Behind Enemy Lines (Empire of Bones Saga Book 7)

by Terry Mixon

  Once they arrived at the suite of rooms, Kelsey went inside, but instructed the marines to wait in the corridor.

  Castille raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too trusting? We are, after all, your prisoners. What if we seize you and present a set of demands?”

  Kelsey smiled. “I suppose that’s part of the conversation that we need to have. I’m not concerned that you’re going to take me prisoner. You might try, but you wouldn’t succeed.

  “Perhaps you should examine your accommodations? Then we can settle in before I broach the subjects. I suspect this is going to be an intense conversation. If you don’t mind, I’d rather do it over food. I’m feeling a bit peckish.”

  He laughed. “Considering that we were living in a cafeteria, I feel confident that these rooms are significantly better than what we had.” He glanced at Commander Irons. “Edward, please look everything over.”

  The other man nodded and began walking through the rooms attached to the common area.

  Kelsey pointed at the far door. “That’s the compartment reserved for Commodore Murdock. You can secure the manual lock from the outside. Over on the right, you can see the communal kitchen. If you want to continue this conversation, that’s where I’ll be.”

  It only took Kelsey a few minutes to make some iced tea and put a selection of meats and cheeses beside stacked bread. The condiments were on the side. Everyone could build a sandwich to their taste.

  Once she was ready, the four of them sat at one of the tables. Kelsey put together a sandwich with a little bit of everything on it and dug in.

  Castille waited for her to finish her sandwich before he spoke again. “We appreciate your seeing us to better-quality quarters. However, I believe it’s time we put our cards on the table. Who are you, and what do you want with us?”

  Kelsey smiled. “I believe you know who we are. Captain Vitter said that she was very clear about it.”

  Irons and Martin glanced at one another, confusion evident on their faces. Castille inclined his head toward them.

  “I didn’t think her story truthful, so I didn’t pass it on to my associates. If that’s going to be your official line, perhaps you should restate it. My apologies, Jeanette, Edward.”

  “I can see where this would be hard to accept,” Kelsey said. “Our story isn’t easy to believe. That doesn’t make it untrue, however.

  “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the Empire’s civil war. I’m not going to get into the weeds about it, but what you’ve been taught is incomplete.”

  Commander Irons frowned at her. “Incomplete in what way?”

  “It doesn’t take into account the fact that some of the people your ancestors fought against escaped. They got away and settled a world outside your reach. Over the last five hundred years, those people have gathered their strength. I should say, my people. Now we’ve returned.”

  Jeanette shook her head. “That’s preposterous. The lords completely overthrew the old dictatorship. Surely, you’re not going to try to convince us that we’re still fighting that war. It’s settled.”

  “That’s where things get complicated,” Kelsey said. “My full name is Kelsey Bandar. I have two titles. The first is colonel because I’m the senior officer in the newly reconstituted Marine Raider division.”

  Castille laughed. “That’s ridiculous. You expect me to believe that you command detachments of unstoppable war machines? I can bend you into a pretzel with one hand. If there is anyone less likely to be a warrior in this compartment, I do not see them.”

  “I can understand your reservations,” Kelsey said. “I agree that I don’t look very intimidating, but that doesn’t change the facts.”

  She dabbed at the corners of her lips to make sure she hadn’t left any mustard and dropped her napkin onto her plate. Then she rose to her feet, stepped over to the couch, and picked it up. It took a moment for her to find its balance, but she raised it almost to the ceiling.

  Everyone stared at her, their eyes wide and mouths open. Silence ruled.

  Once she was certain that she’d made her point, Kelsey set the couch back onto the deck. She brushed her hands off and returned to her seat.

  “Commander Vitter told me she showed you a scan of someone with Raider implants. That was me.”

  Castille’s mouth snapped shut. “This is an unexpected and somewhat frightening turn of events. How is this even possible? We control the manufacture of those things. How could you possibly have them if you’ve been separated from the Empire for so long?”

  Kelsey smiled without humor. “Do you remember the computer you sent that fleet to destroy? Well, you’ve been sending it Raider implants for centuries. It followed the same instructions given to all the other subverted ships during the civil war.

  “In case you don’t know, they took anyone that they captured, corrupted their implants, and forcibly made them into fighting machines. They became prisoners in their own bodies, compelled to slaughter their friends and family.

  “How do I know this? Because until very recently, it was still doing exactly that. I had the very great misfortune of straying into its grasp, and that computer put these things inside me. I still have nightmares about it, and I probably always will.”

  She took a deep breath and forced the terrible thoughts back into their mental lockbox.

  “I believe that establishes my credentials on the Marine Raider front,” she said brightly. “Let’s get my other title settled. It’s actually more relevant to our current discussion anyway.

  “My father is the sitting emperor of the New Terran Empire. His lineage goes all the way back to Lucien, the boy emperor who escaped your grasp. Marcus’s son. So, in nonmilitary settings, I have to deal with people calling me Crown Princess Kelsey Bandar, heir to the Imperial Throne.”

