Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  With them not becoming part of the Roma Union, they had debts to pay off, but they had already made agreements with the banks of the Union faster and in quiet.

  The senate didn’t even know what was going on when their avenues to enter and know more about the goings-on of the system was cut off.

  Rimateus was working on the angle for getting the banks to do an audit of the system to make sure that they were able to pay back what they owed. It was taking time to go through all of the legal loopholes, but it seemed that there were few left to use.

  It looked as though they would only get concrete information when they entered the system.

  “The system is underdeveloped, with a population of twelve million that have a technology base from the medieval time period. They only have a few thousand sets of outdated powered armor and weapon systems that were sold to them.

  “They might have the Yard, but it has moved across who knows how many systems. It doesn’t have much capability to mine and most of the workers were at Indalia, which means that they will only get back months before you arrive, according to the plan.

  “Their military force is made out of some ten mergers and then four hundred, maybe six hundred thousand fighters who are either troopers in barely passable powered armor or savages in outdated power armor.

  “They have one vessel that is capable of space combat and it’s an outdated carrier that was left as a tribute floating in the Hellenic system for the past couple hundred years,” Rimateus finished off.

  He hadn’t answered the man’s question but it was clear that he wouldn’t be answering it anytime soon and that he should be capable enough to deal with these small factors.

  “We understand and we will crush them easily under these conditions,” the man said.

  Rimateus’s appraisal of the man mentally rose. He sounded as if he agreed, but actually raised the condition that if things were different than predicted, then it wouldn’t be the Luyten Conglomerate’s fault if they failed.

  Rimateus nodded. “I hope to get regular updates on the condition of the fleet and the upgrades.”

  “We will update you as soon as we can,” the man promised.

  Chapter Seven

  VCF Osdal

  In Transit to Emarl System

  5/3556

  Chen was looking over the different applications by people to become mergers. Most of the crew wanted to become mergers until they learned what restrictions came with it.

  Then they’d rapidly fallen away. Still, there was a good number of people who were interested in becoming mergers and so it had been up to the mergers to review them, their background and see whether they could hack it.

  Only then would they give them the option to become a merger.

  The fact of the matter was that since they had come out with these new rules, nearly two hundred mergers had joined other than those going through selection by the Vanguard.

  These other mergers worked in the various different sectors that had been started up.

  With each merger, it was as if the ship gained a new fabber. They only needed a nanite vat, which took only a few hours to create. Then they could push out part after part at a faster rate than the fabbers.

  They could also make specialized items that were needed for the Moby’s upgrade. The VCF Osdal was nearing the end of their journey, so they were even making parts for the different projects that were going on in the Emarl system.

  Their resources had started to run low so the older generation weapons, armor, and combat shuttles were starting to be broken down and turned into raw materials for the new systems.

  The whole ship had turned into a massive training facility and factory.

  Chen viewed the latest request and denied it after some time. The person meant well, but they had a mean streak in them. If they were given power and later on that mean streak came out, then they could act against others without them even knowing.

  He pulled up the next file. He didn’t immediately integrate the information with his memories as he looked over Taelyon’s information.

  She wasn’t the only member of the command staff who wanted to become a merger. Carla as well as Rasalov had both made the jump and put in their names to become mergers.

  Carla had been okayed and she had set out a date for when she would be turned into a merger. Chen hadn’t reviewed the files for the others and he didn’t know whether they would be okayed or not.

  The mergers didn’t know whether the others had okayed a person or not until the results were given out.

  “Emergency meeting,” Admiral Hall said, opening a channel with the various leaders on the freighter.

  Chen linked into the VCF Osdal’s computer system and added himself to the meeting room as people started to appear in the projected meeting room.

  Charles, Maxine, Ava, Mark, and Zoi appeared quickly. After them came Jerome, Ortiz, Hall, and a distorted space appeared where the intelligence officer, a man everyone called M, sat. A few moments later, Yu appeared; right now, he was running simulations and training with people who wished to become merging-capable pilots.

  “About an hour ago, Dominguez was attacked by three gangs on Earth. They ambushed her at a greenhouse. She was able to retreat from the position and although she is heavily wounded, she is alive and well. For now, we are playing off the fact that she is dead to remove some of the eyes looking on the Westerly Three Complex Crew. Defender Armor was used by the reinforcements to make sure we could safely extract Dominguez and reinforce the greenhouse.” M’s voice was distorted so it was impossible to say whether it was a man or a woman.

  The troopers who had served together looked as if they wanted to murder someone as they looked to one another.

  “Who was it ordered by?” Mark asked between gritted teeth.

  “At this time, I think that the Luyten Conglomerate ordered the attack, but they were given their orders by Senator Rimateus.” M paused for a moment. “It looks like he got close to Tertius Hesra in the recent few days. His son, Admiral Hesra who you guys met in the Otarvi system, lost his vote of confidence, and will have to go to the Hellenic system in order to meet with a review board. It doesn’t look like he will recover his position after this.”

