by G. P. Hudson
Ed Masterson stood over her, his face a mix of pity and disgust. “You must be wondering what’s happening. I know I would be if I was in your shoes. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised that someone with your ability, your intelligence, didn’t anticipate this. I mean seriously, in all the time you’ve been with Zeta, acting your little part, you never once asked yourself if I was augmented? Why wouldn’t I take advantage of my own technology? It’s kind of a no-brainer, don’t you think? Oh, but of course there’s the matter of your own augmentation. Your pathetic UEDF implants. Did you think I didn’t know? Come on, Kim. I thought you were smart.”
He paused, as if waiting for her to speak, but she struggled to regain her breath. Shaking his head, he bent down and brought his face close to her. “I’m disappointed in you, Kim. I really am. But, business is business, and I can’t let this go. I’m sure you understand. That is why, effective immediately, I am canceling the Emperor’s contract. I suppose I should thank you. This was just the excuse I needed.”
Lee tried to grasp Masterson’s meaning. Excuse for what? Clearly, he had some contingency plan prepared that he had not shared with her. “Wha-” She tried to get the question out, just as Masterson’s hand closed into a fist. Then everything went black.
Chapter 39
Admiral Cherenko strode down the spacious hallway of the Emperor’s Grand Palace. Despite all the times he had been in the great building, he still marveled at its beauty. The Emperor fancied himself a throwback to the great emperors of ancient Rome. As such, he’d ensured that glistening white marble adorned the palace throughout, and that the architecture was as close to that of the ancient Mediterranean as possible. The result was truly breathtaking, and a stark contrast to the prefabricated structures of modern Earth.
But Cherenko wasn’t here at this late hour to appreciate the art and beauty of the palace. In fact, he wished he could be anywhere but here, considering the news he brought.
Making his way to the Emperor’s chambers, he took note of the portraits as he passed. The Emperors of the past. Some great, some not. The one thing they all had in common, however, was that they had ruled over a united empire.
Of course, there had always been difficulties, but never anything like those they faced now. None of these men and women had to deal with a disintegrating empire. In fact, for most, the Empire expanded during their rule. A marked difference from the current state of affairs.
The Emperor has been in power too long? The traitorous thought surfaced yet again. In a previous era, he would have died, or at least named a successor by now. But regeneration technology ensured he remained healthy, and in power. He had plenty of time to rule, and grow more corrupt.
Cherenko had considered assassinating the man. It wouldn’t be very hard. He had ample access, as did many others. Indeed, killing him would be a trivial matter. But he refrained for fear of the backlash. Without an heir, it would create a power vacuum that might further destabilize the Empire.
The Senate was useless, and could not be trusted to take the reins. They had long ago become a club of rich, useless old men. They would need another Emperor, and the odds were high that a great galactic civil war would follow. One that would make the current rebellion seem trivial.
Cherenko had considered claiming the throne for himself. Without an heir, he was the logical choice. Sure, many senators would disagree, but they had no military influence. In fact, his military standing would be the best hedge against a galactic civil war. It was true that there were many ambitious officers in the Empire, who commanded sizable armies of their own. But would they challenge his ascension? And if they did, were they powerful enough to defeat him?
It all came down to who could field a larger force, and Cherenko was confident that he would come out on top in such a contest. Still, it was a risky proposition, and there was no telling how things would play out. For the time being, leaving the Emperor in power seemed to be the prudent choice. The devil he knew.
Approaching the Emperor’s chambers, he eyed the two Imperial Guardsmen protecting the entrance. They watched him approach warily, not showing any deference to his authority. The Imperial Guard answered only to the Emperor, and were a force to be reckoned with. Another matter to consider.
The Imperial Guard was a military force, complete with warships, and heavy weapons, fully independent from the UEDF. They were another reason Cherenko couldn’t yet move against the Emperor. For any assassination attempt to succeed, the Imperial Guard needed to be brought on board. That’s where it got messy, since merely bringing up the topic was grounds for execution.
Their leader, General Turov, was strong and capable. A man Cherenko respected. He had had many dealings with the man over their long careers. Cherenko suspected that he could bring Turov on side, but he wasn’t certain. Fighting the Guard was not an idea he relished. It would be far easier if he could gain Turov’s support. Turov’s forces, combined with Cherenko’s would create a strong enough power base to put down any challenges to his authority. It all came down to timing.
“I need to see the Emperor,” said Cherenko, now standing before the two Guardsmen.
“His majesty is indisposed,” said one of the men.
“Then you will let him know that this is important.”
The Guardsman’s eyes narrowed, but he seemed to reconsider his inclination and said, “Wait over there,” pointing to a set of chairs near the far wall of the spacious lobby.
Cherenko frowned but acquiesced, he headed toward the chairs, but chose to remain standing. Several minutes later the door to the Emperor’s chamber opened and a young girl emerged, hair disheveled, barefoot, and wearing just a nightgown.
Cherenko felt nauseous with disgust at the site. The Emperor grew more debauched by the day, it seemed, but even Cherenko didn’t know the depths of his depravity. Something needed to be done about the man, sooner rather than later.
