The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy)

by Mike Smith

“Funny,” Paul replied with a resigned sigh.

  “Oh you worry too much,” Jon replied as he strode towards the exit. “Anyway I’ll be in the ‘Light, so I’ll be perfectly fine… Paul?” Jon inquired just before Paul reached the door.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you think a person should be forgiven for the mistakes they made in the past?”

  “I guess that depends on the mistake, doesn’t it?”

  Jon nodded as he watched the door slide open, then close behind his chief of operations. It didn’t matter what others thought, he decided. He was never going to forgive himself anyway.

  *****

  Miranda’s gaze was drawn away from the sparkling white ship by the sounds of the shuffling footsteps and crack of the cane as Magistratus Mallart made his way down the corridor to their waiting ship. As he approached he dropped into a seat next to the window with an audible sigh of relief.

  “By the Creator, will I be glad to get off this hellish place. I can only hope that this dilapidated rust bucket has a power failure in Radec’s office and hurries him on to meet his maker!” he cursed while trying to get his breath back.

  Miranda remained silent, correctly assuming that the meeting had not gone well. Not that she was particularly surprised as she doubted that she and her ship would have been sent with the Magistratus if the Syndicate had thought that Jon Radec would have accepted their offer. She had already read the limited file that the Syndicate had on the CEO of Vanguard and privately she would have been disappointed if he had capitulated so easily. It would seem that for once their intelligence on the man had been correct, identifying him as overconfident, arrogant and a risk-taker. He did seem to have an excellent taste in ships however, as Miranda turned her gaze back towards the ship floating in space only a couple of meters from the viewing port…

  “What is that…?” Miranda breathed, unable to keep the full sense of awe from her voice, even though she knew Mallart would disapprove. Glancing out the window Mallart squinted at the ship then looked away with distaste, obviously not sharing Miranda’s opinion of the aesthetic beauty of the ship floating outside.

  “Old long range Imperial courier shuttle,” her superior groused, “not many of them still functional since the disintegration of the Imperium – too expensive. Not much demand for a hyperspace capable shuttle these days that can also enter atmosphere,” he pointed at a number of points on the bow and body of the shuttle where the additional shielding was obviously designed to cope with the extreme heats of atmospheric re-entry. “All a waste of money if you ask me, carrying around all the extra shielding. Why not just dock at one of the orbiting stations and get the damn shuttle down like everybody else?” he stated with distaste.

  “You mean the ship can land, like on a planet?” Miranda asked incredulously. While she had observed a number of planets that existed within the system, she had always done so from one of the docking stations in orbit. Having been born in space she had never actually set foot on a planet. Too dangerous, her superiors had always warned her; having been born in the lower gravity of the various ships and stations of the system. It was considered dangerous, as the additional gravity could put too much strain on her heart. Some people had literally dropped dead on stepping out of a shuttle onto a planet’s surface for the first time.

  “Where did he acquire such a ship?”

  A hint of a frown crossed Mallart’s face when he replied. “We are not too sure. Intelligence could not find much on his past beyond a couple of years ago. He seemed to have suddenly appeared in the system, with the ship and enough money to acquire this relic left over from the war and to establish his company. We did manage to find out from docking manifests the name of the ship… He calls it the Eternal Light”.

  Privately Miranda thought that it was a fitting name for this beautiful ship, as the ship seemed to glow a silvery-white as it was bathed in light from the stars and the small amount of light produced by this system’s distant star. The sharp pointed bow of the ship, smoothly elongated body, which flared out into a pair of tapered wings that were obviously required for atmospheric flight before ending in a pair of elevated aft tails. The entire ship reminded Miranda of a picture from Old Earth of a hawk in flight. A flight that it was Miranda’s job to end, permanently. It seemed sad to her that it was her responsibility to destroy such a thing of beauty, the pilot she did not give a second thought to. If he was stupid and arrogant enough to turn down her employer’s offer then he would get what he deserved. Miranda did spare a brief thought to what it would be like to fly such a magnificent ship but quickly turned back to her job at hand…

  “Is she armed?” She inquired focusing her thoughts once again on her job at hand after being briefly distracted by the beauty of the ship.

