“That’s quite the statement.”
“My team is already packing, those willing to quit and join me for this. We have a shuttle to the Intrepid, which is already ready to go.”
“All right, all right, you can go, Charles, but keep the damn office. I don’t know who the hell would be able to figure it out after what you’ve done to it. It looks like you’re going to have company soon, Pullo.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll let Mark know. He’ll be appreciative of any help he can get.”
“Can’t have someone ruining it…so many preparations to make.” Charles signed off, sounding like a small child on Christmas morning.
“Thank you, Damus,” Pullo said
“If this works out, I’ll be the one thanking you. At least at this rate, I get some room as Charles stops focusing on the next artillery pack for the suits. The payloads on those things are hard to believe, plus he hasn’t found one that can fire on the power output of the suit and not crush the user.”
Both Damus and Pullo winced.
“Charles will be out within a week with the supplies you need. He’s a little different but if this suit can be made, he’ll make it. Good luck.”
Pullo took his cue, saluting, and Damus replied in kind as the real-time link was cut.
“Great—two quirky bastards now.” Pullo sighed. A grin twitched at the corners of his mouth as he puffed on a lit cigar. His NIAI informed Mark. Things were going to get interesting on Tricticus, it seemed.
He received an alert from his NIAI.
“Nerva is on his way for Tricticus at his best speed.”
Chapter 4
The Yard
Sol system
8/3350
Jerome stretched. His joints cracked as the weight of gravity settled over his frame.
He nodded and waved to people in greeting; they nodded and carried on their way. The Victor Corporation was a massive entity with The Yard being just one of its many subsidiaries.
Many of the people employed here had also served with Jerome in the EMF. They had fought for years from planet to planet and then finally to Earth, destroying the group called Harmony.
Jerome stopped in the observatory, looking at the three massive freighters that currently occupied the second dock owned by the Yard. There were four slips. One was being prepared for its next project; the other three showed freighters in various stages of completion.
“I thought I might find you here.” Esamai’s arms wrapped around Jerome’s waist.
“Hey there, you.” Jerome wrapped his arm around her and brought her in for a kiss.
“How was your shift?” She rested her head against his chest.
“Long. We got the power couplings fitted for the thirty-fourth hardpoint.” Jerome sighed as he looked at the three ships, his mind somewhere else.
“What’s wrong?” Esamai asked.
Jerome thought about avoiding the question for a half-second. “Mark, Alexis, and Tyler.” Jerome looked to each of the ships in turn. “I…I can’t believe they’re gone.”
It had been months since they had defeated Harmony, before the incident with the screamer missile.
They had found Tyler and Alexis’s powered armor fused to each other. Jerome had sent them into the sun. But they had never found Mark’s body. There were so many bodies and few of them were recognizable.
“I know.” Esamai squeezed him tight.
For the most part, Jerome had buried himself in work. Esamai had been a godsend; she’d kept him off the booze and given him someone to talk to.
He looked to her and kissed her forehead.
“Dominguez is coming up from Earth and Ortiz got some free time from the mining rigs,” Esamai said.
Jerome looked back at the freighters. He felt a mix of sadness and pride. Sad at losing his brothers and sister; proud he was able to make something to commemorate the great people. It still didn’t feel as if it were enough. He wanted to tell everyone about the real Victors, not just the war heroes and ill-fated lovers. The people who had lived, laughed, and loved, who had accepted him into their family.
“Doesn’t feel like it’s been sixteen years.” Jerome’s emotions played through his mind as he looked at Esamai.
“I know,” Esamai said softly, understanding his emotions.
“What did I do to earn you?” Jerome smiled at her.
“Made my great-great-great-grandfather the head of the Yard.” She smiled.
“So, what are you? A bribe?”
“Maybe.” Esamai grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him from the view. She looked around before getting close so no one could hear her. “I wouldn’t think I’d be that bad of a bribe.”
