The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1)

by William S Frisbee Jr

  No rounds slammed into his cover and he risked a look. Nobody shot at him but they had their weapons pointed in his direction. He waved but nobody fired.

  “You took your time,” a voice yelled back and Luke stuck his head out. An explosion on the next street over indicated the last Tonkan holdouts were being eliminated.

  “You didn’t bother to send me an invitation,” Luke yelled back. “Looks like we were almost late for the party.”

  “Well,” the voice said. “I would have been glad to send an invitation if you had shared your address.”

  “Do you have any injured?” Luke said, standing up and covering down the street toward where the assault warbot squad was advancing. Musashi moved up beside him and covered down the street where the Brazat had fled. Third squad filtered out from behind Luke and moved down the streets to cover the area. The Jupiter Alliance crew members watched the warbots as they moved out to provide security.

  “Yes,” the woman said. Luke tried to place the voice. It made little sense but the voice sounded familiar.

  “You are clear,” Gray said. Luke checked the map. Except for the far side, the street in front of Luke was secure and well covered. The far side had a squad of warbots preventing any Tonkan survivors from entering the streets.

  The JA crew members lowered their weapons.

  Luke motioned forward a pair of robots, not as lean as the warbots; they were blocky and well equipped with medical gear. They did not carry weapons but had stretchers and plenty of medical accessories.

  As the droids entered the other building Luke took off his helmet. It was dark, which he should have expected, but his eyes adjusted quickly. There was a faint ambient light from some moss. Sometimes he forgot just how much he relied on the advanced optics of his helmet, but his cybernetics helped.

  He smiled.

  “We are here to help,” Luke said. “My name is Commander Luke Kishi.”

  * * *

  Leonessa stood there looking at Luke. He was just like her dreams, almost exactly like her dreams, except the eyes were harder and while his hair was still cut short there was a pattern shaved into the sides, a dragon maybe? His smile did not seem as warm and carefree as in her dream, but there was no question about who this was. He was the man she had dreamed about in the Filipino jungles. He was the man in the Naantali movie.

  It was a sense of Déjà Vu that kept her rooted and staring. She did not know what to say or do. This could not be the Luke Kishi.

  “We have wounded over here,” Doc said, motioning over the medical bots.

  “Does Soma mean anything to you?” Luke asked breaking her out of her spell.

  “Not a clue,” Leonessa said and Luke nodded.

  “Figures,” he said. He motioned to Brita. “This is Major Brita Summers, my XO.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” Brita said looking over the survivors. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get here earlier.”

  Leonessa turned back to Luke and nodded. How could this be?

  * * *

  Luke stared into Leonessa’s eyes but he could not see all her face. She looked familiar and that made him uncomfortable because he sure as hell did not recognize her. He realized he was staring and glanced away.

  “My name is Lieutenant Leonessa Ferraro,” she said and Luke tried to recall any names like that. He came up blank. “I am the last Captain of the JAS Shrike.”

  “It is an honor to meet you,” Luke said.

  “The honor is mine,” Leonessa said.

  Luke looked around. Everyone looked haggard, worn down and tired. There was an exhaustion, fear and sadness in their eyes and there were no smiles. He had not seen this in a very long time and it a lot of time and stress to push people this far.

  “Helmet on jackass,” Musashi said and punched Luke in the arm, hard enough to rock him. “This is a combat zone not a bar. There aren’t any girls here to pick up.” Luke shrugged apologetically at Leonessa and put his helmet back on.

  Luke checked the tactical situation. The Brazat had fled.

  “Gray,” Luke said. “Get first squad in here to help people.”

  “Is it safe for humans here?” Leonessa said motioning at his helmet.

  “Well, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve had a full set of implants,” Luke said wondering how far the Jupiter Alliance had advanced.

  Leonessa nodded. “I need to sit down for a minute.”

  “Sure,” Luke said. “You will be okay now. Relax and I’ll get a good perimeter setup. Your fighting is over for now. Let us carry the load. Just tell me where you want us.”

  “Thank you,” Leonessa said. “I ran out of stims hours ago and it is taking its toll.”

