by CJ Williams
He would get her back, one way or another. This decision was not a wish. It was a fact of life that he was committed to deep in his bones. His natural optimism took hold and he got up to take a shower and put on a change of uniform.
Luke was well aware that false-confidence was a normal self-defense mechanism for people in impossible situations. Even so, he was almost humming when he walked onto the bridge.
“Status?” he asked aloud.
Grant Jefferies jumped up. “Commander. All Phantoms of the 391st and 512th are operational. All ships are interlocked and we are at present in route to Haiyanas Seven. JF307 informed us that is the homeworld of the Sixth Family. We’re only two days out from the Japurnam system, so we can change course easily if you desire.”
“Two days?” Luke said, a bit startled.
“Yeah, boss. You slept round the clock. The doc said to leave you be.”
No wonder I feel better, Luke thought. “I understand. What did combat analysis come up with?”
“Some good stuff. If you want, I can show you in my conference room.”
Luke nodded. “Let’s see it. Get Conner up here too. I’ll transfer back to Rickie after the briefing. Thanks for putting up with me.”
“Not a problem, boss,” Grant said. “It’s good to see you looking normal for a change.”
*.*.*.*
Luke asked Grant to have the other nine ship captains attend the briefing. Once everyone was settled in his ship’s conference room Grant began the presentation. “We recovered a lot of data from the reconnaissance drones that Captain Slater had deployed. Valentine combined everything we found into this video compilation of the engagement.”
The display screen built into the wall came alive. A view from space filled with a single planet, hanging in orbit around its distant sun.
“You are looking at Japurnam Five,” Grant said.
A variety of spaceships began to streak into view, encircling the planet.
“Here is the raider’s arrival into orbit. These are big ships; much bigger than most of the Booker vessels we’ve been seeing. Valentine estimates these new ones are four times the size of our own Phantoms. Someone has a shipyard.”
The scene froze on a closeup of one of the intruders. It had an unsettling similarity to the Bakkui ships Luke had fought against.
Grant continued. “Some of the vessels are obviously troop carriers. Shortly after arrival, they left orbit and launched a coordinated ground attack. This had to be planned as a snatch and grab from the word go.”
The view slewed sideways to a single vessel.
“Now, notice that one ship. It’s much larger; JF307 called it a dreadnought, and I can’t say I disagree.”
Grant pointed to the top right of the screen. “You can see Slater’s squadron coming in to defend the planet. Now watch.”
As the Phantoms swooped in, an arcing beam of light lanced out from the dreadnought. With unbelievable speed and accuracy, it touched one Alliance vessel after another. Each time it cut right through the hull, leaving the warships in two big chunks that drifted away from each other, pushed apart by escaping atmosphere. Debris and flailing bodies spilled from the interior, floating hopelessly in orbit.
Luke understood what that felt like. The exact same thing happened to him during the attack on Ebene Three. He had never seen the dreadnought.
“There’s Sadie,” Grant pointed to a streak rising from the planet’s surface. “Magnify that, Valentine.”
The display zoomed in on the yacht. Luke groaned seeing smoke and flames spewing from the starboard engine pod. Sadie cleared the atmosphere and tried to head directly away from the planet.
She wasn’t successful. The arcing beam lashed out and caught Sadie right down her longitudinal axis, slicing the yacht in two from her nose to the back of the fuselage. If Annie were in the pilot’s seat, the beam must have missed by mere inches.
Luke saw his wife then, thrown from the stricken yacht by the explosive decompression of the vessel’s internal atmosphere. Annie tumbled like a fallen downhill skier; twisting and spinning, end over end. Like a pro, she pulled on her gravity gloves and got control of her movement, orienting her trajectory toward one of the disabled Phantoms. Before she had traveled more than a fraction of the way however, the dreadnought slid in close and locked her with a tractor beam. It quickly pulled her inside a cavernous bay.
The screen went black. “That’s it,” Grant said.
