“That sure is a lot of ifs, Mac.”
“Sure.” Mac made a face. “But aren’t there always? Bottom line, babe, this is the job, and you know that better than anyone. Briggs and Zier have to get on that ship. Otherwise, this whole thing is shot. I’m the best chance they have at doing that.”
“And nobody else can do it?” Lee said. “Somebody from central intelligence, perhaps?”
“Maybe. But we don’t have time to get them here and up to speed. That leaves me as the most qualified candidate aboard.” Mac shrugged. “Sometimes them’s just the breaks, I suppose.”
Lee resigned himself to it with a slow nod then looked away, his mind swimming as he remembered the twenty-four-hour nightmare six years ago. He’d nearly lost Mac to the empire that day, and he had no desire to relive that experience. Had she been in combat since? Sure, many times. But Lee had always been there to watch her back, and she his. They were a team that way, much like Link and Layla. This time, though, he couldn’t go with her, and that gnawed at Lee like a tick on a hound.
He heaved a sigh. “Just promise me you’ll book it across out there. Once you vacate that pod, you’ll be totally exposed, and we can’t post up to cover you lest we tip off the grays to your presence. As soon as you hit that hatch, you move your ass. Got it?”
“Copy that, Major Dad.” Mac smiled and saluted. “And hey, look on the bright side: it’s not as if I’m flying solo here. I am rolling with a posse, ya know.”
Lee glanced across the way toward the final two members of Mac’s strike team. Surprisingly, they were Reegan and Shotz, each of whom had volunteered for this mission.
“Hey.” Mac grabbed his chin and turned it back to her. “I’ll be fine. You just worry about you and getting your ass back to safety when this is all over. Capiche?”
Lee nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I love you, Mac.”
“Love you, too.” She leaned up to kiss him then swatted him on the butt. “Now, move your buns. Mama’s got stuff to do.”
Mac picked up the last of her gear and vanished into the pod as Briggs stepped forward.
“She will come home from this,” he said. “On that, you have my word.”
“Mine as well,” Zier added from behind him.
“Much obliged, gentlemen. More than you know.” Lee shook hands with both of them then turned to Reegan and Shotz. “Thanks for tagging along on this, Reeg. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” Reegan checked his weapon. “You’re Top’s family, and he’s ours. Nothing else to say.”
Lee shook Reegan’s hand then turned to Shotz. “Thank you for doin’ this. I know there’s no payday in it for ya, but you’re goin’ anyway, and I want you to know I appreciate that.”
“Oh, I’m getting paid.” Shotz tossed his duffel into the pod. “Just not in credits, is all.”
Lee didn’t follow, nor did the big man elaborate.
“What my esteemed colleague here means to say—” Reegan slugged Shotz’s arm, “—is that if he helps out on this mission, maybe that’ll square him with Danny for the Top’s having busted him out of prison last year.”
Lee’s eyebrows slammed together. “Wait, Danny’s the one who broke you out?”
“Yep,” Shotz said.
Lee struggled to process that. “Don’t take this the wrong way or nothin’, but why in the world would he do that, and for a gray no less?”
Shotz raised a shoulder. “He needed intel on the Kamuir, and I needed a job. It was simple as that. Plus—and he never said why—I always got the impression that Danny knew my ex-CO and hated him as much as I did. Rightfully so, too. I mean, really. What kind of scumbag dots the eye of a waitress half his size because she refuses to screw him in a coat closet?”
Lee’s skin crawled as the revelation set in about Shotz’s ouster from service. “Those are pretty good grounds to deck a guy, all right.”
“Bet your paycheck it is. Wendi was a friend of mine, and, captain’s bars or not, nobody lays hands on her like that. Nobody. Still wasn’t enough to keep me out of irons, though.” The big man’s freckled expression soured. “Had it been anybody else, I’d have been reprimanded and demoted. But not the captain. That greasy little snake made one call to Masterson, who was commandant then, and I was bounced to a Donner detention center. Jensen Slaring Hourne.” He snorted. “What an asshole.”
Lee’s eyes bulged. “Wait, Jensen Hourne was your CO? Shaved head, golden eyes, grimy-lookin’ mongrel with an ego the size of a black hole? That Jensen Hourne?”
