The Fifth Column Boxed Set

by J. N. Chaney

  Despite the Lieutenant’s affirmations about their ability to stay objective, I had a few misgivings about the pair. Tyndall and his son were a little more aloof than I’d expected, and I wondered why Dunham had sent them instead of more seasoned soldiers. I would have been just fine with a member of the void or a couple of spec operatives like me and Farah.

  I kept my thoughts to myself, however, remembering how I’d misjudged Calliope. Besides, there was no changing it now.

  Our scheduled departure time arrived just after Tyndall Senior and Aaron were settled in their quarters. Without enough seats on the bridge, they would have to secure themselves there or in the small lounge.

  Finally, we were on our way to Sarkon. I sent another transmission to Dunham, letting her know, and got the same response.

  We were still a day behind and three more away from the capital planet. That gave us less than a week to prepare for Kaska’s arrival once we got there.

  I waited until we hit the first slip tunnel to turn in. My mind and body were exhausted, but sleep wouldn’t come. For a while I just laid there trying to force it.

  I kept seeing Paul Tyndell and the casual ease with which he interacted with his son. The uncomfortable feeling returned, a slight pang.

  What’s that about?

  An image of Farah and Jax flashed in my mind, quickly followed by Eleanor touching her son’s face in awe. I felt the same pang.

  Was I… jealous?

  The thought disturbed me. I told myself it was because of what Mack had told me, that my parents were dead. Not wanting to face the emotion that threatened to close my throat and choke me, I reached into the cabinet.

  Farah had given me sleep meds for my recovery that never got taken. I swallowed a couple dry and lay back down. Five minutes later, I floated into peaceful oblivion.

  “Alyss, wake up.”

  I sat up with a start to see Farah standing over me. She had a hand on my shoulder and studied me with concerned eyes.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, scrubbing at my face to wake myself up.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” she told me, still eyeing me as if I might fall apart. “You’ve just been out for like ten hours. V said you took something, so I came to check on you.”

  “Ten hours?” I said stupidly.

  “Yeah. Everyone is on the bridge. We wanted to wait for you before working on a plan for Sarkon.”

  I yawned and tried to clear away the last cobwebs of sleep. “A plan?”

  “Yeah,” she repeated. “Dunham sent an update.”

  That did it. It was what I’d been waiting for. Perked up like I’d taken one of her uppers, I bolted out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. “Be on the bridge in five.”

  “Don’t forget to use two of those on your teeth!” she called through the door.

  I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Mom.”

  Five minutes later, I stood on the bridge with an enerdrink in hand, studying the new information.

  There wasn’t much more on Kaska’s visit to Sarkon except for a confirmed plan for his arrival date and itinerary for meeting with the Emperor.

  “He’s getting in the day before the meeting,” the Lieutenant said.

  The serious tone in his voice caught my attention and I watched him with interest. Something was different about the man today. Aside from his tone, he stood at the display with the confidence of a man used to being in charge. All traces of lightheartedness from the day before were gone. In its place, I saw pure soldier.

  His previous words came to mind. When it’s time to work, we’re all business. Maybe that was true after all.

  As I watched his keen eyes analyze the data, I realized that while Dunham referred to the elder Tyndell as her lieutenant, he could very well be a someone with much higher rank within the government. It was something to consider. I made a mental note to make sure we added both him and his son to our growing list of Solaris Initiative operatives.

  “And staying in his personal residence,” I added, stepping closer. “Funny, I didn’t peg him as the type to have one.”

  I was a little surprised at that. The man didn’t have a marriage on record, and I doubted he had a girlfriend. If the Vice-Admiral planned to go after the Emperor, it made more sense for him to stay in the palace and I said as much.

  Farah agreed. “Tactically it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why stay away?”

  “It could be part of the plan,” Calliope pointed out. “We already know he has people in his pocket. Kaska might be leaving the heavy lifting to them so he can keep his hands clean.”

