by Kyle Larson
“Kelvin,” Riz said, his tone very serious. “Imperator Manand was the most ruthless ruler the Nine Kingdoms have ever seen. No one knows exactly how many people died under his rule and in the wars he waged on all Nine Kingdoms, but it’s close to one billion. Every other family in the Nine Kingdoms answered for their role in the war, but never Jupiter, because even when they were defeated, they were too powerful to remove. Instead of fighting to remove the entire family, Imperator Manand was imprisoned and his sister continued to rule. Things appeared to change, but there’s a big secret the Manand family kept, all of these centuries. When I discovered it, twenty years ago, I knew it was the end of the Nine Kingdoms. It would either come by Jupiter’s hand and the Nine Kingdoms would live under the oppression of the Manand Dynasty again; or, it could be freed from the rule of nine kings and queens and be given back to the people by the Pirates of Mercury. The biggest secret of Jupiter is the one place no one in the Nine Kingdoms can see or has been to. But I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it for myself.”
Riz flipped the tablet around and Kelvin knew immediately what he was seeing. The famous storms of Jupiter, it’s orange and red clouds, with hues of silver and grey, and lightning bolts as big as some of Earth’s continents. Everything on Jupiter was larger than the rest of the Nine Kingdoms. Ships couldn’t fly below a certain point in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and due to the strong radiation and magnetic core of the gas giant, no sensor or telescope could tell what was below the cloudscape.
“A couple years before your sister left Earth, I was doing a test flight for an experimental ship the Jovian government was developing to sell to all of the Nine Kingdoms. It was supposedly capable of flying anywhere, so I decided to test that theory. The Jovian’s didn’t know that I was going to fly under the cloudscape. This is video from the flight recorder of what I saw.”
The video on the tablet showed an array of violent colors, different clouds colliding and swirling into one another at a speed that was faster than most ships were capable of traveling. Kelvin couldn’t imagine how dangerous it must have been. After a few moments, the video breaks through the clouds, and a dark sky is revealed. It’s a darkness Kelvin has never seen, where it’s dark as night, but with blood red streaks of light piercing through the clouds.
Then Kelvin saw it. Battleships, hundreds of them, that must have been much bigger than the Monarch. Swarming around them were thousands of small ships. The video zooms in on the small ships, that look like advanced short range fighters, each one armed with electro cannons. The scope of the ships were giant. It looked like they went on forever.
“The Jovians have been building an army, all of this time, and it’s only a matter of time before they will use it. The only ones who can stand in their way are the Pirates of Mercury. Once Mercury, Venus, and Earth are under our control, we’ll have an army that can end the Manand Dynasty and Jovian supremacy once and for all.”
Kelvin could see the cold determination in Aren and Riz’s faces. They truly believed what they were doing was right.
“You can help us, Kelvin. You still have a choice. I’m hoping mom will help us, too. Once she learns the truth. Riz tried to show this to dad, but he wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t hear it. You, me, and mom can help bring Earth into this battle and lead the new way of life in our solar system, along with the Pirates of Mercrury.”
Kelvin was horrified at the prospect of war. Everything he was taught growing up was that violence was the quick and easy solution, but at a terrible cost. War was not something he would ever consider an option and couldn’t believe his own sister and man he thought was his friend were about to start one that would throw the Nine Kingdoms back into it’s violent history.
Just as he was about to respond, Amelia’s voice came into his earpiece.
“Get ready, Kelvin. This might be your only chance. Take a hold of something and be prepared to go for the suit.”
Kelvin eyed a nearby compartment handle that was mounted into the wall behind him. He reached his hand behind his back and took hold off it. Suddenly, all the lights in the shuttle went out and Kelvin felt his feet float off the ground. The artificial gravity had been shut off and the shuttle was in total darkness.
“Go for the suit now, Kelvin! It’s right in front of you!” Amelia said frantically in his ear.
