“Look how strong we’ve grown,” she said, inching her shuttle out of the Broadsider line to face all the others. “Look at how skilled we’ve become! How many months has it been since any of us have lost a ship to the Superiority?”
“Vlep lost one a few weeks back,” Gremm said, his voice a grumble. “But my fighters are good enough to avoid it.”
Peg inched her shuttle forward a little farther. “The Superiority forces at Surehold are weak! While we have grown stronger and stronger. Now, you see the champion I’ve brought? She’s been training my fighters. She spent her life fighting the Superiority!”
“Wait,” a new voice said. “Is this true?” It was another rough voice, speaking Peg’s language. I guessed that was her other son, Semm.
“It’s true,” I said. “My people have been at war with the Superiority for decades, and I know their tactics. I’ve destroyed dozens of their ships—eighty-seven actually, at last count. If you want to take Surehold, I can make it happen.”
“Take Surehold?” another voice asked, a high-pitched one, but not Vlep’s. “Are we really talking about this again?” M-Bot wrote on my screen that this was the leader of the fifth faction, a female heklo called Gward.
“I agree with Gward,” Peg’s first son said. “This is an old irrelevant argument. We decided against this course two years ago!”
“And how much has changed in those years?” Peg demanded. “Look, you all know that things are strange in the belt these days. You’ve heard of the creatures with the glowing eyes. You’ve seen isolated people losing their memories faster and faster.
“Worse, we’re vulnerable. All it will take is for the Superiority to decide we’re too much of a liability, and to double the military presence in here. Or triple it. They could wipe us out. But not if we control Surehold. Not if we’re bold enough to strike.”
I waited, holding my breath. It was such a good argument. Couldn’t they see? This was the time to strike.
“I hate it,” Semm finally said, “but she’s correct. This…is worth discussing.”
“Are you sure we want to take that risk?” Gremm said.
“Yeah,” said the sixth faction leader—though I only knew this because of M-Bot’s notes on my screen. “I…I don’t want to aggravate them. If we lose, it could be catastrophic!”
“Doing nothing is worse, Ido,” Peg said. “It is time. Surehold has an icon, and reality ashes. We can use those to keep our memories. We can control this entire region, and we can be safe.”
“I…can’t believe I’m saying this,” Gremm said. “But I think she might be right. It is time.”
“If you strike at Surehold, Mother,” Semm said, “the Red Sails will join you.”
“So will the Jolly Rogers,” Gremm said.
“I guess…” Gward said. “Well, I guess we will too. Sure could use some reality ashes over here. We’ll split the spoils equally, right?”
“Equally,” Peg said. “I promise it.”
“Well, we’re not interested in this insanity,” Vlep of the Cannonade Faction said. Nearby, one of his repair tugs had finished getting Hesho’s vessel online, and it began moving under its own power again.
“Hey,” Peg said. “We won that ship! Leave it!”
“Gremm can keep his ship,” Vlep said. “We won that earlier—but if we keep ours, he can keep his. Deal? None of you can fly this thing anyway.”
“Deal, I suppose,” Gremm said, with a sigh. “Mother?”
“Fine, Vlep,” Peg said. “But why not join us? We—”
But before she should finish her speech, the entire Cannonade Faction overburned away. Scud. I had M-Bot open a line to Hesho, but he didn’t accept it.
“Should we go after them?” Semm asked.
“Rotting scum,” Gremm said.
“Let them go,” Peg said. “We don’t need them. What about you, Ido? You with us?”
“Let me ask the others,” the final faction leader said. He left the group comm and returned in a few minutes. “We’ll do it. But, um, you’re sure we can win? Like really sure?”
“You saw my champion fight,” Peg said. “Trust me. We’ve got this for certain.”
They made plans then, setting up a time for the assault. I sat back, listening to the details with half an ear. The extent of Peg’s plan was becoming clear to me. And honestly, I was impressed.