by Kal Spriggs
“Very well,” Colonel Frost nodded. “Get back to work. We're having to reset our abduction teams until we know where they've spirited Admiral Rao to, so we have some time, still. Good work, Armstrong.”
The words should have meant something to him, yet Rawn felt hollow at them. Good work... making weapons which he could only console himself for in that he hoped they'd never see use. One day at a time, he told himself.
***
“Enter,” the voice said from the other side of the hatch.
Fenris opened the door and Mel stepped inside.
“Ah, Captain Amiss,” Admiral Rao nodded his head, “Allow me to thank you, now that I'm a bit more myself.” The tall dark-skinned officer seemed remarkably calm about all this.
“Just doing what I'd do for anyone, sir,” Mel nodded politely.
“A mercenary who helps those in need, without reward? I'm shocked,” Admiral Rao smiled. He took a seat at the suite's table and Mel sat down opposite him. “Or is that your intent, to see if you can squeeze some money out of me?” His smile took some of the bite out of his words, but Mel could tell that he was only half-joking.
“I think the Guard would frown on me taking any kind of payment from you... at least, until after I've completed my Peacekeeping contract,” Mel noted. “No, I'm here to see if I can get a bit of details about what happened.”
His smile vanished. “I stood down the Protectorate's military and requested the Guard send a team to guarantee the legitimacy of our elections. Instead they sent an occupation force and Major General Tibault had me locked down in a maximum security prison while she parceled off sections of our economy.”
Mel coughed, “I, uh, meant regarding your abduction.”
The Admiral's cross look faded a bit, “Something happened to draw away the Military Police company dedicated to my 'safety' and a Guard Army Special Service team kidnapped me. They were asking me questions about communications codes, locations of military assets... I'm not sure if they were there for themselves or bribed by someone else, but as soon as I realized that they planned to kill me and dump my body at sea, I broke loose.”
“And killed them?” Mel asked.
“Is this a formal interview, Captain Amiss?” He asked.
“Sir, I'm just trying to ascertain what I got myself into,” Mel admitted.
Admiral Rao cocked his head and examined her, “My twin brother and I used to play a game as children, where we would swap our outfits in order to confuse our parents and later our teachers. When you do that, you spend a lot of time watching the other person, taking hints from their expression and body language as to how to act. You quickly learn when someone has trained themselves to respond to a name... and when they respond to a name that isn't theirs.”
Mel went still, “What are you saying, sir?”
“Who are you really, Captain Amiss?” The Admiral's voice had gone cold.
“For every measure that matters to you, here and now,” Mel answered, her voice just as cold, “I am Captain Melody Amiss, commanding officer of the battlecruiser Tenacity, and Rising Wolf Securities, a registered Mercenary Guild company.”
He sat back, his expression thoughtful. “I see.” He gave her a slight nod, “Very well, then, Captain. I'm not entirely certain what you've become involved in,” he shrugged. “I killed the men who intended to abduct, torture, and murder me. I'm not entirely sure whether they did so under orders or whether they'd been subverted somehow... it could be either. But I managed to slip my restraints and obtain a pistol, which I used to kill the guards in the cargo compartment, and then shoot the pilot. Before I could take control of the shuttle, it crashed. Whether they'll try again or not, I can't tell you.”
Mel sat back as well, “Well, sir, I'd hate to play poker with you.”
“You have no idea,” the Admiral smirked. “In any case, what do you plan to do with me?”
“I have orders from Commodore Creed to keep you safe until we can transfer you to his vessel,” Mel admitted.
“Ah, Hammer Squadron,” he nodded. “They're trustworthy... as far as mercenaries go, anyway. I assume the Commodore has a bit of a fight on his hands with Major General Tibault, though.”
Mel realized with shock that he didn't know what had happened. “Major General Tibault and most of her staff were killed when GFN terrorists set off a bomb at their headquarters building. They killed over two hundred of the Peacekeepers and seventy-five civilians.”
