The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1)

by William S Frisbee Jr

  “How are you doing?” he asked on a private frequency.

  “Okay,” Leonessa said. “Just had a good dream, sort of.”

  Doc Benoit nodded. “That is good. We must have hope.”

  Leonessa smiled and wondered why a desperate battle in the jungle felt like a good dream, maybe it was Lieutenant Kishi’s smile or voice, or the warm feeling his presence gave her?

  “You seem to be doing well,” she said.

  “I’ve been around. This is perhaps the worst I’ve ever seen,” the Doc said and his eyebrows furrowed. “We are about to be dropped onto a hostile planet, where we can’t breathe the air without dying. We have limited supplies and pretty much no hope of rescue for the foreseeable future but you are having good dreams. This gives me hope. What makes them so good?”

  Leonessa shrugged.

  “A guy?” Doc guessed. “Back on Athena?”

  “No,” Leonessa said with a short laugh, how did Doc get so close?

  “Just a recurring dream I’ve had. Doesn’t make much sense since it occurs back on Earth and I’ve never been there.”

  “Oh?” Doc said. “Not so unusual. I’m sure you’ve seen videos and been to the sensoriums. How old are you?”

  “Forty-five,” Leonessa said.

  “So you were born after New Alamo disappeared?” Doc said with a nod. “Interesting. You are young for an officer then.”

  “Yes,” Leonessa said. “I had high scores and I seem to have adapted well to military life. It’s been what I wanted to do for as long as I can remember. Spending eight years in the JA Marine Corps has also helped accelerate my career. I was involved in the Sadr raids with the fifteenth Commando and we took out two Caliphate asteroid depots.”

  Doc nodded. The Marine commando units who had taken part in the raids had taken high casualties and succeeded. Jupiter Alliance Intelligence said the Caliphate was still trying to recover.

  “That explains your small unit skills,” he said. “You are a good leader. I’m glad it is you instead of Bebchuck.”

  Leonessa frowned. “Bebchuck is a good officer,” she said. Not wanting to hear anything bad about her people, even from other members of her command.

  “Without a doubt,” Doc said with his gentle voice and pleasant smile. “He is an outstanding officer. However, I think he lacks your leadership. He can command for sure, but what we need now is leaders, not commanders. You have initiative and you listen. Bebchuck has a different style.”

  Leonessa frowned and thought about it. Bebchuck had been rock solid and dependable, but had not shown any great initiative. Grudgingly, she could understand Doc.

  Doc sat there looking at her for several seconds.

  “Are you religious?” he asked when she got uncomfortable.

  “No really,” she said. “I guess I lean more toward Christianity and Buddhism. I like aspects of both religions, but religion hasn’t impressed me, and nobody has any proof of anything.”

  The Doc nodded without expression, his eyes locked on Leonessa. “What other dreams do you have that recur?”

  “Battles in space,” she said. “Being a drone frigate commander and hunting Caliphate ships.”

  “Interesting,” the Doc said. “So why didn’t you go to frigate command?”

  “I did for a little,” Leonessa said. “But the solitude and conditions got to me, so I requested a transfer to light cruiser, or exploration, and here I am.”

  Leonessa wondered if he had access to her records. She knew what was in there. She had been transferred from frigate command because of failure to adjust so a solitary life style, and anxiety. That didn’t sit well with her though since she liked the solitary life style but frigate operations were something very different, a more isolated type of solitary life than anything else.

  “Why drone command?” he asked.

  Leonessa shrugged. “Not sure,” she said. “After I joined I found it so lonely. I thought I would like it.”

  “What inspired you?” Doc asked.

  “Well,” Leonessa smiled shyly. “I remember the ‘Battle of Naantali’. I saw the movie when I was younger and it seemed to resonate with me. Have you seen it?”

  Doc nodded. “That was with the two drone pilots who wiped out a Caliphate fleet right before New Alamo left? I think I remember it.”

