etemenos to boot me out. Until they do, it's my company you're fighting with – and I'm ordering all units to cease firing. Now!”

  The rumbling stopped.

  Otto regarded him for a long minute. Gradually, Rudy realized everyone else was starting at him, too. He could just make out Chloe's wide eyes at the corner of his vision, a smile on her lips.

  Probably surprised he could speak legalese.

  Well, he was an oligarch's son.

  For the moment, he was an oligarch himself.

  Finally, Otto shrugged and said, “You're right.”

  Rudy stared right back at him.

  “You actually got off your ass and used your head for once, bro, and you're right. I have no legal standing to command the Algreil fleet.” Otto rose from the captain's chair of the Pacific Resolution. He turned as if to walk away, then glanced over his shoulder. “Of course... you're about to order a surrender, right?”

  Rudy hesitated. It was obviously a trap.

  “The officers on these ships already know what will happen if they don't win today. The same thing that was going to happen to me.” Otto's electric blue eyes bored into Rudy's. “So, little brother... are you really going to order us, all of us, to die?”

  The fighting had to stop. Ellie and Milissa were out there, along with millions, billions of innocent people.

  But –

  “They're waiting, Rudy,” Otto said. “If you don't act, they will.”

  “I –” He gritted his teeth. “No.”

  “Rudolf...” Avalon's voice was dangerous.

  “Full retreat,” Rudy said tightly. “Get out of Etemenos and scatter. All mecha units return to hangars and get the hell out of here.”

  “And be hunted like dogs for the rest of their lives?” Otto asked. “This isn't win or go home, Rudy. This isn't the silly games you're used to playing. If these men don't win, they won't have a home to go to.”

  “Then they should have thought of that before they listened to your bullshit,” Rudy snapped. “All Algreil Aerospace units, you heard your oligarch. I'll... I'll figure something out, dammit!”

  “You heard the man,” Otto said. “He is, technically, the legal head of Algreil Aerospace. Follow his orders and he'll 'figure something out.' I certainly trust him, considering his track record.”

  Rudy's mouth went dry.

  “How's that blue ribbon feel, little brother?” Otto's gaze was on Avalon's blue-banded chest as he spoke. “Oh, I'm sorry, did you lose? Again?”

  Rudy didn't answer.

  “I suppose you're gonna blame more technical troubles?”

  “No.”

  “So you just plain lost. Again.”

  Through teeth clenched hard enough to hurt, Rudy growled, “Yes.”

  Otto shook his head.

  He turned to Alarie, who sat in the chair beside him, looking more uncomfortable in her Marchess Wardens flight suit than anyone Rudy had ever seen. “Well, Alarie? This isn't the Algreil Aerospace fleet. The United Shipping Magnate owns this flagship, not Algreil Aerospace. Your father's in no position to speak for it. I guess that makes it your call.”

  Rudy should have known. Otto wouldn't have given his little bro the call unless whatever call was made didn't mean a damn thing.

  “We are causing a bloodbath and it does suck,” Otto said. “There's a good chance we're doing the wrong thing. And a better chance that if we don't, we're all as good as dead. Want to trust Rudy to 'figure it out' for us?”

  Alarie gazed up at Otto. After everything he'd put her through, maybe she'd understand that he was just using her again. How the hell could she not? He'd never let her make a decision since the day they were married – he'd treated her like crap from day one!

  How could she still look at him like he was patterned to be the best thing since gravitic drive?

  “Of course not, Otto,” she said calmly. “You’re the only one I trust to see us through this.”

  “You're a doll,” Otto said. He spun back into his chair.

  Jack Hughes's fist was waiting for him.