by K A Carter
Jericho keyed the entry to bring up one of the side cameras. “I don’t see anything on the cams.”
A thirty second delay passed. “Al I’m telling you there’s something moving fast,” she insisted. “Full impulse fast.”
Keon swiped his hand across the monitors and threw the display of his terminal on the screen. The area of asteroids closest. “She’s not wrong.”
It was swift and unfelt at first but an aftershock proved to be shattering. Before he knew it, he was shifting the jumper around, trying to evade hurls of rock that crunched together and broke apart. He shot for the ceiling of the belt, which looked never-ending.
“Holy shit!” Morris yelled. He leaned forward out of his seat, the safety harness keeping him at a distance of falling out.
Jericho pushed a hand forward and the jumper shot up quicker. In front of him, asteroids collided together breaking a part. He spun the jumper around and flew it through a clearing that lead just above the asteroid belt.
“What the fuck is that?” Jericho said as he looked out the window. A clear glance at destruction ensuing in the location they had just evaded from. A creature of some sort.; bigger than the asteroids, bigger than their ship.
Chapter 25: Nario
There was no way he could get to her. It had been decided that the bulk of forces would essentially be concentrated in the four sectors surrounding the Lanx System. Nario hadn’t seen any of the reports. He didn’t know what the conditions were like. Looking for her on the ship’s manifests would take weeks, even if he had the resolve to do something so imbecilic. It didn’t matter that she was off world now.
Representatives from the Federal Committee board office paid a little visit to his office. They were on thin ice in the first place. A reconstruction of their job duties had made them uneasy and open to picking fights.
Erusha was a legacy; it held a particular fondness with the public. The issue was that it only extended to parts of the belt. More specifically, Ceres, maybe enough on Pallas that it wouldn’t waiver any decisions. With the exclusion of research facilities on the Jovian system, it ended there. Although the federation had pushed its presence further out into the Brink, as many of them called the space occupied after the belt, it was unwelcomed by the thriving expanse that stretched to parts of the Kuiper belt.
The corporations had wasted no time solidifying their places as the primary funders to the colonization of the rest of the solar system. Especially with the terraforming techniques that had made government terraforming look elementary. Each essentially doing the same thing only differentiating in time. Corporations like Northbreak were spearheading technological breakthroughs. All of the clout about tugs on control of the Brink slowed for a while. As a result, a trickledown procedure had taken effect. A group that would prove to me made up of the most ambitious of federal leeches.
Nario hated them. In theory, they were the very fabric of politics that he really grew to hate. Whiny rich kids that basically sat at a desk for six hours of a Martian day and glossed over trade deal proposals and agreements. Nario didn’t do his homework on who each one was. He did recognize Zosk. A former party campaigner turned committee idealist. Ledven Zosk might have been the only one out of the bunch who actually exercised his job duties. Either giving the thumbs up or thumbs down on what might work or having the decency to hand it off to someone that would.
The corporations were hard to handle. Somehow, in the great leap forward over the last few centuries, the corporations had surpassed the need for any governing bodies. None accept their own combine. At this point, they were their own governing bodies. Metropolises that made the Brink a self-functioning economy included the vast domed cityscapes on Oberon, Triton, and Pluto. Titan being one of the first terraformed planets in the Brink, had it on the list of most influential planets outside of the inner belt. For that same reason the federation had successfully executed an occupation. A feat accomplished back when Erusha’s father held office. It didn’t do much good. The people of Titan hated the federation for it, and being the closest Brink neighbor to the inner planets brought with it a perpetual feud.
Here they were now. Open doors gave sight to the committee members themselves. A wide range of middle aged to older group. Zosk had a data tablet in his hand. Nario had known they were coming but didn’t bother cleaning up. A mess of degradable plates that were unnervingly stacked on the edge of his desk. His monitor cleared of any tasks, he could see each one of them through the transparent monitor.
