Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13

by Randolph Lalonde

  "I couldn't have done better," Jake said. Oz could sense the lie, but it didn't show on his face as he continued. "The mission isn't over, either. We still have one Hammerhead behind enemy lines with Captain Valent."

  "Oh, and you want to see patience? She'll out investigate and out wait anyone here," Remmy said. "I'd work with her again, anytime."

  "That's enough, Captain," Lamonthe said. "But I hope you're right. I hope we see more immediate results from Captain Valent. The seeds of demoralization have been sown in our fleet, and if we don't see Order soldiers turning soon, they'll grow. I expected something spectacular from the firepower I sent you out with, but outside of your recordings, I don't see the Order changing anything out here. They're not turning away from their search for us, and ships aren't retreating from the Haven System to guard their own assets."

  "There's just no pleasing some people," Remmy muttered, immediately holding a hand up. "I apologize, Admiral."

  "Firepower doesn't always equal political power or change," Commodore Valent said to Lamonthe. "If you have a problem with our strategy, then you should choose the targets next time."

  Watching Lamonthe as he took a moment to consider a rebuttal, then decided against it in silence was incredible to Oz. There was no sign of the raging sea of frustration the man was feeling. Lamonthe sighed, letting most of it go, then moved the meeting on; "I congratulate you and your people on the success you've had. Let's move on to another matter, please."

  Oz took a moment to close himself off from his empathic sense, he could feel the start of a headache. Everyone was conducting themselves with great decorum, but there was a riot of emotion at the table. As Admiral Doolth started speaking, Oz hoped Alice was doing well wherever she was. He wished he was the still the head of SOCU, just so he could find out more about her mission behind enemy lines.

  Three

  The Malcontent

  * * *

  The rain came clean, fresh from the atmosphere conditioners towering over the city of Grenjin. Between the labyrinth of scars on his face, he could feel the cool drops as he looked upward. It was as if the planet wanted to fight his malaise. The news was grim. He'd fought his rising debt for as long as he could, as hard as he could. He even tried permanent modification to his appearance and DNA, which worked well enough for the old government scanners in the city to miss him, but instead of having a normal looking face, it left him with scars from emergency hands-on surgery as the shifting skin failed to do what the back-alley surgeon predicted it would. He didn’t understand what went wrong exactly, that didn't matter as much as what he saw when he caught a look at himself in the mirror. Instead of shifting the features of a face everyone enjoyed looking at, he had the kind of appearance people turned away from.

  It bought him time, though. The people who controlled his Order of Eden account, the one that paid for everything but the air he breathed, took one look at him and didn't want to cash in early, to force him to serve in their companies or houses. The modifications were supposed to help him hide so he could continue building a network of resistance, but it marked him. Everyone knew the face they didn't want to stare into, the hooded man and his scars.

  People in power didn't know what he was doing yet, but once they started hearing about the scarred man, he would either be driven into hiding or taken into custody before he realized they knew he was connected to the resistance. He suspected that time was coming fast, his debt was too high, and Admiral Scanlon, the new leader representing the Order of Eden in the solar system, bought his debt personally. He had been past the one hundred thousand credit threshold for months, it was the minimum required for someone to sell the debtor to the Order of Eden on that world, so he would be pressed into service. She could yank him into her service personally at any moment, too, so he wondered why she bought him, if she knew what he was doing when he was sure he wasn't being monitored, if she knew about his hiding places and the efforts he inspired against the Order.

  He was on borrowed time, a thought that passed through his mind every hour. "We have to go, Peter," said Sonny, his long-time partner in crime. "The market's about to turn to mud and there was nothing at the drop."

  Peter turned to him, the water drops rolling through the stubble on his head, giving him a shiver. "You look down and see mud, I look up and see a generous sky."

  "I see manufactured grey clouds," Sonny replied. The open-air market was thick with people who were there to barter. They carried every sort of object, even pets that were caught in the wild at great risk. The planet of Nuaji was completely terraformed, but there were minerals in the ground that were difficult to fabricate, so the Order dug and plundered. That was why they turned the weather control systems back on, he assumed, why the city Peter grew up in was being turned into a rainforest. There was another one somewhere else being torn down. A pair of young men approached him sheepishly, looking to Sonny more. "We heard there was going to be a meeting?" One of them asked in a low whisper.

  "Not for you," Sonny said. It was the right response, these two didn't know how to talk about the resistance, they didn't know the right words. They were young, though, they may have heard about them indirectly, not from someone who could have vetted them.

  "Keep watching, keep listening," Peter said with more encouragement. "Good luck with your trades." He started moving past them, but one caught his arm.

  "Wait, we need to join you, we're close to threshold already. My brother lost his hand and even after we split the cost of getting him a new one, a real flesh one, we're a few credits away from getting pressed into the Order," plead one of them.

  "They told you cybernetics weren't an option when you went in, didn't they?" Peter asked. It was a common ploy with official medical facilities to hard-sell flesh and bone replacements when cybernetics would cost a tenth as much and be twice as good.

  "Yeah, they said it was all junk, and he was bleeding out. I don't know if they would have even worked on him if I didn't agree to get him a real hand."