  “Mother fucker,” Jerome growled.

  “Don’t worry—we might not get them now but there will come a time,” Mark said.

  If anyone else said these words about killing a senator of the Roma Union, Chen might think that they had lost their mind.

  “What assets do we have in the area other than those based on the ground or underground building?” Ortiz asked.

  “We don’t have anything other than a few freighters that are undercover still.” Admiral Hall was the overall commander of all ships, not only the freighters and the warships that were being made in the Emarl system.

  “We can’t leave them there. They’re a weakness that they can prod as they want.” Ortiz looked to the others and to Admiral Hall.

  “Well, VCF Hope entered the Masoul system four months ago and departed for Sol two months ago; it should arrive in three more months. VCF Promise is just arriving in-system in a few days. VCF Novum would be our next fastest; if it turns now and starts heading for Sol system, it could get there in four months. That should provide enough lift capacity to pull out our forces and auxiliary personnel back to the Emarl system,” Hall said.

  “This might be an opportunity to try to entice people from the greenhouses and other personnel who are able to work with or develop higher technology,” Zoi said.

  The others looked to him. It seemed that they weren’t as pleased with him bringing it up when people were in danger.

  “He makes a fair point. If we were to take a step backward…” M said.

  The others seemed to pull themselves back before Jerome spoke up.

  “It would be the best idea. We can pull people we need to Emarl and we can also bring all of our people together instead of having everyone spread out,” Jerome said
.

  The forces that they were moving around wasn’t an insignificant number when thinking of all of those EMFCs they had reached out to. They boarded all of the ships that they talked to and all of them had agreed to join the Emarl system or at least check it out.

  “It also looks like Rimateus is planning something big with Luyten and Tertius. Tertius’s ships are moving to the Luyten system, which is recruiting people for the military, and all of them are carrying Alcubierre drives. I don’t think that they are just intending to trade with those kinds of preparations. The Luytens are also spreading the rumor that there are more of the Harmony out there and that they need to hunt them down,” M said.

  “So, we can expect them to attack us in the coming months,” Mark surmised.

  “I believe so.” M drew out the words, pausing. “I also think that this would be a good opportunity for Cassius and Damus to regain control over the Roma Union.”

  “What do you mean?” Chen asked. The others might still have lingering anger but their friend was okay and they needed to look to the future.

  “Cassius and Damus have started taking steps to remove the political powers that lay within the legions. They’re starting on a small scale right now, but if they do it right then they can turn the political factions against one another in the legion so that they are focused on screwing one another over while not thinking of the legions that they aren’t connected with. If they were to use this incident with Rimateus—or someone—looking to attack us, then it would be possible to draw out all of the poisonous snakes in the Union, or at least a good number of them. Then, with the mergers, we’ll be able to drag out all of the problems, give them to Cassius and Damus and they can remove them from power. This would give us an ally with forces completely under their control and we’d be strongly connected to the top of the Union.”

  Chen was a bit shocked, first that Moretti was able to get that kind of information, and the second hearing his plans. They were ambitious as hell. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was certainly possible.

  “We use Emarl to attract all of their attention, get them to attack us there and allow Damus and Cassius to clean up the rats,” Mark said.

  “That’s the gist of it. We can’t leave them to do as they want anymore.”

  “Well, I agree. If they’re going to attack us anyways, we might as well gain a stable ally,” Hall said.

  The others all agreed as well; it made sense. It would be on M’s shoulders to see it was all carried out. Otherwise they had to just hold the Emarl system.

  With no information coming out of Emarl, they won’t know the kinds of things we’ll have in store for them if they come right at us. I wonder if they will be able to manage clearing out all of the political parties that have overstepped their boundaries and deal with the increased attacks by the Maraukians.

  Chen might not be someone from the legion anymore, but it didn’t mean that he had simply cut them off from himself. He had grown up there and his family and friends still called it home. He couldn’t turn his back on it completely.

  ***

  “You okay?” Ava asked Mark after the meeting ended. The two of them had been sleeping in their quarters when the emergency meeting started.

  Mark was about to say he was fine when Ava pinched his arm. There was no sense in lying to try to make her feel better.

  “No, I’m not. Anyone who attacks my little sister better be ready for me to hunt them down no matter what,” Mark said.

  While they were in the meeting, he had gone through the network to gather as much information from everyone involved in the attacks.

  He also knew that the Westerly Three Crew were now readying their forces to go hunting after what remained of the Pistol Monkeys and the Brass Jackals.

  They had killed people from the Westerly Three Crew—they best be ready to stop existing on Earth.

