by Jay Allan
The Black Eagles are coming, he thought. You would all work harder if you knew what you would soon face.
Darius Cain’s vaunted mercenaries were indeed a fearsome force, a private army so good it had never lost a battle…never even come close to defeat. Eldaron was a strong world, one he knew could put up a powerful defense, even against an enemy as deadly as the Eagles. But Eldaron did not have to face the Black Eagles alone. The Triumvirate had supplemented his world’s defenses, and thirty thousand of their frontline troops were deployed in secret bunkers, waiting for the Black Eagles to land. The Tyrant couldn’t match Cain’s killers one to one…he knew that. But with the Triumvirate’s Omega soldiers added to his native army, he would outnumber the invaders almost ten to one. And he would have the advantage of surprise, as tens of thousands of crack troops emerged, hitting Darius Cain’s mercenaries when they were fully engaged with his regular army.
Still, though he would never allow anyone to see, the Tyrant was scared. He knew what was at stake. Success would propel him near the top of the Triumvirate’s organization…making him the ruler of a hundred worlds instead of just one. The reward for success had been made clear to him during his visit to Vali. But he knew well the cost of failure too, and even if Cain’s Black Eagles didn’t kill him in their victory, his own masters surely would. And he still had images of Vali in his mind, the massive fortifications of the Triumvirate’s stronghold, the endless expanse of slave-operated factories and mines, producing an astonishing flow of weapons and equipment. The Triumvirate ruled over a truly vast organization, one that had been kept hidden from those of Occupied Space, even as it existed all around them. No, there would be no escape from failure. He would defeat the Eagles and kill Darius Cain, or he would die. It was that simple.
“Well?” he roared, staring at the officer standing in front of him. “What are you waiting for?” He waved his arm, gesturing for the general to be on his way. The Eagles were coming. There was no time to waste.
He watched the general bow and then turn and hurry for the exit. He was an amusing image, misjudging how quickly he could walk and not look like he was running away. The Eldari dress uniforms were a sight to see, as ostentatious as the throne, with lace and medals…and feathers protruding from the garish headgear. The Tyrant didn’t much care for the stupid—and shockingly expensive—court uniforms any more than he did for his glittering, uncomfortable throne, but he understood the purpose they served. The need to change into foppish, and enormously uncomfortable, garb before entering the audience hall only reinforced the image of the Tyrant as above everyone, a figure whose power was incontestable.
Left to his own devices, the Tyrant would have run a much sparser regime. While he enjoyed a moderate amount of personal luxury and comfort, in truth, his tastes weren’t all that extravagant. A few well-appointed rooms and a small cluster of servants would have satisfied his needs. It was power he craved, not gold plated bath fixtures and hectares of marble walls and floors. But the Triumvirate had assisted his rise to power, and they had advised—commanded?—on everything he’d done since. And they’d been quite insistent he live the part, portray an image of spectacle and pageantry to the masses. He didn’t know if he agreed completely, but his own masters—and that is what they were, he hadn’t lost enough perspective to forget that—wielded vastly more power then he, and though they hadn’t compelled him on such matters, it seemed prudent to take their advice. Besides, sustaining his rule meant managing a corps of nobles and powerful ministers serving under him…and most of them lusted after just the kind of ostentatious frill that he himself only tolerated.
His mind was fixed on the battle to come. Eldaron was a strong world, one that had grown enormously in the years of his rule. That had come more from financial support and imports subsidized by the Triumvirate than any of his own personal magic, but it was extremely useful nevertheless. His regime was one of the most oppressive of any on the thousand worlds inhabited by humanity, and fear followed his citizens on a daily basis. But they were also relatively prosperous, the benefit of twenty years of rapid economic growth. That was an aberration, and had he been on his own, he suspected he would have bled the people dry as most other totalitarian regimes did. But the Tyrant, rapacious as any dictator, was no fool, and he knew allowing some of the prosperity to flow to the people was an insurance policy against rebellion, a good bargain in the end.
