Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades

by Randolph Lalonde

  The pair of Uriel fighters taxed their thrusters to the limit, blasting around the engagement so they could fire on the Torano’s main thrusters, a bank of pivoting barrier engines. Whoever was manning the weaponry on the enemy ship was no amateur. Two medium cannons fired rapidly, and they were both caught by several high-energy shots before they could evade. “Their sensors are jammed too, they’re firing using visual only,” Minh-Chu said. “Use your computer to help dodge.”

  “Already on it,” Joyboy said as his fighter took several strikes on the starboard side, reducing his shielding to dangerous levels. He strafed erratically until the gunner on the Torano lost his bead, then Joyboy opened fire.

  Minh-Chu followed suit and the pair of them rained dumbfire rockets down on the Torano, a few little spark-like pops bursting against the enemy ship as the first of their munitions struck. When the first strikes were joined by hundreds, the aft-port side of the vessel was shrouded in a firestorm. “Fire all missiles at the maximum rate, we’re not capturing this thing,” Minh-Chu said. The auto-loaders for his missile pods roared as he switched to rapid-fire. He watched his munitions counter from the corner of his eye, counting down from four thousand nine hundred and thirty, to two thousand and three in the space of seconds.

  The Warlord’s thrusters flared as it pushed away from the Torano. Using the hard-won space from the enemy ship, they launched their own barrage. Seven metre-wide mines burst from the bottom of the Warlord and broke apart when they were halfway to their target, splitting into over a hundred missiles loaded with high explosives. The Torano exploded a second later, and when the heat cleared, her starboard side was open to space in several places. The eighty metre long ship’s lights were out, her power plant was exposed, her engines were extinguished, and her weapons were silenced.

  Minh-Chu waited for their sensors to clear, and when they did, recognized a warning immediately: the antimatter reservoir aboard the Torano was still loaded with a dangerous amount of the material. “Distance!” Minh-Chu said. “Get away from the Torano!”

  Joyboy was already accelerating away, as was the Warlord. They were over fifty thousand kilometres away and circling back towards the cargo train the Torano dropped when Minh-Chu finally felt they had enough distance. He pulled up his rear-view screen and zoomed in on the wrecked ship. A few escape pods were powering away from her port side. He silently wished he could help, and hoped they got enough space between them and the vessel before the antimatter containment failed.

  “Maybe they’ll make it,” Joyboy said. “That thing could maintain containment for years if the reservoir’s safety systems are okay.”

  Minh-Chu looked to the escape pods; they had made it a few thousand kilometres away from the Torano, and were gaining speed. With a flash, the Torano exploded, and when the light cleared, there was little left of the escape shuttles or the people inside.

  “Take up positions around the cargo train,” Minh-Chu said. “The Warlord will be vulnerable while they hitch up and get ready to power out of the system.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Uncertain Turnabout

  “You’re right, this is genius,” Victor Davis said as he finished reading Mischa Konev’s proposal. “I’m out, you’re out, but so is the whole idea of coming to consensus. Not only that, but it’s still non-partisan and the Defence Minister, and Military Liaison positions aren’t going to be elected positions the first time around. It’s like this is built to sneak us into the back door.”

  “I’ll still be Health Minister,” Iloona said, stroking her bulging middle. “So I can propose that you both fill positions.”

  “The reformation of the government would take place after the referendum tomorrow,” Ayan said. “This is fast, no one has time to think.”

  “No, Tyra doesn’t have time to realize that her biggest enemies on the Council won’t be out for long. All she’ll have time to see is that we’ll be removed from our posts,” Victor said. “Normally, I hate this political stuff, but Mischa just dropped a bomb, and we will end up running things our way when the smoke clears.”

  “In human history, is a voting majority of seventy percent better than consensus-based governing?” Iloona asked.

  “Consensus-based government always has a breaking point early on,” Ayan replied. “It was a good idea at first, when there were five people around the table, but it’s impossible with a full room. It takes way too many compromises to get anything passed.”

  “Well, then this is less a power play than something that has to happen regardless of our current problems,” Iloona said. Her eyes widened for a moment, then she looked down at her belly. “At least two of these pups agree.”

