Chaos Tactics (The Reckless Chronicles Book 1)

by Trent Falls

  With only the light from the lamp on his desk, it felt as though he were sitting in an office floating freely in space. It was very relaxing. Shin found that he was getting somewhat bored. He didn’t like it. Euler was running his operation out of his ship. Max Dekker was in his brig - an illegal prisoner. His ship, one of the four most powerful vessels in the Xen fleet, was sitting idle in open space near The Breach, waiting for a course in which to travel.

  Feeling that he was doing nothing with his ship, Shin found himself wishing he could be home with his wife and children. Certainly, there were the day-to-day operations on the vessel. There were drills and patrols to run, but otherwise there was really no point to their mission. Drills and exercises could just as well be run in Xen space.

  The computer monitor on Shin’s desk was powered up. On the screen was a recent message from High Command. It was a highly encoded burst, intended for the captain’s eyes only. Many messages from Fleet Command or the High Council were routed into his computer. Most had the option to save and catalog into the ship’s memory but this one was not configured as such. The message would remain on his computer for a few days, after which it would delete automatically. There was no option to save it in the ship’s computer. The message was short and direct.

  ‘Operation entering phase two. Confirm increased activity in Earth Alliance space. No encroachment as yet into Xen space. Maintain readiness for operational abort protocol. Observe and await further instructions. Exercise abort protocol if deemed of security to your vessel or Xen Empire.’

  The abort protocol noted in the message was a predetermined process by which Shin would wash his hands of the Scott Euler issue. Shin was operating with approval of the High Council, but they could not publicly support his mission. They didn’t know the measures Euler was employing to get the job done; the High Council didn’t want to know. The abort protocol, as he was instructed by Fleet Command, would be for him to kill Euler and his men as well as any of his prisoners. NO ONE could be allowed to connect the Xen with this mission. The Ao Shun would then resume its previous patrol course through space. No one would speak of the incident. No one would know about the mission. Most of his men, in fact, didn’t know many of the details of what they were doing. On a Xen battleship, the word of the Captain was the word of God!

  Shin looked again at the picture of his wife and two sons. They were so happy. The thought of them made the journey and the mission all the more important to him. His ship was vital to Xen security. If his mission would help deliver new technology to the Xen to improve their quality of life, he was all for it. The war had weakened their resources. It had taken many of his generations best and brightest away. The Xen needed a boost of life; an infusion of new thought and knowledge.

  The com system of Shin’s computer chimed. It was a call from the science deck. Shin depressed the call button and answered.

  “Shin.” He greeted the unknown caller.

  “Sir. Probst here in the lab.” The young tech’s voice greeted him. “We wanted to let you know we made further progress on the tablet.”

  Shin’s attention was grabbed fully by the statement. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. Shin remained silent for a while, then pressed the call/receive button again.

  “I’m on my way down.” He depressed the key again.

  Shin was on his feet in no time. He powered down his computer monitor, locked his monitor, and got up quickly to exit his office.

  Chapter 10

  John had packed the best clothes he could think of for the trip. He had changed into black cargo pants with a black athletic pullover. The pullover was trimmed with grey microfiber, making it very breathable. While it wasn’t combat gear it was the closest civilian equivalent he could find in his closet. John also figured he might still need to pass for a civilian as well.

  John had already assembled his GX-9B 9mm pistol. The weapon rested in a holster strapped to his right leg. His M10 was also assembled. John pushed and pulled on the unloaded weapon’s charging handle, making sure the weapon was operating smoothly.

  “Nah, nah, nah!” Alex said aloud as he walked back into the cargo hold of his ship. “What the fuck is this about? What the hell did you bring guns on my ship for???”

  “I’m probably going to be running into a lot of mercs out there, Alex. I think I’m going to need weapons if I do.” John explained.

  “Man! Do you know what kind of trouble I can get into if an inspector finds guns on my ship?!?” Alex shouted angrily.

