Renegade Patriot

by Oscar Andrews

  +++

  Neffy, Ally, and Brad were all a little giddy after their narrow escape. Waiting in their temporary quarters on the Troy for word from Commander Grace, they passed the time by telling war stories about their various experiences. Brad had started with an amusing anecdote about a particularly wild night on an off-world bar, although it was anyone’s guess whether the story was true or not. Neffy had told a few stories about his missions with Ally, even though that was a bit of a sensitive topic. He seemed to be distracted by something despite the general giddiness and spent a lot of time reading something on his holo. Now the conversation had turned to their days at the Academy.

  Ally was practically bouncing on the edge of the bunk. “Oh Neffy, what about this one? Tell Brad about the time you started that fight outside the High Council building just to get your grade changed on that Strategy paper!”

  Brad looked mock-skeptical. “I don’t really see how creating a public disturbance would convince any professor to change a grade.”

  Neffy looked up from his screen with an uncomfortable expression. He seemed a little embarrassed by this particular anecdote. “You can tell it if you want to.”

  Ally jumped in with great enthusiasm. “The fight was only a diversion! When the guards ran down the stairs to see what the trouble was, Neffy slipped into the Council Chambers to ask Trent to change his grade. On the grounds that the diversion itself proved his grasp of Strategy!”

  Brad nodded solemnly. “Sure. Extra credit. Did Trent go for it?”

  Ally giggled. “Well, sort of. He had Neffy brought up on academic charges, then gave him the extra credit after the charges were dismissed. No witnesses to prove his direct involvement.”

  Neffy’s reply was perfectly deadpan. “Well, I myself didn’t strike anyone.”

  Ally and Brad both burst out laughing, but Brad laughed so hard he started to snort a little.

  Ally pointed at him and laughed even harder. “Listen to yourself, Commander Cramer!”

  “What’s wrong with the way I laugh?”

  She put two fingers up to her nose and snorted like a pig. Neffy laughed along, but in the back of his mind he was somewhere else. He knew he was going to have to confront Ally about what happened with the airlock sooner or later. He didn’t want to deal with it, but his trust in her was fatally compromised. On the other hand, she had come back to rescue him…

  The whole thing was a mess, and as much as he wanted to ignore it all he knew he couldn’t. And on top of all that, there was still the matter of the Zero Point device. He didn’t know where it was, but Sergeant Corey had said something about the car the paramilitaries had used. He’d been following up on the lead in between all the hilarious story-telling.

  The doors slid open, and all three of them snapped to attention. Commander Grace walked in, ignoring the antics she had just interrupted like any good commanding officer would. “At ease, everyone. I’ve just spoken with Peter Trent.”

  Neffy sat back down. Grace turned her eyes to him. “Captain Klingerman, Trent asked me to tell you not to come back to T3 for the time being. It seems there’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

  Neffy looked downcast. “A warrant? So I’m being charged?”

  The thought burned at him. An arrest warrant? Just for doing my job? To hell with the Council and the whole damn Federation!

  Grace seemed to understand how he was feeling. “It sounds like a power play by someone on the Council, but Trent may need some time to get it all cleared up. I recommend avoiding most Federation personnel unless absolutely necessary.”

  Coming from a Federation Commander, this was quite a piece of advice. Neffy felt a surge of gratitude to Commander Grace. Not everyone would be willing to go this far, standing between him and the Council’s bullshit charges.

  Her face took on a severe expression – one she used often on her own subordinates. “There is another matter. I know you were never authorized to be here in the first place. Don’t ask me how I know; I have my sources for this kind of information. We’ll leave it at that, but in the future I suggest you not try to trick me again if you want my help.”

  Neffy looked down at the floor like a little boy caught in the act. “Yes, sir. Of course.”

  Grace sighed quietly. “Then let’s say no more about it. What’s the next phase of your mission?”

  Not only was she willing to protect them from the law, she was prepared to acknowledge that they still had a mission to complete! Neffy could hardly believe his good fortune. Normally higher-ranking officers tried to prevent him from doing what needed to be done.

  Neffy opened a holoscreen on the Gaia system. “We don’t have much to go on, but look at this. When I was asking about the paramilitary team that took the device, Sergeant Corey told me the car they were using could have been built on Gaia. I didn’t have a chance to look into it until just a few minutes ago, but this is what I found.”

  Commander Grace looked down at the screen. Her brow furrowed as she read what he’d found. “It’s a distant system, early in the terraforming process – but I see what you’re saying. A spike in deliveries for Vipassana equipment. Unusual levels of violence for this stage in their development. Just like what we saw in this quadrant before it all exploded on us. I take it you’re going there?”

