Star Freedom

by D. R. Rosier

  Vik frowned, “That’s an audacious position, seeing you have attacked us twice.”

  The admiral said, “Perhaps, but your empire completely removed us from space, or tried to. You attacked first, none are innocent here. Do what you must do, in two weeks, or attack us again. It is up to you.”

  Vik said, “Why do I get the feeling we wouldn’t be having this conversation if your plan worked.”

  The admiral nodded, “We would not. If we succeeded in taking out your ability to build ships, a war of attrition would be in our favor. As it is, our build capacity and power is far too equal to be sure who will come on top. We were also intrigued by your offer of information, otherwise we would not be having this conversation.”

  The admiral was wrong of course, we had a hidden system they knew nothing about, and we knew where there hidden system was. Even if they had taken our last visible shipyards, they’d have still lost in a week. Of course, we’d be even farther behind, and annoyed, but hardly out of the game. Fortunately, Vik wasn’t angry enough to give any of that away.

  “I see, I will inform the empress, it’s her decision. Why two weeks? Why not now?”

  The admiral said, “Partially, to allow sufficient time for tempers to cool before we meet to negotiate, and partly a societal custom that would make little sense from your point of view.”

  Vik nodded, “Until then. I can only promise you if we choose to retaliate, we will turn down your offer first.”

  The admiral looked surprised, and cut communication.

  Vik ordered, “Cancel the chase, return to our standard defensive formations.”

  Jillintara said, “Yes, sir.”

  Telidur acknowledged the order as well, and turned the ship around. I wondered what Solyra would decide to do.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Solyra looked ready to spit nails, I’d never seen her so angry before. She shook her head, stood, and started to pace along the wall at the head of the table.

  “They’re fucking insane!”

  I wasn’t happy myself, and kind of agreed. They’d attacked, and when the attack failed they’d demanded talks in two weeks, but only if we didn’t retaliate, as we’d promised to do. Who does that?

  Dessia said, “It’s a chance at peace, they obviously don’t think like we do, even more so than I would have guessed in the past.”

  Solyra shook her head, “I would agree, if I thought there was a chance in hell we could trust them. They don’t want peace, they want a time-out in their war on us. They’ve made it clear they absolutely can’t trust our word, so what does that tell us about theirs? Remember, people usually negotiate and believe others have the same motivations they do.”

  She frowned, “Plus, I’ve already given my word that we wouldn’t hold back if they attacked us again, and would counter-attack. So, if we go along with it, aren’t we proving we can’t keep our word? I know that’s absurd, but it’s still a valid point.”

  Vik nodded, “I can’t argue with any of that, but we should wait two weeks either way. Our new ships will be finished in just two days. The four of us know how to use one, well, but there will be a hundred and nineteen crews who will need to work on a lot of simulations before they’re comfortable with its capabilities.”

  Vik said, “That reminds me, Jill, please work out who the highest rated crews are in our current fleet, and we’ll give them the new ships.”

  Jillintara replied, “I already have a list.”

  Solyra shook her head, “What are you doing with the old destroyers?”

  I held back a chuckle, they were less than a year old. Most of them anyway.

  Vik replied, “We’ll keep the current fleet until we have a count of six hundred total. At that point we’ll be replacing them, selling them to Earth, or gutting the weapons and selling them to private concerns. Thanks to losing our assets in Vehiri, we won’t have enough scout destroyers to start doing that until next month. Or possibly the month after, I’m considering splitting the build potential in the next month’s ships. Three dreadnoughts, eight cruisers, and sixty scout-destroyers. We do that for two months, and we’ll have our command fleet along with enough scout-destroyers to start replacing the destroyers. Then the third month one hundred twenty more. By the fourth month, the infrastructure will be rebuilt in Vehiri and we can adjust the plan.”

  Solyra asked, “Do we really need to rebuild at this point?”

