The Terra Gambit (Empire of Bones Saga Book 8)

by Terry Mixon

  Kelsey covered her face with her hands. “This is insane. I’ve screwed up so many things. Find someone else.”

  Mertz’s eyes lost focus for a moment. “The cutter with our guest is about to dock. The system defense craft are escorting him in. You’re up, Kelsey. I know you can do this. I believe in you.”

  “Then you’re an idiot.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

  The three of them made their way to the docking level and arrived just as a cutter docked, sending a loud clang of metal on metal through the area. Moments later, the hatch slid open with a puff of super chilled gas.

  A tall man with a hooked nose and an arrogant expression walked through the hatch with two men and two women in black tunics at his back.

  Kelsey’s Raider scanners identified weapons on all four of the followers. Guards, she wagered.

  The man didn’t offer his hand to any of them. Instead, he smiled coldly.

  “Lady Keaton. A pleasure to meet you in person.”

  He turned to Mertz. “Lord Gust, I presume?”

  “Bertram Gust,” Mertz confirmed. “And this is Jocelyn Oldfield.”

  Apparently that was her new name.

  The man smiled at Kelsey. “Lady Oldfield. I’ve read your reports with interest. Well done.”

  She extended her hand, even though the others hadn’t. “The pleasure is mine. I’m looking forward to moving to the next stage of this project. Shall we?”

  His grip was light and dry. “Indeed. Lady Keaton, Lord Gust, I believe it best if Lady Oldfield and I proceed alone.”

  Olivia bowed slightly. “Of course. We’ll be a call away if you need us.”

  As the other two abandoned Kelsey to the intruder, her internal com received an incoming call from Olivia.

  Kelsey, I’ll be your handler for this. Keep sending me everything that’s happening and be ready for me to give you quick instructions if something awkward happens.

  Too late for that, she responded grumpily.

  Lord Fielding gestured toward the lift. “Shall we?”

  Kelsey was grateful the cargo area wasn’t very far away and that she had instant access to the deck plans of the destroyer. Getting lost now would be bad.

  The large crates sat where the original intruders had secured them in the center of the large bay. Six crates taller than she was. All locked down tight with codes that she didn’t have and protected by bombs she couldn’t turn off.

  Fielding stared at them for a long moment before he turned to her. “Amazing, isn’t it? So much misery in a single location. Does it ever give you nightmares?”

  Kelsey nodded. “Terrible ones. I wish this wasn’t necessary.”

  That might be laying it on a bit thick.

  She ignored Olivia and focused on the Rebel Empire noble. “What about you?”

  He sighed. “I hadn’t thought it would when the Lord instructed me to develop my part of this project, but it has given me pause. Killing traitors should be a pleasure as well as a duty, but this weapon isn’t clean. They’ll suffer a lingering, painful death.

  “Not everyone will get sick immediately. Some portion of the target population will become symptomless carriers, spreading the plague far and wide before themselves succumbing.

  “This is a terrible thing we’ve been tasked with. The extermination of an entire planetary population. No one will ever be able to even approach Terra once we start. Even if they used space suits or remote devices, they could never be certain they hadn’t picked up the Omega Plague.”

  So it had a name. Ironic that it had the same name as the alien that had brought her to this universe.

  This was going to be a serious problem. If they allowed this weapon to be deployed, she’d never get her hands on the override. She had to make sure they stopped the Lords’ dastardly plans. And to do that, she had to make this man believe she was part of his team.

  “I confess that the technical aspects of my work were delightfully challenging while the implications were horrifying. If something goes wrong, we could exterminate all human life in the galaxy.”

  Apparently he agreed. His shoulders relaxed a little.

  “That’s understandable, I suppose. Well, we should open up the crates and verify the contents.”

  “Agreed,” she said hurriedly. “If you’d be so kind.”

  This was a potential sticking point. If he didn’t have the codes to the crates, she’d have to take him and his guards out. That would blow the plan and they’d die here in very short order.

  Thankfully, he sent a coded signal to the crates and they all began opening. Her enhanced Raider gear picked up the code, so she forwarded it to Mertz. If they had to get into these crates later, that might prove very useful.

  Her gaze swept over the contents. Hundreds of drones in racks. She’d expected large vessels or small vials containing the biological agent, but this was the delivery equipment.

  She spotted the antitampering charges. No one had been tasteless enough to put timers on them, so she had no visible way to determine how much of the countdown remained.

  “All seem to be in order, but I’ll need to verify them as we proceed,” Fielding said. “I’ll increment the antitampering charges another five days now. You only had ten hours left. Good thing you didn’t dawdle on your way here.”

  No, she supposed. That would’ve been bad.

  He was more careful with his signal. This time she didn’t get the code for the bombs as he went from crate to crate updating the explosives. Pity.

  “What comes next?” she asked.

  “I just signaled for the cargo shuttle to deliver the agent. We’ll load it in here while we isolate the rest of the ship. If there is some kind of accident, your compatriots can escape before the protective fortifications destroy this ship.

