by Terry Mixon
“Dammit, Madrid,” Barnes said. “You have a real mouth on you. The use of nuclear weapons is only authorized by Fleet. Do you deny that you knowingly took possession of prohibited weapons and then ordered their deployment in battle?”
“No,” Brad said quietly. “I do not. In fact, I’d do it again, if need be, to wipe scum like the Cadre out of the universe. If you mean to space me for it, I can’t stop you. Let that rest on your own consciences, because mine is clear.”
“So much melodrama,” Bailey said with a sigh. “I take no pleasure in saying that while I personally cheer what you did, you put Fleet in a very bad spot. We literally have no choice other than becoming the bad guys here.”
“The Commonwealth government is in a similar predicament,” Senator Barnes said. “With the evidence, we have no choice but find you guilty of the charges, though I desperately do not want to be the agency of your death.
“My daughter owes you her life. I owe you so much more, too. Given even the slightest choice in this matter, I would dismiss the charges and fete you as a hero.”
“And can you imagine the fucking media circus when your crew starts talking?” Bailey asked. “The public will rightfully point out how impotent Fleet and the Commonwealth as a whole have been at stopping the Cadre.
“They’ll rake us over the coals—rightly so—for punishing the one man able to stop the Terror. You’ve put us all in a terrible catch twenty-two.”
“Yeah,” Brad said ironically. “My sympathy is a little limited right now. Do I at least get to make a final statement? See my crew one last time? Maybe say goodbye to my girlfriend?”
“That’s the very least we can do,” Falcone said. “But I thought you might be willing to consider an alternate set of facts that led to these events. Facts that would spare your life but bind your future in ways you might not prefer.”
“They say that nothing concentrates the mind like being hung in the morning,” Brad said. “What do you have in mind?”
To say that Jason and Shelly were shocked when he stepped onto Oath’s bridge an hour later would’ve been a gross understatement. They’d only been expecting Falcone.
Michelle flew out of the spare seat and raced across the bridge to clutch him tightly. “They let you go? Thank the Light they came to their senses.”
Falcone cleared her throat. “Not precisely. We came to an agreement and retconned the ill-fated series of events that led you to this place with the approval and endorsement of Fleet, the Commonwealth Investigative Agency, and the Commonwealth government.
“Basically, we’re all lying in a way that makes what you did legal. Unfortunately, it has consequences for all of you.”
Brad kissed Michelle and gestured for her to resume her seat. “This affects you, too. Not you, Michelle, but the Vikings.”
“How?” Shelly asked warily.
“The only way we could use nukes without violating Commonwealth law was by being Fleet. This probably comes as a great shock to you, but a month ago on Mars, this ship became a Fleet reserve vessel and you all received reserve commissions.”
Jason laughed. “That’s it? We’ve been expecting doom for two weeks, and they could have backdated that commission at any time. I’m fine with that, but I’m not so sure how the Mercenary Guild will see it.”
“There is precedent,” Falcone said. “Three other mercenary commanders were also reserve Fleet officers. One of them commanded a ship that was also a reserve vessel. I have no idea what hoops you’ll have to jump through, but someone went down that road already.
“That said, it isn’t all you’d be doing. And this includes you, Michelle.”
Michelle’s eyes widened. “Me? You want me to be a reserve Fleet officer? I was a diver captain, who is no doubt in big trouble for dumping her cargo near Blackhawk Station, blowing said cargo up, and then losing her ship. I probably don’t have a job anymore.”
“You do now,” Falcone said. “Partly because you’ve become a target for the Cadre and partly because Brad thinks you have something to offer. In any case, I wasn’t really talking about that.”
His girlfriend’s eyes narrowed and she held up a finger, stopping Falcone.
“Before you so cavalierly move on, I want to know what kind of job Brad could have for me. Not that I’m saying no, but a girl likes at least the illusion she has a choice.”
“I need a captain for Heart of Vengeance,” Brad said quietly. “That was going to be Jason, but with Marshal dead, I need him here.”
“Me?” Michelle asked incredulously. “Captain a mercenary ship? I was a diver captain. I’ve never fired a weapon in my life.”
“Tell that to all the Cadre ships you vaporized,” he said. “You’ve destroyed more Cadre vessels and killed more pirates than the majority of the mercenaries in the Guild. I will have zero trouble getting you membership.”
That set her back on her mental heels. Before she could resume, he held up a finger of his own.
“I know you’ll have a lot to learn, but we have some good teachers in the Vikings. Don’t reject the idea until you hear the whole story. Please.”
She considered that before slowly nodding. “I’ll hear you out.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Falcone. “I’ll have to run the reserve Fleet commissions past everyone to be sure, but I don’t think they’ll object. Tell them the rest.”
“My superiors think Brad is a bit of a loose cannon,” Falcone said dryly. “I’m not sure why, but they think he needs more in the way of supervision.”
Brad laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Me? I heard it was you they said that about.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture. The Commonwealth government and the Commonwealth Investigative Agency have agreed that they both need to keep an eye on Brad.”
“What she’s tap-dancing around,” he said, “is the fact that I was given the choice of becoming an agent or getting that death sentence.”
“Talk about do or die,” Jason muttered. “Are you seriously telling me that they held a gun to his head to take the job? How can you possibly expect he won’t be bitter?”
“Because my mission is the same as it has been for the last few years,” Brad said. “Find and destroy the Cadre. That included whoever has to be supporting them. Jack Mader escaped. He was off on Lioness, the Terror’s flagship. He and a lot of pirate ships are still on the loose. And we still have no idea what they are doing with regards to the He3 refining in the Outer System.
