He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Elongated shadows stretched across the forecourt at Bennaeth Bod as Cromwell mounted the front steps with Tesni by his side and their three-month-old daughter in his arms. He was surprised to see Cadogan at the door.
Tesni greeted her uncle with a kiss. “I thought you were still at Caer Ynys,” she said.
“I got back a couple of hours ago,” the cadlywydd replied before turning to Cromwell. “Good evening, Neirin.”
“And to you as well.”
As the colonel spoke, Cadogan was already reaching for Seren. “There’s my girl!” Cromwell handed her over, and Cadogan cradled her carefully, smiling. “And what do you think of this fine summer evening, precious?” The infant gurgled at him and waved a tiny hand.
Anwen appeared at the cadlywydd’s elbow as he moved toward the parlor. She stroked Seren’s cheek. “Hello, annwyl.”
Cromwell chuckled. “You’d think neither of them had ever seen a baby before,” he remarked to Tesni, sotto voce, as they busied themselves with the basket containing their contribution to this evening’s family dinner and the small sack of spare diapers and related accoutrements.
“Well, those two both love infants, and there hasn’t been one in the household since Tegwyn was tiny. I’m sure that’s part of why my uncle has been reminding me there’s an empty suite at our disposal.”
Cromwell sighed. “I suppose that’s going to come up again over dinner, isn’t it?” Both Anwen and Idris had been dropping hints since before Seren’s birth. Cadogan had refrained from addressing the matter directly with him, but apparently he’d exercised no such restraint with Tesni.
“Quite likely it will.” Tesni drew a round, cloth-wrapped loaf of bread from the basket and set it on the table. “I know you’ve said your people don’t customarily live with extended family, and not all of ours do either. But given a house this large, and with a growing shortage of roofs as it is, our cottage would be better put to use for others.”
She was right, he knew. Llanavon’s population had been growing and while its footprint had been extended in the past two years, even to the point of tearing down a portion of the village wall and rebuilding it farther out, there was still pressure on the local housing stock. Moreover, most of the smaller cottages like the one they shared actually belonged to a community housing pool and were meant to be allocated according to necessity in the same way as he had been assigned his own cottage upon arriving here nearly three years ago. The village was, after all, as much a de facto military base as it was a settlement. “I’m actually surprised you lived there as long as you did before we married, given the situation and the size of this place, then.”
Tesni shrugged. “It’s customary for young newlyweds to spend their first year or two in a private cottage, and that was where Eogen and I lived when we were first wed. At the time, Bennaeth Bod was a bit crowded, if you can believe that. My parents still lived, as did my grandmother, and having nine adults plus two children was a bit much to deal with under one roof just then. After Eogen died, I still didn’t want to be so crowded, and craved time alone to grieve. I suppose I had a bit of leeway while my parents lived. By the time they were gone, so was Naina, but I had grown so accustomed to the solitude that I preferred not to give it up.”
“But now you’re ready to return to the bosom of your family, is that it?”
“I don’t know, cariad. I think perhaps we ought to. Certainly it would be good for Seren to grow up with a large family to look after her. Not that she lacks that regardless of whether we’re all under one roof, of course. But once she’s weaned, don’t you think we might want a bit of privacy again in our chamber? At some point children do generally sleep apart from their parents, after all.”
He could see the logic inherent in her words. “And the cottage doesn’t really have enough space unless we plan to have Seren sleep in the sitting room or do so ourselves. Valid point. Still… ” He trailed off.
“You’re not accustomed to living with other people, are you?” Tesni asked gently.
“It isn’t that. I’ve lived with large numbers of them, on many occasions. But… ” He’d been about to say not family, but that wasn’t quite true. Some of those bonds had been closer than blood, hadn’t they? “I guess this just feels different.”
Before he could say anything else Anwen returned. “Dinner should be ready in ten minutes or so, and Cadogan asks that you join him in the parlor until then.”
They found Tesni’s uncle on one of the room’s twin settles. He was singing softly to a slightly fussy Seren, but broke off as they entered the room. “Here are your mam a tad,” he cooed to the child. “Tesni, she isn’t wet but I suspect she may be hungry.”
Tesni took the baby, checking her diaper again just to be sure. “Dry as a bone. I’ll just feed her now, and then we can eat in peace.” She settled into the rocking chair nearby and arranged herself for nursing.
Cadogan turned to Cromwell. “Neirin, the news out of Caer Ynys this afternoon is that another two ger’tak have been detected adrift in the asteroid belt around Syv.” Syv was Emhain’s primary, a yellow sun not terribly unlike Tyr ‘nAwyr’s own parent star, or for that matter, Sol. The shattered remains of an ancient planet ringed its outer boundary, and the Tok’bel occasionally mined some of its frozen rocks for resources. “Sefys sent Garlen and a squad out in the al’kesh to retrieve them. If they’re in good condition, we’ll add them to our inventory of fighting craft. If not, we may at least be able to salvage parts.”
Cromwell nodded. “Any word on the progress of the ha’tak?” As the enormous vessel neared completion, the rebels had stepped up their training program. By now everyone was eager to get on with the mission. All that remained was for Sabar’s Tok’bel operative within the shipyard to pass along word that the time was right.
