The Fifth Column Boxed Set

by J. N. Chaney

  “Are you sure the intel is good?” Farah asked, her tone carefully bland.

  Understandably, Farah was the angriest of us at Dunham, and with good reason. Her family had been involved with the rebellion since she was a child. She herself had been a double agent for them. If it turned out that they were no better than the very enemy they claimed to oppose, well, that was a betrayal of the deepest kind.

  “Multiple sources have authenticated the information,” Dunham confirmed, not batting an eye at our demeanors. “Kaska has a meeting with the Emperor to discuss his future in the government.”

  “It could be a ruse,” I insisted. “He has to be on high alert now.”

  She shook her head. “Our reach is deep. A Sparrow and Sky Claw are among the sources.”

  There was no arguing with that. The Sky Claws accompanied the Emperor everywhere. They heard every word he uttered, knew what he ate, and could probably report on how many times the kid farted in his sleep. Point was, they knew all there was to know.

  The Sparrows were a different matter entirely. Where the Void had brute strength, the Claws had utter devotion, and Farah and I used stealth and precision, the Sparrows dealt in secrets. Special ops teams used the shadows as an asset, but the Sparrows were the shadows.

  Highly trained for deep cover, they could be anyone, anywhere. Your mom, your best friend—hell, even the lunch lady. When I was a kid, I used to pretend that my real parents were Sparrows and would come to rescue me, but they never did. Not that I really ever believed it. I’d stopped believing in fairy tales by then.

  Even at that age, I knew you had to make your own way.

  “I have a request,” Dunham continued, her expression wary. “The Initiative could use a ship with a cloak. You’re the only one that has one.”

  I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. Out of the feed’s view, Farah kicked me.

  The woman’s expression had gone icy, but I didn’t care. The Second Genesis was our home. We’d gone through far too much to get her, then keep her.

  “Sorry,” I said, not meaning it. “But no one flies this ship but me and my crew.

  “You will receive a comparable ship while we use it, of course. And I, along with the Initiative, would be most grateful.”

  I wanted to tell her where she could stow her gratefulness but refrained.

  “Ma’am, excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but the whole reason you want the Genesis is because you don’t have something comparable.”

  “And if I were to order it?” Dunham’s lips flattened into thin line and she fixed sharp eyes on me.

  I stared back. Is she really trying to intimidate me over a holo call? I wondered.

  “Then I’m going to laugh again,” I replied flatly.

  She didn’t speak for three full seconds before letting out a dry laugh of her own. “It was worth a try. In that case, I have a counter proposal.”

  Farah and I filled in Mack and Calliope after our short discussion with Dunham.

  “What do you think his plan is?” Calliope asked.

  “Dunham says the working theory is that he plans to kill the Emperor once in close proximity,” Farah told her.

  “Then what?” she prodded. “That seems pretty weak.”

  Mack nodded in agreement. “Kaska has to know that killing the Emperor doesn’t automatically make him the new one.”

  I had thought the same thing. “Dunham didn’t have much, just where he’s going to be. But, speaking of successors, do we know who that is?”

  Mack pulled out her data pad to look.

  Calliope chuckled. “What if it’s some little kid?”

  “If it is, they’ve likely already been training to become the next ruler,” Farah said seriously.

  At Farah’s tone, Calliope looked up and saw she wasn’t joking. “But a kid?”

  I shrugged. Farah and I were already branded terrorists. What were a few state secrets between friends? “The current Emperor is a kid,” I told her.

  The girl just shook her head in disbelief when we explained. “That’s a lot of pressure on a teenager,” she remarked.

  “It could be worse,” I pointed out. “He could be living his life out in a labor camp.”

  Calliope didn’t have a response for that.

  “How’s it looking, Mack? Anything?”

  The hacker’s brow creased as she frowned. “Not yet. I’ve got some feelers out, but it has to be done delicately. That information is well guarded for exactly this reason.”

  I produced the squeezy ball again, and tossed it back and forth a few times while I thought. “Keep doing what you’re doing. The last thing we need is to alert anyone that we’re onto this.

  Mack nodded and leaned back in her chair, lacing her fingers behind her head. “So, what does the Initiative want to do? They can’t exactly just send a fleet to Sarkon. It would look like an attack.”

  “They’re sending us,” Calliope guessed. “Because of the cloak.”

  “You got it. She initially asked for the Genesis,” I said.

  Mack laughed.

  “Yeah, that was pretty much Alyss’s response,” Farah said, grinning.

  “That’s a hell of an ask,” Mack said. “I hope you told her to shove it.”

  “I was close,” I admitted. “Then she asked if we would go and take a couple Initiative soldiers with us.”

  Calliope gave me an incredulous look. “Just us? Against whatever Kaska has planned?”

  She was right to be concerned. It could very well turn out to be a suicide mission. Every single one of us was wanted, and we were just going to stroll up to the Empire’s capital planet.

  “We’ll have some support,” Farah said. “A few ships will be traveling to the planet with legitimate paperwork. They’ll arrive a few days early and try to gather more intel.”

  “What about the ingot?” Mack asked.

