A Star Rising (The Star Scout Saga Book 1)

by GARY DARBY

  “No,” Jadar returned as he reached for the cup. “Is it night or day?”

  Shar laughed. “That’s a pretty standard line around here. It’s a little after five in the morning, and that,” Shar observed while gesturing toward the hologram, “is the same star field you were poring over when I left.”

  “I know,” Jadar stated in a flat voice.

  “Find anything or do you just like to stare at pretty lights?”

  Jadar took a sip, muttered, “Thanks,” and turned back to the star field. Gesturing with his mug at the holo-image, he admitted, “Maybe to the first, no to the second. I’ve got a cockeyed idea, and I need for you to knock a few holes into it and tell me I’m crazy.”

  Shar smiled. “Don’t need to hear your idea to tell you that you’re crazy. You gotta be half off your nut to be a scout in the first place.”

  He shrugged. “But if you need someone to tell you that you’re crazy, okay, you’re crazy. Feel better now?”

  Jadar lifted his mouth in a crooked grin. “Thanks, again. I think.”

  He grunted, saying, “I just don’t want to raise unwarranted expectations. I’m not a miracle worker.”

  Shar waved his cup at Jadar while saying, “Oh, but you are. We all are. We’re Star Scouts. The extraordinary we do routinely, the impossible takes an extra five minutes, while miracles just require a holo-text from the Old Man.

  “So, let’s hear your idea, and I’ll knock away.”

  “Okay, here goes,” Jadar replied. “I was thinking about Teng’s statement about ‘lost scouts,’ and that we couldn’t discount the Faction being involved somehow in their disappearance.”

  He nodded at the grouping of ten G-class stars. In reality, they were spread across a hundred light years, here Jadar had condensed them into an image three meters on the square. “That’s Connor’s Cluster, one of Bartley’s discoveries in the Helix Nebula.”

  “I remember,” Shar remarked. “Set off a bit of a hullabaloo as no one had gone that deep in the Helix before.”

  He frowned and asked, “But why the Helix? I thought you’d use the Eagle Nebula, with all of its Faction activity as your focal point.”

  Massaging the back of his neck to relieve some of his tiredness, Jadar explained, “At first, I thought so too. But I decided that I needed a way to eliminate as many possible variables for lost scouts as I could.

  “Things like hostile XT life, pathogens, environmental hazards, and so forth.

  “The Eagle has more than its share of nasties, whereas few of these star systems do. In fact, this group has some of the most placid Earthlike planets you’ll ever set foot on.

  “Evolutionary pattern concentrated on herbivores, very few carnivores, mild weather, and most microorganisms are nonvirulent. You’d be hard-pressed to catch a cold there.”

  He took a breath and said, “If there is a Garden of Eden, it might be on one of those planets.”

  “So what have you found after studying this nirvana?” Shar asked.

  Jadar elaborated. “Eight veteran scouts go missing on two worlds where a hangnail should be the most serious injury experienced. That’s not anywhere near as high as the Eagle, of course, but it’s like they walked out of base camp and poof! They’re gone.

  “I served with two of the missing, Peter Voss and Dani Sbotha. Superb scouts, as rock-steady as they come.”

  “Do we have Faction in the Helix?” Shar asked. “That’s pretty far outside Imperium space.”

  Jadar took a sip and swallowed. “Teng says five hits on comms carrying embedded Faction communications inside the nebula; more from just outside the nebula.”

  “Five,” Shar grunted. “Compared to the Eagle, that’s virtually zilch.”

  “Exactly,” Jadar returned. “Last night, after reading Bartley’s mission reports for about the hundredth time I kept thinking I was missing something important, but I just couldn’t put a finger on what.

  “So I turned it around and quit looking at was in the reports, and asked myself what wasn’t in the reports.”

  “Go on,” Shar prompted.

  Jadar walked over to the console, tapped once and brought up a holo-text. He jutted his chin at the hologram. “Bartley states that on Beta Zi Three, he down planeted two teams, doing a routine first-run survey. Then, out of nowhere, Faction thugs show up and start shooting.”