Jerome made a show of looking down at her. “I think I could live with it.”
“You better!” She hit him lightly and tried not to smile.
Jerome laughed, some of the emotional weight of earlier falling away.
“Not too many cigars!” she chided him as they walked.
“Come on! I just got these Coheleans!” Ortiz said. He hadn’t lost a pound of his large frame over the years. He was still short as ever, and looked as if he were going to tear a trooper a new one. But there was a grin on his face as he shook a box of cigars at them and then pulled out a bottle of wine. “Don’t worry—I didn’t forget you, my dear.” Ortiz smiled.
Esamai laughed, hugging him in greeting and taking the bottle.
“Ortiz.” Jerome held out a hand.
“Jerome, you monkey.” Ortiz laughed and took his hand, bringing the other man into a hug.
“Having fun breaking rocks?” Jerome asked.
“Always good to blow things up. Been having some issues with the grinders. Teeth are getting worn down on—”
“No work!” Esamai chided.
Ortiz laughed and held up a hand. “My fault, sorry! How have you two been? I heard the news.” Ortiz looked at Esamai’s growing stomach.
“Good, though he wants me to stop even staring at view screens of space!” Esamai pouted. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid!”
Ortiz laughed and clapped Jerome on the shoulder. “Best to listen to the lady!”
“Thanks.” Jerome looked at his old commander and wife. There wasn’t going to be any winning with that combination.
They walked and talked through the working spaces and into the living areas. There were people everywhere. The Yard wasn’t just a shipyard; it was the base of all space-borne operations. The Westerly compound on Earth was their ground-based operation center.
Here and there, Jerome greeted people he knew by fighting or working beside them. He’d been a trooper for twenty years. When he’d retired and inherited the Victor Corporation, he’d hired on every trooper who was looking for a life beyond the slums and the EMF.
It had taken awhile, but now Jerome couldn’t think of any other place as home.
Two people stood outside Jerome and Esamai’s quarters—a tall man and a shorter woman with the sides of her head shaved and the top pulled into a ponytail.
“I found this one lurking in the luggage—decided to bring him along.” Dominguez grinned and pointed at the man. He was known by many names, but to them he was Moretti. He’d worked with Jerome and Dominguez directly on two different planets. They’d saved one another’s lives more times than they could count.
“Good to see you.” Jerome wrapped them up in hugs. His work at the Yard kept him in good condition and he had never forgotten his fighting training.
“Are those Coheleans I see?” Moretti asked.
“They might be. Might be that someone’s not allowed to smoke them, so Bobbie, Young, and myself will have a few extra,” Ortiz said.
“Have I ever said how much you’re my favorite rock breaker?” Moretti said.
“Good to see you, Moretti.” Ortiz laughed, hugging the man and tapping him on the back. They made their way into Esamai and Jerome’s quarters.
Jerome looked around at his home. It was a simple place: two bedroo
ms, living area attached to the kitchen, a bathroom and closet.
It had looked plain and boring when Jerome had taken it over. Now it was filled with paintings. There was a view screen, paint on the walls and something heavenly was cooking in the kitchen.
Esamai and Dominguez talked about a bit of this and that, dealt with food and sat down in a corner of the room. Jerome fetched drinks. Ortiz and Moretti talked.
Someone knocked at the door. Jerome went to it, checking the view screen. Three smiling faces looked back.
Jerome opened the hatch.
Yu, Young, and Bobbie grinned at him with gifts and food.
“Come in, come in!” Jerome waved them in, giving half hugs before he sealed the hatch behind them.
The others greeted them as they came in. Jerome put away Bobbie’s fine Scotch with a smile and handed out new drinks. Jerome stood in the kitchen for a moment, drinking his beer.
He smiled and looked at everyone. His closest friends and comrades. He looked to Esamai; she caught his eye and smiled back.