“The Terror was a sadistic piece of crap, but Jack Mader is smart. He’ll be much more dangerous than any Cadre leader we’ve ever faced. The fight is changing. It’s no longer about one man’s vengeance. I can’t be a vigilante anymore. That part of my life is over.
“But I won’t stop until every last pirate is dead or captured. I’m now an agent for the Commonwealth Investigative Agency, and Kate Falcone is my partner and boss, at least as far as the non-military parts of what I do. Can you work with that?”
Jason and Shelly glanced at one another and shrugged at the same time.
“I don’t see why not,” Shelly said. “Are we like junior agents? Do we get badges?”
“No,” Falcone said with a chuckle. “The stress of having an agent in charge of a mercenary company will cause enough complications, I suspect. He can’t hide that from the Guild. It would violate the agreement they have with the Vikings.
“I believe we can make the case to the Guild leadership and get this past them. They’re not immune to the public-relations aspects of this story, either. Still, it’s best not to push things too far. The Agency will pay the Vikings a retainer for the work we want you to do, by the way. As will Fleet.”
Jason perked up. “Does that mean we get to carry nukes all the time?”
“Let’s not push our luck,” Brad said dryly. “Maybe they’ll trust us with them one day, but today is not that day.”
“Captain Fields wants to know a
bout the pulsars,” Jason said. “He was really interested. Maybe we could trade.”
Before Brad could respond, the hatch behind him slid open and Dr. Duvall stepped onto the bridge. “Ah. I was told they’d released you, Commodore. Excellent. That means I can take you in for your final treatment in a less-confined manner.”
By that, she was undoubtedly referring to the armed Marine guards who had accompanied him to all the regeneration sessions during his captivity.
“Your timing is good, Doctor. Shall we?”
Once Duvall had him back to the sickbay and strapped into the regeneration machine, she closed the hatch and locked it.
That was new.
“I needed to pass along something that I’ve learned,” the doctor said quietly. “About the Terror.”
Brad frowned. “I can’t imagine anything you could say that would require locking the door.”
“You and he were related,” she said bluntly. “The gene scan indicates he was almost certainly your uncle on your maternal side.”
“My what?!” Brad felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“I do not joke about medical matters,” Duvall said stiffly. “I only chanced across the data accidentally. The doctor aboard Eternal passed the medical examiner’s report on to me as a courtesy. When I imported it, my software notified me of a match in my private database.
“I have no idea what it means, but the man known as the Terror once went by another name: Armand Riggio.”
Stunned didn’t begin to describe how Brad felt. He hadn’t even known his mother had siblings. And the Cadre had killed her when they killed his father. What kind of sick bastard killed his own sister?
“Wait,” he said, holding up his free hand. “How could I never have heard of him?”
Duvall shrugged. “I can’t imagine. There is no doubt, though. His gene records were on file in the Commonwealth database. That’s where the medical examiner made the identification. Perhaps you could ask your uncle why he never mentioned the Terror was his brother-in-law when you find him.”
His uncle was still missing, as were the other survivors from Mandrake’s Heart, but Brad now knew there had been survivors.
Fleet had questioned the captured pirates closely, and Brad had asked them to get the information. Half a dozen people had been captured alive on Mandrake’s Heart, including Boris Mantruso.
Unfortunately, none of them were here and no one knew where they were being kept or why.
One more mystery to be solved. One more secret to hold.
“Thank you, Doctor,” he said with a sigh. “Do you think I’ll be able to recover full use of my hand?”
“I do,” she said with a smile. “Some of my best work under what I would charitably call trying circumstances.”
That was great news. If his guesses were correct, he’d need every weapon at his disposal to stop Jack Mader and the Cadre.
“And, if I might be so bold?” Duvall continued. “Your young lady has been very worried about you. Now that you are free, shower her with attention. She’s a keeper.”
Brad smiled. “You have no idea, Doctor. She and I have a lot to discuss. A future we never dreamed of.”
“You know what they say. ‘Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.’”
He laughed. “How true. To life, then.”
Other books by Terry Mixon
You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.
The Empire of Bones Saga
Empire of Bones
Veil of Shadows
Command Decisions
Ghosts of Empire
Paying the Price
Reconnaissance in Force
Behind Enemy Lines
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 1
The Humanity Unlimited Saga
Liberty Station
Freedom Express
Tree of Liberty
The Fractured Republic Saga
Storm Divers
The Scorched Earth Saga
Scorched Earth
The Vigilante Duology with Glynn Stewart
Heart of Vengeance
Oath of Vengeance
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Other books by Glynn Stewart
For release announcements join the mailing list or visit GlynnStewart.com
Vigilante (With Terry Mixon)
Heart of Vengeance
Oath of Vengeance
Duchy of Terra
The Terran Privateer
Duchess of Terra
Terra and Imperium
Castle Federation
Space Carrier Avalon
Stellar Fox
Battle Group Avalon
Q-Ship Chameleon
Rimward Stars
Operation Medusa (upcoming)
Starship’s Mage
Starship’s Mage: Omnibus
Hand of Mars
Voice of Mars
Alien Arcana
Judgment of Mars
Starship’s Mage: Red Falcon
Interstellar Mage
Mage-Provocateur (Upcoming)
Changeling Blood
Changeling’s Fealty
Hunter’s Oath (Upcoming)
ONSET
ONSET: To Serve and Protect
ONSET: My Enemy’s Enemy
ONSET: Blood of the Innocent
ONSET: Stay of Execution (Upcoming)
Stand Alone Novels
Children of Prophecy
City in the Sky
