Progeny of Vale

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “That’s impossible!” Yara exclaimed. “What kind of ship has a rail large enough to do that much damage to something as big the Lutetia in a single shot?”

  While Talon stared through the viewport to find an answer to her question he noticed a peculiar star amongst a sea of them. It was brighter than any of the others, and not in a position to be an anomaly like a planet.

  “A New Earth Cruiser,” he mouthed. He hadn’t even realized he said it out loud until everybody standing nearby turned suddenly to look at him.

  “Hold your tongue!” Yara snapped. “They had no idea we were coming, why would they send one of them here?”

  Talon’s eyes widened. “Because they did.” His lust for vengeance had caused him to overlook it, but his people had been baited by the Tribune again. Only this time with an entire army. That was why Eureka was so easy to take. “Madame Lakura, you have to evacuate everybody. Now!”

  Yara stormed over and grabbed Talon by his jaw. “Who are you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Just look over—”

  Talon was cut off when the engineer shouted, “Eureka scanners are finally up and running. Heavy activity popping up all around us, but I can’t get an exact read on anything. It’s like we’re being jammed.”

  Yara released Talon. She was staring through the viewport, her mouth hanging open as she too spotted what he had. “How could they be here so fast?” she questioned. “We only just attacked!” She slammed her fist against the glass before rushing over to Captain Hadris at the makeshift command center. “Send out a message to every unit. Scramble all fighters and have the infantry assume defensive positions.”

  “Madame, much of the infantry is still dealin’ with the remnants of the Tribunal defenders in the heart of the asteroid,” Captain Hadris responded nervously.

  “Just do it! Tell every remaining ship to swarm the Lutetia and keep its halves intact.”

  The captain was shaking. Finally Talon was getting a chance to see exactly how unprepared he was as he dictated her commands into his console so that they could be relayed throughout the entire Lakura force.

  Talon was about to get the fight he’d been hoping for, only this time he couldn’t bring himself to be excited. He’d been in the exact same spot before, and didn’t want to lose his life being fooled again. Just like on the Tribunal Freighter, he was trapped—surrounded inside and out. The Tribune was trading a loss for a massacre—a tactic they’d learned from Cassius Vale decades earlier no doubt.

  “Madame, if we stay they’re going to do exactly what we just did to them,” Talon implored.

  “Stow it!” she snarled and shoved Talon by his head. “Get to your position. If there is truly a New Earth Cruiser coming, then we’re bringing it down with us! For Lutetia! For Kalliope!” Every Lakura fighter in the room raised their fists and chanted with her.

  “Talon, what’re we going to do?” Tarsis pulled him aside.

  “You mean besides dying?”

  “Talon…”

  “Sorry, I just have no influence here. If I’m right about what’s out there, even running is probably impossible. They won’t destroy this place, it’s too important, but our ships will be useless. They’re going to swarm the floors of this asteroid in numbers you can’t even dream of, and the war will be over before it even starts. Even if we survive the first wave, eventually they’ll bury us in the tunnels and let us starve or suffocate. How many fucking times are they going to catch me in one of their traps?” Talon slumped down against the glass and punched the floor out of frustration.

  The floor! he thought. The idea popped into his head as he rubbed his sore knuckles. His mind trailed back to when he was aboard the freighter and he remembered how Sage had turned the tide aboard the Tribunal Freighter before they found there was no way out. He had no desire to mimic the woman who’d so deviously betrayed him and his now dead friends, but there was no time to let pride get in the way.

  “Unless,” he said.

  “Unless what?” Tarsis questioned.

  “Grab a rifle. We’re heading down to the Gravity Generator before it’s too late.”

  “Gravity Generators…” Tarsis realized, his jaw dropping. “You can’t mean?”

  “I do.”

  “Should we tell Yara?”

  “Not until it’s too late for her to stop me. C’mon!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT—ADIM

  Not a Single Enemy

  ADIM’s feet scraped across the rocky floor. He kept his arms and legs limp, emulating all of the dead human bodies he’d seen over the years. Ceresians in every direction shouted obscenities, cursing the name of his Creator. None of them could understand his will. They were all too weak and undeserving. ADIM knew that they deserved the same fate as those on Kalliope, but he had a plan to follow. Cassius needed them for the moment.

