“What energy beings?” Acton said.
“All your boxes—the triton has something to do with them, I bet. That’s where you got all the triton. You lied to me about them. You said you didn’t know if they’d survived their ancient war. But they’ve survived all right. That’s why I’ve been so edgy all this time. That’s what pushed Lupus over the edge and me to gut him like that.”
Tanner took several steps back, panting, shaking his head. “What’s the plan? How are you going to get an energy being to insert onto the surface? That’s doesn’t make sense.”
Acton watched him closely. “I underestimated you, Captain.”
“Do you plan on killing all of us before this is through?”
“By no means,” Acton said. “I require your help and that of your companions. I do not think I can do this by myself. Given that, I am not so ungrateful as to plot your deaths. That would be beneath my dignity.”
“What are you hoping to do? What’s the big plan?”
“I desire to destroy a monstrous danger to all life.”
“Do you mean the cyborgs or something more?”
“I won’t know precisely until I go down to see what happened.”
Tanner shook his head. “What does that even mean? Why won’t you let us in on the exact mission?”
Acton froze. Even his breathing stilled. He remained like that for thirty seconds. Finally, he relaxed, stepping back.
“You make intuitive leaps,” the Shand said. “I do not believe you reasoned that out. I am impressed, and that surprises me. I did not think you could surprise me in a positive manner, Centurion. I wonder… Yes. That must be it.”
“It being what exactly?” Tanner asked.
Acton smiled coolly. “I will have to retreat to my quarters and consider this. I may have to adjust the plan. I salute you, man. You have penetrated…well, never mind. I must retreat and think about this carefully.
-41-
Tanner spoke to the others in the rec room. First, he went over the room in meticulous detail. He found listening devices, a visual scanner and one other tiny microphone that defied their best efforts to understand.
Afterward, Ursa placed a small device on the green felt of the pool table. It made a soft buzzing noise. Greco complained about a pain in his forehead.
“This is an anti-bug device,” Ursa explained. “It creates vibrations harmful to microphones. Perhaps you are sensitive to them.”
“To vibrations,” the apeman affirmed.
“I am sorry for that.” Ursa appeared thoughtful. “I think it’s wise to keep it in place. Can you endure for a little while?”
Greco nodded.
Ursa gripped his forearm. “Every precaution might be the most important one.”
“Agreed,” Greco said.
Ursa regarded the others as she released his arm. “Despite the device, I suggest we speak in soft tones to be on the safe side.”
Tanner told them what he knew, although he didn’t say anything about his bad dream. An inner voice told him to keep quiet about that.
“This is amazing,” Ursa said after he’d finished. “I had no idea. I also have to admit that the last time I was near this star system, neither I nor the others spotted even a portion of what we’re seeing with the Dark Star. I’ve never heard of a star system secured like this. Remus would have demolished the Coalition invasion if we’d had half this system’s resources.”
“I’ll tell you what I want to know,” Tanner said. “This other stuff is important—our stealth sheathing and fantastic sensors—but I understand that more or less. Shands, though, I know very little about them.”
“That’s puts you in the same category as everyone else,” Ursa said. “Shands are a mystery.”
Tanner smiled softly, not altogether believing her. “The more I learn about you, Patrician, the more I suspect you used to work for Remus Intelligence. I think you know more about Shands than you let on.”
Ursa chewed on an inner cheek. “Maybe I know a little more than you concerning Shands. Still, it’s little enough. They’re supposed to be old. How old, I don’t know. More than two hundred years old, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, that’s the limit of my knowledge about them.”
Tanner still wasn’t convinced. “What about your best guesses, then?”
Brother and sister traded glances. Marcus gave her the slightest of nods.
Ursa drew a slow breath, saying, “A few times, I had a feeling of antiquity concerning Lord Acton. Does that mean one thousand years or simply five hundred? I honestly don’t know. He has vast knowledge of many things. He can make deep plans often fifty years in advance of the actual attempt. A Shand is rational beyond our understanding of the word. To date, they have seemed benevolent toward humanity, although there are a few hints that some Shands have been involved in planetary genocides.”
