Free Falcone Strike by Christopher Nuttall

didn’t just mean humiliation; defeat meant the end of life as they knew it.
    “They wouldn’t let me live,” Janice said flatly.
    “No, they wouldn’t,” William agreed.
    He shrugged again. “You don’t get to argue about legal or nice ways to win the war when you’re staring down the barrels of extinction,” he added. “All you get to do is deploy every weapon that comes to hand and if some of them happen to be smugglers . . . well, you use them anyway and thank your gods you’re not unleashing genetically engineered supermen or some other nightmare from the past.”
    Janice looked doubtful. William wasn’t too surprised. Tyre had been a powerful state right from the start, when fourteen corporations had turned it into a base of operations and themselves into the first aristocrats. There had never been any significant danger to the world; hell, their declaration of independence from the UN had been little more than a formality. The Breakaway Wars hadn’t even touched them. But Hebrides had had a difficult life, ever since the first break with Earth. They’d learned hard lessons Tyre’s population had never had to learn at all.
    Until now , he told himself. Will they learn those lessons in time ? “That’s as may be,” she said finally. “Do you believe you can be of further assistance? ”
    “ Not unless you want me to go back to Scott,” William said. “And, frankly, I’m not keen to do anything of the sort.”
    “He’s your brother,” Janice said, again.
    “Yes, I know ,” William said. “To me, Scott’s the one who ran away from his obligations; to him, I’m the one who serves a distant power instead of fighting to reform the planet. We don’t have much in common these days.”
    And he chooses to wallow in depravity because he can’t see any way to keep others from doing it , he added silently. Or maybe that’s just what he tells himself, to keep from realizing what a monster he’s become .
    “I used to fight with my brother,” Janice said brightly. “But I don’t hate him.”
    “I pity Scott,” William said. He rather doubted Janice’s brother had run off to become a smuggler, although fleeing to the naval academy seemed more likely. “Your brother probably had a very different life.”
    “Probably,” Janice said. She looked him in the eye. “It is my belief and the belief of my superiors that there isn’t any more work for you with us, at least at the moment. As you have proved you can be trusted to keep your mouth shut, you have a couple of options.”
    Definitely no field experience , William thought. Janice didn’t realize, honestly didn’t realize, just how offensive she was being. She’d get into real trouble if she went out of a secure base and into the real world .
    “The first one is that you can go back into the general personnel pool,” Janice said. “As an experienced XO, you would be snapped up very quickly. The second option, which may be more to your liking, is a return to your old post, XO of Lightning . Which one would you like? ”
    Command , William thought. But it was unlikely command would be offered to him, not when there was no shortage of officers with better connections. And they might want to drag me back here on short notice .
    “ Lightning ,” he said, after a moment’s consideration. At least he liked Captain Falcone, once she’d proven herself. A little rough around the edges, perhaps, but a worthy commanding officer. And she’d shown incredible nerve before the war had officially started. “When do I leave? ”
    Janice blinked. “You don’t want any shore leave? ”
    “ I’ve been crawling through sewers,” William snapped. Maybe the asteroid had been clean, but morally it stank to high heaven. “I’d be happier on a starship than shore leave right now.”
    “You could have a couple of days in any one of the entertainment complexes,” Janice pointed out, perhaps driven by an impulse to look after one of her agents. “I