As she walked past Cherenko, he reached out and seized her arm. She turned to face him, surprised and clearly fearful.
“What is your name?” said Cherenko.
“Natasha,” said the girl.
“How old are you, Natasha?”
“Seventeen.”
Cherenko tried his best to contain his anger. Anyone else would be hauled off to prison for this, but the Emperor did as he pleased. The old proverb says that the fish starts to rot from the head. Was it any wonder that the Empire was falling apart? “Where do you live, Natasha?”
“Here, in the palace.”
“And your family? Do they live here as well?”
“No, Sir.”
Cherenko let go of her arm and she scurried away. The girl’s family was likely poor. The Emperor had taken an interest her, and paid the family off. They agreed, improving their own lot, and assuming that their daughter would be given a life of luxury and privilege. How could they know what they were subjecting their daughter to? He cringed at the thought of what would happen to the poor girl once the Emperor grew bored of her.
“The Emperor will see you now,” said the Guardsman.
Cherenko straightened his uniform and walked through the doors, into another expansive room, larger than many homes on Earth.
“Yes, Cherenko,” came the Emperor’s voice from the far end of the room. “What brings you here at this hour?”
“Bad news, I’m afraid, majesty,” Cherenko said, doing his best to hide his revulsion.
“That is obvious. I don’t think you would rush here to bring me good news.”
“No, majesty.”
“Well? Spit it out. What’s happened?”
“I just received a package from Zeta. It contained the head of our operative, and a message saying that it was a violation of the terms of the Empire’s contract. It further said that our contract had been canceled.”
“You said she was one of your best operatives!” said the Emperor, wagging a finger at Cherenko. “You assured me she wouldn’t fail.”
“She was, majesty. Sh
e was extremely well trained, and experienced. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
“Maybe your lack of understanding is part of the problem. And you say Zeta is canceling our contract?”
“Yes, majesty.”
“Does that mean he will lease his ships to the Frontier Alliance?”
“I believe so.”
“How much progress have we made in reverse engineering the Zeta ships?”
“We’ve made some progress, but not enough to build our own. That said, we have learned a great deal about their modified plasma weapon.”
“Oh? Can we build the weapon for our ships?”
“We don’t need to, majesty. Our ship engineers can modify their existing plasma weapons to generate a more powerful plasma beam. We were planning to roll this out to our fleets in stages, but will have to accelerate the modifications now.”
“Yes, be sure that you do. We can’t afford for the Frontier Alliance to gain that much of an advantage against us.”
“I’ll see to it personally, majesty.”
“What about the Zeta occupation force on Pallias? What will they do?”
“I imagine they will leave. Or worse, they will turn on our forces there.”
“Do we have enough troops to hold the planet?”
“I’m afraid not. We can stall the takeover at best.”
“Wasn’t it your Vice-Admiral Reynolds who took that system?”
“Yes, majesty.”
“A capable officer. Send his fleet back to Pallias to ensure we don’t lose the system.”
“That won’t be easy, majesty.”
“Why not?”
“Reynolds has been ordered into metaspace to raid the ships traveling between Frontier Alliance worlds. The only way to communicate with him is to send a ship out to him.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Do it.”
“Yes, majesty. Right away.”
“And ensure he has everything he needs to upgrade his plasma weapons.”
“Of course, majesty. I’ll send a team of engineers to ensure all his ships are ready.”
Chapter 40
The plasma blast burned into the tree spraying Danny with splinters and bark fragments as he streaked by. Racing through the dense, mountainous terrain, he did his best to not run in a straight line. His goal to deny his pursuers a clean shot. He had been successful, so far.
Only a little bit further, he thought, as another plasma beam narrowly missed his ear. As he ran uphill his breath remained steady and even.
The men in pursuit would continue after him in much the same way. They too were Zeta clones. They wouldn’t get tired, nor would they give up. They would stay the course until they got him, or died trying.
He could see the outcropping of rocks now. If he could stay alive just a little longer. He pushed himself to the limits, trying to get as much extra speed as physically possible.
It worked. Close enough now, he leaped, and dove over the rocks. Coming down he tucked, and rolled. Back on his feet, he spun around, weapon at the ready.
Gerry and the Pallian soldiers were already firing, catching the Zeta soldiers by surprise. Danny joined in and opened fire.
Three were already down, caught in the initial surprise volley. The other two had managed to take cover behind nearby trees.
“Little brother,” said Gerry. “We should try and flank them. You attack them from the left, I’ll rush in from the right. You guys stay here and lay down suppressive fire.”
“Sounds good to me, sister.”
David and the other Pallians nodded in understanding.
Gerry counted down three fingers and the two former Zeta contractors took off in opposite directions.
Danny bolted to a tree for cover, while training his weapon toward the Zeta soldiers. One of them tried to take a shot, but Danny managed enough fire to force the man back.
He took off again, racing for another tree. The Zeta soldier anticipated his movement, and plasma beams bit at his heels.
Another wave of suppressive fire from the Pallians forced the contractor to seek cover again. Danny made it to his target tree and opened fire.
