Tarim kept his weapon trained, while Naero’s Marines stepped forward and put the assailant in flexrestraints.
They had every right to shoot the attacker right then and there, to execute him. Nobody would have questioned it.
Naero only winced slightly, as she pulled the blade free of her arm.
Zhen stepped forward to examine the wound, but there was little bleeding. Spacer smartblood already sealed the injury. Z applied an accelerator to speed up the healing process.
The Triaxian Admiral snarled at the man. “You stupid fool. They were negotiating with us. You’ve murdered us all!”
Naero smiled, rubbing her arm with a twinge. “As we told you before. We do not kill captives. I will see fit to forgive such an outburst once. Only once. All of you have been mislead and deceived by your leaders. You do not know or understand us at all. We are not the bloodthirsty killers you take us for.”
She paused and paced slightly with her hands clasped behind her back in her normal fashion.
“How about this. What if I ask you all to accompany us down onto the surface of your world, to search for and neutralize any genocide devices Triax has left behind to delay and trouble us all? Will you then believe?”
The admiral shook his head.
“No, our people have been told to expect the worst. If you invade our world, millions will die–by their own hands.”
Naero was curious. “How so?”
“They told us the Alliance forces would ravage our world, raping and pillaging–torturing and killing us. Our population is in a frenzy. The government distributed poisons and suicide devices to every household, to take or blow themselves up with. If your ships begin to land, our people will panic and start using them. Many will die before you can stop them.”
Naero rubbed her face. This was an all new low…even for Triax.
“I see. Then will you go speak to them in our place?”
The enemy admiral did not understand her.
“What?”
“Go back on board your ships, go down to you world, and land in your starports. Explain to your people that we have no wish to harm them. Simply tell them and your planetary government to stand down, and offer no resistance.”
“You…you would do this…for us?”
Naero nodded. “Yet be warned. Any who so resist will still be put down, swiftly and without mercy. Triax has many zealots and fanatics on every world who will try to sow confusion and discord, even as terrorists. And we have already scanned and located several Triaxian mass-destruction devices. Some we have eliminated from orbit. Others through various means. Still others might present themselves. Will you help us save as many of your people as we can?”
The admiral looked to his captains.
Each of them nodded their assent.
The enemy Admiral turned back to Naero and held out his hand.
“Agreed. My name, is Henry. Henry Sandusky.”
“Thank you, Henry.” She held out her hand. “Naero Maeris.”
Her started slightly. “The daughter of the two Galactic Champions?”
“I am.” Naero shook his hand and smiled as she released it. “Thank you. Return to your ships with our good will, and go down to your people. Send for us when you are ready, and we shall land to meet with your leaders and arrange terms. Your world shall remain free and your own, just no longer a part of Triax. It is that simple. Send for us if you need our assistance in any way.”
True to their word, the defenders landed in various starports and cities all over Vaelos-1.
It took a few hours for the word to spread, but at last the arrangements were made for the annexation meeting.
Admiral Sandusky reported that some scattered resistance still remained, as expected. Yet thankfully, there had been very few incidents of panic and suicide among the civilians, and that such devices were being collected by many local officials.
The Admiral’s own people had discovered and neutralized a couple of genocide devices in two locations. One proved to be atomic, the other biological.
All of the devices were clearly Triaxian. There was no doubt now in anyone’s mind.
They were suddenly interrupted by a call on the conference room comstation. Naero took the link right away. She recognized the voice.
“Sir, this is Captain Kono Decker of The Silver Devil. We’re on patrol, and we’re detecting some very strange energy signatures and multiple shielding echoes at our extreme sensor range. It’s possible we’ve finally detected those twenty missing enemy fleets.”
“Great job, Kono. Alert Intel–”
“Already done, sir. But we’re the only ones this far out this way, and the signatures are fading rapidly. Do we pursue, or let them slip away again?”
“I’ll leave that up to you, Kono. I don’t want you and your people out there all alone, chasing twenty enemy fleets.”
“Sir, I think we can shadow and track them at extreme range for an hour or three, until the other fleets converge. My people and I would like to stay on them and give it a shot.”
“Very well. Permission granted. Keep us informed. And if any enemy forces head your way, I want you guys jumping out, pronto.”
“Copy that, sir. We’ll be careful. Hey, I’ve got a new move I wanna show you at our next sparring match. I learned it off the fight circuit.”
“I wanna see it, Kono.”
“You will, sir. Kono out.”
The very next moment, fresh reports poured in from Vaelos-1 about poison gas bombs going off in one city, and civilians dropping and convulsing in another.
A blinding explosion down on the planet surface–visible from orbit–erased yet another population center, in a radius of six kilometers.
Now the panic-stricken leaders of Vaelos-1 desperately requested assistance.
Naero gave it without hesitation.
She turned to Shalaen. “Will you come down and help us?”
Shalaen nodded. “Of course. I’ll do whatever I can.”
“All ships. Rescue, detection, and security teams down to the planet surface. I want deep, detailed scans of the entire planet, and every remaining city, to locate weapons and genocide devices. Coordinate with Intel. Do everything we can to neutralize any enemy agents or Corps terrorists at work.”