“Huh.” Shotz shifted and scratched at his beard. “So, you apparently know him, too.”
Lee wasn’t sure if a smile was appropriate, but he didn’t fight it. “You might say that. I’m kinda the guy who put a bullet in him on Myrick 4.”
“That was you guys?” Shotz bolted upright. “Top never told us that story!”
Lee raised a shoulder. “It was our first mission out. And he was Masterson’s kid, by the way. Hourne? That’s why they threw the book at you. Daddy Bear must not have taken too kindly to you smackin’ his cub around in front of the other kids.”
Shotz cursed under his breath. “Everybody always wondered why those two were so close, but nobody ever knew for sure. Thanks for the clarity. I owe ya.”
Lee pointed to the brunette in the pod who was his entire world. “Watch her back for me out there, and we’ll call it square.”
Shotz slapped a mag into his rifle. “So very done.”
“Okay, people, time to load up,” Briggs announced. “We launch in five.”
* * * * *
Chapter 36: Stay of Execution
Once free of Kennox’s drop bay, Lee looped his Mako forty degrees to starboard then leveled out into the point position in front of Soul Squadron.
“Daredevil, this is Sorraia. Drop sequence complete; One-Three reports full green across the board. Standing by.”
Lee glanced to his right and felt a touch of relief at seeing Commander Dena Lindsay’s Mako on his wing. He’d flown with her for almost two years on the Kennox, first as a peer then as her CO, and he’d long since regarded her as one of the brightest he’d ever served with. Competencies aside, however, it was just nice to have someone there he could trust filling in for Mac.
“Good to have you back, Sorraia,” Lee said, grateful to Katahl for having temporarily reassigned her back to his squad.
“Anytime, Daredevil,” Lindsay said. “With Northern Star out of pocket, I’m glad I could be here. Besides, I’m always up for a trip down memory lane on the Kennox, even if it’s just for a day. A lot of good times there, ya know?”
“Yes, ma’am, I do.” Lee watched the rest of Kennox’s squadrons fall into formation around them. “Been my experience, though, that good times typically go hand in hand with good people, and I’d dare say we’ve got a few of those on the Kennox—Railhawk notwithstandin’.”
“Hey,” Hicks protested.
Lindsay laughed. “On that, Daredevil, we agree in full.”
Lee waited for Soul Squadron’s last two pilots to check in then switched his comm to an all-hands channel. “Kennox squad leaders, One-Three reports drop success and a green board. All crews sound off.”
Hicks began the round-robin, followed by Bewer, Pierce, and the others. As they went, Lee’s gaze eventually found its way to the giant blue sphere below, and he was struck by how familiar it looked after all these years. In many respects—geographically, technologically, scientifically, culturally—Aura couldn’t have been more different than Earth. And yet, from way up here in the cockpit of a twenty-ton starfighter, Lee found it tough to tell the difference. Yep, definitely time for a road trip when this is all over.
Shaking off the quick pang of homesickness, Lee panned the ASC deployment from left to right in his display. The force had been spread out over the planet’s northern hemisphere per LORASS’ suggestion, based on the enemy’s last pinged course. In response, Katahl had staggered the Auran forces into forty-two special zones, ea
ch one containing two to four vessels with dozens of fighters depending on its position in the net. The front line comprised zones one through ten. There, Lee spied ships like the Hopson, the Valkure, and the Davis—cruisers and destroyers mostly with the occasional outcutter or frigate in between—whereas zones eleven through twenty-nine comprised line two with ships like the Felerton and the Triton. That was also the area where Lee found the Keystone. The Kennox, meanwhile, had been assigned to cover zones thirty-one and two, right at the heart of the deployment and just off the starboard bow of the Praetorian.
Lee sat up straight in his seat when Katahl’s voice took over the comm.