“What hints?” Tanner said.
“They’re old,” Ursa said, shrugging, “going back to humanity’s earliest explorations. I doubt they would make any sense to you.”
“What about energy beings? Do you know anything about them?”
“I do not.”
Tanner looked around the table. “What are we going to do now? Do we play along with Acton? Primarily, should I insert onto Planet Zero with him?”
Greco had his elbows on the table as he clutched his forehead. “What choice do we have? We’ve counted the orbital missiles. We know they have nuclear payloads. It would take weeks, maybe months to dismantle each one. By that time, the Coalition will have shown up.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ursa said. “Does the Coalition fleet matter anymore?”
“What?” Tanner said. “Oh. I get it. Let’s say they show up tomorrow. How do they hurt us, as they would be too far out for weeks, at least, to fire any weapons at us? At least, too far out if they travel at our speeds.”
“It’s more than that,” Ursa said. “We saw the Coalition fleet in the Petrus System. Their biggest warship was a cruiser. How could a small fleet of cruisers and destroyers battle their way through the star system? The mines alone would obliterate them long before they reached the inner system. If the entire Coalition battlefleet appeared, we might still be safe.”
“Will we be safe if the Coalition launches missiles into the star system?” Greco asked. “Might that cause the Old Federation equipment to become fully alert? Maybe the sensors would sweep with greater power or sensitivity then.”
“That might be a problem,” Ursa admitted. “Although I doubt it, and I’ll tell you why. I think Acton has foreseen that happening and planned accordingly.”
“Fine,” Tanner said. “That brings us back to the central problem. Should I insert with Acton onto the planet?”
Each of them looked at the other, including Greco who removed his hands from his forehead.
“Maybe you should,” Ursa said, “but with a caveat. Acton will have to tell us his exact motives. He’ll have to spell out his escape plan off the surface.”
“If he’s so old,” Marcus said, “maybe he plans to wait out the problem. What’s ten years of waiting to a being who has lived one thousand?”
No one had an answer for the Varus heir.
“I like your idea,” Tanner told Ursa. “We have to know more before we agree. Let’s stick with that. Until then, let’s continue cataloging everything we can find about the star system. As we do, Greco and I will try to figure out more about the surface and any cyborgs…or other creatures waiting down there.”
“Do you suspect energy creatures?” Ursa asked.
“If such things exit,” Tanner said. After his bad dream, he had little doubt about that. Still, he was hedging his bets, making sure he didn’t say too much about them.
***
The Dark Star coasted toward an intercept point with the approaching planet.
At various intervals, Tanner dumped gravity waves, slowing the craft a little more. Each time, Greco trained the ship’s sensors on the c
losest Old Federation equipment. So far, no energy blip had appeared on those structures or ice-coated mines to show they’d spotted the Dark Star.
“I’ve lost weight,” Greco said after a raider-slowing process.
Tanner looked up, stretched and eyed his hairy friend. “Not just a little weight,” the centurion said. “You’ve lost a lot.”
“I’m too worried all the time,” Greco said. “I’m not used to that.”
“I thought apemen were carefree.”
“Compared to you Remus men we are,” Greco said. “But that’s due to our lifestyle. Being cooped up in a spaceship for an extended period and with all this responsibility pressing down on me…my appetite disappears for days at a time.”
“What do you do with apemen like that back on Avernus?”
“Throw a party,” Greco said. “Get him a female, maybe several. Stay drunk for a week, the obvious remedies.”
“We don’t have any booze on board.”
“Although there is a woman,” Greco said.
Tanner found himself frowning.
“You don’t want to share her?” Greco asked.
“Is that a serious question? Are apemen leaches?”
