by Alan Black
This was a new world and the navigation jump points were barely mapped. The hyperspace time between Allie’s World and Brickman’s Station was only a few minutes, yet they were at opposite ends of the empire’s star charts. There may be closer habitable planets, in spite of that, their hyperspace transit times might be so long it would save time making two or three jumps to get to Brickman’s Station before jumping to Allie’s World. Hyperspace timing was confusing even to the empire’s finest scientists.
They hadn’t heard any non-human signals on Allie’s World previously, nor had they found any sign of intelligent life on the planet. The Vasco de Gama had made a few orbits and after roughly mapping the planet, they settled into a geo-synchronous orbit over the base. The other planets in the solar system were mapped by telescope, and like most planets in the galaxy, were uninhabitable. Unfit for humans didn’t mean they were without value. The system had a gas giant with a dozen or so planet-sized moons that should generate profit for everyone investing in Allie’s World, as would the small frozen rocks at the outer reaches of this solar system. The rule of thumb was that uninhabited planets were property of the nearest inhabited planet’s owners.
Stone had to be careful not to allow any permanent settlements on any of the other planets until he was well and truly reassigned somewhere else. Permanent settlements, even small mining communities would reclassify the planet as habitable and it would fall under his jurisdiction since the new community was in the same solar system.
Ruling a small settlement wouldn’t be an issue, he could delegate the responsibility of site management to someone else. However, two permanent settlements on two separate bodies in the same solar system was the empire’s litmus test for allowing the appointed planetary governor to be upgraded to king status. Stone didn’t want to be a king, whether the position was appointed by the Emperor, self-proclaimed or elected. Grandpa ruled the family with an iron fist, but he hated politics outside of the family tree and Stone agreed. People were too unpredictable and too hard to lead.
The Emperor ruled over a multitude of kingdoms: some hereditary, some appointed, some elected, and even a few who were self-proclaimed, ruling by the might and main. The Emperor also ruled over a wild hodgepodge of otherwise governed planetary systems, from the most popular system, democratic republics, to theocratic assemblies, to even a few planets who refused any law except the required adherence to the Empire Constitution, giving the Emperor his appointed powers and giving individuals their enumerated personal chartered rights.
Being emperor or empress wasn’t hereditary. The constitution required the Emperor appoint a qualified successor from among humanity’s teaming masses. The Emperor’s College was well known for sifting through tens of thousands of reports on possible heirs to the throne, but no one knew where those reports came from or who was being evaluated. Everyone knew there was always one selectee ready to ascend to the throne. The Emperor was young and he was expected to rule for decades if not longer, but human life being as fragile as it is, there had to be a selectee in the wings at all times.
Solar systems with more than one planet often started as kingdoms under the empire’s oversight. A few neighboring solar systems banded together to form kingdoms, monarchies, duchies, and princedoms, yet, all bowed their knee to the Emperor. Stone didn’t want to be a king. Being an appointed governor was bad enough, but ruling over civilian settlements wasn’t in his long-term plans. He and his family may own the vast majority of this planet, however, ownership didn’t mean he was qualified to be a king. He was sure the Emperor knew he wasn’t qualified. His inexperience and lack of political acumen were why he had been appointed governor. It would give the Emperor the leverage he needed to slant any profit schemes toward his ten percent ownership.
Stone tapped the conference table calling up an image of the solar system. There were only six planets available for exploitation, but only Allie’s World was in the Goldilocks zone, neither too cold nor too hot. He swirled a finger through the hologram picture, moving planets about to see what, if anything, might be hiding behind them. Ryte’s report said she’d done the same thing, partnering up with the communications tech on the navy ship above. There weren’t any indications of human or non-human presence except his command.
