by Sam Coulson
“Lee, about damn time, status?” Teigan answered.
“We’re clear, took care of their bombers and a few snub fighters,” I answered.
“Good, at least we won’t have to contend with missile boats,” Teigan responded. “We’re falling apart. Get your asses over here and give us a hand. We can’t last much longer.”
“Negative,” I answered. “Tons is loaded with a dozen stolen Draugari ordinance and the haulers are undefended.”
“Draugari?” He echoed.
“Disintegrators,” Loid follow my bluff. “We lifted them off the ship that attacked the colony a few weeks back. I’m loading them up now, should be in range in two minutes. We can burn down the haulers and take the terraforming equipment with them. The colonists will be safe.”
There was dead air for several seconds.
“Do it,” Teigan answered.
I watched the scopes and waited. We were close enough to the haulers that the fighters engaged with Teigan and the Falcons would have no chance to intercept us, and even if they did, turning their backs to Teigan’s wing would be suicide.
One minute. Nothing. I began to doubt. They either weren’t listening, or they were calling my bluff. Maybe I’d made one too many guesses. I’d assumed that Alume would be with the fleet. A man like him wouldn’t allow something this important to carry on without him. I’d also figured that, if he was here, he would have found the Falcon’s coms channel and broken the encryption key. He would be listening.
One and a half minutes passed. I had assumed too much. Why would he believe we had the warheads?
No, I swallowed. Despite my doubt, I was certain. Alume was here directing the battle. He had to be. And he may be the fully devoted to his cause, but he was also the center of the circle. The Mastermind. The General. The man who sends others to their deaths, but never risks his own. One minute forty-five seconds. Time was almost up.
“Prepare to fire,” I said over the air.
“Roger that,” Loid answered. “Preparing a full spread, I should get the lead three in one go.”
Two minutes.
“Humans?” a smooth, alien voice crackled over the radio.
I was momentarily too stunned to respond.
“Are you human? Domari? Earthborn?”
“Tons-o-Fun, stand down. This is Commander Teigan, identify yourself.”
“Oh my, no, you are human? Not Draugari?” the voice responded. “Stand down, please, I am ordering my fleet to stand down.”
“Who is this?”
“Commander Teigan is it? My name is Caleeb. My cohorts and I were on a terraforming mission to this system when we were set upon by a party of Draugari raiders.”
“Yes,” Teigan responded. “You dealt with them and then attacked us.”
“Attacked you?” Caleeb answered. “I hardly think so, we would never attack our human friends! You and your fleet set upon us, we thought that it was another wave of the Draugari.”
“The Draugari flying Falcons?” Teigan snapped back.
“If you will pardon sir,” Caleeb answered. “But most of the vessels the Draugari fly are stolen from Earthborn hands. We saw you on approach and could not take the risk. Please understand, we are part of a peaceful organization. Our goal was to build an academic commune and we came to this remote world.”
The voice had a familiar air of elitism.
“You don’t fight like a peaceful organization,” Teigan countered.
“Well yes,” Caleeb responded smoothly. “As I’m sure you know, my people are required to submit to military service. Every adult is a trained warrior. But please, believe me, our intentions here are peaceful. This entire situation is a horrible misunderstanding. This world is not on the Protectorate’s or Collective’s colonial register, we did not know that human colonists had claimed it.”
Clever, I thought. I was certain that the voice belonged to Alume. Was Caleeb another title? Another alias? Or his real name?
“This world is home to three human settlements, there was a fourth, but it was destroyed. By Celestrial raiders,” Teigan pressed back.
I looked at my scopes and saw the Collegiate fighters drawing away out of the debris field and back toward the haulers. Teigan and the five remaining Falcons had formed up and were on their way to rendezvous with Loid and me as we held position between the Collegiate and the colony.
“Celestrial raiders?” Caleeb responded. “As I said, we are a peaceful concern of academics. I don’t have any knowledge or responsibility over the actions of outlaws and rogues. Commander, I’m sure that you would object to being judged by the actions of your race’s less scrupulous members.”
