Legacy (Heroes of the League Book 12)

by Frank Carey

  "Since I'm still breathing, either he lives or the myth of us being linked on a soul level is wrong."

  "Did I ever tell you that sometimes I find your family frightening?"

  "As do I. We're here."

  They walked into mission control and found it filled with people and Ciara standing at the front. "Glad you two could make it. I'll make this easy. We have reports of Vengeance being attacked by a large number of saucer-shaped ships that match the ones you found in South America. Vengeance is too big for Starguard to handle alone, so they've asked for help..."

  "Ciara?" Harm said, raising his hand.

  "Yes, Harmon?" she said while crossing her arms.

  "May I suggest we send a single ship into the area to take a look-see while the others wait a ways out?"

  "Excellent idea. I assume you're volunteering the Algonquin to act as a decoy?"

  "Yes, ma'am. I can go in, alone, and..."

  "Uh-uh," Marta said. "Not alone. I'm going with you."

  "Now, wait a minute..."

  "Give up, Harmon. She's right. You're not going in alone, but she isn't going to be joining you."

  "Excuse me?" Marta asked.

  "You, young lady, are going to coordinate the rescue effort from the Septar, which is preparing for departure as we speak. Harm is taking the newly formed EMEF Team Eight led by Gen. Royce Aymar. They're monitoring this briefing from the Algonquin. Harm, when you're satisfied that the coast is clear, signal the fleet, then begin rescue operations. As for the rest of you, flight plans are loading into your NAVComps as we speak. Good luck and safe journey."

  Marta turned to Harmon, grabbing him by the lapels and pulling him down to where she could kiss him. "You be careful, elf. Understand me?"

  "Yes, ma'am!" he replied when he finished kissing her back.

  The crowd chuckled before heading off to their ships.

  ###

  The Algonquin dropped out of other-space into a sea of wreckage and debris. "Shit," one of the Marines whispered while he and the rest of the crew stared at the disaster unfolding in front of them. "What the hell could do this to a miles-long spaceship?"

  "Extra-universe invaders. I'm detecting dozens of quantum-spin irregularities around us."

  "Wreckage ho!" Captain Letain said while he pointed out the windscreen at half a saucer. "Looks like the pirates put up a fight."

  "Harm, scan for life signs," Royce said.

  "Scanning for life signs, Aye," Harm said. Behind him, a hologram of the area formed showing wreckage larger than two meters. The computer superimposed anomalies and life-signs on the flotsam and jetsam. "Several large pieces of the ship survived intact, but only one is showing life signs."

  "Hmmm, that's a little odd, don't you think?" Royce asked.

  "Yes, I do," Harm said. "It's almost as if someone is jamming my scanners and feeding us false information. Shall we take a look, General?"

  "Yes, let's. Everyone, seal up and prepare for action."

  Harm and the six members of Team Eight pressed buttons on their sleeves. Immediately, the nanotech built into each suit formed gloves around their hands and helmets around their heads while all other seams formed airtight seals.

  "Suit check!" Royce ordered. One by one, the team members gave a thumbs up, with Harm being the last. "Captain, take us in, please."

  "Aye, aye, General." Harm keyed his microphone. "Starguard, Starguard, this is Ventos Two approaching a section of wreckage containing a large number of life signs. We will report back when we have determined..."

  Several saucer shaped craft emerged from hiding places behind large pieces of the Vengeance's hull. They began an attack run on the freighter. "Starguard, this is Ventos Two. We are under attack by unknown forces." Harm pressed a button on the console above his head ejecting the first of several log buoys, which was standard procedure under these conditions. What he did next was not standard procedure in any book. He aimed the Algonquin directly at the lead ship while pushing the throttles to their stops. "Let's see who blinks first, shall we?" he said quietly as the Algonquin leapt forward on thousand-foot-long spears of superheated plasma streaming backwards from the engine exhausts.

  "Nobody mentioned suicide," Captain Nerst said nervously from her seat behind Royce.

  "It's only suicide if we crash," Harm noted as they continued to bear down on the approaching saucers.

