Guard at the Gates of Hell (Gladius Book 1)

by George Olney

  The two of them making their own future made her smile. She had this gorgeous, naked, sexy man in her bed and she was wasting time talking and drinking tea. Shana decided the future could take care of itself for a while. She gave Karl a sultry smile, and was rewarded with the look she was coming to know very well.

  Karl put his cup down on a bedside table and rolled on his side, slipping an arm around her. "Care for a little more practice in making our own future?"

  She did.

  #####

  Her platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Stauer, caught up with her just before morning formation. "We have three new pups, Lieutenant," he said. "They came in late yesterday while you were off. They'll be in your office just after formation."

  The "pups", new Strike troopers fresh from school, weren't in the morning formation since they didn't have a team assignment yet. She and Stauer would take care of that once she'd interviewed them. "Aye. I want to see them first thing."

  After the formation, Shana headed back to her little office. There was a knock on her door frame, and when she looked up from her desk and saw the three Gladii that followed Sergeant Stauer into her office, she had to stare in amazement. Not those three, surely? Yep. Legionnaires Kardo, Chofal and Smythe, her former problem children.

  "Not the Three Amigos!" she said after she recovered. She'd nicknamed the trio after the mythical heroes of Old Earth legend and the name stuck. "Welcome to Second Platoon, First Strike Century, by the way. Now what are you doing here?"

  Sergeant Kardo, as usual, replied for the three. "Corporal Smythe said you still needed looking after, Lieutenant, and we look after him. So here we are."

  Shana shook her head in amusement and just a little pride at how the three had turned themselves around. Strike troopers were regarded as an elite among the best soldiers in history and now the Three Amigos were Strike. My, how times and pain-in-the-ass Legionnaires had changed!

  "All right, you three, I'm not going to give you the usual 'Welcome to Strike, pups' speech. But I am going to give you some bad news. Strike units put pups on probation until they've proved themselves. You'll be pups until then."

  Looking at their faces and gauging reactions, she continued, "The way things are going, you'll get your chance to become full grown Strike dogs soon enough. Will that suit?"

  "Aye, Lieutenant, as long as I have your back," Smythe barked like an experienced veteran, which he really was - at all of about eighteen.

  Shana hid a grin and put on a proper Platoon Leader face instead. When they were back in a line unit, she'd had to pull Smythe out of messes as often as he'd backed her up. On the other hand, the fact remained that Smythe had gotten damn good at watching her back before she left Fourth Platoon. She reflected that it was actually comforting to have him doing overwatch on her. "You're in my team, Smythe. I guess I can get along with you behind me.

  "Go wait outside," she finished. "I need to talk with Sergeant Stauer and then he'll take you to your new teams. Dismissed."

  After the three were gone, Shana broke down and grinned. "You know, Sergeant Stauer, I'm beginning to suspect I have an entourage."

  Sergeant Stauer fixed her with a raised eyebrow. "Those three are from your last platoon, Lieutenant?"

  She nodded. "Actually, they were reclamation cases I took in hand. I gave Smythe the job of watching my back to help him grow up and I he took it very seriously. He did while I was in Fourth Platoon, anyhow. I had no idea he would take it seriously enough to try out for Strike and make it."

  Sergeant Stauer favored her with a thin smile. "Well, motivation is what's needed to get through Strike School. If you gave him the motivation and he gave it to the other two, I suppose that's good enough. Awfully young to be pups, though."

  Shana nodded. "That they are. They went on their Virgin Missions way too early, but it was a case of have-to and they did well. They're young, all right, but as good as they come. I'll leave you to juggle assignments, but make sure Smythe is in my team. He'd be worried if he wasn't at my back anyhow."

  Sergeant Stauer nodded. One minor problem settled. Now for a bigger one. "Lieutenant, rumor has it we're about to hit Beauregard real soon. Know anything about that?"

  Shana smile wryly. "You mean from my fiancée? Sorry, Sergeant, he doesn't give out that kind of information to junior officers. I kind of get the feeling rumor's right, but I don't know anything more than you do."

