The office was bare. Polished, reddish blocks of steel made up the floor. Empty shelves lined the walls where the former Duke likely had displayed signs of his past successes. Natalya thought to her possessions, still being offloaded from the shuttle, and contemplated where she would put her things, especially her diploma. Then she spotted the man sitting in the thinly padded black chair on the other side of her empty, red desk.

The man rose when he saw her.

“Mr. Montenegro,” Natalya said with a smile.

“Ambassador Montenegro,” the man corrected. He wore a pin-striped suit with a red flag of the Gaozu Hegemony pinned to his lapel. He took off his red silk, triangular hat in greeting.

“Let’s not get bogged down in titles.”

“If you wish, Duke.” The ambassador returned his hat to his head and grinned.

Natalya felt his eyes on her as she walked around the empty desk and sat in her high-backed chair. The sensation made her brush the end of her blouse down, suddenly worried it was too skirt-like in its flair. She shook away her concern and made sure to steeple her hands in front of her chest as she leaned forward to speak.

“I’ve been informed your people want to mine on this planet,” Natalya began.

“Is it wrong to utilize your own property?” Montenegro asked.

“Not at all. Is this your property?”

Montenegro smiled. He was tall enough he could look over Natalya’s hands, and raised his eyebrows to get a better look. Natalya didn’t move, eyes locked with the ambassador’s to command his attention. He eventually wandered back to focus.

“The Changyu Confederation’s mining ship must be turned back, or we will do it ourselves,” Montenegro challenged.

“I intend to do just that,” Natalya said, leaning back in her chair. “But you need to tell your ships to turn back as well. Farbind is not up for grabs.”

“This is where we have to disagree, Duke. Though I’m sure we can come to some sort of mutual understanding. You seem much more open to discussion than your predecessor.” The man grinned and walked his fingers across the desk, as if he was distracted by the polished surface.

“Prosper has not sent a fleet to support this planet,” Montenegro continued.

“It doesn’t need to,” Natalya countered.

“Does it?”

“This is Prosper territory.”

“So it claims. But the real situation is that one claim will win. Prosper has sent no champion to this conflict. Gaozu sends its best to take possession of this planet. Were you to honor that, an agreement might be made between us. Say, a joint share of Farbind’s minerals? All you need do is welcome us, and turn your weapons at the Changyu.”

“I’m not going to start a war to give you this planet.”

“The planet is Gaozu territory. The Changyu will be starting a war if they so much as put a ship in orbit.”

“The Changyu have said the same about your ships.”

“Then you must make a decision. Do you support Changyu…”

The ambassador rose and rounded the table, still walking his fingers across its polished surface.

“Or us?” Montenegro asked.

“Mr. Montenegro,” Natalya said, standing before the man’s fingers got too close. “You will tell your fleet and any mining vessels in it to turn back. I will make the Changyu do the same, I assure you.”

“What assurance is your word?”

“It’s all you need.”

Montenegro smiled, nodded, and tilted his hat once more. “Until next time, then.”

Natalya didn’t even have time to hang her diploma. Once the ambassador left, she raced to the defensive control systems, a drum-shaped chamber full of consoles and viewscreens that showed the various satellites and moon-based weapons.

Montenegro was right. They had little that could counter a real military fleet. Prosper had sent the capital ship Ranger to assist Farbind in its Prosper-forming long ago, but the ship was over a hundred years old, and had been scrapped to build mining equipment. But the fact that it still had a functioning military status, and would read as a capital ship on scanners, gave Natalya an idea.

“How many satellites are there?” Natalya asked Tonkin.

“A hundred,” the man replied.

“And mining explosives?”

“Enough to crack the planet in half, but what good is that in a fleet battle?”

“It’s enough to work with. That instillation,” Natalya said, searching the map of Farbind on the viewscreens. She needed to know what she had available, and examined the map like a mechanic rummaging through a toolbox. She furrowed her brow and pointed to a tight set of buildings on the far side of the planet. “What’s that?”

“Research lab. A private one.”

“Not anymore. Bring all their technicians. Those mining ships, meant for long-range transport?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Load them up with explosives and tie them to the satellites.”

