Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  He raised his voice. “Your car can land on the roof, Coordinator. Allow me to take you up there myself.”

  She smiled. “You’re clever. I like that in a man.”

  “You’re making me blush,” he said with no sign of any such redness. “We should make our exit now.”

  He led them to the stairwell and started down, but the security team insisted on going out front. The trip to the basement was noisy and quick. Deep underground, machinery sat in the darkness. The emergency lights were few and far between.

  The ever-resourceful Charlotte produced hand-held lights from a maintenance locker. Zapata led them through a side corridor and into a tunnel.

  “Do you know where everything is?” she asked Charlotte.

  The woman nodded seriously. “Yes.”

  Olivia smiled. “You may just be the most competent person I’ve ever met.”

  “Thank you.”

  The tunnel was dark, but clean and clear of debris. They made excellent time to the destination building and quickly went up the stairs to the parking level.

  The building still had power. Her vehicles stood in a line, ready to go. Behind them, a grav van with a fold-down satellite transceiver and the Channel 7 logo was pulling up. The cameramen and staff that had followed the producer swarmed it.

  Olivia gestured for one of her people to go with them. “In case we get separated, make sure they get to the rally point. I’m beginning to think a record of what we’re doing here might be very useful.”

  She turned to Jackson Zapata. “I’m not going to tell you where we’re going, just in case you get picked up. Thanks again for all your help.”

  The handsome man grinned. “I haven’t had this much excitement in years. I just hope that everything works out without too much violence.”

  He said the last with a note of solemnity. She wondered if he practiced the expression in the mirror. Probably, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t genuine.

  Olivia made her way to the getaway car. The air car couldn’t have been as fast as the vehicle Abigail had destroyed, but if there was a problem, it might be able to outrun it.

  She climbed in. “Ready? Let’s get out of here before the world comes down on our heads.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He brought the vehicle to a hover and took them out of the building with the others following behind.

  They took the side roads out, but she still saw a several security vehicles speeding toward the broadcast building. She didn’t breathe easily until they were away from the whole area.

  * * * * *

  “Am I surrounded by incompetents?” Abigail screamed at her assistant. “This is unbelievable! Can anyone do anything right? Anything at all?”

  The man was in on almost every aspect of the plan, so she wasn’t giving anything away by ranting at him in her soundproofed office. Part of her knew that it wasn’t his fault. None of this was his doing, but she didn’t care. How could they have missed killing Olivia? The one thing they absolutely had to do. This was all going to come apart.

  “Deputy Coordinator, I understand you’re angry, but if you insist on ranting, Coordinator West is going to rally people around her. You need to find her and stop her right now if you intend to avoid hanging.”

  His calm rebuke hit her like a bucket of ice water. She forced herself to take a deep breath and stepped back from the cliff. “I…You’re right. Of course you are. Go write me something to tell the press. This isn’t Coordinator West. It’s an impostor. Tell them she doctored the statement. Tell them she’s the one staging the coup. Anything. We only need to keep a lid on this until we find her and kill her.”

  He nodded. “An excellent idea, Deputy Coordinator. I’ll have something for you in a few minutes.” He left her office at a dignified pace.

  She buried her head in her hands as soon as he closed the door. This was all going wrong so quickly. She had to get back on top of the situation right now.

  Her com signaled. Not the official one, but her private unit. A glance showed it was Master Calder.

  “Master Calder,” she said, astonished that her voice was so level. “There have been some unexpected developments.”

  “So I saw,” he said with more than a hint of anger. “I’d ask you how she survived, but I think we both know the answer to that. She suspected a trap and sacrificed her security detail. That’s much more cold-blooded than I expected from her. And, to be fair, killing her wasn’t your task.

  “Unfortunately, your head is on the platter if we don’t regain control. You need to discredit her tonight. Or at least leak enough information to do that for you. Here’s what I want you to do…”

  Five minutes later, she’d made a call to the people overseeing her personal prisoners. They’d increase the guard and start questioning them again. This time they’d record everything and doctor the vids to implicate Olivia in a plan to become the dictator of Harrison’s World, in coordination with rogue Fleet elements.

  And she had the perfect way to distract everyone. A quick check of the timing on Operation Damocles told her that she could move the plan up to take place in half an hour. Not all the elements would be precisely in place, so there would be a delay of about twenty seconds. That shouldn’t matter. No one would be able to react in time to make a difference.

  She walked out to her assistant’s desk with a cold, hard smile on her face. She’d hunt Olivia down like a rabid dog. The woman wouldn’t be able to do one thing to change her fate, no matter what evidence she had.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  To say that everyone was shocked when Jared strolled onto the bridge would’ve been an understatement. Even Invincible didn’t seem immune to that emotion.

  Zia gaped at him and jumped to her feet. “Admiral! You’re back! I had no idea you were even on your way up.”

  “Indeed,” Invincible added. “In fact, no transport has left the surface at all. Your presence here on this vessel seems impossible. Would you care to explain, Admiral?”

