HADRON Chaos

by Stephen Arseneault

  Jane sighed. “I was in a kneeling stance firing when he came ramming around a corner. Knocked me back into some protruding box that grabbed my ankle. Thought the suit was gonna snap off my leg. Anyway, it’s just a sprain. Jenny put a wrap on it for me.”

  “Maybe on this next run we swap places,” said Mace.

  Jane held up a hand. “Noooo, you need to be sitting in that chair doing exactly what you were just doing. We can handle the assaults. You keep at keeping our shuttle safe.”

  Jordan Crawford said, “I’ve have a few team members I can swap out.”

  Jane turned with a scowl. “You mind your own team. We’re in good shape and don’t need any help.”

  Mace opened a comm to Malcom Stark. “We could use your help, you know. Had your teams been there, we’d have still been fighting.”

  Stark replied, “I did the best I felt I could. Did the Mawga fleet not help?”

  “That was your doing?”

  Stark’s silhouette nodded. “The emperor is frantic to end the protection agreement he so gleefully signed. He now sees his mistake and is trying desperately to wiggle out of it. I had hoped the assistance of his fleet would be enough. Unfortunately, it was not. His withdrawal tells me he is capitulating. I very much doubt his head will still be attached this time next year.”

  “You never had any intention of offering your help, did you?”

  Stark sat silent for several seconds. “I couldn’t foresee a scenario where that help would be available to give, Mr. Hardy. If you lose at Divinia, the Karthians will attack here. If they attack here, and if perchance we somehow manage to survive, I can hardly imagine we would be in the position to offer any assistance to the Mawga. As much as the emperor might demand it from us due to our agreement, we would have no way to fulfill it, and he would have no way to enforce it. Just be happy he was foolish enough to commit the ships when he did.”

  Mace frowned. “You just have no problem with stabbing people in the back, do you?”

  Stark let out a long sigh. “I play to win, Mr. Hardy. The weak will perish and the weaker will be used as tools towards the end-goal I seek. Humans are the only species I care about. We will one day dominate this galaxy. I just have to keep us alive long enough to do so.”

  Mace rolled his eyes. “Still hooked on the domination schemes. I should have known. One day you’ll get your due, Stark, and I hope I’m there to see it.”

  “I look forward to that day.”

  Stark bowed as the comm closed.

  Chapter 23

  *

  The damaged Targarian ships were still lined up at the repair docks when the Karthians continued their push. The colonies that had been partially abandoned were the first to see action.

  The ground-based microwave cannons were quickly overwhelmed. Whole city populations were scorched as the Karthian cruisers paraded along, raining down fire from above. Jasper sat in misery on the bridge of the Organ Cave.

  Mace opened a comm. “You’ve done all you can.”

  Jasper replied, “Have I?”

  Mace asked, “What more could you possibly do? The Karthians outnumber us.”

  Jasper winced. “I have to wonder if I committed my shuttles too early. Or should I have moved all the microwave cannons up to Dethika when I had the chance?”

  “You can’t turn the clock back,” said Mace. “Focus your energies on winning this thing. You can cry to yourself later.”

  Jasper looked at the comm camera. “Hmm, that sounds more like something I would say. You’re right. Instead of sulking I should be leading.”

  Jasper stood from his chair. “Staff! Over here, right now!”

  The comm closed.

  Johnny raised his eyebrows. “Wow, lit a fire under him.”

  Mace replied, “Basically the same thing you guys have told me. You can’t change what’s already happened, but you can affect the future. Mr. Hobbs, take us to Promexa. I’d like to have a word with Favia.”

  The Rogers was met by two warships as it came through a wormhole. This time, instead of the normal cautious greeting and ship inspection, the Human ship was escorted into orbit around the planet. A Hoorka shuttle landed in the docking bay, and a diplomat emerged and gestured toward the shuttle.

  “The queen has requested your presence, Mr. Hardy. And that of Jane Tretcher, if she is aboard.”

  Jane stepped forward. “Right here.”

