by Ryk Brown
“So he kills your family, then uses it as an excuse to declare martial law and seize power,” Kit surmised as he pulled out his data pad and got to work. “He’s ambitious, I’ll give him that.”
“Galiardi has always been willing to do anything to protect Earth,” Jessica told him. “I’m sure that in his warped mind, murdering them was justified.”
“I’ve got a connection,” Kit announced.
“Put your ID in it and hang it around your neck,” Jessica instructed, passing the lanyards out.
“Why do we want to make it easier for them to check our IDs?” Naralena wondered.
“They can’t possibly check everyone’s ID,” Nathan commented.
“They’re probably doing it randomly, based on some sort of profiling criteria,” Jessica decided. “Same way spec-ops do when trying to spot the bad guy in a crowd. Look for something out of place.”
“Isn’t that kind of obvious?” Kit suggested.
“Yeah, but you’d be surprised how stupid the average bad guy can be.”
“That’s why you bought us these garments,” Naralena surmised.
“Rule number one for covert ops is: ‘Don’t stand out in a crowd.’ How many people do you see not wearing anything touristy?”
“Not many,” Kit chuckled as he worked. “I’m in.”
“How did you do that so quickly?” Naralena asked in amazement.
“Ghatazhak drill on all methods of combat,” Kit stated. “Land, sea, air, space, cyber…they’re all battlefields.”
“Brains and body,” Jessica stated, repeating the old mantra from her Ghatazhak training.
“Brains and body,” Kit repeated, smiling. “Got it. Twelve twenty-one Searidge Drive,” he said, quickly disconnecting his data pad and putting it away. He then tossed his comm-unit to Jessica, who turned and accidentally bumped into a passing stranger. “Pardon me,” she said, smiling at the man as she slipped Kit’s comm-unit into the man’s jacket pocket.
“No problem at all, miss,” the man smiled, continuing on his way.
Jessica turned back to Kit as she pulled a fifth comm-unit from her bag and tossed it to him.
“Nicely done,” Kit congratulated.
“So how do we get there?” Naralena wondered.
“I spotted a cab plaza a few blocks back,” Nathan suggested.
“Better we take public transit,” Jessica countered. “Less chance of leaving a trail.”
* * *
After a long, meandering bus ride, followed by a half-hour walk, the four of them found themselves in a dimly lit, heavily wooded section of the city, approaching their destination.
“It should be the next one on the left,” Jessica stated as they walked.
“How do you want to do this?” Kit asked.
“Nathan and Kit go around back,” Jessica instructed. “I’ll take the front.”
“What am I doing?” Naralena wondered.
“You’re the distraction,” Jessica explained. “You’re knocking on the front door.”
“What if he’s not alone?” Naralena asked.
“Then we go to plan B,” Jessica replied.
“Which is?” Naralena inquired.
“Wing it.”
“See you inside,” Nathan said to Jessica as he and Kit headed off to the left, between the houses.
Jessica and Naralena headed up the walkway and onto the front porch, pausing at the door. “Are you ready for this?” Jessica asked.
“Even less than I was to get in another jump sub,” Naralena replied.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Jessica said, stepping aside to be out of immediate view.
Naralena took a deep breath, then pressed the doorbell. After a moment, the porch light came on, and the door opened, revealing an older, surprised Gerard Bowden.
“Surprise,” Naralena greeted, feigning a smile to try and hide her apprehension.
Gerard just stood there, his mouth agape, unable to find words.
Jessica stood silently to the side, out of the line of sight, scanning the area for any sign of danger as she listened to the silence. Finally, she’d had enough of the silence and stepped into view. “Maybe you should invite us in,” she suggested.
“Nash?” Gerard said, equally surprised.
“The one and only,” Jessica replied, pushing Naralena toward the door. “May we?”
“Of course,” Gerard insisted, stepping aside as they passed.
Kit made short work of the lock on Gerard’s back door, opening it in less than minute.
“Is there anything you guys can’t do?” Nathan whispered.
“I’m a lousy cook, if it makes you feel any better,” Kit admitted, heading inside as quietly as possible.
“What are you doing here?” Gerard asked as he closed the front door.
When Naralena did not respond, Jessica gave her a nudge with her elbow.
“I thought you’d be happy to see me,” was the only thing Naralena could think to say.
“I am, but, well,” he stumbled. “I mean, it’s not like Earth is on the way to anywhere from Volon…is it?”
“Most decidedly not,” Naralena assured him, smiling.
“How did you even…” he began to ask, but then the spec-ops side of him kicked in. “You’re with them, aren’t you?”
“Them?” Jessica asked, feeling like she should take offense.
“The Karuzari Alliance,” Gerard replied.
“What do you know about the Karuzari Alliance?” Jessica wondered.
“Are you kidding?” Gerard chuckled. “I’m an intelligence analyst. Other than the Jung, the Karuzari are the hottest topic in the intel community right now.”
“Nice to know we’re so popular,” Jessica commented.
“So is it true?” Gerard asked Jessica.
“Is what true?”
“Is he alive?”
“I am,” Nathan answered, stepping out of the kitchen with Kit behind him.