“Ahem, Ambassador Lobin,” the woman in the middle of them said. She approached the desk slinging a firm hand. “Martilla Xand. I run this group of committee members and co-run the other four.” She seemed brazenly proud about it. A fair haired woman with a bob cut and plushy cheeks, her hand was small and veiny. Nario was no expert on political practices, but he could tell she was a veteran to it.
He didn’t hesitate to shake her hand. “It’s great to meet you,” It wasn’t, but there was no point in impeding progress before they had even started. He exchanged pleasantries with Zosk and the other members as well. Many of them had looks of discontent. It wasn’t so much to do with being under the operational management of a political novice. In the coming weeks, each of them would be journeying to a cycle of planets designated by certain regions they would be assigned. Zosk would be shipped off to Oberon, from there Miranda and Triton. That didn’t make him particularly excited. Miranda was a growing mining and material manufacturing key. It was on the list, but Oberon and Triton mattered more. Oberon was a thickly populated domed megalopolitan center of the Brink. With a population of close to four million confined to the ten domes and subterranean canals built to connect them, it was first stop. It was an Orcus funded colony. Arguably, the most powerful of the corporations. If successful, the gain of planets like that in the Brink would make for a stronger Federation. Orcus however, was devoid of any centrist necessities. Though it didn’t operate as one, it was a government. The other corporations acting as secular parties almost. It profited from all the planets it controlled, half of the Solar system. It was only by luck that the governments of Venus, Mercury, and Mars denied partnership, instead opting to form the Cooperative Planet Federation. Nario hadn’t visited beautiful Venus, or hardy Mercury, he had developed the notion that anyone crazy enough to opt away was quite the idealist of a unified solar system. A nice thought, but all the more unrealistic. Not now. Still, he had to do all that he could. After all, it was his job. First aliens, then the people that might as well be aliens. The Brink. Though operating under the Federation, the governments on Venus, Mercury, Earth, and Mars, similarly conducted their own business separately. United Nations gaining enough traction to represent Earth as a whole. Venutian Global Republic establishing itself quite easily centuries after itself inhabitation. Mars with its Cydonial Senate as it called it. All unified with equal powers. The only difference was that the CPF was primarily made up of appointed officials from each planet.
Nario had his own questions. He heard rumors about them making contact with other species before he had even been contacted with the offer for the job. But that wasn’t where he was meant to be. The others were tasked with relatively easy jobs; it was time to attempt uniting the solar system. He would’ve rathered moving through the ass end of the solar system on a unity campaign as oppose to his actual duties. Titan would be his next stop, but not before he got into contact with someone.
Rhion had pulled some serious contacts to get a decent subspace transmission beam and intel about Corrinne’s whereabouts. Getting her off deployment wasn’t in the plans, he didn’t want to make things seem unprofessional. Especially with her CO’s almost certainly monitoring subspace chatter. Somehow.
She was on the MCSN Massagua. A marine transport which meant she was surely heading straight to first response. There hadn’t been any reports on whether any combat ensued but it was an unfortunate likelihood.
Nario sat on the faux cotton sheets of his cot that bared a yellow tint. The c
abin wasn’t fully furnished, a desk and burgundy fiber finished table with a glass bowl bound to it and a fancy black couch used only for decoration. None of it made any difference to him. All that was on his mind was the subspace connection. It was still routing on the monitor that took up most of the wall. It wasn’t a guarantee that it would even work.
After an hour had passed. Nario floated around his cabin reading the stack of reports from Lanx sectors. Finally, a video feed popped up and there she was once again. He did well enough to keep his smile only to a grin.
“Uh, Cor,” he paused. “It’s really good to see a friendly face.” Nario inched closer to the wall monitor. He set the data tablet he had been reading on the edge of his cot.
“Likewise,” she replied with a familiar smile. “I was hoping to see you before deployment but I suppose being an ambassador is not exactly light on work.”
“No, it sure isn’t,” he chuckled
“We’re on our way to Piron Lor, in between Myria and the Lanx system. I was only in CIC for briefing but some of the analysts are already getting word of engagements in some of the other sectors.”