  Mace asked. “Is everything OK? We came to see Favia.”

  The diplomat bowed and again gestured toward the shuttle. “Please, sir, the queen has personally requested your presence.”

  Mace waited for Jane and followed her up the ramp. “Wonder what this is about?”

  “And why would the Hoorka queen ask for me?” asked Jane.

  The ride down to the planet was swift. The shuttle landed on a deck with a long walkway that led directly into the palace. A hovercart, settling on the deck, met the guests as they came down the ramp.

  The attendant bowed. “Please watch your step and hold a rail.”

  The flat craft, not much bigger than a golf cart, lifted and sped toward the palace. As it reached the cover of a massive portico, it again settled on the deck. The attendant bowed as he gestured for the guests to step down. A second attendant escorted them into the palace.

  Green marble, lined with thin gold stripes, adorned the walls. A transparent floor covered a rushing stream as they walked from immense room to immense room. The attendant stopped and bowed, gesturing toward a set of large wooden doors, one of which was open. Rising steps on a far wall led to a central throne, where the queen was seated and waiting for them.

  Mace walked in first, followed by Jane.

  “I like the throne Jasper made for his people, but it’s underwhelming as compared to this.”

  Jane commented: “I wish the diplomat had said something. What’s the etiquette for meeting the queen? I could have at least dressed better than this battlesuit. I still have blood splatter on it.”

  They walked up the steps toward the queen, who was facing the other way. Two guards stepped forward, stopping the guests before they reached her. The queen stood. Jane’s eyes grew wide as a flowing gold lamé gown, dotted with emeralds, splashed from the queen’s lap onto the floor. The Hoorka queen stood in all her glory, a heavy green makeup covering her face.

  Jane curtsied.

  Mace half bowed. “Your Highness… you asked for us?”

  The queen said with a grin, “How quickly you have forgotten me.”

  Jane looked up immediately. “Favia? But how?”

  Favia gestured toward the steps. “Please have a seat. I’ll explain.”

  Mace took his place. “I’ve never been much of a fashion guy, but you are stunning.”

  Favia smiled as she sat on the step just above them.

  Jane said, “Should you be on the floor in that?”

  Favia laughed. “They clean these steps at least three times a day. I get dirtier just standing up. How have you been? I’m excited to see you both!”

  Jane asked, “They made you queen? How’d that happen?”

  “My wealth and generosity brought about the end of the war. The king himself abdicated so that I might rule. It’s all happened so fast. I’m still coming to grips with it. The feeling of responsibility is immense.”

  Mace nodded. “I could see that.”

  Jane laughed. “I hope you aren’t referring to yourself with that comment.”

  Mace pulled back. “I was. Just as it applies to you and everyone else on the Rogers. We all fight for Earth.”

  Jane held up her hand. “OK, sorry. Just sounded like something Johnny would say.”

  Mace looked back at Favia as he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I seem abrupt, but we’re in the middle of a war we need to get back to. A species called the Karthians have invaded our space. As we speak, they are wiping out the Targarians. They’ve already annihilated over a dozen other species, and will be heading toward Earth soon. I don�
�t know that we can stop them. We’re here to ask for your help.”

  Favia sat silent for several seconds. “What could I possibly do?”

  “We need ships, or weapons, or anything that could turn the tide of this war. We’re getting slaughtered because we’re outnumbered three or four to one. Is there any help you could possibly provide along those lines?”

  Favia slowly shook her head. “I’ve only just acquired the crown. We’ve just come out of a long war. The people will not want to get involved in another one, especially one that is of no danger to us. I’m sorry, Mr. Hardy, I don’t think I can offer that kind of help. I could send food. Or establish a trade route. Conducting war is not something I have the power to do.”

  Favia took a deep breath. “I could extend credit. I am currently the wealthiest person in the kingdom. Is there somewhere you could purchase weapons or ships from?”

