To Hell's Heart (Crimson Worlds)

by Allan, Jay

  “Don’t thank me yet, admiral.” Her hand moved toward the com controls. “I will see you both in the morning.” The screen went dark.

  Garret and Holm, stunned, stared at each other wordlessly. Finally it was Holm who broke the silence. “What the hell was that?”

  Chapter 4

  AS Midway

  In Sandoval Orbit

  Delta Leonis IV

  “The Line”

  Friederich Hofstader climbed slowly, painfully out of the shuttle’s open hatch. He was sore, aching from head to toe. As a scientist he appreciated the technology behind the Martian Torch transport vessels. As a passenger, he’d cursed Roderick Vance and his people to hell more than once. Spending weeks at a time getting crushed to death at 44g acceleration without a break was hard enough on the naval crews…it was unbearable for Hofstader and the rest of his scientists. And the trip from Epsilon Eridani was a long one, even in one of Vance’s superfast ships.

  He turned his neck slowly, stretching, trying to work out some of the kinks. Midway’s port shuttle bay was vast, its arched roof looming 100 meters above his head. Above was a relative term in space, of course, but it felt real enough to his perception.

  “You look like shit.”

  He turned, wincing at the ache in his neck as he did. General Thomas Sparks was walking toward him, not looking much better himself. “Same to you, my friend.” Hofstader smiled and extended his hand to the Alliance engineer. Sparks wore the same gray fatigues as Hofstader, though his were neatly pressed and decorated with a cluster of ribbons. Sparks wasn’t a combat Marine, but he’d been in his share of hot spots nonetheless, and his awards included several decorations for distinction under fire.

  “I just got in from Wolf 359.” The primary Alliance shipyard orbited a gas giant in that system, and it had been running nonstop, trying to install Sparks new weapon systems into the ships of Grand Fleet before the invasion was launched. Any vessels not finished when the fleet shipped out were either going to be left behind or sent into battle ill prepared. Neither option was acceptable to Augustus Garret, so the maintenance crews in the yards were running 16 hours on, 8 off, and work was going around the clock. “I’m afraid I took the Torch express myself.” He reached out and grasped Hofstader’s hand as he spoke.

  “I’m glad to see you’re both here.” The voice was unmistakable. Sharp, cold, to the point. Erik Cain had been running everyone ragged since Garret and Holm had left for Earth, and Hofstader and Sparks weren’t going to be any exceptions. “We have a lot to do and not much time, so I’ve ordered some food brought up to the conference room if that is acceptable to you both.” In truth, Cain didn’t much care if any of it was acceptable – they were both coming if he had to have a Marine escort help them find the way. But he didn’t see any reason not to be polite, especially since he knew both of these men had worked themselves half to death on behalf of the war effort.

  “Of course, General Cain.” Sparks answered first, snapping to attention as his military instincts kicked in. He was a Marine, and directly in Cain’s chain of command, while Hofstader was a basically a civilian.

  Hofstader was about to respond as well, but Cain beat him to it. “Please, Tom…” He was waving his arm in Spark’s direction. “…let’s give the salutes and snapping to attention a break and keep this informal.” His eyes flicked between Sparks and Hofstader. “Ok with you guys?”

  Hofstader nodded immediately. “Yes, general.” He forced a smile, though being around Cain tended to put him on edge. “As you know, I am a civilian at heart.” The German scientist carried an honorary rank of colonel in the forces of the Grand Pact, but it was purely to legitimize his giving orders to military personnel assigned to support his work. Before the First Imperium crisis hit, Hofstader’s life had been spent in universities and research labs. Flitting around the galaxy on warships was still very new to him.

  Sparks was still at attention, but he nodded as well. “Yes, general.” Sparks respected Cain with a reverence that bordered on worship, but the truth was, the intense Marine commander scared the hell out of him. The thought of calling him Erik was enough to make Sparks start sweating.

  “Let’s go.” Cain started walking toward the edge of the flight deck. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

  They followed Cain wordlessly into the lift and up to the control deck. Cain was using the admiral’s conference room, a large meeting space just down the corridor from the flag bridge.

