Ep.#14 - The Weak and the Innocent (The Frontiers Saga)

by Ryk Brown

  Deliza politely motioned for the captain to be silent as she continued to speak. “The people of Corinair pledged their support for the Alliance. You are free to dictate the prices of the goods you export to Takara because of the Alliance.”

  “Surely you would not deny us a small profit,” Mister Lammond protested.

  “No, I would not. But you, sir, think you can take advantage of a young woman in her time of mourning, which I find rather objectionable.” Deliza rose to leave. “In fact, I see no reason to remain here and be insulted by a bunch of fat, pompous old men.”

  Mister Lammond’s eyes widened as Deliza headed for the door. He looked to his partners, their faces plastered with the same shocked facial expression. “Please, please…”

  Captain Navarro looked at Yanni and rose to follow Deliza out of the conference room.

  “Two and a half shipments,” Mister Lammond offered. Deliza continued toward the exit with Captain Navarro and Yanni following. “Fine! Two shipments!” he exclaimed in frustration.

  Deliza paused, then turned her head to look at Mister Lammond, this time with unveiled disdain in her eyes. “One shipment.”

  “One and a half? At eighty-twenty?”

  Deliza paused for a moment, her stare unwavering. “Agreed. Write it up and send it to my local counsel for approval. If it passes his inspection, you will have my confirmation within the day.”

  Mister Lammond leaned forward in his chair, his arms on the table. “Your father would have been proud.”

  Deliza said nothing as she exited the room, fighting the smile of triumph that already threatened to form on her lips.

  “Interesting negotiating style,” Captain Navarro commented as they headed down the corridor toward the exit. “Although, I probably would have left out the ‘fat’ part, as only one of them fit the description. Might I inquire as to where you picked up such bargaining skills?”

  “In the street markets on Haven,” Deliza replied, finally allowing herself to smile.

  * * *

  “I apologize for the delay, Miss Mun,” Admiral Dumar said as he led Jessica, Kata, and Karahl into a spare office at the Ghatazhak base on Porto Santo Island. “I could not get away any sooner, and we had to wait until the results of your blood tests were complete.” The admiral gestured for them to take their seats in the office, choosing one himself. “I’m afraid that both of you have Jung nanites inside of you.”

  “We’re well aware of that, Admiral,” Kata said. “They help maintain our overall health.”

  “Did you always have them?” the admiral asked. “Even before the Jung came to Tau Ceti?”

  “That was before I was born, but no, it’s one of the many so-called ‘gifts’ that the Jung brought to our world.”

  “Your phrasing is unusual,” Admiral Dumar observed. “I’m assuming you no longer see the things the Jung have done for Kohara as ‘gifts?’”

  “I did,” Kata admitted. “At least, for most of my life, I did. To be honest, pretty much until yesterday I suppose.”

  “And you’ve changed your mind?”

  “Quite frankly, Admiral, I don’t know what to think,” Kata confessed, shaking her head. “With all that has happened to us in the last twenty hours, I’m feeling a bit confused.”

  “How so?” the admiral wondered, leaning back in his chair.

  “To start with, the nanites. I’m not sure why you’re worried about them. Like I said, all they do is keep us healthy.”

  “They do a lot more than that,” Jessica explained. “They turn you into spies for the Jung.”

  “And in extreme cases, saboteurs,” Admiral Dumar added.

  Jessica looked at the admiral in surprise. “What?”

  “I guess you haven’t spoken to your brother yet. I read his initial report, such as it was. He’s still a bit out of it. He said his chief engineer, Lieutenant Scalotti, was the one who sabotaged the self-destruct system on their jump drive. He lost it… killed a couple people from what I gather. Your initial report also indicated contact with such an operative, did it not?”

  “Nothing like that,” Jessica insisted. “Ellyus Barton would just sit there like a zombie, staring at the wall for several minutes, and there was nothing you could do to get his attention. Gerard—the only other spec-ops left in the system—he told me they get that way when they’re transmitting collected data.”

  “What are you talking about?” Karahl wondered.

  “What’s a ‘zombie’?” Kata asked.

  “Staring at the wall, eyes open, seeing and hearing nothing,” Jessica explained. She stopped talking and stared unblinking at the wall for a few seconds to demonstrate. “Like that.”

  “I’ve seen that!” Kata realized, as she began snapping her fingers and looking at her porta-cam operator, trying to remember something. “What was her name? The field reporter from Annater precinct? Darah something?”

  “Darah Koligene?” Karahl offered.

  “Yes! I saw her do that in a cafe once, right after a news conference. I walked up and said hello to her, and she just stared at the wall in front of her. Didn’t say a word. It was unnerving. I went and sat down and ordered some food, and then all of a sudden she’s normal again and waving at me.” She looked at Jessica, suddenly embarrassed. “Are you trying to tell me we all do that?”

  “There’s no way that’s true,” Karahl protested. “I’m pretty sure someone would have noticed.”

