by M. D. Cooper
Erin let herself sink into the experience. She forgot she was at Isa’s opening event, that she had a space station to build, and almost everything that she associated with being herself. The Scamander had entered her psyche.
Suddenly, the scene felt like it was shaking, and a thundering sound shook her out of her reverie.
Erin’s eyes flew open, settling on the roof hatch that was hanging down and swinging wildly. It had been blown open. The air was hazy. On her left, she could see armored legs and booted feet running down the stairs. Erin half rose to her feet just as a soldier stepped onto the mezzanine and lifted his weapon. A pulse round hit her square in the chest.
The blast flung Erin from her seat and she crumpled to the floor, struggling to breathe.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
STELLAR DATE: 05.11.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Isa’s gallery, Heliopolis, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Between gasps, Erin rose onto her elbows, trying to make sense of what was going on. A few seconds prior, she’d been in the middle of a thrilling sensory and spiritual experience, and then she’d been rudely flung back into reality.
Armored feet were running past not far from her head, headed to the staircase that led to the other mezzanine, firing downward at the partygoers as they ran.
Dozens of concussive pulses thumped out, reverberating around Erin’s skull, increasing her confusion. They were followed by shouts and cries from the partygoers, mixed in with the sounds of breaking glass and falling gallery displays.
What the hell is going on? Is Troy being attacked? How has the Transcend passed through all our outer defenses without anyone spotting it?
It occurred to her that these might be Trojan separatists, trying to kidnap Tanis as part of their plan to secede. She wondered where they’d acquired the armor and weapons to pull the assault, then remembered the equipment caches that had been set up on each planet.
Dammit.
Erin’s heart froze. Not only were Isa and Martin down on the first floor where the soldiers were headed, Jude was there too.
Knowing that stealth was her only option now, she slumped back down, lying still and trying to avoid attracting attention from the remainder of the platoon that was moving past.
They have to be here for Tanis—why would they bother taking an art gallery?
Despite the governor being the most obvious target, Erin wasn’t too concerned about Tanis or Joe. Those two were well able to defend themselves. Isa and Martin, on the other hand, weren’t armed, and with protecting Jude being their primary concern, they wouldn’t fight back either.
The tramp of boots past Erin’s head finally ended, and she glanced around to see that the mezzanine was empty. The hatch the attackers had busted open hung at a crazy angle, and she could see the clear, starlit sky through it.
It would be easy to escape onto the roof and leave in the shuttle, if the attackers hadn’t destroyed it. But there was no way she was leaving without her spouses and son.
Erin crawled to the edge of the floor and peered between the railings. Pulse fire continued to resonate through the space. On one side of the main floor, she could see that the strange, orange-clad woman was on the floor having some kind of fit, while a soldier dispassionately stood over her. Other groups were being held at gunpoint and marched toward the front entrance, which stood open.
For a moment, Erin clung to the hope that Martin and Isa had left with Jude, but then she spotted them standing toward the rear of the space. Her spouses formed two corners of a triangle; Martin had Jude in his arms, and Isa was at his side. A soldier formed the triangle’s third point. He was swinging the barrel of his rifle between the two adults.
The concussive blasts from the pulse rifles had lessened, and Jude’s terrified wail was reaching a crescendo, echoing through the gallery.
That sound caused unbridled rage to rise in Erin’s chest.
Other than the man covering the twitching orange woman, the soldier covering her family was the only one she could see from her vantage. There was still fighting going on somewhere below—likely Tanis and Joe making a stand.
That pair didn’t go anywhere unarmed. Maybe they would succeed in defeating the attackers, despite being heavily outnumbered…. Though Erin wasn’t prepared to leave the safety of her family to chance.
Deciding on a course of action, she slowly rose and ran to the stairs that crossed to the other mezzanine. She probably wouldn’t get far along it without being noticed, but she didn’t have to go far to carry out her plan.
Erin took another look at the soldier who was threatening her family. Do I rush and hope for the best, or take careful aim?
If she missed, she would seriously hurt herself and fail at rescuing the people she loved. A surprise strike had the greatest chance of success, even though it meant a higher risk of discovery.
No time to come up with something else….
Erin began to creep down the stairs, hoping no one would look up. Martin, Isa, and the soldier guarding them had moved closer to the center of the room, but were not yet, unfortunately, in exactly the right spot. She would have to judge the angle correctly.
Being an engineer paid off in so many ways.
“Hey!”
Someone had seen her. A soldier that had been out of view before was gesturing toward her from the lower level. She’d run out of time. Erin dashed down the final steps, leapt onto the banister rail, and, after taking a split second to judge her angle, jumped.
She’d barely had enough time to confirm that she’d gauged correctly before she hit her target—who’d just turned to look in her direction.
Her reinforced skeletal structure and the mods for her space-borne work added considerable weight to Erin’s diminutive body, so when her feet smashed into the shoulders and back of the soldier, the man lost his balance and toppled.