Vance and Marvin would deliver a string of satellites to spread around above Allie’s World. If someone or something was hiding behind the planet, they would remain hidden until the satellite relays were set in place. He would ask Butcher to do a closer solar system scan once the Iridium Rock and its satellites arrived. Stone wasn’t worried. Sooners often tried to sneak onto newly discovered planets to settle unmapped land, making early claims of huge homesteads, farms, and ranches for themselves. Sooners contacting other sooners using coded signals on cobbled together communications equipment might sound non-human.
Many times, such people tried to declare they were there first, filing suit in the courts alleging ownership of the planet. Rarely did they succeed, as the rightful owners usually gave them their choice plots of land or paid them a settlement to make them and their lawsuits go away. Any sooners on Allie’s World would be sorely mistaken as the Emperor wasn’t known to take kindly to extortion or blackmail, figuring graves were cheaper to dig than paying someone to go away. Grandpa had warned him this might happen. He’d stressed Stone should leave it for Vance and Marvin to settle, as the Emperor might be tempted to send in his marines to settle any disputes. Grandpa didn’t like paying tribute or nuisance suits, but sometimes under-the-table payments were cheaper than long drawn out legal affairs. Not to mention, the Emperor didn’t have to worry about the bad press like the Stone Freight Company would. Even kings had press agents to spin their news.
He would mention it to Butcher. Having the Vasco de Gama in stationary orbit above the planet would allow anyone to sneak in on the backside of the planet, even more so if that someone had found another navigation point into the solar system. Even if the navy was tasked with base overwatch, they still should be able to send some of their shuttles on survey orbits checking for the source of an unknown signal.
Stone sent a message back to Thomas asking him to follow up with Ryte for additional signal traces. He glanced up just as Numos strode into the room. The major grinned at Stone, not the least bit confused that the planetary governor had beat him to the table. Butcher’s hologram didn’t appear. The man himself followed the marine major into the room. He wasn’t grinning. His frown was a permanent feature, not even cracking as he greeted Thomas like an old friend. Numos and Butcher seated themselves on Stone’s left.
Stone hadn’t expected Butcher to drop to the planet. He preferred the man stay aboard his ship. Wanting the man to stay away was petty, Stone felt like Butcher watched his every move, trying to find fault in everything he did. Having MCPO Thomas babysitting him was bad enough, but having a lieutenant commander as a subordinate, watching his every misstep made him stumble more often than he would have if they’d left him alone.
He wished 1LT Vedrian was at his back. Allie was a marine, second in command of the marine forces, and she was still his girlfriend, even if they were unable to do anything about it. He was technically in command of Maj Numos and Allie reported to the major. Since they were in the same chain of command, they couldn’t have any relationship beyond casual friends. Anything else was against regulations. Having her close by was frustrating, yet not having her around was worse. He was sure she could suppress any gossip about a relationship between them, just as she stomped out jokes about being assigned to a planet named after her. However, as long as he was the planetary governor, Grandpa and Numos had been clear how any relationship between them was inappropriate. That was something else he held against the Emperor.
Numos didn’t care about Stone’s rank, but Butcher couldn’t look at Stone without seething. Whether the Emperor thought the situation was funny or he was making it a point that next time Stone discovered a habitable planet, he’d better not stick the Emperor with a
paltry ten percent ownership, Stone was in charge, whether Butcher liked it or not.
Stone left the solar system image hovering over the table and copied everyone with his reply to PO3 Ryte’s signal find. He expanded the image until Allie’s World hovered in the air before him. He spun the planet on its equator, looking behind it. The continents were mapped enough for large rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges to be visible, but there weren’t any signs of roads or settlements. He didn’t expect there to be any changes since the last time he looked, as the planet’s image would only be updated by mapping orbits and there hadn’t been any in a while. There weren’t any indications of spacecraft in orbit around the planet, but there wouldn’t be with the Vasco de Gama using only line of sight scanning.