  “How are you feeling?” asked Ayan.

  “Very good,” Iloona replied. “I’m past the dangerous point of my pregnancy, and it’s certain that I’ll have eleven in my pouch next week, if not sooner.”

  “Eleven!” Victor said. “I thought my family was big with four brothers and sisters.”

  “Alaka is not looking forward to taking care of me while my pouch is full. He knows I’ll expect a royal lifestyle,” Iloona said with a smile. “It's three times larger than the average brood though, but that only speaks to the good life here.”

  “Brace yourselves, a tribe of adorable Nafalli are about to invade from within,” Ayan said, motioning towards Iloona’s big belly.

  Iloona grabbed Ayan’s and Lacey’s hands and put them on her stomach. Ayan could immediately feel little beings through the soft fur, popping at the skin with little kicks and nudges. There was some squirming too, as it seemed that one was trying to roll over. “That’s got to be a mad feeling,” Lacey said. “How do you sleep?”

  “Oh, in winks and naps. Birth is much easier for us than it is for humans. This is the difficult part. I’ll sleep for a week once they’re in the pouch. I’m only glad that we’re in a modern city. If I were home, I might be expected to hunt.”

  “With that undercarriage?” Victor laughed. “Nafalli women must be the toughest creatures in the galaxy.”

  “Thank you,” Iloona replied. “Back to this vote, I have one more question.”

  “What’s that?” Lacey asked.

  “There are many seats missing, such as Finance, Orbital Defence, and others. This proposes an incomplete government.”

  “There’s a provision here that opens the government up to necessary expansions as qualified people are nominated,” Victor replied. “It uses a proposal and voting system that’s already in place. We could probably get those seats set up in two weeks.”

  “So we’re agreed, then,” Ayan said. “We’re passing this.”

  “Yes,” Victor replied. “Sorry about being so pissed, I took the intent the wrong way.”

  “That was the intention of the proposal,” Ayan replied. “I almost blew it by reacting to the look on Tyra’s face. Now I have to look angry, and so do you.”

  “Both of you will have to let Tyra vote first,” Iloona said. “I will vote reluctantly.”

  “All right, let’s vote ourselves out of a job,” Victor said.

  * * *

  It was so good to get away from Haven Shore for an hour or two. Ayan scheduled a meeting with Admiral Terry Ozark McPatrick, or Oz, as she called him, just so she could get some space from the impending referendum and everything else on the Tamber Moon. The last consensus vote of the Council had gone well, but she needed a break.

  Ayan grinned as she saw Oz enter the smaller observation room aboard the Triton. He returned her smile and gave her a tight hug. “I already heard, the motion to make Jake and his people citizens failed, and you’re out of a job.” He unstrapped his sidearm and slung it over the edge of a sofa, then took a seat. He looked better than ever in a thinner version of his black vacsuit armour. He was the picture of fitness in the snug fitting one-piece uniform, and the slashes on his cuffs marked him as a Forward Admiral.

  “It’s bad news for them; I think we’ll be breaking away from the Carthans soon.
I think support from the British Alliance is coming. As for losing my job, well, I’ve never felt freer. Iloona will nominate me after the referendum tomorrow and I’ll have a slightly smaller job by the end of the week. You should take a look at the footage from the vote, though. The look on Tyra Kim’s face when Vince and I approved the proposal was priceless. I doubt she’s figured out what’s really happening.”

  “I will,” Oz replied with a smile. “Is she really that bad?”

  “She must have been in love with Liam,” Ayan replied. “She obviously blames me for pushing him out of the solar system.”

  “Well, she shouldn’t,” Oz said. “The last few times I talked to him while he was helping out with the Triton’s refitting plan, he could barely look me in the eye. I even told him I don’t have to punish him on your behalf, you wouldn’t want that, but it only shut him down more. I think he had to leave.”

  Ayan would rather talk about anything else. “So, he’s gone. How’s the Triton?”

  “A lot better than Haven Shore’s government,” Oz replied. “We just finished the last of the work on the outer hull, and we’re set to finish up on the emitter systems late next week. Bots finished rebuilding our torpedo systems, and they’re moving on to finishing propulsion. That replacement pod you built is the best thing we have right now.”

