Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  As both sets of missiles raced towards their targets, Emilie bit her lip. With both ships damaged anything was possible. Gremlin’s missiles reached their target two seconds ahead of the Karacknids’. Three missiles evaded all the point defense fire, showing how many defensive weapons the destroyer had lost. Seven of the nine beams released from the missiles punctured the Karacknid destroyer. It detonated in a blinding explosion. Turning her gaze quickly, Emilie was just in time to see a lone Karacknid missile detonate off Gremlin’s port engine. The anti-matter washed over the destroyer. For the briefest of seconds, it appeared to stop as it struck Gremlin’s gaseous shields, then they collapsed and the anti-matter closed in. One moment Gremlin was accelerating as normal and the next, a full third of her rear section was simply gone. Without engines the destroyer lost all acceleration and tumbled out of control. Several small secondary explosions ripped up her starboard side, flinging debris in all directions. Emilie cursed as she pounded her command chair. “Damn them!” she exclaimed.

  As her emotions threatened to get the better of her, she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Taking two deep breaths she settled herself. She had ordered Gremlin to her destruction. That was on her. But she had other responsibilities. Opening her eyes, she sought out Sub Lieutenant Ramires. “Give Hawk permission to begin hunting down all the nearby freighters. She is to take out as many of the witnesses as possible.” Emilie turned to Lieutenant Maguire. “Get Intrepid over to what’s left of Gremlin as fast as possible. There have to be survivors. We’ll stabilize her roll and save as many as we can.”

  “Aye Captain! At once,” Maguire responded.

  *

  Two hours later Emilie’s mood had not improved. They had only managed to pull eight survivors from Gremlin. Then, to keep the destroyer from falling into Karacknid hands, Emilie had been forced to destroy the wreckage with Intrepid’s heavy plasma cannons. Destroying the bodies of so many fallen comrades did not sit well with her. Worse, though Hawk had destroyed six freighters, five had escaped the system. News that enemy ships were operating in the Valley would spread far and wide. At least we delayed news of Becket’s invasion, Emilie hoped as she tried to look on the bright side. In the grand scheme of things, the loss of one destroyer to delay the Karacknid’s response by a week or more was worth it. On paper at least, she thought. To those who had known Captain Mount and the others on board Gremlin such conclusions were not so easy to make. “All right,” she said to her bridge officers. “We’ve done all we can do here. It’s time to head to the rendezvous point and make sure Admiral Becket knows that word has gotten out. Plot us a course into the Valley.”

  “Yes Captain,” Maguire responded.

  Emilie looked to Intrepid’s COM station. “Signal our three friends. Inform them it’s time for them to deploy their ordinance. They can scuttle their freighters and bring the shuttles over to Intrepid when they’re done.”

  “Sending the orders now Captain,” Ramires acknowledged.

  Emilie watched as the three freighters that had been powered down weeks ago rebooted their reactors and powered up their engines. Swooping down from above the shift passage out of the Valley they deployed hundreds of stealth mines. Each mine contained a smaller version of the mark IV missile. With half the range and a warhead that only powered one grazer beam, individually they wouldn’t be able to do much damage to a Karacknid capital ship. But in larger numbers they could wreak havoc. Even if one hit only causes minor damage, it could be enough to slow a capital ship down, Emilie thought. Whatever Karacknid relief forces tried to enter the Lower Valley through the eastern shift passage would get a nasty surprise. And that will buy us more time, more time to avenge Gremlin’s loss.

  Chapter 17

  The two oldest parties within the Empire’s parliamentary system are the Loyalists and the Constitutionalists. It is true that their political ideologies have shifted over the centuries, even so, their names still indicate which way they lean. Many other parties have come and gone over the centuries, the War Hawks, the Isolationists, the Freedom Party, and the Secessionists have all left their mark on the history of the Empire.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Earth, Imperial Palace, 24th November 2483 AD.

  Christine marched back-and-forth across her office. She was livid! She didn’t even notice the throbbing pain that was shooting up her injured leg. Even Jonathan had escaped her mind as he slept in a crib in the adjoining room. Only one thing consumed her. After giving her speech at the Milan Cathedral she had returned to the Palace and retired for the night exhausted. In passing, one of her security Captains had told her about the apprehension of some suspected terrorists, but he hadn’t had all the details. Christine had asked to be briefed in the morning.

  When she had woken up, the main story on all the holo news channels had briefed her instead! Now she was waiting for Johnson, Russell, and Swenson. She had demanded they meet with her immediately. What were they thinking! She growled to herself, shaking her head. They risked everything!

  The door to her office swung open. Spinning, Christine saw Fairfax tentatively poke his head in. “They’re here,” he said. “Are you ready for them?”

  “Of course,” Christine snapped. “Show them in.” As Fairfax popped back out behind the door, she moved to her desk and forced herself to take a seat. Her foot began to tap as soon as she sat.