  “Armed?” Mallart replied with a short bark of laughter. “It’s an old and very expensive courier ship. Its job was to transfer VIPs comfortably and quickly from one system to another, nothing more. It’s not a warship, my dear,” he concluded putting a heavy emphasis on the last word.

  Miranda glanced at him with obvious distaste. He had spent the whole journey making unwanted advances towards her, frequently suggesting that her advancement would be far more rapid if she was ‘accommodating’ to him. Miranda found the whole idea repulsive, the idea that he would use his position to try and urge her to sleep with him. Not the least that he was old enough to be her father! She was rather looking forward to the solitary journey home in her own ship away from the lecherous old bastard.

  In her late twenties, with a slim, willowy body, long flowing dark hair and exotic features, her face was definitely oriental - high cheekbones, full lips and straight nose. Combined with her almond-shaped brown eyes Miranda had long garnered a lot of attention from the opposite sex. She had been in a number of relationships, but they had all lasted only a short time and most had ended acrimoniously, including one who was still nursing a broken arm. She had long since given up on the hope that she would ever meet somebody who would view her for who she was, who would treat her as an equal and not some plaything to be used and then later discarded.

  “Fine!“ Miranda snapped angrily. “Then it will just make this job quicker and easier for me.” With that she turned her back on the Eternal Light and stalked off towards their waiting freighter and her much smaller but deadlier ship secreted in the aft cargo hold…

  A few hours later the freighter carrying the Magistratus from the Chamber of Commerce, Business and Shipping slowly pulled away from the station. Unnoticed by the station’s sensors, a small patch of darkness quietly separated from the departing ship and slipped under the shadow cast by the station to await its prey…

  *****

  Having finally concluded the remaining business for the day, Jon slipped into the comfortable and familiar cockpit of the Eternal Light or ‘Light as he had long since referred to her. He smiled briefly as the thought crossed his mind of why ships were always female as he tried to envisage the ‘Light as male. The ‘Light had sheltered, protected and offered him a home since his own had been lost years before. Anyway the ‘Light was the most beautiful ship in this system or any other. No the ‘Light was definitely a lady. With that final thought he eased the power to the engines and slowly pulled away from the station. As the station slowly receded in the aft scanner he gave some thought to the first time that he had laid eyes on the station…

  He had still been a lowly Lieutenant back in the Imperial Navy only recently having gained his commission when his squadron had been dispatched to the outer rim to investigate a growing spate of pirate attacks on the commercial shipping in this sector.

  Even back then the Syndicate was busy in this system, Jon mused to himself. The squadron had been based out of this station for several months, back then it was just a remote repair and re-supply station designated, Terra Nova. Even then the station had seemed ancient. During that posting Jon remembered detesting it, viewing this assignment as a fool’s errand in the middle of nowhere, with n
o opportunity for recognition or promotion. It seemed a different life back then, being that young eager Lieutenant always looking for the next opportunity to demonstrate his flying prowess and eager for promotion to newer and better things. Thinking back he would have given that brash youth some advice, be careful what you wish for… otherwise you might just get it.

  Far enough from the station Jon punched in the co-ordinates to Transcendence Station into the autopilot and pushed the sub-light engines up to full thrust. Reclining back comfortably into his pilot seat, he settled down for the three-hour journey to his destination.

  As the Eternal Light moved away from the station, rapidly picking up speed as it departed, a shadow that had attached itself to the station detached and oriented itself in the same direction as the departing ship, following slowly, at a distance, so as to ensure that it was not picked up on any of the watching sensors…

  *****

  Barely halfway into the journey the aft scanner once again pinged as it picked up a faint contact that once again, faded from the scanner. Jon glanced at the aft scanner with a faint frown. That was the third time during this flight that the aft scanner had detected something before it disappeared, the contact too weak for the scanner to identify before it disappeared from the scanner completely.