He glanced at the time. As usual, Mohamed ran on CPT. Civilian Personnel Time invariably meant the man and his assistant would be late. To be polite, he should signal them to see how much longer they would be and then wait patiently until they showed up. Stone wasn’t feeling particularly polite or patient. He hoped the man would be embarrassed when he finally deigned to show up and find the meeting started without him. He doubted it, Mohamed rarely showed any sense of embarrassment at the actions of the creatures around him, creatures he deemed less worthy than himself.
Stone cleared his throat and said, “Let’s get to it, shall we?”
A small chime sounded on Butcher’s comm. “Sorry. We are expecting the Iridium Rock any time now. I wanted to personally be here to help expedite their infusion into the planetary operation.” The man made it obvious he wanted to take a more military role, leaving the civilian ship the duty of supplying the planetary base. He listened into his earbud. “The Vasco de Gama has the Stone’s ship hyperspace transition wake and is receiving their signal.” He pointed at the Allie’s World image still hovering over the table. A small green caret popped into place near the even smaller blue caret marking the location of the Vasco de Gama. “They’re early. They—”
A screaming alarm interrupted Butcher. The ear-splitting wail was broadcasting from every speaker in the compound. Accompanying the nerve-jangling screech were three missile tracks curving from around the backside of the planet on the planetary image in front of them. From the track, it looked like they had been launched from the surface and were gaining in altitude with each passing nanosecond. The image marked the missile tracks in bright red, glowing brighter the closer they came.
Curving upward, boosting to hypersonic, two missiles slammed into the Vasco de Gama and the Iridium Rock. There were no massive explosions, bright flashes or rumbling of distant booms. Both ships simply disappeared from the hologram image. The third missile continued on an atmospheric track curving toward the base.
Stone pushed back from the conference table, tipping his chair over onto the floor. Thomas hit Menendez with a bone-crunching tackle, driving her to the hard deck. Numos ducked, grabbed the conference table, and heaved upwards. The table slammed into the wall completely covering the window. Numos gripped the bottom of the table with both hands and pressed his shoulder against the thick table base.
Stone and Butcher hit the table at the same time. Stone leaned his back against the table, bracing his feet against Thomas’s back. Butcher braced both hands against the table, pressing against it with flexed knees. Menendez struggled to get up from under Thomas, but the combined weight of the master chief and Stone’s pressing legs held her down.
Even through the plexiglass, conference table wood, and the prefab walls, Stone could hear a hissing and thumping. Everyone was shouting and commands blared out of all communications units and personal assistants in the room.
Without warning, Stone found himself flying across the room, smacking face first into the opposite wall. The top side of the heavy conference table slammed into his back, sandwiching him so hard he imagined he looked like mayonnaise oozing out between two pieces of bread, but it didn’t hurt. There was no noise or bright flash of an explosion. He didn’t even hear the table as gravity dragged it back to the floor, nor did he feel the slightest pain as the sandwich fell apart and he crashed down beside the table.
Stone rolled to his hands and knees. Rough hands grabbed him. Someone grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked his face upward. Numos pulled, brutally twisting his arms and legs. Stone wanted to object. He didn’t feel a thing and, although he could see Numos screaming at him, he couldn’t hear a thing.
Over Numos’s shoulder, Stone saw Thomas leap to his feet and yank Menendez up. He pointed at Butcher laying crumpled along the same wall near Stone and Numos. Menendez shook her head, waving empty hands at Thomas. The pair was shouted at each other, but Stone was deaf as a rock. The dust was thick and he thought he could read Thomas’s lips as the man shouted something about not giving a fudge and literally threw the doctor at Butcher. He couldn’t understand why the master chief wouldn’t share candy even if he had some. Besides he knew Allie liked fudge, maybe Thomas would give him some.
“Allie,” Stone said. There was something about Allie, yet he couldn’t think what he was supposed to do. He supposed she would tell him the next time he saw her.