  "Common story, I'm sorry about that," Sonny said. "C'mon Pete, we have to go." He was always more suspicious. These boys could have been sent by the Order to get in on a resistance meeting, to see which cell leaders made an appearance.

  "Go to the booth with the forma printer, the one at the far end over there, and tell them you want to try the Orange Nut Delight bars," he told them. There were people there who could hide these boys if they were in real trouble, and if they were Order plants, they would be found out. Peter hoped they weren't, the Nolen Twins didn't treat Order spies well. "It's all I can do."

  "Thank you," the boy with the new hand said. The pair rushed off.

  "We really do have to get going, mud or not," Sonny said once they were out of earshot. "Everyone gets nervous when we're late. Well, when you're late, anyway."

  Peter nodded, the rain was intensifying anyway, the market was starting to clear. He was pulling the hood of his long poncho up when he met the blue-eyed gaze of a young woman with red hair. She seemed familiar. People passed between them, some running to get out of the thickening drops, others simply making their way. She didn't waver as she peered at him, he barely noticed the tall Nafalli and two others with her. A lot of spacers visited the market, all of them looked a little too clean at first, that was until they'd spent some time ground side. It was no different with her, the fitted blue suit she wore under a dark long coat made her look like she'd been planet-side for minutes. When a smile started to bloom on her face slowly, he realized who she was. Bare of emblem or any other markings, he knew from the contraband holo-recording of Admiral Tafford's execution and the message that followed from Captain Alice Valent, that it was her.

  There was a tug on his back pocket. He turned his attention to it for a moment, retrieving a holo-communicator the size of his thumbnail from it. When he looked back to where he saw Alice, she was gone. The communicator blinked green, and he dragged Sonny into a back alley, used his home-made surveillance detector to check for devi
ces there and when he found none he activated the communicator. "I'm Alice Valent," said the holographic face that appeared above the device, it was the size of his fist.

  "What is it? I can't see, it must be focused on you because you're touching it," Sonny said as he joined Peter where he was huddled up against the wall.

  Peter took Sonny's hand and put his finger on part of the device. "See it now?"

  "Holy crap it's Alice Valent," he breathed.

  "Haven Fleet is looking for people to fight against the Order of Eden. What's more important to you, right now, is that I've found you, Peter. It didn't take long; my crew was able to find three of your resistance cells then discover your identity by hacking a few illegal rooms on the Stellarnet. Your encryption was a little too thin. If I found you, then the Order can't be far behind. I want to get you and your people off world, but first, I need your help. Find a place and time for us to meet, send the details to us using this communicator, then tap it three times. It'll destroy itself so there's no trace of our communication."

  "We have to tell the others," Sonny said as Alice's face faded.

  "No," Peter said. "This is good, the best news I've had since Regent Galactic got here, but we have to keep this between us."

  "Right, if it's a trap, then we minimize the damage if only we get captured," Sonny said.

  "It's not a trap. I can feel it. This is what we've been hoping for, another group to come help so we can make a real difference. We have to take this in small, careful steps until the time is right." Peter let himself smile, feeling the stiffness in his cheeks. "I saw her, Sonny, she was ten metres away. I know she's here."

  "Boots-on-the-ground here?" Sonny asked in hushed surprise.

  "She looked me right in the eye," Peter nodded. "We might have a fighting chance."

  "But her people lost their home system."

  "Taking a whole space fleet with them. A fleet that can hide, that's more powerful ship-to-ship than anything in the galaxy, with a battle station that can build them whatever they need."

  "Fairy tales," Sonny said pleadingly. "All we have is conflicting propaganda from them, the Order, the British, and a few other governments who want to pretend they're important enough to be a part of the biggest war of our time. We don't know how much of this is true, we don't even know if there was ever a Haven System. All we see when we look it up is Rega Gain on most charts."

  "Then we have to find out for ourselves," Peter said, finding that he was calm, much less on edge than he'd been in weeks. "We'll meet her face to face."

  "And get caught if it's a trap," Sonny countered.

  Peter turned the communication device over in his palm. The style of the technology wasn't like anything he'd seen before, maybe it was proof, maybe it wasn't. He didn't know if he could see through his own excitement. "Then I'll go alone. If I get taken, then maybe it'll provoke the cells into doing something real, or maybe it'll push them further underground. Either way, it'll get them moving again."

  Sonny scoffed. "Like I'd let you go alone. Fine, we'll meet her, but we're going to do it in a place we control and can abandon at a moment's notice."

  Four

  Shadow Play

  * * *

  "Iyagda has been lost, Sir," Captain Kenley said as he stepped onto the balcony.

  Lucius Wheeler stood up and walked to the balcony. "Was it Haven Fleet?" It was a major setback, especially for him.

  "The British Alliance, there was no indication that they had help from Haven Fleet. The report shows that we're still trying to look for any evidence that they were involved, but no one has seen a sign of them."

  "Why are the British pushing so hard? I get that they love their democracy, but the Order hasn't threatened them, doesn't have any interest in the Core Worlds, we even have a treaty with the United Core World Authority, an enforcement organization that the British haven't pushed against in any significant way since the fall."

