Empire of Bones

by Terry Mixon

  “They’d be better if I didn’t have marines watching over us like they expected an assassination attempt.” She tried to keep the asperity out of her voice, but she knew she was unsuccessful.

  He chuckled. “How well did that work with the Imperial Guards?”

  She sighed. “Not very well. Can we at least have a little space in the officer’s mess? I need to build rapport quickly.”

  “Certainly. I’ll pass the instructions along to allow you privacy for your diplomatic discussions. They’ll only shoot him if he tries to strangle you.”

  “You’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”

  “Opinions vary. I’ll want a full report when you’re done.”

  “Will do. Bandar out.”

  The officer’s mess was empty. Jared must’ve ordered the compartment cleared as soon as he found out where she was going. Only one man in a white apron stood near the door.

  Oliver returned and took a seat opposite her. The marine guards took up positions against the bulkhead. They couldn’t easily overhear the conversation, but they’d be able to respond if needed.

  Kelsey summoned the server. “A beer for me and whatever Engineer First Williams wants. Sandwiches would be good, also.”

  “I shall have what she has,” Oliver said. “My thanks.”

  He turned his attention to Kelsey after the server had departed. “One of your marines referred to you as Princess. Are you of the Blood Royal?”

  She cursed Talbot under her breath. That might complicate matters. “I’m acting in a diplomatic capacity, but my father is the Emperor of the Terran Empire. My older brother is the Heir. It is of no import in our discussion.”

  Oliver stood abruptly and bowed low. “I must disagree, Princess Kelsey. The King would have my guts for garters if I failed to show proper respect to the high nobility of a foreign nation. You are the first our people have ever met.”

  The marines took two steps forward at Williams’ abrupt movements, but she waved them back. “Please, sit back down. I’m not one for standing on ceremony. For God’s sake, we’re about to have beer and sandwiches.”

  The man smiled as he resumed his seat. “That does imply a certain level of informality, does it not? Very well, but only in private. One must always show the proper respect for those of noble blood in public. I can hardly imagine having beer and sandwiches with the King or his family. I might just choke. Such as I have not the manners to dine with such as them.”

  “I assure you, we eat just the same as you. However, I understand how you feel. Captain Mertz—our Captain—is my half-brother and has always said he felt very out of place when he came to visit our father.” She took a little relish in telling Oliver that. If she was going to be embarrassed, Jared could keep her company.

  “Your Captain is a prince?” Oliver seemed surprised. “Commanding a warship away from your Empire must be dangerous duty.”

  She considered how to explain things without making more of a mess. “The Captain isn’t a prince. His mother wasn’t the Empress, if you know what I mean. Even if he was a prince, he could serve. My father was a Fleet officer in his time.”

  The Royal engineer inclined his head. “Honor to him, then. The Emperor acknowledges the bond to your Captain?”

  Kelsey nodded. “Yes.”

  “The Kingdom has its own share of those born on the wrong side of the sheets. An acknowledged bastard is of the Blood Royal and the King often appoints them to high positions and important tasks. There is no dishonor in such here.”

  The server delivered the beer and sandwiches. Conversation paused as they ate. Oliver devoured his larger share as though he hadn’t eaten in days. He didn’t seem impressed by the beer, but he said nothing.

  Once they had eaten, he ordered another beer. “That was a repast worthy of a king. My thanks.”

  “It’s my pleasure. Tell me, exactly what does an Engineer First do?”

  “The title means I am an engineer of the highest order. I supervise others in major repairs or command them on board a ship.”

  “I think that would be similar to our Chief Engineer. I’ll need to introduce you to Commander Baxter if time permits. So now that we have a meal inside us, can you tell me about these Pale Ones? We’re not familiar with them. Are they aliens?”

  The man smiled grimly. “If only they were. No. They are ravening human hordes that occasionally sweep out through the space-time bridge and attempt to overwhelm us. If they capture anyone, they whisk those unfortunate souls away. We never see them again. Else they slay any they can lay hands to.”

  “Why do they do that?”

  Oliver shrugged. “No one truly knows. We regained space travel very quickly after the Empire fell, but are trapped in this system. When ships came through the bridge a few decades later, we welcomed them with joy. They responded with missiles and incinerated tens of thousands before our ships destroyed them. War was joined and it continues to this day.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “Indeed. They sweep across us every few years like a plague of locusts. They have not reached Pentagar in centuries. The loss of life in this attack will be high, but not ruinous. The Royal Fleet knows its duty and the fate we face if we fail. We volunteer to stand between the Kingdom and the Pale Ones.” He took a deep breath. “What happens now?”

  “That’s up to our Captain, but I am confident you will be returned to your people as soon as possible.”

  “He commands even though you are in the line of succession? Is not your position higher?”

  “My father entrusted overall command of this mission to him. I am the force of political will. Together we’ll figure things out.”

  “Perhaps while we wait, you can tell me of your Empire.”