  Still, the fact that he wasn’t there right now with them grated on his nerves.

  “You can’t be there all the time to look after everyone,” Ava said.

  Mark wanted to argue with her, but he knew that it wouldn’t make sense. He damn well wished that he could be everywhere that he was needed. It felt as if all of the fighting was happening and there was nothing in his power that he could do to change the outcome.

  Ava kissed Mark, making his anger die down a bit.

  He could feel her love and care for him, and he could also sense that she, too, wouldn’t let this go. She might have never met Dominguez in person or the people who had died, but they were people who were part of the troopers and they were also people Mark trusted and cared for.

  Ava curled up in his arm and held him tight. He looked to her and pushed the hair out of her face. He had been lucky to find Ava, so lucky he was scared of what might happen.

  He also knew that if he tried to push her away again or change her orders to see that she was safe, she’d kick his ass all the way from Emarl to the Sol system.

  It was a bitter pill to swallow but it was the kind of relationship that he had never expected to have in his life.

  “I’ve got training shift this morning,” Ava said.

  Mark was about to speak. It was his shift to be watching over the new batch of candidates.

  “You need to get this out of your system out a bit. The candidates need to be sifted through, not have their heads chopped off ’cause your head isn’t in the right spot.” Ava slid out of the sheets as clothes started to wrap around her body.

  Mark was distracted by her movements but he nodded. “All right.” Truly they shared each other’s burdens, which had brought them closer together.

  “Figure out how to pay these bastards back.” Ava’s eyes caught Mark’s and he felt the anger behind her eyes.

  “I will,” he promised.

  “That’s my man.” Ava nodded and headed for the door.

  Mark got up from the bed. He only needed a few hours a week of rest. He couldn’t sleep even if he wanted to at this point.

  He looked up the projects that were being worked on with the nanite vats and picked up a few jobs. He needed to do something, and creating different parts was something he could sink his mind into for a few days to try to contain his anger.

  ***

  While Mark was working with making more items, Jerome dove into the work that surrounded the Emarl system. Esamai hadn’t attended the meeting as she was sleeping and Jerome could work while she was getting her sleep.

  She was under a tremendous amount of pressure being the manager of all the Victor Corporation assets in the Emarl system.

  Other companies were starting to rise up, but they couldn’t do all that much yet. They didn’t want the Victor Corporation to be the only power in the system; there was the council of Tricticus but the Victor Corporation’s power was only increasing with time.

  Esamai was under all of this pressure; it was incredibly hard to deal with.

  With Jerome’s decision, he had started to take on a greater number of responsibilities in managing the assets in the Emarl system, lightening the load on Esamai while also speeding up the rate at which the Victor Corporation grew.

  The first warships were being built. Well, they were technically supply ships, but they would be sent out to the mining locations around the system to smelt various materials and send them back to the Yard or the station. The station would also have one of the supply ships there so that it could increase the speed that it developed. As Tricticus’s connection to space, it was a key link that they needed to develop.

  Jerome had also been given access to the largest secret in the Emarl system: the Ark. Esamai hadn’t been told why the planet that the Yard was orbiting was called the Ark, nor the significance of what was inside it.

  This wasn’t because Mark didn’t trust her; it was because she had enough on her plate and Mark didn’t want to pass around this information before it was needed. The Ark was a fully automated facility.

  Mark had sent off a fabber and robots loaded wi
th preset commands and a communication node. They had landed on the planet and headed deep.

  Under the crust of the planet’s surface, a work area was carved out. The fabber worked to make more fabbers; they were assembled by robots, and so on it went, with more and more fabbers being created.

  A large area was carved out, creating different areas in the planet. The materials were fed into the fabbers while lightning rods and other energy-capturing devices were created.

  With the information from the mergers that Mark sent to the Ark, the Ark quickly started to upgrade itself.

  Now it was a massive factory complex that was capable of creating anything it was ordered to. It had been focusing the last couple of months with making warships.

  They took the most time and resources to create. With their modular design, they were easy for the robots within the Ark to put together.

  While there were seven supply ships being finished off, as well as the large freighters in the Yard, there were two battleships, three carriers, one supply ship, and two troop transports. The Ark was built primarily for the mergers though Gorgon tanks, drop-ships, and all items that would be needed to arm the military forces in Emarl were manufactured here. The biggest thing it had created were the anti-matter generators. Two of them were operational and another three were planned to be built.

  Anti-matter was a hard substance to not only make but to contain in large quantities. There were several dozen of the generators across the Roma Union and they barely kept up with the demand of the legion. There wasn’t much that could be used for other experiments.

  The mergers who ran off anti-matter and the other systems that they had designed over anti-matter would be useless without the necessary fuel.

  Without it, then their suits would only be able to last a couple of hours before needing a charge, making them basically unable to fight for extended periods of time.