Eldaron’s capital had been unremarkably named Eldaron City, though that particular lack of imagination had happened decades before he had seized power. He could have changed the name with a single command, but he was far too practical to waste funds on such nonsense. He didn’t care what the city was called, as long as he controlled it with an iron fist.
He waved his hands. “Out! All of you. I want to be alone!”
The room was usually full of courtiers, business leaders and others in positions of wealth and influence jockeying for position and showing their loyalty with their attendance. The Tyrant could grant wealth and power with a wave of his hand…or take it away just as easily. But today the usual pack of groveling supplicants had been sent away, replaced by army officers and the ministers who ran his military. War was coming, war with an extremely competent enemy, and the Tyrant had no time for routine business.
He considered the status, as the startled soldiers and bureaucrats scrambled toward the large room’s exits, tried to reason out when the attack would come. He knew the package had been delivered to Armstrong, and that Sarah Cain had departed that world. He assumed she had gone to the Nest, but he couldn’t be sure. And one thing was certain…Darius Cain wasn’t going to announce his intentions. He would come fast and hard…without warning. One day the skies over Eldaron would be filled with his assault ships. The Tyrant knew he had the strength to destroy the Black Eagles, but he was still afraid. Any man who was about to face Darius Cain and his pack of killers in a fight to the death was scared…or insane. Or both.
* * * * *
The prisoner heard the familiar clang as the locking bolt on his prison’s door disengaged. It was a familiar sound, one that had signified many things over the years. Food, interrogations, beatings…all began with that same noise.
This time would be different, though. He would allow his visitor to come in, to get close. He wouldn’t move. He would sit against the wall, head down, shoulders hunched forward in the same pose. He would communicate the message his captors had longed to see…that of a broken man whose sanity was finally gone. He would look passive, weak. But in his mind, something stirred, a fire almost forgotten, but not quite. The prisoner would fight one last battle. Here, now.
He heard the footsteps come closer. He had more than one visitor. That’s okay, he thought. Even better maybe. He only needed to attack one, quickly enough—hard enough—to make the others take him out. Perhaps he had just enough strength remaining to kill his victim. One last taste of vengeance before the peace of death…
“How are you today, my old friend?” The voice was familiar. The Tyrant. The prisoner had almost forgotten what a smile was, but now he had to struggle to hold one back. Fate had given him a gift, and now he knew it was time for his plan. The Tyrant always had guards when he visited, and they would almost certainly gun him down if he attacked their ruler.
I must be quick. I will only have an instant to kill him. Then it will be over.
The prisoner knew many ways to kill a man, with everything from a nuclear weapon to bare hands. But he could feel the weakness in his body. The fighting styles he’d learned long ago were mostly beyond his physical ability now. He would focus, put every scrap of strength remaining to him into one final attack. He’d initially been concerned mostly with provoking his captors to kill him, but now the Tyrant had come, and he could feel the ache, the unstoppable urge to kill the man who had ruled so long over his torment.
“No answer?” The Tyrant’s voice was closer, but the prisoner still looked down, unmoving. He would not give his target the slightes
t warning. He was stay as he was, the battered, destroyed hulk of a man…until it was time.
“I know you have grown weak. But perhaps you have a bit of energy left for me, no? We have known each other for a long time now…who if not I can you call your closest companion?” The Tyrant’s voice was loud, yet almost friendly, just a twinge of mockery slipping through.
Stay. Don’t move, don’t look up. No matter what he says. Make him come closer…
“Still no response? Come now, are you truly so broken? So weak you sit there, incapable of even looking at me?”
The prisoner could feel his tormentor approaching. Closer…but not close enough. Not yet.
“So, after so long, we have finally broken your will. Now you sit there, like a worm, your mind gone, the defiance you so proudly displayed blown away on the wind.” His voice was becoming more taunting as he continued.
Not yet…
“I had even come to find some meager respect for you, my old friend…so much so it pains me to see you like this, crushed, defeated.”
The prisoner could feel the Tyrant, hear he was close. But not close enough.