  I considered that for a moment. That scenario could work, but it didn’t fit smoothly enough for me.

  From the set of Lieutenant Tyndell’s jaw I could tell he felt the same.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “I agree he has the opportunity here, but the timing is off.”

  “How do you mean?” asked Mack. She’d been silent until then and sitting in her crew chair listening to us discuss. Now she joined us at the command center, taking the open spot next to Aaron.

  “Think about it. Everything Kaska has done up to this point was part of a larger plan.” I didn’t elaborate about Navari’s files, which would just open a line of questioning I wouldn’t answer. “As Mack already pointed out, killing Proscerios wouldn’t garner Kaska the Emperorship. There’s protocol to follow.”

  I stopped to let everyone else chew on that idea.

  “So, you think we’re getting all geared up for nothing?” the elder Tyndell asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Too many missing pieces. It’s certainly possible that he’s here for the meeting and the meeting only. It would establish his place in the Emperor’s circle. Could be he plans to take his time there and use the younger kid’s naivety to his advantage.”

  “But you don’t think that,” he pressed.

  I shook my head. “No. He’s too calculating and purposeful for that. There has to be something we just can’t see yet.”

  Farah’s eyes met mine and I knew she got my meaning. I was thinking of Kaska’s multi-layered and carefully planned “disasters.”

  “What about the ingot?” Calliope asked suddenly.

  We all turned to look at her.

  Mack pulled up the plans and waved at them. “According to a message smuggled out from one of the labs, they figured out how to weaponize it.”

  “That’s pretty big,” Farah said, frowning. “Looks like something that would be mounted on an armored transport.”

  “He may not plan to bring it to Sarkon at all,” the lieutenant pointed out. “Nothing we’ve uncovered suggests he would use such a weapon on the Empire’s most important planet.”

  Unfortunately, I found myself agreeing, though it was still possible he would bring it simply to keep it close. In fact, it dawned on me that it would be the perfect place for him to bring it.

  “He may not plan to use it there, but he might consider it safer to keep it with him. Or close by,” I mused, looking around the group. Doesn’t the palace have scanners for bombs?”

  Mack came to attention and nodded sharply. “Yes, absolutely. If Kaska tried to take that thing inside the palace, they’d detect it in a heartbeat.”

  “You think he’s planning to stash it in the house,” a quiet voice said.

  It was Aaron, making just the kind of observation I’d expect from a sniper. He’d been so quiet that I wondered whether the guy was even listening. Apparently, he had been. Now that he looked right at me, I could see the same sharpness in his eyes as his father’s.

  I nodded. “It’s the only thing that makes sense to me. Come a day early, lock the weapon up, then leave some guards behind when you go to the meeting.”

  Lieutenant Tyndell smiled, the first show of emotion since I’d walked onto the bridge. “Dunham has more soldiers on the way,” he said. “With them it shouldn’t be too hard to breach the house. If it goes right, Kaska won’t even know what happen
ed until we’re back in slip space.”

  I smiled back, showing my teeth. “I like that. A lot. If you send Dunham that info, we can start planning the operation.”

  “Wait,” Farah said, holding up a hand. “Just for the sake of argument, what if he still plans to kill Proscerios? I know we all have our issues with Sarkon, but wouldn’t Kaska taking over be worse?”

  Tyndell didn’t answer right away.

  “You don’t plan to stop it,” I guessed.

  “The weapon is our first priority,” he said shortly before looking away.

  It might have just been me, but I thought I saw a flash of regret.

  “Maius bonum,” Calliope said quietly.

  “Huh?” I asked, more than a little confused.

  “It means ‘greater good,’” she clarified, a hard look in her eyes, face set in grim lines. “Sometimes we have to let a lesser evil pass in order to do what’s better for society as a whole.”