  Vik shrugged, “Probably not, we can still have our fleet completely replaced in under a year with what we have. But… we wanted to rent the building potential to the private sector once our fleet was done, to recoup some of the cost and help stimulate the economy. The civilian side of our empire will be building ships for years to come. We can also just use the hidden system for fleet upkeep, replacement, repair, and upgrades. It will help us keep things a secret from prying eyes, both our civilians and other space faring governments.”

  Solyra took a deep breath as she sat back down, “Thanks for the distraction. We’ll wait two weeks, to give my temper time to calm, and to give the crews time to train before needing to fight. I’m not sure what that will change, untrusting people can’t be trusted. I can’t shake the idea they’re just trying to buy themselves time for the next weapon, or to build some counter toward the whipping we gave them.”

  She smirked, “I know the irony in that statement, because that means I don’t trust. But I do, I trust the treaty and Earth, I trust the three other races in the empire. I trust the words of Gionus, that their people will not seek revenge for my brother’s insanity, even if all the details of our new peace haven’t been worked out. Hell, I’d even trust the Stolavii if they sued for peaceful coexistence. They’re pirates and slavers, but surprisingly forthright and honest about it. I can’t trust the Suaterans, because they don’t trust anyone.”

  I couldn’t really argue with that. Yet… what was the alternative? As long as we held the edge, playing this game would work out in our favor, but I could see her point. We couldn’t just keep sticking our asses out in the wind, eventually they’d freeze off.

  She sighed, “When you get your ship, I want you to go to Earth. I want close ties with them. Take up Janson’s offer, and work out a deal for our ships, as well as the auxiliary technology to support the new cores. They’ll need to mine for xenon and deliver it to their ships, correct?”

  I nodded, “They might want to buy them.”

  She added, “Don’t overly worry about profit, but don’t give anything away either.”

  Cyntariel cleared her throat, and had a hopeful look on her face.

  Solyra chuckled, “Fine, working vacation. You can go along, I just wish I could go too. Mom?”

  Dessia frowned, “I’ll pass, and remain here to advise you with everyone else gone.”

  Myra didn’t look happy with that statement, apparently Dessia didn’t include the A.I. in everyone, but let it go.

  However, Solyra didn’t let it pass, and actually looked upset. She clearly saw the newest body owning A.I.s as more than just electronic servants.

  “I’m sure Myra can keep me out of trouble for a week and a few days, if you change your mind. They leave in two days, that will give you time to organize the new fleet of ships, and ten days to get things done on Earth. I want you back a day or two before we have to confront the Suaterans. I’ll transmit the official reason for the visit right after this meeting, it might be a good idea Vik, if you gave your friend an informal call at the same time.”

  Dessia looked startled, but I ignored it.

  Vik snorted, “Already planned to. Janson is a friend, not just a political job. I’m looking forward to… what did he say? Relaxing and tossing a few back with him.”

  I snickered.

  Dessia asked, “Why is Earth so important to you?”

  Solyra looked at me, “Look at what Lori has accomplished for us. Long term investment. In a few hundred years once they figure out and reverse engineer our technology, I think they’ll grow eve
n faster than we have. I want them to be closely tied to us, so they won’t even think about becoming our enemy. Best case, I’d want them to join our empire. But… they still have a lot of growing up to do before that, but it will happen in all our lifetimes. Plus, I like them. More than any other race, they remind me of us thousands of years ago.”

  I blushed at the compliment, but also didn’t think she was wrong. I didn’t have the creative spark as an inventor, but I did understand conflict and how to get the most from things that were already known. I was creative in that way, the proof was in the scout-destroyers, but there were a lot of scientists and inventors on Earth that did have that creative spark. Imagine what they could accomplish. The only thing holding them back, and the reason they couldn’t do it quicker than that, was because they didn’t have the same benefit I had. The ability to download scientific courses directly to the brain. With that technology, I’d literally been handed thousands of years of breakthroughs and understanding in no less than four sciences, in less than a day.

