Hero of the Republic: (The Parasite Initiative, Book 1)

by Britt Ringel

Sabrina smiled darkly. “Learn the lesson, my son.” Blue eyes blazed. “The Republic always rewards success. If you play by the regulations your whole life, you’ll never advance as far as someone willing to take risks at the proper time.”

  The statement alarmed Caden. “But what if it’s not the proper time?”

  “Then we’ll court martial you. Don’t be wrong,” she said while flashing her most disarming smile.

  They turned a corner and entered the main plaza. Moving through the throng of humanity, Caden saw dozens of Brevics in uniform. The plaza was the largest compartment inside the Anthe orbital and even boasted a simulated sky on its arched ceiling, however “The Commons” was still considered inside for military members, requiring no cover or salutes.

  “What’s Garrett Heskan like in person?” Caden asked.

  “He’s agreeable but… preoccupied,” she answered after a moment’s deliberation. “Maybe a little overwhelmed with the attention. He’s been through a lot.”

  “Is he still commanding his destroyer?”

  “No, Kite is in the repair yards near this orbital. It was brutalized. Commander Heskan has been officially reassigned to a more important project.” Sabrina pointed toward a restaurant ahead of them. “Let’s eat.” She turned behind her. “Phil, get us something in the center. I want to be seen.”

  The assistant rushed ahead as Sabrina focused back on her son. “Speaking of reassignment, I have your new orders.” She once again tapped on her datapad. “Here,” she said, flashing the orders to his datapad.

  Caden’s heart skipped a beat. “Where am I going?”

  Sabrina gave her son another warm smile. “I have a surprise for you. I pulled some strings at BPC.” She paused dramatically. “Given your academic accomplishments and valor in battle, you’ve earned promotion to lieutenant, junior grade and been fast-tracked to a weapons section commander billet.”

  Caden tripped over his own feet. “What?” he gawked incredulously at his mother.

  “The Republic always rewards success.” Her face abruptly contorted in annoyance. “But it’s also slower than hell. You’re technically a lieutenant, junior grade select. I couldn’t rush the line number so you can’t pin on jay-gee until you step aboard Falcata.”

  “What’s Falcata? The name doesn’t ring a bell.” His stomach plunged suddenly with an icy dread. It’s not a tunnel point defense fort, is it?

  “It’s only a destroyer and an older design at that. She’s one of the old Kopis-class missile platforms. We’re pulling the class from their mothball orbits and reactivating them.” Sabrina shrugged a shoulder. “It’s a bit of a compromise but it was necessary if I wanted you to get a WEPS position.” She thrust a pointed finger at him. “Seize this opportunity, Caden, and the next ship will be better.”

  “Weapons section commander,” he said in awe. “I’ll be leading the whole section… I’ll be on the bridge.” An arctic foreboding burgeoned inside him. What if I freeze… again. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “This is the opportunity we’ve always wanted, Caden.” The pair reached the front of the restaurant and was immediately greeted by the waiting manager.

  “Welcome, Madam Assistant Secretary! It’s an absolute pleasure to host you and your son,” he gushed while waving them enthusiastically inside. “Please follow me to our best table, which I hope you will find to your satisfaction.”

  As they walked among the patrons, heads turned toward the shining star and her son. Sabrina ignored the flashes from datapads with practiced ease. Caden looked around, wide-eyed, at the unsolicited attention.

  Arriving at their table, Sabrina took her glass, already waiting for her. It contained a moderately dark beer, perhaps a Maerzen, Caden guessed. Mom hates the taste of beer.

  “To the Republic,” she announced to the watching crowd before taking a deep pull from her drink. Dozens of flashes memorialized the toast.

  She took her seat and returned the glass to the table’s beverage strip to keep it cold. Her eyes focused on Caden intently. “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

  A promotion, medals and a juicy assignment… what more could I possibly ask? He could scarcely believe the events of the last five minutes. Maybe Vix is right. Maybe I do have all the luck. His eyes widened with inspiration. “Mom, do you think you could get Vix Kirkpatrick assigned to Falcata?” He reflected upon the thin line between luck and advantageous birth. “And Lieutenant Lucy Holt too?”

