by M. D. Cooper
Rika ignored all of it, simply glad to be alive and to have lost so few of her mechs—only five fatalities, though Lieutenant Carson and his R&M platoon were up to their necks in repairs.
The sun was rising in the western sky, and Rika took a deep breath as its warm light struck her face. “You know, you’re right. It’s going to be a good day. I can feel it.”
“Damn straight, it is,” Chase replied with a grin. “We kicked bad guy ass yesterday. Once the mess down here gets cleaned up, we’re going to drink ourselves stupid and party for a week.”
Rika snorted and laughed at the same time. “Damn…you made me snorgh!”
“ ‘Snorgh’? Where’d you grow up? Everyone knows that’s a ‘lort’. Way easier to say.”
“ ‘Lort’, my hard, steel ass. It’s a snorgh!”
Chase shook his head as he held open the door to the Command Building—it had taken a hit from stray fire in the fight, and the automatic actuator was broken. The glass had been shot out as well, so Rika wasn’t certain why he bothered to open it at all.
She stopped and turned to him. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck, you’re Rika.”
Rika scowled at him. “Wish me luck anyway. I like to feel lucky.”
Chase leant forward, and his lips met hers. Half a minute later, he pulled back. “Good luck.”
“Got one of those for me, too?” Leslie asked as she walked past with Captain Penny.
Penny raised an eyebrow. “Fraternization with the enlisted?”
Rika rolled her eyes at Penny. The captain of the Perseid’s Dream frequently gave Rika a hard time about her relationship with Chase. She did it in good fun, but sometimes Rika suspected there was something behind the jokes.
“You bet. It’s how we roll in the Ninth Battalion. If you can’t screw your underlings, what’s the point?”
“I’m an underling now, am I?” Chase laughed and gave Rika a final peck on the cheek. As he walked out of the command building, he called out over his shoulder, “Well, this underling has a massive mess to help clean up, while you uppity-ups all talk about things that have already happened.”
“Zing!” Rika called back and joined Leslie and Penny.
“So, who all is coming now? The list changes every time I check,” Leslie said.
“Governor Hengch is already here, along with two aides. Major Tim is on his way down. General Adam, his retinue, and Dala will be in attendance, as well. Plus some Admiral named Irah.”
“I guess Dala is doing Zim’s job now,” Leslie replied. “What, with him being as dirty as a hog on a steaming hot day.”
Rika nodded. “I find myself wondering if Dala was always doing Zim’s job—at least the part that he was supposed to be doing, not the illegal, insurrection-supporting part.”
It didn’t take long to reach the conference room, and Rika steeled herself before stepping inside. Remember, you’ve faced worse, she told herself.
She pushed open the door to find Governor Hengch sitting at the table, reviewing information on a personal holo. Her two aides stood behind her, and while the governor did not immediately make eye contact, they did. One seemed dispassionate, and the other clearly did not like what he saw.
Rika decided to ignore them.
“Governor Hengch.” Rika reached her left hand across the table.
The governor looked up, and her eyes narrowed as she took Rika in. “Captain Rika, good to finally get to meet you.”
Rika laughed nervously. “Had you been anticipating this for long?”
Hengch shrugged, her long green hair bouncing on her shoulders. “Well, when a mercenary operation sets up shop on your soil, one does become curious—especially if it’s run by a soldier as famous as you. I wanted to come out for a visit sooner, but never got the chance. Seemed like a priority now.”
By the governor’s expression, it was hard to tell whether or not Hengch meant ‘famous’, or would have preferred to say ‘infamous’.
“Well, I’m glad things turned out better than they could have,” Rika replied with a warm smile. “This is Captain Penny of the Perseid’s Dream, and Lieutenant Leslie. My XO, Lieutenant Scarcliff, will be along shortly, as well as Major Tim of the Golden Lark. One of our Company AIs, Potter, is in attendance as well, as is Niki, the AI that resides within me.”
Governor Hengch nodded to Penny and Leslie as they sat. “Good to meet you as well. Iapetus owes the Marauders a debt of gratitude that we will do our best to repay.”
“It’s what we’re here for,” Rika replied. “Well, not exactly, I suppose—given that this was supposed to be a training mission. Either way, kicking folks like the Roaches in the teeth is what the Marauders do best.”
“I heard you had named them that.” Hengch gave a perfunctory smile, but then her expression grew troubled. “But I don’t think this was the work of some separatist group, or element of angry, ex-military patriots.”
“Yes, that much is—” Rika was interrupted by the door opening, and another group filing in.
Lieutenant Scarcliff was the first through, followed by Major Tim and Major Dala. General Adam and Sergeant Major Rene followed after. Lastly came a man who Rika did not recognize, and she assumed it must be Admiral Irah.
