by Kal Spriggs
“He’s one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever known,” the hero worship was almost painfully evident. “He’s saved all of our lives at least once.” The brown haired woman stared after the Captain with a look that mixed awe and dedication.
Mason sighed, “Any time you want to tell me what the hell is going on would be great.”
Lauren Kelly looked over at him and smiled. Something had relaxed behind her brown eyes and it seemed like the first time that Mason had seen her drop her guard. “I’ll tell you on the shuttle ride,” she said.
***
“So after we withdrew from the Faraday system we came here, eventually,” Lauren Kelly finished her explanation as the shuttle docked. The two stood and waited for the other passengers to disembark. Mason used the time to think... and a lot of his thoughts were confused, to say the least.
The two finally strode off the shuttle and aboard the battleship War Shrike. “You expect me to believe that story?” Mason asked, finally, his voice heavy with skepticism.
“I wouldn’t believe it myself, Mr. McGann,” Baron Giovanni stated from further down the corridor. He turned away from a meeting with several of his crew. “Now, we’re all ready to go, so if you’ll just come to the bridge and input the coordinates, we’ll be on our way.”
Mason straightened to his full height, “I just give you the coordinates and I go on my way?” He cocked an eyebrow at
There was an almost painful silence. “You did insist on coming here, on seeing this. You know our entire story, you know where we are, and probably can put together some easy guesses on our current armaments.” The Baron's voice was slightly sad. “Would you want to put the lives of over sixteen thousand people in the hands of a mercenary you’ve only just met?”
“I’m also giving you what is potentially the most powerful fleet in the known universe.” Mason said defensively. “It’s not like I’d betray you anyway. It’s not like there’s any profit in it.”
The Baron shook his head, “Now you’re just being naïve. Those ships will be the most valuable items in known space. The information on where they are won’t cease to be of value until they’re fully recovered, refitted, and crewed. Do you think for an instant that a band of refugees can do that in any reasonable amount of time? Do you think that knowledge of who has them once they have been recovered won’t be of value?”
Mason looked away. I wouldn't tell anyone, he thought angrily, and with my ship, I don't have to worry about being cornered like on Anvil. Still, some part of him knew that the officer was at least partially correct. Mercenaries, pirates and that ilk would still seek him out for that information. It would be valuable for months, if not years. And yeah, I can draw some pretty detailed guesses as to their military strength, despite the abridged story that Lauren gave me, Mason privately admitted.
“You understand, obviously, or else you wouldn’t have asked. Had you simply given us the information, we would have taken the risk that we could recover at least some of the vessels before others arrived. But you wanted more information.” The Baron's dark gaze caught Mason's and the smuggler could tell that the other man wanted him to understand. “We can’t afford to let you leave now.”
“Let me leave... or let me live?” Mason snapped. His hand dropped to the prayer beads that hung from his belt.
The warlord shrugged, “I hope it won’t come to that, but there is an obvious answer. My people’s lives are more important to me than your own. I promise you that you won’t be a prisoner forever, merely until we are secure enough that your knowledge will not cause us undue harm. As you might notice, you've already received the payment we’ve given you, thus far.”
“As much good as that will do me,” Mason said bitterly. He valued his freedom far more than any payment, no matter how rich.
“Bitterness aside, do we have an understanding?” The shorter man stared up at him with an intensity that set Mason on edge. He had dealt with all kinds, psychics, warlords, psychotic pirates, even renegade Colonial Republic military commanders. There was something about Baron Giovanni's stare that pierced him.
“Yes.” Mason nodded, “I won't try to leverage my freedom from the coordinates, either.” He quirked a lopsided grin, “I'm a man of my word, in that, at least.”
From the corner of his eye Mason saw Lauren Kelly relax slightly. Several things clicked together in his mind. For all that they had come to appreciate one another and that Mason felt that Lauren actually liked him, she had another reason to hang around him. She'd been ordered to keep an eye on him, yes. But that's not all, he realized, no, she'd be less nervous if she merely was to restrain me. Mason McGann realized that if he should betray them or attempt to escape, she was to be his executioner.
The Baron gave him a grave nod, “Good, then let’s get up to the bridge then, shall we?”
***
Lucius had to give the man credit, he kept any fascination with the size of the bridge and the equipment displayed well concealed. His image of self assurance slipped when he began to interface with the navigation systems, however. He looked up, an expression of hunger on his face, “Do you know what I could do with a system like this?”
Lucius answered without hesitation. “Probably elude every customs frigate in existence. It’s just as well it wouldn’t fit aboard anything smaller than a cruiser.”
“A cruiser…” the smuggler’s eyes went unfocused for a moment. “It’d be hard to hide after landing, but…”
“Leave it for later. The coordinates please.”
Mason McGann muttered something and, after a suspicious glance at Lucius, began to type in a string of numbers. A moment later, the screens displayed a map, with the highlighted coordinates. Overlayed on the map of space were blobs of light that showed territory claimed by the major powers.
Lucius bit back a curse and heard others on the bridge less restrained.
