Rumors of Wars: The Askirti Chronicles - Book 2

by Danny A. Brown

  They now had half a million survivors, former slaves that needed caring for. They also had around a half a million pirates. The executions would go on for days, as those whose crimes were too terrible would not be allowed to live.

  As it was, the ACUs were proving invaluable. Not only had the marine’s loss of life been minimal, but already the robots were helping to clean up the place, making repairs, and assisting in taking care of both prisoners and survivors.

  Jackie had a few minutes and was tired of seeing the sickest of humanity, so she decided to call her good commodore.

  “High Queen,” Reynolds responded.

  “Sitrep,” was all Jackie said.

  “The patrols were all staffed by skeleton crews and quickly taken,” the commodore said. “Fifteen of the “warm” ships tried to leave, of which we destroyed five and subdued the rest. We had a situation where four pirate ships, all heavy cruisers came barreling into the system from FTL. We engaged them, destroying one cruiser and heavily damaging the other three before they surrendered.

  “One of them contained…people, prisoners of theirs. They had been severely abused, but are now receiving medical attention. I understand from folks on the ground you have been executing prisoners?”

  “Certain crimes carry a death sentence, commodore. After seeing a half dozen child sex and torture stores, my fuse for these people is very short.”

  The look on the commodore’s face was utter shock. Jackie knew Alice had several grandchildren, loved them utterly and spoiled them terribly.

  “They can walk in a store and...?”

  “They can purchase whatever. A slave for life, a slave for hours. Free to use and abuse. If they don’t have the stomach for it, they can pay someone to torture the child on their behalf while they watch,” Jackie said. “The penalty of this sin is death, Commodore.”

  “Yes sir,” Tabitha answered with a tightened jaw.

  The connection closed.

  She was glad to know her fleet succeeded in taking the nearly one thousand ships docked in and about the base. She would need some of those to help move these people.

  ##

  By the end of day five, the humanitarian crisis with the former slaves was over. And another hundred and seventy thousand pirates, give or take a few, had been executed for heinous crimes and the strays were all rounded up.

  A few of the freighter's owners who were slaves were still alive to claim their ships, which Jackie gladly gave back to them. She knew some ships would not be able to be kept once they returned due to corporate ownership or surviving family that was due the return of their property.

  ##

  Jackie was in the middle of planning the changes she wanted to the planetoid base when she got the news through one of her commanders.

  “Colonel Amori’s wife has been identified. She’s alive and here on this base,” the commander said.

  At first, Jackie felt like someone sucker punched her. Rick had been her rock, he brought her back from the brink. He was in love with her, and deep down inside, she felt the same way. She suddenly had to sit down.

  Am I jealous? I should be glad his wife is alive! He is my best friend after all!

  <>

  What do you mean?

  <>

  She felt like she wanted to vomit. Rick was a good man, and to find out his wife had crossed over to the other side?

  Jackie started finding herself making excuses in her head for this woman. If anything, to spare Rick more any more pain.

  I need to find him, now!

  <

>

  Crap! That’s where we’re storing some of the prisoners!

  “Lieutenant Almons, get some troops and transportation for me,” Jackie said to a close by marine.

  After the marine had done as requested, Jackie said, “let’s go.”

  <>

  Hey! I’m learning!

  The lieutenant grabbed eleven ACUs from Jackie’s special detachment after which a ground car transported them to the section of the base where Rick was.

  Pari, have the links been setup with all the pirate ships?

  <>

  And the base?

  <>

  Jackie rolled her eyes.

  I need as much real information on Rick’s wife as possible.

  <>

  ##

  Arriving at the make-shift prison, Jackie found the room where Rick was. It was full of hundreds of prisoners, both male and female. She spotted Rick, with his helmet off and tears running down his face.

  “I can’t believe it. She’s here, Jackie! It’s Becky! Becky Amori!” he pointed at a woman leaning up against a wall. She was a tall, full figured woman, and devastatingly beautiful. Her facial features were soft, but her eyes were so very hard.

  “She’s here with the pirates!” he said with no small amount of anger. “She said she actually volunteered to join them, was looking for adventure! Jackie, she admitted to selling out the freighter she was on, and all the people with her!”

  Jackie had never seen Rick like this before. He was furious, on the edge of losing control.

  “Did she say anything about your daughter?” Jackie asked gently.

  He cast his eyes down. “No.”

  Jackie could not imagine the level of betrayal he felt. His first love, standing not but a few meters away. She was a criminal, one perhaps deserving of death.

  “I have to know,” Rick said.

  “What is it you have to know? If it is in my power, I’ll get it.”

  “She will not tell me about Sylvia.”

  Sylvia was his daughter. She was only eight years old when the pirates took her.

  He turned to face Jackie directly.

  “I have to know!” he said.

  She knew what he was asking. It would result in brain damage and possible death.

