“Did you see him wade through that pool of blood at the end? Not even a flinch. Looked like he was waltzing at a ball, he did.”

  “And the walls, the blood on the walls. How did it get all the way up there?”

  “I heard there’s a ring ‘round the room at the height of the blood pool. That he just left a stain of blood to mark how high it flowed.”

  “Did’j’a notice? There weren’t no advocates! Not a one. ‘E asked the SI if ‘e ‘ad the situation righ’, an’ the bleedin’ thing answered righ’ back that ‘e ‘ad! ‘Ow’s it know? ‘Ow’s it bleedin’ know?”

  “Justiciars. A whole new company. Not just a new squad. Justiciars. Wow. What a deal. To think we got to see, see live, the formation of a whole new company out of twelve squads – the minimum that’s required to fill a new company, and we got to see it!”

  “They’ll be hell to pay upon our return, just you wait, there’ll be hell. He can’t kill more than two hundred soldiers of the Imperial Navy without repercussions. Mark my words, they’ll hang him from the gate of the imperial palace for this one. My bet’s twenty-two minutes. Twenty-two minutes after our arrival until he is arrested. It’ll only take a whisper of a rumour to get that started. One communication back to my father’s house and it’ll all be set up. You’ll see.”

  “How many apples does it take to make a room as red as that one was? I’ll tell you: I don’t know.”

  “Have you ever seen something so glorious Spinner? A whole cabal of traitors, dead. Dead upon the mere pronouncement of their crimes. Dead! All of Medusean Gambit? Answered for. All the indignities and injustices? Answered for. All the stupid after? Answered for. The commandant is an awe inspiring man. I will follow him to the end. You hear me? The end!”

  “Do you have any idea how much money I won? I won enough for a homestead Charlie, a homestead! Not one other person called cutting out that liar’s tongue through the bottom of his jaw. I got it, at two hundred to one odds!”

  “I’ve never seen the marines so happy, sir. It’s like they’re all celebrating the first day of shore leave. If they ever come down from this high, he’ll be their favourite, sir, their absolute favourite.”

  “The officers? Well, they’re mostly alright. Most of the ones who aren’t are comin’ ‘round, sir. It would seem there’s a few unhappy souls in the lot, but they’re not happy unless they’re not happy, and I ‘spect they’ll do just fine for the haul back to Homeworld. Their brand of stupid and treachery won’t rear its ugly head until they can safely escape, sir. So I says: Prepare.”

  “Did you know that there has not been a culling of the military in the empire since its founding? This is the first. How’d we go so long? Not even the dynasty change caused this much dead within the ranks, officer or no. I just don’t see how he plans to walk out of this alive. In fact, I’ll lay four thousand on him swinging from the palace gate when we get to Homeworld. What say you?”

  Major Hardy listened to the snippets of conversations over lieutenant Caster’s shoulder at his station. It would seem that things were proceeding reasonably well. The moment the broadcast had ended, lieutenant commander Gahst had tasked him to gather a team and determine the nature of the navy’s reaction to what they had witnessed.

  He’d been in the Silent Stalkers for years. More years than he’d been elsewhere, in fact. He’d spied on all types of people within the empire and without, but he had never before had such wealth of access granted by an SI; and not just one, but every single SI in the navy – even the ones that were on permanently damaged ships. He had everything, and they had all the data he’d ever wanted access to. This was the easiest assignment he’d had in ages.

  He put his hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder and said, “Thank you for the spectrum casting there, no pun intended.” He laughed good naturedly. The lieutenant laughed uncomfortably. It was never pleasant to have your commanding officer over your shoulder, even if he was a reasonable man. Sometimes especially if he was a reasonable man; those were the ones you really wanted to do good by and so the pressure you put on yourself to do a good job was higher, much higher. Hardy understood this, he’d lived it. Every officer lived it, but not every officer remembered it. He remembered it. That’s why he gently squeezed the lieutenant’s shoulder and moved on to the next workstation.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  One by one he asked each person for a brief sampling of what they were hearing or reading so he could get a feel for the general mood. So far no one had done anything stupid. After a show like that, was it any surprise that they were shocked into inaction or compliance? He thought not. That only left the ones saying stupid things. They were plentiful. People were stupid. Even he was at times. People were stupid especially when they were shocked or in the midst of emotional turmoil.

  Everyone was in that place now. Good turmoil or bad turmoil, there was plenty of stupid going around. His people were putting together an active list of all the stupid they considered credible. The SIs were helping them tremendously. Turns out that when someone messes with the SIs, they get angry, even though they’re not supposed to have emotions. Somehow they’re taking this personally. No one’s ever messed with one of those things successfully, and it would seem the SIs want to make a singular example to prevent anyone from ever thinking about making it happen again in some future time. I pity the fool, he thought. That was going to be an even more unpleasant example than the ones the commandant made today.