  “Grab a seat, gentlemen.” Cain walked toward the head of the table. There were three ‘pads and a stack of data chips spread out in front of his chair. “Lieutenant Graves, where are those sandwiches?” He spoke into the small comlink clipped to his collar, his tone annoyed and impatient. Since his victory on Sandoval, Cain had become, if anything, even colder and more driven. Destroying the enemy had become his entire life, virtually all that mattered to him. Beyond 2 or 3 hours of sleep most nights, every moment was devoted to work. Sarah had managed to get him to relax occasionally, but now she was gone, back on Armstrong fitting out the squadron of hospital ships that would accompany Grand Fleet. Erik missed her, but he was relieved too…now he could focus solely on the task at hand.

  “I’m sorry, sir.” Graves came charging through the door. “Your sandwiches will be here in one minute.” Graves was a giant mass of a man, well over two meters and at least 110 kilos of solid muscle. But in front of Cain the grizzled Marine officer was nervous and twitchy, his face and neck slick with sweat.

  Cain was hardly listening. He waved the lieutenant off. “That’s fine Graves. See to it.” He turned up and looked at Sparks. “Tom, first I want to go over the enhanced plasma bombardment systems.” He leaned back in his chair. “I want to say that your system is one of the most impressive new weapons I’ve ever seen.” He paused for an instant and looked right into Sparks’ eyes. “I can tell you outright, I don’t think we would have won on Sandoval without it.”

  Sparks stared back, silently at first. This was heady praise, especially from Erik Cain. “Thank you, general.” His throat was dry, his voice hoarse. He coughed a few times and continued. “I’m gratified that it was helpful.” Another pause, then he added, “I hope it saved some of your people, general. Our people.”

  “It certainly did, Tom.” Cain’s voice was unemotional but sincere. Erik Cain was a lot of things, but a bullshitter wasn’t one of them. He tended to tell people exactly what he thought, sometimes with unpredictable consequences. “Thousands, I’m sure.” Cain turned to face Hofstader. “Friederich, I know your research played a big role in the development of the PBS and General Sparks’ other weapons. You have my congratulations on your success.” His face softened for an instant. “And my thanks. As General Sparks observed, your work has saved many of my Marines. I can’t express what that means to me.”

  Hofstader looked back at Cain, surprised but trying hard not to show it. “Thank you, general. I am extremely gratified that my efforts have contributed to providing your people the tools they need to fight this war.” Cain continued to be an enigma to Hofstader. Just when he decided the Marine general was a rigid, ruthless martinet, he got a glimpse of something else, something deeper and far more complex than the perfect warrior persona he projected. The scientist always respected Cain immensely, but occasionally he also got a feeling that this was someone he really liked. He wondered if anyone saw more than fleeting bits of the real Erik Cain.

  The door slid open, Graves slipping in quietly, followed by three stewards carrying trays. The Marine lieutenant was silent, pointing toward the table, directing his companions to place down the food they were carrying.

  Cain glanced up. “Thank you, lieutenant.” His voice was unemotional, all traces of his earlier irritation gone. “That will be all.” He turned back toward Sparks. “As I was saying, Tom, I am very interested in getting the new PBS drones into action before we engage the enemy again.” His tone changed, almost imperceptibly, but Sparks caught it…sadness, regret. “I just ca
n’t keep sending pilots on these missions when only one in five comes back.” Cain paused, sucking in a long breath and exhaling. “I need those drones.”

  “I think we can help you there, general.” Sparks looked a little nervous. “At least if you’re willing to waive some of the usual testing requirements.”

  “Do you think the system is ready?” Cain’s question was direct.

  “Yes, general.” The scientist returned Cain’s gaze, though it took some effort. “I believe it is reliable as is. However I cannot yet demonstrate this fact with adequate field testing results.”

  “Good enough for me, Tom.” For all Cain’s stubbornness and hard-driving way of doing things, he could check something off his list rapidly when he was satisfied. He trusted Sparks’ judgment, and that was all he needed to hear. He turned toward Hofstader. “Friederich, have you overseen the outfitting of the research vessels?” Grand Fleet would include a squadron of science ships loaded with the best and brightest of Hofstader’s hand-picked personnel. Learning more about the First Imperium and its technology was going to be essential to taking the war to the enemy, and that meant Hofstader and his pack of white coats needed to be up at the front, not lightyears away manning some remote research station.