  Mace sighed. “Unfortunately, no. Our one trading partner who might have made that possible is no longer interested in helping us. Another of our species traded their sovereignty and the wormhole technology for protection. That negotiation left us with nothing to barter with. Not that we would have given that technology away anyway. It’s too powerful to be in the hands of the untrusted.”

  Favia nodded. “That is the one technology that saved us. Even now we fear the Volgars are attempting to steal it from us. Should that happen, our truce with them might be forgotten and our colonies crushed with sudden and overwhelming attacks.”

  Jane asked, “Are there any weapons technologies you could trade? A more powerful cannon or shields? Even hand weapons, if you have them.”

  Favia lowered her eyes. “As the new queen, I don’t even know if I could ask.”

  Mace stuck his hands inside his visor and began to rub his temples. “If I gave you the design for a weapon, do you think you could mass produce it in an insanely short period of time?”

  Favia replied, “I could try. How soon would you need whatever it is built?”

  Mace pulled up an image of the orbital microwave stations. “We would need as many as you could produce by tomorrow.”

  Jane half frowned. “Subtle, Mace.”

  “I’m just being real.”

  Jane said, “It took our people a few weeks to set up an assembly line for these, after that another month to really begin cranking them out. The Hoorka won’t be able to match that as it’s not even their design.”

  Favia clapped her hands together. An attendant was quickly by her side. “Bring the royal engineer.”

  The attendant bowed and scurried away.

  Mace said, “You seriously have a royal engineer?”

  Favia nodded. “The palace provides me with an expert staff that are capable of meeting any of my requests—within reason, of course.”

  The royal engineer sprinted into the room, bowing and taking a knee four steps below his queen.

  Favia said, “My guest has a design I would like you to look over. I would like to know if it is possible for us to build it. And if so, how fast can we produce them and of what quantity? I would like your very best estimates. This is a matter of utmost importance to me. You have one cycle to complete this task.”

  Mace held up his arm pad for a data transfer.

  Favia waved her hand when the transfer was complete. “Go now. Time is of the essence.”

  Jane asked, “How long is a cycle?”

  “Approximately ninety of your minutes. I don’t know why, but I prefer your twenty-four hours to our ten cycles. Perhaps it’s just the longer day on Earth I prefer.”

  Jane looked around. “Well, if you’re looking to trade, I’d be glad to swap a little piece of property in Norfolk for this place.”

  Favia smiled. “I do miss the Human humor. Our people are often too serious.”

  Mace replied, “Well, from what I’ve seen it hasn’t done you wrong.”

  Favia nodded. “I suppose.”

  The chat continued until the royal engineer returned. “I have the estimates, Your Majesty.”

  Favia motioned with her fingers. “Tell us.”

  The engineer cleared his throat. “A reasonable estimate would be two months for a prototype, with another two months to bring an assembly line up to speed. My staff and I believe each line assembled could produce three units per day. I would assume however, because of your urgent request, you want something more than reasonable.

  “With that assumption, we believe a functional prototype could be assembled in ninety cycles. We also estimate an assembly line, if prepared in parallel, could be fully operational in three hundred cycles.”

  Mace did the math on his arm pad. “Hmm. That’s almost three weeks. I don’t think we have a week left.”

  Favia looked at her engineer. “If you had unlimited funds, how long is your absolute best estimate? If the defense of this planet depended on it?”

  The royal engineer stared at a far wall for several seconds. “I’m pulling numbers from the air, but I would suppose half the estimate for production. For the prototype, that is already the best we can do, my Queen.”

  The queen said, “You have the funds, Mr. Cattess. I want two hundred lines operational as soon as physically possible.”

  The engineer gazed at his queen. “Two hundred?”

  Favia waved. “Yes. Make this happen, Mr. Cattess, and your queen will be extremely pleased with your service. Now go. Time is of the essence.”

  The engineer stood and sprinted as he talked into his comm device.

  Jane looked at Mace. “Can’t say I would mind having that kind of power.”

  Favia half smiled. “It is a great burden as well. I spend almost every waking moment in thought about how to better the lives of my people.”

