The Prodigal Emperor (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 3)

by Kal Spriggs

  What was uncommon was that the Executive Officer, Commander Argyle also arrived at the bridge, followed by half of first watch. Since Chuck Mathis was assigned primarily as part of the Baron's contingency against the conspiracy and since Chuck knew that the Senior Captain and his XO were both a part of that conspiracy, the sudden change of routine was very alarming.

  “Lieutenant Commander,” Senior Captain Ngo said, “I have the bridge, you stand relieved.”

  “Sir?” Chuck asked, even as he looked around the bridge. He knew that Captain Beeson hadn't had an opportunity to send him any backup, yet. If this were something related to the conspiracy, if they were making their move, he had to do something to stop them.

  “Admiral Dreyfus wants to run a standard readiness drill, I'll be taking over,” Senior Captain Ngo said as he walked towards his command chair.

  Chuck stepped forward to intercept him and as he did, he saw several of the first watch crew's hands jerk towards what could only be concealed weapons. Chuck's blood ran cold. As officer of the watch, he had his sidearm, but most of the bridge crew weren't armed at all. This could quickly become a bloodbath... yet if he didn't take some action, the conspirators might have free reign. Chuck smiled as ingratiatingly as possible, “Sir, could I give you a status update, first?”

  Irritation formed over Ngo's face and Chuck saw the twitchy men behind him relax. No doubt they had suspected him as an outsider. He had just come across as an overzealous busybody, rather than an actual threat.

  “No need,” Ngo said. “There will be time after the drill.” He looked around the bridge, “All personnel should report to their battle stations.”

  Chuck feigned confusion, “But sir, since I'm the officer of the watch, shouldn't my post be here?” He shifted a bit closer to the Senior Captain. A few more meters, he thought, and maybe I can use him as cover and they won't shoot.

  Just then Ngo's comm unit pinged and he looked down at it. Chuck took another step closer but he kept his hand away from his pistol as he saw Commander Argyle's hand settle on his.

  When Senior Captain Ngo looked up, all pretense was gone from his face. “Omega Protocol,” he said, his voice flat. “No witnesses.”

  Chuck went for his pistol. Before he could get it all the way out, Commander Argyle drew and fired. Chuck stumbled back. Around him, he heard gunfire echo and the third watch died, many of them still strapped in at their stations, caught by surprise as their own shipmates turned on them.

  Chuck felt his legs give out and he sat and then fell back. He slumped back against the command chair's base.

  Senior Captain Ngo stepped forward. He lightly pushed Chuck out of his way and stepped over his prone form. Chuck heard his voice from a distance as he felt cold wash over his body. “Clear the bodies out of the way,” Ngo said. “Then bring us online.”

  Chuck's eyes locked on the pistol that still lay in his hand, only a few centimeters away from Ngo's right foot. Chuck put everything he could behind a last surge of strength. As his world went black, he heard a final gunshot and a shrill scream from Senior Captain Ngo as Chuck shot him in the foot.

  ***

  Staff Sergeant Tam Chen, United Colonies Marine Corps, read the alert message with wide eyes. To all appearances, it was merely a message from the Baron, reminding all Fleet personnel to verify their pay was in order from the transition to the new currency.

  In actuality, it was a coded message for Captain Beeson's counter-conspirators. Staff Sergeant Chen recognized the message for the worst of the lot: the conspirators were about to move and that it was now his job to stop them.

  Luckily, he happened to be on duty in the Templar's forward armory. The first thing he did was to lock down the access hatch and then to move over to where his powered armor awaited. The Templar had the contingent for an entire battalion of Marines. Staff Sergant Chen's primary task was to secure the forward armory and equip other of the Baron's teams to take down the conspirators. Since they knew that Brigidier General Morris was one of them, along with Colonel Trout and Senior Captain Gronsky, Staff Sergeant Chen had felt that there would likely be a larger scale response if things went violent. Chen didn't know all the details, but he knew that corrupt officers wouldn't hesitate to turn to violence.