“Barring additional delays, our operative estimates about four weeks to completion, plus or minus five days. I want everyone on alert beginning next week in case of alterations in the construction schedule. Our operatives on-site dare only delay things so much lest they arouse Bel’s suspicion, or his anger.”
“So at best we’ll have what, less than a week’s warning altogether that the ship is complete enough to launch?”
“I’d say that sounds about right. The Tok’bel operative will report readiness to us, but at that point we’ll have only a short window before he’ll have to make a formal report to Bel. So we’ll have to act quickly.”
“Have you finalized your strategy, then?” Tesni asked, rocking gently as her daughter nursed.
“For the most part. Ideally, I’d like to get at least twenty of our people onto that ha’tak,” Cadogan replied, “but I know that’s going to be difficult. We have a half-dozen suits of Jaffa armor courtesy of Fearghas and his people, and the Tok’bel have produced an equal number and are working to fabricate more if possible in whatever time we have remaining. We can use them to disguise some of our personnel, who can lead the rest disguised as work gangs. The Tok’bel have an operative undercover as the personnel officer for the orbital spacedock, so he will already be in place and can smooth the way for our arrival. His Goa’uld identity is Marul. There is another Tok’bel agent, identified as Bandua, stationed groundside. He was placed just a few months ago as an assistant overseer of the project. He will ring up to the orbital and serve as our pilot, with you as his back-up in case something happens.”
“As soon as the people in charge notice the ha’tak powering up, they’re going to wonder why,” Cromwell mused. “What’s the cover story that will let us get it underway?”
Cadogan grinned. “The vessel will be complete, but it will still require a test flight to assure all systems are fully operational. That could be carried out by a high-ranking Jaffa pilot, but under the circumstances it makes even more sense to have one of the ranking Goa’uld officers take the helm. In this case, Bandua will produce a convincing but false recording of orders from Bel stating that he is to pilot the ha’tak on its test flight. By the time anyone figures out the ruse, we should be well away with the ship.”
“I have questions.”
Cadogan nodded. “I expected as much. The other team leaders will too, I’m sure, but let’s address yours now. I’ll need you to help me brief the others.”
“How many other Goa’uld do we expect to have aboard when we leave the spacedock? How many Jaffa? For that matter, how many humans beyond our own number, and of those, how many are likely to be loyalists?”
“I don’t expect more than two or three other Goa’uld to even be aboard the orbital, and on the ha’tak when it gets underway. There will be a small contingent of Jaffa, perhaps up to a dozen. Putting them off would raise suspicion no matter what the pretext, so we’ll have to deal with them in flight. A test flight would be expected to carry up to twenty, so I want to replace that number with our own people in Jaffa disguise but I dare not hope we’ll manage to replace all of them. As for humans, my plan is to have only a skeleton work crew, all of them ours. If we get two teams up there in Jaffa armor and one more dressed as workers we should be able to take control of the ship without arousing suspicion. The trick is to make it look like the whole thing was carried out by a group working for Moccas.”
“And how do you plan to give that impression?” Tesni asked.
It was Sabar who answered. {“That’s a bit of a long game. The Tok’bel will be burning bridges in the shipyard regardless of the mission’s outcome. Obviously, we intend for one of our operatives to leave with the ship as its pilot. If we’re successful, there’s little chance for our remaining on-site operative to avoid punishment, given his position as a personnel officer. So we’re arranging a simultaneous diversion in which he will conveniently disappear. He will escape inside another purloined suit of Jaffa armor and make his way to the surface, and then through the chappa’ai to Caer Ynys. The next time we use him where he will directly encounter Bel’s people, he will pose as an agent of Moccas. In the shorter term, we’ll arrange reports of unfamiliar Jaffa — your own disguised rebels — having been seen wearing the sign of the Boar.”}
He paused and returned control to Cadogan, who elaborated further. “So even if the mission fails, the rebellion will lose two deeply-embedded Tok’bel operatives within Bel’s organization, with one changing roles to implicate an enemy. This is acceptable given what we stand to gain. If we find we cannot take the ha’tak, we will destroy it in order to deprive Bel of its use. And we will still see to it that Moccas receives the blame.”
Cromwell nodded. “That makes sense. What are the plans for getting our people off the ha’tak if we have to destroy it? With twenty or more, we’ll have to work fast.”
“I’m still formulating a plan. Right now, our best bet is probably using ring transport and a cloaked ship. My tel’tak can carry that many for a short journey, and — ”
The colonel shook his head. “I really don’t want you anywhere nearby. Get someone else to fly the tel’tak, but I’d prefer you to stay well away from the action. I’m going to have enough to worry about on this mission, so please humor me.”
Cadogan looked as if he wanted to argue that point, but after a second he capitulated. “All right, you win. I’ll ask Dakan, or perhaps Segira. Both are excellent pilots, and I’m sure either of them would be willing. Though Sefys will prefer me to ask Dakan, so I’ll start with him.”
“Good. I’m going to have enough on my mind as it is.”