  He put together a quick summary report and forwarded it to the lieutenant commander. She’d be compiling this sort of data for the commandant prior to his big meetings with the sergeant generals and the ship’s captains. They were going for an entire branch restructure, and with so many officers now dead or incapacitated, or demoted, or whatever, there were positions to fill, people to promote, and things to do. The big meeting had been pushed back again to allow the preparation time needed to have the navy run smoothly, or as smoothly as it could given that it was in a hostile or somewhat hostile environment, away from relieving support and without resupply.

  What a mess. The thing was, though, that he’d never felt more alive. He heard the hailing tone and recognised who was calling. He threw it up on the viewscreen immediately. He bowed. “My lord adjunct. How may I serve?” When he raised his head he saw the dragon was in a corridor on some ship or other, making use of the manual SI terminal there. He was the single most physically intimidating superior officer he had ever served under, with a razor intellect and a predator’s patience. It was a winning combination every time.

  “Major Hardy, I require your assistance with a task I am performing.”

  “Anything I can do to assist, Adjunct, I will do gladly.”

  “Nothing so great. The Silent Stalkers are spiking the SIs and monitoring all channels of communication, written and spoken, yes?”

  “Yes, adjunct, that is true.”

  “Please forward to me a copy of the active list of malcontents. I am in the process of eliminating sleeping antagonists before they wake.”

  “Of course, adjunct, I’ll do it immediately.” He tapped his datapad a few times and the list was sent off to Jackson. “So far no one is doing anything, they are still in denial that their philosophical views come with consequences once they put them to action, and the only things they are saying are not actionable yet, at least not for me. They are the things anyone says when they are unhappy. Not plans for retribution, though I do recommend we go completely black on comms just before we return to our empire, or word of what they think will spread faster than whatever Johanson had last month.”

  “Understood, Major. That was my thinking as well. I don’t believe these malcontents should be given either the opportunity to act in a manner inconsistent with the oath they will soon make to the commandant, nor should that darkness be permitted time to settle and find root within their hearts and minds. The Wythgoesh will surely capitalise on that if we permit it.”

  “Anything you are permitted to do in this respect would be welcomed by most, adjunct, and especially by me. I’m at the end of my rope until they make their oaths.”

  “They shall not die, but they may soon wish it, for I shall put the fear of the Black Drake within them and that shall grow and find fertile soil to root. This navy shall learn the consequences of a lack of discipline within one’s own mind.”

  That sounds harsh, thought Hardy, very harsh. However, it sounds just like what we need right now. People can’t be allowed to sit on their hands and plan their revenge. They need to have their efforts redirected, and if it takes more of the stick than the carrot to accomplish, then so much the better, far as I’m concerned. A little terror is good for the soul.

  “That does my heart good to hear, adjunct. Thank you.” He smiled broadly, in an attempt to telegraph his happiness with the news to another species that might not have picked up on human social body language just yet.

  “That will be all major.” The dragon cut the commlink and the screen blacked out.

  Well, thought Hardy, that gives me something to live up to. He turned and re-entered the room his team had set up in. It was just a lone ready room that they had commandeered, the marine compliment having been wiped in Medusean Gambit. When he stood in the centre of the room he clapped his hands once, loudly. “Alright people, we are now in phase two of our operation. Rather than getting a feel for the navy as a whole, I want our list of active malcontents as comprehensive as possible. The adjunct has just told me that he is personally working on sorting those dickheads out, and I truly have no desire to disappoint him. If you’re clever, you also have no desire to disappoint him. Who here wants an angry dragon after them? Show of hands. No one? Alright then. We have one hour to get that list completed so we can send the updated copy off to the Adjunct before their big meeting. Go get ‘em!” He clapped once more and the flurry of activity that rushed out of nowhere was immensely satisfying, in a manner in which he could not describe.

  He returned to his personal station, a standing desk. The moment he sat, he was going to fall asleep. Standing and walking and occasionally yelling did a body good – more good than coffee even, especially when that body had been awake and active for more than forty hours. This navy was a mess, but that mess was being actively cleaned and polished. In one week, I bet none of this is even recognisable. Oh, I’m looking forward to this. This is going to be the navy of our dreams. I’ll bet that by the time we leave the draconic empire, commandant Rieven has a new name. Those marines are already campaigning for it. I’ll stake my life on that timing too – anyone who has a sense of the dramatic can feel it. Change is coming and we ought to rise up to meet it in support of our commandant. Our empire demands it.