  "Well," he replied, "rumor also says we'll be getting a mission brief and planning session by tomorrow. I'm betting that one's right."

  "I'd take that bet too," Shana said thoughtfully. "I'd definitely take that bet."

  IMPERIAL FLEET HQ,

  IMPERIAL PALACE

  CENTRAL

  Commodore Ansn Jksn was a worried man, getting more worried as he studied the schematic of Imperial space. Systems and Sectors were breaking contact on an almost daily basis. The Empire was bleeding worlds, and he wasn't too sure what he could do about it. As a member of the Strategy Board, it was his job to find a fix. The problem was there was nothing he could quite put a finger on to use as a start point. Perhaps if he looked at the Tactine System. They'd lost a major force out there four years ago due to traitorous conduct of Frontier Fleet and Gladius units, but there might be a way to regain the initiative if they formed a new task force to smash in there and regain the system. Tactine was ideally placed to control that area of space and it had everything needed to build a major Fleet base.

  The more he thought about the idea, the better he liked it. Move outward from Central at the same time moving inward from Tactine, and a whole string of important systems could be regained. More importantly, those were systems rich in resources and manufacturing capability. Invaluable.

  Commodore Jksn was formulating a strategic concept for Tactine on a schematic, when the hologram was suddenly replaced by the figure of a slim man, richly dressed in the deep red of an Emperor's uniform with a gold circlet on his head. "Your Awesome Imperial Majesty!" Jksn gasped, and shot to his feet. Immediately, he bowed deeply. It was Emperor Shangnaman, and Jksn knew he was in deep trouble.

  Nobody saw the Emperor in person anymore. Instead, his hologram stood in for his physical presence at all ceremonies and meetings. He was tapped into Central's computer system and nobody ever knew when he would suddenly appear on their terminal. It was like he was part of the system itself. There were some very strange rumors as to why, but one thing was certain: whenever Shangnaman appeared on your terminal, you were in deep, deep trouble.

  The Emperor's face could have been handsome, but his heavy black eyebrows only emphasized his lavish use of eyeliner and lipstick. The effect was eerie and frightening, given Shangnaman's dangerous personality and the peculiar glint in his eyes. "You are engaged in the study of a portion of space deemed irrelevant to Our purpose, Commodore," he said. "That can be regarded as seditious."

  Jksn fought hard to control the quaver in his voice, damning the fact that beads of perspiration were forming on his forehead. "I do so only to support you, Your Awesome Imperial Majesty. I'm trying to find a way to regain lost territory for the greater glory of the Empire."

  "Liar!" Shangnaman squealed. "You are plotting to waste Our Fleet in useless effort in an area that has no value!"

  "B-b-but," Jksn couldn't stop the stutter. He had to regain control. His life depended on it. "Your Awesome Imperial Majesty, I was attempting to find a way to regain Tactine after our defeat there. Tactine would be valuable to the Empire in the future. I was attempting to perform my duties in your service."

  "We were not defeated at Tactine, Commodore," Shangnaman purred. "Any rumor of such a defeat is a lie spread by Our enemies. Tactine was never of any importance to Us, and We have forbidden any further interest in such a primitive and useless world."

  Jksn bowed deeply again. "Your Awesome Imperial Majesty, I was totally unaware of Tactine's lack of importance. I have erred grievously and I place myself on your mercy." Maybe he'd get out of this with his l
ife.

  The Emperor looked at the bowing officer with a strange expression, glee glittering in his eyes. "We will consider your apology, Commodore. Let it never be said that We do not have mercy. Remain here, Our servants will shortly arrive and take you for questioning. If you are found blameless, you will be released and no more will be said of this."

  Shangnaman ignored Jksn's stammered thanks and vanished. Jksn whirled as the door to his office slammed shut in front of him, and he knew that the opening mechanism no longer worked. He collapsed into his desk chair and stared blankly at the door.