  Jared shook his head. “Actually, I think I’ll leave you all in the dark for a bit. This is my friend Roger. Invincible, he has full guest privileges and you can speak freely in front of him. Plus, his first drink is on my tab.”

  “Of course, Admiral. Hello, Roger.”

  The man frowned at the ceiling. “Is that a computer? It doesn’t sound like a computer.”

  “It’s a long story,” Jared said. “One we don’t have time for right now.”

  He stepped behind Zia’s command chair and glanced at the superdreadnought’s status screens. “We all seem to be in one piece. Keep the marines on the island on high alert. Our lost people are loose and making their way toward them now. I’m not certain how they’ll make themselves known, but they’ll be on cargo lifts.”

  Zia nodded. “I’ll see that Major Talbot is informed. What about the Princess?”

  “She’s working on rounding up the last of our people. About a hundred of them were separated from the rest. And, we’ve made some new friends below. I’ll want the senior staff brought together in my office in twenty minutes. What’s Courageous’ status?”

  “She’s relocated to the Pentagar-bound flip point, sir. The jammer there started emitting a warning signal. Some kind of malfunction. Doctor Leonard thinks it might have received some subtle damage during the battle before we deployed it. We’ve relocated every other vessel to cover the flip point in case we have unexpected visitors while it’s offline.”

  “That’s smart. If we have any more computer-controlled destroyers pop in while we have no cover, we’re dead.”

  “That’s what Captain Graves thought, as well. We broke the encryption on the base AI while you were incommunicado. There are two additional pairs of destroyers out on patrol. One in the direction of the Imperial core and the other through the worrisome flip point. The AI expected the patrol in question to return about two days from now, but it might be early. The other patrol is a week out.”

  “Was there any other informa
tion I need to know about on the AI’s data storage?”

  The slender officer shrugged. “We’re still skimming the data. Considering the source, we thought it a little risky to have Invincible sorting it out. Doctor Leonard has it hooked up to the standalone system and Carl Owlet is overseeing a team. He hopes to have the basic outlines of what’s there in a couple of days, but detailed information is going to take longer.

  “There’s one bit of good news. The AI wasn’t expecting any direct visits from the Rebel Empire. With the system on lockdown, there’s no need. This AI sends a destroyer to pass on an update once a year and that isn’t due for another six months.”

  That gave them some breathing room, but presented its own set of problems. They had no modern destroyer to send. Or, actually, they might. There was the Rebel Empire destroyer they’d disabled at Erorsi. With the flip carrier to transport it here, they might be able to get it online again in time.

  Well, one problem at a time.

  “Okay, let me bring you up to speed on what’s happening on Harrison’s World.”

  The lift doors slid open and two people stepped out onto the bridge. Marine Captain Talbot and Crown Princess Elise Orison.

  She rushed over and gave Jared a fierce hug. “I just heard you were back. I was so worried.”

  It was good to hold her, but the bridge wasn’t the place and this wasn’t the time. “I’m sorry about that. I was just about to explain what was going on down there. And Kelsey is fine, Talbot.”

  He nodded. “I figured she was, but she’s in the middle of it, isn’t she?”

  “Surprisingly, no. Just the outer edges. It seems that Coordinator West is actually aligned with a resistance movement that’s been around since the Fall. She and her people were responsible for outfitting Invincible. And, they’re in control of the Grant Research Facility.”

  “Is that how you made your miraculous appearance?” Invincible asked. “I’ve looked over the logs and an exterior maintenance airlock was accessed before you surprised us all, so I’m going to rule out teleportation. For now.”

  That distracted Jared from his story. “Is teleportation even possible?”

  “Admiral, with a sufficiently advanced technology, almost anything is theoretically possible. That feat remains highly implausible, however. You were saying.”

  “Right. They’ve been working on some very effective shielding technology.”

  “Obviously,” Zia said sourly. “How am I going to ever live this down? Someone actually boarded us without me knowing.”

  Roger grinned. “If it’s any consolation, the Admiral gave me some pointers.”

  “You’re not helping. How does it work?”

  “Magic? I have no idea. I’m just the pilot.”

  That answer obviously didn’t please Jared’s flag captain. “Invincible, go to full active scans. If there’s a pebble sneaking along near us, I want to know about it.”

  “I’ll assume that was meant less than literally. Commencing active scans. No vessels or anomaly’s detected.”

  “Well, keep an eye on things. If you spot something unusual, let me know and take appropriate countermeasures. No more surprises.”

  * * * * *

  Kelsey felt a bit ridiculous flying around in a van wearing a set of combat armor. She couldn’t even sit down. She had to stand in the rear, braced against the wall. She had her usual array of heavy weapons slung outside her suit.

  God help her if someone stopped them for an inspection.

  At least she’d been able to convince her marine guards to take more mundane transportation to the capital. Jared’s companions had gone with them. In this getup, she didn’t need any extra protection.

  The driver took her out to the swarm of press air cars at the edge of the military exclusion zone around the island. “We just got an official warning not to cross into the interdicted area,” he told her. “I’m not seeing any cargo lifts.”