  “Relax! They’re not going to find anything.” John assured him in a calmer tone. “And if they do, they’ll be more concerned with arresting me. Worst case, I’ll tell them you’re my hostage.”

  “Yeah, how long do you think that line will work? You know a lot of these people are going to know how long we’ve been friends.” Alex replied harshly.

  John walked over to a supply locker set into the far wall. He opened the door and set his M10 inside along with his lighter duffle bag.

  “What the hell?!?” Alex complained at John’s act of casually putting the weapon away.

  “Alex! Don’t worry! It’ll be okay!” John assured him forcefully.

  “Like hell! You know,” Alex shook his head slightly, “it doesn’t matter. You aren’t getting past Mars Security anyway. There isn’t a port we can land at where they won’t pick you out of the crowd - easily!”

  “I thought of that already.” John responded. “We’re not landing at any of the spaceports. We’re going to set down at the Martian Steel yards.”

  “Who the hell is going to let us do that?” Alex demanded, squinting at John.

  “Aiyana Rodriguez.” John said the name aloud.

  Alex finally settled down, if only from sheer surprise. He had lived on Proxima Five when John and Aiyana were together. He had seen them split apart. Aiyana’s was the last name Alex expected to hear.

  “She lives on Mars?” Alex asked calmly.

  “She’s an Ops Manager for Richmond Howe and, I hear, his personal assistant.” John explained.

  “No shit?” Alex questioned with genuine curiosity.

  “No shit.” John confirmed.

  “She’s probably not going to be happy to see you.” Alex noted.

  “Probably not.” John admitted flatly, sitting down. “To be honest, none of that matters. What happened between me and her… what we had. None of it matters, Alex. All that matters to me now is getting Julie back.”

  Alex stared at his old friend for a moment. He had never heard anything said with greater sincerity.

  “You sure you can get her to help?” Alex asked. He sat down in one of the many seats embedded into the wall opposite from where John was sitting.

  “No, not really.” John responded honestly. “It’s my best shot. She’s got a good heart, though. I’m sure I can get her to let us pass through.”

  “If she’s Richmond Howe’s assistant she might not be able to do anything that isn’t on the level.”

  “From what I understand, Howe offered her the job of Vice President of Operations.” John explained. “Aiyana declined the job because it’s a hardcore pain in the ass. That and she doesn’t want to make herself a target.”

  “You seem to know a lot about your ex-girlfriend.” Alex said in a knowing manner. “One that you haven’t seen in ten years.”

  “I still have my sources.” John explained. “Aiyana had the opportunity to come home with me. She couldn’t bring herself to leave New Australia. But now, here she is working for Richmond Howe… on Mars!”

  “Come on, John. You know she didn’t want to leave all those people. Our friends.” Alex stated.

  John stood up, keeping his gaze on Alex.

  “I went home to take care of my niece.” John noted with cold seriousness. “I was her next of kin with her mother dead. I had to go back to Earth.”

  John stood up and walked towards the passage leading back to the front of the ship.

  “Were you mad that Julie ma
de you come home?” Alex asked. It sounded like a question he had meant to ask for a long time.

  John stopped at the mouth of the narrow hall leading forward. He looked back over his shoulder and looked Alex in the eye.

  “At first… yes.” John admitted in a low voice. “But I knew it was what I had to do. And it turned into the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  John turned his eyes away from Alex and continued on down the passage, vanishing from Alex’s sight. Alex remained sitting for a moment on the somewhat uncomfortable recessed seat. After a moment of silent thought he stood up to walk down the access passage after John. The Tequesta’s interior was modeled after the old USAF C17 Globemaster 3, only rather than stairs up to the flight deck there was a narrow passage leading forward. There was a very small room behind the bulkhead door to the right. It was Alex’s personal quarters, which much resembled the sleeping cabin of a semi-trailer truck.

