by TS Hottle
"Anyway, Marcus Leitman may not be the most popular leader in Compact history…"
"It's because I blame him for my husband's death," said Tishla. "And conspiring with the Laral family for the twin invasions. I don't buy his story that he was an unwitting dupe for this Juno. How can he be that stupid and still rise to the pinnacle of power over Homo sapiens?"
"I have a long list of incredibly lucky idiots from our species's history," said Suicide. "One, an inbred royal of questionable intelligence, started our World War Era. One prolonged it because he was prone to temper tantrums. And one ended it by starting the AI War. That's only a hundred thirty years' worth of men and women too stupid to handle the power given them. There have been more. Surely, your history has its own idiots who blundered into power."
"A few," said Tishla. "I suppose a few will come after me on Hanar."
"I don't believe either the Compact or the Realm had anything to do with this," said Suicide. "Amargosa is its own thing until it decides what it wants to be in the universe. For now, we're making up the rules of engagement as we go along. An entity like Juno, not the company, but the real Juno, can easily take advantage of the chaos here."
"Then why sign their name to the attacks like that?" said Jovann. "If the real Juno is this deeply held secret, why stamp their symbol on weapons intended to get the Realm and the Compact fighting more intensely?"
Suicide picked up the fragment from the Compact weapon. "They had no intention of us finding out. The etched symbol was meant for those stealing the weapons, not the people finding the remains of them. I'm thinking these are long-range portable rail gun charges, fired off a shoulder-mounted unit with a little bit of propulsion to give the weapons extra range. These fragments look like the remains of the fins." She looked at Palak. "Am I correct in assuming the Gelt version of this weapon is usually fired straight up? Both to evade tracking and to maximize damage?"
Palak nodded. "Wipe out as much of the enemy as possible and let our troops finish the survivors with swords. Something you've seen from my species as both enemy and ally."
Suicide had to admit she preferred the Gelt who were allies. "Whoever planned this probably assumed they worked like normal kinetics from orbit, that the weapon would completely vaporize on impact. The fins make the best place to put a hard-to-spot marking. Impact, however, would cause the symbols to become visible."
"They hit the enclave," said Burke, "Ellie Nardino's village, and your shack. So, they knew where Jayne Best and her children were hiding."
"Is there any word on whether Walden was hit?" asked Tishla.
All eyes went to the First Citizen. This might have been a high-level meeting, but sometimes, Tishla could forget herself.
"JT is fine," said Suicide. "He went back to his late wife's family farm, said Colonel Quan needed 'a bot wrangler who can actually spell bot.' But we have Colonial troops and Gelt settler militias watching the territory north of the Townships. If anyone shows up to take a potshot, Quan will know about it before they can setup their shot."
"As a ranking Compact officer," said Burke, "it is my duty to tell you that the Anna Khirovsky will be in orbit by the end of the day. Chief of staff Salamacis is aboard."
Palak's eyes narrowed. "Salamacis is the other reason the Sovereign is ill-disposed toward peace. He is convinced she killed His immediate predecessor. My sources in the Realm say she was there when the last Sovereign gave up Her name, but they have no idea how she left the Throneworld."
"Commander," said Jovann, "did Governor Best issue any orders to you when you two spoke?" Before Suicide could respond, she added, "Just yes or no, Commander Cui. Technically, I am responsible to Metis, not Amargosa."
"He had instructions." Suicide looked to Tishla, who gave her a knowing nod.
"Then I suggest you carry them out without telling us what they were. Agreed?"
This time, the nods came from Palak, Tishla, and Burke.
"Tight beam your flight plan to the Minerva," said Jovann. "In case we need to… verify your authorization."
Athena Jovann was a devious bitch, Suicide realized. She liked that about her.
Suicide had not been to the Parker Farm since the liberation. Prior to that, she had been there twice. The first time, John Parker offered to help find her a place to live and work as a pilot when the funds from her last contract on Aphrodite dried up. The second had been as a favor to a pilot known as Reaper. Reaper had become an admiral since his days in the Polygamy Wars and couched it as an order. Suicide would have done it, regardless. Reaper merely wanted her to look in on Parker's ward, one JT Austin, late of Earth. The boy had left the farm with Parker's daughter, so they would not meet until the occupation.