  The ‘Light was travelling at 0.1C, almost a tenth the speed of light, rapidly heading away from the main sequence dwarf star that made up one of the three stars in the Zeta Aquilae system.

  Their home station Terra Nova meant “new land” or “new earth” in Latin, a long dead language from Old Earth. Zeta Aquilae was unique as it was the only tripe star system within the Confederation. Zeta Aquilae had already been recognised as a place of immense interest back on Old Earth where it had been given the Mandarin names Woo and Yuë, representing the state Wu, an old state in China that was located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and Yue an old state in Zhejiang province.

  The main system star, a dwarf star, was mostly composed of electron-generating matter. The star was incredibly dense, the mass of the star was comparable with that of the Sun in the Sol system but the volume only comparable to that of Old Earth itself. The huge amount of electrons and other particles being given off from the star generated the “Solar Wind” that was particularly dense in this system. It was this soup of high-energy particles that was giving the rear sensors so much trouble.

  Adjusting the aft sensors to reduce their sensitivity and avoid any more ‘phantom’ contacts Jon reviewed the remaining time and course to Transcendence. Studying the display carefully for a few minutes he made some minor course corrections that would take the ‘Light on a slightly more elliptical course, this would add another twenty minutes to the journey time but would also pass within a few hundred kilometres of an asteroid belt that existed at the edge of the Heliopause; the technical edge of the system before the depths of interstellar space. While the phantom sensor contact was more than likely caused by the particles given off by the system’s main sequence star, Jon had not managed to stay alive this long without taking some precautions. The asteroid belt would make excellent cover if it became necessary.

  *****

  Miranda was roused from her internal contemplation by the alert of the targeting scanner to notify her that the target had altered course slightly. Bringing up the navigational computer, she input the new heading and speed and reviewed their projected course. Their destination was still Transcendence Station but the new course would take them on a longer orbital insertion adding another twenty minutes to the journey time. For the twelfth time during this mission she silently asked herself if the ship that she was covertly following had detected her. However, as usual, the sensors could detect no change in energy emissions, speed or any communications that might indicate that her target had detected her and was trying to evade or call for assistance.

  Perhaps he is just early for his meeting and wanted to take a more scenic route? Miranda mused to herself with a smirk. Anyway it was going to be the last decision that he ever made. Double-checking the navigational computer and ship’s sensors, she confirmed that they were far enough away from Terra Nova not to be detected and that there were no other ships in the vicinity to observe this execution; and that is what this was going to be. Miranda was under no illusion. Flying a heavily armed Hawk fighter equipped with multiple (and highly illegal) weapon systems and missiles, the unarmed shuttle a few hundred kilometres ahead was a sitting duck. Her employers had insisted however, that this was to be done immediately and with no witnesses. They did not want any evidence left behind. Cursing one final time that she would have to destroy such a beautiful ship, she tightened the straps securing her in the cockpit and triggered the engines to full thrust so that it would bring her weapon systems quickly into range.

  *****

  The wail from the aft sensors was the only split second warning that Jon had about the imminent threat before the weapons from the enemy craft cut across his view. The split second was more than enough time for Jon, and with quick reflex’s he sharply banked the ‘Light to starboard and kicked full power to the engines. In an instant he was pushed back hard into his seat from the sudden acceleration of the ship.

  Miranda blinked her eyes in disbelief, as the attack run that she had done dozens of times previously that had always resulted in the destruction or at least heavy damage to the target ship passed cleanly through the area of space that the shuttle should have been in. However, instead the shuttle was banking hard and diving away from her ship with an incredible level of acceleration that should not have been possible for a ship of that size. She had never seen such manoeuvrability and acceleration outside of a dedicated fighter craft, yet here was an old shuttle that was easily matching her acceleration.