  I hadn’t forgotten. “My idea was that Vega could scan for it while we wait. A few passive scans won’t raise alarm, right?” I asked her.

  “Shouldn’t,” she agreed. “I can set up something special once we get there.”

  “Copy that.” I clapped once and rubbed my hands together. “Alright. We’ve been sitting for a few days, so let’s top off fuel, water, and any other supplies. I also suggest stocking up on entertainment. This is gonna be a long one.”

  15

  Mack walked into the kitchen later that night with an armful of snacks as I was unloading a crate of enerdrinks into the fridge. I’d depleted much of my supply during our research sessions and didn’t want to run out.

  “You know those things are terrible for you, right?” Mack asked.

  “So your cousin keeps telling me. Besides”—I gestured at her loaded down arms—“isn’t that a synth bar I see in there?”

  Synthetic chocolate was not my idea of a treat. Some people couldn’t get enough of the sugary snack. Not me. You were hard pressed to find anything without at least some synthetic compounds, but fake chocolate always tasted off to me.

  She grinned and began stuffing the snacks into cabinets. “The IFDA says it’s safe.”

  The IFDA—Interstellar Food and Drug Administration—loved to sing the praises of synth-modified food. I had my doubts though.

  “They also say that each container of Starmallow puff is allowed to have six insects,” I declared, shutting the fridge door with a snap.

  Mack’s face fell. “You’re not serious.”

  “Look it up,” I said, smirking.

  She proceeded to pull out a data pad and do just that. A few seconds later she set it down with a groan. “That is disgusting. Starmallow puff is forever ruined for me.”

  “Sorry.” Then with a straight face I said, “But it really is bad for you.”

  She burst out laughing. “Touché.”

  After we both calmed down, I thought about leaving, but spoke instead. “Could you do something for me?”

  Mack straightened. “Of course. Name it.”
>
  I hesitated, regretting even saying anything. It was too late now; I’d already opened my big mouth.

  “I wanted to try and get some information on my parents. My real parents,” I clarified.

  Part of me wanted to look away to avoid the pity I expected to see cross her face, but I forced myself to meet her gaze. What I saw surprised me. The snarky hacker only looked understanding with a touch of sympathy.

  “No problem. Just give me any information you have, and I’ll do the rest.”

  “It’s not much,” I said, feeling lame. “Just my name, really.”

  Rena Bennet. The name came to mind like a whisper on the wind, bringing with it all the pain of my haunted childhood.

  She smiled, almost gently. “That’ll be enough. You went to a high-profile couple. There’s bound to be records.”

  “Thanks,” I said gruffly then turned on my heel without another word and fled the room.

  The next morning, with everyone assembled on the bridge, I felt the need to say something. Farah and I had discussed it briefly and decided it would be a good idea.

  I cleared my throat. “Mack. Before we take off, I wanted to make sure you’re still good to go.”

  Mack didn’t bat an eye. “I’m in. All the way.”

  I nodded briskly, not really expecting anything less. Our hacker was done staying behind. Injustice had a way of getting people to take a stand.

  “Cal, this isn’t your fight. If you prefer to sit this one out, no one will think badly of you. We’ll send you on your way with thanks and enough credits to get started.”

  The girl casually inspected her fingernails, trying to look coolly indifferent. It didn’t quite work because the action was a little exaggerated and belied the seriousness of the current situation. I could guess what she was about to say.

  “I could stick around longer. Not much else to do. Besides, I’m in it now too,” she said, a little too quickly.

  Calliope was right about that. Her eagerness also made sense to me. She was young, for one thing. For another, she was a criminal. The gal-net and media outlets had yet to link the escaped ex-Union soldier with us, which was something, but she’d been pegged as a criminal.

  Where could she go? With us she was guaranteed safety. Sort of. At least food and a roof over her head.

  “Good. V, what about you?” I meant it to be cheeky and snickered.

  “My programming requires me to follow all of your orders, Captain Cortez.”

  I started to tell her it was a joke, but the computer kept talking.

  “However, an analysis of the situation concludes that if I had the choice, I would follow your command anywhere,” she finished.

  Oddly touched, I bowed my head slightly. “Noted and appreciated, V. Go ahead and put us in the departure queue.”

  “One moment while I contact the dock master,” the AI responded. She paused, then continued, “the Second Genesis has been cleared. We’re number 98 in the queue.”

  A collective groan rose up from the rest of us. Dock traffic was always a roll of the dice. Sometimes you could be out in five minutes, others you might wait a whole day.

  “Seems we have some time on our hands,” I said. “Might as well go over the plan again. First stop is Acutus.”

  The station Acutus sat in Sarkonian controlled space and was well known for being a quick stop for necessities. You could only dock there for 26 standard hours max, the idea being that getting people out fast brought more customers in, and therefore more credits. They also weren’t particular about who stopped there—so long as you could pay.

  It made me leery to stop in a public place, but it was a good halfway point between Neblinar and Sarkon, and we would need to top off our supplies again before settling down to wait for Kaska.

  “Dunham said she’s giving us two soldiers,” Farah said, picking up where I left off.

