by S. H. Jucha
“You mean it’s a penal colony?”
“I wouldn’t have considered it so, Captain. But in light of my recent decision, perhaps it is. And my people and I have now joined its ranks.”
Alex could sense her loss. She’d returned home after an absence of more than seventy-one years only to find it in turmoil—her father dead and her brother ready to betray her newfound friends. On top of it all, disobeying her House was apparently a criminal offense, even if it wasn’t called one.
“Perhaps you just need a better House?” he told her.
She laughed out loud, taken by surprise. “You can’t change Houses, Captain. Even if it were possible, who would have us under these circumstances?”
“Then you need your own House,” he told her.
“There hasn’t been a new House in hundreds of years.”
“Perhaps it’s time,” said Alex, holding her gaze with a steady expression of his own.
Her eyes held his and her brows closed in a frown. Suddenly, she commed Julien, linking Alex in.
Julien responded with the list, which included their functions. Alex scrolled through it and spotted what he suspected would be missing.
Renée’s heart was pounding in her chest and she felt dizzy. Raised as the daughter of a House Leader, a traditionalist, she was abandoning her House and had the temerity to consider starting her own. She knew she could never do this alone, but she could do it with Alex.
Alex picked up on her thoughts as she rejected name after name, her frustration evident. He recalled his mother’s last words to him. Slightly embarrassed, he nonetheless played his recording for Renée, who listened to Katie describe Alex’s namesake, Alexander, the defender of mankind.
Renée’s response was a huge grin and she announced,
Renée and Alex settled into a discussion of the finer points of establishing a new House, possible responses to her brother, and required communication with the Confederation Council. Alex requested a synopsis of Council structure and procedures from Julien, attempting to understand what he’d gotten himself into with Renée. In the midst of their discussion, they received a signal from Julien.
replied Alex.
Renée jumped up and clapped her hands.
Renée’s hands flew to her mouth as if to prevent something from exploding from her. She whirled around in a circle—once, twice, three times—her arms stretched over her head. Alex laughed, enjoying her delight. Then she flew into his lap, wrapping hers arms tightly around his neck. “And such a good heart,” she whispered, quoting his mother. She planted a long kiss on his cheek, disentangled herself, and gave him a brilliant smile before hurrying from the cabin.
“It’s getting to be a very memorable day,” Alex mused to himself. “I hope we survive it to see a few more.”
-37-
No more House directives came their way and they continued to play dumb, withholding their own announcement as they maintained their heading toward Méridien. Julien gathered data as quickly as he could. Their intent to disregard the House orders would be discovered when they failed to begin deceleration to dock as directed.
Alex was finishing a conference with his Squadron Leader and her pilots when Julien signaled his summary was ready. He sent a request to Renée to join him on the bridge.
Edouard, who had bridge duty, vacated a command chair for Renée, and Alex settled in beside her.
Julien used the entire bridge display for the pertinent images he’d culled from Méridien media stories going back over seventy years. The attack on the Celeste and the Rêveur was only the beginning. The Confederation lost more ships over the next ten years, the riddled hulks always found near industrial outposts in barren systems. No evidence of the perpetrators was ever found. Then the most far flung colony—Cetus, in the Hellébore system, only forty-two years old, sent a Confederation-wide signal that an enormous spherical ship over four kilometers in diameter had arrived in system. When the ship passed the outer planet, strange ovoid ships with dark silver hulls exited the huge ship and surrounded it. The flotilla was headed directly for them. Cetus’ last communication, originating from Governor Bassani, announced they were attempting to communicate with the alien ships.
Fourteen days later, a House passenger ship exited FTL into the Oikos system, broadcasting an emergency comm to the Council. They had arrived at the Hellébore system from Bellamonde in time to witness alien ships destroying the colony. Using intense energy beams, emanating from their bows, the silver ships burned buildings, structures, and people into cinders. Confederation ships, liners, freighters, and orbital stations were rendered into dead hulks, riddled with holes.
The Council sent ships to investigate. Their vessels recorded some of the small alien ships circling the planet as well as the giant spherical ship. Several more of the small ships were seen patrolling the system. However, the total number of ships did not match the multitude seen by the first House ship. Close magnification of the colony planet revealed domes, resembling the top portion of the silver ships, buried in the ground.
According to the records, nothing more happened for years. Council ships continued to monitor the system. Around the domes, resources were harvested—flora and the occasional cave-in marking the mining of mineral deposits.
Occasionally, a dome erupted from the surface, revealing itself as a silver ship, and flew to the mother ship. Often a silver ship emerged from the giant sphere and rather than return to the surface it relieved a fighter patrolling the system. Then that craft landed on the pla
net and buried itself in the soil.