  “What about closer to the mainland? Do you think they might be there?”

  “Probably. The nearest city is a port.”

  “Take us that way. I’ll know if we get close.”

  The man took the van back toward the coast while Kelsey checked her Fleet com through her implants. No signal yet, but it would register the other com as soon as it came in range.

  They passed over the city and curved up the coast toward the north. It looked beautiful, she thought. It was right on the equator and seemed warm and toasty. The beaches were gorgeous, even at night. Perhaps especially at night. So romantic.

  Her com beeped. “I think we just touched the edge of their range.”

  As they left the city behind them, her com locked on. She opened a channel and waited for someone to answer.

  “Yes?” a voice asked cautiously.

  “You know this is a Fleet com, so don’t sound so suspicious. This is Princess Kelsey. I’m just south of your position.”

  “Ah. Good point, Highness. I’m Command Master Chief Ross. I have almost all of the prisoners with me on four lifts.”

  That was excellent news. “Great. Put Commander Meyer on.”

  “He’s not here, I’m afraid.”

  She frowned. “Where is he?”

  “He took a team to the capital to find the missing crewmen. I have his civilian com number, but we’re out of range for that network.”

  Dammit. That complicated things. He should’ve just come with everyone else and let her find the missing people. Of course, Kelsey was sure Talbot thought the very same thing about her when she went rogue, so she probably shouldn’t point that out.

  “Give me his number.” She stored it in her implant memory for later and turned to face the rear of the van. She had a good view of the city from there and could describe the docks for them. “Now, we have a warehouse at the nearest port. That’s safer than running the blockade around the island. What I want you to do is—”

  The night lit up brighter than day. The intense blast of light from the center of the city would’ve blinded her if not for her optical implants dimming it. A nuclear explosion? But that didn’t explain the intense beam of energy rising from the center. It was already gone, but the afterimage remained, shooting straight into the sky.

  The shock wave is coming.

  The ghostly voice of Ned Quincy startled her into action. She slammed the helmet onto her head and locked it in place. “Take us down!” she shouted through her exterior speakers.

  The pilot started to, but the massive shock wave struck them like a brick wall moving at light speed. The van came apart and Kelsey’s world went dark.

  * * * * *

  An intensely loud alarm interrupted Jared’s explanation of what they were going to do next. He whirled and stared at the main screen even as his implants told him what was happening. Someone had just set off a nuke on Harrison’s World.

  No, two blotches of horrible light were fading on the image of the planet below. Someone had just taken the coup to a completely new level.

  “Get me readings on—” he started to say, but Invincible overrode him with an even louder alarm.

  “All hands brace for impact,” the AI said over the speaker. The massive warship accelerated with brutal force, momentarily stressing even her mighty grav compensators and staggering her crew.

  Jared was going to ask what was happening, but a giant fist smashed into his ship, sending it tumbling madly. Main power failed and he was hurled to the deck.

  * * * * *

  Sean gave up on being the heavy when they got back to the safe house. It was much easier for one of the marines to intimidate the man. He left it up to them to pick the most appropriate member of the squad.

  They picked a whipcord thin woman named Gina. He thought she might be the woman that had created the distraction in the prison camp. The supposedly jilted lover.

  She went to the bathroom and returned with an old-fashioned straight razor. Okay, now even he felt uncomfortable.

  She squatted in front of th
e main prisoner. They’d tied him to a chair and he was literally a captive audience. “Hey there,” she said in a friendly tone. “I’ll bet you’re wondering what I need this for. We’ll get to that. First, I want to tell you a little story. You okay with that?”

  The man swallowed noisily, but said nothing.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. My name is Gina and I have a friend named Linda Montoya. Linda and I are close. Very, very close, if you take my meaning. You took her and I’d be really, really happy if you told me where she was. To encourage your speedy cooperation, I took the precaution of buying this handy straight razor.”

  She held it up so that the light reflected in the prisoner’s eyes meaningfully. It looked, well, razor sharp.

  “I’m not cooperating with you, bitch.” He sounded terrified.

  Hell, Sean felt his own anatomy trying to retract. He was morally certain that the marine intended to give the man gender reassignment surgery. Or would it be gender obliteration surgery?

  “Sure you will,” Gina said. “You don’t have a choice. You’re playing the game no matter what you want. The only thing left undecided is how many parts I take before you tell me what I want to know. Shall we begin?”

  One of the other male prisoners—who all looked suitably horrified—leaned forward a little, making the ropes holding him down in the chair creak. “Don’t be an idiot, Jack! She’s not bluffing! She’s going to castrate you!”

  Gina smiled at the second man sweetly. “Thank you! It’s always nice when other people take you seriously. However, you’re off a little bit on your assessment. I’m going to start with something a little more…prominent. You know what they say, go big or go home.”

  “For God’s sake,” the woman said. “Are you going to let her maim you to prove how much of a man you used to be? Moron.” She focused her gaze on the marine. “He gave them over to Deputy Coordinator King’s people. They hauled them away. We don’t know where they took them.”