“Disable our satellites? We’ll be naked to the enemy!”

“We’re already naked, Tonkin. But the Changyu don’t know that.”

“Prosper sends no fleet, two fleets are coming, and you want to take down the only defenses we have. To do what?”

“I’m going to make a fleet.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

And so, they got to work.

Three days later, they were standing at the center of it all.

“It keeps aiming at us,” Tonkin said, looking at the viewscreens.

“It’s not aiming, it’s tumbling,” Natalya corrected.

“Tumbling with its giant gun aimed at us.”

Tonkin stood next to Natalya on the bridge of Ranger, the century-old capital ship-turned-mining vessel. She’d had a team of engineers, requisitioned scientists, and all the equipment and workers in the platinum mine construct this jury-rigged vessel. They lacked a suitable engine, so they had to tear one off a Changyu scout ship they’d captured, a harbinger of the fleet to come.

Natalya was a little disappointed they had no use for the yacht Montenegro had arrived in. All its parts registered as Gaozu, and that would foil Natalya’s ruse.

“Can you at least disarm it?” Tonkin asked.

“What would be the point of a disarmed gun?” Natalya asked.

“It wouldn’t shoot a hole through our ship!”

The tumbling gun was the moon-based weapons platform. Natalya had ordered it removed wholesale and towed into the middle of space, fully armed and ready to fire.

“Don’t worry, Tonkin, this ship’s more likely to break apart when the glue holding it together freezes,” Natalya noted.

“What?” Tonkin asked.

“Relax. All of you, relax.”

The old capital ship had a weapons console, helm, communications, and two engineering consoles in its square, viewscreen-covered bridge. Miners made up her crew. The helmsman had been a tug operator the day before, the engineers mineral scientists who didn’t look happy using such relegated equipment. Their hardy glares on a military bridge, however, made them look like seasoned veterans, rough and ready for a fight. At least, that’s what Natalya hoped the Changyu would think.

“Comms, have all ships report in,” Natalya ordered.

“Umm. No?” the Communications Officer replied, shifting in his too-tight Prosper uniform. Like the others on the bridge, his uniform had been taken from a museum that showed how Farbind had been founded. None of them fit.

Natalya and Tonkin wore their formal gear, outfits befitting a Duke and Administrator. Natalya hated the tiny shoes, but realized wearing military leggings beneath her Duchess-style dress actually added to her commanding presence.

“Comms, have all ships report in,” Natalya repeated.

“You press that button,” Tonkin explained.

“Oh. Yeah,” the officer replied, sending a stream of signals into space.

All at once, a hundred vessels “reported in,” including the tumbling weapons platform. With Ranger at the center, a Prosper fleet waited between the Changyu fleet and Farbind.

The Prosper “fleet” was nothing more than mining transports attached to defense satellites, or defense satellites welded together. Each retrofitted vessel, each chunk of rock shot into space, each piece of welded metal and nuclear warheads, was fitted with an exotic array of scanners and antennae that would mimic the signals, and even the crew chatter, of a full-sized Prosper vessel. With an actual capital ship, or at least the pieces of one, at the center, the jury-rigged fleet would scan as real, registered with Prosper, and seem to pack a considerable punch.

Best of all, it would have appeared out of nowhere.

“You’re lucky Changyu are known to be cautious. If this were a Gaozu fleet, we’d be in trouble,” Tonkin noted as the “fleet” signaled all weapons and shields at the ready. The signal was broadcast within range of the approaching Changyu vessels.

“We’re lucky that moon platform doesn’t nuke us,” Natalya added.

“You said—”

“Relax, Tonkin. And look alive. We’re officers, remember? Ready to give our lives in defense of Prosper’s territory.”

The helmsman, a thick-bodied woman with a long ponytail, raised her hand and said, “Just to let you know, I’d rather we didn’t.”

“Noted.”

“Umm, Captain…” the Communications Officer said.

“Duke, Comms. What is it?” Natalya replied.

“Duke, there’s this blinking light on my console. Either the ship’s falling apart or we’re getting a signal. I’m not sure which.”

