Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2)

by Matthew Kadish

  “So instead you break how many laws and somehow by-pass every security measure we have in place by teleporting directly into an Office of the Directory? Are you mad?”

  “I told you – this is important!”

  Casgor sighed in exasperation. His console beeped as a call came in. He answered, the Captain of his Royal Guard contingent appearing on his monitor. “Sir, is everything all right?” his Captain asked. “Your office has entered lockdown.”

  “It’s fine. You may cancel the alarm,” Casgor replied. “I am simply entertaining a guest. No need to respond.”

  The Captain nodded in acknowledgement before the monitor shut off. The alarm stopped ringing. Casgor entered a code on a keypad in his desk and the robotic sentries in the room stood down, the metal blast door retracted from the entrance, and the shield barrier around the room disappeared. When all was calm once more, Casgor sat in his seat, steepling his fingers and looking at Jack like one would a fly buzzing around his head.

  “That’s quite a set-up you have there,” Jack mused.

  “I’m one of the leaders of the Empire. My office is designed to protect me from a Deathbane missile if need be,” Casgor said. “You have two minutes before I have to attend a budgetary meeting. Make sure this little stunt of yours was worth it.”

  “I just came from the Peacekeeper tower,” said Jack. “They say you’re exiling Grohm!”

  “Your Rognok pet went berserk in the middle of the Capitol,” Casgor replied. “The law is very clear about how we handle such things.”

  “He’s not my pet – he’s my friend!” insisted Jack. “And you’re not just sending him off planet. You’re exiling him from all of Regal space! They said he’s scheduled to be shipped off to something called the Nexus?”

  “Indeed,” said Casgor, already bored. “The Nexus is where all the most dangerous criminals in the universe are sent. None ever return from it.”

  “But you can’t do that!” asserted Jack. “Grohm is a hero! Anna is alive today because of him! He helped save the Empire!”

  “The public doesn’t know that,” Casgor replied. “To the universe at large, he’s just another wild beast who lost control, and the people want to have faith that their government can protect them from such things. Therefore, we have no choice but to make an example of him.”

  “But you don’t have to!” said Jack. “They said at the prison that the order came from you, Director. You. That means you could change it if you wanted!”

  “And why would I do that?”

  “Because the Empire owes Grohm!” said Jack.

  “And the Empire paid its debt to him,” countered Casgor. “We made an agreement with him, just as we did with every member of your little group. But the Rognok broke his end of the deal when he began his rather destructive and costly rampage. It was his choice that brought us here, not ours. And now, he must pay the consequences, just as every lawbreaker must. He may be a hero, but not even heroes are above the law, Earthman. Something you would do well to remember.”

  Jack stared at Casgor, desperately searching for something to say. “You can’t do this!” he insisted.

  Casgor smirked. “It’s already done,” he replied.

  “But… but…”

  Casgor sighed, having lost his patience. He got to his feet and gathered his datapad from its station on his desk. “I’m sorry, Earthman,” he said. “But your friend will be exiled. And that is the end of it.”

  “If you do this,” sputtered Jack. “I’ll… I’ll…”

  “You’ll what?” asked Casgor, amused. “What could you possibly do that would affect me? I’m one of the most powerful men in the universe. You’re nothing but a child. Tell me – why should I be afraid of you?”

  Jack glared at the Director. “Because if you don’t, I’ll go public with what I know,” Jack replied. “I’ll tell everyone the real story about what happened with the Deathlord fleet.”

  “Oh, so we’re playing the threat game, are we?” said Casgor, amused. “Well, now it’s my turn. Go ahead and tell everyone the real story. Shout it to the heavens. I’ll have an army of media pundits out there countering it within seconds. They’ll say that fame has gone to your young little head and you’ve become egotistical to the point of wanting full credit for the victory over the Deathlords at the expense of all the brave Earthlings and Regals who perished in the real battle. And then the narrative will be ‘why did you lie in the first place?’ And once that happens, no one will believe anything that comes out of your bratty mouth.”

