Breach of Faith

by Daniel Gibbs

  "I'll offer it to you," Henry promised. Considering all of the candidates, Miri was very much the best choice. "Well, if you're interested, I am. You've impressed me these past couple of weeks, Miss Gaon. I'd be proud to have you on the Shadow Wolf." He stood from his chair and offered his hand. "I'll start getting the paperwork drawn up, if you'd like?"

  Miri smiled and accepted his hand, shaking it. "I'd like that very much, Captain Henry." After they finished, she added, "I think it's time to put away the legends. I'm going to go sign up with the ISU as Miriam Gaon. After all, if the League's after you anyway, there's no point in hiding my identity, is there?"

  "No, I suppose there's not," he agreed, coupled with a loud laugh.

  Now that she had a new berth on a new ship, Miri began the process of turning the quarters she'd been placed in upon coming aboard into a permanent home. It would take a few trips to stores on the station to get her more supplies, and things to personalize, but the foundation was laid.

  This time, she wouldn't be looking for escape routes, slicks for hiding things, or any of the other usual items her training looked for. It was time to put the past behind her for good.

  Although she did have one final piece of business. She sat at the personal desk in her quarters and used her commlink to hail the Morozova.

  Semyon Kuybyshev answered. "Ah, Miss Gaon," he said in Russian, aware she spoke the language. "What might I do for you?"

  "Deliver a message to the Tokarev brothers. Tell them I used my contacts to look through some facial recognition files," she said. "The man they're looking for is named Allan Kepper."

  Semyon took only a second to realize what she was alluding to. "Ah. They will be grateful. Go with God."

  "Dosvidanya," she said as a farewell before ending the call. She wasn't sure the Tokarevs would catch him, but at least they knew who to look for now. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, Vasily. You certainly deserved more. But I promise you, if I ever run into Kepper again, I'll make sure he answers to HaShem for your murder.

  Space tore open not far from the planet Harron, a wormhole opened by a Lawrence drive still in another system. The sleek shape of a League External Security personal cruiser emerged

  Its pilot was not an operative of the League, though. Nor was he the owner, whose remains were still at the start of a centuries-long trip into one of the stars around the Trifid Nebula.

  Allen Kepper ran a hand over the smooth surface of the controls for his new ship. He was already considering the costs of getting the IFF changed over and other elements needed to keep the League from quickly locating him. It would be a hefty penny, and he wasn't paid directly for this job.

  But he had a payday already aboard the ship. Chantavit Li might be gone and unmourned, but his blood—and there'd been a lot of it—had proven useful. Kepper now had access to a wealth of data that Li had with him. He knew the names, identities, and covers of numerous League operatives. He had files about League intelligence operations Li was privy to, some he even commanded. The information would make him quite a wealthy man.

  A smile crossed his face, and it wasn't the idea of the wealth. It was the boost these acts would bring to his reputation. The mighty League of Sol had tried to murder him. Not only had he survived, but he'd arranged the destruction of an entire secret base of the League and with it foiled a significant operation. The privateers would ensure word spread about his involvement, for anyone who knew what to look for. He'd have to be careful about taking jobs in proximity to the Leaguers, sure, but he'd handle any operatives they sent after him, and any idiots who tried to cash in, well—they'd make excellent examples.

  Wealth and reputation. I could retire, but I'd die of boredom. But maybe I'll change my base. Sektatsh is a craphole. There are other, better places. Kepper smiled again and angled his craft toward Harron.

  32

  Hotel Ribeira was one of the nicer, yet affordable, hotels on the island of the same name. Ribeira Island was on the southern end of the Acevedo Islands, the second largest in the chain, with the city Porto Aguinaldo as its primary air and seaport. The island wasn't big enough for a proper spaceport, but passenger shuttles from Cardoso Station could be booked for flights down.