  And when that's the case, Chen thought as he backed into his powered armor, violence is called for to prevent evil men from winning. He knew well enough the cost for staying quiet. His brother's entire family had been taken away by the Centauri Confederation’s secret police. He'd later learned that his parents had stood by and allowed it to happen, despite the fact that his father could have warned his brother in time to let him flee.

  Tam hadn't had the opportunity to save his brother or his brother's family, but he had one now to stop the same type of men from doing what they wanted. As his powered armor clamped down around his chest, he gave a grim smile. He would avenge his brother's spirit.

  That smile turned to a look of surprise as the armory hatch swung open. Someone had overridden his lockdown. In his armor, he saw a countdown until the startup finished. Twenty seconds, he thought, that's way too long.

  Yet he could do nothing. His armor held him as securely as any prison.

  “Bridge, this is Response Force Three,” the leader spoke. Staff Sergeant Chen recognized Captain Ducherne, Brigadier General Morris's aide, “we've accessed the armory. Did one of your apes lock it down? I thought the plan was that you'd leave it open. I had to call the boss to get his override codes.”

  Override codes, Tam thought, of course, Brigadier General Morris could override the lockdown. He glanced at his timer and saw he had another fifteen seconds. As long as they didn't notice him...

  “Captain,” one of the others said, “no sign of the guard in the outer room, what if he's in the armory proper?”

  “Kill him,” Captain Ducherne said absently. “Omega Protocol, we don't know who knows about us, and we don't want any witnesses, just like on the bridge. We killed all of them up there, we do the same for here. After you do that, suit up in powered armor, Command says to take down our other targets.” Tam gritted his teeth as Ducherne calmly talked about murdering his fellow shipmates.

  “Yes, sir,” the voice said as he stepped through the inner hatch. He was followed by five other Marines and Tam grimaced as he recognized them. They were from Brigadier General Morris's personal detail, which shouldn't have surprised him. They were all Force Recon and they had stuck to themselves to a degree that had bothered Tam even before he knew about the conspiracy.

  It made a bit more sense to him now, seeing as they had to be prepared to kill anyone who wasn't part of their leader's plans. It wouldn't do to allow any emotional attachment to people you might have to murder in cold-blood. Seven seconds, Tam Chen thought, even as he saw two of them walk in his direction. His armor would be vulnerable even to small arms fire if he was stationary. For that matter, they could just disconnect the power cables and leave it immobile if they got to him before it started up. Without power, the suit would either dump him out or, if he overrode it, he could suffocate as the internal environmental systems shut down for lack of power.

  “Hey, Captain Ducherne, this suit is powering up.”

  “What?” Captain Ducherne turned around from where he had just opened up his own suit of armor. “Is there someone inside?”

  Three seconds, Staff Sergeant Chen thought.

  One of the mutineers stepped forward and peered at the equipment display. “It might just be a diagnostic...” he trailed off and looked up, his face pale, “Sir, it's–”

  “Too late,” Staff Sergeant Chen's voice boomed over the suit's speakers. He lurched forward off of the armor rack and swung with all of the suit's enhanced power. The blow crushed the nearest man and sent his body tumbling into the man next to him. Down the armory, Tam saw men scramble for weapons or cover. Tam just smiled behind his visor. “Judgment day, you bastards.” He brought up his Talyn Mark V assault cannon. The barrels spun up after only
a second and Tam swept fire down the tight corridors of the armory. It took only six seconds, by his suit counter, from when his suit came online to when he ceased fire. The dozen mutineers lay dead, ripped apart by the fully automatic chain gun.

  All but one. Down at the end, the suit's sensors heard panicked breathing. Tam stalked down the corridor and he paused in front of Captain Ducherne's powered armor. Behind it, the traitorous officer gasped into his comm unit, “Bridge, it was an ambush, there's–”

  Tam Chen reached out a calm hand in his powered gauntlet and caught the officer by the throat. His servos augmented his strength as he crushed the bastard's throat.

  He threw the coward away and turned back to the door, just as the rest of his team arrived. “Suit up, boys and girls,” Tam said, “we have traitors to kill.”

