Behind Enemy Lines (Empire of Bones Saga Book 7)

by Terry Mixon

  The alien turned toward Kelsey and bowed his head. “I appreciate the care you have shown my people. I regret capturing Annette Vitter. I didn’t believe her story.”

  Kelsey extended her hand. She wasn’t sure the alien would take it, but he did. His grip was firm, and he made no attempt to overpower her.

  “As Jacob said, my name is Kelsey Bandar, and this is my ship, Persephone. Jacob and I have been getting to know one another.”

  The alien raised an eyebrow. “Indeed? The closest human pronunciation of my name is Derek. It would please me if you would call me such.”

  “Kelsey is not only chief of Clan Persephone,” Jacob told his friend, “but she is also a senior leader in their council. Her father is high clan chief of the New Terran Empire, and she stands to inherit his position.”

  Derek seemed suitably impressed. He bowed again, this time more deeply and with more of a flourish.

  “I’d rather not get tangled up in that right now,” Kelsey said. “As I told Jacob, I’m on a rather tight schedule. I want to continue the discussion we’re having, but I have to visit the system next door. I’ve prepared your men for transport. You’re more than welcome to accompany them down.”

  “I’ve offered to go with her on this journey,” Jacob said. “I think you should come with me. Think of what you could learn for your father.”

  Derek seemed to consider that. “Once I have seen my men to safety, if you have no objection, I would like to accompany you. I have wronged Annette Vitter by disbelieving her story. I want to learn as much as possible before I speak with my father about you.”

  That would certainly make getting more information about the clans possible, Kelsey mused. “We should have your people loaded for transport in about twenty minutes. You can tell the pilot where you’d like to land and go down with them. Once you get back to the ship, we’ll depart.”

  While the circumstances were looking up, she still hoped that Talbot had good news about her mother. As long as that situation remained unresolved, she’d be on pins and needles.

  Talbot was starting to get annoyed with the mechanics working on the damaged cutter. How hard could it be? Find whatever was causing the fault and swap it out.

  No matter what the technicians checked, the solution always seemed to elude them. It had taken almost two days now. If they didn’t solve the problem soon, he was going to have an aneurysm.

  That’s when Audacious called down with an alert. A cutter decelerating from orbit had come in for an emergency landing.

  Marines from every quarter of the planet headed for its location and began searching. They’d found the cutter in rough terrain. It looked as though the pilot had put it down hard. Talbot set out to join them.

  As he examined the crash site from the air, Talbot wondered why the pilot hadn’t tried for an area a few kilometers to the south. The terrain was much more conducive to a safe landing there.

  In any case, it looked as though it had survived well enough that someone probably had walked away.

  Mysteriously, they found the cutter empty. The ramp was still up, but no one was aboard. Maybe they’d closed it after they’d gotten clear. Yet, where had they gone?

  He immediately instituted a search of the area. The survivors would turn up in short order.

  Half a day later, he’d had to reevaluate that assessment. They’d gone over every centimeter of the forest around the crash site without finding survivors, bodies, or even a trace that anyone had ever lived there.

  Talbot was still trying to figure out what that meant when Commodore Anderson signaled him from orbit. “What’s the word, Talbot? Give me some good news.”

  He scowled at her image. “I’m getting a big pile of nothing down here. It’s as if the cutter was empty. Who the hell was flying this thing? What the hell were they doing?”

  “I’ll get that information for you by the time you get up here. Persephone just flipped back into the system. Princess Kelsey is on her way here now. I think you should come up and brief her in person.”

  Talbot sighed. “Great. Now I have to give her bad news on top of everything else. I feel like I haven’t accomplished a damned thing on this planet.”

  “Then come on up and meet her. Leave your subordinates to continue the search. We’ll figure this out.”

  He made his way back to the cutter he’d arrived in and instructed the pilot to take them up. Their scanners were able to detect the approaching Marine Raider ship while it was still a few hours out.

  Since they were headed toward one another, it only took them about an hour to rendezvous. One of the pinnaces detached so he could board.

  Kelsey was waiting for him. She wasn’t alone. An unknown man in odd-looking clothing stood beside her. What floored him though, was the alien biped standing nearby.

  He had seen images of the aliens Kelsey had discovered, but he didn’t expect to find one on Persephone.

  His wife pulled him into a hug. “It’s so good to see you. A week away is far too long.”

  She turned toward the human man. “Allow me to introduce Jacob Howell. Jacob, my husband, Russel Talbot. He’s also a major in the Imperial Marines.”

  The man reached out, and Talbot raised his hand automatically. It wasn’t the type of handshake he was used to—the man grasped his forearm rather than his palm—but he recovered well, he thought.

  Kelsey gestured toward the alien. “This is his friend Derek. I’m given to understand that that’s not the actual pronunciation of his name, but that’s the accepted version for humans.”

  The alien repeated the same strange handshake.

  Talbot had intended to launch into an update about her mother, but the strange visitors threw him off. He wasn’t certain he should speak about her at all. There was no telling what Kelsey had told them or, more to the point, what she hadn’t told them.