Luke realized he wasn’t breathing. He let out his air in a deep whoosh and leaned back in his seat. She was definitely alive. He stood and motioned for Grant to step aside.
“Valentine,” Luke said. “Show me this section of space with the Nobility’s borders for the various royal families.”
A map of the galaxy appeared with the outlined boundaries. After a moment of study, Luke voiced his thoughts.
“That was a good call to head for Haiyanas, Grant, but let’s alter course to Suneuon. It’s closer and Kristina is already there gathering intelligence. We need something current.”
“Alter course to Suneuon,” Grant ordered.
Valentine’s reply came from the overhead speakers. “Course set to Suneuon.”
Luke asked Grant, “Did you update Dean Stone on Ebene Three yet? He needs to know where to send our reinforcements.”
“I did,” Grant replied. “But I didn’t give him any orders.”
“All right. Send him a message with our new destination. I hope he’s got a production line going because we need some new Phantoms.”
Grant scowled. “Like you said, even if he does, a backwater planet like that won’t have trainable candidates; not that can become capable star crews.”
Luke gave Grant a sideways glance. “They might. Let’s not be overly pessimistic; we’ll wait and see.”
Grant’s negative comments put a damper on Luke’s good mood and it didn’t help. From here on, every single decision would impact Annie’s survival chances and the pressure to get it right was unbearable. Luke needed to develop a strategy, not just fly around, guns blazing.
He pulled himself back to the topic at hand. “Tell Dean to send whatever he has so far to join us in the Suneuon system.”
“Got it.”
“Valentine, what information do you have on the Fourth Family? Did JF307 give you the background information I asked?”
“Affirmative. The current Fourth Family leader is King Dracci. He is considered a weak monarch. Of all ruling sovereigns, he should be easiest to intimidate or otherwise obtain information from.”
It was a sparse background briefing. Luke sighed. He missed George at times like this. George would have rattled off a book about the Fourth Family and provided references for further study. Luke hadn’t realized how much he took Lulubelle’s AI for granted. George could be annoyingly pompous…that was true enough…but his archives were incredibly comprehensive.
Luke addressed his officers. “We only command ten ships at the moment, but we will get more. Some will come from Dean and if necessary, Roth Higgins, back on Moonbase. He will send whatever we need. Just so you understand, it was never my intention to become part of a royal family. But now that I am, we’re going to use all those resources. That means if we have too, we will take over every planet we land on.”
“That’s a tall order, boss,” Grant said.
“It might be,” Luke replied, giving Grant an expression that said don’t argue with me. “But look around. Our once peaceful galaxy is falling apart. A few months ago, I would not have cared. I thought none of this would impact us, but it does. It’s clear that without a strong Nobility, lawlessness and violence will become the norm. And eventually, that will impact Earth. So just like we stopped the Bakkui, we’re going to stop these raiders. I need to know that you’re with me.”
The younger officers rose and responded enthusiastically. This was the kind of adventure they relished. Grant, much older than the others, stood more slowly, but he too expressed his approval.
As the cheering died down, Grant turned to his tactical officer and said, “You better start making plans for our arrival at Suneuon. I have a feeling it will be interesting.”
*.*.*.*
Luke stood on Rickie’s bridge, in front of the viewing window, while Conner fidgeted in the captain’s seat. Since they were approaching the Suneuon primary at a multiple of lightspeed, it glowed with a slightly bluish tint. The plan was to go sub-light at fifty astronomical units from the sun, about twice the radius of the local solar system, and reconnoiter. The first task was to get an update from Katrina. Hopefully she had made some progress in getting the lay of the land.
“Contact,” Rickie stated. “I have located her beacon on a moon orbiting the outermost gas giant.”
“Adjust course to the beacon,” Conner ordered.
“Course set,” Rickie responded. “ETA one hour.”
*.*.*.*
“Going sub-light,” Rickie announced. “I have downloaded Captain Dale’s message.”