  Jane said, “You have the makings of a great queen, Favia. I’m sure your people will be thrilled with your leadership.”

  Mace stood. “I don’t mean to be abrupt, but we have a war to get back to.”

  Favia bowed. “I wish there was more I could do. Your kindness and caring is what brought me to this position.”

  Jane smiled. “We only brought you home. Your own kindness and caring brought you here.”

  Favia again bowed. “If only we were all so humble.”

  Mace extended a hand, helping the Hoorka queen to her feet. A short walk had them on a lift that carried them to the shuttle.

  As they walked up the ramp, Jane said, “What a wonderful person she turned out to be.”

  Mace nodded. “We can only hope we live long enough to visit her again.”

  The Rogers opened a wormhole to Targarian space.

  Mace opened a comm. “Mr. Collins, what’s our status?”

  “They’re still digesting those colonies. How’d it go at Promexa?”

  “How’d you know we went there?”

  Jasper shook his head. “Because you opened a wormhole there. You think everyone looks away when a wormhole is suddenly opened?”

  Mace returned a smile. “No, I suppose not. Our trip was both good and bad. Favia has been made queen of the Hoorka. Her throne room puts yours to shame, by the way. Anyway, she couldn’t give us ships of Hoorka weapons, so I gave her the plans for the microwave stations. She has her people scrambling to build two hundred assembly lines for us. Unfortunately those are gonna take ten days or so.”

  Jasper replied, “Hmm. Doubt we have ten days. Are they able to get around producing the… uh… whatchamacallit?”

  Mace laughed. “The domain reflector? Yeah, we don’t know. At the moment they have the full plans. We’ll see if they have the engineering expertise to replicate that. And that’s not to take anything away from your engineers or ours, we just don’t have the knowledge required to replicate that part. Anyway, if we can hold the Karthians off for a week and a half, we may have some help.”

  Jasper asked, “How they getting them here?”

  Mace stopped in thought for several seconds. “We ran out of there so fast I forgot to ask. I suppose we’ll have to k
eep track and send transports when the time comes.”

  Jasper scowled. “If we have any left. We just lost 20 percent of what we had trying to get my people off those planets.”

  Mace sighed. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out between now and then. It’s what we do.”

  The forces at Croawla were waiting. Ship repairs continued at the repair docks in orbit around Divinia. New Collins ships continued to be floated out of the construction docks. A jump was made back to Earth to check on the families.

  Mace stood at the cave entrance with Johnny. “Almost looks like a hotel in there now.”

  Johnny replied, “Has its own water purification system and sewage processing. The reclaimed water is dumped in a creek about a quarter mile away. The habitat portion can be sealed off with its own oxygen generation as well. We could literally close the door and live in there for a year. We even have a nice maintenance lab with spare parts if needed. In reality, it’s no different than living on a ship.”

  Mace frowned. “And we’ve done plenty of that. What scares me is if we manage to survive an attack by the Karthians… will we be the only ones left? They seem to be thorough in their genocide. Each of those planets still has a couple ships left behind whose sole purpose is to hunt down and kill any survivors. Would we survive here for a year only to come out and get blasted afterward?”

  Johnny chuckled. “Well, if dying sooner or later are our options, I think I’ll take later.”

  Zax and Fina came up the ramp leading out of the cave. “Mr. Johnny, come play with us?”

  Johnny looked at Mace with a half smile. “Duty calls.”

  Mace walked the ramp into the cave. A short walk had him standing in the kitchen area of the dining hall. Jane and Jenny were preparing a lunchtime meal.

  Mace asked, “What are you cooking? Smells good.”

  Jenny replied, “We scored a couple beef roasts at the Ronceverte market. We have green beans, corn, squash, mashed potatoes, biscuits. Jane even managed to find olives. Did I mention I love olives? We’re starting to see more of those products since the skybuses went in. Almost like a global economy is emerging again. Nothing like it was, but it’s progress, I guess.”

  “Is this meal for a special occasion?”