  Jack looked at Casgor, wide-eyed, the response from the man catching him completely off-guard. “Fine,” sneered Jack, quickly recovering. “Then I’ll pull my ship. I won’t let you guys analyze it anymore!”

  “Yes, well, I hate to inform you that as of this morning, it is no longer your ship,” said Casgor.

  Jack looked at him, not understanding. “Huh?”

  “Earth has been officially ratified as a member planet, and you are now officially a citizen of the Empire, in accordance with the deal you entered into with us,” said Casgor. “It took a while to move it through all the red tape of the system, but everything has now been processed and officiated. Under the law, the Imperial government has jurisdiction over any and all property of member planets when it comes to the security of the Empire. Thus… your ship now belongs to us.”

  “You… you tricked me?” Jack said, shocked beyond belief. “You knew when you offered me that deal this was what you were gonna do!”

  Casgor chuckled. “You really didn’t think we were going to let some alien child keep possession of the most advanced spacefaring vessel the universe has ever seen, did you?” he asked, smugly. “You don’t even know what to do with it, aside from using it to teleport you places you shouldn’t be.”

  “Anna won’t stand for this!” insisted Jack. “She’ll make you give it back!”

  “After we’re done with it, we’ll happily return it to you… if there’s anything left to return,” replied Casgor casually. “The Princess realizes what’s at stake here. A fleet of ships like yours that can be used to protect her Empire is infinitely more valuable than your little feelings. Besides, she was perfectly aware of this plan from the beginning. I doubt she will back out now.”

  Jack looked taken aback. “Anna… Anna knew this was what you were going to do?” he asked in disbelief.

  “The Empire comes first, Earthman. Always,” said Casgor. “The Princess understands that the lives of the many outweigh the needs of the few. When comparing you against trillions of innocent citizens, there is no contest. The Princess will side with the trillions every time.”

  Jack scowled at Casgor, seething with anger. “You…” growled Jack, “…are a JERK!”

  Casgor laughed as he opened his office door. “I’ve been called worse,” he said. “Good day, Earthman. I believe you can see yourself out.”

  Casgor left as members of his security detail from the Royal Guards entered, looking none too pleased. Jack frowned at them.

  “Teleport,” he muttered, before vanishing.

  Jack sat in his apartment, staring at the wall, his mood beyond sour. It had taken but ten seconds after teleporting back onto his ship for fightercraft from Megabase Cygnus to arrive to confiscate the Earthship and escort it back to the spaceport. And as if that weren’t bad enough, the Earthship’s sensors said that every orbital cannon from the planetary defense ring and Megabase Cygnus that was in range was locked onto them. He’d been so worried about Grohm he hadn’t stopped to consider the fact that teleporting inside of Casgor’s office would set off alarm bells. He supposed it would be like him breaking into the Oval Office to see the President back on Earth. But everything in the Empire was still so new to Jack, he didn’t fully appreciate the positions held by most of the people he’d become familiar with.

  He was certainly aware of that now, though. His ship was locked away in a hangar and there was an army of security-bots blocking his access to it.
Though he could get within range to teleport back on board, without a working Entanglement Engine, he wouldn’t make it very far before the Imperial fleet would intercept him. Casgor was not only powerful enough to condemn Grohm to what sounded like a death sentence, but he’d also stolen the one thing Jack held most dear in the entire universe. Without his ship, Jack felt as though a part of him had been taken away, and he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get it back.

  His first move after being escorted from the spaceport was to go directly to Anna to confront her about what Casgor had revealed to him and to see if she’d give him his ship back. But he couldn’t even get past the Royal Attendants at the elevator station leading up to the Palace Level. He’d called, emailed, and even tried contacting the Royal Vanguard. Nothing got him a response. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed all of a sudden he was persona non grata when it came to the Princess.

  Jack still had a hard time believing Anna would knowingly conspire to steal his ship, especially when she knew he was willing to cooperate with her. It was something that was very out of character for the Anna Jack knew. But then again, so was hiring assassins to murder people. Ever since they’d returned to Omnicron, it was like Anna had become a different person, and Jack didn’t like it. It certainly didn’t help that he had the sinking feeling she was in some type of trouble, based on that crazy vision he’d had.