A priority message came in from Aunt Sleak.
“Naero, bypass Vaelos-1 and return to the line. We’re going to need you and Strike Fleet Six back at the front.”
“Sorry, Admiral. Say again? I’m in the middle of an important situation here.”
“It will have to wait. And don’t–”
Naero used the secret comtek Baeven gave her to cut and block the link.
“Say again, sir. Transmission garbled. You’re breaking up…”
It was in fact splitting hairs, but technically, Naero did not have to obey orders she never fully received.
18
On the surface of Vaelos-1, Naero, Shalaen, Tarim, Zhen, Tyber and their rescue teams and Marine unit guards left their ship, entered the starport, and then the outskirts of the capital city.
They meant to link up with Admiral Sandusky there and coordinate rescue and search and defense efforts with the local authorities.
Naero partially recognized the good-looking Marine leftenant with the brown eyes leading their security detail.
He told them to hold up suddenly. Naero remembered his face; she just couldn’t recall his name. What was it?
“We’re supposed to meet up with a detail from the admiral a short distance from here,” Naero told him.
They both checked the coordinates on their scanners.
“Affirmative, sir,” the leftenant said. “Unfortunately, my recon patrol found the Admiral’s people dead, blasted with grenades and shot to death in the head.”
“Terrorists? Triaxian zealots?”
“Most likely, sir.”
“That’s not good. I’m sorry. Leftenant…?”
“Hayden. Jeremiah Hayden, Captain Maeris
.”
“My apologies. I meet so many people.” She remembered now. From the shore leave shooting matches with Tarim.
“I understand, sir. Don’t worry. My Marines and I are prepared to keep you and your teams safe. We’ve already eliminated several enemy agents and threats. Intel forces on the ground are helping us coordinate.”
Naero grinned. This man was a pro, she could tell by his bearing, the way he moved and spoke, like a true warlord. One with the authority and surety of a martial king.
“I’m sure you will. What’s our plan now?”
Naero received a com from Admiral Sandusky. She took it.
Then she announced. “Admiral Sandusky is sending an armored transport to these coordinates, on a private landing field, less than a klick from here.”
She shunted the data to Hayden’s comp.
He took a moment to study several possible approaches.
“We can reach it in minutes by a short jump with gravwings.”
“Il-advised,” Hayden said. “We’ve neutralized several hi-tek Triaxian snipers. Hevangian professional sharpshooters–assassins with cloakedguns.”
“Cloakedguns?” That was something new.
“A very recent threat. The enemy snipers are cloaked. Even their weapons are. They fire cloaked ammunition. No trace signatures, no sound, even after they take a shot. Almost impossible to detect and track. The rounds uncloak just before they hit, and there’s no way to trace them back to the shooter. We’ve encountered both poisoned, explosive, armor piercing, and shield-negation rounds.”
“Sounds formidable. How do we defend against them and their tactics?”
Hayden smiled. “I said they were almost untraceable. Intel found a way. They’ve developed another new techniques using Intel microfixers. They can overlay a scanning net across an area, and pick up trace shadows of cloaking fields, ghosts and reflections. But patterns emerge over time. And cloaking sucks up a lot of power.”
“The agents have to re-charge occasionally,” Naero guessed.
Hayden nodded and pulled back slightly. “Yes, that’s how they found them at first and noticed the patterns. Their presence would flare for a few seconds and then disappear again. You’re as smart as you are attractive, Captain Maeris, just as everyone said you are. I continue to be impressed.”
Naero grinned and winked. “Aww…I bet you say that to all the pretty girls. Now let’s stop flirting, before I blush, and get our people to that landing field.”
Hayden nodded. “Copy that. Our best chance is to stay out of the open. We’ll take a path through several buildings that will provide us good cover for eighty-one percent of our approach. We’ll keep shields down to help avoid being tracked, and use gravwings only as a last resort. Intel and my teams have the area under surveillance and will respond swiftly to any threats.”
“Looks good,” Naero said. “I see you have several potential escape routes for us. Good spread and positioning of your various fire and support teams. My compliments.”
“Good tactical eyes, captain. You’d make a great Marine. Let’s move out. You’re with me…you and yours.”
They spread out and moved forward, quietly and quickly. They passed through two buildings. A few frightened locals turned pale and scattered and ran whenever the Spacers moved through.
“You know,” Naero said, “I trained tactical with the 9th Division when I was fifteen and sixteen, and had to do my two year’s service, but I love starships too much. No offense.”
All Spacer youths at that age had to complete two years basic military training and service.
“None taken,” Hayden said. “Our loss is the Navy’s gain. So, you actually trained with the Bloody Niners, huh? That’s a hard-ass unit.”
Naero smirked. “You ought to try serving under my Aunt Sleak.”
Both of them chuckled. “No thanks. I’ve heard a few stories about Admiral Maeris.”
“I’m sure everyone has. And I can warn you, that most of them are true.”
