by Charles Nall
Devereaux kicked Mabus. “Good riddance to this trash, though.”
Two marines dragged Mabus’ body away.
“This isn’t right. We’re better than them,” Jacob said.
Devereaux sighed. “I suppose you are right. However, you did win a battle by surrendering. I’m surprised.”
“I didn’t think Plan B would work at all... Thanks for being part of it.”
“My head still hurts.” Captain Devereaux felt the side of his head. “I don’t think I’d be a valued part of the command staff at this point. It was a perfect role for me to play. I wonder if Plan B would have worked without the carnage of that battle.”
“We will never know. It’s something I will struggle with for the rest of my life,” Jacob said.
Devereaux crouched down and examined some of the debris on the ground. “I understand. Don’t let it rule you, Jacob. You did all that you could. Victory was achieved here, don’t forget that. Drake Mabus is dead.”
“Victory...” Jacob glanced around at the debris. “At such a terrible cost...”
Cinderflake nodded. “Better than no victory at all.”
“I suppose you’re right. How did you get the imp out of the captain, anyways?” Jacob asked.
“It was all you,” Cinderflake replied. “I used your blood. The imp died when I exposed John to the pseudo-vampirism. He woke up shortly thereafter.”
Devereaux pat Jacob on the back. “I guess you aren’t the only one of your kind anymore.”
“I guess not,” Jacob said.
“So. What are we going to do about the vampire battle cruisers?” Hydrus asked.
“I had forgotten about them, honestly,” Jacob said.
“I cannot believe Mabus fell for this. He didn’t know this was training bridge?” Cinderflake asked.
“I guess he didn’t know the layouts of Galactic Union warships. Like I said before, the training bridges look a lot like the real thing. Hydrus, I have to commend you on whipping up this scenario so fast. And good work on scrambling the comm frequencies so Mabus couldn’t get his link up with his ship.”
“I do what I can, sir,” Hydrus said.
“Well, link me with Abaddon. I have an idea,” Devereaux said.
“Alright. Linked with Abaddon. Audio only,” Hydrus said after tapping on the console. “Here we go.”
“Yes? What is it?!” a voice said over the link.
“Oh, nothing. Well, I... The King told me that you need to head to Babylon at once,” Devereaux said.
“Babylon? What? Why? But Mabusss said...”
“Listen Reek, you little shit. You know who I am! Now get the hell out of here!”
“Yesss.. but...”
“Get out! This is why the master doesn’t like you! Do as you were commanded!”
“Let me ssspeak to the master. I wish to hear it from—”
“Go to Babylon at once, Reek! How do you want me to explain your insolence?!”
“Link terminated,” Hydrus reported. “They are spinning up their hyper-drives.”
Devereaux breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”
Suzuki approached Jacob. “We should broadcast news of Mabus’ death soon and hit Urbania hard with all we have. The Confederate forces are standing by. They are reporting that enemy defenses are much lighter than expected over Urbania. This battle should be much easier now.”
“I’m not sure we’re ready for another battle,” Jacob said.
A marine entered into the training bridge. “Sirs, from what I understand there was very little resistance from the other vampire forces onboard.”
“Treat them with respect,” Jacob said.
The marine nodded.
Cinderflake looked around the debris covering the training bridge. “Now we have to clean up this mess.”
Jacob thought about Sharon. “Yes, we do.”
Chryse Planitia
Mars
Contested Space
A small stone structure rested on top of a small rocky ridge. A fifteen-meter tall tower jutted out of the earth near the structure.
Riko walked up to the metal door that was caked in dust. She grabbed the handle and pulled forcefully. It took a few seconds, but eventually the door gave way. The room was barely illuminated by the light from outside. A hatch was located in the center of the structure. Riko walked up to it and pulled it open. A ladder descended into darkness.
Riko looked at Zebediah.
Zebediah laughed. “Ladies first. After you.”
Riko climbed down the ladder. The ladder led to an extremely dark room. As she descended further, lights attached to the walls started to power on in the room. As she descended, the pull of gravity increased. This outpost apparently had anti-gravity systems. When she landed on the concrete floor, the entire room was illuminated. The gravity felt standard. The room was empty, save for the lights and a large blast door. A panel with a number key was next to this door.
She investigated the number pad. The numbers one, two, and seven were worn out.
Zebediah climbed down into the room and looked around.
Riko tried 127. Then she tried 721. “Hm, I’m not sure how many digits the code is and there could be repeating numbers...” She tried 217. The blast doors groaned and began to rise.
Zebediah chuckled. “I guess not. Lucky guess?”
“Third time’s the charm.” Riko said. “It’s an airlock. There actually may be breathable air in the next section.”
Riko and Zebediah entered into the airlock. She tapped on a panel inside the airlock next to another set of blast doors. Shortly thereafter, the blast doors they came through closed and the others opened. A long hallway welcomed them.
“Here goes nothing.” Riko removed her helmet and took a deep breath. “We’re good.”
Zebediah and Riko walked down the hallway. There were several other branching hallways, but they were not well lit. The hall led them to a door with another keypad. The numbers were not worn on this keypad. Other hallways leading into darkness flanked this doorway.