  Jack could feel himself getting upset. He felt like he did whenever he was playing a video game he knew he was going to lose. He felt like he was being cheated. He felt the game he was playing was unfair and the difficulty abnormally high. He hated to lose, but when the stakes were this personal, he really hated it. The look on Casgor’s face when he smugly asked why he should be afraid of Jack was burned into Jack’s brain, and the memory of it just made Jack even angrier.

  You’re just a bully, Jack thought bitterly. You’re just like every other meathead loser jerkface who thinks he’s better than everyone else and likes to pick on people because he can! Jack couldn’t contain his rage anymore. He got up and screamed in frustration and kicked over the chair he’d been sitting in.

  “Sir?” said Dan, entering from the other room. “Has something happened? Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not okay!” snapped Jack. “I hate this place! I hate everything!” Jack began to stomp around, pacing back and forth as his body jittered with anger.

  “Oh, dear,” replied Dan. “What seems to be upsetting you?”

  “Let’s see – where to begin?!” cried Jack, ticking his complaints off on his fingers as he spoke. “My ship’s just been impounded by the Imperial government! All my friends and family are dead! My planet’s been blown up! The girl I love is engaged to marry the most perfect, awesome guy in the universe, not to mention, by the way, that she might also secretly be a liar and a murderer. Oh, and my somewhat ‘quazi-girlfriend’ likes to make out with tons of other dudes besides me – on TV no less! Did I happen to mention my conscious mind is at war with my subconscious, and when it’s not giving me terrible headaches that don’t really exist, it’s showing me visions of stuff that make absolutely no sense, but are so scary it makes me want to pee my pants?”

  Dan regarded Jack briefly for a moment before responding. “I can certainly now see why you’d be upset, sir,” the robot said.

  Jack sighed and collapsed onto the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. “I miss home,” he muttered. “I miss my mom. I miss my friends. I even miss school! How messed up is that? My life used to be simple! I’d sleep, eat, hang out, and play video games. That was it! Now? I’m fighting aliens, flying spaceships, jumping out of towers that are tens of thousands of feet tall, getting drunk on soda pop, giving interviews about things that didn’t happen, playing sports that defy gravity, and dealing with a bunch of jerks who are all smarter than me and know things that I don’t!”

  “Jerks, sir?”

  “Director Casgor,” Jack replied. “Chief Alabaster. The Evenstars, the Skyborns - all these muckety-mucks in the government. It’s all about politics to them and I don’t understand a single bit of it! And it keeps screwing with my life!”

  “If I may, sir,” said Dan. “I have extensive databases concerning the political landscape of the Empire. If you have any questions about it, I would be happy to answer them for you.”

  Jack sat up and rubbed his forehead. “It’s not about that, dude. I just… I feel like everyone’s playing a game I’m unfamiliar with, and I keep getting my butt kicked, you know? The head of Imperial Intelligence himself came in here and compared the entire Empire to that weird Optiass game. Why couldn’t the Empire be like a first person shooter? I’m awesome at those!”

  “I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with the metaphor of the Empire as a game, sir,” Dan said. “But it would seem to me, logically, if one wishes to become good at a structured activity meant for enjoyment or education, then one should first familiarize oneself with the rules of such an activity.”

  Jack blinked as he processed Dan’s suggestion. Something sparked in his brain as he suddenly thought of the last time he’d seen Eudox Evenstar before he was killed. By all accounts, Eudox was a master at navigating the jungle of the Imperial government, and it was the last bit of advice Eudox had given to Amadeus that Jack again heard in his mind.

  ‘Politics is a game,’ he’d said. ‘And sometimes to win, you need to know the rules better than anyone else.’

  The hint of a smile grew on Jack’s face. He remembered the haughty look on Casgor’s face as he’d lectured Jack on how no one was above the law. He remembered the smug smile the Director wore as he explained how he’d used legal loopholes to seize control of Jack’s ship.