“No and no,” Greco said, smiling. Both of them looked at his stomach as it rumbled. “I needed that,” the apeman said. “I’m heading to the galley.”
Tanner nodded as his friend got up and left. When the sounds of the apeman’s footfalls faded, the centurion leaned forward, focused on the sensor scope.
The star system’s terrestrial planet neared. It was a barren world lacking any oceans or large bodies of water. Tanner had a found a few lakes filled with water. There were greater volumes of liquid underground. By the indications, hell-burners and greater had once pounded the planet. Much of the water had boiled away into space at that time. That seemed beyond reason, yet the indications were there. Two giant craters showed on the rocky continents. Someone had rained at least two asteroids onto Planet Zero. It amazed Tanner the planet still had an atmosphere. Then, it had surprised him it was a breathable atmosphere.
Finding a colossal terraforming plant had changed the equation. For days, Tanner had scanned the vast structure. Processes worked down there, fueled by fusion engines. There was no sign of life, however. There was no sign of weaponry or defensive equipment. Even so, hour after hour, day by day, the giant plant scrubbed the atmosphere, making it more breathable. Despite its size and the volume of air passing through, it would have taken the terraforming plant hundreds of years to have gotten the atmosphere to this point.
Tanner had questions concerning the terraforming plant. If the cyborgs had built it, why hadn’t the Old Federation people destroyed it? If the cyborgs hadn’t built it, who had? The indications showed great age. Was the age great enough to match the Old Federation equipment?
For some reason, Tanner doubted that. Building the terraforming plant would have taken massive work in a short amount of time or hard work over a massive amount of time. Yet, the time couldn’t have been too long or the process wouldn’t have turned the atmosphere breathable by now.
If someone had built the plant after the Old Federation people left, why hadn’t the orbital nukes obliterated it?
There were too many mysteries concerning Planet Zero. The longer he studied the world, the more Magnus Shelly’s modifications to the raider amazed him. Tanner doubted the notable had just happened to have these various techs on hand. It seemed more reasonable that she’d gathered them over time, saving them for the day a Shand offered an outrageous amount of triton for them.
What had Ursa said? A Shand often made plans fifty years in advance. That might be long enough to gather the equipment to make the raider a super stealth craft.
Tanner bent down, tapping adjustments to the scope. The planet possessed few lakes and no oceans. In their place were desert oceans and endless mountain chains. They were not jagged mountains ranging into the sky, but rounded ranges low to earth. Endless grit and wind must have worn down the peaks.
The sensor began to beep. Tanner’s fingers moved fast over the board. He focused, narrowing the observed territory. The beeping lessened. He adjusted again. The beeping quickened and Tanner soon found another hole.
So far, he had counted six giant holes that led underground. None of those holes had metal tracks leading down like the ones in his dream.
Tanner swallowed uneasily. He didn’t like searching the surface while alone. It was easier, more comfortable, when Greco sat beside him, cracking jokes or just yakking it up.
By the analysis, the hole led to an underground depot of some kind. The scope indicated lots of high-grade metal in the hole. He wondered if that meant an army of waiting cyborgs. Could it also mean cyborg warships?
Tanner sat back. If they had come to gain a warship for Remus’s coming freedom, why hadn’t they tried to commandeer the Old Federation battleship in the wandering gas giant? He bet the colossal craft would give Coalition warships a deadly fight. Yet, could one Old Federation battleship, even a giant one, take on an entire Coalition fleet? He didn’t think so. If that was the case, was there a greater weapon down there under the planet? What could he find here to drive the Coalition off Remus?
Being here made Tanner doubt. If Remus patriots had gotten here before the war, maybe adding several battleships would have made Remus too hard a nut to crack. Now, though, with the Coalition occupation forces already in place…
Is this a fool’s errand? Had Maximus been wrong all along?
