Empire Ebook Full

by B. V. Larson

  At that point, a hammering came at the door. I tapped open a one-way channel that carried my voice out to the bridge. “Is that you, Sandra?” I asked. “If so, and there is no immediate danger to the ship, please stop hammering. We’re having a critical conference right now. Riggs out.”

  The hammering stopped, so I forgot about it. She was probably just getting edgy and tired of waiting.

  “I see what you’re saying, Miklos,” I said. “All through history, every nation, every tribe had to have a moment when a hero declared himself king or chieftain. But this is different. This is the entire world we’re talking about, and I’d thought we’d outgrown that kind of thing.”

  Miklos shook his head sadly. “We never will outgrow that kind of thing. When frightened, we humans love a king, a strong leader to whom we can entrust our hopes and fears. Why didn’t you do it yourself, Colonel?”

  “Do what?”

  “Declare yourself king.”

  I laughed. “I’m not that kind of guy. I’m just not. No royal blood flows in these veins. I was a nobody originally. Besides which, I thought it was morally wrong. Looking back at history, I’ve always thought of myself as a man in the mold of General Washington. A man who rose up to fight and lead, but when his services were no longer needed, he retired back to his farm. I’ve always wanted to do that, if I’m lucky enough to live that long.”

  Miklos nodded. “A noble model,” he said. “Many Americans wanted Washington to become their king, you know. He refused the power. But Washington’s example is a rare one. Crow is a more typical personality. He’s made differently than you. I’m afraid he’s more like Napoleon, who started off as a small man from Corsica running an artillery unit, and who took advantage of a chaotic revolution to take power.”

  I nodded, only half-listening to him. Miklos continued in a philosophical tone.

  “Maybe, Crow is not like Napoleon after all,” he said. “Napoleon was a military genius who won battles through improvisation and masterful tactics—the way you do at times. Maybe Crow is more like Stalin: a mean, uneducated man who rose to power not through military genius, but rather through ruthless political know-how.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That does sound more like Crow.”

  “Unfortunately, both men cost their nations millions upon millions of dead.”

  I glanced at him. What was that look he was giving me? Was he somehow blaming me for the millions of lives lost? Sure, I’d made mistakes. Sure, someone else might have done a better job. Only, there hadn’t been anyone else there at the time, in my position. I’d done the best I could, and I regretted a thousand things, but I refused to be broken by the magnitude of my mistakes.

  I shook myself and took in a deep breath. “What matters now is how we’re going to respond to this ultimatum ordering us to turn around. We can’t just quietly fly into their teeth. I have to decide upon a course of action: are we going to send them a message? Or are we going to halt?”

  The hammering returned at the door. I sighed and tapped a one-way connection to the outside. “This had better be an emergency. I’m still having a high-level discussion, here.”

  The hammering continued unabated. Frowning, I opened the door.

  Sandra almost fell into me. She looked upset and disheveled. “They fired a second salvo. I figured that was emergency enough.”

  I opened my mouth to shout “What?” but suppressed the urge and pushed past her onto the bridge. There, on the big board, were red traces. I could see the Earth ships, there were four of them now. They had been pinpointed and identified hanging in space around the ring that led to Alpha Centauri. They were all light cruisers with a size and configuration matching my own flagship. They had indeed fired two salvoes of missiles, and the yellow lines that predicted their paths neatly intercepted my fleet.

  We were under fire, and this time our attackers were human.

  -15-

  “What are your orders, sir?” asked the nervous Ensign manning the weapons board. “Should we return fire?”

  “How long do we have before those missiles hit us?”

  “At our current course and speed,” Marvin said, interrupting, “the missiles will reach us in thirty-nine hours.”

  I nodded. “Plenty of time. Everyone, stand down. Light moves much faster than a missile barrage. We might even talk them into causing them to destruct before they reach us. Let’s open up a channel and talk to them.”