The introductions were brief, and a minute later, everyone was seated at the table—excepting General Adam, who stood at the head and appeared to be chewing on the inside of his cheek.
After a moment, he spoke. “Well, people, we survived. Exactly what we survived is just now becoming clear, but the colonel Rika captured on the Atlantis has turned out to be our best evidence.”
Rika nodded. Though she’d recognized the colonel, it took a bit to remember where from. He looked different in an SAF uniform—not at all like the last time she’d seen him.
No one spoke up, and the general continued. “That colonel is named Fallon, and he’s a known entity in Nietzschea’s Coreward Regional Command.”
General Adam’s statement was simple, but the implications were vast. Until now, there had been no hard evidence that the Nietzscheans were running subversive ops in Thebes. Speculation was one thing, but now there was proof. Incontrovertible proof.
“This certainly changes things.” Hengch ran a hand through her green hair, the long locks shimmering and sparkling around her head. “It’s confirmed, then. These were not misguided men and women resisting the Septhian takeover; they’re traitors.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Admiral Irah spoke for the first time, his voice marred by a strange rasp that hinted at a recent illness, or perhaps an injury. “We know that some were traitors—like that pile of shit, Admiral Fergus on the Atlantis—but the rank and file had no idea they were fighting for the Niets. From what I understand, even the force that attacked Fort Hammerfall here had no idea who was behind this.”
“Still criminals, though. They knew they were a part of a coup.” Governor Hengch’s eyes were hard, and her lips drawn in a thin line—a strange contrast to her still-sparkling hair. “I assume they’ll all face charges and a long time in the stockade?”
“Perhaps,” General Adam replied without elaborating.
Rika wondered at Adam and Hengch’s relationship. She had learned that while Adam was a native Theban, he was put in command of the Hercules System’s armed forces by Septhian High Command after the takeover, likely displacing someone less committed to unity. Hengch didn’t seem to dislike Adam, but she seemed wary of the man in some way.
“That’s not a significant concern,” Admiral Irah added. “There are far more pressing issues.”
“Major Dala,” General Adam g
estured for Dala to take the floor as he sat across from Rika. “Tell us about what you found when you took Zim down.”
Dala rose and walked to the head of the table. “When we stormed the colonel’s HQ, we found him actively coordinating the operation against Fort Hammerfall. We put a stop to that and managed to keep a reserve force he was holding onto from entering the battle.”
“Thank you for that,” Rika replied, and Dala gave her a smile and a nod before continuing.
“Once in custody, Colonel Zim was convinced to surrender his personal tokens, and I dove into his records on the insurrection. What I found took some confirming, but careful passive scans have corroborated what his records had revealed: a Nietzschean fleet.”
“What?” Governor Hengch exclaimed, halfway out of her chair. “Where? How long do we have? Stars, why the hell are we here? I need to be in the command bunker!”
Governor Hengch wasn’t the only one to react to Dala’s statement. Everyone around the table had tensed, as though ready for Niets to storm through the door at any moment.
Admiral Irah raised his hands, “They’re not moving to attack—not yet, at least. It’s a small fleet, and I think they were counting on Admiral Fergus’s coup to succeed.”
Dala summoned a holo above the table, and a view of the Hercules System appeared before them.
“They came insystem a few weeks ago, as best we can tell. Ten ships in total; six cruisers and four destroyers.” Ten red dots appeared sixty AU from the Hercules System’s star as Dala spoke. “They were using some sort of stealth tech that we’ve not seen before. It wasn’t perfect, but they were bracketed by a trio of bulk haulers that were running dirty. The whole area was hard to scan, and no one was looking for stealthed Niets mixed in with the cargo haulers.”
“So where are they now?” Major Tim asked. “Even stealthed, you can’t just float around in a system for weeks…well, not inside of sixty AU, at least.
The view of the system zoomed in on Armens, a jovian, gas giant planet thirty-two AU from the star.
“They’re in here. They snuck in when a solar flare’s EM wave passed through the area. We’ve not picked up all ten ships, though—not all at once. But the freighters that were masking them are still at Armens, so it’s reasonable to believe that all ten Nietzschean ships are still there, as well.”
Rika leant back in her chair and considered the implications of what Dala had told them. Ten Nietzschean ships were not enough to cause the SAF any trouble—normally.
But right now, General Adam’s fleet was in disarray. Over a third of the system’s ships had been involved in the coup, and there was reason to believe that many of the vessels that had not participated in the attack still had dissenters in their crews.
If the Niets made a move, it was hard to say how the SAF fleet would respond.
A slow smile spread across Rika’s lips. “General Adam. I do believe that you want us to hit these Nietzschean ships.”