“On screen,” Conner said.
Katrina face filled the screen and she looked smug. “Hello, Commander. I recorded this message ten days after arriving on Suneuon Two and will keep it updated until you arrive. It is safe for you to proceed inward to the fourth planet. It’s small and has some spectacular rings. The bottom line is the security here is very lax. I’ve been to the capitol city on three occasions to gather information. They have a local media industry, mostly propaganda for the king, and they talk a lot about the obsolescence of the old Nobility.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “They are not outright advocating treason, but pretty close to it. I set a trigger on this beacon to notify me when you receive this message. I’ll meet up with you as quickly as I can. Katrina, out.”
Luke turned to Conner. “Looks like we sent the right person to do our spying.”
*.*.*.*
Luke was already in Rickie’s conference room when Katrina walked in. She snapped to attention and saluted.
“Captain Dale reporting!”
Luke suppressed a smile. Her enthusiasm hadn’t changed. She looked different though. Her skin was darker and she had cut her hair into a silly looking bob. He gave her an easy salute in return. “At ease, Katrina. Come sit down. You know Grant and Conner.”
“Yes sir,” Katrina replied taking a seat across from Luke.
“So, what did you find out?”
Katrina took a deep breath. “There is definitely some type of collusion already established between the Fourth and Sixth Families. Their goal is to dissolve the existing Nobility structure. There is talk about divvying up all the planets of the Second Family now that King Kkoli can’t be located.”
Luke said, “Kkoli’s been dead for months now. He died last year when the Bakkui attacked Earth.”
Katrina nodded. “The locals are not aware of that fact and I felt it best not to share. But it is clear the hierarchy believes he won’t be back. They don’t talk about the Bakkui much. When they do, it’s the same way the US used to talk about Russia. They were the enemy, but maybe they could become friends.”
Grant snorted. “Idiots!”
“What else?” Luke asked.
“A large fleet came through about ten days before I arrived. There was a big to do about it in the media. They have real newspapers here; which I thought was kind of unique. Anyway, immediately afterward the king was quoted as saying the First Family had been defeated, that its days were numbered.”
Luke’s heart jumped to his throat. “Is Annie on this planet then?”
Katrina looked uncomfortable answering the question. “I don’t think so. Newspapers reported the fleet as belonging to the Sixth Family and that it had only stopped for a day and continued on. If she was on one of those ships, I think she must have been taken to the Sixth Family’s homeworld of Haiyanas Seven. But there was no mention of a captive in the media.”
Luke had difficulty getting his feelings under control. That flash of hope that he might have found her, and then having it ripped away, hit harder than he expected. “You guys continue,” he mumbled and walked out of the room.
In the hallway, Luke’s emotions rocketed all over the spectrum. Mostly though, it was rage. At the very least, it was clear that King Dracci was involved in Annie’s abduction, if only by association. That sin would not go unpunished. By concentrating on a specific nearby target, Luke calmed his beating heart. But even with his breathing under control, his anger grew, building up a reservoir that would inevitably explode. With his fury outwardly under control, he re-entered the conference room.
Katrina was explaining some of the details behind her conclusions. Grant was upset that she had actually visited the planet.
“It was necessary,” she said. “I had to understand the background to get to the truth. There was commercial traffic in and out so I had Tabitha fix me up with a small shuttle and landed at the capitol’s spaceport. I even cut my hair to blend in.” She flicked it away from her neck. “None of the locals said a thing about me coming and going.”
“Where did you get your information?” Luke asked.
“There’s a library,” she explained. “Libraries are popular here. Even with all the media available, there’s nothing you would call entertainment programming. So people actually read books here. Importance is placed on academic endeavor.”
“What are the libraries like?” Conner asked.
“A lot like ours. Rows of books, research stations. Most of the material is archived digitally so you can search through it on computers run by the planetary AI. His name is Yulae.”