  To put it in perspective, I’d have four doctorates on Earth now, but also know far more about those fields than anyone else on the planet. Then again, they didn’t even have a dimensional and subspace physics field of study.

  It had occurred to me I could share it with Earth, but I knew that was a horrible idea. Not only would it betray Isyth, and my granted citizenship, but it would ultimately destroy Earth. They weren’t ready yet.

  Solyra said, “Alright, we’ll meet up again in twelve days on the Suateran issue.”

  The meeting split up after that.

  The next couple of days went to plan. We took possession of a new scout-destroyer, which was an honest relief. The destroyers were deadly, but also very outclassed in comparison. The only real weakness the scout-destroyer had was if an enemy got up close. They had strong shields, but were comparable to my destroyer design. With the new DE sensors, no one was going to sneak up on us. At least, no one with the level of cloaking technology within empire space.

  It was just a matter of time until a countermeasure to that sensor was discovered. For now, we were relatively safe from everything except another scout-destroyer. There was also the Alirann and Kruterran empires, but things were fairly stable there, and had been for a very long time.

  We were on our way to Earth. We’d skipped going out-system from Isyth, but had decided just appearing a light second from Earth would ruffle feathers and be rude. We were currently heading in-system and would be there in just a few hours.

  I’d also taken the time to check all of Earth’s agencies, the best I could. I was no longer on the FBI’s most wanted list, or homeland securities. In fact, I didn’t seem to be wanted at all, which was a relief. I wouldn’t have to hide my true appearance. I had a few suspicions about that, someone had made an effort to make that go away. If it was a trap by some black ops agency, well, I was almost looking forward to it. I wouldn’t go after my old handlers, but if they came after me it would be a different story.

  My research also uncovered other expected things. Most people on Earth were just living their lives, cautiously excited by the future perhaps, but mostly neutral about learning they weren’t alone in the universe. Then there were the outliers. Of course, there were the aliens are evil groups, who all thought aliens should be killed. On the other end of the spectrum, was the crazies who wanted to be abducted, to worship and serve their alien masters.

  Humans, we were fucking insane. Some of us anyway. We’d be making an effort to avoid both groups, and with the orbs on over watch, nothing short of a nuclear bomb would be able to take us.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was late afternoon local time, when we took a shuttle down to an area near DC. Janson’s backyard in fact. It was a rather informal greeting, when Janson got up from his outdoor recliner and waved his beer. The official greeting of course, would come when we took a limo into D.C. tomorrow to meet with others about ships, core upgrades, prices, and to solidify our already strong connection.

  I had plans to take everyone to dinner and dancing, under holograms to make them look human, but for this barbeque welcome they were all blue. Except me of course.

  Janson smiled as we exited the shuttle, which immediately took off to return to the ship.

  “Welcome everyone.”

  His gaze moved along us in greeting, but stopped when he got to Cyntariel.

  “This is a rather informal custom, everyone grab a beer, a snack if you want one, and take a seat. The main course will be ready soon, I’ve got some steaks, chicken, ribs, and venison. I know most of you…” he trailed off.

  He handled it well, given his age and maturity, but I could tell he wasn’t unaffected by Cyntariel’s shocking beauty.

  I winked, “This is Cyntariel. She’s an old family friend of the royal family, and wanted to experience Earth.”

  Cyntariel waved me off, “Call me Cyn, Admiral Hiller.”

  Janson said, “Janson, please.”

  She nodded, and with the introductions out of the way, we all grabbed a drink and took seats. The barbeque was smoking lightly, and I could scent the various meats, it smelled delicious.

  Vik asked, “How are things?”

  Janson grunted, “Overall things are excellent, there’s a lot of people excited about our future. Most of the governments are satisfied, the world powers all have their own scientists on the ships, and the information is being routed through the U.N. so the results can be shared by all. There are exceptions of course, but that’s nothing new.”

  “Exceptions?”

