The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) by Kal Spriggs Page B

well,” Admiral Dreyfus nodded.  “I can't say I wouldn't chose differently, but that is your prerogative.  The names are contained in the list before you, I just ask that it doesn't leave this office.”  Lucius flipped back the cover to the folder, not once tempted to push that knowledge off on someone else.  If he did have a traitor in his ranks, he needed to know, if only so that he could compartmentalize information more efficiently.  He frowned at the list.  All of the men and women on that list were people he trusted implicitly.  The fact that his sister's name was on the list didn't surprise him, though the very thought of Alanis betraying him for some shadowy cabal made him snort.  She was smart and devious, but almost painfully honest.  She was on the list because of her access to her husband, Reese Giovanni-Leone who was also on the list.  Sadly enough, Lucius could imagine Reese betraying him, if only in regards to their current disagreement over Alanis.  After his name was that of Anthony Doko, his longtime XO and now the husband to Princess Lizmadie, Emperor Romulus IV's half sister.  A quick glance confirmed part of the reason for his inclusion was his prior service with Lucius under Lucretta Mannetti as Captain of the War Shrike.  There was also a note that his marriage to the Princess showed social ambition.  Lucius could agree that someone without knowledge of the Princess's personal history might judge the same, but he had seen the affection they developed before her identity was established... before, indeed, she even knew her relation to the Emperor.
    Of course, that put Princess Lizmadie on the list, with a note that she could access the information through her relationship with Anthony Doko.  Thus far, the implicated suspects were either very close personal friends or family.  Hell, Lucius thought, Tony practically is family.  The next names on the list were less surprising, but also just as hard to picture.  There was Chief Petty Officer Winslow, who had apparently served aboard ship with a young Lieutenant Mannetti.  Then there was Captain Naeveus, the former fighter squadron commander for the War Shrike.  He hadn't served aboard the ship with her, but he was her distant cousin, a fact which Lucius hadn't even known.  Given the... proclivity of some of the Nova Roma elite and nobility, that didn't necessarily mean much.  He was distant cousin to the Emperor, yet that hadn't exactly helped him very much.
    The last four names were just as unlikely, yet Lucius read through them.  Colonel William Proscia, his former Marine Commander had access to the codes, but his only contact was he'd been at a base that Lucretta attacked after she went pirate, long before he served with Lucius.  Ensign Tascon was another one of her cousins and was also a communications officer, so might have been able to access the right information.  While I'd love for it to be him, Lucius thought, I wouldn't be that lucky.   Tascon was a snide, superior ass and his arrogance had received him multiple reprimands from the commanders Lucius put him under.  Tascon had applied for a transfer to the Nova Roma contingent just before the Third Battle of Faraday.  That transfer had been denied by the Nova Romans rather than United Colonies personnel.  From what he'd heard, the young man had already gained something of a reputation.
    Lucius was very surprised to see Kate Bueller's name on the list.  She was the former leader of the Faraday colony, which had been independent and virtually unknown by most of human space.  With the arrival of the Chxor, she'd fled with Lucius along with some sixteen thousand other refugees.  Apparently, in her tenure as the Contractor, she'd had approved military sales of weapons which were matched to equipment found aboard the Peregrine after they captured her from Lucretta Mannetti.  That seemed extremely tenuous, especially given the rogue officer's history of piracy.  Yet it