Numos waved a bloody hand in front of Stone’s face and shouted at him. Even inches away, all Stone heard was a mumble of jumbled words, not making sense. Of course, if Numos was hurt in the explosion, especially if he had a head injury, then he might not be making sense. The man must be hurt to be covered in so much blood.
Stone shook his head. “Explosion.” was all that came out when he tried to speak. He had to get up. His base had been hit by a missile and Allie might be hurt. Butcher was injured. Menendez and Thomas were both hovering over him. Stone tried to stand and Numos pushed him back on his butt.
Numos waved both hands over his ears.
Stone thought, “Well, at least I am not the only one who can’t hear.”
Numos raised a bloody hand and offered Stone a thumbs up, giving it a little waggle making the hand gesture a question.
Stone nodded trying to return the thumbs up, but two fingers on his hand were bent at odd angles. They didn’t hurt. He looked at the twisted fingers with odd curiosity. He nodded, more to himself than Numos, thinking he must be in shock. A normal human would be screaming and crying in pain. Then it dawned on him. His military nanites had already begun repairing the injury, numbing the pain. They couldn’t reset the broken fingers, but they would anesthetize the damage so he could continue to function.
Numos grabbed his hand and snapped the fingers back into place. Stone screamed in surprise. He stopped when he realized that it hadn’t hurt. He wiggled all of his fingers. They worked. He flashed Numos a thumbs up.
Numos turned and without a word, vaulted through the open space in the wall where the window used to be. He disappeared into the smoke and dust wafting through the courtyard.
Something about the courtyard tickled Stone’s brain. Had he seen Allie in the courtyard? No. Jay and Peebee were there. He pushed to his knees and then to his feet. Thomas glanced up from Butcher with a questioning look on his face. Stone gave him a thumbs up. It had made Numos go away and he hoped it would have the same effect on Thomas, making the man leave him alone. It must have worked because Thomas nodded and turned back to help the doctor with Butcher.
His ears popped. He heard a painful screeching and a distant wonking. He stumbled toward the corridor. The door was open, but the hallway beyond was jammed with what looked like second story rubble. He turned to the window, planning to follow Numos.
He didn’t want to go outside, even into the courtyard, if bombs might still be falling. He couldn’t hear any explosions, but he could feel thumping vibrations through the floor. Outside was dangerous enough without someone trying to blow a person up. The courtyard was enclosed everywhere except overhead. It didn’t have a ceiling, but Allie, Jay, and Peebee were out there and they may be hurt.
Stumbling over chairs, he was amazed to see a small single flower sitting on the floor, upright in its base, completely undamage
d. Just as he reached the window, alien hands grabbed the window lip. A thick spike jammed through the wall. Stone shook his head in wonder. The walls of the compound were heavy titanium ceramic composite that should have stood up to most conventional weapons, not the size of the missile they were bombed with, but strong enough to deflect any breaching tool.
The wall bowed out and with a shriek pulled away from the building. Stone grabbed a table leg as the closest weapon. Numos has been wearing a side arm. Butcher and Thomas were wearing hand weapons. He wondered why he only had a table leg. He heard screaming.
A loud pop made his vision go blurry. He grabbed his knees to steady himself upright and realized he was doing the screaming. He stopped, picked up his table leg again and braced his feet as the wall gave way. Jay wonked at him, leaned a long neck into the room, huffed breath into his face, spun about and raced away. He could hear Peebee crying in the distance. He’d never heard the drascos cry, but there wasn’t any other way he could describe the noise. Clenching his teeth, Stone followed Jay out into the courtyard.
ELEVEN
The smooth parade ground was gone. The dirt was furrowed like an ocean during a storm. The north side of the compound wasn’t there. It hadn’t just disappeared, it’d been shredded, twisted, and torn apart leaving behind a deep ragged hole. He could see pieces and chunks of metal chewed up and tossed into the distant forest. The east and west sides of the compound were damaged, the second stories collapsing down into the first. The south side looked relatively undamaged except there weren’t any unbroken windows.