  An instant later, Shangnaman's holo appeared in the office of the Chief of Investigations. "Cannon," he said peevishly, "it has once again fallen Our lot to weed out another traitor before the Office of Investigations can even find the way to the door. We will not tolerate such ineptitude much longer."

  The short brown haired colorless man behind the desk immediately shot to his feet and bowed. "Your Awesome Imperial Majesty" he said in calm tones, "there are so many plots against your Imperial Person that we are working night and day. As you are aware, we have arrested over fifty among the government and populace in the last three days alone."

  "Fifty, eh?" The thought seemed to cheer Shangnaman. "What did you do with them?"

  "They were of course executed, Your Awesome Imperial Majesty."

  "Excellent!" Shangnaman's holo was bouncing and giggling with glee. "Send people to room 218-B of the Fleet Headquarters. Kill Commodore Jksn. Keep up your good work, Cannon." The holo vanished.

  Cannon breathed a silent sigh of relief. He needed to redouble his efforts to find where in the hell the Emperor was hiding. One of these days, he wouldn't survive one of these conversations if he didn't. The problem was getting past the Emperor's Guard. There had to be a way to do that, he reflected as he thumbed the intercom sensor. "Jane," he said when the acceptance light glowed, "send a team to Fleet Headquarters to kill Commodore Jksn in room 218-B. Tell them while they're at it, they may as well execute two or three other enemies of the state also. The body count will look good. Tell them to use their own judgment, but pick people that aren't doing anything apparently essential.

  "And schedule a short meeting with Vice Regent Last for me," he added. He didn't need to add that the meeting would be nothing but a proud and highly loyal summation of the latest execution totals. The two of them would meet later, far away from any surveillance and very far away from any part of the Palace's computer system. Maybe between the two of them, he and Last could figure out how to get rid of Shangnaman before the insane bastard decided to kill them both.

  Shangnaman's next appearance was in the terminal of the duty officer of the Emperor's Guard. The tall dark haired muscular man at the terminal didn't jump to his feet or bow. "You wish, Emperor?" he said in a flat, even voice.

  Shangnaman tolerated the familiarity of the Emperor's Guard with affection. In all the Empire, theirs was the only organization truly loyal to him. Frankly, informality was a relief to him. "Have you heard from the squadron you sent to Tactine?"

  "Squadron A-310. No, Emperor, we have not. Their last report was several days ago."

  "Well," Shangnaman said merrily, "when you do, tell them they are on a wild goose chase. I have decided Tactine is of no importance to me or the Empire. Send a data packet drone to recall them immediately."

  The big man nodded. "It will be done, Emperor. And if they have encountered some contact with traitorous forces?"

  Shangnaman shrugged with the exaggerated expressiveness of a stage mime. "It's of no consequence. If they defeat the traitors, well and good. If they do not, it's irrelevant. In fact, don't waste any more time if you don't get a reply. No matter what happens to A-310, send no further units out there or waste any action on Tactine. We have more important things to occupy our time in the Middle Empire."

  The big man nodded. "It will be done, Emperor. May you live forever."

  "Oh," Shangnaman said in a jaunty tone, "I intend to do just that." Then he was gone back into the computer system.

  VICTRIX BASE

  CAULDWELL

  Rumor was off by one day. Two days after talking to Sergeant Stauer, Shana was in Captain Gldblum's office with his other three platoon leaders for a planning session. The Strike mission was to capture key members of the Cauldwell government. Mission start was in three days.

  "In last month's election," Gldblum said, "the Popular Movement made some heavy gains, enough to control the government. It looks like the people on Cauldwell are ready to take over their own government in seven days, when the PMGG people are seated. Once the PMGG people are in Parliament, the election of a new Guidance Council is a flat guarantee.

  "Narsima Matic Ettranty doesn't like that," the captain added dryly. "He's in the process of scheduling what amounts to a coup four days from now. He's got teams of hired goons set to visit the new PMGG Members and the assessment is those that don't agree to play ball will vanish and be replaced with more compliant people or government moles."