  ***

  Lucius led the others through the outer and inner security perimeters with no issue. Part of that was because Lucius had made certain that he knew about the various secure access points. The rest was because he had made certain that his access codes could not only bypass that security, but override any alarms. Paranoia is a survival trait, he thought absently as he paused before the last door.

  Lucius looked over at his sister and then at Captain Anthony Doko and Princess Lizmadie. All three of them wore body armor and carried slung rifles. Lucius hoped that they wouldn't have need for them. They had managed to arrive within a few minutes of when Lucius expected Colonel Proscia to arrive, and Lucius said a silent prayer for the safety of his daughter.

  He felt an icy calmness wash over him as he opened the last door and stepped into the room.

  “...absolutely certain?” Alicia Nix asked with a look of dismay. The head of the FIB stood only a few meters away. Next to her were a pair of her agents as well as Ensign Tascon. Apparently she hadn't let him out of her sight. While Lucius approved of her diligence, he somewhat regretted the man's presence for what was certain to be a sensitive discussion.

  “We verified it before we left,” Colonel Proscia said. “My men swept the entire site three times, there was...” He trailed off as he registered Lucius's arrival. He and three of his men were present. One of them carried a wrapped bundle that made gentle baby noises. Behind them and to the side stood Reginald.

  “Baron Giovanni!” Colonel Proscia said, his face blank with shock, “You're alive! We expected the worst after the attack...” He trailed off as he registered the presence of Lucius's companions. Their silent, threatening demeanor seemed to confuse him.

  “Alicia,” Lucius nodded at the director of the FIB. “I'd like to apologize for my absence. Captain Doko felt it necessary to reach me personally in regards to the traitor in our ranks.” He put emphasis on that and the others in the room went still. Only the baby made any noise and her soft noises seemed out of place in the somber chamber.

  Lucius gave a cold smile and continued to speak.

  ***

  Ensign Alberto Tascon felt his blood run cold as Baron Giovanni spoke. Traitor in our ranks, he thought, he knows something... but what, how can he know? The Baron's next words might as well have been gibberish as Alberto's mind went into overdrive.

  Instantly he thought about everything he had done wrong, things that he hadn't dared to put on the data card he gave up earlier. Certainly he'd needed to give them some dirt so they wouldn't look too deep, but he hadn't dared to mention the secrets he'd sold or the information he had passed along, all of it for far more money than the simple software hacks and copyright infringement he had owned up to.

  And of course, none of those matched up to the real reason he had come forward to help.

  It had seemed such a simple thing at the time. One of his long-time contacts in the upper ranks of Faraday's society had asked for military grade software for hacking. Alberto had assumed it was some rich kid wanting to clear out his traffic tickets or something similarly stupid. He'd done the same thing before, multiple times, and he had just assumed that this contact wanted the thrill of doing it himself.

  What was a little bit of old Nova Roma military coding worth, after all? It was advanced for a network like Faraday, but it wasn't like it was good enough to get into a truly secure network. If worst came to worse and they got caught, it was old enough that Alberto knew the authorities would assume it was stolen or taken long before Baron Giovanni ever came to Faraday.

  He had never imagined that the idiots he sold it to had planned to kidnap Baron Giovanni's daughter. Only the fact that he'd planted a Trojan in the coding meant that he'd realized where they used it... and then managed to connect the dots.

  There's no way that he's connected it to me, Alberto thought, even as his hand went to the concealed pistol tucked away in his belt. Despite their precautions, no one had thought to search him when he first came forward. If all else failed, he figured he could at least threaten or bluster his way out of the situation. They can't know...

  “...what swings the whole thing, though,” Baron Giovanni said, his voice cold and his face solemn, “is that the hack utilized an old set of Nova Roma military coding. I find it extremely unlikely that they just happened to stumble upon that.”

  “No!” Tascon gasped. He hadn't realized he had spoken aloud until he saw everyone's gazes lock on him. He knows, Alberto thought, how did he know? His hand grasped the pistol, seemingly of its own volition and he brought it up, aimed roughly at Baron Giovanni. “Listen, I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm going, and I'm going now!”

