by Andria Stone
Edge of the Stars
The Edge - Book 2
by
Andria Stone
Copyright @ 2017 by Andria Stone
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means whatsoever, including electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without the prior written permission and consent from the author. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table Of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Acknowledgements
PROLOGUE
After the last war, most democratic countries on Earth united and combined their forces into one universal military. This led to a pooling of military funds, resulting in the construction of a new space station, spacedock, and shipyard. The military quickly became the primary spacefaring entity.
The moon, now officially named Luna, was colonized with three underground military bases. Next, world leaders elected to discard the old nomenclature “Earth” meaning dirt or soil, formally christening the planet Terra, with Terran Military Defense (TMD) as humanity’s dominant armed forces.
Mars was also initially colonized by the Martian Military Command (MMC) with three underground bases. Domed cities were built above each one, followed by a Martian Space Station. For decades, life flourished on this newly developed world.
But things were not always what they seemed…especially when six Terrans journey to Mars for a scientific symposium and are caught in an insidious conspiracy to overthrow the Martian government.
Chapter 1
“You move—you die.”
Doctor Mark Warren froze. The man’s threatening voice came from behind him. No doubt, he could see Mark holding a gun, kneeling over a body. A dead body, lying in a pool of blood.
“Put your gun down. Slowly.”
Mark leaned back on his heels. He placed his weapon away from the puddle of blood seeping along the floor.
“Stand up. Arms behind your back.”
Mark smothered the urge to escape and complied. Shit. Less than fifteen minutes after docking on the Martian Space Station, he’d managed to find a corpse, and, in all likelihood, get arrested.
An MPLE cop snapped stun cuffs around his wrists. Mark gritted his teeth against the pain. These cuffs were designed to keep criminals compliant—the more you strained against them, the more voltage you received. He hated them, all restraints, with good reason. Sickening flashbacks of being tortured by Beth Coulter streamed through his mind as the cop scanned his fingerprints into a tablet.
He glanced over his shoulder at the burly man behind him. A pair of officers, another man and a woman, in MPLE’s glossy metallic helmets and copper colored ballistic-proof uniforms stood off to the right with their guns on him. The big cop moved back to guard the doorway of the Chocolate Factory Emporium while the other two circled to face him.
“Get back against the wall.” The lead cop motioned with the muzzle of his pulse rifle as the woman knelt to pass her scanner over the deceased.
The lead officer read from his tablet. “You’re Captain Mark Warren, Terran Military Defense?” He tapped the screen, comparing the image with Mark’s face.
“Just Doctor Warren now. I’m former TMD. Sometimes they use me as a consultant. I arrived on the Science Vessel MAVREK-II about fifteen minutes ago. It’s docked on Deck 4, Berth B-16. We accompanied two TMD Warships under the command of Colonel Sorayne.”
“I’m Lieutenant Dandrige, Martian Planetary Law Enforcement,” he said, relaxing a bit. “What happened here?”
“I came to pick up a birthday cake. The place seemed empty, so I walked around the display looking for someone in the kitchen. That’s when I found him lying on the floor. I drew my gun, knelt to check for a pulse, then you entered.”
The woman glanced at Dandrige. “Lieutenant?”
“What’ve you found, Tyler?”
“The victim doesn’t work here, and his prints aren’t in the system.” Officer Tyler continued her preliminary report. “He bled out within minutes from a severed brachial artery in his left arm. We found no weapon that could have caused the wound. The doctor’s gun has not been fired.”
An ear-splitting crash of metal tearing and twisting like vehicles smashing into each other sounded from the back of the bakery’s kitchen area. Tyler followed Dandrige as he raced to the kitchen.
Mark instinctively moved for his gun, but got zapped by the cuffs instead. The burly cop grabbed Mark and hauled him as far as the doorway to the kitchen. A giant ragged hole had appeared where the back door used to be. Mark leaned his head against the doorframe to engage the comm unit in his ear. “Captain Malone, I may be arrested for murder. Send Axel to the bakery or the colonel won’t be getting any chocolate cake.”
Dandrige ran into the alley. Tyler tapped her comm to request reinforcements, leaving the burly officer to guard Mark.
“If you take off these cuffs, I can help,” Mark offered.
“Not a chance.”
Another unit of three MPLE officers rushed into the kitchen. One ran out through the hole to follow Dandrige. The other two stayed, and Tyler updated them.
Everyone turned around as a high-pitched whistle came from the front door.
Axel Von Radach glared at them. The dark-eyed, black-haired man stood at six foot one and 220 pounds. He looked dangerous even before the cops saw the silvery, high-powered sidearms on each thigh that held back a long black leather coat.
What Mark saw was a friend. Axel had nearly died saving him not long ago. Mark had killed to save Axel. Through this shared experience, they’d become brothers.
Axel stepped forward. “What the hell’s going on here? Uncuff Dr. Warren before I do something you’ll regret.”