  Marvin handled the details. Everyone seemed nervous, and I found that distracting, but I tried to stay focused on what I was going to say. I knew I had to sound confident to the point of being amused by their surprise attack.

  “Imperial ships of Earth—if that’s what you really are—this is Colonel Kyle Riggs of Star Force. We are legitimate military forces from Earth. Why are you firing on your own brothers, wasting valuable munitions? You must be aware thirty-two missiles can’t make it through our defensive systems. Are we frightening you somehow? If so, that was not our intention. We are returning to Earth, as previously ordered.”

  It was a long wait until the response came back in. By the time it did, we had four less hours of time to maneuver. I’d taken the time to shower, eat, and relax. I’d ordered my staff to do the same, but they still looked stressed.

  When the response finally came, I was chewing on a sandwich of cultured ham. It wasn’t as bad tasting as it sounded.

  “Colonel Riggs, our apologies. Star Force has been disbanded, and you have been released from service. Possibly, these critical facts never reached your remote station. Fortunately, the situation is easily remedied. All you have to do is shut down your engines after braking to a stop. Disable your weapons and jettison them into space. Then await our arrival. We will perform a close inspection of your craft. Once disarmed, you and your companions will be allowed to proceed to Earth, minus any contraband you might have aboard. Thank you in advance for your cooperation, citizen.”

  I finished my ham sandwich and had a beer while everyone on the bridge shouted and threw their arms in the air. Every eye was narrowed, every set of lips drew tight in anger. Some even snarled, showing their teeth. Crow’s name was insulted liberally, as were all his hypothetical ancestors. The general consensus among the staff was to fight. We would blast their cruisers from space and push ahead, claiming this entire system if necessary.

  When they’d finally settled down somewhat, Miklos turned to me and asked an intelligent question: “What are your orders, Colonel?”

  “They seem to be determined to stop us here,” I said, “to prevent us from moving another mile closer to Earth. Any ideas as to why?”

  “Perhaps Crow does not yet have a firm hold on Earth,” Miklos said. “Maybe he doesn’t want a rival hero on the planet to challenge him for his position.”

  “A strong possibility,” I said. “Whatever the case, they are certainly determined to halt us here in the Helios system.”

  No one said anything. They all eyed me tensely. I could sense they were wondering what I was going to do now—they were angry, and wanted me to do something.

  I looked at them one at a time. “Do you all really want to start a civil war, right here, right now?” I asked them. “It’s an easy thing to pull the trigger, but it won’t be easy to stop that kind of conflict once we’ve started. May I also remind everyone that while we outgun them in this system, we might not the next time we meet up with their forces? Also, we have a grim disadvantage: we’re cut off from reinforcements. We have no more than three hundred loyal Star Force personnel. Even if we kill a thousand of them for every one of our troops that falls, we’ll be wiped out quickly.”

  They all stared at me in confusion and worry.

  “What are your orders then, Colonel?” Miklos asked again.

  I could tell I wasn’t throwing him off. He’d already thought of everything I’d said, and we both knew my speech was a reality check that hadn’t been meant for him. But I’d wanted everyone else on my command staff to understand what
was at stake.

  “Don’t just surrender,” Sandra said.

  I glanced at her, then back to the main screens. “In impossible situations, it’s necessary to think outside the box.”

  Sandra smiled. “You’re good at that, Kyle,” she said. “You were born not even knowing where the box is.”

  I smiled back. “Marvin, open a narrow beam channel with the Worms again, will you?”

  “Done.”

  “What kind of symbols do they have for traitors? For Worms that turn against their own?”

  “Such events are almost unknown among their people, Colonel. They are an extremely loyal species. However, I would suggest the symbol for of an egg-stealing mite, a hated enemy to all Worms. No creature native to Helios is more despised.”

  “Right, that’s it. Can you tell them the ships that just fired upon us are egg-stealing little bastards?”

  “I believe so, sir. Do you wish to do this with two traditional sets of three symbols, or in a longer form of five symbols?”

