Paying the Price (Book 5 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  She looked over at where Carl sat on the couch. They’d seen each other socially a number of times over the last month and she was now convinced she’d been an idiot to fight this. He might be young, but he had spirit and heart.

  “All’s well that ends well,” she said.

  “I got a call while the vote was happening. I took it on my implants. It was the Lucien Committee.”

  When he didn’t say anything more, she reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. “Don’t keep me wondering. What did they say?”

  He took a deep breath and shook his head. Her heart plummeted. She’d been so sure he’d win.

  “I can’t understand why, but they somehow think what I did was worthy of the award.”

  It took her a moment to process what he’d said, and then she leapt to her feet and yanked him off the couch and into a hug. “You won, you rat!”

  “But I didn’t deserve it! And I sure as hell didn’t earn the Imperial Cross. It’s ridiculous.”

  She set him on his feet and glared at him. “Let me tell you a little secret, nerd boy. Other people tell us when we’re worthy of something. That or we end up like Prince Ethan or Professor Bedford. Don’t second guess their judgement.”

  “Professor Bedford isn’t actually that bad, now that I know him better. Once they gave me my PhD—which I also didn’t earn—he started treating me like a colleague. Though he still doesn’t understand why the quantum com works the way it does.”

  She’d heard him talking about it enough over the last month to know the details. The com worked through a flip point, but not two. Distance didn’t seem to be a factor. It was almost a thousand light years to Nova and it worked, but two shorter hops didn’t.

  It seemed that a single trip through a flip point used up most of its energy. Oh, it was still useful throughout the target system, but not any interstellar distance beyond it.

  That wasn’t to say that it didn’t work through normal space. They’d taken one around a great loop and found it worked at three hundred light years along a straight line, even after it had stopped working due to there being too many intervening flip points.

  That didn’t match up with the theory at all, so everyone was scratching their heads. Including that old reprobate, Professor Bedford. It wouldn’t stop them from creating a network of FTL repeaters, though. A call to Pentagar could take place in real time. Or to the other side of the universe, if they built enough coms to rebroadcast the transmission.

  This was going to change everything. Galactic civilization would never be the same. If the Old Empire had had these devices, the rebellion would never have succeeded.

  Bedford had also been stunned to learn of the bodies from other universes. No one had known what to do with them, other than give them an honorable burial, but the scientist was certain there must be some kind of subtle differences that might shed light on how those alternate realities worked and what laws governed them.

  Carl was just glad it kept the old man out of his hair.

  Angela shook her head. “That’s because he respects what you’ve done, dolt. These people aren’t honoring you for the toys you’ve built. It’s the mind inside that scrawny body they drool all over.”

  He started to say something, but she put her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “Personally, I think they’re being hasty, though. All those other versions of me were onto something.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  “I think it’s time to take our relationship to the next level, Doctor Owlet. Or should I call you Sir Carl? I want to know what I’ve been missing.”

  She smiled at his shocked expression.

  “Unless, of course, you’d rather not have sex with me.”

  He shook his head emphatically. “I’d carry you off, if I could lift you.”

  “Don’t worry about it, sport. You do the thinking and I’ll do all the hard work.”

  Angela tossed him over her shoulder and headed for her bedroom while he laughed. Finally, something felt perfectly right in her life.

  Want Terry to email you when he publishes a new book or when one goes on sale? Go to TerryMixon.com and sign up for his new releases notification list. Those are the only times he’ll contact you. No spam.

  Continue on to read the first chapter of Reconnaissance in Force, Book Six in The Empire of Bones Saga.

  Titles by Terry Mixon

  You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.

  The Empire of Bones Saga

  Empire of Bones

  Veil of Shadows

  Command Decisions

  Ghosts of Empire

  Paying the Price

  Reconnaissance in Force (December 2016)

  The Humanity Unlimited Saga

  Liberty Station

  Freedom Express

  Tree of Liberty (October 2016)

  Anthologies

  Dirty Magick: Los Angeles

  Dirty Magick: New Orleans

  The adventure continues in Book Six of The Empire of Bones Saga, coming in December 2016.

  Reconnaissance in Force

  Admiral Jared Mertz wrapped up his presentation to the senior Fleet officers in the main briefing room of Orbital One with relief. Everyone had read the data they’d brought back from Harrison’s World about the Rebel Empire, but it was still hard for them to get their minds around. Particularly the scope and danger it represented. And the challenge.

  He understood. Before the expedition, he’d felt the same way. The Old Empire died in the Fall over half a millennium ago. The New Terran Empire, as Kelsey had come to call them for convenience sake, was a peaceful civilization. One not ready for a war to the death.

  Which was what they found themselves saddled with.

  Thankfully, Admiral Yeats wasn’t the kind of man to roll over when faced with such an overwhelming threat. He was just who they needed in command of Fleet at a time like this.

  The older man rose to his feet. “Thank you, Admiral Mertz.”

  He looked over the sea of faces as Jared resumed his seat at the table. “This is a lot to have dumped on us with no warning. Even a month is hardly enough time to let it sink in, but we don’t have the luxury of sitting on our butts and hoping the Rebel Empire doesn’t come calling.