  “Rick,” Jackie whispered, “she’s your wife.”

  “I have to know,” he said almost growling. He was angry, not angry at Jackie, and she knew that. But he was angry with his wife who apparently was a pirate now, and had sold out all the people on her transport ship and now hid a secret concerning their daughter.

  She placed her hand on his armored chest, looked up into his eyes and said, “and I will ask. How she answers is up to her.”

  Turning to Becky and taking a few steps forward, Jackie quietly said “there is no hiding the truth from me. It will go better for you if you tell me everything about Sylvia’s whereabouts now before I pick your mind apart. I have little patience for pirates. This is your only opportunity to volunteer the information I want. If you stay silent, I will take it from you, and you will not enjoy that at all.”

  Becky apprised her and said, “Ha, I’d like to see you try!”

  Jackie looked at Rick one more time. He made no attempt to stop what was about to happen.

  Jackie’s appearance suddenly changed. The emerald green eyes began to burn brightly, the veins along her skin became more pronounced, glowing as well. Then a fire, white in color, burst from her neckline and her sleeves as the lights in the room began to dim and small bolts of lightning, more like high-level static electricity, began discharging on Jackie, streaming from where ever there was power in the room.

  The fear in the room was evident, as more than a few prisoners backed up as far as they could. Even some of the marines with Jackie and Rick backed up. Becky just stood there, gasping, urinating on herself where she stood such was her fear.

  “I-I….I will tell you everything!” she pleaded. “I promise, I will!”

  Then a voice spoke out, sounding as many voices, coming from everywhere at once. It was Jackie talking, but her mouth did not move.

  “Yes, you will tell me everything. The tim
e for volunteering that information has passed. I will now take from your mind what it is I require.”

  Jackie reached a hand out towards Becky, and fire shot out, forming a line of fire from Jackie’s hand all the way to Becky. Momentarily Becky screamed, but the screaming suddenly stopped as her body went limp, being held up now only by the white fire encasing her. Her body spasmed infrequently the entire time, but was otherwise powerless against Jackie.

  After just over a minute of this, the fire let its hold on Becky go. Her dead body slumped to the ground, eye sockets burnt out. The fire on Jackie’s body ceased, and her features returned to normal. The lights in the room returned to normal illumination. She turned towards Rick, taking two steps forward as Rick gulped.

  “Sylvia is alive,” Jackie said quietly. “I know where she is.”

  ##

  Jackie was glad she sent a courier ship away as soon as arriving in this system, having sent special instructions with it. The second she saw this system, she knew she had to have it. As such, she sent for a Gate to be towed here. The Commonwealth and the Reslorians both had accrued many unused Gates, so Jackie requested one, which took time. A week after the battle had ended, the Gate arrived.

  This will be my ‘secret hideout’, she mused, now having a major base. Inside she was quite gleeful that she had actual real estate besides what had been granted to her on Avalon.

  The shipyard sucks. This needs a major overhaul.

  <>

  Have the buoys all been deployed?

  The buoys were FTL buoys that would be important in figuring out if ships were approaching from deep space. Since her ships always carried extra buoys, a new network was being deployed here, helping to secure the system as she was sure more pirates would be coming, still thinking it to be a safe haven.

  <>

  How long until it’s a full days’ notice?

  <>

  The comm beeped.

  “Your Majesty. How nice to see you,” Jackie said, looking at the wall screen.

  “Yes, and nice to see you too and that you’ve squashed a major hub of piracy!” the Reslorian monarch replied enthusiastically. “I read your report, very thorough by the way!”

  <>

  Quiet!

  “I had a bit of help compiling it,” she said.

  “Yes, yes, well I share your vision for this facility. It is perfect! With the Gate now in place, we can start moving assets into the region! Having a remote location like this will make an excellent secure facility for research and development, among other things.

  “I know this is moving quickly, but I’m going to have two of the shipyards disassembled and moved there pronto.”

  Jackie was taken back. “Are you serious?!”

  She just got the Gate in place and apparently her partners have been making plans, which was fine with her, as they were honorable men who genuinely valued her.

  “Very! Do you approve…High Queen?” he said wryly.

  The etiquette of honorifics was something both he and Jackie hated. When they spoke alone, they would use their first names. When they wanted to banter some, they resorted to honorifics. King Eisenberg knew Jackie hated being called High Queen.

  “Definitely! I suppose you just caught me off guard there!”

  “Ha, this is exactly what we need as a bolt-hole for some of our critical assets. It’s important to start moving strategic assets, Jackie. I’ll be sending about ten times the number of ships through as you will be sending back. I want that base refitted, I want the existing shipyard refitted, I want new shipyards moved there.”

  The part about a multinational military organization was that especially now, her partners could be a bit on the pushy side. None of it was over stuff she disagreed with, and she even thought the idea of relocating assets here was a good one. It was just the suddenness of some of the decisions.