Riko looked at Zebediah and shrugged. “Well...” She tried 217. The door swished open, revealing a spacious circular room filled with computer equipment. On the concrete wall opposite the door were the words “KASEI RESEARCH STATION.”
Server machines hummed in the center of the room. Along the ring of the room were desks with flat screen monitors, keyboards, and mice. Cables went across the ground. Several file cabinets rested against the back wall. A thin layer of dust covered everything.
Riko investigated one of the monitors. “Whoa, Zebediah, look at this.”
Zebediah approached. “Yes?”
“This program says it has been running since 2217.”
“AD? This place is ancient.”
“From what I can tell it controls a network of sensors on Mars. They monitor the weather or something. The sensors are still collecting data and transmitting it somewhere. It may not be useful data anymore.”
“Where is it being transmitted?”
She started typing on the keyboard.
“Huh. That tower was a laser transmitter. It’s sending a pulse of data up to an artificial satellite. I have network access with the satellite now.”
“Can you send a message out?”
“No, the satellite is just routing this data somewhere else. It’s going to... well, I didn’t know what I was expecting... the Citadel.”
Zebediah groaned. “Of course.”
“I suppose it goes to the Citadel and then wherever it’s supposed to go. These firewalls are something else. If I could get inside the Citadel, I could maybe get a message out through their NEP systems.”
“Can you hack into the station?”
“I don’t think I can.”
Someone shouted at them from the doorway, “Step away from the machine!”
Riko was startled and quickly turned around.
“What are you doing here?” Zebediah asked.
The man
grunted, “I should ask you the same thing. We took forever to find you. We came by the dome and couldn’t find you.”
Two other men walked into the circular room. Riko recognized these men as members of the Orbital Guard. These men wore gray jumpsuits and carried automatic weapons. A helmet covered the top part of their face. A thin slit went across the helmet where the eyes should be. Riko figured there was some sort of HUD inside the helmet.
“What do you want?” Zebediah asked.
“We’re here for you. Not sure what you two are trying to pull this far away from your dome, but that’s no matter. You both have been... pardoned.”
“We’re not going with you,” Riko said.
The guard smirked. “Don’t you want off this planet?”
“Yes, but not with you, “Riko said. “We’re not going.”
“You have been pardoned. Please come along, before we have to use force,” said the guard that seemed to be in charge.
“I don’t know what that actually means, and I don’t want to find out. Just leave us alone, please, we’re not doing anything suspicious,” Zebediah said.
“It’s highly suspicious. Who knows what you are doing with those computers. How did you find this place anyways?” asked the guard. “That’s enough. Come on, get a move on.”
“No!” Riko yelled.
The guard frowned. “Okay.” He turned to his men. “Shoot them in the legs. They’re coming with us.”
Zebediah shook his head. “No, wait—”
Riko heard something roll onto the steel floor.
“Shit!” yelled the leader. “Grenade!”
One guard tried to kick the grenade away but it was far too late. The two guards that were closer to the door were caught in the blast. The leader of the guards stumbled back from the explosion and fell onto the ground. His head cracked against the steel floor.
A female voice called out from the dark hallway near the door, “Pardon that.”
A woman walked into the room. She tiptoed around the gore on the ground. “Whoops. I made a mess.”
Zebediah’s eyes went wide.
Riko recognized the woman. She couldn’t quite place it.
The woman looked at Riko. “Finally. Do you know how hard it was to find you? Sheesh. I don’t know what these men wanted with you, but I wasn’t having any of that. I followed them into here. They didn’t watch their six very...” The woman glanced over to Zebediah. “... Bro? Is that you, big bro? Zeb!”
She rushed over to Zebediah and gave him a big hug.
“Switch?! My god, it’s so good to see you!” Zebediah said.
Riko remembered. Switch Austrinus. Switch helped her escape the Iriguchi.
“Zeb, what are you doing here with Riko?” Switch asked.
Riko cocked her head slightly to the side. “You two know each other?”
Zebediah nodded. “Riko, meet my sister, Switch! My god, it’s been too long.”
“Sister?!”
Zebediah grinned. “You made quite the entrance, sis.”
Switch nodded. “I guess I did. What are you doing out here with Riko?!”
“She crash landed near my prison here on Mars,” Zebediah replied. “It’s a long story, I’m sure mom and dad told you about how I was sent out to the Martian prisons.”
“No, not really. I didn’t know where you went. And you know I don’t believe a word that bitch Amy says, right?”
“I know, sis, I know.”
Switch walked over to Riko and gave her a hug. “I’m rescuing Riko and my brother!”
“Why did you try to find me?” Riko asked.
Switch shrugged. “Why not? I felt somewhat responsible for losing you. The whole attack on Iriguchi thing? Partly my idea. Of course we had to improvise along the way...”
“How did you get here?” Riko asked.
“My ship is parked outside. I picked up some stray communications chatter about how these...” Switch glanced at the dead bodies. “Gentlemen... were on their way to ‘deal with you,’ so I followed their transport craft down here.”
“That is so good to hear,” Zebediah said.
