by Robert Boren
Nolan chuckled. “Yes. Hope it does. This is such a relief.”
Simone nodded, the two leaving the small bay, Nolan heading back to the lab, Simone going to the transit station.
***
General Corsi entered the office, Aeon sitting at his desk.
“Come on, I don’t have all day,” he spat.
Corsi took a seat facing the desk. “Problems?”
“Somebody got to our production contacts in the Clan Zone. None of them will return calls now.”
Corsi’s brow furrowed. “Good thing we have our ships on the way.”
“They won’t be able to do anything,” Aeon said. “Chances are good they aren’t even on our side anymore.”
“We don’t know about Boeraton or Cain, but we’ve still got the crews of the other five Razors.”
“We won’t get much from them. I only sent them to help Cain’s ship get to its destination. What they do when the chips are down is anybody’s guess.”
“We can talk to them when they’re out of the jump,” Corsi said.
“And we will,” Aeon said. “The data from the mines was interesting. Did you look at the data yet?”
“Yes. It was a setup, as we expected. There was nothing on that planet, and no battleships nearby.”
“We learned as much from it as they did,” Aeon said. “Those drone fighters, for instance. They’re based on the vehicles used for Vermillion’s rescue, and battles on Xnander and Coriton. I’m guessing they can’t handle our plasma burst while in operational mode. That’s important information.”
“Yes, it is, but they learned that those mines are really probes, and they learned that their main weapon is the plasma burst. They even know how long the charge interval is.”
“They don’t know that the recharge is more than twice that fast if we aren’t scanning,” Aeon said.
Corsi shook his head. “They’ve got Nolan with them. He’s figured that out, trust me. They know we were scanning.”
Aeon shrugged. “Okay, you’re probably right about that, but this is still a potent weapon, and we’ll use it to great effect, the next time they try to use their vehicles against us.”
“Well, I agree that those mines would be effective… but they’re the only thing we have against these drones, since they can cloak. I don’t like all our eggs being in one basket. Especially when the Samson Corporation seems to come up with a brand-new basket every other week.”
“How’s the alternate manufacturing plant coming?” Aeon asked.
“It won’t be easy to expand it to battleship production,” Corsi said. “If anything, we should expand production of the mines and troop transports.”
“We can’t get drives fast enough to keep up the mine production we’re doing now.”
Corsi nodded. “I’ll be honest. If we don’t get the Clan manufacturing plant back, we’re in big trouble. Vermillion’s team will continue to chip away, and now they’ve got Pentant Simtar with them. It makes sense to look at the possibility of producing Razors here, but we won’t survive long enough to get any benefit from it unless something changes. Vermillion only has a handful of ships… that’s his weakness. We need to figure out how to trick those ships into a dangerous position and exploit it. That is our only chance. The mines, even with their flaws, might be very helpful, if we can flood them into a good trap.”
Aeon was silent for a moment, Corsi waiting for him to lower the boom.
“Thank you for your honesty,” Aeon said. “You’re right. Pursue the manufacturing capability, but do not make it a priority. I’ll work the drive problem so we can increase production on the mines.”
“I’ll work with my team on a strategy to bring out Vermillion’s assets.”
Aeon nodded, and Corsi left, walking out of the office complex, taking the lift to the surface. His heartrate didn’t come back down to normal until he was on the transport.
***
Vermillion arrived at the conference room, Captain Clarke and Simone arriving a moment later.
“Thanks so much for getting together,” Simone said.
“I’ve always got time for you,” Vermillion said.
“Are we in more trouble than we thought?” Captain Clarke asked.
Simone shook her head. “No, this is a positive development. I was contacted by Venera this morning.”
Vermillion sat up, his eyes brimming with tears. “She’s alive?”
“Yes, she’s alive. So are most of the people on Magellan III.”
“What happened?” Captain Clarke asked.
“They were captured by a Clan Battleship over Valla Cappos, and forced to the Clan Zone.”
“They’re on C1111-A?” Vermillion asked. “Prisoners?”
“They’re on that planet, but they are no longer prisoners.” Simone took a few minutes to fill them in on the situation.
“Ecason,” Captain Clarke said. “We have to tell Nolan.”
“I took the liberty of doing that already,” Simone said.
“We have to help them,” Captain Clarke said.
“Sounds like they’re on the way to saving themselves,” Vermillion said. “It’s in our interest to make nice, though. If they quit selling Razors to Aeon, they’re walking away from a lot of income, and they’re coming out of a crisis at the same time. There will be some Clan leaders who will want to continue production.”