  Calliope’s mouth turned down into a frown. “Still not altogether comfortable with that. What if they try to take the ship?”

  That possibility had crossed my mind too and I angled a glance at Mack.

  “I beefed up the security after the Genesis got boarded by Kamal and Haas. Vega will alert us to any attempts to take control,” she said.

  The incident was still a sore spot for me and Farah. Haas and my former lover had been trailing us and we didn’t have a clue until it was too late. They’d boarded us and locked us out of our own ship far too easily.

  “That is correct,” the AI confirmed. “The new passengers will have limited access to only what they require for health and relative comfort.”

  “They’ll also be sharing quarters,” I chimed in. “And I already warned Dunham that if they try anything, it won’t be pretty.”

  Calliope grinned. “I remember that line.”

  The mood on the bridge lightened considerably and we continued to discuss scenarios and tactics until it was our turn to leave.

  “Finally,” Mack said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

  “We’ll be on our way in a few minutes,” I assured her.

  To be honest, I felt a little on edge myself. Things were coming to a head and whatever the future held, it was sure to be bloody.

  Thankfully, the dock master didn’t make me a liar and soon the Second Genesis was sailing through open space, Neblinar becoming smaller on the holo display with each passing second.

  The ride to Acutus would take five standard days, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I planned to stay cloaked for the majority of that. I didn’t exactly like how attached we had become to the tech but didn’t see a better option.

  Gallivanting through space with no cover while being some of the most wanted people in the galaxies? Well, that was just plain stupid. Besides, enough Union and Sarkonian scouts patrolled the empty expanses between planets and stations that I had no qualms about using our crutch. Not to mention ravagers, Renegades, and one-off space pirates.

  We broke up the time with media entertainment, trips to the gym, and more planning. Mack had started refreshing her training from the academy back on Neblinar, and we worked an hour or more each day to get her comfortable.

  “Nice job,” I told her during one of our sessions on the third day. “I think you got your groove back.”

  I’d discovered that the training room also had a hidden workstation, one designed to act as a mini holo range. Mack usually did pretty well, but this time she’d been distracted, missing easy shots and making mistakes.

  “Thanks. More hand to hand?”

  “Sure,” I agreed. “Let’s work on disarming.”

  The holo range retracted back into the wall it had come from and we moved onto the mat.

  It was all basic stuff, but foundations were important. Mack took to it well and seemed more focused, though she couldn’t manage to get the weapon from me. We tried a few different strategies before finding one that worked.

  “I’m trying to kill you,” I told her. “You want to live. Don’t hold back anything.”

  “They won’t,” she replied, nodding.

  Without warning, Mack lunged and grabbed the gun barrel with her left hand then shoved it to the side. Her right fist flashed out and almost caught me on the chin. I jerked back just in time and her knuckle only grazed me.

  “Oh shit, sorry!” she said, loosening her grip on the weapon.

  I used the opportunity to sweep her legs and twist around pin her to the mat with one knee. “Never be sorry. If you worry about that, even for an instant, they’ll do what I just did.”

  “Ugh,” was all she said.

  I got to my feet and helped her up. “That was good work though,” I told her, rubbing my chin.

  Mack toweled off the sweat running down the side of her face and pretended to focus on that. When she looked at me, her eyes were dark, and her gaze shifted away quickly.

  “What’s up?” I asked, my guard going up at her nervousness.

  She flipped the towel around her neck and fiddled with the ends
. “I wasn’t sure when to tell you this… but I figured you’d want to know.”

  I knew then what she was going to say and steeled myself. “My parents are dead.”

  Mack nodded and toed something invisible on the ground. “An attack on their colony about ten years ago.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked, afraid my voice would crack from the raw emotion flowing through me.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. Their… they were positively identified after. I compared that to available data before the incident. The photos were a match.”

  My body seemed to go numb, but I hated the look of concern she now aimed at me, so I forced myself to shrug. “Okay. Thanks for looking into it.”

  “Alyss… If you need to talk about it…” she trailed off and dropped her hands helplessly.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “It’s what I expected. Look, I need a shower. See you for the session.”

  I left her standing there looking stricken and went back to my quarters. We were supposed to be rationing water for the extended trip, but I needed the hot.

  After kicking off my clothes, I stepped into the shower and ratcheted up the temperature as hot as I could take it. As the steam filled the space around me, I waited for the tears to fall.

  None did.

  Ten minutes later I shut it off and wandered into the room, still feeling numb. Maybe it would hit me later, maybe not. I’d spent a long time shutting down emotions; who knew, maybe I couldn’t even process them anymore.

  “Captain, may I be of any assistance?” Vega’s voice came over the comm. “A joke perhaps?”

  I wandered over to the large window and sat listlessly. “No thanks, V. Can you just shut off all lights in the room? I want to look out.”

  “Of course.” The lights blinked out as she said it.

  The computer was getting better at reading me because she didn’t say anything else.

  Outside, instead of the chaotic green of the slip stream, I saw the void of space, empty and black but for a few faraway smudges of distant galaxies.