The Admiral blanched, “Dammit... I had no idea. They'd cut me off from any outside connections as a 'security' risk.” She could see him thinking. “That means that Commodore Creed is the senior member of the task force...”
“Admiral Armstrong of the Centurions is also present,” Mel interrupted.
“Ah, yes, but she's likely to defer to Commodore Creed despite the rank difference, because he's been on station longer and he's worked in the Protectorate before,” Admiral Rao waved a hand. He sat up straight, “Captain, I need to speak to the Commodore immediately.”
Mel frowned, “We can set up a secure transmission...”
He shook his head, “No, in person. Preferably in private.”
“We got in a shooting fight with the Guard Army on our way out,” Mel said. “Things are still pretty unsettled, if the people who tried to kill you realize they can get a shot at you as we transfer you by shuttle...”
“This is a matter of urgent importance,” Admiral Rao said. “Tell him that I insist... that I have information that he needs to know.”
Mel's lips went in a flat, hard line. “Fine.”
So much for laying low, she thought to herself. She just hoped this didn't draw too much more attention.
***
Chapter 5
Time: 0900 Zulu, 29 January 292 G.D.
Location: Kharma City, Harmony System
“I don't care who you are,” Colonel Steyn sputtered into his screen, “I need to talk...” He trailed off and cursed. “The bastard hung up on me. I ordered him to connect me to their Captain and he hung up on me... doesn't he know a Colonel outranks him, much less his Captain?!”
“Yes, quite,” Punatra said with an amused smirk. He was less amused at the Colonel's inability to gain access to Admiral Rao and more amused that the Guard Army officer didn't apparently understand the difference in ranks between Fleet and Army Captains. An archaic method of rank structure, in any case... but clearly my underlings made poor choices in choosing who to subvert if this is the best opening they could provide for me.
Still the Colonel had been very cooperative in providing one of his Special Service teams for the abduction. They'd failed, which should not have surprised Punatra. Colonel Steyn's people had also failed to eliminate Nashim Rao after his escape. So far, the Guard Army officer was nothing if not consistent. A consistent failure...
Which was the purpose of this meeting, of course. Punatra rose from his seat and came around the Colonel's desk.
Colonel Steyn frowned, “What are you...”
Punatra reached out and snatched the heavy-set officer with one hand effortlessly pulling him to his feet. His right hand tightened around Colonel Steyn's throat, choking him and preventing him from crying out. Punatra cupped his left hand and a small worm crawled out of the flesh of the palm of his hand.
As the Colonel stared with wide, panicked eyes, Punatra took the long, thin worm and inserted it into the man's nostril. It crawled upwards and Colonel Steyn twitched and jerked. A bit of blood dribbled out of the man's nose as the hydati worm worked its way into his brain.
Punatra let go of Colonel Steyn's throat and the Guard officer fell back to his chair. With a sigh, he pushed the chair out of the way and then went to work on the officer's computer terminal. He hated dealing with such mechanical technology. It was obscene and Punatra's skin crawled a bit as he forced himself to do it.
It was easy enough to clear the rest of the man's afternoon schedule. When Punatra left, he would lock the office. The hydati would take
three to four hours to do its initial work, but Punatra would give it all night until the next morning to fully take over the Colonel's brain.
Colonel Steyn would not be particularly intellectually brilliant or possess any great initiative, but he would do as Punatra ordered. Some of his underlings might notice a difference, but a man with the Colonel's connections could have them removed or eliminated, and Punatra would order him to do just that.
The Colonel's schedule adjusted, Punatra accessed the files that he could find on the mercenaries who had intercepted Admiral Rao. It was a few moments to toggle up the identities of Rising Wolf Securities, which had gained their official Guard Charter only three months earlier.