  “We studied it in frigate school as well. The reality and loneliness of frigate missions wasn’t what I expected. I don’t know how Luke and Elena managed it, but I guess in the end Luke’s loss bothered me. I heard the final recording, and it gives me the shivers. When I was younger, I really identified with Elena, probably too much. My mother said I used to pretend to be her back in pre-primary and she is part of the reason I joined the Marines, then frigate command.”

  Doc cocked an eyebrow.

  “We all try to live our fantasies Doc,” Leonessa said. “Sometimes the reality of those fantasies isn’t what we expected.”

  “That is true,” Doc said.

  “What brings you on this expedition into the unknown? I’ve seen parts of your file, you could have stayed in the Jupiter Alliance, well behind friendly lines and safe. Why risk it?”

  Doc smiled but there was a sadness in his eyes. “My daughter was on the New Alamo.”

  “Oh,” was all Leonessa could think to say.

  Doc shrugged and looked at the deck beneath his feet. “I’m not always wise or pleasant or loving,” he said. “I have made mistakes and sometimes those mistakes weigh heavily on my soul.”

  Now it was Leonessa’s turn to stare. She had never seen or heard of Doc being anything other than a gentleman or veritable saint.

  “Do you think they are dead?” Leonessa asked after an uncomfortable pause.

  “I don’t know. I spoke to several wormhole scientists while the Shrike was being built and equipped. Based on what they know, the wormhole the New Alamo disappeared into was not stable and it would have been a very difficult transition. However, our hosts know English and it gives me hope they have encountered humans. It is likely have had contact with survivors from New Alamo. The specialists I spoke to said the wormhole New Alamo went through probably sent them to a very distant corner of the galaxy and the chances of us going anywhere near them are astronomical, a trillion in one I think one of them said.”

  Leonessa nodded and looked around her at the alien shuttle. Proportions were a little off, but humans could have made it. So far, the aliens did not seem too alien; of course she had not seen them outside their suit either.

  “I hope you find her,” Leonessa said wondering at the chance of that. Space was so vast and there was no guarantee New Alamo was anything other than a shattered rock. Even in a star system as small as this one the New Alamo could get lost in it.

  ‘And I hope we don’t all die slowly,’ she added quietly. She hoped the people of New Alamo had not been left abandoned and dying on some world. Obscure artifacts on some uncaring, alien world.

  Hugging her knees on the hard floor Leonessa sat there watching the survivors of the Shrike sleep. Many tossed and turned. A few, like her, sat hugging their knees, or against the bulkhead staring off to inner space, unable or unwilling to sleep.

  “What do you think our chances are?” she asked Doc.

  Doc remained silent and Leonessa wondered if he had heard her. Afraid he had, she remained silent watching him.

  “I should ask you, but with you in command?” he said. “I think we have a chance.”

  “You are full of shit Doc,” Leonessa said with a smile.

  Doc’s smile reached his eyes again as he shrugged. “I was sure we would die right before we made it to the wormhole, I was sure we would die in the wormhole and then I was one hundred percent sure we were going to die when the Caliphate came out of the wormhole and saw us before we could escape, so you see? I have never had a hundred missiles launched in my direction. Now, I’ve escaped death so many times I’m sure I will again.”

  “You lost a lot of patients,” Leonessa sa
id hugging her knees tighter.

  “True, but they were patients; they weren’t me, as odd as it sounds. My patients are real and important, but they are not me.”

  Leonessa nodded, wondering how many more of ‘her’ crew she would lose. The dying was not over, only a fool would think otherwise.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Neutral Zone

  “Listen up people,” Leonessa said on the standard ship frequency. The liaison officer had informed her in ‘point 3 hours’ they would land. They were expected to debark immediately, and could not loiter. She wasn’t sure how they would enforce that, but she didn’t want to find out after they had driven off a Caliphate task force.