“Oh…my…God,” Gerard exclaimed. “I’m not even going to ask how you pulled that off.”
“It’s a long story,” Jessica assured him.
“I’ll bet.” Gerard turned to look back at Naralena. “I knew your return was too good to be true.”
Naralena felt her heart fall.
“Don’t blame her,” Nathan insisted. “I asked her to come. I figured it was the only way to be sure you spoke with us.”
“I wanted to come,” Naralena insisted. “I wanted to come long ago, after my father passed, but thousand-light-year passages are not exactly easy to book.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Gerard said, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry,” Naralena apologized, “it was presumptuous of me…”
“You don’t understand,” Gerard explained. “Galiardi has never trusted me. He’s never trusted anyone who served with Nathan. He’s been monitoring all of us, especially since the Aurora disappeared.” When Nathan didn’t react to his last statement, the light went on in Gerard’s head. “You have her, don’t you?”
“The Aurora is safe and sound, and under my command,” Nathan assured him.
Kit, with a suspicious look on his face, was moving slowly around the room, looking about.
“That’s another story you’ll have to share with me someday.”
“What’s the official story on the Aurora?” Jessica wondered.
“That she’s gone dark,” Gerard replied. “Rumor has it that she’s on some kind of covert mission behind Jung lines, but none of us believe that.”
“That’s the best they could come up with?” Jessica laughed.
“Is Doctor Sorenson working with you?” Gerard asked.
“As are Kayla Yosef and Chris Hunt,” Nathan replied.
“Did you come he
re to recruit me as well?”
“Not exactly,” Nathan admitted. “However, you are welcome to join us if you’d like, just not on this trip. No empty seats, I’m afraid.”
“Then why are you here?” Gerard wondered.
“I need information about Jung customs,” Nathan explained. “Particularly about how one challenges a caste leader for control of a caste.”
Gerard looked at Jessica, then Nathan. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Lord Dusahn has rigged the entire planet of Takara with antimatter warheads,” Nathan explained. “If we try to retake Takara, he’ll destroy the planet. He already destroyed Ancot, just to show us that he could.”
“Dusahn?” Gerard questioned. “That can’t be. The Dusahn caste was exiled centuries ago, for trying to overthrow the other castes and seize complete control of the empire. They call it the Toriq Shal. The day of blood. There’s no way the Jung Empire would collude with the Dusahn.”
“They didn’t,” Jessica said.
“The Dusahn used old Jung ships to run a false-flag op on the Sol Alliance, in order to spark a new shooting war with the Jung, thus keeping the Alliance out of the Pentaurus sector,” Nathan explained.
Shock crossed Gerard’s face. “You’re telling me that the Jung did not attack us?”
“They did not,” Nathan assured him.
“How can you be so sure?” Gerard wondered. “We’ve seen images, sensor scans…”
“Those same ships, the ones that attacked Sol Alliance ships and intruded into your space, eventually returned to the Pentaurus sector where we defeated them.”
“Galiardi has been lying to you,” Naralena told Gerard.
“But the Jung killed your family,” he said to Nathan.
“That was Galiardi as well,” Jessica replied. “We have one of his assassins in custody.”
Gerard just shook his head. “Why?”
“Galiardi has one goal,” Nathan said, “to destroy the Jung Empire.”
“Do you think he’s working with the Dusahn?”
“I don’t rightly know,” Nathan admitted. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“It would also explain how the Dusahn obtained jump drive technology,” Jessica added.
“My God,” Gerard exclaimed. After a moment, lost in disbelief, he looked at Nathan. “What do you need me to do?”
“I just need to know about the right to challenge Lord Dusahn for leadership of the caste,” Nathan repeated. “Can I challenge him?”
“No, you can’t,” Gerard insisted. “You have to be a member of the caste to challenge its leader. The only exception is if you’re the leader of a rival caste.”
“Are you certain?” Nathan asked.
“Quite.”
Nathan sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
Gerard realized what Nathan was planning. “Captain… you can’t… The Jung will kill you on sight. Your very existence threatens their entire society. Your execution was the thread that pulled Nor-Patri back from the brink of revolution.”
“What are you talking about?” Jessica wondered.
“The attack on Nor-Patri caused massive amounts of unrest among the citizens of the empire. Half were calling for an all-out attack on Earth, regardless of the consequences. The other half were demanding that they sue for peace, and that the military castes be dismantled, for the good of all. Nor-Patri was on the verge of civil war. All of that changed when you surrendered. Once they had you to blame, both sides got what they needed in order to stand down. The war hawks got their blood, and the pacifists got their cease-fire.”
“And you think the knowledge that I still live will reopen that rift,” Nathan said.
“Without a doubt. If you show up on Nor-Patri, Galiardi will get his victory, and it will be an easy one; the empire will be too busy battling its own citizens to defend itself against the Alliance.”
“Perhaps that’s the leverage we need,” Nathan decided.
“Leverage for what?” Gerard wondered.
“To get the Jung to make me a caste leader.”
Jessica looked at Kit, noticing he seemed anxious. “What?” she asked under her breath.