  He opened his mouth to inquire what she wanted to do, but an incoming communication stopped him. It was a priority message from Commodore Anderson. He accepted it at once.

  “Talbot, we have a problem,” the commodore said. “We’ve identified the cutter pilot. Unfortunately, he’s still on the island that you came from. He’s waiting for them to fix his cutter.”

  Talbot frowned and held up a hand to stop Kelsey from interrupting. She couldn’t hear the communication, so he shunted what he’d already received to her and linked her in.

  “Why do you think that pilot was the one flying the downed cutter?” he asked.

  “Because we have transponder confirmation. Flight control registered it coming up from the island and docking with the orbital. It was after that it returned to the surface and crashed.”

  Kelsey gave him an odd look. “What are we talking about? There was a cutter crash?”

  His mind raced ahead, and the obvious conclusion about floored him. “Oh crap. Commodore, you need to contact the recovery ship at once. They’ve got stowaways on the orbital.”

  “We’ve already called them,” the commodore said grimly. “They’re not responding.”

  “Where are they at?” Kelsey asked.

  “They’re probably out of the system. They’ve been too far out for us to detect for a while.”

  Kelsey smiled. “They’ve got nowhere to run. We’ll change course immediately and pursue them.”

  Once Talbot was satisfied that the conversation was over, he terminated the link. He waited until Kelsey had explained the situation to their visitors.

  She ended her recitation of facts with a wolfish grin. “But now they’ve made a terrible mistake. We’ll be able to find them no matter where they go.”

  The man named Jacob glanced at his friend. His expression seemed troubled.

  “That may not be true,” he said slowly. “According to the stories I’ve heard, the flip point leading to the Clan systems lies that way. At least it exists in the outer system.”

  “What?” Kelsey demanded. “I thought the Council worlds were on the other side of what you called
the defective flip point.”

  The man shook his head. “No. So far as I know, no ship other than Dauntless has ever managed to use one successfully. At least to go anywhere other than here.

  “My father told me that there was a previously unknown type of flip point in this system. One that existed far outside the normal orbital radius.”

  After a moment, the man shrugged. “I must admit I’m not certain I completely understand the concept of flip points at all, so it’s possible I’m making some kind of mistake. The story might be wrong.

  “The Council of Clans revealed the existence of the distant flip points to the Others, but not the defective one. They still hoped to devise a means of using it, I believe. In all likelihood, they have found more over the centuries.

  “Only the fact that we destroyed the ships that pursued us and took all the prisoners allowed us to escape through the defective flip point. Otherwise, I am certain that the Others would never have rested until they tracked us down. They wouldn’t want our knowledge to ever return to the clans.”

  Talbot stared at his wife in horror. No. This wasn’t a mistake. If the prisoners had gone to the trouble of stealing a transponder—which was what he thought they’d done—and then hijacked the recovery ship to head for the outer system, they knew exactly where they were going.

  He had no idea how they could’ve known. Maybe they’d found something inside the town that he’d missed. Hell, he didn’t even know how they’d managed to go undetected on the island for a week. His people had searched every inch of it.

  “What’s on the other side of this flip point?” he asked.

  The other man shrugged. “Based on the battle stories my father told me as a child, the system on the other side has a clan world. It wasn’t heavily invested, as I understand it, but that could have changed in the years since then.”

  Kelsey overrode Talbot before he could ask what the hell that meant. “We’ve got to get after them right now. We can’t allow them to escape this system. Take command of the marines on board this ship and get ready. We’re going to have to board the recovery ship and stop them.”

  His wife smiled coldly. “I’ve been itching to do something ever since they escaped. Now I can finally drive the events. Let’s wrap them up in a bow before they even realize we’re coming.”

  37

  Veronica swam slowly back to consciousness. She had a blinding headache and felt as if someone had turned her inside out.

  “How are you feeling?”

  She looked over and saw Brent Kowalski standing beside her. Her tactical officer’s brow was furrowed with worry.

  “Like crap,” she said, astonished at how weak her voice was. “Though I suppose that’s better than the alternative. I didn’t expect to wake up at all.”

  He helped her sit up. “I’ll confess to having my doubts too. You were in bad shape when we found you. What happened?”

  She waved a hand at him. “That isn’t important right now. What’s our status?”

  He stopped her from standing up. “You still look pretty unsteady to me, Captain. I think you should take it easy. We’re not in any immediate danger, so there’s no need to rush.”

  She wanted to argue, but he was right. A few minutes wasn’t going to make any difference one way or the other. She was alive, and they’d escaped. That was all that mattered. At least she assumed they’d escaped.

  “Are we still in orbit around Icebox?”

  “No. The ship got orders to move out within half an hour of us taking it. We’ve been slowly boosting for the outer system for almost a full shift. There’s no sign of pursuit, so Commander Castille believes we’ve gotten away.”

  She’d been out far longer than she’d suspected. That worried her, but she’d deal with it when she had time.

