“So, to begin, did you ever hear Kothra Tikal mention Admiral Nyarin?” Markha’s pen tapped against the list of questions the Crown Marshals had given her.
“Never,” Dana answered. Markha stared at her for a moment, wondering if she’d keep talking, then asked her next question.
“Do you know where Kothra Tikal is now?”
“No,” Dana was as curt as she’d been before. Markha stared at her for a moment, thinking over the Aquilean woman. A few people on the ship had gotten the impression that Dana was antisocial, but they couldn’t be more wrong. She was perfectly happy to talk, so long as you could get her talking about something she cared about. She might even let slip something that she didn’t want to. If she knew anything, that would be the best way for Markha to get it out of her.
“Tell me,” she began, flipping her clipboard to a blank sheet of paper. The Crown Marshals’ questions weren’t going to lead anywhere “if we are to assume that Kothra Tikal is in fact responsible for the bombing of Admiral Nyarin’s office, why would he have done it?”
“As a prelude to an all out war,” Dana’s answer was as matter of fact as always, but when she saw the look of shock in Markha’s eyes, she didn’t stay quiet - she got excited. “Kiserre has just completed a building program consisting of four squadrons of heavy cruisers and a squadron of battleships alongside numerous corvettes and light cruisers. Standing down their wet navy was long overdue, but it also has placed the Kiserran Skyfleet in a position to man those new ships and given them almost parity with your Western Feet, and with their heavier ships they have you outgunned. This is the first time Kiserre has had an offensive power which can actually threaten Shial. Killing Admiral Nyarin, the commander of Western Fleet, gives Kiserre a distinct advantage because of the inevitable confusion in your command structure - but only for a short time,” Dana said. “Left alone, your legislature will appoint a new admiral for Western Fleet who will take over Nyarin’s functions. And a dangerous escalation like assassinating a fleet admiral will, in the long term, make Shial more dangerous, because Shial will recognize Kiserre as a hostile power and bring up ships from Eastern Fleet and Patrol Fleet to counter Kiserre. Shial will also begin laying down a new generation of larger skyships to equal the new generation of Kiserran ships, nullifying Kiserre’s advantage in firepower. All this means that Kiserre is looking for short term advantage - I would expect open warfare within two weeks, a month at the outside. A short enough time period to exploit the political deadlock from appointing  a new admiral. Very, very soon.”