  Neffy nodded. “It’s all we’ve got.”

  “Then how can I help?”

  Neffy marveled again at Commander Grace’s willingness to bend the rules for him. He made a firm resolution to stay on her good side from this point on.

  “All we need is a good car and any supplies you can spare.”

  “You’ll have it. Anything else?”

  He was reluctant to push his luck, and yet it had to be said. “Maybe a nice supply of macca?”

  Grace laughed. “I’ll make sure it’s included. It’s been good working with you Klingerman, despite all the drama. Just drop me an e-DNA message if you need anything else along the way. Intel, extraction…or just more macca.”

  She threw them all a sharp salute and they returned it willingly. Commander Grace walked out, and Neffy lapsed into silence while Brad and Ally went back to joking around.

  Whatever came next, it was going to be rough…but at least now he had a better idea of what they were up against, and some of the forces in play. And it certainly helped to be on good terms with someone like Commander Grace, an ally with position and resources.

  One reflection led to another, as they often will. He found himself thinking back to all the things that had led him here – his mother’s abandonment of him, the many experiments throughout his childhood, his complex and frustrating relationship with Trent. His strange blackouts and missing time, the way he would seem to experience things out of sequence or more than once. Ally’s betrayal and Brad’s basic dishonesty. From his earliest memories, Neffy had never been able to trust anyone or anything – not even his own memories or sense of time.

  It was a lot to deal with, but somehow he found himself feeling confident. He had made it this far, despite tremendous danger and powerful enemies. He would make it to the end, achieving his mission and clearing his name with the Federation. Captain Neffy Klingerman was a force to be reckoned with. Whatever happened next, he knew he would manage it.

  EPILOGUE

  Jesus DeMarques had escaped the Federation, but he had no sense of relief at his escape. The e-DNA message on his holo made relief impossible.

  UNKNOWN: Have you acquired the item?

  Just looking at those words made his stomach clench. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed that the Puppet Master was testing him. If it turned out that the Puppet Master had taken the device himself, then failure to tell the full truth could turn out to be a fatal mistake. If the Puppet Master was not behind the theft of the device, then telling him someone else had taken it would be the fatal mistake. Which door hid the lady, and which the tiger? DeMarques hesitated, but in the end, he was simply too scared of the Puppet Master
to try to fool him.

  His fingers felt fat and clumsy as he typed the message. Fear was a most disagreeable sensation when you had to experience it instead of inflicting it.

  J DEMARQUES: Item not acquired but have Dr. Sacre. Third team attacked outpost and left with item.

  The reply came in after several seconds, seconds that passed like long, slow hours for Jesus DeMarques.

  UNKNOWN: Item is in my possession. Bring Dr. Sacre to rendezvous and receive item for GI.

  So the paramilitaries were from the Puppet Master after all! What a relief! He must have been worried that the Federation might succeed in capturing the device before Delta Team could acquire it, so he decided to send in his back-up team. Either that or he had his own reasons for wanting to study the device in person before handing it back to Goliath Industries as agreed.

  He typed his reply out rapidly.

  J DEMARQUES: Understood.

  With the message sent, DeMarques had time to ponder recent events. He didn’t really need Klingerman at this point, but he was still angry about the escape. It felt like defiance, and if there was one thing he didn’t tolerate from the little people of the galaxy, it was defiance. It would have been better to show up at the rendezvous with both Sacre and Klingerman, but Sacre was really the crucial piece. Klingerman could always be disposed of later, to prevent him from sharing whatever he had learned from the schematics with the wrong people. Still, it rankled.

  How the hell did that Montgomery synthbot get on his ship in the first place? He would have to make sure to fire someone over that one – or just put them out the airlock if they’d seen too much. A thorough review of security procedures was probably in order, since even a very clever synthbot should not have been able to slip past undetected.

  That angered him as well, but what really made him furious was Commander Brad Cramer. The man was a mercenary despite his Federation military rank. As a mercenary, he’d been paid appropriately. A mercenary who wouldn’t stay bought – was there anything more maddening than that? If he ever got his hands on Cramer, he wouldn’t use the airlock. The airlock was far too quick for a man like that.

  Raj-Henry approached him, cautious and deferent. He didn’t seem as smug as usual. Perhaps he realized how close they had come to being arrested or killed.

  “You seem pensive, my lord.”