Even as she hit the floor and rolled to her feet, she didn’t take her eyes off the man’s weapon, which he now held with only one hand while struggling back to his feet.
She didn’t waste a moment, lunging at him and dropping her nano onto the weapon as she wrested it from the attacker’s hands. By some miracle, she managed to prise it from his grip.
She yelled over her shoulder at Isa and Martin, “Run!”
Erin didn’t recognize the weapon, and assumed it must be a Transcend rifle. In any case, the interface mapped to her HUD in a moment, and she mentally pulled the trigger, firing a pulse blast into the soldier’s groin.
He fell backward, and she fired another blast into his torso before flipping the weapon to its projectile mode and putting a kinetic round into his chest. He wasn’t dead, but from the groaning, she knew he’d be out for the count.
Erin spun to see Martin and Isa rushing for the door, a still-wailing Jude in Martin’s arms.
Her eyes swept across the space, noting several ruined displays, and then saw that the enemy guarding the orange woman was gone. She spotted him moving around one of Isa’s art displays for a clear shot and she dove to the ground, lobbing a series of kinetic rounds in his direction.
One hit him in the shoulder, and he returned fire.
Erin was about to move to cover, when a shout came from behind another display.
“Drop it, buddy!”
Tanis’s voice was unmistakable. Erin shifted to see the governor advancing on the soldier from one side, with Joe coming in from the other.
The man lowered his weapon and then let it fall
to the ground before placing his hands on his head.
“You OK?” Tanis asked Erin as Joe kicked the soldier’s rifle away.
“Yeah,” Erin said as she rose. “What the hell is going on?”
“You’re locked down, private,” Joe said to the soldier, and then turned to Erin. “Nice jump. Good thing you have a spacer’s mods, or that would have broken your ankles.”
She shrugged. “Well, you don’t get to my point in life without being able to work out newtons of force and tensile strength numbers on the fly. But seriously, what—”
“It was a drill,” Tanis said as she glanced around the space at the mess made by the fleeing patrons and attacking soldiers. “I didn’t expect them to hit us here, but not knowing when it’s going to come is sort of the point.”
The man Erin shot groaned as he struggled to his feet. “For low-v rounds, those sure hurt like a bugger.”
“Head outside and see the medic,” Joe instructed him as Tanis surveyed the space.
“I guess we’re the last ones. I need to talk to Commander Dell.” Tanis said to Erin, “You should go check on your family.”
Erin nodded mutely, the adrenaline fading and the shock of what had just occurred settling in. She followed Tanis and Joe outside to see that the street was full of people standing in small groups and talking. Some of the soldiers who had been attacking the art gallery were chatting with locals, their weapons slung casually over their shoulders as they made sure everyone was OK.
Martin and Isa were standing together across the street from the gallery. Jude was still howling in fear, and Martin was trying to comfort and quiet him. Isa looked defeated and sad.
Erin walked up to them. “Shit…glad you two are OK.”
“A drill,” Martin said through gritted teeth. “A fucking invasion drill. Right in the middle of Isa’s opening event.”
“Yeah,” Erin sighed as she glanced at Isa. Her wife’s hair had been messed up during the attack and was half hanging down. She’d also lost a shoe. “Yeah, it was…unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?” asked Martin. “Look around you. Or go find your friend and ask her. Tanis must have known all about it. She probably arranged it!”
Martin’s vehemence caught Erin off guard, and she found herself reeling from the onslaught. But he was right, Isa’s party had been ruined, and the gallery and much of the art she’d worked on for months had been damaged. By Tanis’s own words, it had been something the governor knew about, but she had her reasons, if she could get Tanis to explain….
Erin didn’t need to go far to find her; the governor and Joe had just stepped away from the company commander and were walking toward them. She hadn’t noticed before, but Tanis’s dress was torn off at the knees, and there were some bloodstains on her calves, but otherwise they both were unharmed and relaxed.
“I didn’t mention it before, but you did really well, Erin,” Tanis said as she reached the family.
“Yeah, you flew down like an avenging angel,” said Joe. “I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I was impressed.”
“But you were expecting the attack, right?” Martin was glaring at both of them. Jude had finally stopped screaming and was sobbing sad, hiccupy sobs as he rested his head on his father’s shoulder.
“I did know the drill was scheduled for some time this week,” Tanis replied as she gave Jude a kind look. “These things are arranged months in advance. It was an unfortunate coincidence it was happening tonight, Isa.”
Isa hung her head. Erin could tell she was trying not to cry.
“But the good thing is,” Tanis continued, “it went off well, there was minimal damage, and emergency response teams kicked in just as they should have—especially from unexpected quarters.” She patted Erin on the back. “By the way, Isa, I think your gallery is fantastic. I’m sure you’re going to do great business. You can apply to the Invasion Defense Fund for compensation for any damages. I’m sorry that we have to go, but we need to review some other sites and then oversee the planetary briefing before we return to Carthage tomorrow evening. But my offer to babysit still stands. If you guys want to take that trip to Athens, let me know. I’m sure we can arrange something.”
