Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger

by Doug Dandridge

  “I just wanted to tell you how much we appreciate you,” said Yu, motioning toward a seat. “Even if you are just a, grunt. It’s not everyone that could do what you did, go through what you went through, and train to get back into it.”

  “We’re going to need everyone we can get on board the military,” said Commander Okeke, taking another chair. “As odious as it sounds, you’re going to become a poster child of the recruiting effort.”

  “Shit,” spat Cornelius, to the laughter of the others.

  Yu took about fifteen minutes of his time, asking him questions about the Ca’cadsans, then his plans. She had a sad look on her face as their time came to a close. “Enjoy that baby of yours while you can,” said the woman as they parted. “You’re going to head into harm’s way, and you don’t know how much time you’ll have with him.”

  “I’m ahead of you there, Doctor,” said Cornelius as he made to leave.

  The Commander escorted him to the proper gate, the busiest he had seen in the station, leading to the Hexagon. She led him to the front and gave him another salute, then watched as he walked into the mirrored surface.

  On the other side of the wormhole the scene was repeated, as people made their way out of the guarded chamber and to their assignments. Another officer, this time an army major, waited, and escorted Cornelius to an aircar on a landing on the outside of the building. The man had the insignia of the Imperial Protection Corps on his jacket.

  “I could get used to this,” said Cornelius to the officer as the man opened the door to the aircar.

  “Well, don’t,” said the laughing officer. “It’s good to have friends in high places. Just don’t push it.”

  “I won’t,” said Cornelius before the man closed the door and jumped into the front passenger seat of the car.

  Cornelius looked out the window as the car lifted and headed for the palace. He had gotten a brief glimpse of the city on his way through. Now he got a good look as kilometer after kilometer of tall buildings passed by to both sides. Around the Hexagon were other skyscrapers, reaching over a kilometer into the air. Further to the south was a line of megascrapers, reaching five kilometers straight up, while to the north the city in a building arcologies sat in a line. Past the central business and government district was block after block of smaller buildings.

  They crossed to the north of Constance the Great Spaceport, where huge shuttles were coming and going each minute. Ahead was the famous mansion district, a ridge of hills with the manor houses of Lords and Ladies, the rich and famous. Before they reached that spot both famous and infamous the aircar dropped down, heading for the twenty-one hundred square kilometer Imperial Palace grounds.

  Cornelius really wasn’t too interested in looking at the ostentatious palace. He had seen such before, when his father had worked as a hunt master for the local duke on New Detroit. But there was something he was interested in seeing, someone special.

  “He’s in here, PFC Walborski,” said the nanny, Marlena, leading Cornelius into a large room where a number of children were playing. There were a couple of cribs in the room, and one crying baby. “That’s Kelsie,” said the nanny who had been left in charge of Cornelius Jr. “Junior is a happy baby, overall.”

  Cornelius walked over to the other crib, the one that wasn’t emitting shrieks of displeasure. “Hey there, little buddy,” said Cornelius, looking down on the infant that was twice the size of the one he had left here. Over five months old. He put out a finger and the baby followed it with his eyes, then grasped it in a pudgy hand. I’ve missed so much.

  “Can I pick him up?” he asked, looking at the woman.

  “Of course. He’s yours, after all.”

  Cornelius put his hands down and picked up the child, looking lovingly into the blue eyes that were so like Katlyn’s. He moved a hand to the neck, then noticed that the baby’s head was not wobbly. He cradled the baby against his shoulder and rocked him. “Who are the other children?” he asked, looking at a couple of toddlers playing in a corner, and some slightly older children who were engaged in a simple board game.

  “The children of some of the staff,” said the nanny, smiling. She pointed at one of the toddlers, a little boy. “That is the son of Lady Janice, one of the Imperial cousins.”

  “He is so beautiful,” said Cornelius, looking back at his own child, holding him out so he could look into his face.

  “He’s a smart one, too,” said Marlena, smiling down and touching the baby on the cheek.

  “I want to take him with me, tomorrow,” said Cornelius, gently jiggling the baby in the air. “Do you have a harness so I can carry him on my chest?”

