Ep.#11 - A Rock and a Hard Place (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)
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Lord Dusahn looked concerned, turning to whisper something to a subordinate off-camera.
“Transmit the video to our friends,” Nathan instructed to his comms officer.
“Transmitting video,” Naralena acknowledged.
“Take your time, my lord,” Nathan told Lord Dusahn, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“What video?” Jessica asked in a soft tone. “What did you send him?”
Nathan tapped his comm-set to mute it. “The destruction of the Jar-Razza and the shipyards.”
Jessica smiled. “Oh, he’s going to be pissed.”
“That’s an understatement,” Nathan replied, tapping his comm-set again and turning back around to face his adversary on the main view screen.
“You do realize you have doomed the people of Orswella,” Lord Dusahn warned, barely able to control his seething anger. “My troops on the ground will slaughter the people of that…”
“No, they won’t,” Nathan insisted, cutting him off. “You see, we took ninety percent of your ground forces out in the first few seconds of the engagement, and then cleaned the rest up with our own ground forces.”
Lord Dusahn paused for a moment, his anger threatening to get the best of him. “You cannot protect both Orswella and the Rogen system,” he declared. “They are too far apart.”
“Wrong again,” Nathan said. “That seems to be a recurring theme for you today. You see, I can, and I will, protect both systems. Not only can I protect them both, but I can also reach out and fuck with your little empire any time I wish, without leaving any of our allies unprotected. All with one little warship…and a few hundred pissed off Gunyoki, a dozen or so missile gunboats, and of course those lovely little fighters that can magically slip through your shields.” Nathan stood there for a moment, smiling, letting Lord Dusahn’s new reality sink in before continuing. “Listen, it seems your day isn’t going quite the way you had hoped. I know how that is, having your plans fall apart, and all.” Nathan suddenly turned serious. “Withdraw your forces from the Rogen system, right now, and stay the hell out of both the Rogen and the Orswellan systems……or else.”
“Or else what?” Lord Dusahn sneered.
Nathan smiled. “I think you’re smart enough to figure that out for yourself. After all, you are a lord.” Nathan suddenly stopped smiling, and his face became deadly serious again. “You have thirty seconds.” Nathan held up his hand, and Lord Dusahn disappeared from his view screen, replaced by the image of the massive dreadnought standing nose to nose with them, less than a kilometer away.
“Contact terminated,” Naralena reported.
“I assume all weapons are locked on that dreadnought,” Nathan inquired.
“Since the moment we jumped in,” Cameron assured him.
Josh spun around to face his captain. “That was the coolest bluff I have ever seen!”
Nathan stood there, still looking steely-eyed as he stared at the dreadnought on the view screen. “I wasn’t bluffing.”
Josh turned back around to face his console, exchanging a glance with Loki in the process.
“Dreadnought is changing course,” Kaylah announced. “They’re turning to a clear jump line.”
“Should I move to block?” Josh wondered.
“Negative,” Nathan said.
“Incoming vid-link from the dreadnought,” Naralena reported.
“On screen,” Nathan instructed.
Again, Lord Dusahn appeared on the main view screen, only this time he appeared quite unhappy. “Do not think for a moment that this is over, Captain. We will return and, when we do, all worlds allied with you will pay the price for their actions.”
“I look forward to it,” Nathan replied confidently.
Again, Lord Dusahn disappeared from the main view screen, replaced by the image of the dreadnought as it turned away from the Aurora, disappearing moments later in a blue-white flash of light.
“All Dusahn ships are jumping away,” Kaylah reported in disbelief. She turned to Nathan. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Neither can I,” Nathan admitted. “Naralena, contact the Falcon, and have them search the Dusahn battle group’s jump line. I want to be certain they’ve left the Rogen system and are headed back to Takara.”
“Aye, sir.”
“What do we do now?” Jessica wondered.
Nathan turned around to face her. “We get ready,” he replied. “He wasn’t bluffing either.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Doctor Symyri entered the intensive care ward of his medical facility on Sanctuary, ready to begin his morning rounds. As usual, his facility was full of patients, meaning his accounts were full, as well. To him, there was no better feeling than knowing he could afford to do what he loved without any fear of restrictions, both financial and political, which made practicing medicine on industrialized worlds so difficult.
“How are you doing this morning, Eta?” he asked the nurse at the monitoring desk.
“Ready to head home,” Eta responded.
“Difficult night?”
“Not at all,” she replied, “which makes it all the more tiring. Everyone slept through the night with no worrisome readings.”
“That’s a first,” Doctor Symyri joked.
“I much prefer to have, at least, a few things to do,” Eta insisted.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, we are going to fast-grow a new arm for Mister Nettenney today, using Doctor Chen’s new system. I’m sure that will give you plenty to do on your next shift.”
“We’re doing that today?” Doctor Imber asked as she approached. “I thought it wasn’t ready, yet.”
“Doctor Chen works very fast,” Doctor Symyri replied.
The conversation was suddenly cut short by an alarm at the monitoring station behind Eta. Before she could turn around, a woman screamed in panic from one of the rooms.
Both Doctor Symyri and Doctor Imber responded immediately, both of them running toward the screams, followed by Eta. A med-tech also came running from the other end of the ward, arriving at the room, from where the woman’s screams were coming, at the same time as the others.
Doctor Symyri was the first to enter, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Miri sitting bolt-upright in the stasis pod that she had just forced open. Her arms were cut and covered with blood, and her intravenous tubes had become disconnected. She was completely disoriented, screaming in abject fear at the top of her lungs as if she had just witnessed something horrible.
Doctor Imber pushed past the stunned Doctor Symyri, followed by the med-tech, and finally Doctor Symyri and nurse Eta.
“Quickly!” Doctor Symyri instructed. “We must sedate her!”
“It is all right, Miri,” Doctor Imber murmured patiently, trying to calm her down.
“WHO ARE YOU?” Miri yelled in a nearly unintelligible fashion. “WHERE AM I? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?”
Eta handed Doctor Symyri an injector, which he quickly placed against the side of Miri’s neck and pressed the button, sending the sedative into her carotid artery.
Miri immediately relaxed, falling into the arms of her caregivers, who lowered her gently back down into the stasis pod.
“We’ll have to move her out of this pod to a monitoring bed,” Doctor Symyri said.
“Who are…” Miri mumbled, now barely conscious. “Where are my…”
The last thing she said as they put the oxygen mask over her mouth was, “Nathan.”
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COMING SOON
Episode 12
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The Frontiers Saga:
Rogue Castes
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