  “I want to do it in the manner they are most likely to understand.”

  “Very well, transmitting. I will alternate the statement with an affirmation of brotherhood from our point of view.”

  “Good.”

  The message went out, and the rest of them waited tensely for my next move. I stood up and stretched. “It’s going to be a while. I suggest we all take a break for about four hours and take a nap. I’ll be in my quarters if anything interesting happens.”

  They stared in me in disbelief as I left the bridge. I could hear their murmured exclamations until the wall reformed itself behind me and the sounds of my staff were cut out. I sensed a single presence then, and turned to see it was Sandra. She’d quietly followed me off the bridge.

  “Can you really sleep right now?” she asked.

  “I can try.”

  We headed to our quarters, where I found out I couldn’t sleep. Not because I was nervous or worried, but because Sandra couldn’t. She grew restless and bored, and was tied up in talkative knots about how the situation would play itself out. I normally always welcomed her company, but this time I really wanted to get a little rest.

  “You’ve just started another war—you know that, don’t you Kyle? Do you even bother to keep count of them all?”

  “Maybe,” I said, yawning.

  “Maybe? This isn’t a ‘maybe’. They aren’t totally stupid. They’ll know you told the Worms to attack them. They’ll run and report back that they were attacked by you and the Worms. This could be an interplanetary disaster, and you are trying to fall asleep!”

  She had me there. I was lying back on our bunk, with my eyes closed. My eyes burned slightly, and my throat was raw from talking too much. I’d turned out the lights a few times already, but she’d turned them back on again. I reached out with my left hand, groping for a pillow. I put the pillow over my face to block out the light.

  “Ah, that’s better.”

  A weight landed on me. I lurched and sucked in a breath in surprise. Sandra had jumped on me. I patted her absently. “Things are liable to get exciting,” I said. “Lie down here next to me.”

  Finally, she did as I asked, but she kept messing with me. I finally called her bluff and grabbed her. She melted, and we made love. Afterward, she drifted off to sleep, and I found myself awake and thinking again. I got up, took a shower, and then finally managed to get an hour or so of sleep before an alarm went off, summoning us both back to the bridge.

  We pulled on our clothes and hurried back up to join the others. I was glad for nanocloth and smart armor at that point. It was too bad our hair was so messed-up. I vaguely thought I should come up with something to solve the perennial problem of bed-head. Maybe a nanocloth scarf could do the trick.

  I soon forgot all about nanocloth scarfs, sex, and even my messed up hair. I stepped onto the bridge, and found the place to be in a turmoil.

  “It’s the Worm ships, sir. They got in closer than expected.”

  I frowned, staring at the holotank. The situation was immediately clear. The Worms had somehow gotten within range of the Imperial ships and now were laying into them with heavy particle beam weapons.

  “How did this play out?” I asked.

  Miklos noticed me and turned his tired eyes in my direction. “The Worms tricked them, Colonel. I thought our Earth ships would run, they’re quite close to the ring. But the Worms approached them obliquely. They set a course for the ring, and flew only half their forces in that direction.”

  “Half? How many heavy fighters do they have?”

  “Two hundred are in orbit over Helios now. About a hundred of them flew toward the ring, as if they were going to pass by the light cruisers. We caught several transmissions form the Earth ships, trying to contact them, but there was no response. I think the Earth ships believed they would pass by through the ring, and didn’t want to fire and start an incident. But when they were close, the Worm ships suddenly veered toward the Earth vessels. Now the light cruisers are running, but it is too late. They can’t work up enough velocity to reach the ring and exit the system before they are under fire.”

  I watched as the Earth vessels suddenly lit up. Beams stabbed out from the six turrets on each of their ships. The Worms were almost in range to use their particle beam weapons, but they would have to suffer some casualties first. The cruisers packed a lot of firepower with their heavy lasers. Three Worms ships were destroyed in the next minute.

  “Can’t we call the Worms off?” Sandra asked, standing next to me.