Today, she found that boy, now a man, out in the field working on a balky tractbot and arguing with a Tianese boy only a couple years his junior. The new boy looked lost as JT stood staring at tractbot guts.
"You can't just jump on these things, Yuwono," said JT, "and ride them in manual mode all the time. They have to have some kind of awareness of their surroundings, or they lock up."
"Then why have a manual mode?" asked Yuwono, the boy.
"Manual is for when you don't want to program them."
"Young Eric is good with weapons, Austin." Suicide strolled up to the tractbot and clamped Yuwono on the shoulder. "Anything he has to order around, not so much. And I thought Cybercommand drafted you."
"Suicide!" said Yuwono. "I was. And I didn't even know you were still on Amargosa."
"Except for the odd trip to Hanar, I haven't left." To JT, she said, "Walk with me."
JT gave her a questioning look, then turned to Yuwono and shrugged. He drew his hand out of the guts of the tractbot, a holographic display following it out. His finger stabbed at the display several times before the display vanished with a wave of his hand. "Rebooted the system. You done out here?"
"I'm done," said Yuwono. "At least until I get back to the main yard."
"Just tell it to go home. I'm pretty sure Quan's already standing on the porch with that coffee mug of his looking for you."
Yuwono waved and climbed onto the tractbot. "Giddy up, Martha."
JT turned and mouthed Yuwono's words to Suicide, his face screwed up in confusion. Suicide had already started to walk back toward her borrowed barrow. She waited for him to catch up. "We have to leave Amargosa. Now."
He stopped. "Now? I promised Quan I'd stick around for the…"
"Quan's ex-Marine and a colonel. Anyway, he already knows." When JT stared at her with a look of skepticism, she added, "He knows we're working for the provisional government."
"What's going on?"
"We're looking for Jayne Best. And we need to be gone before Leitman's toady gets her."
"We'll need an unregistered ship. Pretty sure the Queen of the Canopy is on everyone's radar now."
Suicide began moving toward the barrow again. "Got that covered, but we need to be on the next eastbound maglev. We've got forty minutes to get up to Ragnar Station."
"Maglev? Why?"
Suicide turned back, her hand on her hip. "Really, Austin, do you think that idiot Croix was the only governor I hid ships for?"
"Croix's on Mars, getting grilled by their security forces."
"Best isn't."
The ruined city of Lansdorp had disappeared more and more as New Lansdorp grew. The same could not be said for Arcanum, once the largest city on the continent's eastern coast. Suicide could see the old Gelt colony transport bobbing in the waves off the coast, stabilized by a complex system of flotation devices. The city itself remained a blackened ruin two years after the liberation. The Gelt settlements remained scattered on the hills to the south, with human encampments to the north. Neither species had attempted to rebuild the city proper yet.
As it was, Arcanum had become a literal armed camp surrounded by energized fencing and gun emplacements. Another smaller Gelt colony transport hovered overhead, this one with the clasped gray and brown hands of Ha
nar in place of whatever flying beast the Realm used on its craft. Above the main barracks within, the flag of the Compact, its sunburst symbol on a black background, fluttered overhead. Above it, the flag of Amargosa with the flags of Metis and Hanar flanking it on separate poles. All three flew higher than that of the Compact. Suicide wondered when, not if, the Compact flag would be removed.
Colonel Hu Dingbang had held command of the forces around Arcanum since before the occupation. He had been a resistance leader when the Gelt invaded, had merged his forces and a defecting Gelt garrison with the Northern Resistance during the liberation, and accepted promotion to oversee the recovery afterward. He now operated out of a fenced in base outside the ruins of Arcanum, his forces and Gelt settler militia patrolling the dead city. He met Suicide and JT at the gate.
"Do you have a ship for us?" asked Suicide.
"Are you asking me as an officer in the Compact Navy?" asked Hu. "Or in the employ of the provisional government?"
"What's the difference?" asked JT, trailing behind Suicide.