  There was a sharp crack and Alberto felt an impact, like someone had punched him in the sternum. He spun to face Captain Doko and his eyes went wide as the officer fired again. This time, Alberto felt not only the impact, but a wash of pain. His pistol fell and Alberto stumbled back. “It wasn't supposed to be this way...” he gasped. “I'm rich... I have money... I...”

  He coughed and stumbled to his knees, his legs suddenly too weak to hold him. His gaze met that of his killer and Alberto felt his eyes go wide in fear. “I don't want to die.”

  The last thing he saw, as the world went black, was Anthony Doko's cold, pitiless gaze.

  ***

  “Well, that was unexpected,” Lucius said as he looked down at Alberto Tascon's body.

  He looked up at Colonel Proscia who still had a confused expression. “I'm sorry I accused you, Colonel. I'd hoped it wasn't you... and I guess we smoked out the actual traitor on accident.”

  Colonel Proscia just shook his head, “I suppose so.”

  Lucius stepped forward to where a Marine stood with the baby, “Thank you, Colonel, for retrieving my daughter.”

  Alicia stepped forward to cut him off, “Baron...”

  Lucius stopped, “What is it?”

  “That's not your daughter, sir,” Reginald said, his voice tight.

  “What?” Lucius demanded.

  “This is Patricia, Emilee Stark's daughter,” Colonel Proscia said, his own voice tired. “We searched the kidnapper’s area three times, there was no sign of your daughter. The one prisoner we took alive said that they only brought the one baby back to their safehouse.”

  Lucius felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He stumbled back from the Marine with the baby and took a seat just before his knees gave out. “What... what did they do with my daughter?”

  “We're still trying to figure that out,” Alicia said, her face solemn. “Colonel Proscia's prisoner is being interrogated now, but he wasn't one of the brains of the operation. The three primary kidnappers all went down fighting.”

  Lucius felt his hands tremble. My daughter, he thought with despair, what did they do to my daughter?

  “We think they may have had some other supporter,” Colonel Proscia said. “They had a number of military grade weapons and some of them showed signs of recent training when we stormed their safehouse. I think it likely that if Ensign Tascon was involved, then there may be other involvement as well. Possibly some wealthy or powerful backer who made a deal with them and convinced them to ransom Patrici
a Stark in place of your daughter.”

  Lucius shook his head, “They would have to know that we'd confirm her identity.” Anyone who had the resources to back the kidnappers would also know how easy it would be to check her biometrics against her medical records.

  “Yes,” Alicia said, “but the kidnappers might not have realized that.”

  Lucius looked up, “So they just wanted the kidnappers as a front, possibly as a way to distract us while they took my child.” He felt a cold anger kindle in his heart. Whoever was responsible, Lucius would turn over every rock on every inhabited world to find his daughter.

  “That's what we think,” Alicia said. “Furthermore–”

  She broke off as one of her aides rushed in. A moment later her eyes went wide in shock. “Baron, our data feed from the Defense Center... the Fleet has returned, they've been in orbit for almost thirty minutes, my people just now were notified.”

  Lucius frowned, “What? Why? They should be preparing for the attack on Nova Roma...”

  He broke off as he realized why the entire fleet would come back to Faraday, while he would be distracted by his daughter's kidnapping. “The cabal.”

  Alicia brought up the data feed on the display. Lucius's eyes went narrow as a broadcast icon lit up. “They're broadcasting on all channels, an emergency override.”

  A moment later, Admiral Dreyfus's face appeared on the screen. “Citizens of the United Colonies. I regret to inform you that it has come to my attention that a plot is underway against us all.”

  Lucius felt hope blossom. Admiral Dreyfus must have become aware of the conspiracy, he thought, and now he was taking action to put it down.

  “This plot has been perpetrated by mutineers and ambitious men and women in the Fleet and in your government. Even now, they are fighting aboard the ships of the Fleet and I have word that they are storming government centers as well. I am not yet aware of their goals or their reasons, but one thing I am certain of: these men and women have killed Baron Giovanni and they mean to seize power for themselves.”