Kelvin pushed away and began his escape.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AMELIA CHAPMAN WAS in her element. The bridge crew of the Monarch scrambled to do everything they could, but they were not used to thinking for themselves. Most of these officers had looked forward to the day they could actually use their training, but now that danger was here and they were without their usual leader Riz, they all panicked. It had been years since they had any type of combat training and they had all grown too comfortable and complacent in their duties to be as sharp as the current situation demanded.
Luckily for them, this was Amelia’s dream.
Her hobby had been running combat simulations in the Earth Navy Prep program on Earth, and she continued it during the Monarch’s long voyage to Mercury. Each time she got better and was actually getting bored of the elaborate scenarios the Earth Navy database had on file. The current situation in front of the – outnumbered by an impossible ratio – got Amelia’s adrenaline going and spurred her into action.
From an outsider, a sixteen-year-old commanding a bridge filled with trained and ranked officers would look strange, but when she started shouting commands that made sense, the officers hopped to it. They needed a leader and didn’t think twice once Amelia rose into that role. She was everything they needed in that moment and she didn’t stop to question herself either.
“Flood coolant conduits on all decks. Once they’re at seventy-percent capacity, start diverting auxiliary power and recharging primary batteries. The gray particles in the coolant should mask the battery recharge from their sensors,” Amelia said.
The science officer double checked and Amelia was right. Gray particles were mined from the rings of Saturn and helped increase the effectiveness of coolant fluid used in space ships. It was usually used in small doses, because the magnetism of gray particulates had a tendency to interfere with sensors. No one had ever thought to use it to mask sensors from potential enemy ships, but Amelia tried it in one of her simulations months ago, and it worked. It was working just as well now.
“Coolant conduits flooded. Diverting auxiliary power to batteries now,” an engineering ensign said over the comm system.
Amelia could hear everything through her headset, but focused only on one frequency: the one that patched her into what Kelvin did. Using his phone’s microphone and camera apperture, Kelvin’s digital assistant was able to create a video render of what happened in real time using sonar. It was also something Amelia had come up with and she watched as Kelvin pushed himself quickly across the shuttle toward the space suit.
“You’re headed right for it, Kelvin. Don’t worry, we’re watching everything,” Amelia said. She toggled to a different frequency. “Rescue team. Prepare to launch shuttles at my command.”
“Yes, ma’am,” a pilot responded. It was the first time anyone had used a formal term to address her. Amelia felt authority, and it felt good, but she didn’t let it distract her.
“Battery status,” Amelia said, toggling the frequency again.
“Charging at standard rate. We’ll be able to arm electro canons in five minutes,” a tactical officer said.
“No, we need to get Kelvin and get out of the belt,” Amelia said, catching herself as the rest of the crew looked at her puzzled as to why she’d refer to Kelvin with his first name. They only knew him as ‘Lord Sellwood’. “We can’t take a chance of letting the Pirates of Mercury board the Monarch. Plot a course to take us back to the edge of the belt and have it ready to go as soon as Lord Sellwood is aboard.”
“Only Sir Ristep had the plotted courses of this ship. He’s locked out all his command protocols. They’re triple-encrypte
d in a three-dimensional hexagonal equation. Impossible to break,” the same tactical officer said. “It will take the computer hours to plot a course out of here.”
“Start plotting it and go as fast as you can. I’ll work on the encryption,” Amelia said, remembering what Holloway did before she was their teacher. She toggled to Holloway’s phone and put in a call through her headset.
“Holloway, here,” Holloway answered immediately, in a much more serious voice than Amelia had heard. Holloway had been an officer in Earth’s Navy before she worked as an encryptionist around the Nine Kingdoms. Amelia thought she might be getting a glimpse into what Holloway had been like as an officer.
“Holloway, we need you on the bridge. Get up here now,” Amelia said.
“Amelia? Are you okay?” Holloway’s voice sounded frantic. Amelia imagined her teacher was probably helping out anyone who was injured or trying to keep people calm as best she could. She was also most likely worried sick about Amelia and Kelvin, since she was stuck on the other side of the Monarch.