  Luke nodded. Only will power and adrenaline was keeping her awake and the adrenaline would be ebbing.

  A creature came out from near a wall and walked up to Luke. Musashi moved in the blink of an eye and aimed his weapon.

  “Stop!” Leonessa said but Musashi did not fire. Luke stared at it as it walked up to him and sat down facing him.

  Luke crouched down until he was eye-to-eye with it and looked it over.

  “A pet?” Luke asked looking it over.

  “I don’t know,” Leonessa said. “Long story but it has been helping us evade the alien scouts. We call it Felix.”

  “Interesting,” Luke said. He held out his hand for it to sniff. It touched his hand with its nose and then put its head beneath his hand. Luke scratched it behind the ears and it closed its eyes appearing content.

  “Nelson?” Luke asked. “What is this?”

  “Running analysis,” Nelson said.

  “It sure is friendly,” Luke said. “It was helping you? You mean you found it here, and it didn’t come with you?”

  Leonessa nodded. “Yes. It was chasing some rat thing when we found it. It seems to like you.”

  Luke smiled. He wanted to spend more time with it, but there was a lot to do.

  “Well,” he said. “Sit down and rest before you fall down Lieutenant. I’ve got reinforcements on the way. When the Bocs tell me it is safe to move the wounded, we will get your people out of here. Do you know anything about your attackers?”

  “Nothing,” Leonessa said. “Except they captured four of my crewmen. I need to get them back.”

  Luke nodded.

  “Nelson,” Luke said. “Get a forensic team moving. I want to find out everything you can about these Tonkan, where they came from, who they report to, everything.”

  “Aye commander,” Nelson said.

  “Alpha company is almost to your location,” Gray said. “They have been unopposed. It is all quiet up here still. I have two tanks posted top side. Alpha Company also has enough casualty sleds to carry everyone. I suspect they will start falling asleep on you shortly. Sounds like they have been running on adrenaline and fear for days.”

  “Copy that Gray. I need you to push out the recon bots if you can,” Luke said and turned to Lieutenant Puller.

  “Push out your perimeter as far as you can. Let’s give them some room to relax.”

  “Aye Commander,” Puller said. He did not move but Luke saw warbots turn and head out. Puller was deploying his squad appropriately, and Luke watched the display on his InnerBuddy before fading the screen to look at his immediate surroundings.

  Leonessa was getting ready to nod off and Brita was moving around, checking the warbot deployment and counting people.

  Then Luke noticed Leonessa watching Musashi.

  “Are you an android?” Leonessa asked Musashi who had his helmet off.

  “Yes,” Musashi said fixing his gaze on her. “I am one of Commander Kishi’s droids. I am self-aware and loyal to the Commander. If you mean him no harm, you have nothing to fear from me.”

  Leonessa nodded. Despite his black, metallic looking skin and the robotic joints, he could almost pass for a human in the dark.

  The warbots looked more like robots though and it would be much harder to mistake them as human. With heads shap
ed like bread boxes and armor plating over gears and appendages there was no mistaking their function or lack of humanity. Luke glanced at Puller who had his helmet on. He would look like himself or Brita.

  Leonessa sighed and got to her feet.

  “Hey,” Luke said gently pushing her back down. “Stay there, Lieutenant. We’ve got this. We have stretchers coming. The Bocs say all the wounded will live, we can’t help the dead though. Nothing you can do. Sit back and take a quick nap if you need to. I can wake you when we are ready to move out.”

  “I should check on my people,” Leonessa said.

  “Most of them are asleep,” Luke said. “Adrenaline withdrawal. Looks like you people have been running hard. I need to do a forensic analysis on the Tonkan that attacked you so we can find out who they are and where they came from. You are SAFE. You have my word of honor.”

  Felix came over and lay down on Leonessa’s legs, keeping her from getting up.

  “I have the rest of a battalion in orbit and I have one of my strike companies coming to provide additional security. I’m punching out a lot of recon bots as well so we will have plenty of warning. Seriously. Relax. I think your pet is telling you to stay there too.”