  Hofstader nodded. “Yes, general.” He paused then elaborated. “I personally oversaw most of the preparations, but I’m afraid I had to delegate the final efforts in order to embark in time to reach Sandoval for this meeting.” He hesitated again before adding, “I left detailed instructions behind, and I placed Bradley Travers in charge of the operation. I have complete faith in his ability.”

  “Good choice, Friederich.” Cain smiled. He wasn’t sure if Hofstader knew Travers was one of Roderick Vance’s spooks, but he did…and he felt better knowing that Vance’s resources would be available on Carson’s World if needed. “Travers is a good man.”

  There was a brief silence before Sparks continued the discussion. “General Cain, I forwarded you the updated reports on the status of the new weapons and equipment. The PBS drones were tested after my last transmission, so that data is not included, but everything else is exactly as reported.” Sparks looked tentatively at Cain. “Is there anything we can clarify on those initiatives while we are here?”

  Cain leaned back in his chair. “No, Tom. Your reports were, as always, meticulous and complete. I am comfortable with the status of all research and development projects.” He paused. “There is another reason I wanted you both here.”

  Friederich glanced over at Sparks. The engineer’s confused look confirmed he had no more idea what Cain had in mind that Hofstader himself did. “What can we do for you, General Cain?”

  Cain shifted in his seat, straightening the worst folds in his rumpled fatigues as he did. Sparks hadn’t noticed until now how plain the general’s fatigues were…just 4 small platinum stars on each collar. Erik Cain had more combat decorations than half the people on Midway combined, but there wasn’t a ribbon to be seen.

  “We just got word from Admiral Jacobs out at Adelaide. It turns out there were survivors from the colony after all.” Cain was looking at Sparks as he spoke, and he could see by his surprised expression, the Corps chief engineer hadn’t had much hope anyone had managed to hold out on the distant colony.

  “There’s no sign of enemy activity in Adelaide’s system or anywhere between here and there.” Cain ran his fingers over his ‘pad, and a map of warp connections from Sandoval to Adelaide came up on the main display on the wall. “We’re going to be setting up a forward base and supply depot on Adelaide…” Cain looked up from the ‘pad and back at Sparks and Hofstader. “…and I’d like both of you out there as soon as possible.” He took a short breath. “The first flotilla is leaving in four days. If at all possible, I’d like the two of you to join it.”

  Hofstader and Sparks both looked startled, but they remained silent. They were aware that Garret and Holm were still on Earth trying to get clearance for the offensive operation. As far as they knew, it wasn’t even certain there’d be an invasion at all and, at the very least, they’d expected it to be months before anyone was moving forward.

  “Jacobs’ tech crews have provisional Commnet links in place all the way out to Adelaide now, so we’ve got priority communications with less than three days transit time each way.” Cain glanced down at his ‘pad, his fingers sliding slowly across the surface. “I am sending you both updated dossiers, detailing the resources we are dispatching to Adelaide’s system. Admiral Jacobs has already deployed limited ground forces to the planet as well as a squadron of attack ships on patrol. Our first expedition will substantially upgrade these defenses as well as establish a research facility on the planet.”

  He took a deep breath and continued. “Apparently, the planetary militia fought a considerable battle against the First Imperium invaders, and there is a significant amount of debris that needs to be studied.” Cain knew as well as his two subordinates it was unlikely anything useful would be among the artifacts on Adelaide. His own forces on Sandoval had left behind enough shattered pieces of First Imperium robots and equipment to keep the scientific teams supplied for a lifetime. But he wanted his two top researchers on Adelaide for another reason, one he was hesitant to discuss. Mike Jacobs was exceeding his initial orders, moving Scouting Fleet deeper toward enemy space. His initial authorization extended to Adelaide only, but Admiral Compton had given him a quiet nod to keep moving. It was a risk…he was getting farther out in front of support. If he ran into significant enemy resistance he could easily find himself in serious trouble. But he was anxious to go, and Compton wanted as much intel as possible before he and Garret led 80% of humanity’s warships into the unknown.