  “Of course. And you remember that you have dinner with his Majesty tonight?”

  “How could I forget that,” said Cornelius, still finding it difficult to believe that he could be of any importance to the ruler of a trillion beings. But the evidence was here in his hands, the baby that Sean had insisted be raised in the palace. And Cornelius knew that if anything happened to him, the child would be well cared for, as long as there was an Empire.

  He spent the next couple of hours playing with Junior, and learned under instruction how to change the child. He had not realized how dependent a baby was on his caregiver. He slightly remembered taking care of the infant while evacuating Sestius. The child was completely helpless at that time, not able to even roll over. The baby was still not very mobile, but he could roll over and grab things, and needed to be kept in environs that precluded him getting into trouble. Finally the child wore out, and Cornelius left him with the nanny while he went to prepare himself for the dinner.

  In full uniform he approached the red room, a small dining room near the Emperor’s private quarters. He felt nervous at the entrance to the room, and the servant who had been guiding him seemed to sense his unease. She looked back at him with a smile on her face. “His Majesty is no threat to you, PFC,” she said, gesturing toward the doorway. “I am quite sure you are not on the menu.”

  Cornelius let out a short nervous laugh, swallowed, and walked into the room. There were two people already in the room, and neither of them were the Emperor. The PFC looked over those two, recognition coming quickly. He snapped to attention, but before he could salute Grand Marshal Mishori Yamakuri jumped to his feet and rendered a precise hand salute. Field Marshal Betty Parker got to her feet in a more sedate manner, waiting for Walborski to salute before she rendered her honor. That was when Cornelius noticed the Imperial Medal of Heroism hanging from her neck as well.

  “Have a seat, PFC Walborski,” said Yamakuri, motioning to a chair on the other side of the table from he and the Marine Commandant. “His Majesty will be along shortly now that you are here and the staff can inform him of the fact.”

  “He waited for me? Sir, ma’am?”

  “It’s a matter of protocol,” said Parker with a smile. “The Emperor waits on no one.”

  “All rise for the Emperor, Sean Ogden Lee Romanov,” called out a Herald. “All rise for Sean the First.”

  Sean came sweeping into the room in full dress uniform, Doctor Jennifer Conway on his arm. Cornelius was struck by the beauty of the red haired physician, and from the attentiveness of the Emperor in seating her, he realized that to Sean this was no casual dinner companion. As soon as he had seated the woman, next to Cornelius and on his own left he took his own chair.

  “So good to see you, Cornelius,” said Sean, looking over at the PFC. “I have been hearing good things about you. I hope you don’t mind my inviting Mishori and Betty to dinner?”

  “Not at all, your Majesty,” said Cornelius in a choking voice.

  “Don’t worry about us at all, Cornelius,” said Parker, picking up her wine glass. “You can speak freely here, and nothing will get back to the military. Right, Mishori?” she said, elbowing him in the side.

  “Be at ease, Cornelius,” agreed Yamakuri, smiling. “His Majesty invited us along so we could get a sense of what fighting the Ca’cadsans is l
ike.”

  “It can be hard, sir,” said Cornelius, choking on his words. “Very hard.”

  “I am so sorry about your wife, Cornelius,” said Jennifer, leaning over and putting a soft hand on his forearm.

  He kept his arm still, but still felt some of the guilt he had possessed at lusting after this woman before his wife was killed. Of course she had brushed him off, but he had still propositioned her.

  “There will be a lot more widows and widowers, and orphans, if we don’t stop these devils,” said Sean, looking around the table.

  The food came and the talk stopped for a moment. Cornelius had to admit that he had never eaten food better than the seafood lasagna served that night. There were tender shrimps, scallops, oysters, crab meat and other things he wasn’t familiar with. He wasn’t sure if it was Earth stock or local surrogates, and really didn’t spend much time wondering, just enjoying. It was served along with a salad that was crisp and fresh beyond belief, with fresh baked bread and sweet butter. And a wine that Cornelius could not afford with a year’s salary.