  Kelsey smiled at their shocked expressions. “We’re not some greedy group from inside your empire trying to take all of your secret research for profit. We’re the people your ancestors failed to exterminate. You see, Commander, the war is far from settled.”

  Needless to say, they didn’t believe her. She answered their questions and argued with them for a while, but finally hit her limit an hour later.

  She stood slowly. “I think we’ve accomplished as much as one can reasonably expect. As I said earlier, you have access to the ship’s library. I urge you to explore it deeply. You’ll certainly learn a lot. Perhaps even understand what really happened all those years ago. We’ll speak again soon.”

  Kelsey exited the compartment and gave the marine guards more detailed instructions. Once she was satisfied things were well in hand, she headed for Carl’s main lab on the carrier.

  Surprisingly, he wasn’t sitting at his computer. He stood beside the recovered flip drive from the liner.

  He smiled at her as she stepped up beside him. “You look tired.”

  “I feel tired. Give me some good news.”

  Carl gestured toward the drive. “I’ve just finished looking this over. It’s just as fried as they’d said, but it has a nonstandard modification. It has a frequency tuner.”

  She eyed his satisfied expression warily. “You say that as if it means something. What is a frequency tuner?”

  His expression fell. “What is with the education these days? A frequency tuner is a device that restricted the flip drive to a certain range of output. Or perhaps one of several ranges.”

  “You think they used it to refine their destinations through the weak flip point? Like what you were discussing as an option for us?”

  “Yes,” he said. “It’s not possible to determine which particular range of frequencies the device might once have preferred, but that’s what it did.”

  “How difficult will it be to duplicate?” she asked. “And how dangerous? Something burned out this flip drive. We absolutely cannot afford to have something like that happen to us.”

  “This is a civilian drive, built to far less robust standards than what you’ll fi
nd on our ships. Even the recovery ship has military drives. I can’t say for sure that it’s completely safe, but we can be careful. Since there isn’t another flip point in this system, we’re going to have to take chances.”

  “You’re sure of that?”

  “I’m afraid so,” he said softly. “The probes have scoured the system. There are no other flip points. The only way out is the way we came.”

  12

  Talbot knew he probably should run this visit past his wife, but he wanted to have an unmonitored conversation with her mother. This was likely to get ugly, and he’d rather spare Kelsey that. This conversation needed to happen no matter how nasty it got, though.

  The marine guard nodded at him as he instructed the hatch to signal his presence. Perhaps a little bit of common courtesy would make this easier. Talbot wasn’t going to hold his breath, but one never knew.

  The hatch slid open, and Justine Bandar stared up at him imperiously. Her already sour expression took a turn for the worse.

  “Well, that just about makes this day perfect. What do you want?”

  “I’d like to talk about your daughter. Believe it or not, it’s in my best interest to see the two of you reconciled.”

  He figured the odds were about fifty-fifty that she’d close the hatch in his face. He could see the calculation behind her gaze.

  She stepped back and gestured for him to enter. “Well then, by all means, come in. This should be fascinating.”

  Her quarters were standard Fleet issue. She undoubtedly saw them as a step down.

  His mother-in-law walked to the couch and sat. “I’d offer you some refreshments, but I don’t believe you’ll be staying that long.

  “Why would you want to see my daughter and me reconciled? In case it escaped your notice, I am not in favor of your marriage.”

  While the woman hadn’t offered him a seat, he took one anyway. Standing while she sat gave her too much power over him.

  “We’ve never been formally introduced,” he said. “I’m Major Russel Talbot, Imperial Marines. Call me Talbot. Everyone does.”

  “I know your name. Russel. You left out a few titles. Let me be clear. Your position doesn’t change one thing between us. You’re a commoner trying to climb the ladder into high society, and I will not allow it.”

  He laughed. “I couldn’t give squat about my position in society. Frankly, I thought the knighthood was far too much. The rest of those titles? If you can convince your ex-husband to take them back, I’m perfectly fine with that. I have no desire to see myself included in the nobility. Bunch of puffed-up stuffed shirts.”

  Justine raised an eyebrow. “That’s the first interesting thing you’ve said. I’m shocked that we find ourselves in agreement about anything.”

  “I don’t know why,” he said. “In any case, I’m not here to talk about me. I’m here to talk about Kelsey.”

  The woman sneered at him. “What can you possibly tell me about my daughter that I don’t already know? She thinks something has changed that makes her incomprehensible to me. She’s wrong. And if you think you’re going to take me to task for my sex life, you’d better think again.”

  “I couldn’t care less about your sex life. Bang whomever you choose. Knock yourself right out. As far as how Kelsey feels about that, that’s between you two. All I’m here for is to give you some information that your daughter isn’t going to give you.”

  The woman’s eyes narrowed. “What information might that be?”

  “The fact that she’s been through hell. Literally, through hell. She’s changed in ways both mental and physical that you cannot comprehend unless I explain it to you in words with less than three syllables.”

  He held up a hand when she started to respond hotly. Miraculously, she shut up.

  “Rather than argue, why don’t you let me explain it to you? If you have questions, then you can ask them. If you don’t, then I can leave. I’m not here to fight with you. That’s your daughter’s job.”