Teigan said something back in assent.
An indicator light flashed on my dash, a message from Ju-lin:
I don’t like this, he’s stalling, Dad. We can’t trust him.
A pang of guilt passed through me as I saw her words. At least she hadn’t recognized my voice. She was right, though, of course. My bluff had worked so far, but Alume wasn’t ready to give up. His fighters swarmed back around the haulers, rotating into docking clamps as they refueled. Refueled and rearmed. Eighteen fighters still in fighting condition, I counted, twenty-three against our eight in open space. If Alume moved to strike with his ships refreshed and rearmed, the battle would be quick.
“Caleeb,” Teigan hailed. “As you can see, this world is inhabited. If it was missing from the colonial register, it was clearly in error. I am going to ask you to withdraw from the system.”
It was silent for a long moment.
“I can’t do that Commander Teigan,” he answered.
Another message, this one from Loid: I’m being scanned. They are calling our bluff.
“Come again?” Teigan answered. “Are you having trouble with your flux drives?”
“No, nothing like that,” Alume continued. “Inconvenient as this may be, we came for this world, and this world in particular.”
“What’s so important about this world?” Teigan asked.
“No other world will do,” Alume responded flatly.
“It is occupied by nearly eight thousand human colonists.”
“Unfortunately, no other world will do.” As Alume spoke, the Collegiate fighters reformed into three flight groups, positioning themselves to attack.
My bluff to stall for time was working against us. It had given Alume a chance to refuel and rearm his ships while drawing us out into the open.
I looked out my viewport at the Falcons flying in close formation. They were pock-marked and blackened. I could see burnt out-maneuvering thrusters, empty rocket launchers. The pilots were tired, ships low on fuel. Nerves, lasers, and a bluff had gotten us this far, and all three were nearly spent. I had one card left to play.
I thumbed my coms: “You’re too late Alume.”
“Who?” Teigan asked.
“The Thar’esh are long dead, but we found what they left, and destroyed it.”
“Destroyed?” He asked.
“Yes, but not until after we found the truth,” I continued.
“The truth?” Alume replied his voice hissed. “Elicio? That is you isn’t it? You found your way back. Compelling. But the truth? What truth did you find?”
“Eli?” my heart froze as Ju-lin broke in over the coms. “If you’re here, where is my fath-”
Her voice stopped as the truth choked back her words. She knew. I was certain she knew it all. I shook off the thought, and pushed back the waves of emotion, of guilt, of rage. With all of my strength, I focused.
“I found the truth of what happened at Vasudeva,” I said.
Again, there was silence.
“You know what happened too, don’t you Alume?” I pressed. “You know what Navali did. The power she wielded. It wasn’t the Thar’esh who destroyed those worlds.”
“Oh it was the Thar’esh,” Alume answered. “Make no mistake. They were a blight. Their shadow destroyed Vasudeva, and with it they nearly destroyed the
beating heart of my people.”
“It isn’t the heart of your people that you should be worried about,” I replied. “It is your souls. Navali developed the weapon. And she took fifteen billion lives to keep it from the Thar’esh. She knew if a single one of her people was left alive that the Thar’esh could have taken their memories and technology. And you, you choose to hide the truth.”
“As I told you,” he answered. “It is our duty to discern which books should be written, which books should be forgotten, and which should be burned.”
“Fear,” I said slowly. “It’s all about fear isn’t it? You think it’s better for your people to be afraid of what is out there than know what their own people are capable of, don’t you? Scare them with stories of the Thar’esh, and uphold the stoic endurance of the Celestrials?”
“This is all very moving,” Alume said dryly. “But immaterial. I won’t be lectured by a child. You say you destroyed whatever it was the Thar’esh left behind? I want to believe you. I honestly do.”
“Yes,” I answered as I keyed in and broadcast the coordinates. “Run a long range scan, you’ll see the after-effects of a plasma bomb.”