It’s too bad that Mark, Tyler, and Alexis weren’t here. The end of the Harmony War replayed in his mind. He’d been injured, pulled away by medics. He still heard the silence as battle died away. He couldn’t believe it was all over.
Then a screamer rocket took off. He would never forget that sound.
He heard people yelling as they raised their rifles, firing at a building where the noise came from.
Mark turned to face where Tyler and Alexis were, fear gripped him as he saw Alexis tackle Tyler. Then the missile went off.
Mark was thrown away, the pressure wave hit him off at an awkward angle before he struck a wall.
He hosed down where the shooter had been as people rushed forward.
Jerome had ran towards Alexis and Tyler who were the closest.
They were unrecognizable, their bodies twisted and broken.
Jerome let out a soundless yell of mourning and ran to Mark.
The people nearer him were already reacting.
He had severe internal injuries and his face was mashed up.
Then he had collapsed himself, the pain in his side registering, a piece of metal and turned shrapnel, piercing his side.
He dropped his weapon, numb. People helped him but it was a daze of drugs as he looked at where Tyler and Alexis were as people moved to secure the area. Ortiz yelling orders and people talking about Jerome’s injuries.
People yelling next to Mark.
Jerome looked over as their actions turned panicky. His vitals went from yellow to black and Jerome’s world came apart.
“You okay?” Bobbie asked. He was a large man from wrangling crates and cargo.
“Yeah, just, you know, sometimes it comes back.” Jerome gathered the various drinks and handed one to Bobbie. He took a big slug of his, trying to hide his shaking hand or the feeling that his guts had been pulled out, that hollow feeling knowing that they weren’t going to make it back. There had been so many things he wanted to say, to do with them. Now it was all gone.
“Yeah, same,” Bobbie said, seeing his own memories. “You need a hand?”
“Yeah, that’s Yu’s spritzer something and Young’s wine. I’ve got Ortiz’s beer and some snacks,” Jerome said.
“Snacks sound good. We had to do a double shift to get back in time. Rations are still crap.” Bobbie’s face screwed up in distaste.
“Nasty,” Jerome sympathized.
“Too fucking right.” Bobbie laughed and took the drinks.
Chapter 5
Camp Epsilon
Tricticus, Emarl system
11/3350
Charles was followed by a cadre of engineers and various experts gathering looks as they passed suited and fully armed legionnaires. Two massive things covered by a cloth were pulled behind them as they walked into the only lab in Camp Epsilon.
“All right, you guys know what to do.” Then to his NIAI: “Where is this Mark Victor?”
“I believe he’s in the simulation room still.”
“Would you kindly ask him to join us?”
“Certainly.”
Charles found a seat on a worktop in the lab, focused on his interface—as he had been constantly since seeing the information Mark had uploaded to the net.
“Charles Welckt,” Mark said from Charles’s side.
“You really are a mountain of a man.” Charles looked at Mark sideways. “How did you know I’m Charles?”
“I found your picture.”
“I deleted all of them—hate pictures.”
“One I took with the sensors in your workshop when you used your NIAI to find my project.” Mark grinned.
“Oh, I like you, Mark.” Charles’s face split in a grin. “Yes, I am Charles Welckt and these lovely people are my helpers.”
“Minders,” the good-looking redhead with Charles amended, holding out her hand to Mark. “I’m Maxine. That’s Jess and he’s Gomez.”
Jess smiled and Gomez grunted.
Gomez was the strong but squat power systems tech; Maxine, the beautiful redhead who worked with computer systems; and Jess, the black-haired armor and applied forces tech.
Maxine had the most energy second to Charles and spent hours just writing code, or going through it for fun. Making supercomputers was a pastime for her.
Gomez always looked confused because he was always thinking of some problem or other. He didn’t answer as many questions as he made noises at them. It wasn’t odd for him to grunt or sigh as he figured something out. His most common word was bam. It seemed whenever he completed something, he said bam, either out loud or under his breath. Most people automatically added a bam to nearly everything he said.