  “As you no doubt already understand, the Lords are very serious that no word of this mission or even any components of it become known to the public. That’s why they segregated the labs developing the agent and your part in creating the delivery drones.”

  She sighed internally. The virus had never been on board. Damned paranoid AIs.

  Well, they hadn’t had any choice about coming here. The real question was what they did next.

  If she was supposed to help load the deadly cargo, she needed to know something about the drones. She really hoped the woman she was masquerading as had put detailed plans into the devices.

  A quick check got her complete schematics for them. They were quite simple, really. Made to avoid detection and search for people. If it found them, it released a minute quantity of the virus upwind of them. They’d never even know they’d been infected.

  Thankfully, the plans had the loading instructions appended. They seemed quite basic, but she forward the data to Mertz. His people would go over it with a fine-toothed comb and guide her when the time came.

  She hoped that kept her safe but a nagging uncertainty roiled her stomach. This could still go very badly.

  34

  Elise wasn’t going to interact with the intruders and that annoyed her. She understood that her accent and Pentagar’s linguistic drift would make her stand out, so she tried to keep things in perspective. That didn’t make her any less grumpy, though.

  The bastards were carefully loading the deadly virus into the drones. The engineering team and Lily Stone were helping Kelsey with any data she might need to fulfill her role as the resident expert on the dispersal equipment.

  Everyone in the hold was dressed in specialized suits in case there was a breach. Not that Elise expected them to allow anyone exposed off the ship.

  She sat in a maintenance tube with their prisoner and two beefy marine guards. They’d moved a few spartan pieces of furniture in to allow a minimum of comfort. Perhaps that would make up for the survival rations and water they had to live on until their guests departed.

  The guards might not have been required. Austin Darrah had just as much to lose as they did now. More, really. The Lo
rds would torture the man to make sure they got every bit of data he’d passed on to the New Terran Empire if they suspected anything.

  “Did you know this was what you were doing?” she asked. “Exterminating the entire population on Terra.”

  He shrugged. “I had my suspicions. Like I said, I wasn’t given a choice or a briefing. I had to eavesdrop to find out anything of substance.

  “If what you really meant to ask was if I approved. Hell no. I don’t want to kill a single person, much less a planet full of people. But I didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was comply or die. The Lord needed someone that could fix anything on this ship and it didn’t trust Fleet not to have an attack of conscience.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “It didn’t believe you’d be prone to the same desire to spare lives?”

  “More like it didn’t believe that I would have an opportunity to make good on any impulses. A Fleet officer could potentially use violence to sabotage the mission. Me? I’m as harmless as they come and have no training in weapons or fighting.

  “No access to armaments, either. The Lord knew damned well I would have no choice but to do what I was told, even if I strenuously objected.” The last came out bitterly.

  Elise nodded. He might even be telling the truth.

  “How did you get interested in Fleet technology?”

  “Oddly enough, I can lay blame for that at the feet of my family’s choice in guards. We have estates near the starport and my grandfather chose several marines led by a retired marine officer to secure them back in the day.

  “Those original people have long retired, but they had influence over who came onto the scene afterward. My mother never approved of my sneaking off to hear stories from them. She said they were a bad influence, teaching me how to be a member of the middle orders.”

  His expression turned ironic. “If only she could see me now. She’d be so proud.”

  “She doesn’t know where you are?”

  He shook his head. “All she knows is that the Lord specifically selected me for this mission. I’m sure my extensive knowledge of Fleet technology being the driving factor in my selection scandalized her. A very backhanded compliment, my mission.”

  “So you heard stories about Fleet,” Elise said, nudging him out of the introspective silence. “That doesn’t necessarily lead to technical knowledge.”

  “No, but it did give me enough knowhow to start acquiring books about it. Well, the unclassified portions, anyway. My relationship with one Fleet officer led to others that had contacts that could get me anything I wanted. Shy of a flip drive or a fusion plant.

  “I gained experience with those advanced systems once I became an adult. One of my uncles owns a shipping consortium. He helped me out by allowing me to work on one of his ships for a year, primarily just to annoy my mother.

  “It was a spectacularly successful ploy, I might add. She was furious.” He grinned at that last bit.

  “It gave me hands on experience with the same kind of equipment Fleet uses, short of the weapons and defense systems. I’d planned to look them over very carefully during this mission.”

  He sounded wistfully disappointed that he wouldn’t get the chance.

  “If we can keep a handle on the situation, that isn’t out of the question.”

  Austin perked up. “Really? You would trust me that far?”

  “It’s not as if you could fire a missile while the system was locked down or make it detonate in the tube.”

  He gave her a mildly guilty look. “Actually, I might be able to figure something like that out, given a little time.”

  She laughed. “You remind me of someone I know. Carl Owlet. He’s a scientist with a penchant for pulling off the impossible. I suspect the two of you would get along like a house on fire.”

  Austin squinted. “Why would you want to lock us in a burning house?”

  “It’s an old saying. It means that you’d really like one another.”

  “You people have some very odd phrases in your vocabulary. And you have a funny accent. Where are you from?”

  She shook her head. “A planet cut off from contact with the Empire a long time ago. The name is unimportant. Our situation did lead to some linguistic drift.”