  “Calm yourselves!” Zaimur Morastus hollered over the din of the crowd. He was leading the henchmen dragging ADIM’s camouflaged chassis. “Calm yourselves!”

  The crowd didn’t listen. Objects slammed into ADIM’s body. None of it was enough to damage him, but the distortion to his camouflage could prove dangerous. Zaimur must have realized that. He immediately ordered his men to surround ADIM and absorb the rest of the projectiles.

  As ADIM and his two carriers neared the hatch of an airlock their arms started to give out. ADIM’s frame sunk, beginning to scratch against the floor so loudly that it was audible over the racket. The Morastus men moaned in struggle before Zaimur sent two more men to aid them. He was much heavier than a dead human carcass. They propped him up and were able to lug him directly in front of the airlock.

  “Men and Women of Ceres, the plague of the Belt is truly gone!” Zaimur announced. Thousands of souls cheered at the top of their lungs. “Now, let us give him the fate he provided for so many of our ancestors and brethren. Today, in the name of my recently deceased and beloved father, and with the accord of every clan in our pact, we will send his body tumbling through space back to his masters. Not even his rotting corpse is worthy of resting within the walls of this hallowed rock!”

  More applause followed his words, and then they quieted, waiting anxiously for what would happen next. ADIM heard the hiss of the airlock popping. The Morastus henchmen caught their breath, wrapped their hands under his back and legs, and loaded him in. His heavy body fell into the open airlock with a clank.

  “Goodbye, Cassius Vale!” Zaimur yelled. “I only wish my father lived a day longer to see you get the fate you deserve. May you never find peace!”

  The inner seal of the airlock shut and then the outer one came open. ADIM was yanked out into space, his limbs twisting. He took note of how pleased every Ceresian seemed to be that Cassius would never again walk the Circuit.

  ADIM tucked his legs and steadied his movement. He tumbled over so that he could look back at the tremendous, oblong asteroid known as Ceres. Lights flickered along its wrinkled surface where the countless hangars and tunnels allowed entrance. There was no real order to it, except for a cluster which sliced along a portion of the center between two natural valleys, like the buckle on a belt.

  A day’s worth of hours passed by.

  Ceres became little more than a pebble in the distance—one more light amongst a sea of cosmic entities. ADIM wasn’t worried. Cassius was going to come for him, as was planned. He just had to make sure that everyone thought he was dead. He and his Creator had always worked from the shadows, but this strategy was far more direct. Now that ADIM had seen the nest of the Ceresians firsthand, he was beginning to understand why that was necessary without needing explanation. His Creator had far too many opponents. They would all need to be removed eventually in order to see his will enacted. Every Ceresian lord and every Tribune. Every single one.

  ADIM’s scanners picked up a slew of incoming ships. He recognized one of them immediately. He’d been a part of it just as he’d been a part of the android on Ceres. He twisted his head around, expecting to see the Whit
e Hand, but it wasn’t there. Instead there was a fleet of Ceresian vessels. They had a look to them as the interior of the asteroid—plated, imperfect, and relatively clunky. Nothing like Cassius’s ship.

  The largest of them was painted with navy highlights and had the Morastus Symbol printed on its side—two fangs extending down from beneath a set of predatory eyes. It was at least ten times the size of all the others, stretching half a mile in length. It’s thick, bulbous hull had two long bows sprouting from either side of a glassy command deck in the front and center, like claws from a paw. It didn’t take long for ADIM to discover that only that ship had proper weapons systems. The others in the fleet were little more than re-outfitted transport vessels and freighters, more fit for mining than war.

  The flagship rotated slowly, and ADIM noticed one of its secondary hangars folding open. His path was leading him directly into it. He readied the weapons systems in his arms and shot downward so that the force would alter his trajectory. Once he was close to the ship he grabbed onto the top lip of the hangar’s airlock, magnetized his chassis, and crawled in along the ceiling. The outer seal closed behind him, and as the inner one rose he saw what awaited him. Docked inside was the White Hand, its engines still warm.