“I don’t know,” Kit replied quietly. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Before or after they kill you?” Gerard asked Nathan.
“If you suspected that I was still alive, then others suspect as well,” Nathan postulated. “Earth is likely rife with Jung spies. If they haven’t already heard these same rumors, they soon will.”
“Suspecting that you’re alive and seeing you standing before them are two completely different things,” Gerard insisted.
“The Jung have too much at stake to act rashly,” Nathan pointed out. “Galiardi can destroy the empire any time he chooses. He just needs justification in the eyes of his people. Our intel shows that the people of Earth are equally divided on this issue. In fact, there have already been several attacks on EDF assets by Terrans, have there not?”
“There have,” Gerard confirmed. “Most of them have been a joke. Only those carried out by Rusayev’s people have done any damage. Even then, they’re nowhere near enough to bring down Galiardi.”
“Who’s Rusayev?” Naralena wondered.
“Aleksi Rusayev,” Gerard replied. “Ex-Russian spec-ops. He runs a cell out of Moscow. Some think he is developing a global network, but there isn’t any proof of that yet.”
“Could this guy do some real damage if he had proper backing?” Nathan asked.
“Possibly. So far, the EDF hasn’t taken any action. It’s been mostly left in the hands of local law enforcement. But if things escalate, Galiardi will release the hounds.”
“Vehicle out front,” Kit warned, peeking out the curtain. “Two men.”
Jessica moved over to the window. “Could be anyone.”
“Second vehicle to the north,” Kit added. “No headlights, rolling to a stop.”
“That’s a bit more concerning,” Jessica agreed.
“Ya think?” Kit said as he moved across the living room back toward the kitchen.
“Are you sure you wiped your tracks?” Jessica asked Kit.
“No way they knew I was in their system, let alone what data I accessed,” Kit insisted.
“How did you get here?” Gerard asked.
“Jump sub, then bus,” Nathan replied.
Gerard sighed. “All buses are monitored with hidden cameras equipped with facial recognition software.”
“That bus dropped us a couple of clicks from here,” Jessica pointed out.
“If they ID’d you on the bus, it would be pretty easy to figure out your destination.”
“If there are two teams out front, you can bet your ass there are two more on the street behind us.”
“Two armed men just came over the back fence,” Kit warned, stepping back into the living room. “I can take them out.”
“Don’t kill anyone you don’t have to,” Jessica insisted.
“You must go,” Gerard urged. “There will be more coming.”
Nathan sighed, pulling his comm-unit from his pocket and tapping a few buttons. “Get ready to move out,” he told Jessica as he glanced at his comm-unit display.
“I won’t tell them anything,” Gerard promised. “Now go! Please!”
Nathan turned toward Gerard, his head down as he cast a sinister gaze at the man. “You will tell them everything,” he instructed.
“I will?”
“We gotta go!” Kit warned. “They’re about to hit the back door!”
“Everything,” Nathan repeated, handing his comm-unit to Gerard. “How you refused to help us, but we beat you, so you told us just what you knew we could have already figured out for ourselves. Understood?”
“Make it look good,” Gerard replied.
<
br /> Nathan struck Gerard in the mouth, grabbing his shoulder to keep him from falling from his blow.
“What are you doing!” Naralena screamed.
“What he must!” Gerard assured her.
Nathan struck him again, and again, and again, drawing blood from his mouth and nose. He then struck him in the stomach and chest several times, breaking the man’s ribs in the process. He struck him over and over, until Gerard finally fell to his knees, nearly unconscious. Then Nathan squatted down next to Gerard and whispered in his ear. “I’ll make it up to you, my friend. I swear it.”
“Contact! Rear!” Kit yelled from the kitchen. The sounds of a brief scuffle followed, and a moment later, he added. “Back door is clear!”
“Two more vehicles!” Jessica warned from the front window. She grabbed Naralena and shoved her toward the kitchen. “Time to go, Nathan!”
“I will see you soon,” Nathan told Gerard.
“I truly hope so,” the battered, old man replied, watching the departure of the only captain whom he had ever felt was worth following.
“What have you got?” Jessica asked Kit as she and Naralena joined him at the back door.
“Two rifles, two sidearms,” Kit replied as he inspected the captured weapons. “Full auto, variable. From stun to kill.”
“What say we use stun for now,” Nathan suggested as he joined them.
“Anything?” Jessica asked Kit, who was peeking out the back window.
“No movement, but it’s dark as fuck. I’d sure love a battle helmet right now.”
“What’s the plan?” Nathan asked.
“Since these two are down, they’ll expect us to go through the yard behind us,” Jessica said as she sized up the rifle handed to her by Kit. “You and I go left, Kit and Naralena go right, then we hit the front units from both sides.”
“Got it,” Kit replied as he set his rifle to stun.
“Let’s do it,” Nathan agreed, handing one of the sidearms to Naralena and taking one for himself.
“I don’t know how to use one of these,” Naralena insisted.
“Point, shoot; nothing to it,” Jessica told her.
“But…”
“It’s on stun, so you’re not going to kill anyone.”
“Unless the guy you stun falls off a cliff or something,” Kit added.