  Jadar turned to Shar and asked, “What’s the standard operating procedure in such instances?”

  “The senior scout ensures the force’s safety,” Shar replied. “If possible, he or she moves them to a safe haven, or to available craft, alerts the chain of command and at the first opportunity, boosts off-planet and awaits further instructions.”

  “Good job, almost verbatim out of the manual. And then what happens?”

  Shar shrugged. “Depends on the situation. In the optimal case, we call in the military; they secure the area, and we go back to work.”

  “And if the Nav or marines aren’t around?”

  “We wait until they do show, or, more likely, we assign the team to another operation. We let the military deal with the situation, and rework the mission later.”

  “Right on the mark,” Jadar responded.

  He paused and then remarked in a reflective tone, “When I was a kid my dad used to say, ‘The sun doesn’t always set in the west.’ Back then, I never understood what he meant because on Earth where we lived, the sun always set on the western horizon.

  “Years later, I did some survival training in the Grawzhal Range in the Alaskan Protectorate. It was the summer solstice and at that far northern latitude, the sun skims the horizon in a great circle, doesn’t actually set or rise.

  “Watching it, I realized what my dad was trying to say; never assume that what you see is the same for everyone else.

  “SOG says the Faction is gunning for us because they’re trying to topple the Imperium, and that makes us a part of their target grid.

  He paused and then said, “But try this one on. We know we have someone feeding information to the Faction. What if our mole lets his Faction contact know where our teams are going to land and when?

  “What if they’re waiting and when we turn up, they hit us. The question of course, is why? Why hit us in one place and not in another?”

  Shar set his cup down and nodded at Jadar. “Good questions. Go on.”

  Jadar paced the length of the office, holding his cup with two hands. “For me, there are two rational answers. First, they either want us off that planet because there’s something there that they want or second, they want to pull the military away from their real target.”

  He walked over to the star field and gestured, “At Beta Zi Three, Bartley’s teams followed procedure, just like you described. Boosted off world and yelled for help from the military.

  “A Mercury class prowler, the INS Fletcher, with a small complement of Imperium Marines responded. The troops deployed but didn’t find any Faction. The Fletcher ensured there wasn’t a Gadion ship in orbit, so we went back to work.

  “On a hunch, I went to the StellarVue to see if I could backtrack that destroyer’s mission before they came to the rescue.”

  Shaking his head, Jadar said, “She wasn’t on the Vue, anywhere. The Nav didn’t report her mission status to us.”

  He cocked his head to one side, pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes as he peered at Shar. “There’s only one Nav mission that is not funneled into us for coordination purposes.”

  Shar let out a long breath and nodded in return. “A joint Nav and SciCorps Kolomite extraction operation.”

  “That’s right,” Jadar stated.

  Shar straightened up and returned Jadar’s frank stare. Neither spoke for several seconds. “This hits pretty close to home, Jadar,” Shar murmured. “Are you sure you want to follow this lead?”

  Jadar rubbed at his mouth while saying, “If I had any real choice, no, but it’s too late, I already have.”

  “What do you mean?” Shar
asked.

  Jadar took a breath and started. “As you know, ever since Veni, all possible Kolomite discoveries by Star Scouts are directly reported to headquarters. Correct?”

  “Yes,” Shar responded. “And per standing orders, the discovering unit stands down from any further site exploration and vacates the immediate area.

  “SciCorps and the military come in with specialized security and excavating units, mine the ore, and transport it to Luna.

  “Private corporations play a different game, of course, but those are our rules.”

  In a thoughtful tone, Jadar mused, “You know, in over twenty years Out There I’ve only witnessed two Kolomite hits on a mineral survey, one on Dexion Three, the other on New Kwandi.”

  Shar gave Jadar a sharp, sideways glance. “You must be really fatigued. You forgot that ore field we found right outside our base camp on Faller's Planet.”

  Jadar’s expression remained impassive while he shook his head. “You’re right, I must be bushed. How could I forget that?”