  Hofstader answered first, glancing briefly at Sparks before beginning. “Of course, General Cain…I will go if you feel that is where I can be of the greatest service.” He was tentative at first, on edge, feeling he should remain behind to manage the arrangements being completed. But he realized there really wasn’t much for him to do. The balance of work to be done was primarily logistical in nature, complex, but hardly requiring the supervision of the Pact’s senior physicist.

  “Thank you, Friederich.” Cain shifted, looking at Sparks. “Tom?”

  Sparks cleared his throat. “Of course, general.” He swallowed hard and added, “I am at your command.”

  “This isn’t an order.” Cain softened his tone. “It’s a request. I won’t order you away from your work here if you think it’s important you stay.”

  Sparks thought for a moment. He had the same impulse as Hofstader, thinking this wasn’t the time for him to be away from his crews. But he had everything running smoothly and, assuming the invasion was approved, it wouldn’t be that much longer before they’d be pulling out anyway. He was going to have to leave the production crews on their own soon no matter what so, other than a little bit of surprise, there was no reason to turn down the request. Besides, the mere thought of saying no to Erik Cain was more than he could imagine.

  “Of course, sir.” His voice was firm. “If you think it’s best, I completely agree.”

  Cain nodded gratefully. “I have a few additional reasons I will keep to myself for now, but I do believe it will be helpful.” He paused, looking briefly at each man. “Thank you both.” He motioned over to the trays on the table. “Now please, have something to eat. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  Chapter 5

  AS Indianapolis

  HP 56548 III System

  Outer System

  300,000,000 km past Newton Orbit

  Jacobs sat silently, staring at the main screen. Everything checked out…no contacts, no detectable energy emissions. The scanners and specialists of the fleet were telling him there were no enemies in Newton’s system. But Jacobs didn’t believe it. Something was somehow…wrong. It was his nose, his gut. But he knew something was there.

  Where, he thought…where would I hide if I was an enemy picket? He pulled up the system map, stud
ying it carefully. His vanguard was 30,000,000 miles from the orbit of the outermost planet. That lonely world itself was irrelevant, a frigid, airless ball of rock currently far away, on the opposite side of the primary. But its orbital shell was also a border, leading to the warp gate and beyond, to the very edge of the star system.

  Finally, it hit him. There it was…Newton’s system had an area of planetary debris, asteroids, and frozen volatiles, similar to Sol’s Kuiper Belt but far denser. If was a perfect place to hide…full of debris that played havoc with long-range scanners. “Commander Carp, order Borodino to launch a spread of heavy probes to the coordinates I’m sending you. I want 200% overlap and full power.” He looked down at his workstation again. “That’s where I’d hide,” he muttered softly to himself. “Beyond the warp gate but close enough to scan anything approaching in open space.”

  “Yes, admiral.” Carp responded sharply. He could hear Jacobs whispering to himself, but he couldn’t tell what he was saying. He almost asked, but it was obvious the admiral didn’t intend for anyone to hear. If Jacobs wanted Carp to know, he’d tell him.

  Jacobs sat, deep in thought, only peripherally hearing Carp relay his orders. He’d come to trust the brilliant young officer completely. If he told Carp to do it, he considered it as good as done. If there was anything hiding out there behind the warp gate, the phalanx of probes would be detected immediately, placed so closely together and operating on high power. Jacobs didn’t care…if the probes found whatever was lurking there fine; if they just flushed it out into the open, that was just as good. And if he was wrong and there was nothing there, at least he’d know.

  “Borodino reports probe spread launched, admiral.” Borodino was an old Russian cruiser, hastily modified into a light carrier. Scouting Fleet wasn’t a heavy combat organization, but Garret hadn’t wanted to send Jacobs into enemy space without some teeth. Borodino and her sister-ship, Tolstoy, each carried two light squadrons of fighters and a large supply of probes. The PRC’s Osaka was a bit larger, carrying 18 fighter-bombers. The converted ships sacrificed most of their weaponry and armor to accommodate the landing bays, but they gave Jacobs long-ranged striking power, a valuable resource against an enemy that didn’t seem to utilize fighters at all.