They had one ship in orbit, the Tenacity, a salvaged Lucas-class battlecruiser. Their other assets were listed as unknown, secure data kept by the Mercenary Guild. That was unfortunate, as he hadn't bothered to infiltrate the Guild yet. They didn't present any credible threat to his people and he'd actually found their services to be useful in destabilizing Guard Space.
Something bothered him about their charter date, and he realized what it was after a short moment. They'd chartered very shortly after he had lost communications with Galapanatra, aboard the rogue warship Fenris. More than that, that ship had been sent, by the Mercenary Guild, to alter records at Odin Interstellar.
Rising Wolf... Fenris... Punatra smiled slightly as he made the link. Well, he had some business with them in any case, if they'd killed his grandson. And I do like to tie up loose ends. How fortunate, this made tracking them down far easier.
He stood from the terminal and patted the twitching Colonel Steyn on the shoulder. “We have some work to do, you and I.”
***
“Captain Amiss,” Commodore Creed's office hatch opened, “please come in.”
Mel stood from the chair in the waiting room and stepped inside. Admiral Rao was still seated in the one chair across from his desk and Commodore Creed gestured for her to take the other. “My apologies for making you wait outside. I will assure you, however, you made the right decision to bring him to me... the information he gave me is quite important, and time sensitive.”
“Sir,” Mel nodded, looking over at the Protectorate officer.
“I'm not going to tell you, nor is he,” Admiral Rao nodded at the Commodore. “Let's just say that it's information that you don't want to know.”
That rubbed Mel the wrong way. She hated being kept in the dark, but she swallowed her anger. “What now?”
“Now, I think,” Commodore Creed said with a glance at the 'prisoner.' “Now, I think you take him back to your ship. I think he's safe there and you and your people can monitor him. Colonel Steyn of the Guard Army has been quite insistent about turning him over, but he's finally seemed to take no for an answer.”
“What about us shooting down the combat skimmer?” Mel asked.
Commodore Creed shook his head, “That's already water under the bridge. I doubt Colonel Steyn even cares about it.”
“What about the pilot who died?” Mel demanded.
“Soldiers die,” Commodore Creed said, “and before you say he was an innocent man just doing his business... that pilot opened fire inside the city in an attempt to kill your prisoner. More than that, he fired on the downed shuttle, killing any potential survivors. Whoever that pilot was, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill you, so don't feel too guilty about killing him.”
Mel looked away. Part of her guilt, she realized, was that the pilot had done nothing more than her brother. He'd attacked people he had seen as his enemies. Only my brother probably knew more than this pilot did about who he was killing and what he got involved with...
Commodore Creed said, “You and our guest should head back to your vessel. I might recommend maintaining a watchful attitude towards the positions and dispositions of any Guard Fleet vessels in the system. It would be rather unfortunate for all of us involved if one of them were to 'accidentally' destroy your vessel.”
“Thanks, sir,” Mel responded.
She rose from her chair and led the way back to her shuttle. “Back to our vessel,” Mel said as she boarded.
“Aye, Captain,” Fenris responded as she took her seat.
“Efficient man, your pilot,” Admiral Rao said as he took a seat across from her.
“He's a good pilot,” Mel said neutrally. She really didn't want to talk about that, seeing as Fenris was remotely piloting the shuttle... and she didn't want any questions about that for obvious reasons. “You seem remarkably comfortable.”
“Well, you did rush into a crashed shuttle to rescue me, not even knowing who I was,” Admiral Rao admitted. “Which is remarkably selfless... one might say exceptionally selfless, for a mercenary.”
“What can I say, we endeavor to please,” Mel gave him a polite smile.
“Quite... I didn't really see the profit margin in it for you... not unless I survive, of course,” Admiral Rao shrugged. “Which then leads to the obvious corollary, you need me to survive if you're going to profit from it... and if I don't survive, no matter who wins the elections, they're both going to hate you for making that harder. So you have every incentive to keep me alive.”
Mel shrugged. She wasn't quite as callous at that, but she'd be willing to let him think that.