  Justine leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do both of you think that I cannot understand my daughter has been through something terrible? I’m sure the mission she was on was ghastly. Just look at the company she had to keep.”

  “Sometimes ignorance is bliss,” he said. “It’s going to give me great pleasure to educate you. And by company, I assume you mean Jared Mertz. He’s also outside the scope of our discussion.

  “Focus on your daughter. Kelsey went through something horrific. Something that has changed her irrevocably. Not just mentally—though it has certainly given her nightmares—but physically.

  “Let me stress that again. It’s been more than a year since the events in question, and she still has nightmares almost every night. She wakes up screaming in terror and pain. Is that getting through that thick skull of yours?”

  A look of unease flitted across the ex-empress’s face. “Nightmares? What could possibly have happened to her to give Kelsey nightmares?”

  He leaned forward. “The information I’m about to pass on to you is classified. Your ex-husband has declared it an Imperial secret. Technically, I’m in violation of quite a few laws in mentioning this to you, but I suspect he’ll grant me an exemption.

  “Your daughter was captured by a group of individuals we call the Pale Ones. They implanted machines in her body. Not just the implants you might’ve heard about. I’m talking about much more significant changes, and this was not a voluntary or painless process.”

  He used his implants to send a signal to the vid monitor on the wall. It began playing one of the marines’ helmet videos from the rescue. He’d selected the clip from after they’d arrived aboard Courageous. The team was on their way to the medical center.

  He froze it so that Kelsey’s face was framed on the monitor. The terrible red scars of the implant surgery cut across her face.

  Justine Bandar sucked in a horrified breath. “Oh my God.”

  “They didn’t use anesthesia or any form of regeneration. She had scars just like that across her entire body. I was a prisoner in the next compartment while they did it. I could hear her screaming for over an hour as they cut her open.”

  He made the image go away. “I could show you everything they did to her, but I’m going to do you a kindness that I’m not sure you’d do me under similar circumstances. I’m not going to show you something you can never forget.

  “They coated her bones in a substance called graphene to strengthen them. They wove artificial muscles through her normal muscles. They implanted equipment to dispense combat drugs into her. They turned her into the deadliest killing machine that Imperial science could build.”

  His mother-in-law stared at him in horror. “No. That’s not possible. She doesn’t look like that at all.”

  “Regeneration fixed the physical scars, in combination with something called medical nanites. She has millions of tiny machines scattered throughout her body to repair damage. The only lingering injuries she has are inside her mind.

  “And that brings me to the second half of her situation. She’s had to kill people. Not just by giving orders, not just with guns, but also with her bare hands. I’m not sure I can put a number on how many lives she’s ended to save her friends and herself. Oh, and the Empire. Let’s not forget that.”

  He started the second video. The one taken at the Parliament building on Pentagar. He didn’t watch the events on the monitor. He’d seen those innumerable times. Instead, he watched his mother-in-law’s expression of horror grow deeper.

  When the video finished, he allowed the silence to drag on. When she continued to stare at the monitor as though it were still playing, he continued.

  “While your daughter isn’t a murderer, she’s most assuredly a killer. She’s one of the deadliest fighters I’ve ever seen. All of this trauma has brought out one factor you’ve never seen in your daughter. One that’s been hiding in plain sight all this time.

  “Kelsey has a will of steel. She will do w
hatever is necessary for the Empire. The little girl that you could bully around died in an operating theater on board a space station that no longer exists. The woman you see may look like her, but she won’t knuckle under to bullies. Not even to you.”

  He rose to his feet. “I’ll leave you to think about that in whatever peace you can find. I’ll also give you some free advice. If you want to reconcile with your daughter, you’re going to have to give up any thought of dominating her. Trust me, the worst you can do doesn’t even come close to what she’s been through.”

  Talbot left her in the compartment, still staring at the blank monitor. He hoped she could come to grips with this information and change how she interacted with her daughter. If she couldn’t, well, he’d done his best.

  Annette stayed with Jacqueline Parker throughout the entire process of scanning the woman’s implants. She could see the woman’s nervousness.

  Audacious’s chief medical officer, Zac Zoboroski, walked the scientist through the process without explaining any of the details that would have caused a negative reaction. Annette was impressed with his bedside manner and soothing voice.

  The process of overwriting the corrupted code took several hours. The doctor passed this off as a deep scan mapping out the explosive device and how precisely it was placed.

  He stepped over beside Annette while the machine in the medical center overwrote the corrupted code. “That’s a despicable device. I have no idea what the software triggers are, but the amount of explosive is easily enough to completely shatter her skull and sever her spine.”

  Annette grimaced. “She said that the programming monitored them and what they said. If they knowingly revealed classified information to someone that wasn’t cleared to hear it, it would set off the device. There has to be some extra code inside the implant that monitors that somehow.”

  The man shrugged. “I’ve captured the code, and I’ll pass it on to Sir Carl. He’ll be able to figure out precisely what’s different. Under normal circumstances, the device would be relatively simple to remove, but I’m pretty sure it has an antitampering device. Without the appropriate codes to disarm it, I suspect it would go off if I tried.”