“All wings, this is Praetorian. Alystierian forces just pinged our Dulaston buoy, which puts them less than three mikes out. Rickson, Ozarck, and Davis crews, you’re on deck for first contact with DeMorlin, Jaythum, and Dant crews in support. Everyone else, hold your zones and mind your squad leaders; LPs, coordinate for intership liaison then brace for contact. They’ll keep you posted as events unfold.” The admiral cleared his throat. “This is it, people. This is the day history will likely remember as the final, deciding conflict of our war with Alystier. Let’s see to it that we’re penned the victors, shall we? Praetorian out.”
Lee took his cue. “All right, y’all—listen up. We’re holdin’ down the fort here in zone thirty-one, which puts us front and center to challenge any ship wantin’ to make a run on Praetorian. She and the Kennox are our priorities; understood?”
“Ruah!” the others affirmed.
Lee turned his eyes forward as the opening wave of hyperspace flashes flecked the empty space ahead. Dozens more followed. “Makos, you’re on Phantom duty. Tuskans, you’re on mop-up; bomb anything and everything you can. As always, know your boundaries, watch your lines, and you’ll be fine. Now let’s do this and call it a day on these guys.”
The next wave of ships flashed in the distance, and Lee turned his scopes toward them. The Kamuir was there, mirroring Praetorian’s position at the heart of the enemy deployment and flanked by three Kurgorian warbirds.
Lee shivered at the sight of the largest one, for he knew her well. The Vanxus, as he’d since heard her called, had been the lead ship responsible for the massacre at Kyma 4, and no one who’d been there would ever forget her. She alone had destroyed dozens of ships that day, the AS Harkens of Vince Ryan among them.
Lee shook off the thought and took hold of his flight stick. “Okay, everyone. On my mark, I want—”
“Auran fleet.” The deep, throaty voice slithered through Lee’s helmet like a ghost from his past. “This is the Alystierian flagship, Vanxus.”
Flagship? Lee stared in bewilderment through his canopy as the empire’s final ships assumed their nose-to-nose positions opposite those of the ASC. Still, no one made a move.
What’s the holdup? Lee’s finger twitched at the trigger.
“You are outnumbered and outgunned in nearly every way,” Masterson continued. “You’re also no doubt wondering why I haven’t yet leveraged this advantage for the annihilation of your fleet.”
Lee heard a pause before another voice answered.
“Vanxus, this is President Richard Wylon, elected leader of the Auran people. You have my attention.”
“President Wylon, we meet at last.” Masterson sounded amused. “Pity that our introduction would only come now, at the end.”
“Pardon me for saying so, Chancellor, but that has yet to be foreseen,” Wylon said. “Cut to the chase. You obviously want something; what is it? Caldrasite? Territory? Expanded access to our shipping routes? What?”
Masterson laughed. “You always were a man who got down to business, Wylon. I’ve admired that about you for quite some time.”
“Appreciate the compliment,” Wylon muttered.
“You should,” Masterson said. “I don’t normally give them to politicians. Suffice it to say, Mr. President, there is nothing you have in the way of resources that I can’t take from you by force. The presence of my fleet on your very doorstep should be enough to convince you of that.”
Come on, Briggs; get a move on. Lee wondered if they’d left their pod.
“All right, fine,” Wylon said. “If you’re not here for fuel, minerals, or more room for your empire to breathe, then why are you here? And why have you stopped to talk?”
Masterson’s answer was as curt as it was resolute. “Because I want one of your people, Wylon.”
The president hesitated. “One of my people?”
“Indeed. And I want him alive, not killed in combat. He and I have certain…” Masterson searched for the word. “Trespasses to discuss.”
Lee dropped his head, the dots in his mind connecting in a flash. Son of a bitch. He exhaled and keyed his comm. “Vanxus, this is Captain Lee Summerston. Please respond.”
A dark laugh rolled like thunder through Lee’s ears.
“Captain Summerston.” Masterson’s voice hit him like an arctic wind. “I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to finally make your acquaintance.”
“Rumor has it, Chancellor, you been lookin’ for me for quite some time.”
“You have no idea,” Masterson said. “I’ve gone to great lengths to flush you out. For a time, I feared it might not ever happen, that someone else would take your head before I could. But the gods have smiled on me yet again, for here we are.”
Lee smiled under his oxygen mask. “Somehow, I don’t think your gods had anything to do with it.”