  Sabrina thought a moment. “Kirkpatrick. That’s the student I met at your graduation. Average scores. Slotted to Operations,” she told herself. “He said he would be serving on Determined. How’d he do?”

  “Good,” Caden said quickly. “Assumed command of a damage control party and fought a big fire.”

  Sabrina pursed her lips and finally nodded. “Okay.” She set to work on her datapad. “Lucy Holt.” After a handful of seconds, she looked up. “I can’t find her.” Her screen updated with a flash. “Wait, here she is. Lieutenant, junior grade Anja Lucille Holt.” She spun the datapad to face Caden. “Is this her?”

  “Yeah.”

  Sabrina’s smile became lopsided. “She’s attractive, although I hope you’d talk to me before you started dating anyone seriously.”

  “I’m an adult, Mother,” Caden protested lightly.

  “I know, honey,” she acknowledged while typing rapidly on her datapad. Her voice turned slightly sour. “You just don’t want to be stuck with dead weight....”

  A silence filled the second half of her aborted sentence. Caden drank from his water glass to fill the awkward break.

  “Okay,” Sabrina announced, “she passes the preliminary exam. Let me work my magic with BPC. They’re both junior officers and this is all inside Second Fleet so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  “I appreciate it,” Caden offered. “It’s easier with friends.”

  “Yes, it is, isn’t it? Don’t let them turn into a crutch… or an anchor.”

  The datapad chimed loudly. Sabrina’s eyes moved downward even as her delicate eyebrows shot up. “Oh my.” She tapped at the screen and stood quickly. “Caden, I have to go. I’ll try to contact you tomorrow if I can.” She opened her arms widely. “Stand up and say goodbye.”

  Caden hugged his mother fiercely as her assistant again circled. She whispered, just loud enough to carry to her assistant’s mic, “Defend the Republic, my son.”

  She gave him a final squeeze before moving away. Walking quickly toward the exit, Sabrina Twist passed the restaurant’s wall screens before entering the plaza.

  On the wall screens, talking heads discussing the Republic’s newest hero broke away to a news flash about trouble near one of Anthe’s gas giants.

  * * *

  Sabrina Twist did not run to her appointment. To run would be to admit that someone else’s time was more important than her own. The tall, confident woman did move with a sense of urgency though. The situation blossoming around Anthe-4 and the host of her next appointment deserved that much. Despite her accolades and position, she did not want to keep the Secretary of Internal Security waiting for too long.

  Twist reached the secretary’s personal sloop docked at the orbital, an extravagant Envoy-class transport that even she aspired to and immediately swiped her datapad over the security arch before the airlock. Two armor-clad troopers stood on either end while a more civilly dressed man sat behind the watchman’s station.

  She offered a nod to the fearsome-looking troopers and stepped through the arch. At the station, she again swiped her datapad and stated, “Assistant Secretary Twist to see Secretary Brewer.”

  The watchman scrolled through a list before finding her name. He confirmed her credentials and answered in a monotone voice, “Welcome, Madam Secretary. He is expecting you.”

  Twist turned to her three assistants. “Wait here. If I’m going to be more than an hour, I’ll flash you.” She raised her datapad and wiggled it.

  The interior of the ship was an object less
on in how position and influence could buy luxury. Although she had been inside the sloop twice before, the extravagance of the interior still impressed her. Even Dwayne Hutchison, Secretary of Public Relations and Information, could take a lesson from Sebastian Brewer. Twist’s escort led her down the length of the ship to a double portal near the bridge. He tapped commands onto the control panel and access was granted.

  Twist stepped inside. Secretary Brewer was seated behind his large desk. To one side, his assistant secretary was in discussion with a naval officer on a wall screen.

  “I’m going to need them on the orbital soon,” Brewer’s subordinate said, addressing the screen. “I want you to task some of your crewmembers with overseeing the seventeen prisoners aboard your ship until I can arrange for their transfer to the orbital.”

  The officer nodded devotedly. He wore the rank of a lieutenant. “Understood, sir. Kite’s down to sixty-seven sailors but I’ll find a way to keep our prisoners guarded.”

  “Good,” the assistant secretary said with a curt nod. “I’m recalling my agents now. Please send your people to relieve them immediately, Captain. Neal out.” The transmission ended and the wall screen reverted to its default star-field display.