  Zaimur Morastus has taken it as his own, ADIM thought. It was not a possibility that he ever wanted to consider. He scuttled upside-down into the low hangar, and located two heat signatures below him. He studied their heartbeats, and the way their skin radiated warmth, and was able to identify them as Zaimur and Cassius. His Creator’s pulse wasn’t heightened, but it rarely was.

  ADIM demagnetized and crashed down between them. He held out his weaponized arm to take aim at Zaimur, just in case. Zaimur nearly fell over he was so shocked.

  “ADIM!” the familiar voice of Cassius exclaimed. He was back to wearing his usual violet tunic, complete with bladed pulse-pistol and dark-metal bracers. “Forgive us for taking so long. There was a long-awaited funeral to attend before we could get off of Ceres.”

  “Safe and sound, as promised, Vale,” Zaimur grumbled. “Now would you mind instructing your pet to lower his weapons while he is aboard my ship?”

  “Of course,” Cassius replied, as calm and collected as ever. “ADIM, welcome to the private hangar aboard the Hound’s Paw. There is no threat here.”

  ADIM gave the room one last quick scan before he was satisfied. As always, his Creator was in complete control. “Yes, Creator,” ADIM replied. He lowered his arm and finally allowed his holographic shell to dissipate and reveal his true form.

  “I must say I’m impressed,” Zaimur stated. “They say my father went with no pain. Peacefully. I thank you for that, android…ADIM.”

  “This unit was instructed not to allow detection,” ADIM replied.

  “Still. He had suffered enough.”

  “It isn’t every man who’s willing to do what he must,” Cassius said. “Your father, in the time I fought him, would have been proud of you.”

  “Don’t talk about him like you know him,” Zaimur said, a hint of irritation entering his tone.

  Cassius ran his fingers over ADIM’s back. ADIM turned his head all the way around as well to see the countless scratches along the rear of his chassis. “ADIM, what have they done to you?”

  “I assure you it’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” Zaimur answered.

  “I’ll have you cleaned up shortly, ADIM.”

  “I’ve held up my end, Vale!” Zaimur snapped before ADIM could respond. “Now it’s your turn.”

  Cassius turned to Zaimur. “Very well. ADIM, transfer the last recorded positions of the Tribunal navy into the Hound’s Paw’s systems.”

  “Yes, Creator,” ADIM said as he walked toward the control console for the hangar’s airlock.

  “You’ll need the transmission codes,” Zaimur said.

  Cassius chuckled. “We’ll see.”

  ADIM extended his fingers over the console. The lights on it dimmed, and ADIM’S eyes spun as he dug through the systems of the Hound’s Paw. It was relatively simplistic, like the old androids on Ceres, and after what amounted to ten seconds in real time he’d uploaded the latest contents of the Vale Protocol into its computer database.

  Zaimur’s brow furrowed. “By the Ancients. How did he—”

  “Experience,” Cassius replied. “You never really did figure out who was behind knocking those Tribunal Freighters off of the Circuit did you? ADIM and I were attempting to get under their skin, but they didn’t want to publically announce it was the work of a former Tribune so they laid blame on your people,” Cassius lied.

  The Creator is attempting to deepen the rift between the factions, ADIM thought. He knew that the Tribune hadn’t learned of his existence until well after the last freighter theft.

  Zaimur rubbed his jaw. “So they bombed Kalliope in retaliation for the attacks even though they knew it was you?”

  “While they simultaneously attempted to have myself and ADIM removed from the equation. In my own home. You see, Tribune Benjar Vakari wanted this war as much as you do. To finally have a reason to convince the council to quietly eliminate me and take the asteroid belt—that was his plan all along. I walked right into it when I started cutting off his personal Gravitum supply.”

  Zaimur clenched his jaw and squeezed his fists. “That scheming bastard,” he seethed. “That’s the truth?”

  “Every word,” ADIM interjected. From his study of the androids on Ceres he’d discovered that their rudimentary programming didn’t allow for them to comprehend the idea of lying. Agreeing vocally was the least he could do to help Zaimur be convinced.