“But in the end, you are just like the others. Your strength was a lie, that indomitable will a pathetic façade.”
Footsteps again…coming closer…
“I am disappointed. I thought you were a man, but now I see you are merely a worm, just like all the others.”
Take a deep breath…then focus. You’ll only get one chance, a second or two perhaps, maybe less…
“I would punish you for your failure, for your pointless attempts to pretend you had a spine. I despise weakness, but a fraud is even worse. I would have you fed to the fangworms right now…but despite your failing, you are still useful. For a short while. And then, I myself will cast you into the…”
The prisoner lunged, his mind focused on his moves, his will, not broken as the Tyrant believed but channeling for an instant the warrior he had been, forcing his atrophied muscles to exert the last bit of force that remained to them, to launch his withered body at his target.
His head snapped up, and his eyes focused on the Tyrant’s. In an instant, he saw the gloating, mocking expression vanish, replaced by a look of fear, of outright terror. He savored the image, and his hands pushed out in front of him, reaching for the Tyrant’s neck. One thought dominated his consciousness. This is your last battle…do not fail.
The Tyrant reacted, too late to avoid the blow. The prisoner was on him, striking hard, his hand slamming into the Tyrant’s face. It was a killing blow, one of many the prisoner had learned in his years of combat, and he executed it perfectly. But his strength failed him, his rapid strike a bit too slow. The Tyrant dodged to the side, changing the impact point of the blow…just enough.
The Tyrant fell to the side, screaming in pain as the prisoner’s hand moved past his stricken head. Blood poured from his mouth, and he dropped…first to his knees and then to the ground.
The prisoner knew he had failed, that his strike had not been a lethal one. He tried to swing his body around, to move in for another attempt, but then he heard the sounds, distant, muffled. He felt the impacts, slamming into him. His arm, his chest. But there was no pain, just a vague awareness. His attack had used the last of his strength, and now he felt himself falling, the impact on the ground, hard, but also without pain.
He had failed…fate had denied him his vengeance. But his ordeal was over, and he could feel himself slipping away, the blackness taking him. He heard a voice, pained, forced. “No…we still need him alive…” Then even that was gone, and he heard nothing but the sounds of waves crashing against the rocky coast.
Chapter 14
APS Zephyr
Zed-4 System
1,200,000 Meters from Gamma-Hydra Warp Gate
Earthdate: 2319 AD (34 Years After the Fall)
“Battlestations!” Jamie Wheaton’s voice was calm, but that didn’t lessen its imperious nature one bit. She was Zephyr’s commander, and her ship was facing an oncoming enemy. Battle was almost upon her, but she was cool and focused. She had seen combat before, against an enemy more fearsome that a group of pirates, and she knew what to do.
Her mostly-rookie crew was another matter, and all the more reason for her to stay cool and under control. One hint of fear in her tone would undermine the morale of the entire crew. No, they had to see their captain completely unconcerned about the vessel now accelerating toward them at 3g. She was the source of the strength they would need to get through what would be, for most of them, their first battle.
Zephyr had come through the warp gate as planned, and Wheaton had done her best to try and hide her ship. But there were no asteroids nearby, and no particulate clouds heavy enough to provide cover…at least none close enough to the gate. So she maneuvered to the best spot she could find and powered down, with only scanners and basic life support operating.
Then nothing happened. Hours went by…then a day. She’d been almost ready to give up, to suggest to Elias that they had made an error, that Gamma-Hydra III had been the pirate’s true course. But then, finally, Zephyr picked up the unique energy readings caused by a warp gate transit.
The pirate vessel slipped slowly and cautiously into the system, crawling out from the warp gate, clearly searching for Zephyr. Wheaton felt a wave of disappointment. This pirate captain knew what he was doing. He was cautious, and he wouldn’t be easily fooled. Still, she kept Zephyr on minimal power, hoping to get lucky, waiting to see what happened. If the pirate was going to find her ship, he would have to do it on his own. She wasn’t about to help him.