  “When has anything gone that easily for us?” she asked rhetorically. “Sooner or later, they’re going to figure out what we did and come after us. When we get on the other side of the flip point, we’re going to have to run for it.

  “The downside is going to be that we don’t have any information about flip points in that next system. The odds are very good that they’ll follow us before we locate an exit from the system. So, we’re going to have to find an excellent hiding place to wait them out.”

  Veronica decided that she was feeling as good as she was going to be. With Brent’s help, she slowly stood. It would have to do.

  She’d been in a very rudimentary medical center. It was barely large enough for two beds and some cabinets. She hoped they never actually needed to treat someone in it.

  Veronica would have liked to say she didn’t need his help getting to the bridge, but that would’ve been a lie. She was significantly weaker than she’d ever remembered being.

  Castille and Candace were flying the ship. Well, Candace was. Castille was sitting in the commander’s chair looking pretty.

  He rose as soon as she came in to the bridge. “Veronica! It’s so good to see you back on your feet. We were all very worried.”

  She thought he actually sounded sincere. Her feelings about him had become more complicated as they discovered the truth about the revolution. She suspected he’d be willing to do anything to further the AIs’ cause. Still, he sounded pleased that she hadn’t died, so that was something.

  “I think I’m only provisionally back on my feet. Do you mind if I take your seat?”

  He stepped away from the commander’s chair and gestured for her to sit. “Please do. All I’m doing is occupying space. I don’t really know what I should be doing to command a vessel in space. Candace has actually been running things.”

  “And running them well, I’m sure,” Veronica said. “She’s an extremely talented and competent officer. What’s our status?”

  Castille sat at one of the spare consoles against the bulkhead. “We captured the ship without any incident. Commander Fuller is guarding the prisoners. They all seem exceedingly competent, so I don’t trust leaving them out of our sight. Even without tools, they almost managed to escape from a sealed compartment.”

  She nodded, impressed. “That does sounds remarkably competent. Are they Fleet officers?”

  He shook his head. “They don’t appear to be. My guess is that they’re civilian specialists. I’m sure their story is fascinating, but at this point, I’m only interested in keeping them locked away until we can complete our escape.”

  “How far are we away from the flip point?”

  He shrugged and gestured toward Candace.

  “As near as I can tell, we’re about two hours away from the flip point,” the woman said. “We’re far outside the normal area where one would exist, so there’s no danger the ships in orbit around Icebox will detect it.

  “At this point, I don’t believe they can detect us, either. We’re not moving very quickly, so our grav signature is low. We actually changed course several hours ago, so even if they come looking for us, they’re not going to find us in the area they’d expect.”

  “They’ll search the outer system when we don’t come back,” Veronica said. “They’re eventually going to find the flip point. When they do, they’re going to come after us. We need to have a plan for when that happens.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Castille said. “As soon as we cross into the next system, we’ll get as far away from the flip point as we can and hide in the outer system. We can go out into deep space and wait. We have plenty of food and water, so all we’re worrying about is time.”

  That was about what she’d expected. All things considered, it was the best plan. “What about our original prisoners? Did you put them in with the crew from the ship?”

  “I didn’t want the two groups discussing things between themselves. We brought them on board, but Justine and her military associates are in a separate cabin. As you might imagine, she’s frothing at the mouth over her treatment. I can totally understand why her daughter locked her up.”

  Veronica chuckled. “Fam
ilies are complicated. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll rest before we flip. I think I need to be at my best.”

  Castille rose to his feet. “I’ll see you back to a cabin. Lieutenant Kowalski can remain here to assist Candace. We’ll wake you twenty minutes before we flip.”

  The cabin was exceptionally plain, but it looked to have a comfortable bunk. That’s all she really cared about.

  Once Castille had departed, she laid down and closed her eyes. They’d caught more good luck than anyone could justify. She couldn’t help feeling that it would run out at the worst possible moment. Then she was asleep.

  Annette cursed the escaped prisoners again. Where the hell had they gone? She’d taken her fighters out along the course they’d held when Audacious had lost sight of them, but they were gone. Had they already flipped out of the system?

  She sure as hell hoped not. Her fighters didn’t have the capability to detect a flip point, even if they weren’t relying solely on passive scanners. They might fly right past it.

  “I think I have something, Captain,” one of her wingmen said. “Just a hint of a signal. I think it’s a grav drive.”

  She linked her fighter to his and examined what he was seeing. That certainly did look like a grav drive signature. It was way off the projected course, so they’d have to alter their trajectory if they hoped to get a better reading.

  “Everyone, follow my lead.” Annette curved her fighter around and boosted her speed a little.

  She was still going slowly enough that she wasn’t worried about the recovery ship spotting her. To say their scanner suite was rudimentary was a profound understatement.

  Five minutes later, she was certain they’d found the recovery ship and the Dresden orbital. They were making fairly good time considering the mass of the vessel and its cargo. She was close enough to detect the short-ranged scanning pulses they must be using to search for the flip point.