  Twist moved deeper into the room. “Mr. Secretary,” she greeted before offering a cursory nod to his assistant.

  The grey-haired secretary spoke without preamble. “The situation has changed. They self-destructed Phoenix, Sabrina.”

  Twist felt her eyes roll toward the ceiling as pressure built behind them. “Damn, PR&I had big plans for that Hollaran cruiser, Mr. Secretary.” She moved opposite of Brewer’s assistant and sat in a huff. “Garrett Heskan returned from Commonwealth space with a priceless piece of propaganda and Internal Security has already lost it.”

  Brewer’s face flushed red but his words remained calm. “A horrible inconvenience for Public Relations and Information, I’m certain. I’ll be sure to let the families of the agents that died trying to secure Phoenix know how terrible this event must be for you.”

  She ignored the barb and looked at Neal. “You already have prisoners?” she asked dubiously.

  Brewer answered from behind his desk while shaking his head, “No.” He gestured casually toward his assistant. “Secretary Neal was in discussion about Eagle’s fighter pilots.”

  Twist lifted her hand and pressed fingers to her temple in dramatic fashion. “Ugly business… and foolish. Now is the worst time to be publicizing traitors. Hayes is an idiot to push for their court martials.”

  Brewer eased back into the comfort of his chair. “The people must know what happens to those who would harm the Republic.”

  “And order must be maintained in the military,” Neal added emphatically.

  She cast a wicked look at the man nearest her. “I don’t require a lecture about order and control, Mister Neal. Maybe once you’ve donned a uniform, you can speak to me about military discipline.”

  The man bit down hard as Twist’s expression relaxed into a perverse smile. She looked back at Brewer. “I assume you’ve called me here because I’m needed to clean up this mess of yours.”

  Neal began to speak but Brewer cut him off. “That is PR&I’s job, Sabrina, and you’re the best that they have.”

  “It’s not going to be easy, you know,” she stated. “The public thinks we took possession of that ship a week ago. They weren’t aware that Hollarans still actually controlled it.” She cast her gaze upward as she thought, muttering to herself absentmindedly for answers. “That would work but I need a dupe.” She paused and then smiled widely. Her expression lit up the gloomy room. “Councilman Drewey. He’ll be perfect.”

  “Anthe Councilman Ted Drewey?” Neal asked. “Head of Anthe Appropriations?”

  Twist nodded. “Yes. He’s just the overeager zealot for the job. I’ll have one of my assistants feed him some classified information which he will immediately release to the public in order to sound tough against the Hollarans. Anthe’s elections are coming up and he’s feeling a lot of pressure because the system’s construction yards lost out to the ones in Bristol last year.”

  She rose from her chair and smiled disingenuously at the two men. “Relax, gentlemen. I’ll save Internal Security from your blunders.” A pleasing though patronizing laugh punctuated the bold statement. She spun in place gracefully and glided out of the room. Baroque double doors sealed tightly behind her.

  “I hate that woman,” Brewer and Neal said in unison.

  Chapter 19

  It was almost a homecoming for Caden Twist. The twin stars of the New London system shone brightly on the shuttle’s wall screens before becoming partially eclipsed by the 228,000-tonne bulk of the missile destroyer, BRS Falcata. Her 365-meter long hull cast a brief shadow over the shuttle before the tiny craft dipped below the timeworn warship and settled onto its final approach. Hangar doors retracted along Falcata’s belly to leave nothing more substantial than a thin, cloudy containment field separating the atmospheric integrity of the shuttle bay from the vacuum of space.

  “Touchdown in two minutes, Lieutenant,” the pilot announced over the intercom. Unlike his trip to Lochaber, Twist was the shuttle’s lone passenger. As Falcata’s weapons section commander, he warranted a special trip from New London’s orbital. He glanced, again, at his rank. The new lieutenant, junior grade insignia had been taken from its packaging that morning. He grabbed his duffle bag from the seat next to him and placed it on his lap. His remaining personal items were in the shuttle’s storage compartment and would be delivered to his new quarters by a crewmember from Operations.