  "We have seven tangos on an intercept course. Impact in fifteen seconds," Royce reported from the copilot's seat.

  "Not to worry," Harm said as the eight ships quickly closed the gap between them.

  "Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... "

  The lead tango abruptly veered to port, colliding with its port wingman, who then collided with its port wingman. The Algonquin flew past the saucers' remains unscathed before banking into a steep dive directly toward a dense patch of debris. "General, program the scanners for rotating frequencies and aim them ahead of us. I need to know if there are any survivors."

  "Why?" Royce asked as his hands flew over the controls.

  "So we don't kill any innocents if we hit something."

  "Scanning. Clear ahead of us, but those large pieces off to starboard are suddenly full of the living."

  "I figured. Hang on; this is going to get hairy." Harm rolled ninety degrees to port, barely missing two house-sized pieces of ship. One of the tangos wasn't so lucky. It collided with debris, turning both into plasma. "Splash one tango," Royce said gleefully. "He missed the roll. Two tangos remaining. They're firing weapons."

  The ship rocked as their weapons fire interacted with the Algonquin's screens. "Shields down ten percent," Royce reported. "Analysis of weapons show them to be similar to our blasters. They seem to have evolved beyond bullets. They're firing again!" The ship rocked again, this time more violently. "Nope, those were bullets," Royce added.

  Harm thumbed a switch on his control yoke and a hologram appeared above the center console. It showed a wireframe representation of the space around them. He glanced at it, looking for something in particular. He banked left before leveling out on a course directly toward two large pieces of hull passing in front of each other like a pair of ginormous trucks passing in the night. He waited for an instant before pulling up in a vertical climb just as the lead saucer fired. Instead of hitting the Algonquin, the blaster fire hit a large piece of debris hidden behind the two passing pieces. The saucer had no time to evade. "Splash one tango. One left. It's firing missiles. Scanners indicate high-yield nukes. Dammit, it’s bracketing us!"

  Harm looked down at the dash and smiled at a flashing red light. Instead of flying an evasive pattern, which would have gotten them killed in all the debris, he flew straight on while four, nuclear-tipped missiles quickly closed-in on the little freighter. At the last moment, the nukes exploded harmlessly behind them as three Protector-class warships-Hermes, Protector, and Septar--materialized around the tiny ship, protecting it with their massive shields.

  "Unidentified hostile saucer, this is Fleet Commodore Elizabeth Benson. By order of the League of Planetary Systems, heave-to and prepare to be boarded."

  "Thanks, Liz," Harm said quietly as he slowed and took-up a wing position next to the Septar.

  The saucer exploded.

  "Morons!" Royce yelled while slamming his fist on the console. "They didn't need to kill themselves." He thumbed the mic switch. "Septar, Septar, this is the Algonquin. Liz, Thanks for the assist. You scared them witless. What are your orders?"

  "Harmon, you maniac!” Liz said. “Where the hell did you learn to fly like that?"

  "Rush hour traffic at the Cube. Where do you want us to go?"

  "We're getting Mitrell's personal beacon from the following coordinates. Start with her and work your way forward. The other ships will arrive shortly. Septar standing by."

  Harm looked at the NAVComp readout. "Got it," he said through his suit radio. "ETA two minutes. We'll use the belly hatch."

  Royce turned to his team. "You heard the elf, r
eady on the firing line!"

  Five heavily armed EMEF Marines in battle suits jumped as if hit with a cattle prod. As always, Harm was impressed with his brother-in-law's command ability. It was almost as good as Marta's.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Emergency lights filled the corridor with a dim red glow, with the arc of broken power cables briefly adding a stark, white flash. An opening appeared in the ceiling followed by members of team eight dropping to the deck and forming a defensive ring. Harmon joined them when the area was deigned clear by Royce.

  "This way," Harm said as he made a karate chop motion aimed down the corridor.

  "Scanners up. Mark doors with life signs behind them. We'll get them on the return. Our priority, now, is to find the Admiral. Move out!" Royce barked.

  "You're really good at that giving orders thing. Did you take online courses?" Harmon asked the big elf as they made their way down the corridor.

  "Nope. I had a really good instructor at boot camp."