Jess was quiet and reserved. She was always thinking about the others. Though where they would go through trial and error, she would only do something if she knew she was going to get a certain result. She was reserved, concise, and practical where Charles was flighty, loud, obnoxious, and spontaneous.
“I believe we have a suit to look at.” He brought his hands together in a gleeful clap.
“Indeed. All right, so you all know why we’re here. To make a suit so we can finally fight the Maraukians on our terms. We’re looking at technology no one has even thought about making. Don’t kid yourselves—what we do here might change the war.”
“It looks like we weren’t the only people interested in the merging capabilities Mark has displayed. When Damus took this to the senate, it was revealed there was a select group of senators who passed a bill to create a merger group. They took Mark’s scans without his permission and hacked together mergers, not just legionnaires, but people in all branches of Roma’s legions: Bellona riders, Ares pilots, SLS crew. They’re all kinds of fucked up right now. Most of them are living in nanite vats, unable to leave for fear they’ll cause such a heavy injury that they’ll be unable to live normal lives. The senate wasn’t too happy with it, but they agreed. Now that it’s all out in the light, they want us to make a program for them to get body modifications and to make sure their merging works out,” Charles said.
“Nope,” Mark said. “I know just how powerful this is. I don’t want anyone running around with these kinds of abilities without testing them.”
“This is an order from the senate,” Charles warned.
“And they can fire me if they want.” Mark closed his eyes as Sarah connected him with the net. He merged his thoughts, raging through the net and gathering information.
“Okay, that should be sorted,” he said after a few minutes.
“What did you do?” Maxine asked.
“Just said certain things would come to light if they kept pushing. We’ll go see the mergers but I’m not going to give this shit out blindly,” Mark said.
“You blackmailed Roma senators?” Maxine asked, shocked.
“No, I informed them I would bring things to light they might not like, if they piss around with this tech and start giving me dumbass orders.” Mark shrugge
d. It might be odd to them, but bribery and threats were normal currency in slums and corporate towers of Earth.
“We’ll get set up in here and then start with the components,” Charles said in a light tone as he continued on with his work. He directed his subordinates through his interface, hiding how the momentary lapse of Mark’s face when talking about politicians shaken him to the core. Two things were certain: Mark hated politicians and he was a killer.
“Sounds good. I’ll be in the simulator room if you need me.” He gave a half wave as he walked out of the workshop.
“That is definitely not a man I want angry at me,” Gomez said.
“I think we can all agree to that.” Maxine was a poster-perfect redhead without any enhancements. Under her beautiful veneer lay one of the five smartest people in the known universe, and an addict to building things, which meant, naturally, she and Charles got along like a house on fire.
“I feel for him, though. He’s the only one with this ability and from what his reports state, he’s obviously been in battle. He knows this merging better than anyone and they’re sidelining him. Anyone would be a little pissed. Especially with the power he’s giving them, which can be so easily abused,” Jess said.
“I feel for him, especially where Senator Rimateus is concerned,” Charles said hotly to their nods.
“As Mark said, let’s get him the best damned suits we can produce. It’s looking like there won’t be much testing if they want the plans as soon as we come up with them, so it has to be perfect the first time we do it. I don’t want to have a Jupiter incident. This one needs to work the first time. We all know how Rimateus will use any issues to try to get control of this project.”
They all nodded in agreement. It wasn’t the first time they’d gone up against Rimateus. He was a brilliant politician, willing to do anything and everything to appear like the golden boy he portrayed himself as.
He’d tried to gain access to Charles’s projects that he shouldn’t have known about.
It made him look good to be part of a project to defend the people of Roma. It also ruined secrets and made Charles’s team look like a bunch of flunkies.
More than one time he’d tried to insert his own people to take over Charles’s group and get the man kicked out of research and development.
The Tenth Awakens (Maraukian War Book 1) Page 9