A prolonged silence followed.
Tyler moved toward him. “Who are you?”
“Axel Von Radach.”
She held out an open hand. “ID.”
Axel flipped his blue, thumb-sized data chip to her.
She caught it, snapped it into her tablet, and read the data aloud. “It says here you’re Sergeant Von Radach, Armored Assault Unit.”
“Former TMD. Now I’m Head of Security for MAVREK Enterprises.”
Mark caught Axel’s attention. He nodded toward the kitchen. The Head of Security took a step to the right for an unobstructed view of the back wall’s gaping hole.
Axel tapped his comm unit to receive a message. “Yes, Colonel, Dr. Warren’s in cuffs. There are four MPLE’s standing around a dead body. You might want to come down, take a look for yourself. The kitchen’s been remodeled.”
Moments after he’d spoken the last word, an elegant but imposing woman in a TMD colonel
’s dress uniform strode into the shop. Her spiked platinum hair accentuated a striking face with one green eye and one blue eye; an inherited abnormality. The black cape worn over one shoulder covered her fitted gray tunic suit trimmed in red, bearing her rank in gold.
“I am Colonel Maeve Sorayne.” She pointed her gloved finger down at Tyler. “You. Release Dr. Warren. Now. Check your own space station surveillance vids. They’ll prove we were docking until a few minutes ago.”
Under Sorayne’s intimidating stare, Tyler confirmed the colonel’s ID while another MPLE officer verified the docking data. Tyler then entered a code into her tablet, unlocking Mark’s cuffs. She took Mark’s statement. Returning his weapon, she said, “Apologies for the misunderstanding, Dr. Warren. You’re free to go.”
Tyler turned to focus on removal of the body. Not waiting to be invited, or uninvited, the three Terrans slipped away from the coppery smell of blood, straight into the kitchen, where the aroma of cocoa, brown sugar, and cinnamon lingered in the air.
Axel flashed a cocky smile, raised his augmented, human-like left arm, and clapped Mark on the shoulder, keeping his voice low. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”
Mark couldn’t keep a straight face either. “So, you’re Head of Security?”
“I’m multi-talented.”
They examined the ruptured opening, speaking in hushed tones.
“Ripped open from the inside.” Sorayne traced the edges of the torn metal with the tip of her gloved finger. “Do they have any idea what did this?”
“I doubt it,” Mark replied. “The cyborg must have been in the kitchen when I walked into the bakery.”
Axel exchanged glances with Sorayne, then looked at Mark. “Did you recognize the dead guy?”
“No, but the MPLE didn’t either. I got a faceprint. I’m sending it to Ohashi.” Mark’s fingers skimmed across his tablet. “Let’s see what our resident cyber wizard can find. I’ll have her research the business owner, see if there’s a connection. There are two possible explanations. Either his ID has been deleted, or he was smuggled onto Mars.”
Axel grimaced. “Or, he’s a clone.”
“No, too old. He’s about our age.” Mark rubbed at the residual redness left from the cuffs on his left wrist. “Do you think it’s possible I could view the autopsy when it’s finished?”
“Slim to none, unless you know somebody,” Sorayne offered.
“I’ll have Ohashi check their medical examiner’s personnel roster when we get back on the ship. I need to find out if he had a neural implant.”
Sorayne’s tablet pinged. “My shuttle’s leaving for the planet in ten minutes. The Interstellar Military Conference meeting might take all day. See you back on MAVREK before dinner?”
They waved a casual salute as she left.
Mark glanced at Axel. “This has to be a total coincidence, right? Who knew we were coming?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Axel said. “We ordered the cake from the ship before we docked. If our transmissions were hijacked, then it wasn’t an accident. What if the cyborg mistook the man he attacked for you?”
“Well, shit.” Mark returned to rubbing the red cuff marks on his wrists. “We can’t take a chance on letting the women come onto the station.”
“You must be kidding. They’ve been planning for this the whole trip. If necessary, I’m sure Maeve will provide an escort.”
Kamryn Fleming, another former TMD sergeant, and a member of their team, appeared in the alley behind the kitchen. A woman of Amazonian stature, she dressed identical to Axel, her brown hair still worn in a spiky, military cut. “Our pilot said there was an incident, so I came down for backup. I had to find another way in—there are half a dozen MPLE officers out front. What the hell happened here?”
Axel pointed to the jagged metal. “What’s it look like?”
“Looks like a cyborg welcoming committee.”
“Exactly what I thought.”
Kamryn chuckled. “Well, this is going to be a fun trip.”
“Let’s go back to the ship.” Mark started to leave by the alleyway. “I’ve had enough of this space station for today.”
Axel caught his arm. “I’m not leaving without Maeve’s cake.”
“Do we know how old she is?” Kamryn asked, trying to hide a smile.
“No,” Axel said. “There are three questions you never ask a woman: her age, her weight, and her natural hair color.”