  "You'll have to introduce me to him."

  "Her, and she's an elf. How much farther?"

  Harm stopped in front of a double-wide door inlaid with rare woods. "In here. I'm picking up several life signs and weapons signatures."

  "Her private guard?" Royce asked.

  "Probably." He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a miniature hula girl dash ornament. "Atmar hates these. He got rid of all of them when he took over my body. Let's see how our Admiral feels about them."

  ###

  "How is she?" the first officer demanded as guards kept watch at the entry.

  "Not good," the medic said. "We need to get her to the infirmary, stat."

  "We don't know if the infirmary still exists," the first officer said. He stopped when he heard a sound, a faint sound. "We've got company!"

  A half dozen rifles were aimed at the door as it opened a crack followed by a small hula girl bobble head on a chain being thrown through. It landed in front of the first officer. He picked it up. "What the plark?"

  "Julian, let me see it," Mitrell whispered. He gently handed it to her. She lifted it up by the chain so it spun in the dim emergency lighting. "Let them in."

  "Milady, I can't..."

  "Do it, Julian. It'll be all right."

  Julian nodded. "Yes, milady. Release the door."

  "Sir?" the guard leader asked.

  "Do it!"

  "Yes, sir." The guard leader reached over and opened the door. Harm and Team Eight ran in. While the other team members handed out food concentrates and water, Doc Nerst, the team's Alturan medic, slid over to help the ship's medic stabilize Mitrell. Harm walked over and took the Admiral’s hand.

  "Harmon, you came!"

  "Of course, how could I miss visiting my favorite pirate admiral?"

  "You know others?"

  "Nope. How are you feeling?"

  "Better. Your doc has wonderful drugs."

  "Yes, she does. How is she, Doc? How's the baby?"

  Nerst swiveled an eyestalk Harm's way while keeping the other two on Mitrell. "The Admiral will be fine and the baby looks strong and well. We need to get them both back to the Septar."

  "Mitrell, these nice people are going to take you some place safe."

  "What about my crew?"

  Harm glanced at Royce and got a thumbs up.

  "Starguard and every freighter in the sector is rescuing them at this very moment."

  "There were aliens..."

  "Not any more. They had a problem with in-town traffic. Now, close your eyes and let us take care of the driving."

  "Thank you, Harmon. You're a good friend," she whispered as the drugs took over, and she fell asleep.

  "Royce, can one of your people drive the Algonquin?"

  "Captain Hardy, feel up to driving a souped-up freighter?"

  "Yes, sir!" the young Sokuhl said as she came to attention.

  "Nayla Hardy. I know your sister. Tayla. You as good a pilot as she is?" Harm asked as he threw her the keys.

  "Better, My Prince."

  While they took Mitrell out, Harm pulled the pirate first officer aside. "Julian, where did the saucers come from?"

  Julian looked at Harm. "Damn, you two are identical. It was Atmar. He was pissed royal about your stunt at the auction, so he arranged to infect your network with spyware. He found out about Muntz's clone, the Alue, everything. The admiral was becoming concerned about his sanity slipping. Harm, he wants to kill you and Muntz."

  Harm sat down. "Shit. I thought he was through with revenge."

  "Far from it. He went berserk when he found out Muntz had survived."

  "Okay, so Muntz is alive. What does that have to do with Alue saucers?"

  "Atmar found the files containing the details on the doorway Muntz built at Tryton station using the megarouters. He also has your data from the microgateway you were able to open. In a week, he had a working doorway using parts stolen from a hundred different sources. Twenty-four hours ago, something went horribly wrong. Something happened in his lab which allowed a shit-load of saucers to emerge from his lab and attack the Vengeance."

  "Oh my God."

  “We couldn't access Atmar's lab nor could we shut down the power to it, so Mitrell did the only thing she could do to stop the invasion. She blew the power core. She turned the scuttle charges off before lighting-off the self-destruct. That blew the core. The ripple broke us up, but by then a lot of the crew had evacuated and the emergency bulkhead kept everyone else alive."

  "Shredding engineering, but allowing the ship to survive. Damn, that's brilliant. Julian, where's Atmar?"