There was silence for several moments. The Collegiate fighters remained, poised for attack.
“I see remains, yes,” Alume responded. “Splendid. Then our job is half done.”
“Half?” Teigan interrupted.
“You and your pilots have fought bravely commander,” Alume said solemnly. “Take your end with dignity.”
In the distance there were flashes of light as the Collegiate fighters ignited their thrusters.
“Damn you!” Teigan roared.
“They’re incoming,” Trasher called. “All of them. Three minutes to intercept.”
“What about those Draugari warheads?” Someone asked.
“A bluff,” Loid answered flatly.
“A bluff?” Teigan snapped back.
“It was the best idea we had,” Loid answered. “At least it bought us some time.”
“It also bought them time,” Teigan replied. “Now they’re re-armed and fueled.”
I looked out at the wave of oncoming fighters. There was nowhere to run or hide. They would be on us in minutes. Like the Draugari fleet, we had already lost, and the Celestrials only needed to come in for the kill.
Despair began to set in when I saw it, a faint flash somewhere distant to my right, and then another, and another. It took me several seconds to realize what it was: the flux point. As I craned my head and peered into the blackness. I saw a shadowy bulk lumbering forward. The shape was huge, ominous, and unmistakable against the stars even at that distance.
A message was being broadcast on all channels:
“This is Earthborn Protectorate Dreadnaught battle group Dante. The Protectorate has granted a petition to deem this system as a provisional colonial outpost. All register Protectorate and non-Protectorate vessels, please cease and desist any activities, and either petition for a temporary authorization, or observe and acknowledge that you have eight hours to vacate the system.”
Chapter 37
It was a clear, bright day. I was one in three-hundred, standing at attention. Our uniforms were crisp white. Our shoes polished to a perfect sheen. I held my chin high and ignored the sweat on my palms. Face forward. I quickly straightened the new badge on my chest that read Private McCullough.
The Admiral walked to the podium with deep solemnity.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today you become more than men and women,” his voice boomed. “Today you take your first, real step from being just boys and girls, toward becoming a piece of something more, something greater.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
“Because today, you take your first step toward joining the highest cause for the Earthborn. You follow the worn, proven, and noble path of the fleet. This is a tradition that draws back distant to the days before when we were stuck floating along the oceans back on Earth. Today, we sail further, faster, and bolder than we ever have before. We reach for the heavens that our ancestors dreamed of.”
He paused.
“Men and women, today you become soldiers and sailors. From today on, you are the Protectorate of the Earthborn.”
The grandeur of the Dante’s entry dissolved into anticlimax as the bureaucracy settled in. We were ordered to remain in orbit for the next two hours while the Dante crossed the system and began to inspect each ship’s registration and what their business was. As I sat in my ship, I ran scans, trying desperately to find any sign of Growd’s shuttle, but there was nothing. If Alume’s fleet had caught him in their net, there would be nothing left. If he had made his way toward one of the flux points he would still be on long range scans. The shuttle was nowhere to be found.
Alume, once again calling himself Caleeb, went back to his story about how he and the Collegiate had come to the system to start a new colony, only to run into a roving band of Draugari, and ultimately find that the planet was already colonized by the humans. Though he acknowledged that his ships and the colonists had exchanged fire, he insisted that any engagement was in error, and that they had mistaken our defense force for another wave of Draugari.
For our part, we didn’t argue. The Collegiate were withdrawing, and the Dante promised to leave a garrisoned defense force in system. The colony was safe. Whether the Dante’s commander believed the tale or not didn’t much matter. As Loid pointed out to me later that evening, relations between the Protectorate and the Empire were tenuous, nobody was willing to risk open war; not even Alume.