  Jackie was going to send the five hundred civilian ships through, and keep the warships here for future refit. If she heard the king correctly, he was about to send five thousand ships through. Probably civilian ships of various sizes. Still, it was a lot of personnel and equipment to transfer.

  He was not ordering her around, no more than she ordered him. They routinely found themselves “ordering” each other around as they fought for the common good. At least this part of her relationship with her partners was fun, as she knew they were good leaders.

  “I sense a bit of urgency,” Jackie said.

  “It’s the Zikars. We have intel that the cold war has just gone hot.”

  A chill went down all over her body.

  King Eisenberg continued. “If the Zikars decided to come to us via FTL, we would have warning, but our options would be limited. It’s time to relocate strategic assets. We can’t hide all of it, but we can hide some of them.”

  Her supposed secret base was about to explode into a major nexus.

  “Jackie, I also spoke to Tom about your newfound toy.”

  Holy crap, she thought to herself, seeing where this was about to go as her eyebrow arched upwards.

  Tom Wallace was the prime minister of the Commonwealth. Someone else with whom Jackie was on a first name basis.

  “How is His Eminence?” Jackie asked, tongue in cheek.

  “I’m fine!” Tom walked in from just out of view, coming to stand next to Roland Eisenberg.

  At this point Jackie was laughing and shaking her head slightly.

  “Tom, I am happy to see you! To what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?” she asked with suspicion and a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

  “Well, as you might have guessed, Roland is sending in the neighborhood of five thousand ships into the system, not all at once, of course. As soon as he saw what you’ve stumbled upon, and read your initial report on what you saw becoming of it, he began the mobilization.

  “Jackie, we have assets we want to move there as well. With the large size of the Commonwealth, I think the risk is small the Zikars can seriously hurt us now, thanks to you and the technological improvements you’ve brought. But we have a few precious assets we want to move there as well. Their spies probably know about our most important facilities already, so we want to move some of that before they try to take it. We are moving some of the assets elsewhere, but this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

  Breath!

  “And what is your plan?” she asked.

  “We have ten class-D space stations, seven of our shipyards, thousands of modular facilities, and roughly ten thousand ships that will be ready to go, transporting the stations, equipment, and personnel. This isn’t all at once, but a rough estimate of what we want to start moving.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut a moment and let out a laugh.

  The class-D space stations were meant to be moved through the Gate’s ten-kilometer diameter ring and re-assembled in the destination system. These were primarily deep space research stations, usually only for very sensitive work.

  But seven shipyards? Ten thousand ships?

  Pari, I need you to set up an administrative AI or set of AI’s to help manage this. Also, we’ll need human administrators to handle this infrastructure. If I’m reading this right, our little ‘secret hideout’ just became home to ten million people.

  <>

  “Okay you two have been busy planning my life,” Jackie said.

  They both laughed.

  “Jackie, I will be placing a task force from the fifteenth fleet, a
total of one hundred and twelve ships in the system for security,” the prime minister said.

  “Resloria will be contributing to security as well, with ninety-three newly refitted warships,” Roland said.

  “A lot of pieces moving around,” Jackie commented.

  “There is no time to lose. As far as we can tell, the Zikars have amassed far more ships that we believed. Possibly numbering in between fifty and eighty thousand,” Tom added.

  Jackie’s heart felt like it stopped for a moment.

  “How? Their nation isn’t nearly as big as the others?” Jackie asked.

  “They are very populous. Plus, many of their systems are much richer in metals than ours, and their economy seems geared only towards war, for which they have been preparing for who knows how long.

  “While together we possibly have more ships, we aren’t all together. The United Planets Alliance barely speaks to us, and the Westerly Federation is coming apart at the seams. If we stood shoulder to shoulder, we could easily beat them hands down. But we are divided.”

  “How is the Commonwealth doing on the refits?” Jackie asked.

  “Good! Now that we have upgraded most of our current ships, we have refitted about a third of the older ships that were reactivated, vastly expanding our navy. But there is still much to be done.

  “While we are probably the only ones able to stand up to the Zikars today, if they conquer UPA and the Westerly Federation, in twenty years the Commonwealth will be but a memory.”

  “It won’t come to that,” Jackie said with conviction. “We will stand, and we will prevail.”

  Chapter 9

  Section 2-5 of the Non-Aligned Zone

  ARNS Hania

  “Rick, I know you are anxious, and rightly so. We need intel if we are going to get your daughter,” Jackie said.

  “I know, I know! I just don’t want to waste another moment!” He responded, pacing the room.

  Since discovering where his daughter was, Jackie dispatched the same three corvettes there she used earlier, the Yosi, the Naozumi, and the Nikita. She wanted the area accurately surveyed.

  With her new base of operations on the pirate planetoid secured with the arrival of the promised allied ships, she took a few ships to look for Ricks daughter.