  Without giving Shar a chance to reply, he went on. “I know a SciCorps officer, Grady Stimson. His current assignment is to steer a desk over in their headquarter’s plans and ops section. I contacted him last evening and asked if he could tell me about the Fletcher and her mission.”

  He shifted his stance as if he were uncomfortable before saying, “I’ve known Grady for a long time, he’s a pretty outgoing guy, but when I brought up that mission, he clammed up and skirted around my questions.

  “I had to remind him of who saved his skin on Hinu’s Planetoid before he would finally talk. Turns out my hunch was right.

  “Before she answered our hail, that prowler was escorting a Kolomite extraction team to a planet in the Aquila system—four star systems away from Beta Zi.”

  Jadar blew out a long breath and shook his head. “When they got back to Aquila, the excavation team found the Kolomite was gone.”

  Shar walked over and stood staring at the star field for a long time. “They’re using us,” he stated to Jadar. “The Faction is using our own procedures against us to lure the military away. And then they go after their real target—the Kolomite.”

  “I have to give’em credit,” Jadar replied. “It’s a classic gambit. Not only are we falling for their scheme, but it makes you wonder how many times they’ve done this.”

  “Yes,” Shar responded. “And because there’s this firewall between us and the other organizations when it comes to Kolomite, we wouldn’t put the two together; it’s not something that would ever come up on our radar.”

  He glanced over at Jadar. “But it does make you wonder why no one in SciCorps or the military has picked up on this. You would think that after a few times, someone would put the pieces together.”

  Jadar met Shar’s stare. “Would they?” he questioned.

  “What if they have the same problem that we do? A Faction agent that is muddying the waters so much that a clear picture doesn’t come up?”

  Shar didn’t respond to Jadar’s comments for several seconds before he drew in a deep breath and said, “I think we’ll take this crazy idea of yours to the general. He might be able to confer with his Nav and SciCorps counterparts; see if there’s anything to your suspicions.”

  He set his cup down, and his eyes became hard. “If there is, then we’ve got a bigger problem than any of us suspected. It would mean the Faction has been playing more than just us this whole time.”

  “Before we go,” Jadar commented, “there’s one other thing, and this is where you’re going to think I’m going to sound a little weird, but I think it ties in with the whole situation.”

  “Wait,” Shar offered with a little grin. “I thought ‘weird’ was part of the skill set to be a Star Scout.”

  Jadar grunted, “Maybe, but this weird is with a capital W.”

  Shar cocked his head and waited for Jadar to continue. “Let me ask you a question,” Jadar began. “Have you ever bought a skyster?”

  “Huh?” Shar responded. “What does owning a—”

  “Just answer the question,” Jadar pressed. “I’ll explain in a second.”

  “Yes, a Magnum Five AirWing. Why?”

  Jadar whistled off-key. “A Magnum Five. And I thought I’d been out in the boonies for a while. Not even Methuselah’s grandmother would remember one of those.”

  “Do you have an objective to this conversation or are we just going to discuss my lack of support for the Imperium economy?”

  “Sorry. Where do you buy it and why?”

  “Easy Eddy’s and wish I hadn’t,” Shar groused. “Forgot to read the fine print. Still paying off the so-called deferred interest payments.”

  “Okay, okay. Let me rephrase. Why didn’t you build your own Magnum Five or any other sky car, for that matter?”

  “Can’t. Mechanical idiot. Wouldn’t know a torque from a dork.”

  “So, like most everyone, you go to a dealership because they sell airsters that are built by professionals, will run, and last for a while.

  “Whereas, if either you or I tried to make our own, it would take years of training, time, and resources to get an equal product. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “So, what if you were looking for something on an unexplored planet and you needed help to find it fast. You want quality, professionalism, and someone who could step in and do the job from day one. Who would you hire?”

  Shar shrugged. “Me. I mean us. Star Scouts. But we’re not for hire.”

  “No, we’re not,” Jadar affirmed. “But if I were going to look for Kolomite and I needed someone to cover my back or do the actual search—yes, I’d want Star Scouts.”