“In any event,” Masterson said, “President Wylon was correct in assuming that I want something, and you, sir, are it.”
“Okay, fine.” Lee shifted in his seat. “If it’s me you want, then it’s me you’ll get. Ain’t no sense in draggin’ all of these other folks through the mud on account of our issues. I’ll bring myself aboard your ship, and we can go someplace else to sort this out like soldiers.”
“My dear Captain Summerston, are you implying that once you’re aboard I withdraw?” Masterson chortled another laugh. “No, I think not. I will, however, make you a counterproposal. Come aboard the Vanxus, and you have my word that I’ll treat the Aurans fairly upon their unconditional surrender.”
“Unconditional surrender, huh?” Lee asked. “President Wylon might have somethin’ to say about that.”
“Doubtless, he will,” Masterson said. “And if he survives his people’s obliteration at the hands of my fleet, then perhaps he and I can discuss that. Otherwise, he can die with the rest of them. My terms, Captain. Do you accept them or not?”
Lee drew in a breath and let it out. Wherever Mac was, he hoped for her sake that she wasn’t hearing any of this. She’d be a basket case, and that wasn’t what Briggs and his team needed. They needed her sharp and on point to get them onto the Kamuir, and this, Lee figured, might just buy them the time they needed to get there. He only hoped he’d be around to celebrate when it was over.
Lee cracked his knuckles. Give ’em hell, Briggs. “All right, Chancellor, you’ve got a deal.”
“Good,” Masterson said. “Oh, and Captain Summerston? There’s one other thing.”
Lee shook his head. Figures. “And that is?”
“The juice—as I understand it’s called—that powers Sergeant Tucker’s armor. I want you to bring that to me.”
Lee raised an eyebrow. “How do you know about that?”
There was another pause.
“Morning, Lee.”
Lee’s head plummeted. “Danny.”
“How’s it going out there?”
“Not real good, brother. You?”
“I’ve been better.”
There was a slight wheeze in Danny’s voice as though talking tired him. Something was wrong. “Danny, you all right?”
“I’ve been better.” His friend coughed. “I swiped a centurion’s armor back on Thawnose to get to Alystier, only I just about OD’d on the native juice trying to get to Masterson. It’s how they got to me.”
Really? Lee cocked his head.
Sloppy, Danny, especially for you. “Sounds like a tough break.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Danny coughed again, harder this time. “As much as I hate to admit this, bro, Masterson’s right. He holds all the cards here. Give him the juice, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll let some of you live.”
Lee’s mouth went wide under his mask. “You can’t be serious.”
“I can’t authorize that, Danny,” Wylon cut in. “Not for you or anyone else.”
“With all due respect, sir,” Danny shot back, “how’d Kyma 4 work out for you? Or Coralin 3? Or any of the other instances where you’ve gone up against these guys only to have your asses handed to you on a silver frickin’ platter? You think you know what this technology can do?” He snorted. “You know jack. I’ve studied it for months now, more than anybody on your staff, and I’m here to tell you, sir, that if you go up against these guys here and now, they’ll mow you down like fairway grass at Augusta. Believe it.”
This time it was Kathal who posed the question. “What are you saying, Danny?”
Danny bellowed a sigh. “What I’m saying, Admiral, is that inside of an hour there won’t be an Aura left to go home to if you don’t concede to Masterson’s demands. Give him the juice, sir. Give him what he needs—what we need—and maybe you’ve got a shot at changing that.”
Lee’s head snapped up. “What we need?”
“Yeah,” Danny said. “I need a hit, myself, to flush out my system; otherwise, that Kurgorian juice I took earlier could leave me a tweaker for life.”
Lee’s eyebrows furrowed. What are you up to, Danny? “Got it. Anything else?”
“Yeah.” Danny grunted. “Tell Doc to send me the good stuff that actually lasts a while, not that short-acting crap. I need some real relief here.”
A high-priority text alert glared red in Lee’s display. He checked the IDC, expecting it to be from Praetorian, but it wasn’t. It was from the old man on Danny’s crew. Doc? What do you want? He opened the message. It consisted of three words in all caps. “TAKE THE DEAL!”
At Circle's End Page 25