“Those who withhold information about traitors shall be punished as traitors themselves! You are either loyal or you are not! There is no in-between!”

- Imperial Inspector Owen. 

“Now, Director...it’s your turn to speak. Make your report.”

“I...of course. It will be my pleasure, my Lord.” 

Director Garner stuttered briefly as his mind went into overload once again trying to deduce the cause of the Count’s odd attitude toward him. He did his best to act normal with his report, but even an amateur like Lily could tell he was nervous. His hands were shaking, much like his lips, and he kept on stealing fearful glances at the man sitting at the end of the table. 

“Uh...as everyone knows, ever since the incident three months ago, I was tasked by Lord Lamb to oversee the system’s preparation for an assault against the Republic. I was charged with recruiting fresh troops and constructing additional warships, among other things.” 

The Director stole another glance at Count Lamb before continuing. 

“I have sent copies of my detailed report to all of your MIs, my Lords. Due to time constraints, I will just mention the status with troop recruitment and warship construction during this meeting...unless there are further questions, of course.” He quickly glanced around the room. “In terms of the recruitment process, after collaborating with Director Hanson of the Propaganda Department, the various planetary governments across the system had quite the success with finding recruits among their population. We were able to log around 22 million cadets across the months.” 

Despite not being the most popular Lord this system had seen, Count Lamb was still able to get 22 million young men and women to willingly swear their loyalty to him. Part of it was because of propaganda. Young people were emotional, and for many boys, the countless movies of heroic Imperial troops achieving impossible missions and getting wealth, glory, title, and power in the process were enough to get them to sign their lives away. It didn't occur to them that for every successful man who ended up as an Admiral, a thousand have met their end as lifeless corpses. 

Of course, there were other reasons. For one thing, joining the military had financial incentives. Tax cuts. Additional monetary compensation. For some on backwater planets, joining the military was their only way to see the wider galaxy in their lifetime. 

For one reason or another, 22 million people swore their allegiance to Count Lamb and vowed to slay his enemies, no matter how they were or where they came from. 

“As of now, these cadets are undergoing basic training in boot camps on their planets of origin.” In the meeting, Director Garner continued. “I am sure you are all aware of the recruitment process, my Lords. In another three months or so, they will have graduated from the boot camps. At that point, they will be assigned to different units based on their performance. The best will be assigned to Battlefleet Obsidian and given special training based on their roles. The others will be sent to the various PDFs and PSFs…” 

“Yes. We know the drill, Governor.” Count Lamb cut the man off quickly. “How about the hardware? Do we have sufficient weapons for these new cadets?”

“Of course, my Lord.” 

“Good…” Count Lamb suddenly snickered before leaning forward. There was a scoff on his face. It was the look of a predator who had locked onto its prey. “Now, Director...tell us about the ships.” 

“Yes...my Lord.” Garner quickly obeyed. He tapped his MI a few times just so he could get the numbers completely correct. “The ships...for the past three months, the 4 Manufacturing Worlds and 72 space ports across the system designed for ship construction have been running non stop. We are at 75% progress with our first round of production, which includes 3 Gorgon Dreadnoughts, 3 Typhon Supercarriers, and around a hundred line ships and escorts of lower tonnage as well as all the attached fighters, interceptors, gunships, and bombers.”

“An entire fleet.” Laurel Lamb nodded quietly. “And when will it be ready for combat?”

“Most of the line ships will take a few more days. The Dreadnoughts and the Supercarriers will take another month. Once that’s done, it will take a few more weeks to get the appropriate crew in place, my Lady.” Director Garner replied. 

“Very well…” Count Lamb spoke up once again. Just as Director Garner grinned to himself inside, thinking he was off the hook, the Count suddenly stood up from his seat. It was a move that startled both the Director and Lily. 

With careful steps, Count Lamb made his way around the table. He moved slowly, with the sound of his boots clicking on the floor echoing through the room. 

“Tell me, Director, have you ever seen space combat?”

“Uh...my Lord?” 

“Well, you see, for many kids who have been playing video games about space combat, the battle between two fleets is simple. You have one fleet on one side and another on the other. The two fleets start shooting at each other, and the hitpoint on the ships start dropping with every landed hit. When the hitpoint becomes 0, the ship explodes. That is it.” 

Many of the people seated around the table chuckled. They have all been to war, and they knew real war was anything but this. 

“I...I suppose?” Director Garner stuttered before doing his best attempt to make a joke. “I mean...I can’t say I am an expert on video games, my Lord…”

“Well, that cannot be more different from the truth.” Count Lamb kept on strolling around the table, adding more pressure to the Director with every heavy step. “Space combat is chaotic. Chaotic and brutal. Communication between ships can be problematic even with the best equipment and the best veterans to operate them. Formations are difficult to maintain. One mistake, and a ship will be cut off from its allies and surrounded from all sides. Most importantly, the battlefield is 3D, so a ship doesn’t only have to worry about its front, side, and rear. It also has to worry about what comes from above...and what comes from below.”

This was when Director Garner realized what all of this was about. The Count...he knew! Of course he knew! Yet this knowledge didn't bring him any comfort. If anything, it terrified him so much that his entire body froze and he practically collapsed in his seat.

But that didn't stop the Count from proceeding. 

“That is why for most capital ships, the armor plating is equally thick on all sides. That is why ship-based shield generators form a sphere, not a circle. Now, of course...if some idiot decides that the shield will be able to handle all the incoming fire and the armor itself will never be touched, then maybe said idiot will decide to remove some plating in that area from the capital ships and sell them for credits.” 

That was the last straw. 

“Tell me, Director...what is the going price for Type III Alloy on the black market? Quite high I assume, considering how much ship building we have been doing.”