  “In less than ten minutes will land,” she said looking at the emotionless, tired eyes around her. Living in suits was an unpleasant process, even if they were designed for waste management and long-term comfort. Comfort was a relative term when you were stuck inside a suit for the rest of your life. She looked around and had already forgotten everyone’s face. Now they were suit sizes and eyes.

  “The patrol liaison officer recommended we vacate quickly before too many natives come to investigate. It is unknown who will investigate, or how hostile they will be. Chances of them living in a neutral zone and being real friendly are slim. We will move as fast as we can and go as deep as we can. Nobody gets left behind; you are responsible for your partner or partners. Once we get deep enough, we will re-evaluate our situation and will try to work our way back up and make a plan to get home.”

  People nodded. This was not the first time she had said this. She was just repeating what her other officers had told them at a more personal level. Everyone was divided into fire teams of three to five crew, each team led by an officer and Doc was her ‘partner’.

  Their gear was as portable as possible and spread out for people to carry or drag. Bebchuck would lead the way as an unencumbered maneuver/relief element and Burke and his team were responsible for most of the gear. It would allow others to help and would let her rotate carrying duties since the gear wasn’t too heavy, and it was better than having everyone burdened.

  “The shuttle is now landing,” the liaison officer said on the ship’s frequency. “You will depart when the ramp drops.”

  The side dropped to slam against concrete, forming a ramp, and the humans poured off. To Leonessa it had the feeling of a combat drop in a hot landing zone as she sprinted off, her eyes searching for a threatening target. She led the way off as quickly as she could, but when she glanced back everyone looked confused, staring at the surrounding ruins. There was a light drizzle of nasty looking, brown water Leonessa suspected was rain. The rain seemed to keep everything damp.

  Leonessa paused and took in the surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the thick, nasty looking smog, speared by distant towers and massive structures. Everything looked old, worn, dirty, and unkept. The shuttle had dropped them near the edge of a massive concrete field, probably a regular landing pad and it looked intact with no major cracks. Nearby brittle looking hangars leaned against each other to keep themselves from falling. Rusting wreckage of a large ship lay on its side where a strut had failed. The other struts were sticking up from the side making the entire ship look like some large insect had died and fallen over. Trash was everywhere, covered by a brownish, nasty looking mold.

  To the right, not far from the hangars was a ramp leading down into darkness. It wasn’t yet raining heavily but everything glistened in the meager lights. Pointing at the ramp with her weapon, Leonessa continued to look around and Bebchuck took off fast to secure it. Leonessa saw movement over by the fallen ship but when she turned to focus on it, the movement ceased or disappeared.

  Leonessa was being left behind as Burke’s team moved faster. There was a lot to take in. She could not see the sky hidden by smog, but a sickly yellow light filtered down. She was not sure if it was day or night. Some of the distant buildings had lights on, but the closer buildings remained dark and dangerous. Too many hidden eyes watching her.

  The shuttle shot up into the sky the second the last person’s foot left the ramp. Running to catch up with Bebchuck, Leonessa continued to look around. The thing affecting her the most was the gray, smog shrouded, sky. It was so vast and depressing. There were no bright multi-colored lights, no open spaces, no beauty. Just a thick blanket of mist trying to surround and choke her.

  All her life she had grown up inside habitats and ships. The only time she ever stepped ‘outside’ was in a space suit and now she was outside in another hostile environment, without the vastness of space staring back at her and it felt claustrophobic, unnatural and dire.

  The first humans to land on the planet were running like frightened rabbits to a ramp leading deeper into the ground where they could hide. Instead of being interested in newcomers, eager to learn or trade, the aliens were treating them like unwanted refugees to be discarded and driven away like a nasty disease. In the distance, she saw a pair of airborne vehicles bank and turn toward them. Her gut told her they would not be friendly, and she trusted her gut instincts, they had never let her down during the Sadr raids.

  “Faster or we will have company!” Leonessa said knowing what a pair of aircraft could do to people on foot and in the open.