“So I think that trusting in you and your team, as well as the other mercenaries who have backed you, is probably the wise decision. In fact, assuming I do win this election, I'll have a lot of work for you all,” He admitted.
“Eliminating your political rivals?” Mel asked in as neutral a tone as she could manage.
He gave her a hard look, “don't be so quick to judge. Do you think I wanted to lead a coup? Do you think I wanted to throw my nation into chaos?”
Mel snorted, “No, I'm sure that your men dragged you kicking and screaming to do it.”
His expression hardened. “The Mombara family, with the backing of the Guard Security Council, has been turning my homeworld into their own personal fiefdom for decades. Then, when it looked like they might lose the next set of elections, despite all the threats and intimidation they could leverage, they developed a bioweapon. They were prepared to use it against their own people in order to stay in power.”
“The Guard Charter outlaws that sort of thing,” Mel said.
“It does... but tell me, how do you think my nation would react to a Guard invasion fleet sent to enforce that law?” Admiral Rao scoffed. “The people of the Harmony Protectorate are fiercely against external influence on our internal processes. You can see that in how this election is headed, even if you don't believe me. We've put up with overt corruption of the Mombara family for almost fifty years. We're not going to put up with anything like that anymore.”
Mel sat back, staring at the man for a long while. “And Guard Free Now?”
“They're terrorists who should be arrested, put on trial for their crimes, and executed when found guilty,” Admiral Rao said without hesitation. “Whatever sympathies anyone might feel for their cause are undercut by their tactics.”
Mel couldn't argue with that... but for one exception. In fact, despite herself, she found she actually respected Admiral Rao. He wasn't dodging her questions. He was taking responsibility for what he'd done... and he wasn't flinching from the hard questions.
Despite that, she found herself asking another of those hard questions, “What about the people you summarily executed? Men and women? How many orphans did you leave?”
“Less than you might think,” Admiral said without hesitation. “Most of them were the Mombara family or their allies, and my people relocated their children. They were the men and women who gave the orders to build their nasty bioweapon and the officers they entrusted to it.”
“Convenient, all the people that could have been called as witnesses,” Mel replied.
Admiral Rao's eyes narrowed, “Anyone responsible for the creation of their weapon and anyone who could have triggered it. Believe me, I did the u
niverse a favor.”
“Well,” Mel said, “I suppose we'll see how things work out.”
“We will... though I must admit, you're grilling me more thoroughly than Commodore Creed and Admiral Armstrong did,” he cocked his head. “Come to think of it, you somewhat remind me of Admiral Armstrong... related, perhaps?”
Mel kept her expression calm, “No. I'm from the Evistar sector.”
“Interesting. I did an observation tour with the Guard in the Evistar Sector. What system?”
“New Madrid,” Mel replied.
“I never visited the system,” Admiral Rao said with a shrug. “You've a different accent than I would have expected.”
“I've been working on it,” Mel replied quickly. “Fewer questions that way.” She put her head back and closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't ask her any more questions. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel his gaze on her. She'd slipped up, tipped her hand that there was more to her than a callous mercenary... but she didn't see a way to fix that.
The sounds of the shuttle docking came as a relief. Marcus and Woodard were there to escort the officer to his quarters and Mel breathed a sigh of relief as she watched them go.
***
“That's interesting...” Fenris growled a few hours later.
“Interesting how?” Swaim asked, before Mel could. “Interesting as in 'huh' or as in 'we're all going to die?'”
Mel shot him a look, but she needn't have bothered, he seemed oblivious.
“Your mother is on the planet,” Fenris said.
“Swaim's mother?” Mel asked. Granted, there were times she wondered how Swaim had survived childhood, but she hadn't really thought about the young man's family.
“Yes... apparently she's here as part of the reconstruction team. She's a planetary network designer.” Fenris spoke. Mel looked over at Swaim, and for once, it seemed he was out of words. The young man's face had gone bright red.