  Jennifer excused herself after ten minutes of after dinner conversation. And Sean invited his guests to another room, where he activated a holo that showed the entire Persius arm. At a command the view zoomed to the New Terran Empire, then further into Sector IV.

  “I know this is above your classification level, Cornelius,” said Sean, swirling the fine whisky in his glass. “I am raising your clearance, unilaterally. I want your input on this.”

  “On what, your Majesty?”

  “We’re not winning this war, PFC,” said Mishori, pointing to the holo that now showed the red dots of conquered worlds, along with the orange of those threatened by the aliens. “We need time. And his majesty has made a proposal on how to buy some of this time.”

  “Remember, Cornelius, as we tell you this, there are other contingencies on the planning boards,” said Sean. “We will only talk about this one, but I don’t want you to leave here thinking this is all we have going. That would be enough to depress anyone.”

  Cornelius gave the Emperor a questioning look.

  “What would be your thought about taking on the Cacas on a planet surface. With no air or space support, and very little in the way of logistics? Just you and a small unit?”

  “I think it would be suicide, if you mean to put regular infantry units on the planet,” said Cornelius, seeing the frown that came over the Grand Marshal’s face as he said that. “But I believe small units of hunters could really hurt them.”

  “And you had experience with this on Sestius? Is that correct?” asked the Field Marshal.

  “Yes, ma’am. And when we had the Cacas in the jungle, the Freeholders and myself, and men like Preacher, they were at a real disadvantage. We move better in heavy foliage, and they were not able to track us or call in air support. Not until we had already struck and moved away.”

  “So you see, my Lord and Lady. Cornelius has been there, and he thinks my plan would work.”

  “Are you willing to put your life on the line again, hunting through a jungle or forest with no support?” asked the Grand Marshal.

  “If I can kill Cacas, then yes sir,” said Cornelius, turning a cold eye on the Grand Marshal.

  “We just need to get more men like Cornelius here to go on those missions,” said the Emperor.

  “You’re going into the Rangers?” asked Mishori, putting down his own glass.

  “So I have been told, sir,” said Walborski, nodding. “Right after the NCO Academy. But I know how things can change.”

  “Oh, you’re going to Ranger school, son,” said the Grand Marshal with a smile. “I can guarantee that. Getting out successfully will be up to you.”

  “I will make it, sir,” said the PFC.

  “Of that I have no doubt. We need men like you. And before you say anything, Betty, he’s mine. You can go get someone else for your Force Recon.”

  Cornelius left the room almost giddy, both from the alcohol he had consumed and the elevated company he had rubbed elbows with. The last thing he remembered was shaking hands with the most powerful man in human space and two of his Paladins. Then he fell into a soft bed after ordering his implant to wake him for breakfast. He had three and a half days of leave, and he intended to use it well.

  * * *

  The center of Capitulum was the busiest city Walborski had ever seen. He hadn’t always been a farmer. He had grown up on New Detroit, a core world with five billion people, whose capital city was an impressive forty million. And it could be dropped into Capitulum seventy five times.

  The soldier was in civies this day, wearing the baggy trousers and button down shirt that was the fashion. Junior was attached to his chest by a baby carrier. The child looked at everything with a concerned expression, and his dad couldn’t blame the child. Everything was crowded, and to a less than year old baby it had to be overwhelming.

  It was a beautiful day, the sun bright in an almost cloudless sky. It glinted off the glass sides of the skyscrapers that framed the thoroughfares. This was walking only territory. People who needed to get someplace quickly could take the subway or the airbuses. Since it was near noon there were a lot of people out shopping, heading from their offices to eat, whatever. It was as if all the big buildings around them had emptied for several hours.

  Cornelius made his way across the street to the large square where so many were lounging on benches. Across that square, which seemed enormous from ground level, was the Reformed Catholic cathedral where Sean had been crowned, and his father before him. Birds, mostly pigeons, fluttered and landed, looking for food. A few of the native birdlings were also in evidence, and Cornleius wondered how many Earth forms had invaded the wilderness areas of the planet. Programmed nanotech was supposed to keep that from happening, but Cornelius had seen it on New Detroit despite the precautions.