  “We could’ve had the displeasure of an enemy fleet coming to visit instead of the forces Admiral Mertz brought home. Make no mistake, those ships are a godsend, but we’re still behind the curve.

  “We’re getting a trickle of repaired ships from Harrison’s World, but we need to get the new shipyards online and build our own. That will take years until the first big hulls come off the line. We need to be cautious in the meanwhile. Speaking of the ships we do have, Captain Quinn, you’re up next.”

  The slender woman rose to her feet. “We’ve gotten the ships Admiral Mertz brought back fully manned, but we’re running up against some hardware constraints as we work on the rest of Fleet. Boxer Station and the Grant Research Facility have sent all the completed implants they have, but even their reserves are limited. We need to get our own manufacturing capability online.

  “The factory ships have helped and we’ve started refining the requisite materials and building our own implants, but that will take at least another month to get fully off the ground just for what we need in Fleet.

  “The civilian side is even worse. It’s going to take a few more months to really get things rolling on Avalon. The rest of the Empire will take even longer. We’re focusing on the critical personnel first.”

  Yeats nodded. “And the basic computer systems on Orbital One have been upgraded to allow us to use them, too. We’re all pleased that the administrative work goes by much more quickly, but the paperwork never seems to end, does it? Thank you, Captain.”

  He rose to his feet, hands behind his back. “The information that Harrison’s World has on the rest of the Rebel Empire is sparse and inconsistent. I’m tempted to believe that s
ome of it is misinformation. In fact, we have to assume that it probably is.

  “The captured AI data didn’t have anything on the areas outside the sector it controlled. That had to be intentional. Not only does the ruling AI not want their subjects to know too much, it doesn’t want the competition knowing it, either. That makes it easier to stamp out any rebellion. Such as what they did at Harrison’s World.”

  Jared cleared his throat. “If I may, sir, I think I have a partial solution.”

  The older man gestured for him to continue. “By all means, Admiral Mertz.”

  This wasn’t going to be an easy sell, but Jared knew the time had come to make this pitch. He sent a command to the screen and it changed to a picture of their captured Rebel Empire computer specialist.

  “Meet Lieutenant Commander Michael Richards, Rebel Empire Fleet. We captured him at Erorsi. It’s taken a while, but he’d come to the conclusion we’re telling him the truth and that the AIs lied to them. That they’re slaves. He’s ready to help us in every way he can. In particular, he knows the system where they picked up the Marine Raider hardware.”

  Yeats looked skeptical. “Why should we trust him? Forgive me, but the man has to have reservations. And if someone switches sides once, they can always change their minds.”

  Jared shook his head. “Marcus has vetted him through his implants. That’s where he opens up the access and lets the AI verify the truth of his statements. Richards is honestly convinced his people are slaves and is willing to help.”

  After a moment, Yeats shook his head. “Let’s table that for right now. I need to think about it. But it does bring up an interesting point. Now that the Imperial Senate had finally decided AIs are people, where are will in building more? We could use some helping hands with all the work.”

  Doctor Leonard rose to his feet. “We’ve been hard at work reverse engineering the hardware, but progress is slow. Sir Carl tells me that it may be as long as a year to complete the project. And then we’d need to ramp up to full production. If we could get our hands on the plans somewhere else, that would be useful.”

  Quinn made a face. “I suspect the odds of that are low. Can’t Marcus help?”

  “He already is. That timeframe is with as much help as he and Harrison can give. Without them, the time goes up dramatically.”

  Yeats sighed. “Of course it does. Can you give us an update on the flip point blocker project?”

  “It’s not proceeding as well as one would hope, Admiral,” the scientist said. “The people at the Grant Research Facility built the three existing units by hand over a period of years. They didn’t anticipate ramping up production for quite some time.

  “While they’re working hard to correct that deficiency, it will be at least six months before we see the first new units roll off the line. At the soonest. It may take longer if they run into problems.”

  Yeats grimaced, but nodded. “That isn’t unexpected. We’ll just have to hope that things stay relatively quiet for a while. Once we can get more units, we can begin protecting our space from the rebels and even disrupt the sectors we intend to take away from them. We have teams going over the maps of the Old Empire to present various plans on where we might surgically use flip point blockers to disrupt the enemy. A number of choke points have suggested themselves.”

  “There’s going to be another supply ship for the AI at Erorsi in about a month,” Jared said. “And there’s a destroyer due to go report on Harrison’s World at about the same time. Either one of those situations could blow up in our faces.”

  One of the officers in the crowd raised his hand. “Are they likely to be suspicious, Admiral? You took out their last supply mission.”

  Now it was Jared’s turn to grimace. That comedy of errors was the unlamented Wallace Breckenridge’s fault. They’d lost ships and men that hadn’t needed to die.

  “I think this year is safe,” he told the man. “The records indicate that ships have vanished before. Even warships. That speaks to some other issue going on that we’re unaware of, but gives us some room. No doubt, the loss of this set of ships will cause us a lot more trouble. Our time being undiscovered is coming to an end.”