Grant was shocked by that fact. “You talked directly with the planetary AI? You didn’t think that was a little reckless? It could have reported you!”
“I didn’t realize who it was at first,” Katrina responded defensively. “It was just a cubicle with a computer interface. I used it for a couple of days and then it suggested I read some background on the Sixth Family. It said it would help my understanding since I was from off world. I told it to keep that fact to itself and it said the duties of His Majesty’s servants are no one else’s business.”
“Did it mean King Dracci?” Grant asked.
“I thought so at first and it kind of worried me. So I asked if it knew who I worked for and it said King Lucas.”
“Holy crap!” Grant exclaimed. “Then they know we’re here!”
“No!” Katrina said emphatically. “That’s my point. That comment made me realize I was talking to the planetary AI. How else could it know that the Commander is His Majesty King Lucas of the First Family? When the Commander was sworn in, JF307 said the news would be spread far and wide.” Katrina looked at Luke. “Remember? That’s what you said.”
“That’s true,” Luke acknowledged. “Jeff told me the news was going out to all the Nobility planets.”
“So I asked him point blank,” Katrina continued. “Are you the planetary AI? He said yes and told me his name. We talked and the bottom line is that his first loyalty is to you, Commander. He’s made that way.”
Grant wasn’t satisfied. “How did the AI know you worked for Luke?”
“Her implant,” Luke said calmly. “There’s a lot more information being transferred to these AIs than you realize. Nobility artificial intelligences update each other constantly and thoroughly. By the time Katrina made direct contact with Yulae, I am sure that Tabitha had already updated him. The AIs don’t tell us when that happens for the same reason I don’t tell you when I’m breathing. It’s a given.”
Katrina nodded. “That’s true. Yulae knew the Commander had been involved in a battle with Fourth Family raiders. He even apologized for it.”
“This is actually a big break,” Luke said thoughtfully. “And one that I hadn’t really considered; although I should have. It means that King Dracci has already lost; he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“How so,” Grant asked. “If he’s got more of those dreadnoughts we saw on Japurnam Five, it doesn’t so
und like he’s lost.”
“Good point,” Luke admitted. “We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. What else did you find out?” he asked Katrina.
“The inhabitants here are good people,” she said. “In spite of the constant media propaganda, the average citizen doesn’t like King Dracci. He doesn’t share replication technology and even worse, doesn’t distribute medical implants to the general populace. You would not believe how much hate that generates.”
Luke would believe it, but the fact surprised him nonetheless. Medical implants were ubiquitous on all the Nobility planets he had seen so far. A wealth gap was one thing, but walling off the gift of extended life was completely different.
“Only the high ministers get them,” Katrina said. “Dracci uses them to keep people in line. If you don’t suck up to the King, then maybe your family doesn’t live very long. It’s really a sick way of ruling.”
“We’ll fix that very soon,” Luke said. “I have a question for you, Katrina. Do you like this place? Think you could live here and make it one of our beachheads?”
Katrina looked wistful. “I really do,” she replied honestly. “I like the people and there’s something about this planet that touches me. Probably because my mom worked in a library all her life. This planet has the feel of a college campus. I’d stay here in a heartbeat. You mean as an advisor like Dean on Ebene Three?”
“Not exactly,” Luke said. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, what’s our next step? The big question at the moment is how many ships will Dean send us? We could sure use a few more Phantoms before we make our move. I wish they would hurry and get here.”
*.*.*.*
Luke stirred in the observer’s seat on Rickie’s bridge and contemplated the command structure of his small force. While Conner Watts captained the ship, Luke filled the 512th commander’s role. He wasn’t ready to give Conner the squadron commander job just yet. He was too inexperienced for such a senior leadership position. Conner joined the Alliance as a tactical officer following the epic battle with the Bakkui in Earth’s solar system. Once he got a little more experience, Luke would pass command of the Dragons on to the young officer. But that was in the future.