by Saxon Andrew
“There’s plenty in storage. I would recommend going planet side wearing fatigues with your armor underneath.”
Grant looked up, “It sounds to me like you’ve already given this a lot of thought.”
“Earth is expanding at an incredible speed. They’ve really planned this down to a science. They’re going after the strongest civilizations first.”
“Where are they in their plan?”
“They’ve dropped troops on more than ten thousand capital planets. They control the colonies from there and leave a small squadron of ships behind to enforce their edicts.”
“Are there any battleships in those squadrons?”
“Just one. The other ships are the same class as the Nemesis.”
Cinny slowly nodded, “That’s a smart move.” Grant looked at her and she said, “They’ll use the battleship to make sure anyone who gets out of line will see what they have to face.” She went to a command chair and said, “So what’s the plan?”
The corner of Grant’s lips went down, “Ana, does Whippet know how to use the subspace detectors?”
“He does.”
“I think we are going to visit one of the colony planets that Earth has taken under control and get a feel for the climate.”
“You’re going to avoid the capitals?”
“I am initially. I don’t expect any of Earth’s Warships to be at the colonies.” Grant went over to Cinny and put his hands on her cheeks and pressed his mouth on hers. He broke the kiss and said, “We’ll plan some alone time afterwards.”
“I look forward to it. What are you going to do now?”
“I’m taking the shuttle back down to the planet and I’ll pick up Whippet. I’ll take him to a ship and I’ll go to another. He will keep track of subspace to make sure we’re not surprised when we’re on the planet.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
Grant looked up, “I’ll see you on my ship, Ana.”
“You know I’ll be there.”
• • •
Grant looked at Whippet, “You look like the picture of health.”
“The fish and fruits growing on the planet are healthy items to eat.”
“Where is the prosthesis?”
“Ana says it will be on the ship you’re giving me to use. I suspect I’ll do ok.”
“I am sorry for taking your hand but I didn’t see any other way to prevent them killing you and finding us.”
“I know.”
“We’re going to use you to make sure subspace stays clear while we’re on a planet.”
“That sounds like a good idea. You’re right about me stepping off one of their ships.”
“We’re thinking about how to disguise one of them.”
“Good luck with that. Their sensors will see it pretty quick.”
“We’ll see.” The Shuttle that arrived was an identical twin to the new Nemesis. They entered the landing bay and Grant smiled, “It’s good to be working together.”
Whippet smiled and walked off the shuttle. Grant sighed and lifted the shuttle. He flew out of the bay and moved toward another ship two miles away. The landing bay opened as he approached and he heard over the loud speakers as he landed, “WELCOME HOME!!”
“Hello, Ana. It’s good to be back. Have you spoken to the Nemesis?”
“I have and I’m up to speed on what’s going on.”
“Good.”
“What are you going to name this ship?”
Grant tilted his head and then smiled, “Her name will be Cinnamon’s Dream.”
Ana laughed, “That is very appropriate.”
“Have you selected a possible planet for us to visit?”
“We’ve been listening to Earth’s transmissions and we think one of Lovely’s colonies would be a good place to start.”
“Why there?”
“Lovely was the first civilization to be conquered. They will be more accustomed to Earth ships coming and going.”
“That’s good thinking. Send the coordinates to Whippet and Cinny and let’s jump to it.”
“Cinny already has them and has her star drive energized. Whippet just entered them into his system and is also ready.”
Grant nodded, “Take us there.” Grant saw the jump field form around his ship through the viewport and a moment later the stars blinked and changed. In the distance he could see the colony planet. He saw Cinny off his port bow and knew Whippet was in subspace keeping tabs on anything that might be coming their way. He pushed the thrusters and the Dream began accelerating toward the planet. “I think we should swap names on our ships, Grant.”
“I don’t mind. If we’re going to do it, now would be the time.”
“You came up with both names but I think Nemesis should be yours.”
“Fair enough.”
Thank you for the compliment.”
Grant smiled and said, “Ana, our new name is Nemesis.”
“ALRIGHT!”
“You sound excited.”
“That name is perfect for you.”
“And Cinnamon’s Dream wasn’t?”
“Not like Nemesis.” Grant’s eyes narrowed as he watched the planet growing closer. Suddenly, Ana said, “There are drop troops on the surface.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m intercepting their transmissions.” Grant nodded and looked at the wall monitor. What he saw didn’t look good.
Chapter Three
Admiral Blake went to the bridge of his Flagship and looked at his Communications Officer, “Why did you call me?”
“Colonel Leftwitz has issued instructions that you should hear.”
Blake’s eyes narrowed and he wondered what the land forces Commander was up to. The wall monitor activated and he saw a battalion of drop troops formed up inside a community. The view backed out and he saw a brigade of drop troops had surrounded the community. What was going on? Then he recognized the maroon colored armor being worn by the battalion gathered inside the ranks of the brigade. This had to be the Dragons.