  Shana's breath caught slightly when her father was mentioned, but she put her thoughts aside and continued taking notes. Her stylus moved over the screen of her notepad automatically, but she was wondering what was coming next. What was Strike going to do?

  That was Gldblum's next topic. "We're going to stage a countercoup first. The plan is for subversion teams already in place to take out the goon squads. We have them identified and located, so we don't anticipate much trouble. Strike's mission will be to take selected members of the Guidance Council - primarily Ettranty's inner circle and Ettranty himself - into custody at the same time.

  "Here's one twist you need to know about," he commented as he flashed a holo pic of a tall, dark haired man on the conference table display. "One of the goons. Look familiar, folks? This guy's just like Shana, ancestral Gladius. Intel thinks he and the rest are actually Emperor's Guard, sent to Cauldwell to act as enforcers for Ettranty. Because of that, our teams are going in heavy and expecting a hard fight. We probably won't take any of them alive. If they really are Emperor's Guard, we don't want to."

  He looked searchingly at Shana for a moment, noting her discomfort at the revelation about the goon squads. He could also see something more was bothering her and he was pretty sure what it was. He looked around at all four of his platoon leaders. "Okay, there are some things we all know but haven't discussed."

  Captain Gldblum returned his gaze to Shana. "Shana, we all know these hard cases are from the same source as you. But they aren't you, Shana. They're Emperor's Guard, deadly enemies. You're Victrix and you are Gladius, not Emperor's Guard. Understand?"

  After a few seconds, Shana nodded. The fact that the Emperor's Guard was present on Cauldwell had shaken her for a moment, but Captain Gldblum was right. She wasn't part of those people. She was Victrix. But still...

  "And we all know Matic Ettranty is your father. Your platoon will not be detailed to his capture."

  Shana took a deep, relieved breath. "That's okay with me, Captain. I once said I ought to be kept far away from him. I'm pretty sure he thinks I was killed by the Wareegan attack. I'd prefer he kept thinking that way."

  It took a few seconds, but she finally realized what was really bothering her. "But I don't think he'll give up quietly."

  The captain nodded. "Intel doesn't think so either. Shana, you need to know his capture is optional. The first priority is to take him out before he can notify the Emperor of what's happening. He's a major threat to everything we've done so far and we can't leave him free. If he has to be killed, he will. I'm sorry. I know he's your father, but it can't be helped. Do you want to sit this one out? You've got a perfect right to do it if you want to."

  Shana closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts for a moment. She and her father weren't ever on the best of terms and everything she'd learned about him since joining the Corps was bad. He was nothing like she ever thought he was, but he was still her father. Could she face his death? Yes, she decided, she could
take the knowledge, but the doing was something she wanted to stay away from if she could help it. Finally, she looked up and met Captain Gldblum's face squarely. "I can handle whatever happens. I'm a Strike officer, Captain. This is a Strike mission and I need to lead the Second."

  The captain looked at her for a few moments longer, nodded, then continued, "Good enough. I'm assigning the Recording Secretary, Andews, to your platoon." He flashed a pic up in the display. "That's him. This guy's actually Ettranty's Imperial liaison and also has a direct line to Central.

  Another holo, this one of two women, obviously mother and daughter. "You are additionally tasked to the woman, Clarine Femiam, and her daughter as secondary targets. Intel says they'll probably not offer any resistance."

  "OK, back to the main brief." He checked his memo board. "There's supposed to be a big party in three days. Our targets will be easy to locate, because the current power structure is required to be there. Ettranty's order, for some reason. The trick will be to isolate them so we can pick them up sometime during that period without it becoming public knowledge. We want everyone to think the targets have dropped out of sight for a day or so. We're doing this simultaneously with the strikes on the goon squads to keep the PMGG folks safe. Once the PMGG Members are seated and we have control over the conduits Ettranty and Andews have been using to communicate with Central, we can go public with what's been happening in the Guidance Council. The PMGG will take care of what's left of the former Council and public opinion is pretty sure to demand a trial.