  Alex found John sitting in the copilot chair. He knew better than to sit in the left seat. The eternal sea of black ahead was filled with stars. Part of the Milky Way galaxy was visible outside the segmented glass windows.

  “I thought we were in warp.” John noted, turning slightly in the blue padded chair.

  “No.” Alex sat down in the left seat, raising his right arm to flip a pair of switches. “We’re on the dark side of the moon.” Alex pointed to the viewport furthest back on the right behind John’s seat.

  John turned in his chair, standing up partially to stretch and find the moon. The looming dark form of the satellite hung over the entire right side of the Tequesta. The dark side wasn’t, in fact, entirely dark. In its current position it was partially lit on the horizon, with the side near the Tequesta a faint grey. The surface was massive, menacing, outside the viewport, with its pock-marked surface facing the ship.

  “I never liked being on this side of Luna.” John breathed.

  “Why? You scared of the dark?” Alex grinned as he continued to work over the controls of his ship.

  “It’s just… odd.” John remarked. “You grow up looking at one side of the moon. It gets fixed in your mind how it should look. Then you see this. The ugly backside.”

  “Well, I think if it wasn’t for the ugly backside of the moon, your planet might have taken a few nasty hits from some big asteroids.” Alex observed.

  “A lot of these were hit long before I was born.” John noted. He sat back down and turned in his chair to look at Alex. “We’ve been out here this long and no one’s picked us up?” John asked with some surprise.

  “I know a few good quiet routes out.” Alex explained. “Besides, I run a scatter jammer on low power with the right modulation and I can blend in with the background gamma radiation of the universe.”

  “A scatter jammer!” John asked with some surprise. “And you’re pissed off at me about bringing guns on your ship?”

  “I have it disguised as a second high gain antennae.” Alex explained. “I’m going to be jumping in a few minutes. Any ideas on where we should come out?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” John noted. “At the point Mars is now relative to Earth orbit, there’s no good choices. I think coming out of warp about five hundred thousand kilometers out might be a good idea.”

  “Really?” Alex seemed surprised. “That just seems like a lot of time and distance for Mars security to catch us.”

  “We don’t have much of a choice. I need time to try and get a hold of Aiyana.” John explained.

  “Yeah, well, what if we can’t get a hold of her in time?” Alex demanded.

  “I’ll think of something.” John smirked.

  Alex entered a final series of commands into his nav computer, smashing his finger down on the keypad of the last character he entered while looking over at John. “You know what? You’re a real asshole!” Alex complained.

  “I’m sorry Alex.” John looked over at him. “I really appreciate what you’re doing.”

  “I hope so, brother!” Alex flipped up a red control cover over the activation handle for the warp drive. He pulled the handle back, depressed a red button on the thumb control of the handle then let the handle slide forward again to rest under its red protective cover.

  A distorted ring appeared ahead of the ship among the stars. A flash of blue Cherenkov radiation flashed over the skin of the Tequesta before it shot forward to disappear into warp.

  Scott Euler stood over the computer console of his workstation. He was processing through a few dozen encrypted transmissions. All of them were codes hidden in the subspace uplinks from his men. It was an old trick; attach a message via code to a standard subspace transmission. One message appeared as a report on commodity prices of charge gel, but hidden beneath the transmission was a report of “Target B in hand and moving.” The message was an indication from Rochette’s team that they had John’s niece and were moving her off of Earth.

  Another priority message flashed across Euler’s screen. Euler had been expecting it. He stopped working on his current message and opened the new packet. It was a letter from his mother, sent through the Mars exchange and out into the subspace network. The message had ended up at his official electronic address, a private freighter named the Hispaniola. The Hispaniola was a real freighter operated by legitimate owners. And there was a man using the name Scott Euler working on the Hispaniola. What the captain of that vessel didn’t know was that the fake Euler had hacked into his subspace communication system and was retransmitting certain messages from Earth into Xen space.