With Gerry coming at them from the other side, the contractors were squeezed in, and soon they would have no cover at all.
Danny broke into another sprint, firing at the contractor’s position as he ran this time.
With few options left, and Danny about to flank him, the contractor burst out of his position, racing toward Danny, gun ablaze.
Much to Danny’s surprise, the first hit was scored by a Pallian. It wasn’t enough to put the contractor down, but it slowed him for a split second.
It was just the opportunity Danny needed to burn holes into the Zeta contractor’s chest. Beams burned into his head and torso from the Pallian guns, finishing the man off.
Just one left. Danny heard the firefight taking place as Gerry closed in. She didn’t waste any time, now running toward the contractor’s position. Multiple plasma bolts were ripping into the tree where the contractor hid, forcing his head down while Gerry closed in.
Danny took cover behind a tree, and called out to the man. “You don’t have a chance. We’ve got you surrounded. Surrender or you will die here today, like the rest of your team.”
“I’m not going to make it easy on you,” the man shouted back.
“We don’t want to kill you. We want to help you.”
“Is that why you cut down my team? To help me?”
“Don’t be stupid. It couldn’t be avoided. You were trying to kill me. It was self-defense. But despite what you’ve heard, we’re not traitors.”
“You turned on Zeta. That makes you traitors.”
“That’s not true. We were freed from Zeta’s control. Zeta doesn’t want any of us to be free. That’s why they’ve got you trying to kill us. But we can free you too. All you have to do is trust us.”
“You mean you want to turn me into a traitor. You’ll have to kill me first.”
“No, that’s not it at all. Look, Zeta owns you. They control every aspect of your life. They have ever since you were created. This loyalty you feel toward them, they’ve put it inside you. It’s not real. If you let us help you, you’ll see that what I’m saying is the truth.”
“I don’t believe you. You want me to switch sides. Make me fight for you instead.”
“I give you my word. Let us free you, and if you want to stop fighting, to go your own way, we won’t stop you.”
“Or we can just kill you right now and get it over with,” said Gerry. “Personally, that seems like the easier of the two.”
The man didn’t respond. Danny hoped he had been persuasive enough. “Fine,” he said finally. “I don’t appear to have much choice. I’ll surrender.”
“Throw out your weapons,” said Gerry. “And don’t forget who we are. We expect to see all of the smaller concealed weapons. Don’t be stupid.”
One by one the man threw out his arsenal.
“Now lay down on your stomach,” Gerry said. “Lace your fingers behind your head. You know the drill.”
The man did as he was told, and both Danny and Gerry rushed in, weapons trained on the man. Gerry grabbed his hands and securely bound them behind his back. Danny and Gerry grabbed an arm each and brought the man to his feet. At this point, the Pallians came out from behind the rocks, keeping their weapons locked on him.
“I thought you were going to free me,” the man said. “I feel like a prisoner.”
“You are,” said Danny. “For the time being.” They put a helmet on the man’s head.
“What’s that?”
“Protection. It blocks your implant’s geobroadcast so that Zeta can’t track you.
Chapter 41
“What is your designation?” Danny said to the Zeta contractor.
“T199,” said the contractor. “Why do they call you Danny?”
“It is my name. I no longer use my designation.”
“N
either do I,” said Gerry, who sat on the other side of the contractor. “A name is a mark of your freedom. A designation, one of your bondage.”
“You speak like the humans,” said T199.
“We are human,” said Danny. “So are you.”
“No. I don’t believe that’s true. I may look like one of them,” T199 gestured toward the Pallians seated in front of him. “But I am different in every way. As are you.”
“Our enhancements don’t make us any less human,” said Danny.
“I never said I was less.”
“You believe yourself superior?” said Gerry.
“Am I not? I am physically superior. They seem frail by comparison.”
“Only you are a slave. They are free.”
T199 snorted. “You call this freedom? You are fugitives. You will be hunted mercilessly. You will spend your life running until you are finally caught. Then you will spend whatever time you have left in captivity, in unending agony, until the time of your death. At that point, your so-called freedom might have lost its luster.”
“We should’ve killed him,” said Gerry. “In fact, I think I might just kill him now.” Gerry produced her sidearm. “I apologize in advance little brother, for the brain splatter likely to come your way.”
“Put the weapon away,” said Danny. “You’re not going to kill him.”
“Oh, I beg to differ,” said Gerry, pressing the muzzle against T199’s temple.
Danny looked at T199, who seemed to have lost some of his Zeta calm. “He’s not going to kill you,” Danny said reassuringly.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Gerry said, raising her voice. “You heard him. He won’t change, even if we do free him.”
“That will be his choice, but he’ll be free to make it for himself.”
Gerry put her weapon away, shaking her head. “You’re being naive, little brother.”
They traveled the rest of the way in silence until they reached a small structure. It seemed largely out of place in the mountain forest. The group entered the building, Danny and Gerry each maintaining a tight grip of T199’s arms. Inside, they were greeted by Isaac, Catherine, and the girls.