Especially not Alume, I realized as I brought in my Falcon down to the landing field. Both the Empire and the Protectorate were ruled by fear. Whether it was the threat of Draugari invasion, or myths of the Thar’esh hiding in the dark, fear is what kept the common men and women quiet and in line. I thought back to Filian and Taro’s memories. Fear had ruled the Thar’esh, there was no question of that. Maybe the fear was universal? Was fear the pillar that holds up the structures of nations? I hoped not. There had to be another way.
I was lost in my thoughts as I powered down the Falcon and stepped back out onto the landing field. As soon as my boots touched the dust, reality of what I had done closed in around me like a noose.
The first person I saw was Ju-lin. Teigan was with her, smiling and talking. Her hair was matted from the sweat in her helmet. I stood some distance off, watching and waiting. But she never looked my way. I was certain she knew I was there. How could she not? I wanted to talk to her, to see her, to hold her like I had before. But my desire was mixed with a rising sense of paternal care, and even pride. Lee’s fatherly feelings shadowed my own. What would I say to her? What could I say to her?
“Helluva day,” a friendly hand was on my shoulder. I turned to see Loid. He looked haggard, and for the first time, old.
“You aren’t kidding,” I responded with a sigh.
“Keep your distance,” he said following my gaze. “Trust me on this one.”
“I don’t want to keep my distance,” I answered. “I need her to know what happened. I need you and Chen to explain it to her.”
“Explaining won’t help,” Loid answered. “Her head already understands it all. But her heart is another matter. She will need some time to process it all.”
“Some time?”
“Okay a lot of time,” he answered. “You did kill her father.”
I turned, glaring.
“Gallows humor, sorry,” Loid responded. “It’s my way. All that said, that was some magnificent flying today kid. You saved our asses up there.”
“So what’s next?” I asked. For some reason the last thing I wanted to do was rehash the battle. “Picking up your lumber and flying off to sell it to your friend?”
“I think so,” Loid said as he shrugged. “I’m stuck here for the next week until the Dante lifts the lockdown.”
I nodded.
“I’d invite you along, but-”
“But
what?” I asked.
“Ju-lin,” he said. “She already asked to come with me. This world’s too small for her, that’s for sure. And the fleet isn’t her speed. The structure would strangle her. And I promised the old man I’d make sure she was alright.”
“Oh,” I said sullenly. “Right.”
“If I didn’t let her sign on she would probably fall in with Teigan and his boys. Don’t get me wrong, they are some good fighter-jocks, but the life of a merc turns you cold.”
I nodded again.
“So hey,” he said, trying to pull me out of my mood. “I’m going to go check out the whiskey that Jager says he’s been secretly brewing in an old ceramics kiln. Interested? It will help.”
“I’ll pass,” I said, looking down at the blood under my fingernails. “I need to clean up anyway.”
Unsure where else to go, I was heading back to the old dormitory when Chen caught me in the street and led me back to the hospital. He showed me to a quiet room, the same one that they had brought me to when Lee had first found me. After a long shower and a hot meal, I laid down and finally slept.
Over the next week, the colony was transformed. The crew of the Dante set to work finishing the hydro-electric dam and replacing the dusty field with a proper spaceport capable of berthing a few dozen large combat vessels. The provisional defense force wasn’t large, but it was enough: a dozen fighters, two corvettes, and an armed orbital supply and monitoring station.
I also learned that Marin McCullough, who had returned with the Dante after petitioning the Protectorate for help, had been installed as the provisional planetary governor. He quickly went to work, coordinating aid from the carrier group, and establishing the seeds of the great Earthborn Protectorate on the little colony world.
During most of the week, I stayed to myself in the hospital. Ju-lin turned away when she saw me on the street, avoiding my eyes by miles. Loid came by once or twice a day to check up on me, and Chen made sure I was fed and comfortable. But it was clear that my stay was temporary. Chen had seen to it that few people knew what had really happened with Lee. Though I wasn’t sure what story he gave out, it was clear that the colonists were no more or less skeptical of me than they had always been. Chen told me that there were only two other people besides himself and Loid who knew the truth, Ju-lin and Marin.