  Fairfax led Johnston, Russell, and Swenson into the office. Christine smoothed her expression. She didn’t have quite the same success with her tone of voice. “Sit,” she barked. Her eyes never left Johnston as the marine General moved towards the two seats in front of her desk. When Fairfax took one there was a moment’s confusion as the other three men decided who would take the seat. It was a calculated measure. One Christine used to put unwelcome guests off guard. In the end Admiral Russell, by far the oldest of the three, sat.

  “I want an explanation,” Christine said as calmly as she could, her eyes fixed on Johnston. “I don’t want excuses; I don’t want the official story. I want the truth and I want to know why. Mess me about and it will be the end of your careers. Please explain to me why there is a lawyer on every holo news channel insisting that his client was arrested without charge and tortured whilst under our jurisdiction.”

  “It wasn’t without charge,” Swenson said hastily. “We caught her red-handed with the same weapons that were used in the attack against your shuttle.”

  “Was I speaking to you?” Christine said as she slowly turned and leveled her gaze at Swenson. When the IID Agent didn’t respond, but instead lowered his eyes, she turned back to Johnston. “Tell me now.”

  “I did what needed to be done Empress. Your life was on the line and there was no time. I did what needed to be done,” Johnston repeated without looking away.

  Christine’s anger came to a boil. “You have been with us from the start! You know what the Empire is all about. Heck, you were with James when he brought New Delhi into the Empire. He didn’t break the ideals of the Empire. He used them to win New Delhi over. You have compromised everything. We have a constitution that gives all of our citizens rights, rights you tore up in front of the entire planet. Now every fringe group that hates the Empire has enough ammunition to keep them going for decades. Not to mention the genuine people who now have concerns. How can I stand up in front of Earth’s populace or any other colony and say I am dedicated to upholding our constitution?” Pausing, Christine took a breath to let Johnston answer. “Well?” she pushed.

  “I don’t presume to tell you how to be our Empress,” Johnston said a little more hesitantly. “Just as I know you wouldn’t presume to tell me how to be a marine General.”

  Christine barked a laugh. “That’s rich. Being a marine General is one thing. Torturing civilians is another. I’d say that’s a little bit out of your job description. Wouldn’t you?”

  “I was put in charge of your security since the attack on your shuttle. I’ve been heading up the investigation i
nto your attackers. We had intelligence that they were planning to attack you again. At your speech last night. This was only hours before your speech. We had no other way of getting the information.” Johnston’s voice hardened. “I had no other way. Neither Russell nor Swenson were involved. I made the decision and I do not apologize for it. I got the information from Akhila that allowed us to intercept both Agarwal and Saria. Each of them was armed with a hypervelocity missile launcher. Either one of them could have killed you or hundreds of civilians. There was no other way of getting the information.”

  “Of course, there was,” Christine countered. “You could have arrested her and called off the speech. Then you could have sweated the information out of her. She broke easily enough in the end.”

  “Would you have called off your speech?” Johnston asked her. “On the word of one suspected terrorist when, in all honesty, we did not know for certain she had any connection to the first attack? If you recall our last meeting you were adamant about going ahead. You wouldn’t even entertain discussing a postponement.”

  “That is beside the point entirely,” Christine said as she outwardly dismissed Johnston’s point. Inwardly she reluctantly saw that there was something in his words. But it didn’t come close to justifying his actions. “Tell me why? I’ve known you for years. James has known you for decades. How could you do this to us? Don’t you get what this does for our image?”

  Johnston shook his head vigorously. “I wasn’t thinking about your image. That’s not my concern. I was thinking about your safety. It’s because I’ve known you for years. Because I’ve known James for decades. I did what had to be done. I didn’t enjoy it. I hated it in fact. But I did it to protect you. I made a promise to James when he left that I would see to his family’s safety. That is why I did what I did and why I will not apologize.”

  Christine couldn’t help but spring to her feet. “I don’t want your apology!” she spat as she slammed her good first on the table. “I want you to see how wrong… how morally wrong… how evil what you did was. We have ways and means of interrogating prisoners. Torture is not one of them.”

  “We would never have gotten what we needed from her unless I had done what I did,” Johnston replied calmly.

  “She would have broken eventually,” Christine argued.

  “Empress, I’m not so sure about that,” Fairfax said cautiously. As he spoke, he handed a datapad over to her.

  Christine grabbed it and quickly scanned through it. It was a medical report on Akhila’s injuries. Attached to it in extremely analytical language was Johnston’s own description of what he had done to her. Unconsciously a hand went to her stomach as she swallowed hard at the description. Her unease only fed her revulsion. “This is worse than the holo news reports are implying,” she said as she dropped the datapad onto her desk with a bang. “And it will get out. There’s no way we can avoid that. If we tried to cover it up it will only make things worse. It doesn’t matter that she was planning to make an attempt on my life. It doesn’t matter that you managed to stop Agarwal. No one will see those things. All they will see is an Imperial citizen tortured by one of our highest-ranking marine Generals.” Placing both her hands on her desk, Christine lowered herself into her seat as her energy faded. She glanced at Fairfax who nodded to show he approved of what she had in mind.