It was information Nario was hoping not to hear. He fought the depressive feeling that began to take hold of his jaw just above the neck. An oncoming frown, it was more indicative of worry. “No idea if its hit Piron Lor?” he asked.
“Not yet. Either way, I’m on fighter squadron duty. It’ll be my first runs if I get to see battle.”
She didn’t seem worried about it. She looked beautiful. Nario sorrowed internally. It had hit moments ago and now again, he missed her, but wasn’t sure it was worth telling her. She was on her way to a warzone for lack of a better word. “I,” he fumbled on whether or not he should say it.
From out of the background an ensign yelled vividly through the living quarters. “Officer on deck!”
Corrinne had been using her hand terminal. She didn’t pop up immediately to stand at attention, but instead gave a goodbye for safe keeping... “Gotta go,” she said motioning off of her bunk. “Take care of yourself,”
The feed ended before Nario could get a word in. He was left to his reports and an empty cabin. Something in his gut told him that he would see Corrinne again. That was enough. It would have to be enough to keep him going. He couldn’t keep his mind from bringing up the thought of if she were to get KIA. It would resurface every half an hour, sometimes more often.
Rhion had stayed in Maika City. Someone had to, otherwise anything left unattended would come back to haunt the both of them. Each of them still had Ambassador duties to tend to. Xeno-relation duties. By now, he was likely handling Nario’s workload and his own. He could bare it though. Rhion was made of that rare grit only the best of them had.
The Venture was colder on the main deck as opposed to the cabin. Nario grabbed a ship jacket out of the supplies compartment after his first trips down there only wearing the short sleeve undershirt. There wasn’t much staff. It was much better that way. The ship wasn’t big enough for any full staff positions anyway. The newly modeled main deck, engineering, and housing cabins put in place were built for efficiency rather than space. What once was a rugged cargo transport ship, was now a fairly comfy personal transport. An empty one, but still comfy. Small marine quarters took up the lower deck just above engineering. Nario didn’t like the idea of having an escort. After all, he was a war hero. At this point, he wouldn’t have been able to argue with their CO about the necessity of having an armed guard. Not with the post-civil unrest in key cities planetside. Corporal Ashes Lortain was the guys’ name. Young kid. Another grunt with sly eyes and a fluff of curly red hair that squeezed into a hat. His team and he were playing a card game. He continued past them to the galley to grab a drink. As he opened the solid-state cupboard, Halle chimed on the com link “We’re in orbit of Titan,” she said. “Standing by.”
∆∆∆
It was surprising to see such a beautiful scene covering the skies of such an infamous planet in the eyes of the federation. It was home to some good people nonetheless. The hardworking, the mischievous, the righteous all living and working side by side. To Nario, it was no different than Earth. A large factory of latent disparity that had never quite gotten corrected. With mankind’s push to the stars, it took that same amount of time to address the gap of wealth inequality that subsequently made its way to the colonies.
Somehow in the development of the federation, it took the merging of powers from each inner planet for things to truly come together. The Brink was a completely different story. It wasn’t colonized in the interest of reaching where no one had reached before. The companies saw it as a possibility to get out of the reach of laws. They did just that. And ended up making their own. Titan being one of the first in the Brink to be colonized wasn’t the worse but was damn there close. It wasn’t parasitic and teaming with true danger like its counterparts Enceladus and Pluto. Merc dens and agents for hire all essentially running their little spots of the solar system.
The spaceport the ship had docked in was busy with traffic. It wasn’t like the part of Mars he had been at. Mainly because Nario had no clue where he was going. All he had was an address.
Corporal Lortain was a smart kid. It would’ve been a terrible idea to walk the streets of Clere, the large ridge-sitting city, wearing powered armor and waving military issued weapons around. Lortain and the other three accompanying made it a point to “blend in”.All of them were young too. Private Lena Reese was the buzzcut grunt that bossed around the other two on Lortain’s behalf. Privates Kero and Mueono.