“We need you to break a code so we can get out of here. It’s on Riz’s command protocol drive. You have experience with triple-encryption, three-dimensional–”
“I wrote the software that coded Riz’s drives. I’m on my way,” Holloway said, her frequency cut-off. Amelia didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, now that she knew Riz’s information was protected by a software program. She quickly switched back to Kelvin, who had reached the spacesuit.
This is where things would get dicey.
“Everything’s dead!” Riz said angrily, as he smashed his fist into the control panel out of frustration. The crackling sound of smashed glass echoed around the small shuttle. His anger frightened both Aren and Kelvin.
It was completely dark. Aren’s legs were off the ground, but she kept herself tethered in place by holding on to the chair next to Riz. The only light that came into the shuttle was from distant indicator lights on the ships in the distant fleet. There wasn’t even any light from the stars, as the giant asteroids of the Antioch Belt obscured them.
“Kelvin! Are you okay?” Aren said, turning her head frantically, trying to make sure her brother was nearby. At this point, neither Aren or Riz even considered there was a possibility for Kelvin to escape.
“Oh no!” Riz shouted again. “Life support is going to fail.”
“Kelvin,” Amelia said in his ear. “Life support isn’t failing. Mara just changed their display to make it look like that. They need to think that so once you put on the suit it won’t look suspicious.”
“I found a spacesuit,” Kelvin said.
“Good! Put it on!” Aren said, the panic in her voice apparent.
“Mayday! Mayday! This is Riz, we need evac as soon as possible. Life support is failing! Repeat, life support is failing!” Riz said into his phone.
“Situation hasn’t changed, Riz,” Harcrow’s voice said over the small speaker. “We can’t fire on the Monarch without the risk of destroying it and we can’t get a shuttle in range until we can’t get a shuttle to you until you’re out of weapons range. There should be space suits in the manifest. Are you sure about life support failing? We’re detecting you have full power.”
Riz paused for a moment before responding. He didn’t answer and instead activated the sensor app on his phone. It wasn’t the most accurate, but it would be able to diagnose what was going on with the shuttle. Riz saw the shuttle had full power, and the only problem with it was the central computer core, which he could see had been hijacked through Kelvin’s phone.
“Mara,” Riz hissed to himself. He tried to override it, but Mara had a tight hold on everything. “Mara!”
Kelvin felt his blood freeze. The tone in Riz’s voice left no doubt that he realized exactly what was going on. Kelvin had just started getting into the space suit, but getting into an already difficult piece of clothing was even harder while floating in midair. It was still dark, but Kelvin could see Riz’s silhouette rise from the chair he’d been strapped to. He remembered their training in zero gravity and how well Riz was able to move in the giant training chamber without even the aid of a wall. Kelvin struggled and tried to pull the suit around himself.
“Riz! What is it?” Aren said.
“Mara! Override protocol code five-three-zero-five!” Riz shouted, just as he reached Kelvin.
“Kelvin, just stay calm. We’ll figure something out,” Amelia said, defeatedly. All it did was confirm to Kelvin that the jig was up.
Riz grabbed his arm and yanked him away, from whatever he had been holding onto. His legs were caught in the space suit and he was actually halfway into it, so the suit came with him. Kelvin tried to pivot, but it was no use. He was helpless against a much stronger and more trained man.
“Ouch!” Kelvin shouted, a delayed reaction to the pain.
“Don’t hurt him, Riz! That’s my brother!”
“Your brother is the one that did this!” Riz said, as he snatched Kelvin’s phone from his pocket. “Mara, cease all control over this shuttle’s computer functions and go into sleep mode.”
Some emergency lights came back on, but it was still very dark. Kelvin and Riz falling a few feet from the loss of zero gravity. Kelvin caught himself and stood, with Riz glaring down at him.