“Well why don’t you push the button and find out.”

“’kay.”

The viewscreens displayed a hundred yellow dots representing Changyu ships dropping out of opalescent. They were nothing more than signals, radiation in space picked up by the scanners. The display did its best to show size and armament based on the signals.

Natalya held her breath, knowing that if the Changyu were going less than light speed, they’d picked up the radiation signal of her own fleet as well. She imagined the commanders scratching their heads at the hundred black dots on their viewscreens.

“Arm all weapons and prepare to fire,” Natalya ordered. This was it. They’d evacuated the mines, ordered Farbind’s population into Tarantula’s bomb shelters, but she hoped the coming challenge would end without bloodshed.

“You know that actually will arm those satellites, right?” the Weapons Officer, a bald miner with forearms thick as trees, said.

The neutron and fusion bombs, along with ground-eradicating mining explosives, had no hope of targeting modern ships, and were easy prey themselves. Still, if the Changyu thought they were about to be fired on by a “fleet” this size…

“I’m aware of that,” Natalya said.

“Okay. Here goes nothin’,” the Weapons Officer said.

Only one of the satellites fired, a nuclear salvo blasting into space the complete opposite direction as the Changyu fleet. The radiation from this blast had a temporary shielding effect, however. It scattered the signals of the Prosper vessels enough that the Changyu might have thought this was intentional.

Natalya decided that if anyone asked her, she’d say it was intentional.

“Let’s not do that again, please,” Natalya noted.

Before the signals blinked back into full strength, Natalya saw that the Changyu ships had stopped.

Natalya smiled.

“Send a broad-spectrum message, Comms,” Natalya said, and cleared her throat. “This is Duke Natalya Frazier of the Prosper-territorial planet Farbind. You are operating military vessels in a designated—”

“Did you want me to record you or something?” the Communications Officer asked.

“…yes, please.”

The Communications Officer pressed a button, then pressed a different button. “Okay, I think you’re ready.”

Natalya repeated her statement, and added, “You will come to a complete stop and await inspection or you will be fired upon.”

“Why not just have them go away?” Tonkin asked after the message had been sent.

“They’ll go away if we tell them they’ll be boarded.”

“If you want them to go away, tell them.”

“When bluffing, Administer Tonkin, you should never bluff with what you actually want. That way your enemy can feel like they’ve won a little if they fold.”

“Is folding turning around?” the Communications Officer asked.

“Yes, it is,” Natalya said with a smile, watching the yellow dots move away. The dots flashed as the scanners reached the edge of their range.

“I’m getting a signal again, Duke. Oops.”

The viewscreens shifted. Suddenly, they showed a man at a black leather desk, golden studs securing the material to the wooden frame. Dressed in a black silk suit, his hair short and flat, was the man who had appointed Natalya to this command.

“Duke Natalya Frazier, I know this is a long-range transmission, so you have no way of responding in time. You must return all equipment and personnel to the following coordinates. Lay down arms immediately. An evacuation will proceed for anything that reaches this location,” Qin said. “Don’t disappoint me, Natalya.”

The transmission ended.

An evacuation. Could it be Prosper was sending ships?

“Should we move the satellites, Duke?” Tonkin asked.

“No. Hold position until the colony ships leave the solar system. Have they activated their opalescents?” Natalya asked. She would worry about Qin’s orders after she’d dealt with the fleet at hand.

The viewscreens returned to displaying the outer reaches of space. There amidst the black, the computer-simulated yellow dots had once more appeared. They were no longer flashing.

“Okay, um, do we still get paid if something happens that’s not our fault?” the Communications Officer asked.

“Depends. What happened?” Natalya asked.

“Could be nothing, but, a whole bunch of red dots just appeared on my console over here and I don’t—”

“Put it up front.”

“Um… how do I—”

“Move!”

Natalya shoved the miner away from the console and saw a reversal of the forward viewscreens. Just beyond the crimson planet of Farbind were several dozen giant red dots, smaller ones swarming around them. She zoomed in on the signals and spotted Gaozu registries.

“Gaozu fleet,” Tonkin said.