  I didn’t care for how much the usually cheerful girl reminded me of Dunham in that moment when she talked about the train. Maybe she had a point, maybe she didn’t. The ingot powered weapon couldn’t stay in Kaska’s hands, that was for sure. But I couldn’t think of a single scenario where him at the helm of the Empire was the lesser evil.

  18

  When we reached the last tunnel that would take us to Sarkon, I hesitated to open the tear.

  “A, what are you doing?” Farah asked, angling her head to give me a questioning look.

  “Something on my mind,” I muttered, tapping my fingers lightly on the controls.

  In truth, I’d been on edge since our brush with the ravagers. I really disliked being taken by surprise. Neither did I like making the same mistake twice.

  I knew there wouldn’t be any ravagers at the other end of this particular tunnel, but that didn’t mean someone else couldn’t be waiting. Even if there weren’t, the way our luck had been going, who was to say a patrol didn’t pass by at the exact time we left? That would tip the Sarkonians off really quick.

  We had to assume that the entire military had been briefed on the fact that two fugitives stole a cloak-enabled ship and knew what to look for.

  “Captain, your passengers are requesting to know why we have stopped,” said Vega.

  Both the Tyndells had decided to buckle up in the lounge rather than their room.

  “Call them in here,” I instructed, swiveling in my chair to face the door.

  Since I hadn’t given an explanation for my irregular behavior, Mack and Calliope were avoiding looking at me. They no doubt thought I’d lost it. I didn’t feel like explaining my idea twice though, so they just had to wait.

  Aaron and his father entered the bridge with twin expressions of mild concern, and I held up a hand before they could ask what the matter was.

  “There’s no emergency,” I said, addressing the room. “But I am apprehensive about going through the tunnel.”

  I explained my reasoning, after which the lieutenant spoke first.

  “We don’t really have much of a choice,” he pointed out. “If we try to take a different one it will be too late.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “One of Dunham’s ships is coming through this way. I was thinking we could hitch a ride.”

  Mack nodded. “That would work. If the Genesis stays close enough to the other ship the tear will stay open a few seconds longer.”

  That was exactly the answer I’d been hoping for.

  “You wanna set that up, LT?” I asked. “They’re more familiar with you, I’m guessing.”

  He did, and we soon found ourselves waiting for an escort. The other ship was already in this system and streaking toward the tunnel. I’d sent out a warning about the ravager in hopes of saving others a grisly fate, but it was only stalling the inevitable. Even if the deranged monsters didn’t get anyone today, it was only a matter of time.

  Thankfully, the Harkness arrived sooner rather than later. She wasn’t a large vessel, perhaps only half a size bigger than the Genesis, but she was plenty big enough for our purposes. Since we were still cloaked, the other ship had to send out a short-range message.

  “This is Captain Ellis. Anyone in the area needing a chaperone?”

  That matched the hail we’d agreed on and the elder Tyndell answered back. After a quick verification that they were indeed part of the Initiative, we were going through the tear.

  Those of us on the bridge watched to see what would happen when two ships, one cloaked, went through. Like Mack predicted, it wasn’t very noticeable. We followed the Harkness inside, keeping as close as was safe. The tear did its usual thing and sealed itself up when both ships were completely inside.

  The next S.G. point deposited us in the middle of the Berrien system, roughly six million kilometers from the capital planet. Most people just called the system Sarkon.

  As anyone who grew up in the Empire knew, Berrien consisted of five planets, three habitable, two not. Coryza, one of the uninhabitable planets, lay beyond the S.G. point we’d just exited. It was the furthest from this system’s star and so cold only a few attempts at colonization had been made. Gigas was the other, a gas giant with an atmosphere so toxic that no ship could penetrate it before breaking down.

  Das and Simira were the two other colonized planets besides Sarkon. Das served as a small mining institution, though I couldn’t remember what resources it offered. Simira was similar to Calliope’s home world of Acre, its entire surface devoted to agriculture.

  Vega’s initial scan captured all of this, along with every ship in the system. On the holo display, she marked anything without armaments in green, yellow for anything with them but too far away to matter, and all ships in our direct path were red.