“Say, what are you doing here?” Switch eyed the computer Riko was working on.
“I was trying to hack into the Citadel to try to get a message out. These are old systems, though, I can’t figure it out. I don’t think it’s necessary now.”
“Oh. Nice, I love these old things.” Switch started typing on the keyboard.
“Look, we should get out of here before more guards show up,” Riko said.
“There, I’m in.”
“Huh?”
Zebediah snickered. “My sister was always great at hacking and cracking.”
“I have low level access to the Citadel. Geez, the communications system is behind even more firewalls. It’d take me forever to break through this on these old machines. We’d have to actually get on the Citadel to send something off.”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Riko said. “Let’s go. I’ve been on this rock far too long.”
An explosion was heard from the surface. The ground shook.
“What was that?” Riko asked.
Switch pulled out a personal computer from her pocket and examined it. “I’m not getting a signal. Oh, eff... I just gave her a new paint job.”
“Her?” Riko said.
Switch sighed in defeat.“My corvette, Eclipse. It was parked just out there. I’m not getting any readings from it. They just blew her up.”
“Unknown spacecraft on Mars?” Zebediah sighed. “They sent some Orbital Guard ships down to destroy it.”
“Oh, I probably should have answered those incoming links,” Switch said.
Riko sighed. “Now what?”
Switch eyed the corpses. “There’s still a transport craft out there.”
Riko shook her head. “No, no. We’re not doing that.”
Zebediah agreed. “No, Switch, we can’t do that. I’m sure the Warden has his eyes on this area right now. He’ll know if his guards don’t come out of this station.”
Switch shrugged. “Well, how good do you think his cameras are? Do you think he could tell?”
Zebediah groaned. “Switch...”
Switch pulled a helmet off one of the corpses. She wiped the blood off of it. “Gross. Look, these helmets weren’t damaged at all.”
“What are you planning?” Riko asked.
Switch laughed. “Easy. We put these helmets on, pretend to be guards, wander outside, find the transport, commandeer it, and get off this planet.”
Zebediah shook his head. “No, no. Even if that somehow works, they’ll shoot us down if we don’t head back to the space station. Hell, the ship probably can’t jump.”
Switch smiled. “Oh... you misunderstand. We’re going to the Citadel...”
Switch picked up one of the fallen guard’s automatic rifles.
“...And we’re gonna kick some ass.”
13
August 28, 0271 AC - 11:40 Local Time
Brig, USS Empyrean
Blood Dynasty Space
Jacob entered into the brig. He walked down the path to the cell that Sharon was being held.
When Sharon noticed Jacob was standing outside her cell she jumped to her feet. “Jake!”
The cell was cramped with a small bed to the side of the cell. There were no bars; a pane of extremely strong glass prevented Sharon from escaping. The cell door was right next to this pane of glass.
Sharon placed her hand on the glass.
Jacob placed his hand at the same spot on the other side of the glass. “I understand why you did what you did, but you caused quite the mess.”
Sharon nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry.”
Jacob smiled. “You don’t have to apologize. You did the galaxy a favor, honestly.”
“Well, do me a favor and get me out of here.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“I understand.”
“We have a lot of work t
o do. We successfully took Urbania. We have teams working on disassembling the planet killer that was being built there. I recently received news that Resistance forces have taken Amur and destroyed the planet killer there as well. Now, we are en route to Babylon with ISF warships that have joined our cause. Without Mabus, the Blood Dynasty is collapsing. Many different factions are vying for power. There are riots in the streets. We have to stabilize it. I have to stabilize it.”
“You?”
“By the right of succession, I have become their leader. I will become the regent of the Blood Dynasty.”
“Succession? You aren’t a vampire!”
“There’s something I haven’t told you...”
August 29, 0271 AC - 13:40
Orbit of Babylon
Blood Dynasty Space
Empyrean and a large group of ISF and Resistance spacecraft appeared over planet Babylon. Four Blood Dynasty warships approached the invaders.
Lieutenant Commander Jacob Carpenter called out to Lieutenant Lance Hydrus. “Link me with the lead vessel.”
An ugly vampire with crazy eyes greeted Jacob. The holographic projector sputtered in an out. It wasn’t completely repaired. “Lieutenant Commander Carpenter. Or should I sssay Lieutenant Commander David Mabussss? That’s your true name, you know? The name your true parents gave you. You were named after one of the first vampires.”
“Call me what you wish. I am the rightful heir to the throne. Please surrender. I do not wish to harm any more of my own people. The throne is mine by birthright.”
The vampire laughed. “Your throne? Your own people? You aren’t really one of us! They altered you. Changed you.”
“Believe me, this is strange for me too, but I have a duty.”
“Your trickery will not go unpunished. I am Noctisss Reek, I now command Abaddon, the flagship of the gloriousss Dynasty. And it shall be gloriousss once again.”
“I do not wish to fight,” Jacob said. “It’s over. Power down your weapons and surrender to us. Our forces outnumber yours. You do not have to die this day.”
Reek cackled. “But I do! You may claim the throne for a short time, but it will be taken away from you! Everything will be taken away from you. Everything.”