  He smiled wryly. “Is it irony when you really mean the name is so critical that you don’t dare tell someone you can’t fully trust? Really, I do understand, but it’s darkly funny.

  “Can’t you tell me anything about what’s happening? Being locked out of the ship’s systems is really boring. Surely an update on what the others are doing, if kept general, wouldn’t be harmful. My life hangs in the balance, too.”

  Elise knew the opposite was true if he intended them harm, but she had those marines to keep him manageable. “They’re loading the virus into drones kept in the cargo containers. Six crates total and they’ve finished four. I’d imagine we’ll be on our way in a few hours, once Lord Fielding finishes.”

  He perked up. “Oscar Fielding? Are we at Raidon?”

  Shocked, she nodded. “You know him?”

  “You could say that. He’s the uncle I told you about.”

  Sean listened to Elise’s report grimly. This was not good. Their prisoner was related to the main bad guy. There was no way the man wouldn’t demand to see him at some point. Even though it looked as if the man had thrown his own kin under the bus, so to speak.

  She concluded her description of the situation with a question.

  What do we do?

  Great question. He wished he had an equally great answer.

  We play it by ear. You say the boy doesn’t seem like a mass murderer. Keep playing that angle with him. When the inevitable happens, we’ll just have to hope for the best when we trot him out.

  That could go wrong in so many ways, but it wasn’t as if they had a choice. Not making him available upon demand would trip all kinds of alarms for the Rebel Empire noble. They’d never get out of this system alive.

  He considered the potential options as soon as he signed off the call. Each one of them involved trusting the prisoner to an uncomfortable degree. One word from him and the gig was assuredly up.

  If Lord Fielding was the man’s uncle, he would undoubtedly insist on some privacy in meeting his nephew. Depending on how paranoid the man was, he might even insist it happen off the destroyer.

  How could he assure they at least knew their cover was blown? Could he plant a listening device on Austin Darrah? One that couldn’t be detected?

  Possibly, though not in the strictest sense of the word. Princess Kelsey had Marine Raider implants, including enhanced hearing that could pick up a surprising amount of information from an amazing distance. Almost as good as a parabolic microphone.

  She was also a known element to the Rebel Empire lord. He would probably understand if the mission leader insisted one of their own keep an eye on their junior player.

  That was a lot more like playing spies than Kelsey would be ready for. He dearly hoped she was as good as her counterpart at improvisation. Well, perhaps with less explosions.

  Sean sighed and focused his attention back on the loading process. Kelsey and Fielding had loaded the drones in the fifth crate and were servicing the final ones now. Based on their previous speed, they would finish in roughly half an hour.

  As a betting man, he wagered that would be when Fielding made his play. Time to try to stack the deck.

  Keeping a mental eye on the loading via his implants, Sean headed for the maintenance tube where they’d concealed Elise and Darrah. Both rose to their feet as the marine guards tensed. He waved them back down.

  “It’s okay. I’m just dropped in to have a word with Mister Darrah.”

  Elise rose from her seat again. “Then sit. Looming over people doesn’t make for an easy conversation.”

  It flew in the face of his upbringing, but he took the offered seat. This conversation was going to be difficult enough without adding elements of intimidation.

  O
nce he’d settled in, he leaned toward Darrah. “I assume you’ve seen images of the man who might be your uncle. Is it him?”

  Darrah nodded. “Damned if I understand what he’s doing here. As I said to Miss Orison, he’s not part of the mission.”

  Hearing the man not use Elise’s title rankled a bit, but he hadn’t been told. That was one of the secrets they’d decided not to share as it gave him too much background. The other was the fact she was married to Admiral Mertz.

  “The facts prove otherwise,” Sean said in a low tone. “He knows everything and he’s probably the head man on this end of the mission. What you should be wondering is how much he likes you.”

  “I don’t understand,” Darrah said with a frown.

  “This might come as a shock to you, but I’ve wondered how expendable you were once the mission was complete. Unlike the others, you weren’t an enthusiastic conspirator. Once they finished, they might’ve dropped you out the nearest airlock.

  “But with your uncle being high in their plans, I wonder if that’s so. Or at least if he has the intent to change the plans in your favor. He did train you, after all.”

  “Trained me,” the prisoner repeated. “You think his assistance in learning all the systems on a ship was to enhance this mission? That was years ago.”

  “One doesn’t hatch a conspiracy of this scale the day before one executes it,” Elise said reasonably. “The leaders and other conspirators didn’t have the luxury of vanishing from the public sphere with no warning. People would talk.

  “In fact, now that everyone has left, people are undoubtedly trying to figure out where they vanished to so abruptly and why.”

  “The Lords planned for that,” Darrah said. “Everyone is part of a supposed trade mission. We’ll be gone for six months and then return. My assumption was that the deal was already done or that we would proceed there as soon as we finished at Terra.”

  Sean agreed with that assessment, only he suspected the entire ship would vanish with all hands. Done in by the fanatical leader or even the AI at Terra. In no case would the ship be allowed to leave that system.