  Kelsey nodded. “Avalon is the capitol of the Terran Empire now. It is a beautiful world with tall mountains and clear lakes. Once it was a pristine vacation world far from the bustle of the core of the old Empire. That changed when the rebels chased Emperor Lucien to our surface. The rebels destroyed the spaceport and the city surrounding it. The only significant city on our planet. The battle in our skies ended with no survivors.

  “We lost much of our technology, but never our civilization. We regained space a hundred years ago and have spread out to a number of systems. We found people on many worlds and helped them recover too. We can finally spare the ships to explore the flip points around the Empire more thoroughly. And here we are.”

  “It sounds as though you have a wonderful home. I hope to see it with my own eyes one day. While I cannot speak for the Crown, I am certain our peoples will get along well.”

  She smiled. “I’m very hopeful that we will. I’m sure we each have strengths that we can use to support one another. How long has your world been a monarchy?”

  “Since almost the very beginning. Our ruler was an Imperial Baron when the Empire collapsed. His family has ruled us since those days, guiding us with wisdom and strength.” He raised an eyebrow. “Though I feel I should warn you that I doubt the King will bow to your Empire or your position.”

  “Of course not. I wouldn’t expect him to. We’ll form a relationship appropriate to the times.”

  He seemed to relax a bit. “That is wise.”

  “How long do you think the battle will rage?”

  “The Pale Ones committed to attack Pentagar will be destroyed shortly, I have no doubt. The ships and orbital weapons platforms will stop them. They will not save a reserve force. They will dash themselves against the defenses and die.”

  “I hope they don’t hurt any more people.”

  He nodded. “As do I. Unfortunately, it is all too likely some weapons will slip past. We dig deep, but many will die today.”

  “Then perhaps the best we can hope for is to stop them before it happens again.”

  The Engineer First raised his glass. “To that, I can drink.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jared maintained battle stations until he was certain
that none of the hostile vessels were going to come directly after them. Only then did he let his crew step away from their posts. He made sure that a standing watch was ready to respond and left the bridge in Charlie’s hands.

  The medical center was still busy when he walked in, though Stone was in her office. He rapped his knuckles on the hatch frame.

  She looked up from her screen. “Come in. Are we safe again?”

  “For the time being.” He stood behind one of the chairs. He’d already been sitting for hours. “What’s the crew status?”

  “Two dead and three injured. I know it could’ve been a lot worse, but I hate losing people.” She sagged a little in her chair. “How bad will this get before we’re done?”

  He shrugged. “Bad enough, I’m sure. How are our guests?”

  “All alive. A few had some bruises, but nothing to be concerned about. I do have some new information for you though. The marines snagged a body from one of the hostile ships. I’ve had the time to perform an initial examination and I’ve got some unexpected news.”

  She brought up the screen on her wall. A man lay on the table. His long hair was filthy and wild. His face was gaunt from what looked like malnutrition. He looked like a savage.

  “He wore minimal, quite primitive, clothing—barely more than animal skins. His nails and teeth showed no signs of care. He looks like he’s in his mid-thirties, but I’ll wager he’s a decade younger than that. Old before his time.”

  “Was he carrying a club? How do savages pilot flip spaceships?”

  “I was wondering that very thing.” She replaced the image with one of the internal scans from an old Empire marine. He recognized the extensive modifications.

  “Look familiar?” she asked.

  “Yes, those are an old Empire marine’s implants.”

  “This is the interior scan of the savage.”

  Jared stood there with his mouth open in shock. “You’re not saying this is an old Empire marine are you?”

  Stone shook her head. “Doubtful. The technology looks identical, though. He has all the modifications the old Empire marines had. The big difference is this.”

  She brought up another picture. This time of the side of the man’s skull with his hair pulled back. A long, poorly healed scar ran from his temple around the back of his head. “He has scars like this all over his body. There were no attempts at regeneration. My best guess is that this was done about ten years ago.”

  “Let me get this right. Someone took a savage and ran him through a highly invasive modification? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “It sure looks that way. There are another couple of things. First, they have the same equipment behind the lungs as the old Empire marines. I found a wide variety of drugs that the unit seems designed to put directly into the bloodstream. At least one is a powerful painkiller and another seems to be some kind of anti-viral med. I think. I’m still working on the rest. Time degraded the drugs in the old Empire marines, even though they were frozen.

  “Second, these implants are still live. We have a few scientists on board and they’re testing one of those fancy headsets to see if they can pull any data off him. Perhaps that will tell us how mister primitive can pilot a spacecraft.”

  “What about the new people? Do they have implants?”

  Stone shook her head. “No. I’ve looked all of them over very carefully. None of them have any implants.”

  “That’s good, but the other is very disturbing. Are you certain it’s the same modifications? With the same level of technical sophistication?”

  “As sure as I can be without cutting him open. I’ll save that for when the scientists are done. Those implants probably interface with the headset and other equipment. Since they still have power, it may be possible to access their programming.”

  He nodded. “Keep me informed. I want everything kept on comps that are not connected to the ship’s systems just in case.” He started to leave, but stopped. “And get some sleep.”

  The doctor smiled wryly. “There’s an order I have no problem obeying.”

  Jared left the medical center and used his communicator to locate Kelsey. To his satisfaction, she was still in the officer’s mess. Good. He was hungry.