  Even at this distance, Sarkon was visible, glittering in the distance, despite the fact that it was a large sandy ball with three moons. Though I’d grown up there and spent my academy years on planet, it didn’t feel like home. Seeing it didn’t evoke any feelings beyond those I usually felt before a mission.

  “Have you heard anything about Diana?” Farah asked quietly.

  I looked at her in surprise. “No. I haven’t exactly tried, though. All of her communications are monitored.”

  “Oh, right. Maybe Mack can help you get a message to her,” my friend suggested.

  Guilt worked its way through me. My adoptive mother was the only adult who had shown me any kindness and love. Or the closest thing to it. As much as the general allowed, anyway. I recalled her last words to me after my arrest and court martial.

  “It’ll be okay,” she’d told me in an act of defiance against her husband. Almost like she knew what I was planning and wanted to give me permission.

  Did she think I was really a terrorist? While I couldn’t claim to feel the bond of a daughter to her mother, I did care about her and what she thought of me. I decided she knew me better than that.

  It nagged me that Farah brought her up. She stared fixedly at the display and I got the distinct feeling she did it to avoid looking at me. Then it hit me.

  She knew.

  Mack must have told her about my parents. As usual, she was trying to make me feel better. Reminding me that Diana was my consolation prize didn’t do much to soften the blow, but I appreciated the gesture.

  Farah’s big heart was one of the reasons I loved her so much. It had taught me early on that not all Sarkonians were alike, no matter how hard the government tried to make it so.

  “Yeah, I’ll ask her,” I replied, attempting to sound casual. “V, let me know about any suspicious activity. I know there’s a lot of traffic but keep an eye out.”

  “Yes, Captain. May I ask what fits as ‘suspicious’?” the AI asked.

  “Mainly the patrol ships,” I told her. “If they break pattern or appear to be doing more scans, I want to know about it.”

  This was where we needed to be most careful. Sarkon was the most important planet in the Empire and its namesake. The Emperor lived there, and a la
rge fleet of fighters stayed in orbit at all times in case the Union or some other threat came knocking.

  Us just hanging out in the vicinity was dangerous enough, but we planned to do recon and run scans on the planet’s surface. Much like the ravager encounter, one wrong move could get us killed here.

  The Genesis had already started decelerating so we wouldn’t shoot past the planet and have to double back. No other delays befell us, and we arrived with three days to go before Kaska’s arrival.

  Farah and I had run enough ops using the cloak to be almost comfortable passing into enemy territory. The others aboard our ship were not.

  Calliope seemed especially nervous as we trailed behind the Harkness and cruised by the first round of Sarkonian defense. It was too dense to actually see them in the black stretch of space, especially since they were thousands of kilometers away. So, she kept her eyes glued to the display, watching for any sign of movement.

  The lieutenant also watched the holo, just not as fastidiously as Calliope. He seemed more impressed than anything. I wanted to ask where he’d served, planet side or on a boat, but thought it would be rude.

  Aaron was easier to guess even though he tried to hide it. I’d caught the kid staring out a viewport and the walls of the slip tunnel more than once on the way in. That was something only newbies to slip travel did. Each time he’d gotten embarrassed and pretended to be looking for something in his pockets until I finally told him to just enjoy it.

  His reaction to being in Sarkonian space was a little more subtle. He alternated between studying the display and searching through the nearest viewport for signs of activity. To anyone looking at his face, he looked for all the worlds like a rocksteady soldier, but I saw the way his hands tightened every time we approached a red marker.

  I, on the other hand, almost relaxed. Our ruse wasn’t foolproof—who knew that better than me? —but I enjoyed our small stroke of luck while we had it.

  We stayed with the Harkness until they were past the majority of Sarkon’s defense fleet and preparing to join the docking queue. I took the controls back in hand and reluctantly left the relative security of our temporary security blanket.