The poor man could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he quickly came to the conclusion that he was doomed. He was blinded by greed and arrogance. Somehow, he came to the impression that his deception would go unnoticed, that he could just steal from Battlefleet Obsidian and get away with it. He glanced across the table and found almost everyone, without exception, staring at him with fury in their eyes. They already had little sympathy in general, and they had even less for someone who put their lives at risk for money. 

“Please, my Lord…” The disgraced Director begged, and begging was the only thing he could do. What other option did he have? Resist? Quit joking! He was an official who had never been in a fight! Most people in this room could beat him to death with one hand! “It was just a thin layer of the plating! It wouldn’t have mattered…” 

“A thin layer is the difference between a torpedo being deflected harmlessly to it tearing a hole in the ship’s hull. That hole may bring down the ship, which may change the course of a battle and therefore a war. Of course it mattered.” This time, it was an Admiral in charge of a Fraction Fleet in Battlefleet Obsidian that spoke up. Like his colleagues, he was far from happy. 

“I…” Since begging didn't help, the Director quickly changed his plan. He snapped to Count Lamb and formed an apology. “I am sorry, my Lord. I made a grave error, and I am willing to make up for it. I am willing to give out all of my accomplices. I will identify the ships that we stole the alloy from. I...I am willing to give up all my property to your treasury, my Lord! Please, forgive me!”

It was clear the last part hurt the man more than everything else combined, but he forced it out nonetheless. Credits were worth nothing to a charred corpse. 

Count Lamb chuckled gently. As all the eyes were on him, he slowly ran his finger along the table while giving voice to chilling words. 

“Tempting offer, but the thing is...I already know who your accomplices are. I already know which ships you stole from and who you sold the alloys to. As for your wealth...they will be mine, one way or another.” 

The Director opened his mouth again, but no word came out. He was completely out of options. Neither his wealth nor his power could serve as leverage to keep him alive. Yet even as his mind raced, Count Lamb waved his hand, and two Unbroken guards stepped forward and grabbed onto the Director’s arms. 

The look of horror in the fat man’s eyes was clear as day. 

“Farewell, Director. You have been officially relieved of all your duties.” Count Lamb declared. “As for your work…” He glanced at the door. Seeing his action, one of the honor guards whispered something into his comm under the helmet, and seconds later, a woman walked in. She was a beauty, with deep curves and a cute face. “I am sure the newly-appointed Director Isabella here will be able to handle it.” 

The moment Director Garner’s eyes landed on Isabella and he realized what was going on, he started screaming in fury. Isabella was his secretary and his mistress. She also helped him with most of his work, including those that he was about to pay for. He trusted her, yet she betrayed him and sold him out to the Count! How could she do this? 

As the two Unbroken guards started pulling the doomed man out of his seat, the new Director gave her former boss a snicker. 

“You didn't expect I would be forever satisfied as being your whore, would you, babe?”

Garner shut his eyes in pain. He could remember all the sweet words exchanged between the two of them. All the promises and all the oaths. Yet in the end, they were nothing but lies. Isabella put up an act to win his heart, and the moment she got what she wanted, she used him as her stepping stone to power and influence. Now, he was about to be burned alive for his crimes, and she had become the new Director of the Department of Logistics. 

As the two guards were shoving him out of the room, Garner suddenly snapped to one last figure. One last source of hope. 

“My Lady!” He called out to the young woman sitting at the right hand side of the table. Lily Lamb. “My Lady! Please! Have mercy!” 

For a second, the room went silent. The commanders and officials seated along the table turned to Lily, waiting to see her response. The two Unbrokens stopped pulling on the former Director’s shoulder as they wanted further instructions from either Lily or Frederick Lamb. 

The young woman was clearly confused. She instinctively turned to her father, and then her aunt, but both of them simply tossed her looks of encouragement. She then glanced at the two guards in Power Armors. Despite their faces being covered under helmets, she knew they were looking to her, waiting for her command. 

In other words, the life of Garner was in her hands. She could save or doom him with a single word. All she had to do was give an order, and it would be obeyed.

So this was what his father meant by power...the ability to save anyone she wanted, and kill anyone she wished. The young woman thought to herself quietly. It was truly a tempting feeling. It took Lily a while to make up her mind about what to do here, and when she did, she spoke. 

“My father trusted you, Mr. Garner. We trusted you. Yet you betrayed our trust, and the Lamb family...we don’t tolerate betrayals.” 

With that said, she turned and glanced at the two Unbrokens, and they immediately knew what to do. Even before Garner could beg once more, they grabbed onto his arms and pulled him out of the meeting room. His screams and cries kept on reaching Lily’s ears until one of the guards shut the door. 

“Well done.” Laurel complimented Lily across the table. “You make your family proud, Lily.” 

Lily did her best to let out a smile. The former Director certainly did horrible things, but did that mean he deserved being burned alive...which was probably what awaited him? Probably not. Still, despite being quite naive and inexperienced, she was by no means a fool. If she did anything but punish the man, she would have risked alienating everyone in the room. What Garner so foolishly did was one of the worst things that could be done to fleet commanders. No one wanted their flagships to be missing pieces of armor as they went into battle. 

Of course, none of them would do anything to her outright, but it would erode her authority. It would challenge her...power. She needed that power to implement the civil changes she wanted to bring to this system, and she couldn’t let a single corrupt idiot ruin it for her. 

That was when an odd thought suddenly jumped into the young woman’s head. Today, she sentenced a man to die to maintain her power. Was this what her father felt when he agreed to sentence Gerard Wolf and his entire family to their death? Did he face the same option? Let a few die to maintain his authority and influence? 

It was an interesting thought.