“If you want this to be hard, it can be hard, Kelvin. No one wants to hurt you. Everyone on those ships want your help. If you give it to them, things will be very good for you when we get back to the base. If you don’t, well, the Colonel can make life pretty difficult for those who don’t do what he says.”
“Are you threatening my brother?” Aren said, putting herself between Kelvin and Riz. It was little reassurance that his sister would be able to protect him against Riz, but he appreciated the sentiment.
“I don’t need to threaten your brother, Aren. All I’m trying to do is warn him that there are people he hasn’t met yet who are not as forgiving about his circumstances as we are. The Colonel isn’t going to put up with this kind of crap,” Riz said.
Kelvin hadn’t heard about this ‘colonel’. Judging from the look on his sister’s face, he wasn’t supposed to. She looked as if Riz had just spilled some huge secret.
“Let me guess…another person who wants to hurt the innocent people on the Monarch that you two should be protecting?” Kelvin said.
Aren glared at Riz in anger, shook her head, and walked back to the control station. She seemed very upset at the mention of the Colonel.
“No. You’ll meet him soon, Kelvin. That’s all you need to know,” Riz said.
“When were you planning on telling me he was involved?” Aren said to Riz. “Were you just going to wait until we got my brother back there?”
Kelvin could tell the mention of the Colonel caused a rift between Riz and Aren. Riz tossed Kelvin’s phone back to him and took his seat back at the controls. Kelvin brought the phone online, but could tell that Riz locked out most of it’s functions when he put Mara into sleep mode. There was no way for Amelia to contact him, but Kelvin wasn’t going to stop the plan. The suit was already halfway on, so Kelvin just zipped everything up the rest of the way while Riz and Aren were distracted.
“You told me he had nothing to do with this. You told me we had command of Harcrow and the fleet. I would never have gone along with this if I had known the Colonel was involved, Riz,” Aren said.
“What did you think he would do? Did you think the old man was just going to sit back and have nothing to do with this? These are his people.”
The spacesuit was on Kelvin and he carefully switched on it’s controls from the panel on his left wrist. He could feel the suit come to life, with the collar slimming around his neck to create a seal. It was tight and uncomfortable, but he knew it was necessary to protect from the vacuum of space.
“No, I didn’t think that, Riz. I’m young, not stupid. I knew he’d have a say in this, but you make it sound like he’s in charge. We’re in charge. This is us. This happens o
n our terms. I’m not interested in repeating history, and that’s all the Colonel knows. He’s not a leader, he’s a warlord,” Aren said, her voice became more perturbed with each syllable. Kelvin could tell whatever his sister had become involved in, she may be in over her head.
As the conversation continued, Kelvin looked toward the helmet of the space suit. It was hanging and would barely be within his reach when he was standing, so he would have to be quick. The real problem would be opening the airlock, getting inside of it, and ejecting himself into space. He had to assume that Amelia was still mounting a rescue operation, and the beacon in the suit would be able to lead any shuttle to him. Kelvin gulped when he thought about the prospect of being ejected into the vacuum of space, but anywhere seemed better than where his sister and Riz were going to take him.
“You’re not stupid, but you’re young. You think just because you’ve spent the last ten years training with these people gives you any idea of what real war is like, Aren?” Riz snapped.
“These people…these are our people. We are one of them…at least I am. These are not soldiers we are going to send out to die in the Nine Kingdoms. That’s what the Colonel will do. That’s not what we said we were going to do. And if you’re dumb enough to think I’d turn my brother over to that maniac, you’ve got something else coming. I’ll send him back to the Monarch if you don’t give you me your word you won’t let that man anywhere near him.”
“I’ve got the Colonel under control. He thinks he’s running the show, but I those soldiers are loyal to you and I. He’s not going to get any order through unless we approve it. They all know he’s old and not as sharp as he used to be. They trust you, Aren. They trust me, and one day I hope they’ll trust your brother, too.”
Kelvin picked out which lever on the airlock door was the manual override. All of the lights and systems came back on, thanks to Riz regaining control of the shuttle.