  Both she and her guest rose as he walked in. “Captain Jared Mertz of the Imperial Terran Fleet,” Kelsey said, “allow me to introduce Engineer First Oliver Williams of the Royal Fleet of Pentagar.”

  The Engineer First bowed low. “I am honored, Lord Captain. On behalf of the people under my care, thank you for our lives.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Engineer First. The Empire doesn’t stand by while innocents are in danger.” He gave Kelsey a nod to show his own thanks and respect. “And I’m no lord.”

  The older man straightened. “You may not be in the line to your throne, but we of the Kingdom respect the Blood Royal, Lord Captain. Or in your case, the Blood Imperial. The Princess was wise to inform me of your status. It will make a difference in how you are received.”

  Jared narrowed his gaze and spared the smiling Kelsey a mild glare. “Please, call me Jared. And excuse me while I have something to eat. Breakfast was a long time ago.”

  “Then I am Oliver. I must use the correct titles in public, though. My King would not hear of anything less.”

  Once they had sat and Jared had ordered food, Oliver continued. “Might I ask the tally of battle?”

  “We destroyed the two ships chasing you. No hostile ships seem interested in coming out this way. For the moment I believe us to be safe.”

  “A mighty victory indeed. Did you emerge unscathed?”

  Jared shook his head. “We stopped most of the missiles, but one made it through. Thankfully, it detonated short of Athena. Two of our people were killed and several others wounded.”

  Oliver’ face became somber. “I mourn with you at the loss of your people in a fight not your own. I pledge that they shall be listed on the rolls of our honored dead.”

  Jared nodded. “On behalf of my Emperor, I thank you. Are you and your people receiving everything that you need?”

  “We are being housed as well as can be expected on a warship and are truly grateful. Everyone has eaten and most are sleeping. If I might ask, when will you contact the Royal Fleet to come meet you?”

  “As soon as we can be certain we won’t be fired on. No offense, but there’s still a shooting war going on.”

  The man nodded. “A wise precaution. I sent a message to Pentagar of our status and your assistance. I believe they will restrain themselves from impulsive actions.”

  “We’ll send a follow up message, preferably from you, telling them who we are, but I don’t want to do it until the battle plays itself out. Does this kind of attack happen often?”

  The Engineer First nodded. “Every few years. They come flowing in with no regard to their own deaths, striving to kill and capture. The ship I was on had just left the interdiction zone with the families of some of the officers there. We shuttle them out for the occasional visits because the stations are always fully manned.”

  Jared listened to the short version of the history between them while he ate. “It’s as though they build up strength and come back at you. Do you ever try to communicate?”

  “Many times, but they never respond at all. If they didn’t fly in spaceships, we’d think them completely savage. The mystery of how they can travel between the stars and yet not speak is a great one.”

  “They don’t speak? Via communicator?”

  “Nor in person. We have captured some few alive over the years. They truly are savages… ravening, murderous savages with no regard to their own survival. Left alone and not visibly monitored, they eat, defecate, and fight. Since they are enhanced they make formidable opponents.”

  Jared shook his head. “We brought one of their bodies back for examination. We noted extensive modifications. What’s the story there?”

  “I cannot explain why. It is one more mystery about them.”
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  “Why don’t you take the fight to them? Since they attack without reason they might not have a very good defense.”

  The man held his hands out to his sides. “We cannot. We know the theory of traversing the space-time bridges, but we have no access to several critical elements necessary to construct the drives. We are prisoners in our own system.”

  Jared glanced at Kelsey. “That explains why you haven’t journeyed in the direction we came from.”

  “We might not go there even had we been able. We believed it to be a cul-de-sac.”

  “You know?” The admission surprised Jared.

  “We do. The rebels destroyed our spaceports and the orbitals, and they used EMP weapons, but some records survived on an asteroid mining outpost. Some of the surviving computers there contained basic maps of the local area.”

  Jared felt himself sitting up straighter. “Do you know where Terra is?”

  “Very generally. We have detailed maps of our sector and general maps for the rest of the Empire. Pentagar was far from the center of the Empire. The knowledge you came into this system through an unknown kind of space-time bridge will both excite our scientists and fill the Royal Fleet with dread. Where you find one, there may be others. What if the Pale Ones find one and pour in on us unannounced?”

  “That would be a disaster,” Jared admitted. His communicator chirped. He unclipped it from his belt. “Mertz.”

  “This is Graves, Captain. The last of the hostile vessels was just destroyed short of the planet.”

  “Did they get any missiles through to the surface?”

  “Not that we could see, sir. Even the active scanner readings are vague from this far out. There seem to be a number of orbitals that shot down everything they fired.”

  Oliver sighed and smiled. “Thank the gods.”

  Jared returned his smile. “Do we have any ships on the way out here?” he asked.

  “About a dozen have changed course toward us. We’re looking at them arriving in our area of operations no earlier than five hours from now. Longer if they intend to decelerate.”

  “Understood. Keep an eye on things and I’ll be back up there before they get too close. Mertz out.”