  "I don't know. He never returned, and our personal scanners just don't have the range."

  "Where was Atmar's lab?"

  Julian walked over to the wall where a large map of the ship was still hanging. "Here, in the research section of the ship about two miles from here. Harmon, that section of the ship was damn close to the power core. I don't know if it survived the explosion."

  "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to go take a look. Royce!"

  "Yes, Harm?"

  "Two things. First, as Prince Lucien, I decree that all crewmembers of the PS Vengeance are granted political asylum. This will require them to be processed through the Ventosian courts before being extradited to the League court system.

  Royce laughed while Julian just frowned. "That will take years, hell decades," Royce noted.

  Julian's look of consternation turned to a smile as the situation became clear. "You're protecting us! Why?"

  "You can thank Mitrell. She exonerated me for the death of her sister. I owe her. By the time the League Attorney General pulls his shit together, we'll have all died from old age."

  "Thank you, My Prince, from all of the survivors."

  "Let's just hope Losi goes along with this. Royce, we need to find Atmar's lab."

  "Harm, what would have happened if they had gotten a foothold?" Julian asked.

  Harm explained what he knew about the Alue.

  "Shit. And they never told their kids?"

  "Nope, and I don't know why. Our Alue have worked their noncorporeal asses off to help us create this League of Planetary Systems, so I think we owe them. It frightens me to think we could turn on them the moment they become corporeal for sins committed by their ancestors. We've got to go," Harm said

  ###

  The battle shuttle Xinqi remained parked a hundred yards away from a large piece of wreckage while its occupants scanned it for life signs, energy signatures, and quantum spin anomalies. Harm was not happy with what he was finding. The piece was from an outside section of the ship, and they were parked near one of the inner bulkheads, their shuttle dwarfed by the sheer size of the wreckage. "Damn, I still can't believe Mitrell built this thing without the help or knowledge of the League." Royce noted.

  "The Tralaskans are known for their ingenuity as well as their engineering skills. She was pissed at the death of her sister, and she channeled the anger into this ship, thus
the name Vengeance."

  "Who the hell was she pissed at?" Royce whispered as he watched the scan data come in.

  "Me." Harm answered nonchalantly. "The sister died during a botched robbery that Atmar had planned while he controlled my body."

  "Shit, now I remember. That message we got while in orbit around Ith."

  "Now, she's married to the guy responsible for her sister's death. I tell you, Atmar was and is a lady's man like nobody's business."

  "What are the scanners showing?" Royce asked, abruptly changing the subject.

  "The piece we're looking at is about a thousand feet wide, high, and deep, all exposed to vacuum. At the center is a void that takes up about a third of the volume, which I assume is Atmar's lab. It, too, is at vacuum. I detect a large hole on the opposite side, big enough for a saucer to pass through. I'm also picking up an energy reading. Royce, it's Logash, and there's a faint Logash life sign near it."

  "Damn, this just turned into a rescue mission." Royce thumbed the mic switch on his suit. "Protector, Protector, this is Aymar, do you copy? Over."

  "Royce, this is Ange. What do you have? Over."

  "We've found the lab and there's a Logash life sign aboard. We found a way in and are heading there now. I need a Starguard cruiser rerouted here."

  "Copy that. Closest one is fifteen minutes away."

  "Ange, this is Harmon. What about the Algonquin?"

  "She just dropped off a load of survivors. I can have her there in five minutes."

  "Perfect. She's got an advanced medbed aboard."

  "I'll order her to your location. Anything else?"

  "No, ma'am," Royce replied. "Permission to proceed."

  "Royce, you're a damn general."

  "And you're mission commander, Fleet Commodore Thurgood, and Harm is the Prince of Ventos Prime. The insanity has to stop somewhere."

  Ange laughed. "Then you have permission to proceed. Protector standing by."

  "Tamm, take us around to the other side while maintaining our separation."

  "Aye, sir. Coming about."

  The shuttle banked to port and headed out on a course parallel to the length of the wreck. A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination.

  "Damn!" Tamm exclaimed. "That's one big hole."