  Janson nodded, “A few of the more radical countries don’t trust the rest of us. We’re also classifying the weapons part of the research. Still sharing that part, with multiple countries and militaries, but it isn’t available to the public scientists. That will probably slow things down a bit in that area. But, the medical nanites, and fabrication technologies are being disseminated more freely.”

  I imagined it was worse than he made it sound. We stepped away from politics at that point. Janson had served on our ship for months, and we were all quite comfortable with each other. After a few beers, we were relaxed and having fun. Business would come in the morning…

  I woke up, my mind in crystal clarity, and a nagging sensation that something was very wrong. I gently untangled my arms and legs from Jillintara’s, and rolled off the bed into a crouch, we’d decided to share a room together.

  “Status,” I subvocalized.

  Ann replied, “The house hasn’t been breached yet, but there is a group of six men approaching the house from the north-east. There’s also a sniper in a tree, six hundred yards away to the south-west.”

  I pulled on my ship suit, as I subvocalized, “Wake everyone else up through their personal A.I.s, get them dressed and shielded. Send an orb to capture the sniper.”

  The door didn’t make a sound as I slipped into the hallway, and toward the stairs down as well as a window at the other end. The window wasn’t facing the south-west, but I stayed down anyway as I moved down the stairs.

  It was Myra that answered me, she was in charge of the orbs.

  “It would be more efficient to send an orb to capture the group as well. Thirty seconds until they breach the front door, if they don’t change their pace.”

  I smirked, “Maybe more efficient, but not nearly as fun.”

  I had no proof these men weren’t just a security team, but my instincts told me they meant us harm in some way. I don’t think I’d have woken up otherwise. It also wasn’t that exciting, even my ship suits shields would be enough to stop anything they’d brought with them. Even gas would defeated, it was a ship suit capable of supporting us in vacuum.

  Still, I had a glimmer of an idea to let them take me, and get to the bottom of the assault that way. It was probably a bad one, and I dismissed it. I wasn’t here to play games with a shadowy organization. I didn’t need to get revenge. I was almost sure this was my old handlers come to gather me up for s
ome reason, but it was just a feeling.

  “What’s the plan,” Jillintara whispered from right behind me.

  I hadn’t heard a thing, and would have been surprised if it wasn’t for my enhanced spatial awareness. I’d felt her move down the stairs and arrive at my shoulder, even if my other five senses denied her presence until she’d spoke.

  I sighed as I let my excitement drop away, stood up straight, and walked for the front door casually. I even turned the hologram on, that made it look like I was wearing jean shorts and a crop top, and not a full body ship suit.

  “Let’s just go say hi. All this technology has made my life boring. They don’t have a chance, do they?”

  Jillintara laughed at my forlorn tone, “Nope.”

  I frowned, opened the door, and the two of us stepped outside.

  There was weapons fire, but not bullets. Two darts bounced off our shields.

  I subvocalized, “Myra, go ahead and corral them in a shield.”

  Then I said out loud, “What do you clowns want, and who do you work for.”

  I was a little annoyed now, I’d been warm, toasty, and contented under warm blankets, and in the arms of my lover.

  The men looked rather surprised, but didn’t speak. They opened fire again in answer to my question, this time with automatic weapon fire. It wasn’t pretty, because the bullets ricocheted from the shield and three out of the five were wounded. One fatally.

  Fuck.

  “Myra, knock them out before they do something else stupid.”

  Myra stunned them, and they dropped to the ground.

  The rest of our group was behind us now, Vik, Telidur, and Cyntariel who was sharing a room with the former tonight. Our host appeared a second later as well.

  “Drop the shields.”

  We moved forward, disarmed, and handcuffed them. We also treated the two with gunshot wounds. They seemed loaded out for kidnapping, or killing if things got out of hand. Myra delivered the sniper unconscious on the grass, and Janson made a phone call. These guys were professionals, not just violent anti-alien protestors. No doubt some other secret government group, if not the one that spawned me.