“Always happy to have Jude on the ranch,” Joe said in parting before he and Tanis walked away.
“If she thinks I would leave our son in her care after tonight,” Martin muttered once the governor was out of earshot, “she must be insane. I’m not letting Jude anywhere near her or her family. The woman’s a psychopath.”
“Oh, that’s going a bit far,” said Erin.
She felt sorry for Jude, and Isa too, but she could also see Tanis’s point of view. She had bigger concerns to worry about than one small family or a friend’s party.
“You’re actually going to stand up for her after what she did?” said Martin.
“What she said was right. She couldn’t change the schedule; this kind of thing takes a lot of organization, and Isa only invited her to her opening party yesterday.”
“Tanis terrified our son and ruined Isa’s evening, and she didn’t even have the decency to apologize.”
“She probably doesn’t think she has anything to apologize for,” said Erin. “Like I said—”
“I heard what you said,” Martin spat. He was pale with anger.
Erin was about to respond when Isa raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Please, don’t argue. It’s only going to make everything worse.”
Martin contented himself with glaring at Erin. Jude, exhausted by the night’s events, was nodding off. Martin adjusted his hold on the boy so that he could better support his head.
“Let’s go inside,” said Isa. “I want to try to find my shoe. Then I want to go home. I’ll come back and assess the damage in the morning.”
Erin wrapped an arm around Isa as they trudged across the street to the gallery. She felt so bad for her, and Jude’s cries had torn at her heart, yet she knew the governor was only doing her job. She had a duty to protect New Canaan. Knowing Tanis, that was what she would do, regardless of who she might disturb or upset.
She hoped that when he’d had time to calm down, Martin would understand. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so angry, not even when she’d accidentally sent shockwaves through his seeding site on the Med.
When it came to the things that were dear to him, he thought with his heart, not his head.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
STELLAR DATE: 05.12.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Family home, eastern shores of Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
The following morning, the mood at breakfast was tense. Isa looked from Martin to Erin and then to Jude. Martin’s expression was stony. Erin was quiet and pensive. Only Jude seemed his normal self.
Then Isa actually looked at what her son was doing: swooping his toast down into his egg and smashing it to pieces. His behavior appeared to be a re-enactment of Erin’s rescue attempt at the invasion drill.
Perhaps he’s suffering from the aftereffects of last night too.
Isa sighed and turned her gaze from her family to the view from the terrace. It was a far nicer sight. The rising sun was sending streaks of gleaming light across the Sea of Marmara. The breeze that blew her hair away from her face was gentle and balmy. She couldn’t wish for a better place to be or better people to be with, but somehow everything had gone wrong, and she didn’t know how to put it right.
Ever since their altercation the night before, Erin and Martin hadn’t spoken to each other in the way they usually would. They weren’t exactly refusing to speak, but they were being frighteningly civil. Isa had never seen either of them so polite. She hated it. Should they talk about what had happened? Isa guessed that opening up the subject of the invasion drill would be like dropping a gram of antimatter on the table. The best she could hope for was that no one would mention the event that had ruined her opening party ever again. But she doubted that would be enough to mend the
rift between her husband and wife.
“Are you going in to work today, Martin?” Erin asked.
“Yes, I thought I would, if that’s all right with you guys. Still lots to do.”
“Fine by me,” Erin said.
“Me too,” said Isa. “I think I’ll go over to the gallery. I need to contact the assessors and make a claim for damages.”
Martin’s jaw muscle twitched.
Erin studied her cereal closely.
“We’re beginning the visitor facilities construction phase at the park,” said Martin, “so I’d like to spend some time there today.”
“What facilities will you have?” Erin asked.
“Hotels, education centers, banqueting halls, observation decks, and so on. Just the usual. Lindsey planned it all out months ago with a couple of architects who have experience in designing underwater environments.”
“Just the usual?” asked Isa. “That’s quite a list. It sounds like the construction of all that will take longer than it has to seed the park with creatures.”
“No, it’s only going to take a few days,” Martin replied. “Lindsey got permission to use picotech. She’s waiting on the delivery of the modules.”
“It’s going to take a few days to use picotech?” asked Erin. “That stuff works in seconds.”
“Yes, it’s going to take longer in the park,” Martin replied. He looked as though he was about to say more, but instead, he took a bite of toast and chewed it grimly.
“I’ve used picotech in construction before,” Erin said when it was clear that no one else was going to fill the silence. “Someone tried to steal it. That was how I got to know Usef; he led the detail that caught the thief.”
“Is that so?” Isa said. “You never told us about that. What happened?”
“I was working with a young engineer, Sasha. We were….” Erin glanced at Martin, who continued to look away from the group. She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you another time.”