  “You have left me no choice,” she said after taking a breath. “I’m appalled at what you have done but because of who you are, because of our friendship, I believe that in time I can come to forgive you. I know you did it for me… That however does not change what the public’s response will be. Nor what I have to do as your Empress. I am sworn to uphold our constitution. And you have broken it. Here is my decision...” Christine paused as she took a breath and gathered her strength. “Lieutenant General Johnston. You’re being demoted to the rank of Colonel. As soon as you step out of this office consider yourself relieved as my Chief of Security. I’m reassigning you to New Shanghai’s marine headquarters. There you can serve under General Wu. There’s a new marine training facility being set up there. You can help train the first cadre of cadets that will be recruited.

  “Admiral Russell,” Christine said as her gaze finally lowered to the ageing Admiral. “You’re being relieved from command of the IID. I know you had no direct part in this, but the blame will fall at your feet, nonetheless. You can go back into retirement or we will find you a suitable post within the IID.” She turned to the man she knew the least. “Special Agent Swenson. You’re being demoted and transferred to the Adolphus colony. There is a small IID field office there and you’ll be serving under the chief of station.” Pulling her hands together, Christine straightened her shoulders and took another deep breath. She moved her gaze from each man to the other. “All three of you have skills and abilities that have served our young Empire well. Despite what I have to do to you today, I hope you will continue to use those skills on behalf of our people. None of this is ideal. But I cannot let it slide. Nor would I even if I could. This will not be enough in the eyes of many. There will be groups within all three of our Parliamentary houses calling for you to be thrown out of the marines and incarcerated,” Christine said as she settled her gaze on Johnston. “Count yourself lucky I’m not prepared to have such a circus distract everyone from our war with the Karacknids. Now… Do any of you have anything to say?” When none of the three men opened their mouths, Christine decided it was the first sign of wisdom she had seen from any of them so far. She gave them one final nod. “Dismissed.”

  As they got up and left in silence, she couldn’t help but share a glance with Fairfax. She was truly sorry that it had come to this but they had left her no choice. Whilst it didn’t change anything, she appreciated the consolatory look Fairfax gave her. With a good deal of effort, she dismissed Johnston and the others from her mind. She had a thousand other things she needed to see to. Chief of which was to put an end to the new political scandal.

  *

  Opening the door out of Christine’s office, Johnston stepped aside as he held it open to allow Russell and Swenson to walk past him. Closing it quickly he stared at the back of the two men. He didn’t know how to feel. A coldness had descended on him the moment he had heard Christine’s tone. He knew she was going to be angry with him but he hadn’t realized just how angry. Nor had he expected to be treated as he had been. Especially after everything he had done for Humanity and the Empire. You did see the holo reports, he said to himself. There was a storm brewing. In the grand scheme of things what he had done might be small and inconsequential, even if it was wrong, but with the Empire still so young… Shaking his head he berated himself. He had no regrets. He had carried out his duty and fulfilled his promise. Considering the political ramifications of his actions had never been of interest to him. He wasn’t going to start worrying about it now. Getting banished to New Shanghai was an embarrassment. He would never rise up the ranks of the marines again. And yet the Karacknids were still out there. He couldn’t just resign and give up the fight. But what about those two? he asked himself as Russell and Swenson walked away in silence. Loudly he cleared his throat. When they turned, he held up a hand to beckon them to stop. “I owe you both an apology,” he said as he stepped towards them. “None of this was your fault. I’m sorry you got caught up in it.”

  Russell smiled and stepped forward. “You have nothing to apologize for Colonel. You did what had to be done and now you have to take the consequences. In your shoes I would have done the same. Sometimes in our line of duty we have to leave the rule book behind in order to get things done. We do this so that the likes of Christine do not have to. Besides,” Russell added as his smile widened, “I happened to be enjoying retirement before James dragged me into all this. I’m sure I can find a way to enjoy it again. Her anger will diminish in time. I imagine there will be a consulting role or two for me in the future. It’s not all bad.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way Admiral,” Johnston said as he felt hi
s guilt ease a little. “And you Agent Swenson. I’m afraid I have ruined your career.”

  “Perhaps,” Swenson said in a slightly more stoic tone than Russell had. “But I have many decades ahead of me yet. Who knows, my posting to Adolphus may open up some doors that wouldn’t have been available here on Earth. And there are other ways to serve the Empire than in the IID. In the short term though, I imagine my wife will be singing your praises. We’ve been married for three years and she’s always complaining I’m never home. I have no idea how she’ll react to being assigned to an outer colony. But it is on the far side of the front line with the Karacknids. That will put her mind at ease.”

  Johnston nodded. He wasn’t sure if Swenson was putting a brave face on it or not, but he appreciated what the agent was trying to say. And it reminded him of Clare. Now that it was over, he wanted nothing more than to tell her everything that had happened. Good and bad. He didn’t know if she would approve, but she would support him anyway. Snapping to attention, he gave both men a salute. “It was an honor working with you both. I hope we will see each other again under better circumstances.”

  “As do I,” Russell replied for Swenson and himself. Both men saluted Johnston and with one final nod, they turned and went their separate ways.