A King Word And a Gun

by Yuri Hamaganov

  The most important principle of survival is not to stand in the way of the Union and the Supernova Corporation. Elizabeth learned this principle from Boddicker and carefully observed it for many years. The second principle was the peculiar ethics of the Wasp Queen: having the reputation of the best bounty hunter in the solar system, she didn’t take every job she was offered. The target needed to be a criminal, causing irreparable harm to society—just like that, and nothing else. The disgraceful craft of the hired killer was over, and Elizabeth turned down a lot of generous proposals if she realized that they wanted to use her to trivialize revenge or accomplish evil. And the third principle, perhaps the best known of all, is absolute honesty in business. Guaranteeing the performance of the task, Elizabeth didn’t like any attempts to deceive herself. She didn’t like them and cruelly punished for them.

  Increasingly, her paths intersected with her former master, and every such meeting, wherever it occurred—in remote colonies or in crowded near-Earth orbits—ended in great bloodshed. The Tartar fleet attacked the colonies and merchant ships that were under the protection of the Red Dawn, and Elizabeth methodically destroyed the allies of Boddicker; an undeclared secret war went on for many years, gently melting then flaring up to heaven.

  When she was nine years old, Olga, with a sinking heart, watched the fierce months-long battle that went around the asteroid Matilda, which the Wasp Queen was successfully defending against Boddicker's squadrons. Having evacuated the population deep into the asteroid, dug out by the mines, the small garrison of the Red Dawn maintained defenses in the ruined cities on its surface, waiting for the orbital bombardments and repeatedly beating off the assault forces while Elizabeth’s ships marched to break the blockade.

  The siege of Matilda was the largest military conflict of the eighties without participation of the Union and Supernova, and the enmity didn’t end there. Not having achieved success in destroying Elizabeth, Boddicker occasionally contacted his allies, promising a huge reward for the Wasp Queen, dead or alive. There were always enough people willing to try for the jackpot: a month never passed without an announcement that Elizabeth was finally killed. Once, Olga read three such messages in one week. But she never believed them, and she was right—Elizabeth was resurrected again and again, suddenly and unexpectedly appearing on Earth, then on the outskirts of the solar system. Instead of her, a pre-prepared double, a casual civilian or someone else was always killed. And everything went on as before.

  No one knows exactly how many ships and personnel the Queen has; the rumors suggest many thousands, but Olga has always considered this number to be too high. There aren’t that many ships in Red Dawn, or people, but they have been prepared perfectly, as evidenced by the numerous successful operations that have been conducted by the young and merciless soldiers, each of whom Elizabeth personally selected for her army. A well-developed network of agents, numerous shelters and strongholds, a huge number of auxiliary transports, which went to the temporary use of the Queen, and then was returned to the owners—the Red Dawn was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

  Olga, in prison, missed that elusive moment when the Red Dawn turned from just a large squad of mercenaries into a powerful political and military force, which had to be reckoned with throughout the Free Zone. Having gotten on the cruiser and become a Bolshevik, Voronov was admitted to the secret archives and learned that in the past, Klimov and his crew had crossed with the Red Dawn several times—sometimes as competitors for a prize and sometimes as allies. The senior officers of the Bolshevik are some of the few who know Elizabeth personally.

  Only then did she learn that shortly before her release, the Ambassadors of the Martian Republic had first contacted the Queen, and only then contacted the Bolshevik, so they signed up for a long, bloody, and inconspicuous colonial war. Why did Elizabeth ignore the offer of the Martians? Apparently, she didn’t want to spoil her relationship with the Supernova Corporation, which had already become very tense in recent years. Increasingly, among the leadership of the Union and the Supernova Corporation, there were voices that suggested that the existence of such a powerful and uncontrolled military organization as the Red Dawn shouldn’t continue, and Elizabeth's activities must be stopped, forcefully, if necessary. But beyond words, they did nothing; the Corporation was already preparing for a military solution to the issue with the rebellious Martian colonies.

  The war broke out, and Elizabeth went into the shadows for a while, reducing her operations to a minimum. And then, immediately after the war, Grond appeared, and all past events were forgotten instantly—humanity faced an unprecedented threat, having no idea how to resist it.

  In the early months of Grond, when the hurricane was motionless above the Pacific Ocean, the actions of the Wasp Queen weren’t particularly noticeable, although the Bolsheviks knew that Elizabeth had seriously intensified her activity in the Free Zone by sending her emissaries in many private colonies for negotiations. Boddicker had also urgently gathered his vassals, because smart people soon realized that the influence of Grond would inevitably stretch into space, radically changing the former alignment of forces.

  Suspicions of old enemies came true at the beginning of 2094, when the stationary destroyer began its heavy run. Confusion instantly gave way to panic, rumors of evacuation became an obvious reality, and the first refugee ships left for orbit. The Bolshevik returned to Earth at the head of a squadron of decommissioned transports, prices for food and other commodities were rapidly climbing up, the world economy was collapsing, the colonies of the Free Zone were faced with hunger and thirst, and refugee ships were taking off every hour. The crime rate skyrocketed, piracy and looting became commonplace even in once quiet sectors, local wars thundered one after another, and everyone felt that it would only get worse.