  I’ve been looking at the game all wrong, Jack realized. That’s why I keep losing.

  “Dan,” said Jack. “How well do you know the law?”

  “The law, sir?” asked Dan.

  “Yeah, Imperial law,” said Jack. “Do you have any databases on that stuff?”

  “Oh, yes,” the robot replied. “I have extensive databases on all aspects of Imperial law and procedure. Why do you ask, sir?”

  “Because,” said Jack. “I think it’s high time I figured out how to play this stupid game of theirs.”

  Chapter 44

  The auxiliary spaceport wasn’t anywhere nearly as big or well-kept as the primary one on the other side of the city, but despite its more seedy and run-down nature, it had its uses. For starters, it wasn’t as expensive to park a ship there. In addition, those who worked at it didn’t tend to ask a lot of questions. And finally, security was pretty lax, which meant it was a favored site for less than reputable spacefarers.

  It hadn’t taken much work to find out where the bounty hunter had his ship stationed. He flew a rather distinctive Endolan Hurricane-class bomber that had been retrofitted with heavy armor and bigger engines, making it fast, tough and able to carry lots of weapons. Of course, all the modifications to such an old ship meant it also cost a pretty penny to keep it in flying condition, so Scallywag wasn’t surprised to find the bulky vessel surrounded by repair-bots. Scallywag hung back in the shadows of the hanger, behind some equipment, as he quietly watched Banjax exchange words with the mechanic he’d hired to repair his precious ship.

  “What do you mean it needs a new combustor?” growled Banjax. “I had this blasted thing serviced not two months ago, and everything was fine!”

  “Hey, I’m just telling you what the diagnostics reported, buddy,” the overweight mechanic replied. “Without a new one, your starboard engine could die on you at any moment.”

  “That can’t be right. Run the diagnostics again,” ordered Banjax.

  “Look, pal, it’s not gonna—”

  Banjax pulled his blaster and aimed it right in the mechanic’s face. “Run. It. Again.”

  “One diagnostic, coming right up,” the mechanic said meekly before hurrying away.

  When the mechanic was gone, Banjax frowned and looked at his ship the way someone would l
ook at a pet he knew he was going to have to put down. Scallywag figured this would be as good a time as any to make his approach. “I see yer people skills have been improving, mate,” Scallywag said as he sauntered up.

  Banjax turned, his eyes narrowing as soon as he saw the pirate. “You,” he muttered.

  “The one and only,” replied Scallywag. “Bit o’ friendly advice – I find it helps not ta point blasters at those I trust to fix me ship. Ya never know when they might yank a few wires that aren’t meant ta be yanked just ta teach ya a lesson.”

  “That tubby scammer is just tryin’ to get me to spend credits on something I don’t need,” Banjax grumbled.

  “Still, owning a ship is expensive. Trust me, I know,” Scallywag said. “Bet it didn’t help havin’ ta pay fer that fancy new arm, neither. Can’t imagine the bounty huntin’ business is all that lucrative when yer in debt up to yer eyeballs. Y’know, all three o’ them?”

  “Slag off,” growled Banjax. “Unless you came here for a one-way ticket to Visini space so I can collect my reward on you, I got no interest in what you have to say.”

  “Oh, you might be interested,” said Scallywag as he casually picked at his nails. “I came here ta offer ya some work.”

  Banjax eyed Scallywag suspiciously. “Work?” he said. “What kind of work?”

  “The kind that’s extremely lucrative,” said Scallywag with a smile as he held up a digicredit card.

  Banjax raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. “How lucrative?”

  “I’d wager at least enough ta get this fossil ya call a ship fixed,” Scallywag replied. “Interested?”

  Banjax pursed his lips as he mulled over Scallywag’s offer. “What’s the job?” he asked.

  “Being in yer line o’ work, I reckon yer familiar with many o’ the more unsavory elements o’ society,” said Scallywag as he approached Banjax. “I’m tryin’ ta track down some right shady people. Figured who better ta help than a bloke who makes a livin’ doin’ exactly that?”