• • •
The Colonel commanding the battalion looked at his Dragon Warriors and said, “I want two hostages taken from twenty houses!”
Forty warriors ran out of ranks toward the row of homes on the left side of the street. A pair of the Dragons rushed up to a door and blasted it with a shoulder blaster. The two rushed in the house and saw a male standing in front of a female and three children. The first warrior who got through raised his shoulder blaster and motioned for the male to move away from the others. The father saw the sneer on the warrior’s face through his visor and pulled his arms off his family and stepped slowly to the left.
The second Dragon rushed up and grabbed the mother by the arm and pulled her toward the door. She was holding a young girl and the Dragon pushed a hand blaster under the little girl’s chin, “If you drop her, she dies!” The Mother pulled her back into her arms as she was dragged through the burned out front entrance. The first Dragon still had the male covered with his blaster and saw the male’s mask of rage. He sneered and said, “No, it wouldn’t be wise to leave you behind.” The Dragon fired his shoulder blaster into the male’s chest and the beam burned through and hit the wall behind him. The two young children ran over to their father screaming and the Dragon shook his head. They were too old to forget this. He blasted the two children and rushed out the front door. He caught up with the first warrior and pulled the young girl out of her mother’s arms. He held her by one arm as he carried her to the street and threw her roughly on the pavement. The mother stumbled forward and picked up her screaming daughter.
The Colonel commanding the drop troops heard the blasters being fired inside the homes and smiled. His warriors were very well trained. He lifted a loud speaker to his mouth and said, “Someone inside our lines has fired an energy weapon killing the Ambassador. I will give the one who fired the blaster exactly two minutes to present himself to me or I will start executing the hostages we’ve taken.”
Blake sat up in his command chair and said, “Get Montgomery on the channel, now.” The General appeared on another monitor and Blake said, “General, is this a good idea?”
“The locals are going to have to be taught the dangers of attacking anyone from Earth. Colonel Leftwitz’s Dragons are trained on how to handle insurgency problems.”
“But can’t you search the area and find the one who did it?”
Montgomery raised his nose and looked over it at Blake, “I probably could, but I’m not going to take the time. As we expand our conquests, we will not have enough troops to search every time we’re attacked.”
Blake saw the General was not going to back down. “Have you discussed this with Admiral Hall?”
“I’ve informed him of my plans and he has not told me to stop. You should take care of your command, Admiral and I’ll take care of mine.”
The display went dark and Blake looked back at the display with the drop troops. They had gone into homes and pulled out forty women and children and threw them into the middle of the street. The women were screaming and the children were wailing.
The Colonel looked around and said, “Time’s up!” He nodded toward the hostages and the line of warriors surrounding the captives opened fire with their blasters and burned them into ashes. The Colonel raised the speaker again, “You have another two minutes to present yourself.” He nodded at his troops and they rushed into more homes on the right side of the street. Blake heard blasters being fired and knew the males in the homes selected for captives were being shot.
In another minute, forty more captives had been rounded up into the street. Some of the children were infants and he shook his head as they were blasted by the troops’ blasters. It took four more groups before the sniper stepped out of the building he was hiding in. The Colonel ordered him brought before him. The troops held the sniper up as the Colonel pulled a bayonet and skinned him alive. His screams echoed throughout the community and once it was over the Colonel lifted his speaker, “Next time one of you chooses to attack one of us, I’ll start with a hundred at a time. I’ll kill everyone inside our lines if needed to find the one who is stupid enough to fire at us.”
Blake stared at the Colonel on the monitor and shook his head. He looked at his Officer, “Thank you for calling me in on this.”
“Yes Sir. I thought you should know.”
Blake shook his head. He learned about the Dragons a month earlier and was told they were an elite Special Unit. Now he understood what ‘Elite’ meant in the Ground Forces. They were little more than trained butchers.
• • •
Cinny watched the executions on her monitor and pressed a button, “That officer is one of my future targets.”
Grant nodded, “They’re more brutal than the Raiders. We have to be careful how we go about attacking them. We don’t want civilians killed for our actions.”
“We’ll try. But eggs will have to break to cook an omelet.”
“Ana, who saw that execution?”
“It was broadcast to every planet that Earth has taken.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed and he memorized that Colonel’s face.
They turned back to their monitors and saw the troops that had dropped to the planet’s surface were being picked up by their carriers.
The Dragons were lifted first and the front line troops in the brigade surrounding the community saw they were being given preferential treatment. Private Cashion looked at his Corporal, “They sure get the royal treatment.”
Cpl. Shaheen looked at Cashion and shook his head, “If you have to kill unarmed females and children for that special treatment, they can keep it.”
Cashion looked around, “Not so loud. Someone might hear you.”
Shaheen looked at the carriers rising above the city with the Dragons on board. “I was told we are going out to bring peace to the universe.” Shaheen looked at the scorched street as they marched to board their carriers and said, “Does this look like peace or brutality to you?”