  "It's the threat of us. They fear a purely survival of the fittest system that rewards higher thinking, strategy and hard work," Captain Kenly replied without hesitation or any sign of doubt.

  Wheeler looked at him for a moment. He was plain-faced, with broad features, perfectly shaved from his neck to the top of his head. This was the best, most loyal man he could find as his second, and it was the right choice, but the Captain was boring. Loyalty was what Lucius needed, and he had it, but a sense of humour, maybe a little creativity would have been nice. Giving up on the man to provide anything but the correct and up to date information, Wheeler turned back to the balcony.

  The sun shone on Haven Shore. The growing city was surrounded by thick jungle, and he imagined the fragrances on the wind were rich, thick with life. Far below, around the base of the Everin Building, his citizens were forming up, getting ready to go into the jungle as pickers, harvesters. He wished he could smell, or even feel the air through his armoured suit. It had to remain sealed for his own good, disconnected from the Order of Eden network, separate from everything.

  Another work crew in grey and green began to fall in, moving to stand in straight lines by Order soldiers and supervisors. That crew of a hundred or so would go underground to the fabrication centre under the shuttle port. He hoped they'd be productive, cooperative, it was in their best interest to get to work. Haven Shore had to be self-sufficient if he was to prove the viability of Tamber as a real Order of Eden stronghold.

  "I don't think the British Alliance or their people are strong enough to understand us, Sir," Captain Kenly said. "They're too soft, over forty-two percent of their settlements depend on support shipments from the government to survive. The Order would let these fall, consolidate the workforce on more productive worlds, point them to a real cause."

  "I don't need the propaganda today, West," Wheeler replied. "I need this solar system to work, to make progress I can use to prove it can be self-sufficient so we don't end up serving Admiral Scanlon when she gets here. She can take care of the rest of the Cluster, I don't care, I just want the Haven System. How did the cracking crew aboard the second Solar Forge do?"

  "They're boarding in a few minutes, I could have the mission status brought up in the main room, if you like," Captain Kenly said.

  Wheeler looked at the city below for a moment. The tube cars were running again, moving people across the island at great speed. The garden was empty, Ayan's statue laid on its face, headless, one arm pulled away from the main body, severed. The statue was surprisingly heavy, well made, and it would take a work force to reduce it to pieces and carry it off. He didn't trust the robots to do it, they were too easy to hack, so he left that white corpse where it lay. People were free to visit the garden during their off-time, but few did. Maybe it was because of the statue in the middle, maybe it was paranoia. "I want these people to turn to the Order, but they're stubborn. I never would have imagined that anyone would take Ayan on as an icon. She's not much more than a clone, when you come right down to it, how can anyone follow a fake like that? Someone who isn't shining as brightly during her second chance after failing at life the first time through?"

  "Maybe you only have to show them what hard work gets them and use a firm hand with the rest. It's the sort of thinking that propelled Tafford to his station."

  "I know you respected the man, but I don't want to hear it. He underestimated his enemies and their resolve. He broke his promise to me, too. The Razer Knights died on his base ship in an elevator when they should have been with me. No, I think I need to speed things up a little, show the people what kind of strange freak Ayan was, that she was never worthy of their faith."

  "I beg your pardon, Sir, but I can't see how. The former Queen may have made a few social mistakes, but there's nothing terribly abnormal there," Kenly offered.

  "I have evidence of my own. The kind of thing that will get tongues wagging, people second-guessing. Have a little faith in my long-game, West. It may not be as good as it could have been, but a great long game can shift and rebuild itsel
f if parts of it fail. Tafford and Dron pulled half of my plan apart, but I can still do something with what's left. It's that good."

  "I look forward to seeing you execute it," Captain Kenly said. "The boarding team has just landed on Solar Forge Two."

  "All right, put it on the holoprojector in the main room," Wheeler said as he left the balcony. He wished he could simply connect with the network and watch it on his own, but that would expose him to Dron, to anyone in the Order who had the keys to the framework system at the very heart of him.

  "They're starting with Auxiliary Airlock Nineteen," the Captain said as one of his aides started the holographic display in the middle of the room.

  It was huge, filling the entire centre of the deluxe apartment with a projection of such clarity that you could forget where you were. Wheeler had to admit, he enjoyed the luxuries of Haven Shore, even though he wasn't able to taste the food or smell the air. The soft seat he lowered himself into was fair consolation. The boarding team breached the airlock, their ship was perfectly moored with the station. "Have your scan results improved now that you're aboard, Commander?" he asked the leader of the mission.

  "Very little so far, Admiral. It's like tunnelling into a giant onion; we're seeing this station in layers. I'm sorry to report that the outer and intermediate armour plating on this station are of a type we've seen several times before. The active plating Haven Fleet is using on their newer ships isn't present. Judging from that alone, I'd say this station may be two or even three full generations of technology behind."

  "Keep moving towards your objective, Commander, I'm sure we'll find something that the Order can use," Wheeler said as he watched the team move towards the control centre of the station faster. "Is anything turning itself on?"