  One such shuttle had brought down the vacationers of the Shadow Wolf crew for what Cera insisted would be a “girls' holiday.” Technically, this wasn't true, as Vidia came as well, but he was more interested in visiting the Bahá'í temple built on the neighboring Ascension Island by Antillean expatriates, so he'd taken the intra-island ferry shortly after arriving.

  Tia hadn't been planning on a vacation herself. But Henry put his foot down and pointed out she needed time too. He'd even paid her out of his personal accounts for a ticket and room, his way of apologizing for the situation they'd gotten into.

  Now Tia was quite thankful.

  Over the previous few days, they'd had fun. Tia would happily remember the playful swimming, the nightly partying in their adjoined suites, and the utterly adorable moment of Samina turning blood red at being gifted with a two-piece swimsuit. Her wonder, in particular, was a special heartwarming: the poor girl hadn't been planetside in years and had no conception of this kind of fun given life on Trinidad Station.

  Now Samina was plunging in and out of the surf wearing a more modest one-piece swimsuit she'd picked up. Cera rushed back in to join her while Piper and Brigitte lay side by side in the sand. Tia could see them from her vantage point at the hotel's beach-facing, pool-side bar. She took a last drink and handed a ten-escudo note to the bartender as a tip. She'd let the Thanh settle and then shed her linen dress robe to go out and join the others. Right now, she was content to smile as Cera started splashing at a shrieking Samina, continuing her dedication to teaching the young engineer-to-be how to have fun.

  Tia heard someone settle into the stool beside her. She turned, and her smile vanished. "Comrade Felipe," she said.

  Felipe Xiu stared at her. He was wearing clothing that was definitely not for fun, looking instead like he was heading to a political gathering. Which, Tia supposed, he could be doing. The pin of the Lusitanian Social Solidarity Party was pinned to the lapel of his shirt. His expression twisted into a frown. She thought he looked hurt. "So here you are. Enjoying the luxuries of the capitalism you once swore to hate," he said, his voice full of bitterness.

  "I'm here for my crew," she answered. "They wished to celebrate our survival and asked me to join them. It's a thing comrades do, remember? Celebrate together as much as we struggle together?" The dark look on his face didn't fade, and Tia started to get an uncomfortable feeling. "Why are you here anyway? Is the Social Solidarity party here to enjoy these so-called capitalist luxuries too?"

  "To find you," said Felipe. "To ask why… how… you could do what you’ve done."

  "What I did? What do you mean?" She frowned. "And how did you find me?"

  "Do not insult me, Tia!" Anger now joined the bitterness in his tone. "You and your damned Coalition captain have undermined the Revolution! You've pushed back the liberation of Hestia's workers, the liberation of all of Sagittarius' workers, by years, maybe decades!"

  Tia crossed her arms and found she wanted another drink. "Felipe, the League aren't the liberators you think they are," she said. "I saw the crews they kidnapped. Innocent workers, who they hurt, beat, starved, and tormented no less than our poor comrades faced after the uprising. They’re no better than Rigault, Salazar, Creusot, and all of the other megacorps that exploit us!"

  "They are our only hope!" Felipe insisted. "They're the only ones who can crush capitalism!"

  "That's not true. There are other ways. Methods that don't involve brutalizing innocent people!" Even as she spoke, her voice heated, Tia could see she wasn't getting through. Her heart twisted with the realization, either out of desperation or anger, Felipe had gone entirely over to the League. He would rationalize away whatever she said, whatever evidence she might show, of their horrible behavior.

  Felipe's jaw clenched,
and his lips flattened. The muscles in his jaw tightened. "You are not the Tia I remember. The one whose life I saved. You've turned against everything we stood for. Our revolution. You've betrayed our dead comrades."

  The insult made her nostrils flare. "That is not true," she insisted angrily. "I still long for the revolution on Hestia. But only for our people's benefit, not the League's."

  "The League was right to let us lose," Felipe said, drawing an intake of air and a glare from Tia. "I didn't fully understand that until now. But they saw how limited our goals were, how small our vision was, and knew we had to be destroyed. So the true revolution could take root on Hestia, one concerned with the workers everywhere." He sucked in and spat on her.