Hu did not turn around. "My orders from the Defence Commission are to detain a Navy lieutenant commander and a brevet lieutenant overdue for Officer Training School on Tian. My orders from the provisional government are to make an unregistered ship available for agents of the governor. How you answer determines which orders I follow."
"How close is the Anna Khirovsky?" Suicide asked.
"Just emerged over the main lunar facility and is in free fall toward Amargosa."
"Go with Governor Best. Before Leitman's lackey contacts you."
"Who?" The colonel turned back and winked. "This way." He led them into a long shed that concealed a ramp leading underground. "I've kept my finger in the air to see which way the wind's been blowing. The more the administration inserts itself into Amargosan affairs, the more likely it is that Metis, and Amargosa along with it, will leave the Compact. Who this world aligns with after that is anyone's guess. But my superiors already know, as Amargosa goes, so go I."
Suicide followed him down the unlit ramp. "How did they take it?"
"Well, as a Compact Marine, I report to General Vargas on The Caliphate. He's not happy with me, but he understands. All the troops here who served during the occupation get a choice where to go. I'm not a fan of the Republic of Metis, Commander, but they've taken better care of us than the Compact has. There are worse overlords than the Jovann sisters. Some of them are in Quantonesia."
The mention of the Compact's capital, a man-made island in the middle of Hong Kong Harbor on Earth, made Suicide's stomach turn. "Did anyone in New Lansdorp tell you why we need the ship?"
As they stepped into a lighted utility room, Hu turned and grinned. "I follow orders, ma'am. My last order said to make this ship available, so I'm availing it to you two." He fingered his palm. A hatchway opened on the far side of the room. "Assuming you are acting on Amargosa's behalf, and not the Compact's."
"If I ever set foot on Earth again," said JT, "it'll be too soon."
"Where's the ship?" asked Suicide.
"This is it," said Hu. "We buried three of them here. You said to conceal them from orbit. So, we concealed them."
"But how…?"
"You should be able to push through the dirt overhead. We kept it loose enough for the thrusters to overcome the weight."
"And they're probably gumming up the intakes." Boolay emerged from inside the hatch, looking angry as his brows had descended below the ridge over his eyes. "Colonel, this isn't a Compact ship. None of them are. They weren't designed to be buried and launched from three meters underground."
"Boolay," said Suicide. "I thought you were in New Lansdorp with the Queen."
He spread his long arms, one of which held a spanner. "My contract is with the provisional government, not the ship. I go where they tell me. They sent me here."
"You up for this?" asked Hu.
Suicide bristled. "Do you know why my call sign is 'Suicide,' Colonel?"
"I meant him."
"Colonel," said JT, "if you'll recall, I landed a Falcon just as the fusion blast in Riverside went off."
"Crashed it, if I recall."
"Saved most of the Spec Force team riding with him. Helped capture Lucius Kray, too."
Hu headed back for the darkened tunnel but stopped to clamp JT on the shoulder. "Well, any landing you can walk away from…"
"Tends to be expensive," said JT.
"Our Mr. Austin had an eventful training," said Suicide. "Let's go."
"Give me fifteen minutes to clear the shed." Hu looked down at his palm. "Oh, shit. It's from Salamacis aboard the Khirovsky. And she's asking where you two are. Apparently, she's not happy either of you are not in New Lansdorp."
"She'll get over it." Suicide turned to Boolay. "You ready for this?"
"Where are we going?" the Zaran asked.
"Jayne Best never completely severed ties with the Marilynist Temple. They still think she's their property."
"So," said JT, "we're going to Jefivah?"
Suicide shook her head. "The Temple moved. We're going to its new homeworld."
"Which is?"
"Marilyn, of course."
"You people are strange," said Boolay. "At least, you're not boring."
The ship pushed itself out of its makeshift grave, though it took some time to clear the forward windows. Suicide tried to fly by video, but dirt had caked some of the outboard cameras as well. "You ready to fly by instrument, Austin?"
"How do you think I get over the Amundsens at civil cruising altitude?" he said with a grin. "These sensors look ratty."
If they ever returned to Amargosa, she'd have to let Hu know his gambit to hide ships needed work. "Should have used camo netting."