“That’s my fear,” Simone said, “and why I think we should help them if we can. Our nano technology might be very effective against these aliens.”
“We don’t want to give them that technology,” Vermillion said.
“Drake, thanks for coming in,” Vermillion said. “You heard all of it?”
“What are your thoughts, beyond what you said about the nano technology?” Captain Clarke asked.
Simone leaned back in her chair. “We have no idea what the royal family will want to do. They might blame us for the alien invasion. Ecason brought them into their society. He’s a citizen of the Central Authority.”
Vermillion chuckled. “Well, kinda.”
Vermillion got up to pace. “It’s worse than that. The royal family didn’t know until now that there is a civil war raging in the Central Authority Zone. They might take advantage of that, or they might side with Aeon just to insure that a prolonged war doesn’t spill into the Free Zone or the Clan Zone.”
“That’s true,” Captain Clarke said, “but there are other things too. The royal family will have to rebuild the government almost from scratch, and take care of the pirates who’ve been ravaging their society. The deserters too, for that matter. They might be too busy to mess with us, even if they’d like to.”
“That’s a terrifying thought,” Simone said.
“That’s one reason to get involved on worlds that have been invaded,” Captain Clarke said. “We’ve got a very robust force of pilotless flight suits. Perhaps we need to be creating new allies.”
“We’ll still have the resource issue,” Vermillion said.
“I understand what you’re getting at,” Simone said. “We haven’t been considering planets like Xnander and Coriton as fellow resistance fighters. We’ve looked at them as victims to save. That’s wrong-headed. Every one of these worlds we save from Aeon’s forces is another to help us save other worlds.”
“Aeon’s counting on them playing the victim and staying out of the fight,” Vermillion said. “He might be right.”
Simone smiled. “Why didn’t we think of this before?”
Captain Clarke got out of his chair. “You’re right, Drake. I’m ready.”
“I’m right there with you, Captain Clarke,” Simone said.
“Wait, we have something else,” Vermillion said. “Okay, Drake?”
“What is it?” Captain Clarke asked.
“The next two battleships are going into trials. One next week, one the week after. Phantom and Constitution.”
Captain Clarke sat back down. “Yes! How’d you move that up so quickly?”
“Wow, I guess so. Simone, you had a good candidate for a New Jersey captain, did you not?”
“Mollie Devonshire,” Simone said.
“Contact her, and assign her to the first ship. I’ll give the next one to Andrea.”
“Andrea is a good choice,” Simone said. “She’s already got experience on the New Jersey. I suggest she get the first one, though. It’ll get us three experienced New Jersey captains right away. Weeks count. Hell, days count.”
“As you wish,” Captain Clarke said. “Andrea gets Phantom. Mollie gets Constitution.”
“He’s gone,” Vermillion said. “Excellent choices. We’ve all got work to do. Let me know when we can chat with Ecason.”
“I’ll make contact with Venera again later today,” Simone said.
Simone and Captain Clarke left the conference room. Vermillion stared at the door for a moment after they’d left.
***
Ecason woke up, next to Elizabeth again. He got out of bed, slipping into his clothes, then going into the lab, brewing a cup of coffee. Yesterday had been a whirlwind. He met XA27979 briefly, as she got into the ship with her delegation. XC22272 asked Ecason and Elizabeth to work together on a method to rid the planet of parasites without killing more members of the royal family. They’d planned a meeting with Elizabeth’s team from the Magellan III for mid-morning. The other big event for the day would be a call to Nolan. He’d wanted to do that yesterday, but the royal guard insisted that no transmissions be sent out of the Clan Zone while XA27979 was in transit.
“Ecason,” Elizabeth called from his room.
He went back into the room. Elizabeth was lying in bed, looking at the communication device. “Something wrong?”
“It won’t work,” she said. “It won’t even turn on.”
Ecason sat on the bed next to her, taking a look at it. “Interesting. The power button isn’t working. Is it out of juice? I don’t see a charging port.”
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “Maybe they’ve still got it locked down from yesterday.”
“I’ll call XC22272,” he said, getting up.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
Ecason turned towards her. “It’s probably nothing. Yesterday was a busy day for them, remember?”
She sighed. “I hope you’re right. I’m getting up… unless you’d like to join me for a while.”
Ecason smiled. “I’ll get there, but I’m not ready.”
“No problem,” Elizabeth said, getting out of bed, not attempting to hide her nakedness as she dressed. “No pressure.”
“You’re very desirable, Elizabeth. Sorry, I’m a mess, but it’ll get better.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “It’s okay, really. I said I wouldn’t push you, and I meant it.”