“The universe has a cruel sense of humor,” Mason McGann commented. “That’s why I thought you were telling a tall one with your story. It just seems unbelievable that after you being so close, you have to pay me for the information.”
The blinking light that represented the AWS Patriot lay in the very same star system that they had fled not so long ago.
It seemed the Faraday system was home to more secrets than Lucius had ever suspected.
***
Lucius convened a military council not much later. It consisted of Colonel Proscia, Captain Doko, Captain Naevius, Captain Burbeg, and Lucius's new head of Intelligence, Captain Reed.
“Sir, this has to be some kind of sick joke.” This came from Cato Naevius, now the commander of a wing of fighters. They had hit a wall as far as production of further fighters and qualified personnel to pilot them, so for now, they had ceased expansion of their fighter force.
“A joke?” Burbeg asked, puzzled, “This doesn’t seem humorous to me, perhaps it is a human type of humor?”
“No, Burbeg,” Lucius answered, “No one here finds this of the slightest amusement. This is not a joke... this is a very unfortunate reality.”
“How in the hell could those massive ships have lain in that system for almost a century undiscovered!” Naevius snapped. “Are we certain this mercenary didn’t just tell us a story to dissuade us from finding out if the information was true?”
“It doesn’t fit his profile.” Lucius responded. “Besides, unless he’s a computer he couldn’t have spit out those coordinates without calculating them first, unless he just happened to have memorized coordinates for the Faraday system. The coordinates indicate that the ships are in the upper atmosphere of one of the gas giants, where they'd be screened from visual, electromagnetic, and even mass detectors. No, it’s far more likely to be true, as unlikely as that seems.”
Captain Nix Reed spoke, her voice calm, “It makes sense. Faraday has always been isolationist, even in our own star system.” She’d been Faraday’s Intelligence Chief before the exodus from the planet. “We didn’t even have an outpost
on the other inhabitable world in the system. We had little commerce with other worlds and fewer still once Fey Darran went into quarantine. We charted the system’s main astral bodies and focused on our own society.”
“However they got there and however they remained undiscovered, they are there. And with the Chxor in power, the system will receive much more traffic. Odds are: the ships will not remain undiscovered,” Lucius made the statement with a calm that belied his own internal frustration. “Therefore, we need to eliminate the Chxor as a threat and recapture the system as soon as possible.”
“Sir, I just don’t see how it’s possible.” Naevius said. He buried his head in his hands. “By now they’ll have a garrison fleet there, plus they’ll have reinforced the force we mauled earlier. Within a year they’ll have fortified the planet. On top of that, they’ve got the entire populace hostage. If it looks like they may lose the system…”
“I was at Lanei.” Lucius’ voice was flat. “I know what they’ll do to worlds they don’t want to lose.”
“I don’t really have enough information on the Chxor to guess what they’ll do even if they find the fleet.” Nix Reed said, her voice hesitant. “I’m not sure I understand how they think.”
“No one understands how the Chxor think, least of all the Chxor.” Lucius smiled grimly. Then he sighed. “They’re extremely methodical. As soon as they think they’ve secured the planet, probably just after they’ve got the planetary defenses online, they’ll begin a thorough scan of the entire star system.”
“But, will they even use the ships?” her voice was hesitant.
Lucius blinked, “That’s a question that is more complicated than any of us were thinking. Good job Nix.”
She flushed, despite being decades older than him, “Thank you, sir.”
“We can’t assume they’ll activate the ships or even use them. They might simply destroy the vessels, or scavenge parts off them.” Lucius tapped the table in thought. “Then again, we can’t assume they won’t use them. The Patriot herself could very well wipe out one of their defense fleets.”
“Baron Giovanni?”
“Yes, Colonel?” Lucius responded.
“Shouldn’t we wonder why those ships are there and what happened to their crews? For all we know some plague killed them off and those ships are deathtraps. I’m sure I don’t have to repeat any of the… theories about what might have happened.” Colonel Proscia's voice was filled with distaste.
“Ghost stories more like.” Naevius said. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.” His voice lacked confidence though. Rumors and stories abounded about the fate of both the Agathan and Dreyfus fleets. Stories of madness and plague mostly, but also stories of mutiny and betrayal, and stories of worse things. Things like the Shadow Lords.
“I’ve always enjoyed a good story,” Burbeg spoke, “but perhaps this is one best left unknown?”
“No. We need those ships.” Lucius sighed. “And we’ll need to keep them out of the hands of the Chxor. That means we need to return to Faraday.” He looked around at his circle of advisers. “What that means is we need a cohesive plan of attack. We’ve got around one year to prepare, mount our attack, and somehow convince the Chxor to leave us alone afterward.”
Nix Reed frowned. “Sir, what about the populace of Faraday, we didn’t exactly make many friends with their government. Do you think they’ll even want us back?”
Lucius grimaced. “After eighteen months of occupation by the Chxor, I think if Thomas Kaid himself showed up to liberate them they’d welcome him with open arms.”