  The Fuhrer of the Space Reich saw these events as a gift of fate; it was hard to imagine better conditions for him. He had an army and a navy and a network of bases and many vassals everywhere, and, most importantly, there was complete freedom of action. While the Union and the Supernova Corporation were busy with desperate attempts to save their property, Boddicker could do whatever he liked in the Free Zone. His state has long been independent of the dying Earth; it’s stronger than all other private colonies and is going to use this power without any constraint. After waiting for the space superpowers to withdraw most of their garrisons out of the Free Zone, he gave the rich colonies an ultimatum—unconditionally accept his authority or be destroyed. The majority accepted the ultimatum and threw out the white flag, remembering the fate of many man-made worlds that had attempted to repel the invaders. Along with the expansion of the subjected territory, there was a total purge of all the rest of the space criminals, Boddicker's allies in the recent past.

  Feeling the strength behind him, the Fuhrer broke his previous agreements, placing his former business partners in the position of becoming his vassals and handing over to the new overlord their military and merchant fleets, along with their bases. Frightened by this demand from a recent partner, the criminal bosses of the solar system decided to rebuff, counting on the fact that their common forces were superior to anything that Boddicker had. In theory, the hastily assembled gangster coalition surpassed the Space Reich by the tonnage of warships and by the number of personnel, with a good chance for winning. But the bandits never had enough unity; their general command was surprisingly inefficient, and Boddicker boldly declared war on them, firmly knowing that order always beats numbers.

  Providing evacuation, the Bolsheviks from afar observed this fleeting conflict, surprisingly reminiscent of the seizure of Europe by Hitler. Operating in a united front, Boddicker began to methodically and mercilessly destroy his opponents one by one, while not forgetting about diplomacy. And his enemies are panic-stricken, being unprepared for a long and bloody war. The bandit coalition, which had a serious numerical superiority, didn’t dare engage in any large-scale offensive actions, preferring to sit in plain defense, and Boddicker
continued to cut off piece by piece. The panic in the enemy camp rose; many of the bandits were already ready to stop fighting, yielding to the persuasions of Fuhrer, who promised not to inflict too much damage after they surrendered.

  As a result, the conflict between Boddicker and the rest of the bandits, which many expected to be a long, hard war, turned into a series of short strikes launched by the Space Reich, to which no real retaliation was ever made. Unable to withstand this beating and losing several important leaders, the bandit coalition soon collapsed completely and irrevocably, after which Boddicker quickly tidied up the remains of it, many times replenishing losses due to rich trophies. And Elizabeth watched from the outside, preferring not to interfere in what was happening and giving her enemies the opportunity to kill one another.

  Concern about Boddicker’s growing strength led to the bosses of Union and Supernova again talking about the need for an urgent military operation in the Free Zone. But this conversation didn’t lead to anything—the Supernova Corporation was already falling apart, striding toward civil war.

  There are no rules in civil war, and any methods are good for victory, so the Space Reich and its Fuhrer didn’t remain without work; Boddicker, behind the scenes, effectively acted on the side of the space capitalists. The Tartar pirates were charged with punitive raids against the allies of the Earthmen, and Boddicker's henchmen fully justified their reputation, carving out the once flourishing colonies with firm cruelty. There were persistent rumors that the secret pact between the space capitalists and Tartar was framed by Jenna Donovan, and Olga is inclined to believe these rumors.

  Whatever it was, the acts of intimidation reached their targets, and the allies of the Earth fraction hastily capitulated almost everywhere, except for a few small, poor colonies on the inner boundary of the Asteroid Belt, where the punitive units of the Reich encountered unexpectedly strong resistance—so strong that none of the ships sent there returned to Tartar.

  The news spread instantly—the Wasp Queen, who had seemed to dissolve in the shadows at the very beginning of Grond, came out of the dusk to say her piece. Having won the first defensive battle, she moved the Red Dawn into an offensive, inflicting a series of sensitive blows on Boddicker. The timing was chosen exceptionally well; the Reich’s fleet was scattered throughout the near-Earth space, and the Supernova Corporation’s military forces were engaged in the civil war.

  The raid of the Queen lasted just over a day and was crowned with a major success—Boddicker suffered many more losses during that single day than during the whole conflict against his former allies, and the Free Zone, tormented by his punishers, saw that the Fascists could also be defeated. After striking, the Red Dawn again sank into the void, dissolving completely into the Asteroid Belt. But everyone understood; this time, the continuation would follow immediately.

  Boddicker stopped actively fighting even before the capitulation of the Earth faction and hastily gathered his fleet, because striking back was for him a matter of prestige. The military forces of the Union and the Supernova were busy redistributing power and sharing rich trophies. And Queen Elizabeth first turned to people—not to anyone specifically, not to the leaders of the rich colonies or to the owners of asteroids and the captains of private ships, but to all at once. She turned to all who were thrown by the Son of Thunder from their native planet into orbit just to end up in the crucible of a space war, to all who had lost their loved ones in punitive raids and now wandered the solar system in a vain search for a new home, and to all who hungered, froze, and gasped on the ruins of the colonies—to all who had nothing more to lose.