  “Will we talk to the alien about building flip points into the Rebel Empire?” a woman with captain’s tabs asked. “That would allow us to strike anywhere we choose.”

  Jared shook his head. “Omega says the power requirements are quite steep. He has at least four months of steady charging to create a new one. And we need to remember these are permanent. If we open one into rebel held space, they can use it to get at us. I think we should keep that idea in reserve, but I strongly suggest we avoid it.”

  “Agreed,” Yeats said. “On the plus side, Sir Carl has finalized the design of the FTL coms. We’ve begin seeding throughout the Empire and should have reliable, redundant communication everywhere inside a few more months.

  “Unfortunately, they’ve discovered that they aren’t quite as undetectable as he’d originally thought. They do cause a resonance similar to, but far weaker than, a flip point. We need to be cautious in using them in forward areas. They’re a tremendous asset and we don’t want to tip our hand to the enemy.

  “That leads me to the next subject. In consultation with our best ops planners, as well as Marcus and Harrison, I’ve decided that we need to firm up our understanding of the Rebel Empire. I’d rather keep them ignorant of our existence, but we have to get some reliable data.

  “The best candidate for scouting is Admiral Mertz, of course. And because of the danger, I’m authorizing a reconnaissance in force. He won’t be taking all the ships he brought back, but we’ll send him with enough ships to take care of business, if it comes down to that. Since we want to keep our FTL coms a secret as long as possible, he’ll operate on his own as much as possible.”

  Yeats looked around the room. “Frankly, Fleet has always relied on our people making the hard calls for themselves and I see no reason to change that. There will be no back seat driving under my watch.”

  That brought a palpable sigh of relief from the crowd.

  The admiral brought a new chart onto the screen. “We’ve received a number of new ships from the yards at Harrison’s World, but there’s a limit to how fast they can rebuild the wrecks there. We’re working on construction yards here, but that will take years. The captured yards at Erorsi will be ready to go before then, even the damaged one. We’ve sent people to help get them operational.

  “As you can see, we’ll be sending Invincible as the flagship on the scouting mission and about half of the ships Admiral Mertz brought back. The freshly recommissioned superdreadnought Gibraltar will form the core of the new Home Fleet. And before any of you start casting envious glances at her, I’ve decided that I’m moving my command there as soon as she arrives.”

  He added a false glare at them for emphasis.

  “Now that we’ve settled that, we need to discuss what you’ll be doing, Jared. I want you to get the supply ship intact this time. Preferably the escort, too, but definitely the freighter. Princess Kelsey has been hounding me about needing the supplies it has on board. She wants more raiders.

  “If I decide that we can trust Commander Richards, you’ll need to scout the facility that made them. I not only want you to capture supplies, but to get the technology to make them. Her manuals only cover the use of Raider enhancements, not the construction of them. We need that knowledge if we’re to survive and fight effectively.”

  Jared nodded. “You can count on me to do my best, Admiral.”

  The older man smiled at Jared. “Also, I’ve spoken with His Majesty about the current situation on Persephone. He said it’s not acceptable to have a civilian in command of a Fleet or Marine Raider vessel.”

  “Princess Kelsey isn’t going to be happy about that, and neither is the computer controlling the ship.”

  “I know, so together we’ve decided it best to commission her as a colonel in Imperial Marines. She’ll find out
later today that she’s the new commanding officer of the Marine Raiders. She’s going to fight, so we might as well get rid of the fiction she isn’t a warrior. We’re making it official.”

  “It’s about time, sir. She’ll be really happy.”

  “Major Talbot will be less so, I’m sure,” Yeats said. “Now, we have a lot more ground to cover before we can wrap up. I’ve got people waiting outside to brief us on the status of our remedial training on Old Empire technology, recruiting the new people we’ll need to man all the ships we’re planning on building and the ground forces, our transition to a wartime economy, and more. Get comfortable.”

  Jared resisted the urge to check the time. This was going to be a really long day.

  * * * * *

  Kelsey Bandar, heir to the Imperial Throne, banged her head on the table in the Imperial library. She’d gone over everything they still had in electronic form from before the Fall and there was no mention of the “key” that Emperor Marcus had mentioned his son Lucien having.

  It was infuriating. Surely, the words he’d used in his last transmission meant something.

  She’d spent the last month going through the archives of old equipment. There were plenty of keys of one kind or another, but nothing that seemed to have any deeper meaning.

  To help sort things out, she’d shanghaied the newly created Doctor Carl Owlet to help. Sir Carl when she was particularly cranky.

  He’d examined everything with every tool he’d designed for things like this. Still nothing.

  “Excuse me,” he said from behind her. “Are you alright?”

  She raised her head and sighed. “Yes. I’m just frustrated. I was sure there was something here.”

  He shrugged. “Apparently not. Is this all the hardware left over from before the Fall?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe we need to take a step back and look at the person rather than the gear. Emperor Lucien arrived as a boy. Perhaps he didn’t know what this key was. Or the person who’d been meant to tell him died in the attack.