The pirate accelerated slowly into the system, its thrust barely 1g. Then suddenly it fired its engines hard, blasting at 3g. Wheaton knew immediately, and a few seconds later she got her confirmation. The AI announced that the pirate’s thrust vector was consistent with a course directly toward Zephyr.
She was surprised, not so much that the pirate located her ship but that he was closing for a fight. Zephyr wasn’t a battleship by any measure, but Wheaton was sure her vessel was more than a match for any pirate ship.
Maybe he figures we’re all rookies here. Close, but not close enough...
Zephyr’s crew might not be battletested, but her captain was…and Wheaton was determined to bring her people through their first fight, whatever it took.
“So, no dice, eh?” Elias bolted through the hatch onto Zephyr’s small bridge. “I figured they’d find us. There really wasn’t much to work with as far as hiding places.
“Yeah,” Wheaton replied. “Still we had to try.” She sighed. “Now we’re back at a dead end…and we’ve got to explain this when we get home.”
“Dead end?” Elias shook his head. “No, we can’t lose this trail. Not now.”
“What can we do? They’re coming at us hard. We’re going to have to destroy them.”
“No.”
“What are you talking about, Elias? What do you suggest we do? Run? Let them attack us and don’t fight back?” There was confusion in her voice, and a little resentment. She was fond of Elias Cain, too fond perhaps. But Zephyr was her ship, and she didn’t react well to anyone stepping onto her turf.
“We disable her. We fight like pirates ourselves…and then my people board her.”
Wheaton stared back, a look of shock in her eyes. “That’s insane, Elias. We don’t fight like pirates. They have needlers for that…we don’t. Our laser cannons aren’t precision weapons for targeting specific systems.” She started shaking her head. “No, it’s not possible. And how would your people even get there? We don’t have assault craft. You’d have to go in the regular shuttle, no armor, no breaching gear. You’d have to find an access port…and hope like hell you can dock with it. Or jury-rig something to breach the hull.”
“It’s all doable,” he said simply, calmly.
“Since when are you the expert in naval tactics?” she snapped back. “And even if we could manage it, you’ve only got twenty agents. We h
ave no idea how many pirates are on that vessel…and they’re experienced at fighting aboard ships. Your people aren’t.”
“We know they took heavy losses in the fight on Carlyle. There can’t be too many of them left, especially in fighting condition.”
“According to Captain Marne,” she answered sharply. “Who was half crazed out of his wits when we picked him up…and who’s been in sickbay ever since, unconscious most of the time.”
“That doesn’t mean what he told us wasn’t true. If the ship’s captain ended up in the cargo hold with time to blow the doors, you can bet there was one hell of a fight on that ship. I’m willing to bet on what Marne told us.”
“But you want me to bet my ship to give you that chance.”
“We started this to find out what happened, Jamie. If we don’t at least get some prisoners…” He stared at her, and she saw something in his eyes. Pleading? Desperation?
Why is this so important to him? It can’t just be the attack on Carlyle, as costly as that was. Is he really in that much trouble back home? Does he see this as a way to put himself back in the good graces of his superiors?
“Why?”
He stared back at her, a confused look on his face. “Why what? Why do I want to catch this pirate?”
“No. What are you really after?” Her voice was serious. “I know it’s more than capturing a pirate.”
Elias paused, his eyes flashing toward Megan Berry and the other two officers on Zephyr’s bridge. Then he leaned in close and whispered, “I believe there is a major crime ring, one spanning a vast area, perhaps even all of Occupied Space.” He paused, looking at the others again before continuing, his voice even softer. “And I believe it extends into the Atlantian government in some way. Corruption…more than any of us have imagined. And possibly worse. And this pirate ship is my only lead to learn more about what is truly going on.”
She listened to his words, felt his breath on her ear. What he was telling her was extraordinary…and dangerous. But she realized at once she believed him. Whether that was rational judgment or something else was a question she couldn’t answer. Still, if she was going to act on Elias’ suspicions, she wanted to know more. She needed to know more.