Cashion saw Shaheen’s head suddenly disappear in a blaster beam. His body collapsed to the ground and a Lieutenant yelled, “You will do as you’re ordered. This one was talking mutiny.” The Lieutenant looked at Cashion for a moment and then said, “Dispose of this body.”
Shaheen’s squad looked at the Lieutenant and then lifted Shaheen’s corpse. Cashion saw they did not like what had happened. But what could one do?
Grant lifted his communicator, “We’re going to remain in subspace at the outer edge of this star system. We’ll go to the planet tomorrow.” Grant looked up, “Did you get the frequency of the Embassy, Ana.”
“I did. It’s really not much of an Embassy. One of the locals has been put in a storefront and told to make sure nothing out of line happened on his planet.”
Grant thought for a moment and said, “Whippet?”
“Yeah?”
“How good are you at breaking through a locked door?”
“I’m sure there are those who are better than I am, Grant. But their number is small.”
“I’m going to see if we can convince the local Earth Representative to join us for a meal. If he agrees, I want you to take a scooter down to the surface and see if you can’t break into his computer system.”
“Do you want me to look for anything in particular?”
“I want the identification codes for their warships. We’re going to have to come up with numbers that won’t be suspicious.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Grant waited until late afternoon before he contacted the local Embassy, “This is Earth Scout Ship Nomad, I request permission to come down for shore leave.”
“I don’t know if you want to do that, Sir.”
“I really don’t have much choice. My close friend and I were told that we’d have to come here or not have leave. I don’t understand why that is but I haven’t seen her in a while and want some time with her.”
“There was an incident yesterday involving the killing of hostages. I’m surprised they would send anyone here now.”
“Are you really?”
The Ambassador sighed, “No, I suspect they want to see if any retaliation takes place and you’re the birds sent to roost to determine if anyone takes a shot at you.” There was a momentary pause and then Grant heard, “You should come down. I’ll probably catch a ration of grief for even telling you about the danger.”
“Then let’s just keep this visit between us. I’ll arrive at the embassy in a few minutes and I’ll wait for my friend there.”
“Make sure you’re armed.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Grant stood up and went to the landing bay. He released a scooter from its moorings and activated his armor. The suit pressurized and he pressed the bay control on the scooter’s console. The landing bay door rose into the hull and Grant said over his private frequency, “Anything coming this way, Whippet?”
“No. Subspace is clear out to twenty light years.”
“Cinny?”
“I’ll be calling for permission to land as soon as you’re in atmosphere.”
Grant lifted the scooter and flew out of the landing bay, “Ana, go into subspace if we need Whippet.”
“Will do.”
The scooter screamed through the atmosphere and Grant flew down and landed in the shadows of the parking lot beside the Embassy. He stepped off and activated the scooter’s force field and walked around to the front door. The Ambassador saw him through the armored glass and buzzed him into the front door, “Your friend just asked for landing permission and she should be arriving in a few minutes.”
Grant smiled and deactivated his combat helmet that disappeared into his shoulder armor. “Thank you. Is there a place close by where we can get a good meal?”
“The Steel Ball is the best place to eat. It’s about three blocks south of here on the west side of the street.”
Grant smiled and said, “What happened
here yesterday.”
The Ambassador shook his brown colored head and raised his black arms over his head, “One of the locals killed the Earth Ambassador. He was my boss and I had to report his death. A regiment of troops immediately arrived and rounded up hostages to force the shooter to turn himself in.”
“Did he do it?”
“Only after two hundred citizens were blasted into ash.”
Grant shook his head, “That sounds bad.”
“It is. I hope you’re left in peace. Oh, here’s your friend now.”
The Ambassador buzzed Cinny in and she rushed forward and gave Grant a huge hug and kiss, “I’ve missed you. What’s going on?”
Grant looked at the Ambassador and said, “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to pay for your meal. You can tell Donna what’s happened.”
The Ambassador looked around, “I don’t know. It’s really not safe.”
Grant tilted his head, “Both of us have our armor on; no one will bother us.” Grant lifted his fatigue jacket and the Ambassador saw a hand blaster, “Besides, you’d be safer with us than trying to go out alone.”
The Ambassador looked around and nodded. He went over and pressed ten keys on the computer and it shut down. Cinny watched him as he locked the door and smiled as they walked out. She sent the images of the door being locked as she put her hand in her pocket and sent the ten keys the Ambassador pressed over her communicator. Whippet received them, picked up his tool pouch, and said, “Ana, I’ll be entering normal space in ten seconds.”
“Count it down.” As Whippet’s ship appeared, Ana took Grant’s ship into subspace. Whippet boarded a scooter and headed toward the rapidly darkening city below.
• • •
Cinny had her hands wrapped around Grant’s arm as they walked toward the restaurant. She looked at the dark buildings lining the street and shook her head. She interrupted their conversation by asking, “Why are so many of the buildings shut down?”
The Ambassador slowly shook his head as he came to a stop, “No one is willing to spend anything in the current climate. With Earth taking control of our planets, the future of our currency is uncertain.”