  “An old and expensive courier ship, nothing more! My ass!” exclaimed Miranda, cursing Mallart as she pushed her engines to maximum and beyond, simply to try and gain on the shuttle that had quickly accelerated to what Miranda hoped was its maximum speed. She cursed again when she glanced at her navigational computer and saw that they were both now rapidly approaching the asteroid field. If she managed to let her target get among the asteroids this simple assignment was going to get a lot more complicated… While still at the maximum range of her guns she sighted on the shuttle ahead and let loose another volley of weaponry...

  *****

  While continuing to manoeuvre the ‘Light in what he hoped was a pattern that was going to upset his attackers aim, Jon was still somewhat constrained by the need to keep the ‘Light on a course to get among the asteroids as quick as possible. Hence, while he was able to avoid most of the incoming fire he still winced as a number of bolts hit the thick external armour. Luckily the weapons fire was at its maximum range, therefore most of the energy from the bolts had dissipated before they had impacted on the ‘Light, still the damage was still significant enough that a few more well-placed shots were going to cause severe damage. Jon glanced down to check the distance to the asteroid field, still thirty seconds away at this velocity…

  Too long! Jon thought, swinging the ‘Light back around to put the ship on a collision course with the enemy fighter…

  Due to the tremendous velocities that the two ships were travelling at Miranda only had an instant to realise that the shuttle had now changed course and was coming directly at her! Wrenching the flight controls sharply her fighter managed to dodge out of the way of the incoming shuttle with only an instant to spare! However, she only had an instant to catch her breath before the aft sensors reported that the shuttle was dropping into a pursuit course behind her!

  “This is nuts!” Miranda exclaimed, “I am dogfighting with a shuttle!” She quickly executed a hard bank to the right and pushed the fighter into a steep dive. Sparing a quick glance behind, she noticed that the shuttle adjusted course to match the manoeuvre a few seconds later, but the shuttle went slightly wide of her turn before adjusting to compensate. The manoeuvre demonstrated two things to Miranda. First tha
t her initial impression of Jon Radec based on his file was incorrect, he was indeed an arrogant, overconfident bastard, but damn was he a superb pilot! Second that while the shuttle had amazing, indeed unbelievable acceleration, its manoeuvrability could not match her smaller more agile fighter.

  Armed with this knowledge Miranda put her small fighter into a number of gut wrenching turns that she knew the shuttle behind would be unable to match. With a confident smile she checked her aft sensors and indeed confirmed that the shuttle was no longer on her tail, she had managed to shake him loose! Her confident smile however quickly turned to snarl of anger when her sensors finally picked up the shuttle. Her ‘prey’ had not even attempted to match her dramatic manoeuvres but instead had used the time to dash for the cover of the asteroid field.

  “Shit!” Miranda cursed when her navigational and targeting display confirmed her fears that she would be unable to get within range of her guns before the shuttle made it to the cover of the asteroid field. Sighing, as her superiors would be extremely angry at what they viewed as the unnecessary additional expense she flicked her weapons systems from guns to missiles; within a fraction of a second the solid tone from her weapons systems reported that the missiles had a firm lock on the shuttle. With two quick depresses on her firing stud she launched two missiles at the retreating shuttle!

  *****

  “Fuck!” Jon swore as his threat display system lit up like the sky at night, detecting the launch of the two missiles, and the targeting scanner highlighted the two incoming projectiles, bracketing them in red and flashing warnings against the incoming threats as if Jon was not already aware of the extreme danger that they posed to the Eternal Light.

  Leaning forward Jon switched the ship’s ECM system from ‘Passive’ to ‘Active’; the ship’s Electronic Counter Measures in passive mode listened for all electronic systems, communications or sensors in surrounding space and displayed them, however in active mode the system broadcast a huge deluge of electronic ‘noise’ on all bandwidths into surrounding space. This was designed to interfere and disrupt any electronics in ships…or missiles near to the Eternal Light.