  The decryption program worked on Euler’s workstation computer. Even with the significant processing power of the workstation, it still took a bit of time for the heavy encryption to be unfolded. When it completed a message only a few sentences long remained.

  “Target A en route to Mars. Target A had eluded big brother. All likely entries to Mars will likely be watched.”

  Euler smiled upon reading the news. John had actually done it. He was on his way to Mars. Euler, having researched his old friend, had a good idea where John would go. He had, in fact, already anticipated the move.

  Euler hit a key on his workstation. The computer locked down all its data and powered down. Euler then picked up a holster holding a pistol. The pistol was a Xen KM45, a 9mm pistol. It had become Euler’s typical sidearm. He strapped the gun to his side and left his quarters.

  The Ao Shun’s corridors were alive with activity. Euler had been placed in a part of the ship where many Xen walked on a regular basis. Shin had obviously done this as a security measure. Even though Euler was one of his “crew”, he was still a former EEF soldier – someone not to be completely trusted.

  It was a short walk and a quick lift ride down to the stockade. Euler was surprised to see Captain Shin there waiting for him along with a contingent of Xen Marines. Euler had expected to see the Marines but not Shin.

  “Carn is in play.” Euler noted to Shin. “We don’t have much time.”

  “Good. The sooner this man gets off my ship, the better.” Shin noted.

  A pair of Marines dragged a thin aged human from his cell. The man had white disheveled hair and was wearing a plain grey Xen jumpsuit. The head of Max Dekker rocked back. A bruise was set on the left side of his face, likely from having been punched. Max Dekker appeared lucid and drugged. He seemed barely capable of keeping his head held straight up.

  “What the hell is that?!?” Euler demanded.

  Euler raised his right hand quickly to the side of Dekker’s face, holding the man’s head up to better inspect the bruise.

  “The interrogators seem to have gotten a bit extreme.” Shin answered plainly.

  “Are you kidding me?!?” Euler was clearly agitated.

  “I’m afraid not, mister Euler.” Shin replied plainly. “After making progress on the Denebola Tablet our intelligence people were eager for more information. The tablet seems to be indicating a location in space, one that records show Mr. Dekker has been too for an extended period.”

&
nbsp; “He won’t cooperate if he’s beaten!” Euler argued.

  “I disagree.” Shin noted. “Regardless, it seems with Carn in motion that Mr. Dekker may become unnecessary. It’s probably fortunate for him that we’re moving him off-ship and into your custody.”

  Euler gave Shin a rather nasty sideways look. All the same, Euler knew he had to temper his anger. This was Shin’s vessel. Shin was in control. While his alliance with the Xen had proven beneficial in his search, he knew that they, ultimately, held the power in the agreement. Euler and his men were but a handful of people. The Xen was an entire republic. Part of Euler regretted his agreement with the Xen, but he knew he couldn’t have come so far without them.

  And they were on the verge of making the greatest discovery in human history.

  “My transport ship is being readied in the main hangar?” Euler asked Shin in confirmation.

  “Yes. It’s prepped and fueled. Your pilot is on standby.” Shin answered. “I’m sending Lieutenant Zao with you to insure that our agreement is kept.”

  “Zao?” Euler turned sharply back at Shin. “Why? You know I’m bound by our agreement. I wouldn’t…”

  “I don’t know what you’re capable of, Mister Euler.” Shin replied bluntly. “This man used to be your commanding officer.” Shin gestured to Dekker’s limp form, being supported by two Xen soldiers. “And yet you handed him to us - allowed us to torture him to get information.”

  Euler took a forceful stance towards Shin, taking a step towards him defiantly to stare him in the eye. “You and I are the same.” Euler argued in a low tone. “We come from the same damned planet! The war and everything that’s happened before or since… is meaningless!”

  “Mind your tone, sergeant!” Shin warned him.

  “I really don’t get it.” Euler cut him short before he could continue his threat. “We’re all human beings! We’re standing on the brink of the greatest discovery our people have ever…”