  The cathedral was open, as it always was, and the soldier walked in, his hands over the baby’s chest. He looked at the massive columns of the nave reaching hundreds of meters straight up to the ceiling. He kept walking, his footfalls sounding on the walls. There were some people in the church, kneeling in pews and praying. He wasn’t sure how he felt about prayer. It hadn’t seemed to have helped him much. He and Katlyn had been trying churches on Sestius before the invasion. They had both been raised Reformed Catholic, and both had strayed from the Church after being married in it. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it now, but he was sure that Katlyn would have wanted what he planned, and that was good enough for him.

  He continued to walk toward the altar, looking up at the two hundred meter wide dome that reached almost a kilometer into the air. He knew the building was meant to overwhelm the worshippers, to impress them with the might of God. Again, he wasn’t sure if there was a God, but he had to admit the size of the building, the sculptures and paintings inside, were impressive as hell.

  “Father,” he said in a low voice, waving at a priest that was bustling about the altar. “Can I talk to you?”

  “Of course, my son,” said the smiling Priest, walking down the steps from the high platform. “What can I do for you?”

  “I would like to have my son baptized into the church,” said Cornelius, unstrapping the baby from the carrier.

  “And does his mother agree?”

  “She’s dead, Father. Killed by the enemy.”

  “I am so sorry, my son. I am sure she is with God.”

  And I’m not so sure, but I’m not willing to take a chance with my baby. “I’m in the Imperial Army,” continued Cornelius. “My baby is being raised by friends, and I don’t know when I’ll see him again, so I wanted to make sure I got this done.”

  “Of course. Let me get a few of the people here to witness. That is my wife over there,” said the Priest, pointing to a woman in clerical garb. “I’m sure she would be happy to help with the ceremony.”

  Cornelius held the baby, who was looking from him to the Priest as if he wasn’t sure about this thing, wh
ile the Priest dipped water out of the baptismal and sprinkled it on the child, at the same time saying a prayer. After it was over he thanked the priest and took the baby out into the city.

  “You really are a happy baby,” said Cornelius to his son as he strapped him back into his carrier. The baby made some noises, not speech, but the practice needed to speak. Cornelius ambled and walked to a nearby restaurant. Soon Junior was in a high seat sucking on a bottle while his father ate a sandwich. Then it was time to tour the central part of the city.

  There was really too much to take in on a day trip. He got a look at the Parliament building, and walked for several hours through the Imperial Museum, a place he couldn’t take in fully in his lifetime. After that he had dinner, then settled into his hotel room with his baby, just spending the evening enjoying the little one’s company. At times he looked out the window of his one hundred and fortieth floor room at the amazing city outside. The city seemed to stretch forever as a sea of light, while a constant string moved across the sky, aircars on their way home or to a night on the town. It looked too big to ever fall. And the soldier knew that was a lie.

  The next morning found the pair on an aircar to the south, passing along the curve of the city as it fronted the huge Capital Bay. Twenty-five hundred kilometers further south was Rio, home to another three hundred and fifty million people. They weren’t going quite that far, only a hundred kilometers from the southern boundary of Capitulum. To the most unusual city in the Empire.

  Earth Town existed for one purpose, and one only. It was an amusement park with a history, the past of the old human home planet. Nothing so impressive as what was built in Capitulum, it still was a part of their heritage.

  The aircar landed in the center of the five thousand kilometers of park. From the landing zone Cornelius could see the Eiffel Tower, standing in the center of Parisville. To the south was a gaggle of skyscrapers, New Yorkville. Not even sure where he wanted to go, the soldier took his baby to the French monument. They went to the top of the open tower, getting a good view of the park. After several hours on a reproduction of the Seine River he headed to the reproduction of New York. He bought the baby plenty of gifts at many of the shops at street level. He took some of the smaller toys, mostly stuffed animals, with him, and gave the stores an address to send the larger. Most looked at Cornelius curiously as he gave them the Emperor’s address, but took the orders.