  Leonessa looked at Felix, pretending to be comfortable on her legs. She would have to move it to get up. She reached over, scratched its neck, and then leaned back.

  Luke smiled. He could see the thought process in her shoulders and eyes. She would tell herself she would just close her eyes for a few minutes. Just a quick rest. Seconds after her eyes closed Luke could see she was asleep and he wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

  The Jupiter Alliance doc was still awake and talking with the bocs, who were working on one crew member with a belly wound. She had lost a lot of blood but she would live and recover quickly. He looked again at the creature laying on the Lieutenant’s legs. It almost looked like a cat, but was too big. He missed cats. There had not been any on New Alamo when she left Sol.

  “Nelson,” Luke said. “Any idea what that thing is?”

  “Negative Commander,” Nelson said. “A couple possibilities but unless we can get a DNA sample I’m coming up with nothing absolute. It isn’t native to this planet. It could be intelligent and it looks like it might have a retractable and opposable digit but I’m coming up with zilch.”

  Luke sighed and headed over to look at the bodies of the Tonkan.

  * * *

  Leonessa woke up when someone tried to lift her up. She was still tired, but she grasped her weapon. It had been a good dream. She did not recall what it was about but she wanted to go back to it.

  “Ma’am,” one of the human like droids said. It looked like it had green skin and was covered in human armor, with the helmet off, like Musashi. Even though he was an android, she could see the concern in his face. “I’m Lieutenant Daley, you can go back to sleep once I get you on to the stretcher.”

  She looked around her. Felix sat next to her watching all the activity. One floating stretcher was being guided out the door by one of the medical droids, Boc, Luke had called it. Other crew members were being loaded onto the stretchers or being helped to their feet. Warbots and droids moved around the area picking up gear, packs, and equipment, taking them outside.

  “Where’s Commander Kishi?” Leonessa said wishing she could wipe the sleep from her eyes. It felt like every muscle was stiff and sore, screaming in protest. Her arms and legs did not want to bend or move without resistance. She had not felt this tired in a very long time and she was out of stims.

  “Right here,” Luke said coming up, his helmet off. “If you want to climb on a stretcher, you can go back to sleep.”

  Leonessa shook her head. “Not right now. I have too many questions.”

  Luke nodded. “Sure. We’ll have plenty of time later I suspect, but I’m sure you have some pressing questions.”

  “How did you know we were here?” Leonessa asked and Felix walked beside her. “When we asked the patrol liaison officer, he said he didn’t know what humans were.”

  “Why don’t you sit on a stretcher,” Luke said guiding her outside.

  “No,” Leonessa said and looked around her. There was well over a hundred warbots and droids moving about, along with about twenty stretchers loaded with gear and sleeping or wounded crew members. “It will help me wake up if I can move around.”

  Luke nodded and gave a command. The column started moving down the street.

  “Well,” he said. “In answer to your question, that is a mystery. I didn’t know you were here. This has me confused. The Topa hired me a month ago to come here to this planet, go to a certain location, and find a Soma. I was to help this Soma, but that was over a month ago so I’m somewhat confused at this point since you haven’t been here a month.

  “I came here and went to the coordinates they gave me and found nothing but one of your abandoned packs. It had Jupiter Alliance markings, which piqued my curiosity. I didn’t know the Jupiter Alliance had made contact with the Conglomerate. Finding a human artifact on this world in that location blows my mind.

  “Well,” Luke said, glancing at Leonessa. “The chances of that, are something like a trillion or more to one. But I don’t think New Alamo has sent anyone this far before so I wasn’t sure.”

  “What is a Soma?” Leonessa asked.

  “Yea,” Luke said. “There’s the funny thing. The Topa who hired me wouldn’t tell me.”

  Brita came up. She had her helmet off as well.

  “Hello Lieutenant,” she said. “Feeling better?”

  Leonessa nodded. “Looks like we will live. That is a great feeling. I feel tired and my body is sore so I’m not jumping up and down.”

  Brita smiled. “Wait until we get back aboard ship. The Commander has a great answer for that.”