They walked into the lab, Ecason picking up his coffee, Elizabeth brewing one for herself.
“Gonna try him?” Elizabeth asked, watching Ecason sit in front of the comm device. He turned it on, and input XC22272’s code.
“That’s funny. It looks like he’s off the planet again. He wasn’t going with the delegation, was he?”
“He didn’t say anything about it,” Elizabeth said.
“I’m going to the door.” Ecason got up, walking to the door, going into the lock, and pounding on the outside door. A moment later a royal guard appeared, his weapon drawn. He opened the outside door.
“Why are you banging on the door?” the officer asked in a gruff tone.
“We can’t contact XC22272.”
“He’s not available. We’re evacuating the rest of the royals today. Our orders are to lock down every sector of the bunker while that’s being done.”
“Is XC22475 available?”
“Nobody is available to you for now,” the guard said. “Please don’t bang on the door. You will be notified when the status is changed.”
He closed the door, bolting it. Ecason came back into the lab.
“Well?” Elizabeth asked.
“There was a royal guard in the hallway. He told me the bunker is under lockdown while they evacuate the rest of the royals.”
“They’re doing that today?”
“That’s what he said,” Ecason said. “Can you communicate with your team?”
“I don’t know,” she said, looking at her PA, searching for that section. “No, the section they were in is gone.”
“Gone?” Ecason asked. “Something is wrong. Very wrong.”
They sat silently for a moment, thinking.
“We’re prisoners again,” Elizabeth said.
“Or worse.”
The room vibrated.
“What was that?” Elizabeth asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe the transport ships coming in.”
They heard noises outside. “Yeah, something’s going on,” Elizabeth said. “Maybe they’ll get the evacuation done and we’ll be back to normal.”
Ecason’s brow furrowed, thinking through the possibilities, and then the lab door opened.
“There, maybe that’s XC22272,” Elizabeth said.
Two royal guards walked in, guns drawn, looking in all directions. Then they took positions. A young woman in scarlet robes entered, her flaming red hair in an ornate bun.
“It’s an honor to see you again, XA27979,” Ecason said.
She eyed him as if he hadn’t spoken, then pulled out a document, opening it, reading from it.
“Ecason, you are hereby charged with manslaughter, for the act of bringing parasitic creatures into the Clan Zone, resulting in the deaths of nine-hundred million citizens on C1121-B and C1111-A. You will be incarcerated, awaiting trial.”
“This is preposterous,” Elizabeth said, standing up, both guards aiming their weapons at her.
“Sit down, Elizabeth,” Ecason said.
“This wasn’t your fault. You were taken prisoner.”
XA27979 glanced at her, then looked at Ecason. “XC22272 and XC22475 are both charged with murder, and will s
tand trial as well. They will likely be executed. You will receive a prison term, if you are convicted. We understand there are extenuating circumstances. The court will provide a just verdict and sentence.”
“What about the passengers of Magellan III?” Ecason asked. “They were illegally taken prisoner in the Central Authority Zone by a Clan Battleship.”
“For that we are sorry, and will pay restitution. They will be returned to the Central Authority Zone authorities immediately.”
Elizabeth looked at Ecason, terror in her eyes. “Prime Minister Aeon will execute us all.”
“That is an internal Central Authority affair. I’m sorry.”
The guards approached Ecason, putting binders on his wrists. The guards led him out the door, Elizabeth breaking down. XA27979 looked at her.
“I am sorry, but we must do this. The damage was too great. Have faith, our justice system is fair. Ecason may be acquitted, or receive a very short sentence.”
“I won’t live to find out,” Elizabeth said. “We were trying to escape Aeon when we were kidnapped.”
XA27979 looked down. “We must act in a way accepted by our treaty. I will consult our council. You wish to be released to somebody else?”
“The Samson Corporation, or Pentant Simtar,” Elizabeth said.
“I will see what I can do.” XA27979 left the lab.
To be continued, in Galaxy of War III, coming soon!
About the Author
Robert Boren is a writer from the South Bay section of Southern California. He writes Short Stories, Novels, and Serialized Fiction.
Other books
by Robert Boren
Bug Out! Texas
Carrie is one tough mother.
It’s a normal day at the Dripping Springs Superstore. Shoppers look at merchandise while keeping their kids under control. Customers wait in the check-out lines, some chatting, others silently bored.
Everything is about to change.
Terrorists rush in with guns blazing, killing all who try to escape, rounding up the rest to hold hostage.