  Jadar mused aloud. “Even our novice scouts are more trained than anyone else in that regard. You could take a team of them and do pretty well if it’s Kolomite you were after on an unexplored world.”

  Shar swung toward Jadar. “Hold on. You’re suggesting that the Faction is hijacking our scouts to help them search for Kolomite? That’s a pretty stark assessment. You’re talking kidnapping and slavery for starters.”

  Jadar was silent for a long time before he answered. “I know, but if you were building an empire out of Kolomite, would that stop you?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Star Date 2433.058

  Star Scout Command Cheyenne Mountain, Earth

  “An empire out of Kolomite,” Shar sighed. He shook his head in sadness. “Always seems to come down to greed and power, doesn’t it? Was your friend Grady able to give you any more information?”

  “I didn’t press him,” Jadar replied. “The truth is that he told me more than he should have, so I left it at that.”

  “Understandable,” Shar responded. “Very sensitive area.”

  “In a lot of ways,” Jadar replied quietly.

  His mouth opened at his unintended gaffe and Shar quickly gushed, “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  Jadar held up a hand at Shar’s apology. “It’s okay, I know what you meant.”

  Changing the subject, Jadar asked, “When do we go see the general—”

  “Go see the general about what?” came a gruff voice from behind.

  Both turned and stood at attention. Shar greeted General Rosberg. “Good morning, sir. Jadar and I were discussing our Faction situation.”

  “Good,” Rosberg answered and strode over to the star image. “The Helix,” he stated and turned to Jadar. “Find anything? We’ve lost scouts there and recently, too.”

  “Well,” Jadar began and glanced over at Shar, who motioned for him to go ahead.

  In crisp sentences, Jadar outlined his and Shar’s discussion. He ended by saying, “Sir, I think I need to go Out There, maybe go to the Helix, get my boots on the ground and do some sniffing around, so to speak.

  “If I’m right, that could be the next focal center of Faction activity. You need some eyes and ears Out There, and I’m the guy to do that.”

  “We’re,” Shar stated in an
emphatic tone, “the guys to do that, sir.”

  Rosberg looked from one to the other and asked, “Just what are you proposing?”

  Jadar took the plunge. “We use a lie to catch a liar. We fake a Kolomite discovery.”

  He paced a little while outlining his idea. “First, we send you a clear text message, we’ll say that we’ve entered the sector to begin our evaluation. That’s code to let you know that we’re in place. Then we send you another message saying that we’ve stumbled across a lode of Kolomite.

  “You track the Kolomite message back here. See who handles it and what they do with the message. If the Faction shows up to chase us off-planet, we have a starting place to look for our mole and a confirmation that they’re using us to go after Kolomite.”

  With raised eyebrows, Rosberg asserted, “Pretty risky, Jadar.”

  “Sure,” Jadar replied, “but if it works, it opens up a realm of possibilities, including pinpointing our mole, helping SOG, and perhaps set up some traps for a slew of Faction rats.”

  Rosberg eyed Jadar, his expression impassive, but his lowered eyebrows suggested that he wasn’t buying into the proposition.

  Jadar held his hands out and contended, “Sir, I realize this isn’t exactly plas-steel hard, but I feel it’s enough to pursue until we can come up with something better.”

  “Plas-steel hard!” Rosberg snorted. “This is about as thin as interstellar oxygen, and most likely could get you two killed.”

  Jadar and Shar eyed each other. Rosberg wasn’t one to mince words and would shear your head off if he thought you were wasting his time.

  Rosberg stood close to the starry hologram, staring at the revolving planets, bright stars, and the nebula’s green gas clouds. He turned to Shar. “Have you had a chance to review the daily brief yet?”

  “No sir. Jadar and I were—”

  Rosberg held up a hand to stop him. “I understand. Well, the main thing is that we’ve lost two scouts on Markham Five.”

  “Markham Five?” Jadar asked, “I’m not familiar with that planet.”

  Rosberg hooked a thumb toward the image. “Part of another newly discovered grouping of M-class planets about forty light-years from this bunch.