The address brought them to a dark tinted glass tower, a dragon emblem in the courtyard mounted on a slow flowing fountain. High above a a protruding platform that stuck out enough that a personal flyer could take off from it.
It was the corporate giant itself. Orcus.
Chapter 26: S’tiri
Standing there in the circle of well-equipped leaders, all of them from different reaches of the two quadrants, was a new revelation. S’tii only knew himself as a soldier. Never as a leader in any sense of the word. It never occurred to him to be one; even if he was skilled or not. It was the treasure in the box that you’d save only for someone with the right amount of credits. The hissing Gaultian had called in the cavalry for hire.
A staple from her home world, he imagined. Ex-soldiers with no fight or cause. She approached from within the middle of the circle. “These are Karachs. Each have a ship,” she moved uncomfortably close to S’tiri’s face, hissing in a whispering tone. “Fifteen Karachs, fifteen ships. And if it comes to it, thirty thousand troops on the ground.”
“It’s not enough,” S’tiri said.
“You haven’t seen the ships yet,” she said.
She was right. There was no sense in writing them off before seeing all of the assets.
The merc dealer’s name was hard to pronounce for S’tiri. Per her request, he continued to refer to her as Pyx. The both of them, and Garrek, took an orbital shuttle just outside of shrouding clouds above Seheron.
Each ship looked similar to a colossal dagger; somehow appearing more menacing. Silvery plates coating the ships like the shiniest of chrome armor finishes on those Soguls that tended to be rather flashy. He hadn’t seen that since training.
Pyx’s partner was on the bridge. Saar, she was one of the Karachs he’d been introduced to and who would be leading the ships when the time came. Just from first impressions, she was less animated. She didn’t talk much and when she did it was concise and brief. The fact that she was unlike her partner made it a little easier to agree to the buy.
“How is it that you can have such a military force though you still operate outside the confines of your government?” S’tiri asked. He panned the bridge of the Rauvu, taking note of the beautiful layout. Wide open spaces and vibrant lights that bounced off each other to create an unusual ambience.
“Gaultia is not united,” she hissed. “Makes for need, build our own if we must.”
&n
bsp; It made sense, even though he’d never witnessed a group so disconnected from each other. For a mercenary army the Gaultians were doing pretty well for themselves. They seemed trustworthy enough. It would have to do. In light of what S’tiri now knew was on the verge, there couldn’t be anytime wasted. It was likely already ensuing.
Mulaya may have otherwise been doomed. He hoped the contrary. By now, much of the forces that were scattered throughout the quadrant would have hopefully gone back to Mulaya to defend what was already being invaded. It was unknown whether the recognizable distress beacon had been signaled accordingly. In the event of its impending attack, A’tai facilities placed in key provinces on Mulaya possessed automated tightbeams. Distress signals would be sent to reaming fleets to return to the system if the orbit defenses were breached. It had never been used before, but the home world had never been in such danger as it was now.
S’tiri retained all of the information he’d learned while still under the sort of condition that the Draul put him in. He remembered the information on what groups were backing them, what their end game was, and what lengths the Draul would go to in order to achieve it. He remembered the name again. Xefacus. Left to his own thoughts S’tiri’s stomach sunk and he recalled the damaged he had done. A pain that would persist and eat away at him until there was nothing left of his sanity. The only thing he could do to combat it was try and help. Try to lend aid where he could.
He retreated back to his domain; to his room, knowing it was a marker for his worse days. The downfall of his own people had been engineered here. S’tiri destroyed all of the pillars and removed the mats he had once prayed on. Illa helped in rerouting power from the chamber with endless monitors into the cockpit. Then widened it to have a seat for him right behind the pilot’s seat. Sort of like a captain. It was to be more personable again, but it would take time to adjust. All of the adjustments gave clues to S’tiri’s change in disposition. The mercs only knew him as the ominous, blade wielding, cloaked assassin he had forcibly been turned into. Now, right in front of them, he had morphed back into a soldier and a leader. None of them knew that side. Though, they did seem more comfortable around him now.