The general nodded, his expression grim. “Yes. Right now, the group of people who know about the Nietzschean fleet is not significantly larger than what is present in this room. Irah and I are in agreement: if we mount a concerted attack, the Niets will run. It would take us days to get a fleet out there, and it will be plain as day what our goal is. Armens only has a few ships nearby, and the Niets can cut a swath of destruction on their way outsystem.”
“Either that, or we’ll end up fighting a second coup attempt,” Irah added. “We need to crush those Niets and show our people what we’re really fighting. Septhia and Thebes have been close allies for centuries. Things are tense right now, but Septhia is not an anathema to our way of life. Nietzschea is. People need to remember that.”
“Trust me, I’ve been working on that.” Hengch sighed and shook her head. “It’s not easy. People are too quick to blame Septhia for what happened in the Albany System—even though it was actually the Nietzscheans behind it. The Septhians were the ones who saved the day.”
“Sorry for our part in it,” Rika apologized.
Governor Hengch shrugged. “Not your fault…well, sort of, but it would have happened anyway.”
“We all seem to have been underestimating the Nietzscheans’ guile,” General Adam said.
Major Tim folded his arms across his chest. “Let’s get down to brass tacks. How do you propose we take out ten Nietzschean ships? I’m sure you remember that we have just two in the Hercules System.”
General Adam nodded to Major Dala once more, and she continued with her presentation.
“As far as we can tell, the Niets are in a relatively close formation, roughly a hundred kilometers beneath Armens’ cloud tops. There are a few mining rigs scooping around Armens, so their orbital paths are limited to this band.” A band lit up in the planet’s northern hemisphere as Dala spoke.
“The plan we’ve worked out would have you heading to Formax, a dwarf planet nine AU beyond Armens. We’ll spin that it is a safer, alternative training site to use while things calm down insystem.
“A slingshot around Armens is a logical flight path to reach Formax right now. If we time it all right, you can fly around the gas giant while the Niets are on the far side. During your closest approach to the planet, you release your dropships into the cloud tops. Your two starships carry on, while your assault teams close in and breach the Nietzschean ships.”
Major Tim was shaking his head, and Rika had to agree with his general sentiment. She pursed her lips, then spoke first.
“I don’t think this is a job the Marauders are willing to sign up for.”
Admiral Irah sighed, and General Adam chuckled. Major Dala just frowned at Rika, but held her tongue as the general said, “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
Stars, I’m sitting in a room with a General, Admiral, and Governor, telling them ‘not good enough’. This is surreal.
Rika drew a deep breath to steady her nerves, and looked up and down the table. “Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing Marauders like more than kicking Nietzschean ass; it’s a life-calling for us. But we’re not suicidal. Breaching starships a hundred klicks below a jovian’s cloud tops sounds like the very definition of insanity.”
“Not to mention that we don’t have enough mechs to take out ten ships.”
“You have nearly four hundred,” Major Dala replied.
“Three-fifty that are combat ready,” Rika corrected. “That’s thirty-five a ship, though we’d hit the cruisers with more.”
“You cut through the Atlantis like it was made of butter with just one squad,” General Irah pointed out. “The Nietzschean cruisers have far less mass and volume.”
“I had three other squads distracting the enemy on Atlantis,” Rika reminded him. “And though it was bigger, starships are harder—more sectioned, easier to lock down. Vent atmo, kill grav, whatever. No way we can do any more than five.”
“Five won’t work.” Irah shook his head and glanced at Dala. “We need to hit all ten at once.”
“Niki has a suggestion,” Rika said, curious what the AI had in mind.
“Leaving aside how you have this information, five or six minutes is not long,” Major Tim replied.
“Propulsion?” General Adam asked.
Major Tim was running his finger and thumb along his chin. “I see a hole in your plan, Niki. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re going to need nine more AIs capable of this sort of work to take the field with you.”
The humans at the table shared a series of looks between them. Rika knew that the governor had an AI—though she’d failed to introduce her, and General Adam had one as well. Rika wondered what those AIs were saying.
“Don’t you have more AIs in your company, Captain Rika?” General Adam asked after a moment. “I see a Potter and Dredge on your roster.”
“We do,” Rika nodded. “However, they’re not free AIs. They’re owned by the Marauders.”
“And I assume you don’t have the legal authority to free them,” General Adam said from behind steepled fingers.
“It may be that you could help with this.” Rika spread her hands and smiled “I’ve spoken with some lawyers on behalf of our AIs to grant them asylum under the same provisions Septhia enacted for the mechs we rescued from the Politica. They are interested in pursuing it, and have filed preliminary paperwork—but they warned me that it could take months, maybe even years….”
Rika let the statement hang, ignoring the look of surprise on Penny’s face and the barely contained anger on Tim’s. Leslie was smirking, and Scarcliff appeared bemused.
“I see those filings,” Governor Hengch said after a moment. “There are seven separate AIs listed in the plea for asylum. I thought you only had two in your company.”