  Tia felt a rush of rage at the gesture.

  "I wish I'd left you and Linh to rot," he hissed. "You are an enemy of the true revolution, Tia Nguyen, and the next time I see you, I'll see you punished for your betrayal of your class."

  Tia matched his snarl with one of her own. "My only enemies are those who would oppress the people of Hestia," she said. "If you're going to join them, Felipe Xiu, that's on your head. If I see you again, and you're still in their number, I'll shoot you dead for the traitor you've become."

  Felipe said nothing more. He stalked away.

  Tia drew in a breath. Her anger still burned, but pain joined it. A hundred fond memories of her comrades of old were now tainted by Felipe's presence in those memories. He now stood, body and soul, with the betrayers of Tia and her comrades.

  She found tears flowing down her eyes. At that moment, her desire to join the others evaporated. As the minutes of pain passed, she readied to resume drinking, hoping the Thanh would dull the pain of dashed hopes and sharp betrayal. Finally, she gave in, raising her hand to signal for the bartender.

  Instead, she shrieked in surprise as water cascaded over her head, soaking her hair, her robe, and the swimsuit beneath. Laughter erupted a moment later. She stood, dripping wet, and turned to see Cera and Samina holding a large bucket, laughing away. She pursed her lips, and for a second, looked as if she were ready to kill them.

  It didn't last. The anger she'd felt at Felipe fell away, washed away by the warm feeling in her heart toward the comrades who’d so playfully summoned her to join them.

  "Enough bein' moody," Cera demanded. "We paid good money for this trip, Tia, an' I mean t' get our money's worth!"

  "So you do." Tia glanced at the bar and noticed a bucket of ice and water with a couple of bottles inside. She pulled the bottles out and set them to the side. A sly grin came to her face as she gripped the bucket handle, lifted it into her hands, and in the same motion, thrust it forward to send the ice and water over Cera and Samina. They shrieked at the ice-cold water hitting them. She turned back to apologize to the bartender and found him smirking with amusement. He accepted the empty bucket from her and said nothing.

  With no protest that might require Tia to furnish a tip, she turned her attention to joining the others in a race back to the beach.

  Epilogue

  Everyone was ready when the Shadow Wolf's departure time came. Given the circumstances, the entire crew was up in the bridge to watch as Cera slowly fired the engines and pushed them out of the dock. She followed Cardoso Station's traffic controllers with precision and brought the Shadow Wolf into position for her outbound course. "You know it's going t' take twice th' usual time t' burn out t' th' limit, right?" she asked.

  "Well, we're carrying twice our usual mass," Henry said. "So yeah, I do. But we have the extra fuel we need to make our way to Torpan. Those extra crates of bacon will sell for a lot of credits when we get there."

  "You mean the crates we had to stack in the rear holds and fit in around the fusion drive," Felix said. "I hope we don't have to go in there. It's freezing in there now."

  "We'll see how it goes." Henry smiled at Felix's remark. He almost pointed out his friend was tempting fate but thought better of it. "Take us out, Cera."

  "Takin' us out, Captain," she answered, after which she fired up the Shadow Wolf's main plasma drives and began their acceleration away from Lusitania.

  "Take a good look, Samina," Piper said. "We may not be back for a long time."

  "There are other planets out there, at least," Samina answered. There was an excitement in her voice. Henry had the feeling she enjoyed the trip planetside very much. "I can't wait to see Torpan. I've heard it's even bigger than Trinidad!"

  "It is also far more dangerous," Yanik warned her.

  It was Cera who provided the response. "That's what makes it so fun."

  "Do not corrupt the child with a frivolous attitude toward danger," Yanik scolded her. "She must have an appreciation of what we face."

  "Well, I kinda do," said Samina. "You know I'm legally an adult now, right?"

  Yanik's tongue flickered. "Not by Saurian standards."