“I’ll take that under advisement. I didn’t read your dossier deep enough to know your were an honorary jarhead, though. Welcome to the club, Captain. Once you’re one of us, we don’t let you out.”
“What’s your story, Leftenant?”
Hayden shrugged, “Not much. My family’s all Marine. Pretty much anyone old enough to serve.”
He made tactical adjustments as they kept moving forward, calling adjustments quietly into his comlink in his helmet.
“Chang, pull on your pants and keep up; you’re unit’s falling behind too much. Sergeant Borelli, move you fire support team and set up on these coordinates. Mark.” He punched them in on his arm pad.
They moved through what appeared to be a hovercar parking garage toward a multi-level dwelling center connected to it. Low-cred apartments with the laundry facilities and run-down gym showing through the glass windows with the lights cut off.
Scans showed the locals hiding still in their cubicle-like dwellings, cowering in the dark.
Naero stopped them from proceeding forward, her warning sense spiking.
“What is it?” Hayden asked.
“Everyone get down!” Naero said.
A hovercar behind them exploded.
Small arms fire erupted from four separate directions.
Shalaen deflected the attacks away from them in an instant.
The vehicle Naero just passed got shredded by automatic fire.
Marines swept in, expertly isolating the four attackers and cutting them down hard and fast in a hail of precise, interlocking fire.
“Sir, Hevangian assassins,” Sergeant Archer called out.
Naero drew her auto-blasters and prepared to fire at any target that presented itself.
Another hovercar detonated, this time on their right.
The explosion shattered windows in the apartments nearby. Sirens went off. Landers started screaming.
The Marines kept everyone moving from cover to cover.
Brief firefights all around alerted them that this was a coordinated attack by a significant-sized force.
Naero slipped around a hovercar, crouched low.
She suddenly worried they were being herded in a certain direction.
Hayden grabbed her arm and pulled her off to the right. “This way; they want us to go that way.”
He sent a fire team to check it out.
Heavy weapons launched up ahead.
“Rockets. Grenades!” Marines warned, diving for cover.
“This way,” Hayden said, leading them into the apartments.
Explosions rocked the parking facility, spinning flaming hovercars in several directions.
“Don’t worry,” Hayden said, scanning his readouts on his battle monitor in his face shield. “My people will deal with those goons.”
They moved through the darkened Laundromat for the dwellings. Loads of wash spinning and drying in a few of the units.
As they moved toward a multi-door hallway, a panel slid open.
All weapons lifted and trained.
A startled lander woman with two little kids and a laundry basket emerged. All of their mouths dropped open and they turned pale.
The kids froze. The mother gasped and shielded them with her body. She started talking fast.
“Please, please don’t shoot us. Take me if you have to, but don’t kill my kids!”
The looks on their trembling, shuddering faces. The way they trembled. The way those little kids looked at her.
Naero would never forget it.
She sheathed her blasters and held up her hands. “Relax. We mean you know harm. Terrorists are after us. We just want to pass through.”
Leftenant Hayden merely lowered his pistols. “We don’t shoot kids, Ma’am. Personally, I’ve never shot a kid. None of us have.”
The woman clutched her two little ones and closed her eyes, still shaking beyond control.
“You’re spacks. The vids say you’ve come here to murder us all. That we
should kill ourselves and our kids before we fall into your hands. They gave us poison pills for the adults to use. Poisoned candy for the little ones.”
Naero held her tongue.
Triax. So very evil that the depths of their depravity sickened her to her core.
Shalaen came forward, cloaked in deep midnight blue, face veiled, hands gloved. She took down her veil and removed her gloves, placing her hands on the mother and her kids to calm and reassure them with her empathic abilities.
“Don’t listen to any of those lies,” Naero said. “Tell your people not to hurt themselves or their kids. You should be hearing some new broadcasts from your officials very soon.”
The poor woman shook her head. “I could never do it anyway. But some people have. They killed themselves in their rooms…out of fear.”
Hayden checked his scans and suddenly spoke with grave urgency. “Captain, we have serious unfriendlies. Inbound.”
To the mother. “Ma’am. Is there another way out of this complex, to the north?”
The woman looked confused.
“Which way is north?”
Naero and Hayden pointed directly behind her.
“On the third floor, there’s a hallway that leads to the sweatshops in the building next to us. But with the war, they’re all closed. You won’t be able to get through the locked doors.”
Naero smiled. “Can you take us there, please?”
“We brought keys,” Hayden said, also grinning.
On the way, the little girl, about six, stared up at Naero as they walked quickly. Eyes as big as viewports. The mother carried the little boy of four in her arms; he looked sleepy.
“We ran out of food yesterday,” the girl said plainly. “My brother and I are hungry.”
Naero yanked out two thick meal bars from a pouch in their foil wrappers. The girl’s eyes went even bigger. She ran up and handed her brother one that she peeled open for him. The little boy came alive and lunged for it over his mother’s shoulder.
After two chomps, his mouth cheeks were stuffed full as he chewed.
He broke off another chunk and popped it into his mom’s mouth.
“Here momma, it’s yummy.”
The little girl tore hers open with her teeth and wolfed it down.
Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War Page 12