They had cleared ten thousand meters when the cameras and windshield cleared.
"Where to?" asked JT.
"Make for the Minerva," said Suicide. "Boolay, does this rattletrap have a name or a call sign?"
"Rattletrap?" The Zaran looked ready to flip out of his harness. "Commander, I'll have you…"
"Transponder reads 'Arcanum,'" said JT. "Really? You couldn't come up with something more original?"
"I got to Arcanum six hours before you guys. It's bad enough they buried the ship under perfectly good topsoil."
The sky outside started to blacken. A holographic panel appeared above Suicide's console. Amargosa's budding satellite constellation stretched across the screen. A larger blip appeared. Within a few moments, its transponder tag popped up, reading "MS Minerva." Suicide nodded to herself, noting they had not christened the Minerva as a Compact Navy vessel. "Follow her. Take us to a hundred and twenty kilometers. And stall when they contact us. Should throw off the Khirovsky."
"You sure?" said JT as he throttled up the orbital engines.
On the panel, an even larger blip appeared, tagged "CNS Anna Khirovsky."
"Well, that's not good." She felt herself pressed into her seat. "Boolay, I thought these things had grav plating."
Boolay made a hooting noise suggestive of laughter. "Hairless apes."
"Boolay!"
"Zaran spacecraft don't normally engage grav plating until what you call an EM drive powers up."
As the thrust increased, Suicide found it harder to raise her hand to the console. "I need control."
"The Khirovsky is headed directly at us," said JT.
That was odd. They were still inside the atmosphere. A ship that large should not have been able to dive from orbit like that. "Boolay!"
"Keep your clothes on." Nothing happened before the Zaran added, "Was that inappropriate?"
"Turn the damn plates on." Her stomach turned as the grav plates kicked in, pulling her down and negating the push of the ship's orbital thruster.
"Unidentified transport," a male voice called over the comms, "this is Anna Khirovsky actual. Level off, identify yourself, and prepare to be…"
A female voice cut in, "Arcanum, Minerva actual. Please confirm flight plan
and call signs."
"Belay that, Min—"
Suicide reached up and cut off the signal from the Khirovsky. "Minerva, this is Arcanum, piloted by Suicide and Little Wing, confirming destination as Jefivah." She began tapping out a wormhole solution that would take the ship some place other than Jefivah. Her finger muted the comm. "Austin, Boolay, get ready for a low-altitude jump."
"Shit." JT patted himself. "Left my pills at the farm."
"Grab a barf bag." Suicide wondered when JT would grow out of his wormhole sickness. Then again, he was nineteen, and Suicide had been in her mid-twenties before she overcame it. "Find a helmet."
He found a helmet under his console. Looking up, fear turning his eyes into saucers, he said, "I'm sorry."
"We're going to have to get a doctor to look at that."
"Minerva," the Khirovsky's captain said, "this is Anna Khirovsky. Stand down. This is a Compact matter."
"Khirovsky, Minerva actual," the Metisian skipper called back, "you are aware the provisional government of Amargosa has final say."
Suicide looked up. The Anna Khirovsky had drifted into view. A long, flat wedge, the ship bristled with twin railguns on the keel and hangar bays both forward and aft. "That isn't good." A ship that size should still be several hundred kilometers out. "JT?"
"Go," he said and buried his face in the helmet.
The Khirovsky's keel grew in the windows. Several points of red light appeared.
"Either energy or plasma point defense cannons," said Suicide. "Boolay, the projection drive spun up?"
"Pluck the magic twanger," he said.
Suicide decided not to ask him what that meant. She triggered the projection drive. Ahead, she could see the Arcanum's bow open up like a flower. The sections shifted and came together into a dish. "Initiating jump in five… four… three… two… one…"
The windows went opaque, and reality took on that strange fluid feeling caused by interdimensional travel. It felt even stranger projecting a wormhole so close to a planet's surface. Everything she learned at flight school told her never project a wormhole closer than two thousand kilometers from a Class-E world, farther from larger bodies. She closed her eyes and let the unreality of where they were wash over her.