  “Listen to me, people! I, Elizabeth, the Wasp Queen, I'm talking to you! There is no time to hide and run away! There is nowhere to run, and there is nowhere to hide from hunger and from punishers! Grond took everything from you, and what he didn’t manage to take away, the capitalists and fascists will take!

  “The Union tells you to give your last coin for a place on a crowded ship, a food pill, and a sip of water. They tell you to be grateful for every breath of rotten air and hope that maybe you will still be able to breathe tomorrow!

  “The Supernova Corporation tells you to endure the hard times, endure the hunger and suffering without burdening those who are more fortunate than you, and then, perhaps, if Grond ever disappears and you manage to live until that day, then you’ll be allowed to return to the ruined Earth!

  “Boddicker tells you to surrender, to obediently accept the fate of the poor slaves and give your children to his army, and then, maybe, he’ll deign to show mercy and save your life!

  “I, Elizabeth, the Wasp Queen, I have heard these words, and my answer is a firm NO! I won’t surrender to the punitive to beg for my life on my knees. I won’t humbly endure the hard times, giving up all I have and blindly believing that the powerful of this world are thinking about my salvation. I won’t sit idly by, watching children die of hunger and lack of oxygen, knowing that there are rich colonies nearby where they could be saved, but they will never do it, for they wait patiently while we all die here!

  “There is no way I will give them such a gift! We won’t quietly and dutifully die of hunger, we won’t wait until Boddicker's chastisers come crashing down on us, and we won’t sit idly by waiting for the inevitable! No one is going to help us, so we must help ourselves! Nobody is going to protect us, so we must protect ourselves and our loved ones!

  “While we are starving here, the rich colonies are bursting at the seams with grub. While we are huddling in crowded stations, the vast regions of the Moon, Mars, and the outer satellites remain unoccupied. While we are suffocating and dying of thirst, on the asteroids and the worlds of Galilee, trillions of tons of water ice are just sitting there. While we are dying under the blows of the chastisers, the mighty fleets of the Supernova Corporation and the Union stand idly at their bases, not even considering taking a single shot at the bandits. The arbitrariness of Boddicker and his bloodsuckers is beneficial to the capitalists; some of us will be killed, and others will be brought to their knees. But this won’t happen!

  “We aren’t allowed to eat, we aren’t allowed to drink and breathe—we ourselves will take water and provisions from those who cash in on the people’s grief. We aren’t allowed to escape from Grond—we ourselves will obtain ships for the exodus to the new lands! We aren’t given any help—we will stand up for ourselves!

  “I, Elizabeth, the Wasp Queen, call upon all of you to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Red Dawn! We have an army and a navy, we have the necessary resources, and we have allies. We are hundreds of millions, those who have taken our fate into our own hands! Get up on our side, take up arms, and fight for your lives and freedom! You have no experience—we’ll teach you. You don’t have weapons—we’ll arm you! Don’t be afraid to rebel against the laws—these laws were written by criminals. Don’t be afraid to engage in combat with Boddicker's executioners—they can be defeated! Now everyone who wants to live free and not merely survive, shaking with fear, must fight and work for victory! Everyone who wants a bright future for their children must ensure this future today, with guns in our hands! Everyone who has the courage to be a human must join the Red Dawn! None of us has anything to lose; we have already lost everything. So let us regain the right to life and freedom! The Great Red Revolution will rise!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT: DUNGEON IN THE SKY

  “Hello, comrades, I greet you!” Space Russian with a strong accent, like in old movies. A tactical combat suit of an unknown model. Two shoulder holsters. She’s tall, even by space standards. The Asian face, hair black as a raven, and predatory smile are familiar to everyone. And the big, kind blue eyes belong to one of the most dangerous women of the solar system.

  Queen Elizabeth arrived in New Louisiana twenty hours after the station was seized. Olga manages to catch a glimpse of her personal warship, which is also legendary—here he is, the Mad Max himself. The Mad Max doesn’t even remotely resemble serially produced warships, instead be
ing uniquely built by special order: an enlarged single-seat fighter of long-range action, carrying unusually powerful weaponry. The Queen pilots it alone, and Olga can only guess how she handles so many systems at once, and she’s doing just fine; in space battles, the Queen is just as deadly as she is in close combat.

  But this time, the Mad Max doesn’t come alone; a dozen warships, assault boats, self-propelled gun platforms, minelayers, torpedo bombers, army transports, and an ark of refugees, adding ten thousand more people to New Louisiana along with the necessary cargo fly alongside. And hundreds of other single ships and entire squadrons are moving at this moment along their combat courses throughout the vast expanse of the Free Zone—the undeclared war isn’t stopping for a second.

  The news of the Queen’s arrival spreads across New Louisiana like wildfire. Thousands of people leave their compartments and go on the axle deck to see Elizabeth personally, to touch and talk with her, and to hear at least one word addressed to them. Olga, carried away by this flow, is somewhat confused by the power of the people’s adoration, but Comrade Andrei, who appears from nowhere as if by magic, perceives what is happening quite calmly. Unlike Voronov, he is working here: paratroopers are habitually retrained as Elizabeth’s personal guards.