  “From what Gerard told me, it’s only supposed to happen when the host is alone. And it doesn’t happen to everyone. Usually only when the host is regularly privy to intelligence that the Jung would find useful. That’s when the nanites start replicating in order to take control of the host. That’s when they turn them into operatives. The hosts don’t even know that they are operatives. Everyone else just uploads when they walk through what they think are just security checkpoint scanners.”

  “The Jung have them everywhere,” Kata explained. “They’re literally on every block. They can activate at any time, and when they do, you’re required to go through them if you’re walking by. If you don’t, you’ll get arrested. They believe that the randomness of such security screenings prevents people from carrying contraband items, like weapons and illegal substances.”

  “For all we know, they do scan the Koharans for such items,” Jessica said. “They’re just uploading any data the Koharans’ nanites have obtained since their last scan at the same time. Jesus, it’s hard to imagine a better intelligence gathering system, assuming they have really good algorithms to sort through all that intel.”

  Kata shook her head in astonishment. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. This is the kind of thing that has me confused. All this time, I thought the nanites were just keeping us healthy.”

  “Not to defend the Jung,” the admiral said, “but they probably do just that. It’s just not the only thing they do.”

  “There are people on my world who are convinced the Jung are trying to destroy us. Slowly, over time. They claim that birthrates are down and, despite improved general health, the average lifespan has become shorter. But people argue that we do more, take more risks, push the limits, and that more people are killed in accidents than ever before.”

  “And the Jung nanites don’t help with that?” Dumar wondered.

  “No, they don’t.”

  “What else have the Jung supposedly done for your people?” the admiral asked.

  “Well, for starters, they reconnected all three worlds in the Tau Ceti system.”

  “Then you were not back in space before the Jung arrived?”

  “No, just like you, the plague set us back for centuries. We knew the other worlds were out there, even after the plague nearly wiped us out. At least, we assumed that if some of us had survived on Kohara, t
hen it was likely that some had survived on Stennis and Sorenson as well. Eventually, once the electricity was flowing again, we were able to send messages between our worlds, but that was about it. The Jung gave us back our technology. They brought us forward several hundred years in only a few decades.”

  “But they didn’t give you interstellar travel?” Jessica noticed.

  “No,” Kata admitted. “They told us there were many worlds still infected, and they would not allow anyone to travel between worlds without being carefully scrutinized to ensure the plague never spread in such a way ever again. And why would we argue that? The bio-digital plague died out on our worlds over eight hundred years ago. And with three worlds in our own system, we have little need to travel to the stars, as the population of all three worlds combined is still only a few billion.”

  “You say they gave you space travel…” Dumar began.

  “They got us back into space, but they didn’t give us space travel,” Kata corrected. “Sure, they helped us build an orbital shipyard, and taught us how to build ships capable of interplanetary travel, so that all three of our worlds would be connected again. But the only space travel they gave us was what they allowed. Even within our own system, they still controlled every flight. Sure, we had plenty of Koharan pilots flying cargo and passengers between the Cetian worlds, but it was always under the supervision of the Jung. The thing is, no one really minded. Life was a lot better. The economies of all three worlds prospered like never before, and the standard of living improved.”

  “These dissidents,” Jessica wondered, “the ones that raised concerns about the real motives of the Jung occupation, what happened to them?”

  “Oh, they’re still out there,” Kata assured her. “They mostly spread their propaganda anonymously, through the nets, to avoid prosecution. The CLA loves them, as they help make young men ripe for recruitment.”

  “CLA?” Dumar echoed, unfamiliar with the term.

  “Cetian Liberation Army,” Jessica clarified.

  “Hardly an army,” Kata corrected her. “More like a bunch of loosely affiliated gangs. However, in retrospect, that may have been what the Jung wanted us to believe all along.” Kata sighed. “You see what I mean about it being confusing?”

  “And what did they tell you about the Earth?” Admiral Dumar asked.

  Kata quickly turned to look at the admiral, hit by a realization. “You’re not from here, are you?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “I guess that shouldn’t surprise me,” Kata said, shaking her head. “They told us that the Earth had been the source of the bio-digital plague, which of course was something we had always assumed to begin with. They said you found an ancient digital repository of knowledge, and used that repository to regain your technology, to get back out into space considerably sooner than you should have. They also claimed that the bio-digital virus was lurking within that repository, that it had re-infected the Earth, and that you were trying to get away from the source of the infection. They said they had managed to quarantine your world, but then you invented a new interstellar propulsion system using knowledge from this repository. They claim they were forced to attack the Earth in an attempt to sterilize it once and for all… for the benefit of all humans throughout the core, and beyond.”

  “How noble of them,” Admiral Dumar muttered.

  “I gather their claims are not accurate?” Kata guessed.

  “Let’s see,” Jessica began, “the thing about us finding a repository of knowledge was true. After that, they pretty much threw the truth out the window.”

  * * *

  “Ensign Hayes! Ensign Sheehan!” Jessica shouted above the din of the lift engines that filled the air of the busy Porto Santo airbase. Her smile nearly stretched from ear to ear as she approached the two young men.

  Both men turned their heads in response.