  “Pensive, Raj-Henry? I’m enraged. A synthbot managed to stow away on this ship, free an important prisoner, and get away unharmed. And that treacherous maggot Brad Cramer managed to make an utter fool out of Jesus DeMarques.”

  As Raj-Henry well knew, it was not a good sign when DeMarques started referring to himself in the third person. It usually meant his pride had been offended and that usually meant that someone would die. If he didn’t succeed in improving his master’s mood, that person could even be Raj-Henry.

  “At least we have Dr. Sacre, my lord.”

  “Yes, that’s something. That’s definitely something.”

  It was more than just something. It was pretty much everything, since the Puppet Master would have no use for them if they showed up to the rendezvous empty-handed.

  Raj-Henry lowered his voice dramatically. “Have you spoken with…him?”

  DeMarques snorted in derision. “Him! This isn’t some children’s story, Raj-Henry. We can say his name! If only we knew his name…but yes, I’ve spoken with him. The Puppet Master was the one who took the device down on New Atlantia. He’ll return it to Goliath Industries when we reach the rendezvous.”

  Raj-Henry was most relieved, as up until that moment he hadn’t been sure the Puppet Master wouldn’t just kill them both for losing the device. “That is…excellent news.”

  “It’s certainly a relief. At least the device wasn't stolen by a third party, and we still have the doctor. Once the two are reunited, everything should go smoothly from that point on and all this trouble will be worth it. As for Neffy Klingerman and his personal suicide squad, I’ll deal with them all in good time. Right now we just need to get the doctor and all pertinent intel to the rendezvous point. Go inform the men watching Dr. Sacre that I’ll be down there shortly. It’s time we talked in person.”

  “Of course, my lord.”

  A few minutes later, DeMarques stood in front of their captive and looked him over. He didn’t like what he saw. Dr. Sacre was a young man with mousy hair, and the basic kindness of his personality was still apparent despite all the indignities he had suffered recently. He was vaguely good-looking, in a way DeMarques found personally irritating. An attractive nerd, whose brilliant mind had stumbled on something far too big for him. In his present position, held tight in a restraining chair, he ought to be terrified. Instead he looked straight at DeMarques with calm defiance, silent behind the gag over his mouth.

  DeMarques paced back and forth in front of him. “My men tell me you aren’t cooperating. I don’t know what you’re hoping for, but believe me when I tell you it isn’t going to happen. The best thing you can do here – the best thing for your future – is to accept the fact that I have you and act accordingly. You are no longer a citizen of Drewdonia, but the property of Goliath Industries. Your future well-being depends on your ability to adapt yourself to that fact.”

  He nodded to the guard and the gag was briefly removed from Dr. Sacre’s mouth.

  If DeMarques was hoping for compliance, he was soon disappointed. “I have nothing to say to you or anyone from Goliath. You people are monsters.”

  “Nothing to say to us? We’ll see about that.” He turned to the guard again. “Put the gag back on.”

  DeMarques began to pace again. “You call us monsters. But Goliath is ultimately making the galaxy a better place. Sometimes that requires a bit of dirty work, after all. And who can blame us for wanting to profit while we’re at it?”

  Since Dr. Sacre was gagged again, he had no reply. And after all, DeMarques didn’t really care what the doctor would have to say about his personal philosophy or his rationalizations. Facts always trump philosophies when it comes right down to it. Whether Goliath Industries was truly acting for the greater good was a subjective question, but the power conveyed by this device was not subjective at all.

  As he left the room, DeMarques found himself looking forward to the upcoming rendezvous, when he would finally see this mysterious device with his own eyes.

  Such a precious, precious item, and so very dangerous. But it would all be worth it when he had that power. Nothing in the entire galaxy was more valuable than Dr. Sacre’s discovery.

  It was well worth killing for…

  END OF BOOK 1

  Hello,

  Oscar Andrews here. Computers, and science fiction have always been the two great passions in my life. I’m an avid fan of all the sci-fi greats: Asimov, Clarke, Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury.

  Years ago, I made the “practical decision” to become a computer engineer, but the continued yearning to share my own sci-fi stories has finally compelled me to take the plunge and become an author.

  Neffy’s saga had been churning in my mind for a long time, it is so wonderful to finally get it down on paper — metaphorically speaking, that is — and out into the world!

  Renegade Patriot is just the first installment, there’s plenty more of the Empire Rising series yet to come. I invite you to join me in the journey by signing up for my newsletter. In addition to sending you updates on Neffy’s adventures, you’ll also receive special discount offers for books and boxsets.

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  Oscar Andrews

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