***
The MAVREK-II had been retrofitted from a corporate, business-class ship into a science vessel for the two resident Ph.D. scientists: Dr. Mark Warren, Human Cybernetics, and Dr. Eva Jackson, Molecular Nanotechnology. This ship was one of four Mark had appropriated from the Terran Military Defense when he’d helped them seize BioKlon’s holdings. The ships carried a dark history of being part of the now defunct conglomerate owned by Beth Coulter, the woman who’d captured and tortured Mark. The woman he’d killed.
Mark couldn’t stop thinking of how his first visit to Mars had turned upside down within minutes of stepping off his ship. Visions of the dead man were etched into his consciousness as he sat nursing his wrists. He occupied the primary seat at their conference table, his five partners sitting in their usual chairs: another scientist, two soldiers, and two cyber specialists, all of them former TMD military.
In the middle of the table sat a pink box with the lid folded back, exposing an exquisite chocolate cake.
Eva screwed up her petite, bronze-skinned face, as she tried to peer into the box. “Who owns the bakery?”
Ohashi, one of their cyber specialists, read from her tablet. “Twins. Valerie and Victor Parker. Born on Terra, migrated to Mars five years ago…oh, wait.” Her hands skipped across the large screen. “Their names were changed. Give me a minute.”
Petra Deering, another cyber specialist, also a holographic expert, sat next to Ohashi. She wore her spiky black hair tipped in crimson now, in honor of their visit to the red planet. Petra tapped her screen, searching for data on the deceased.
Kamryn gazed into the cake box, acting as if she might try for a taste of the frosting before deciding against it. “You were doing so well, what’s the matter?”
“Uh…” Ohashi stalled. “I can tell you, but you’re not going to like the answer.”
An uneasiness grew in Mark’s chest. “We never do. Don’t let that stop you.”
“They were born in Germany, orphaned, adopted, and as adults they moved to North America for three years before coming to Mars.”
“Germany?” Mark looked at Axel and, without noticing, started rubbing his left wrist again as his tension rose. Beth Coulter owned BioKlon, the German-based multinational corporation. “Another coincidence?”
“There aren’t any coincidences,” Axel reminded him. “Who adopted them?”
“Don’t know. If I can find out,” Ohashi said, “it may take a while.”
Axel switched gears. “In the meantime, do we have an image of the dead guy? I never got a good look at him.”
Petra enlarged the face on her screen. She swiveled it around for everyone to view. They studied it, then, one by one, turned toward Mark.
“What?”
Eva raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “You don’t recognize the similarities?”
“We’re both blond.”
Petra read from her tablet. “He is—was—a blue-eyed blond, six foot even, 190 pounds. Not your exact body double, Mark, but close enough. His name was Carl Ivarsson. We’ve verified his DNA from the blood on your pants.”
“What was he doing in the bakery?”
Exasperated, Eva said, “Buying donuts?”
“All right, I’m a believer. Definitely not a coincidence now. Out of the whole universe, on our first trip to Mars, I find a dead man who looks like me, and was killed by a cyborg in a bakery owned by people from Germany. I know the odds for just about everything—Littlewood's law states everyone experiences at least one miracle a month—and thi
s undeniably qualifies.”
Ohashi stared at her screen. “Oh, jeez.”
“What now?” Mark asked.
“The Parker twins were Nadette and Nickolaus König in Germany.”
“Let’s see them.”
Ohashi swung her screen around, showing their identical headshots. “Now they’re missing.”
“Missing?”
“They’re listed as the owners of the business, except they live on Mars. Their baker plus the shopkeeper lived here on the station.”
Axel leaned back. “Did they run, or were they kidnapped?”
“The MPLE doesn’t know.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Ohashi winked at him. “We arrived three hours ago. Since then, seven shuttles have left Mars. They’ve all docked here. However, no spaceships have left this station. All incoming. No outgoing.”
“So,” Axel said, “the owners are either on the planet, or up here on the station with us?”
Mark’s gut knotted. He leaned back, trying to relax. “I assume you’ve breached the station’s security protocols to check for faceprints of passengers?”
“I take umbrage at that remark,” Ohashi protested. “You and Eva consult within the scientific arena. Axel and Kamryn consult in the security arena. Petra and I consult in the digital-electronic-holographic arenas. Right now, we’re ‘consulting’ with the MPLE’s database to find out if these two ‘missing’ people have been recorded leaving the planet or arriving at this Station.”
“Mea culpa,” Mark said, bowing his head in concession.
Kamryn opened her hands to the table. “Is no one going to mention the elephant in the room here?”
Nonplussed, Mark asked, “Which is?”
“Mars could have been a second base of operations for Coulter. Isn’t this where she was headed with her clones and mercenaries when she captured you and Axel? Who better to trust with the keys to your off-world kingdom than family? Also, there is a cyborg on this station, but just one? I think not. Where there are cyborgs, clones can’t be far behind. So where are the rest of the bad guys?”