  The banter continued, and Henry listened. He could order them back to their posts, and soon he would, but for now, he enjoyed their back and forth. It was a welcome reminder that they were one team, one crew… in many ways, a family. One he was responsible for. As much as it could sometimes annoy him, he was fine with the sentiment.

  After all, you could put up with a lot for the sake of family.

  The city of Armagh's spaceport bustled with activity. Ships to the independent worlds or deeper into Coalition space were departing at all times, it seemed, and travelers using Tyrone as a stopover were plentiful.

  One such traveler stood on the concourse between various sets of terminals. Large holo-displays showed the approaching departure times, and destinations of dozens of ships. Canaan, New Arabia, New Connaught, the possible journey’s were numerous, some to local systems and others to the key systems of the Terran Coalition or Neutral Space. One entry showed a vessel, the Curtiba Meteor, heading to Brasilia.

  Brasilia was supposed to be a beautiful world. The traveler could enjoy life there. Speak her native language. Find work she would love.

  But for the woman once called Cristina Caetano, the choice felt hollow. She still had so much to do in the world. So many terrible acts to atone for.

  And more to the point, she needed time. Time to figure herself out. She'd spent the better part of two decades living as someone else, crafting herself into the perfect exemplar of nationalist, fascist leadership. Now that she'd left her old identity behind, all she had left was the guilt of her deeds and the sorrow of her all-too-necessary exile. If she was to be someone else, she needed something more than the comfortable retirement CIS was offering.

  So she turned away from the terminals. Left the concourse entirely, and the spaceport. A quick check with the Armagh Commerce Directory outside the spaceport building gave her a destination, and one short ride by automated taxi later, she was walking into a much different building. The glass doors were marked with an emblem of three round shapes on a dark blue field: the flag of the Interplanetary Spacers' Union.

  She walked up to the front desk, where a smiling man said, "Good day, ma'am" with a Tyronian lilt. "What can I do for ye t'day?"

  "My name is Cristina Maria Rodrigues e Silva," she said, the image of distant stars showing in her warm, sky-blue eyes. "And I'd like to become a spacer."

  THE END

  Breach of Faith: Book 3 - Breach of Duty:

  When his past finally catches up to him, can Captain Henry save his crew and expose the truth? Find out now in Book 3.

  Tap here to get Breach of Duty now!

  Also Available from Daniel Gibbs

  Echoes of War

  Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight

  Book 2 - Strong and Courageous

  Book 3 - So Fight I

  Book 4 - Gates of Hell

  Book 5 - Keep the Faith

  Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet

  Breach of Faith

  (With Gary T. Stevens)

  Book 1 - Breach of Peace

  Book 2 - Breach of Faith

  Book 3 - Breach of Duty

  Get
Two free & Exclusive David Gibbs Books

  FREE BOOK: Read the story of Levi Cohen and his heroic fight at the first battle of Canaan in Echoes of War: Stand Firm.

  FREE BOOK: Join Captain James Henry as he tries to survive in the independent worlds after being cashiered out of the Coalition Defense Force. Can a broken man rebuild his life? Find out in A Simple Mission.

  Both available FREE, along with exclusive updates and information about upcoming projects, only at

  www.danielgibbsauthor.com/standfirm.

  Acknowledgments

  From Daniel Gibbs -

  I want to thank first and foremost, Gary – for dealing with me the last year as we worked through four novels worth of ideas and characters in the Breach of Faith series.

  As always, there’s a small cast of folks out there that have helped me along the way – especially David VanDyke and his constant support and encouragement. To everyone else – you know who you are; thank you.

  Finally, to the men and women of the US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Army, thank you for your service. It remains the highest privilege of my life to support you.

  From Gary T. Stevens -

  My thanks again to Dan Gibbs for giving me the leeway to write this story as I did and to introduce the new characters, species, and places seen in this book.

  A thank you as well to the friends who tolerated my distraction from other creative projects while I was writing this novel.