  Leonessa raised an eyebrow at Brita.

  “You’ll see,” Brita said and glanced at Luke.

  “The Topa hired you?” Leonessa asked. “A month ago, to come here and find a Soma?”

  Luke and Brita nodded.

  “Are the Topa psychic or something? Able to see the future?”

  “I don’t so,” Luke said. “Unless they staged this. I’m not finding any other answers though. However, I still don’t know what the hell a Soma is. Do you know?”

  “Fiddle sticks,” Leonessa said shaking her head. “Maybe I’m just tired but that makes no sense.”

  Luke had stopped and stared at Leonessa.

  “Something wrong?” Leonessa said noticing Luke had stopped.

  “Um. Nothing,” Luke said. He sounded quiet and withdrawn. Leonessa couldn’t read his face but he seemed shocked, had she said something that offended him? “Just someone I used to know said that.”

  “Said what?” Leonessa asked.

  “’Fiddle sticks,’” Luke said and moved again. “She never swore. It. . . was a long time ago.”

  Now Leonessa stopped and stared at Luke, all of it coming back to her.

  “Oh fudge,” she said. “You are THAT Kishi?!”

  Luke looked at her, uncomfortable with her attention.

  “The one who ambushed the Caliphate and wiped out their task force near Naantali?” Leonessa said.

  “Yes,” Luke said and shrugged. “It was a long time ago. The subject will now be changed.”

  “I’m sorry,” Leonessa said. “Really. I know what you lost.”

  Luke stared at her and Leonessa felt like she was treading in unwelcome territory.

  Luke’s glare made it into his voice, “We can change the subject now.”

  Felix bumped into Luke hard and made him stagger. It was like Felix disapproved of Luke’s response. Brita turned away to hide her smile.

  “You sure you don’t want to get on the stretcher?” Luke asked calming himself. “It is about a five kilometer walk back to the transports.”

  Leonessa looked at Brita who just shrugged at her, one corner of her mouth still up in a partial smile.

  “I’m okay,” Leone
ssa said. “Thank you. Do you think we are the Soma the Topa sent you for?”

  “Unless they are prescient, then you couldn’t be. If they can see the future, then that is damned scary. This is one of those one in a zillion coincidences. The Topa did not say WHEN we had to be here and the Topa who sent us didn’t seem at all concerned about our response time. He said to get here when we get here, so I guess we are early, or late. I would say we arrived in the nick of time.”

  “Any later and we would be dead. I’m glad you didn’t delay. Are they always like that?” Leonessa asked.

  “No,” Luke said. “Not even close. Usually they overload me with information.”

  “How did you get a job working for the Topa?” Leonessa asked.

  “It started small at first,” Luke said. “Resolve this dispute, escort this diplomat, or safeguard an ambassador. The Topa granted a few others, and me, special licenses to initiate violence. I received one of the higher-level licenses. This allowed other aliens to hire us for certain jobs they could not perform legally. It was blood money, but it allowed us to purchase technology and resources. We have been very selective about the jobs though and we take nothing that would have us fighting or killing non-combatants. We try our best to make ethical choices. I suspect that is why the Topa continue to renew our licenses. We also try hard not to make powerful enemies.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” Brita said and Leonessa looked over at her.

  “Tell you what?” Luke asked.

  “The part about making a point not to kill non-combatants and ethical choices,” Brita said.

  Luke shrugged.

  “I guess that makes sense,” Brita said after a moment of thought. “None of the New Alamo mercenaries I have met are unethical, as odd as it sounds.”

  “The androids we use directly result from purchased technology and resources. When you see the Leonis Ultio, you will see another advantage,” Luke said.

  “Sounds like you are doing pretty good for a lost colony,” Leonessa said.

  Luke shrugged and smiled. “It is a living. Now it is your turn. How did you come to the Conglomerate?”

  Leonessa thought for a moment. Collecting her thoughts. “When the New Alamo disappeared through a wormhole this led the Athenian scientists to investigate the phenomena more closely and we were able to discover other potential wormholes in the Sol system.