  “Jess!” Josh greeted her excitedly. He instinctively started to reach out as if to give her a hug, then stopped as he remembered he was no longer a civilian. “Sir,” he replied smartly, coming to attention along with Loki. They both raised their hands to their brow in standard salute.

  Jessica returned their salutes in lackadaisical fashion as she approached, her expression mocking their seriousness. “Ensigns.” Her smile broadened again. “Come here,” she added, extending her arms to hug them both. “Managed to get through another one, did you?” she said as she embraced her two favorite pilots. “And came out as ensigns, no less,” she added as she pulled away and looked them over. “Not bad.”

  “Not bad?” Josh chided. “It was a bitch!”

  “Hey, stop whining. It took the rest of us four years.”

  “It’s great to see you back safe,” Loki said. He looked down for a moment, his voice lowering to a solemn tone. “We heard about Weatherly. Sucks.”

  “The sergeant died a hero,” Jessica said firmly. “He stayed behind to make sure the Jung didn’t get their hands on a jump drive.”

  “Where’s Naralena?” Josh wondered.

  “She’s still down on the surface,” Jessica said.

  “Of Kohara?” Josh exclaimed. “That place is crawling with Jung…”

  “I heard. She’s safe though. I left her with an underground group run by an EDF spec-ops who’s been undercover on Kohara for decades. I’m on my way to talk to Telles about getting her out.”

  “The sooner the better,” Loki insisted.

  “But first, I’ve got new orders for you two.” Jessica turned back and gestured for Kata and Karahl, both of whom had been hanging back a few meters, to approach. “Boys, this is Kata Mun and Karahl Essa. Kata, Karahl, this is Ensign Josh Hayes, and this is Ensign Loki Sheehan, and they are, without a doubt, my two favorite pilots.”

  Josh and Loki exchanged greetings with Kata and Karahl as Jessica continued to speak.

  “Kata is a journalist from Kohara, and Karahl is her videographer. Admiral Dumar has authorized them to conduct interviews and record video of pretty much anything they want.”

  “Anything?”

  “Well, anything that isn’t classified,” Jessica corrected. “Don’t worry, we’ll be screening all their footage before releasing it.”

  “What are they going to do with these interviews?” Loki wondered.

  “Well, the Jung have been spreading rumors among the Cetian people that we’re all a bunch of whacked out, disease-infested killers trying to spread the bio-digital plague all over the galaxy, and that the Jung have just been trying to keep us quarantined to our own little world in order to protect all of humanity. Damn fine people, those Jung, aren’t they?”

  Both Josh and Loki looked confused.

  “The admiral wants to show the Cetian people the truth,” Jessica explained. “All of it, and as unfiltered as possible.”

  “I’m pretty sure the admiral wasn’t talking about us,” Josh insisted.

  “Why not?” Kata asked. “You both look like fine young officers.”

  Josh snickered. “She got the young part correct.”

  “If she wants to interview the two of you, you will cooperate, understood?” Jessica cautioned.

  “Yes, sir,” they both replied.

  Loki looked at Jessica. “Those are our orders?” he asked, one eyebrow raised. “To let Miss Mun interview us?”

  “Not exactly,” Jessica began.

  Josh’s eyes closed and his head drooped down. “Oh, no.” He looked back up at Jessica, his face pleading. “Come on, Jess. Why do we always have to play chauffeurs?”

  “Because you two are such wonderful guys,” Jessica teased. “Besides, look around. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of pilots to spare these days.”

  “But we’re Falcon pilots, Jess,” Josh argued. “We fly combat missions, remember?”

  �
��Well, there’s not going to be any combat for a few weeks now, is there? Would you rather be doing eighteen-hour recon cold coasts? Because that’s going to be what’s filling the mission boards for the next few weeks.”

  Josh’s eyes widened. “Oh, we’d love to fly Miss Mun and Mister Essa around, sir. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

  Loki looked off to the side, then at Kata and Karahl, feigning a smile.

  “Look, checkout a utility jump shuttle and find yourself a crew chief to go along. You’ll also be taking a couple of Corinari along as security, just in case.”

  “Just in case of what?” Josh wondered.

  “Then we’re all set.” Jessica ignored him and turned to Kata and Karahl. “If you two will follow Ensign Sheehan, he’ll show you around a bit while they’re waiting for a shuttle to be assigned to them.”

  “Thank you,” Kata replied.

  “If you’d both just follow me,” Loki said, turning to lead them across the hangar bay.

  Josh rolled his eyes. “I guess there’s worse duty.” He turned to follow Loki, but Jessica grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “Hey, Josh, did they teach you how to use that sidearm, or did they just teach you how to zip up your jump suit and shine your boots?”

  Josh looked at her, his brow furrowed. “Uh, yeah, they taught us how to fire a pistol. Why?”

  “Good. Listen,” she began, stepping in close so that no one else could hear. “If either one them suddenly go catatonic on you, just shoot them in the head, got it?”

  “What? What the hell does catatonic mean?”

  “You know, eyes roll back in their heads, staring at the wall. You know, like zombies.”

  “Zombies?”

  “Zombies. If they do that, kill them.” Jessica turned away, fighting back a smile.