***
Kleigh watched with mild disinterest as the last of the planet’s original government officials died twitching. The nerve gas was harmless to Chxor, so he’d worn no protective gear upon entering the chamber. It was unfortunate that he’d been forced to keep them alive so long. They’d been rebellious from the start, from when they made ridiculous demands from first occupation right up until their deaths. They had proven necessary, until now, to keep the populace in line. Finally, however, sufficient forces were available to control the populace without any illusion of their self rule.
The planet’s military forces and their families had long ago been quietly exterminated, of course. Those were the first to go, followed quickly by the planet’s teachers, doctors, and engineers. Other highly educated humans acted as threats to the Chxor Empire. It was best if the humans only functioned as manual labor.
Masses of the populous had begun work on the planetary fortifications that would secure the world for the Chxor once and for all. With time, population control measures would go into effect, and the human numbers would dwindle to make more room for superior Chxor colonists. Within a century, even the prolific humans would be gone.
Gradual transitions met with far less resistance, after all.
Kleigh was somewhat tempted to simply exterminate the populace right now, but they were too useful a labor source at the moment. Perhaps later, after the planet was more secure.
His promotion to planetary governor for his capture of the world was quite logical. If he were subject to emotions, he might have felt regret that his pursuit of the rogue warships was at an end. But he was above such emotions, of course.
He stepped out of the chamber and nodded for the cleaning crew to move in and collect the bodies. “Announce the termination of the government to the populace. And prepare the riot control units,” he said to his aide. Some intransigents would riot, of course. It was the inevitable human response, to act with unthinking emotion to what was simply a logical progression. It was yet another unfortunate reminder of their inferiority.
The riot control units would use more nerve gas to contain the violence. That tended to eradicate most of the troublemakers before they tried to hide.
“As soon as the riots are dispersed, send out a broadcast extolling the virtues of serving the Chxor Empire,” Kleigh stated as he strode down the corridors to his offices. He must update his notes on the course of events on this new Chxor colony.
***
January 9, 2403 Earth Standard Time
Zeta Tau System
Unclaimed Space
“Sir, no matter what we think of, we can’t find a way to prevent the Chxor from wiping out the populace of Faraday,” Captain Doko’s voice was weary. His eyes were hollow, and his skin pale. Lucius knew that his friend had spent days with the simulators. “If we hit them with overwhelming forces, they annihilate the planet and then withdraw. If we don’t, we get annihilated. Colonel Proscia doesn’t have the equipment or the ground forces to take the planet quickly enough to establish defenses against orbital bombardment. We don’t even really have the forces to take on eight or twelve dreadnoughts.”
Baron Lucius Giovanni patted Doko’s shoulder. “We have a tendency of doing the impossible, we’ll find a way.” He put both hands on the edge of the simulation tank. They both stared down at the battles played out in high speed, time after time.
“We need more information, first, I think.” Lucius grimaced, “We’re going to have to dispatch one of the corvettes.” It was a risk, especially since neither had probe bays and they would have to draw dangerously close to the planet to get solid readings. Then again, both were former pirate vessels and they had better than average sensors.
After all, pirates who couldn’t find their prey were rarely successful.
The battles in the sim tank continued to play out. Most ended with alarming suddenness. The simulation was run by the next best thing to artificial intelligence. The best Nova Roma could produce, in any case. The computer played through the most probable outcomes of a dozen different input plans.
Unfortunately, Doko’s summation was brutally correct. They could hit the Chxor with overwhelming force, virtually impossible at the moment, and watch helplessly as the Chxor exterminated the populace and fled. Their other option to attack with a weaker force led to their own annihilation. If they jumped in close to utilize surprise, the ba
ttle became one of attrition, a slugging match that the Chxor's superior numbers would win.
“Baron, the problem is, we just can’t get them away from Faraday, not without a massive threat.” Captain Reed said, her voice filled with frustration. “Which causes them to massacre the civilians on the planet before they leave.”
Lucius nodded. “If it was a battle of maneuver... we’ve the ships to pick apart a formation now, especially with our fighter strength.” He stared at the sim tank and then began to type in commands for another simulation. “If we can get them to come away from the planet and fight…”
“But what would make them want to do that?”
Lucius began to smile, one corner of his mouth drawn up wryly. “Have you ever heard that Chxor seem to get slightly obsessive about certain things?”
“Sir?”
Lucius looked up from the tank and met the gazes of his officers. “I’m fairly certain the Chxor would recognize the War Shrike. If she were to come in system, what do you think their response would be?”
Cato Naevius began to smile, “They’d probably come out and do their best to squash us.” The plural Cato used in spite of the fact that his fighter wing launched primarily from a freighter rigged as a carrier now. Once a crewman of the War Shrike... always a crewman of the War Shrike.
Lucius nodded, “And while they chasing the War Shrike, we take over the planet, and get a defense force in place.”
“Uh, isn’t that a little dangerous?” Nix asked.
Lucius laughed, “Those slugs couldn’t catch the War Shrike unless I wanted them to. Their best tactic would be to split up into a lot of small groups and attempt to box me in, and hope I didn’t jump to shadow space before they could get in some solid hits.”