  “Having regrets?” I asked her. Then I turned to the rest of them. “How about everyone else? You wanted me to do something. Now, you get to watch good people die. The Worms are our allies. The Imperials fired on us, but they are still human.”

  “Just call them off, Kyle,” Sandra said. “You’ve made your point.”

  I shook my head bitterly. “We can’t do that. Don’t forget the distance, they’re over a light-hour away. By the time the Worms got my message, it would be too late. In fact, this battle has already happened. All we can do is sit and watch to see what happened.”

  It wasn’t an enjoyable spectacle. We really didn’t want any of the ships on either side to be destroyed. The true enemy, we all knew, was the machines. Every time a biotic killed another, it was fratricide.

  The Earth ships were running, and they had plenty of thrust. Unfortunately, due to the commander’s firm belief that the Worms would stay neutral, he’d let them get too close. Now they couldn’t out run the smaller ships. They did manage to destroy twenty of the Worm ships before they were overwhelmed and lashed with violet sprays of energy. Their ships broke apart under the beating and were destroyed one at a time by the twisting, spiraling attackers who swarmed around them. Still, I was impressed at how much punishment one of our cruisers could withstand.

  Only two of them made it to the ring. One appeared to be on its last legs at that point. When they had all vanished, everyone aboard was glum. The Worms did not chase them, however, but fanned out instead, shooting past the ring and decelerating to return to their homeworld.

  As the battle ended, the missiles the imperial ships had fired on us winked out. A message came in, one that must have been sent by the Imperial commander as he exited the Helios system under heavy fire.

  “Colonel Riggs,” the commander said. “We’ve sustained heavy losses and must withdraw. We’re assuming the Worms became hostile when we fired upon your ships. We’ve tried to reason with them, but failed. They will not break off the attack, and are destroying our forces as you no doubt have witnessed using long-range sensors. I urge you to turn back in case the Worms have decided to become hostile to all human vessels. I’ve ordered that the missiles we fired upon your ships be destroyed in case the Worms attack your fleet next. Good luck. Captain Bolton, out.”

  I sat back in my chair after that, pondering the situation. After a few minutes, the excitement on the bridge died down to a murmur of various
conversations. I stood up and headed for my conference chamber. Miklos and Sandra followed me, and I didn’t try to stop them.

  “Is that how you wanted it to play out?” Sandra asked me. She was angry and emotional.

  “Are you blaming me?”

  “No, they fired on us. They had it coming. But it was awful to watch. I feel a bit sick, because they think the Worms did it on their own. We tricked them, and killed them without suffering a loss.”

  Miklos looked surprised. “If we had lost a few ships, I wouldn’t be feeling any better.”

  Sandra shook her head. “I don’t know. I suppose you’re right. It’s just not the same, watching humans die under alien fire. I don’t think we’ve ever caused something like that to happen before—at least not on purpose.”

  “What your conscience is objecting too, I think,” Miklos said, “is the trickery. Warfare is full of unfair moments. Stand-up fights are rare. Usually, one side or the other is out-classed or out-maneuvered and butchered.”

  “Well, I don’t like it. Not when they’re our people.”

  “Agreed,” I said, joining the conversation, “but the question now is what we’re going to do next. Do we turn back as they asked, or do we press forward and see what’s waiting for us in the next system? After Alpha Centauri, it’s only one short jump to the Solar System.”

  “I say press onward,” Miklos said. “We can slow down and send a scout through to the other side, someone to find out what’s going on out there. We don’t want to run into a massive minefield.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. “I have a slightly different strategy,” I said. “We’ll press ahead at full speed, while asking the Worms what’s on the other side. With luck, we can talk them into scouting for us. I want to keep moving. We can’t let the Earth ships limp all the way home. They’ll call up the fleet to form against us.”

  Miklos’ eyes grew wide. “Are you talking about going all the way? All the way back to Earth?”

  I shrugged. “If we don’t run into anything that can stop us, why not?”