  They made it to the ramp and down before the aircraft got too close. Leonessa breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the aircraft fly by overhead without stopping. Hopefully they hadn’t been seen.

  The ramp itself was not as covered in trash as most of the spaceport had been. It was clear of trash and spiraled deeper into the ground, made of a rough, gray, featureless concrete, Leonessa wondered how old it was. It felt ancient to her, but neglect always caused things to age. The hand rails, or side guards were missing and Leonessa wasn’t sure if they had been removed or never installed. Below the landing pad was another large area cloaked in darkness. Some of the gray light filtered down from above.

  As her eyes adjusted she could see it wasn’t complete darkness, but it was shelter from above if nothing else. There was one natural looking light source, a glowing alga which gave off a faint, sickly orange light. It gave this underground ruin a fantastical but sinister look because of the way it grew in patches. Bright enough to highlight the shadows, and dark enough to promise danger. There were large, dark shapes in the cavernous expanse, maybe buildings or abandoned vehicles, kept company by lonely pillars.

  Glowing green letters on her heads-up display reported it was warm and there was plenty of humidity.

  “Down, down, down,” she said pausing frequently to look around them. Doc stayed by her side though and she suspected it must be irritating for him. She would pause long enough to have to run to catch up, which meant he had to spend time between waiting and running. They had only gone two kilometers when people slowed down and she had to tell Bebchuck to slow it down. Despite nanite conditioning and physical fitness requirements, ship’s crew spent little time doing physical training. There were also wounded to take care of. After another kilometer, she ordered Doc to stay with one of the casualties while she continued to try to be everywhere at once. It was hard to tell how far they had come though and she relied on the step counter in her heads-up display.

  The garbage and trash only got deeper the further they went. Pools of stagnant water collected in numerous trenches and containers. There were more skittering things and movement out of the corner of her eye.

  One time they saw an alien. It was massive, like a two legged, nose less elephant, standing twice as tall as the humans. Covered in rags, it watched them with large baleful eyes while keeping hold of a large spiked club, it said nothing and when Leonessa approached, it raised the club. It was a clear warning to move on, but it remained motionless as the humans went by. It had been odd. Where were all the aliens? The absence was both a blessing and a curse. Was this Empire in the state of decay? Vibrant, expanding cities didn’t have ruins. What did it mean?

  This decaying world was not silent either
. There was a deep thrumming, like hidden engines constantly running, teasing the edge of everyone’s perception. It was there beyond the labored movement of the humans. The only obvious sounds were distant and indistinct.

  Banana like mushrooms became more common and the brown moss generated an orange sickly light covering more of their surroundings. The humans turned on their head lamps so they could see better but if they turned off their lights and let their eyes adjust they could see well enough. Their helmets also had rudimentary night vision, but it wasn’t military grade. Letting everyone’s eyes adjust to the light would take time, and Leonessa wanted speed.

  It felt like they were descending into the dark skeleton of an ancient city. The corpse of the city was still rotting in some parts, mummified in others. A horn echoed in the distance and Leonessa shuddered.

  “That horn wasn’t a greeting people,” she said wondering how far the people who lived here had regressed. “We need to keep moving!”

  The others understood as well as she did, and the column sped up. Any minute now, Leonessa expected to get attacked, and every passing minute where they did not, she was thankful.

  Going down the ramp allowed them to make good distance, and it seemed to descend forever, past several levels and into the bowels of the city before it released them off into a cavernous chamber. Massive pillars held up the darkness and Leonessa worried the ceiling could collapse at any moment. The ceiling was about a hundred meters up, but everything was dark and threatening. There could be lethal alien creature up there preparing to fall upon their prey.

  Bebchuck was looking around. Piles of trash, ancient broken vehicles, cargo containers, and blocks of broken concrete from the ceiling hidden above, made the landscape treacherous and hard to navigate. Vines covered some piles of trash and not others. Leonessa didn’t want to know what nourished those vines or why they didn’t grow everywhere. Not yet anyways.