  Cassius shot him a sidelong glance before turning his attention back to Zaimur. “Hear my words, Zaimur,” he began. “With Tribune Gressler dead, Benjar will be in complete control of the Tribune. He suspected me from the beginning, and because he was right the others will now cede to his wishes. He will drive this war, and while he may not be my equal, I once served directly under him. He learned a lot watching me win his last war.”

  “I’m growing tired of listening to you pat yourself on the back, Vale,” Zaimur growled. “Out with it. After what you just told me I’m beginning to regret this alliance.”

  “The reason you lost the last war was because your Pact has always had too many men deliberating over what course to take. You need an uncompromising leader. To win, you must gain the complete support of those in control.”

  Zaimur released a hearty laugh. “Now that’s a lot to ask. As it is, Kalliope was Morastus-owned. Maybe when the others feel the Tribune’s bite they’ll be more willing to listen.”

  “True. There are many clans. However, in our present only the Morastus, the Lakura, and the Ventiss hold true power. The Ventiss were indecisive even when I fought them decades ago. They will follow the majority. Thanks to ADIM, you, and only you now, control your clan. Win over Yara Lakura’s complete trust and all else will follow.”

  Zaimur stopped following. “That’s your secret plan? Yara Lakura?” he questioned. “I assure you, her knife has dulled over the years. Maybe she trusted my father, but me? Is an alliance not enough?”

  “ADIM, show him the map,” Cassius said.

  ADIM held out his open palm. The projectors along his arm and hand rotated to display the map of the Circuit, and tiny red signatures indicated where the Tribunal ships were located.

  “This is the last update received by the White Hand, Creator,” ADIM stated. “As of twenty-one hours ago your connection has been severed.”

  “It’s about time,” Cassius sighed. “It was useful while it lasted.”

  “You’re not showing me anything new,” Zaimur said as he approached the map and scanned it from every angle. He didn’t appear pleased. “The ships have barely moved since the last time.”

  “ADIM, inform Zaimur exactly where Benjar Vakari’s fleet is heading.”

  ADIM reached out with his free hand and traced a line from the largest cluster of red toward a tiny astero
id on the edge of the asteroid belt. “Their vector indicates that they are headed for the Tribunal shipyard colony of Eureka,” ADIM answered.

  “The same Eureka where Yara Lakura intends on surprising them. Eureka is in a crucial position and is already prepped to allow them to continually repair and reinforce their navy.”

  “I’m well aware of Eureka’s advantages,” Zaimur said. “They used it in the Earth Reclaimer War to do the same.”

  “Well that is where the Lakura army is headed. Whether Benjar is going there merely to prepare his invasion, or his hidden Executors have informed him of her plan, I’m not sure. But—”

  Zaimur cut him off. “She’s going to be slaughtered when they arrive…” His mouth hung open as he focused on the size of Benjar’s fleet.

  “Not if we get there in time,” Cassius assured. He placed his hand on Zaimur’s side and turned him away from the image. “We won’t attempt to engage the Tribunal fleet directly, but we will enter the battle, ravage Eureka so that the Tribune can’t use it, and flee with as many as we can save. History will call it a slight loss for us, but Benjar is short on temper. He will be infuriated by losing out on his massacre.”

  “And more liable to make mistakes,” Zaimur finished for him. “Yara will be indebted to me.”

  “It won’t matter how dull her blade is after that. Ceres will unite behind you. Since we cannot win this war with force, we must chip away at the Tribune until they unravel.”

  Zaimur clapped his hands. A smile formed on his face that stretched from ear to ear. “Brilliant, Vale! I should’ve known better than to doubt you. I’ll inform my men immediately.” He wheeled around and hurried out of the room.

  “You will have the White Hand at your service.”

  Zaimur stopped and looked back. “No. You will remain with me in command here aboard the Hound’s Paw. Only my most trusted men will have access.”

  “Of course,” Cassius replied, bowing his head. “ADIM will be in control of the ship. Its weapons systems will prove valuable in crippling the asteroid.”