Eleven years after the Cetus colony was subsumed, the monitoring Confederation ships witnessed the eruption of the remaining domes. The flotilla of silver ships returned to the mother ship. Then the behemoth, accompanied by its brood, journeyed to the heliosphere and entered FTL.
The monitoring ships attempted to track the horde, but several silver ships broke out of formation and gave chase. Only the ship manned by the Captain who ran first survived; the others took the full brunt of the aliens’ energy weapons.
And so it had gone for the next fifty-nine years. The Confederation lost colony after colony, one about every eight to twelve years depending on the richness and size of the overtaken planet. The last colony subsumed, Bellamonde, was one system away from Méridien and the chronometer was counting down. It had been seven years since that planet was overtaken.
At the conclusion of Julien’s summary, Alex stood up and walked the length of the bridge. Renée followed his pacing. She thought of Antoine, her husband-to-be, and his family, who were probably still on Cetus when it was attacked.
“Julien, edit the package down to a short summary and send it to the crew,” Alex requested.
“Yes, Captain.”
After a few more moments, Alex stopped his pacing and looked at Renée. He wanted to feel sympathy for the loss of her people, especially her husband-to-be. But what he felt was anger—anger over the sheer waste. “So for decades, your people have watched these aliens take over colony after colony, killing their people and harvesting their planets, and they’ve done nothing?” he asked, throwing his arms wide in exasperation.
“My people have worked hard to remove aggressive tendencies. We’ve chosen order over independence.”
“So when it came time to fight back, there’s no one with the will or the means to do so? Is that what you’re saying?” Alex challenged her.
Renée hung her head, unable to find the words to answer him. She’d suffered through nightmares of this scenario. But, in the light of day, she’d managed to convince herself that, at most, the aliens might have attacked a single colony. This worst-case scenario was one she hadn’t let herself believe was possible.
“Captain, I have information regarding your second request.” Julien said. “House Bergfalk has made repeated requests to the Council to be allowed to investigate the alien ships. They petitioned for permission to capture one for analysis, but the Council refused their request, stating that such actions might incite the aliens to retaliate against the Méridien home world.”
“Have they taken any independent action against the aliens?”
“I can detect no signs of that, Captain.”
“Who is this House Bergfalk? What do they do within your society?”
Renée collected herself and rejoined the conversation. “They are responsible for the Independents. They gather them, transport them to Libre, and maintain the colony as well.”
“Tell me more about them. Are there any commonalities in their backgrounds?” he asked her. “And Julien, research this House. Seems to me that if you have a House dedicated to managing troublemakers and this same House is begging for a chance to take on the aliens, all is not as it seems.”
“What are you suggesting, Captain?” Renée asked, confusion written on her face.
“I’m suggesting that you don’t manage people such as your Independents for hundreds of years without some of their tendencies rubbing off on you.”
“Julien, you have one hour research time.” Alex ordered as he hurried off the bridge. “Come back to me by then.”
“Aye, Captain. The master Sleuth is at work.”
Renée asked her Méridiens if any had personal experience with Independents. Pia and Terese responded, and she requested they join her in the Captain’s cabin. Pia had lost a niece and Terese a younger brother. They sat at the Captain’s table describing the transition their family members had undergone that led to their status as Independents. Their relatives had started by questioning House traditions. Later, they professed unhappiness with society’s rules, and finally, they graduated to outright rebellion.
What amazed Alex was that they didn’t exhibit anti-social behavior as he defined it. To him, they had simply dared to express their opinions, choosing to disregard the status quo. It was apparent from Pia’s and Terese’s stories that their family members had become anxious to join the Independents’ colony—the sooner the better. Their families lost their loved ones forever. Once transferred, the Independents were never allowed off Libre, and only House Bergfalk ships staffed with their personnel were permitted to travel there.
Alex’s chronometer app chimed one hour and simultaneously Julien came through his implant,
Julien agreed,
Julien added.
The three Méridiens regarded Alex, trying to discern his thoughts.
Alex was about to reply to her but changed his mind.
There was silence while Julien pulled data and ran calculations.
Alex grinned at her and pursed his lips in a kiss. Renée frowned; Pia and Terese politely hid their grins.
up a finger,
The Méridiens stared at him aghast.
Julien added,
* * *
Within moments of streaking past the deceleration point for Méridien, Julien received a House de Guirnon encrypted comm requiring the ship’s status. He queried Alex and Renée, requesting instructions. Alex told him to send their House announcement to the Council and House de Guirnon.
Renée started to say no, when a thought occurred to her.