  The shuttle shook slightly as it came to rest on the deck and the large hangar doors began to close. Twist removed his seat’s restraints when the status light near the shuttle’s exit flickered from red to green. The door to the cockpit popped open and the co-pilot, an able spaceman, looked back at Twist. “We’re down, sir. Lieutenant Hayashi is waiting for you in the hangar so we’ll let you off now and taxi to a parking slot after you’ve departed.” The E-3 enlisted man pecked at several controls over his head and the shuttle door opened with a pressure-equalizing gasp.

  Twist rose from his seat and lifted his bag’s strap over his left shoulder. He walked down the narrow aisle and then the shuttle’s ramp to board his new ship.

  Lieutenant Katsu Hayashi waited five meters away. Falcata’s first officer was of average height with hair nearly as black as infinite space. Twist could do no better than placing her age between twenty-five and forty-five, her smooth, nearly flawless skin refusing to betray her. Only the faintest lines around her narrow eyes and her confident posture hinted at a woman with many years of service in the navy.

  Twist approached to within three meters of her, cast off the duffle bag and came to attention. With a sharp salute, he stated, “Lieutenant Caden Twist reports as ordered.” He could hear the shuttle’s door closing behind him and he quickly added, “Permission to come aboard, ma’am.”

  Hayashi returned his salute. Her black eyes appraised him briefly before she answered, “Granted, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard Falcata, we’ve been expecting you.” She gestured to his bag and gracefully turned to the hangar’s main exit.

  Twist took the sudden motion as his cue to retrieve his bag and walk with the woman who had left the clamor of the hangar without further word. Moving deeper into the ship, she stated, “Captain Weis and I are expecting great things from you, Caden. The entire Republic is celebrating our first, decisive triumph over the Commonwealth and your actions on Lochaber have been highlighted by the news outlets.”

  Twist felt his face begin to redden. While recent news coverage had focused mostly on Commander Heskan’s heroics, the exploits of a fresh, young ensign named Caden Twist had not gone unnoticed by the talking heads. He wondered how much of the unwanted attention was due to his alleged performance that fateful night in Sponde and how much was due to his mother’s skillful handling.

  “The media always makes things a bigger deal tha
n they are. I just did my duty.”

  “I have little doubt that you did more than just your duty on Lochaber,” Hayashi replied.

  They turned a corner and the narrow corridor emptied into a wider hallway.

  “A word of advice, Caden,” Hayashi offered. “Taking a ship out of mothballs involves a load of paperwork. Captain Weis and I have cleared much of it but it’s important that our section heads don’t get bogged down in the remaining process.” The woman cast a sideways look at him for added emphasis. “BPC might throw a fit if their forms aren’t filled out properly but never forget why you’re here, Caden.” She pointed a finger at him. “You are WEPS, Lieutenant. You are the awful, terrible embodiment of Falcata’s wrath. Your job isn’t to make sure that BN Form Eleven Forty-five-C was delivered correctly to BPC. Your job is to rain ordnance upon the Hollies.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Captain Weis and I both know you don’t have a wealth of experience to draw from and we don’t care. Neither of us is concerned that you may not know when to file a BN Form Six Seventy-eight or how to write an OPR. What we need is a WEPS with natural ability and a fighting spirit.” Hayashi offered her first smile. “We know you have plenty of both. Apply your talents against our enemy and don’t sweat the small stuff.”

  The woman nimbly moved around two spacemen toting several evac-suits. “And you won’t have much time. You have to knock the dust off of sixteen dual general-purpose laser turrets, ten Duchess missile systems and two Merkell heavy gatling lasers. That amounts to fifty-five sailors under you. You need to bond your crew quickly because the war won’t wait.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Twist repeated. “Has there been any word on how long we actually have?”

  Hayashi nodded as they came to a stop. He looked quickly over her head and saw they had arrived at his quarters.

  “The best estimate is three weeks.” Her face soured. “The Hollarans took control of New Milan two weeks ago. The way the tunnel points chain together, there is only one direction they can advance and that’s straight toward us.” She waved her datapad over the panel in front of Twist’s new quarters and the portal slid open. “Hati and Aegir are lifeless star systems but you can bet that Second Fleet won’t give up Kalyke without a fight.” Her dark eyes narrowed with a fierce determination. “Kalyke is our next Sponde, Caden.”