That was a galling thought, one too bitter to contemplate for long. That would mean his life after the war had been in vain. He would have fought all those war years in vain, too. No! This wasn’t in vain. There had to be a weapon down there that would change everything. Whey else had the Coalition hunted them so hard? That must prove the weapon existed.
Tanner exhaled, continuing the laborious scan. An hour passed, two. He leaned back, stretched and—
A klaxon rang, causing him to jump.
With gritty, wide-open eyes, he tapped the panel. His stomach knotted. What had they tripped? The Old Federation equipment must have finally penetrated their stealthy hull. That would be a disaster.
He saw it and a small laugh escaped him. None of the Old Federation equipment in the star system had moved or reacted to the Dark Star. Instead, a laser platform on the distant, wild gas giant had just fired at something even farther away.
Tanner refocused the scanning scope away from Planet Zero. He used the longest range, finding the distant orbital platform as it fired another laser and followed the direction of the beam. He saw them then.
The Coalition fleet was dropping out of hyperspace in the general area the Dark Star first had. One of the Coalition ships exploded, raining debris everywhere.
The Old Federation laser platform had begun to destroy the new socialist conquerors of the Backus Cluster. Tanner laughed with delight. Maybe this would be reason enough to have come here: to lure a Coalition fleet to its destruction.
-42-
Interrogator Prime Clack Urbis sprinted for the bridge as the red alert alarm rang through the CBN Cruiser Bela Kun.
He had already been on his way to the bridge. They had unexpectedly dropped out of hyperspace. The deputy superior had explained that over the ship’s comm a short time ago. An unforeseen gravity-well danger had forced them to abort out of hyperdrive.
Clack reached a lift, panting as it zipped up to the bridge. In a moment, doors opened. He staggered onto the bridge, staring at the main screen.
A huge laser beam burned through a destroyer’s hull armor. Molten drops of metal drifted through space. The laser must already be smashing through the destroyer’s interior decks, causing inner explosions and boiling water. Red flames blew out of the hull breach. The destroyer shuddered as hull plates tumbled away into space. Then, the destroyer exploded, half the ship disappearing in an internal nuclear blast.
“Is our force screen holding?” the deputy superior sho
uted in a shrill voice.
Clack watched in dazed awe, his usual reserve momentarily forgotten. Who had fired on the destroyer? Could the Remus renegades have led them into a trap? The fleet had already been to one star system with nothing to show for it. This one—
Another laser reached out. This one burned a Coalition raider out of existence. Metal, vapor and human beings dissolved in the horrendous heat. It was sickening and devastating.
“Deputy Superior,” an officer shouted. “I have spotted the attacker.”
“Show me, show me,” she shouted.
The main screen wavered. In place of a nearly blank star field was a dark gas giant. From an orbital position, another laser fired.
“What is that?” the deputy superior shouted. “What am I looking at?”
“An orbital laser platform,” the officer said. He was a small man focused on his sensor scope. He tapped his panel. “It’s a giant platform, the only working one. Deputy Superior, this is a lone attacker.”
“Launch missiles!” she shouted. “Focus our lasers. We must hit it. We must destroy it before it annihilates the fleet.”
Clack sat at his location, turning to his board. He saw the laser beam destroy another raider. Whoever ran the platform over there was merciless.
“Move people, move!” the deputy superior shouted. “Our survival depends on it.”
One of the other cruisers reacted faster than the Bela Kun did. A laser beamed the platform.
Immediately, the platform laser stopped beaming a destroyer. It switched targets swiftly, focusing on the attacking cruiser.
Clack rubbed his fingertips together. If the Bela Kun fired, might not the platform target them next? Maybe the best thing would be to turn and run. The platform’s laser was too powerful. It was annihilating the fleet. Yet, they might not have time to escape. Maybe the only way to win was to hit the platform harder than it hit the fleet.
“Faster!” the deputy superior shrieked. “We’re all going to die because you’re so slow. I’ll put everyone before the firing squad. I’ll—”
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