  “Thank you,” Ayan said.

  “Are you sure I can’t tempt you back aboard Triton? We need you, especially if we’re going to lose half our bots to Haven Shore this Wednesday.”

  “We’ll see. I might have a lot more time if things are calmer on Tamber with the last of the frameworks taken care of and my Council responsibilities reduced,” Ayan replied. “I’m building something there, it’s hard to leave, but the Everin Building is almost finished and I can start focusing on other things.”

  “Like Port Rush?”

  Ayan nodded. “They’re in rough shape there, I’d like to do more.”

  “You could get a lot more done with Triton’s resources. We may be in the middle of a refit, but this carrier makes one hell of a port facility and emergency assistance hub.”

  “So I’ve noticed,” Ayan said.

  The door opened and Carl Anderson, her father, entered with a grin that beat Oz’s in spades. Ayan was on her feet and in his arms in a heartbeat. “I didn’t know you were here!” she squealed.

  “Just setting up my quarters,” he replied.

  She looked up at him with a quizzical expression.

  “The Sunspire is leaving,” he said, leading her to a sofa seat beside a broad transparent section of hull. “Going back to check on Freeground. The station’s been silent for too long. I’m staying here.”

  “Maybe the government found your informers there,” Ayan said.

  “Unlikely. There’s been a shift back to the old military regime. It’s for the best I’m afraid, but my informants are operating with the new leaders’ blessing now. We were in the middle of quietly rebuilding relations between our people on the Sunspire and Freeground. It was going slowly, but well. This communication shut down is too sudden.”

  “You suspect the worst, then.”

  “I’d rather not speculate,” her father replied. “It could be an inconvenient interstellar storm we didn’t see coming, or some kind of Order interdiction system. The good news is Captain McPatrick allowed me to permanently detach from the crew with a hundred and forty one others. I’m offering a few of them positions with the Rangers and the rest want to come here, to Triton.”

  Ayan couldn’t help but notice Oz’s toothy grin at the prospect of taking on over a hundred trained crewmembers. They were from a military establishment they all knew well, and would fit in quickly.

  “So you’re not going to spend much time in Haven Shore,” Ayan said.

  “I plan on spending most of my time there, especially since Oz and I agree that Tamber is our best training ground. The detachment up here will be in charge of training our young rangers to survive in space, but most of the work will be on the moon. Oz was just nice enough to offer me a cabin here so I could spend the night.”

  “I still call him Doc every once in a while,” Oz said. “It’s a hard habit to shake.”

  “Don’t stop,” Carl Anderson said. “It reminds me of younger, less ambitious times. Speaking of ambition, I have to go and track down Alice Valent. She’s been out of range too long.”

  “Do you think she’s in trouble?” asked Oz.

  “From what her technician friend babbled to our people when we asked him about a some missing robots a few minutes ago, I think so. I think she can handle it, but she should have reported in. If she’s protecting her friend, I have to wonder if she learned anything about teamwork and accountability from training with the Rangers. Two things I promised her father we’d work on.”

  “I had to learn that on my own, the military just rushed it,” Ayan replied. “She’s probably no different.”

  “You weren’t dealing with dangerous situations and making judgment calls that put people at risk. If she’s not taking her responsibilities into account when she acts in the field, then she might just be too young for her post.”

  Ayan sometimes wondered if that were true, but she could still recall how young and fresh-faced she was when she entered regular military service in Freeground Fleet. Looking at images of her former self at that age was like looking at a child with baby fat still rounding her cheeks. She didn’t look much older in her resurrected form – her youth sometimes surprised her in reflections – but she felt many more years than were apparent. Ayan hoped more than anything that Alice’s youth wouldn’t interfere with her aspirations in the Rangers, but she feared the girl’s independent spirit would trump some important lessons. “I’m glad these are your decisions. I have no idea what I’d do with a Junior Brigade of Rangers.”

  “Don’t let them hear you call them Juniors,” Carl Anderson chuckled. “I don’t think there’s an insult that could wound deeper. Still, I’d rather deal with a group of Juniors than the Council.”

  “Really? There’s a seat opening up,” Ayan said, “You’d be a perfect candidate.”

  “That’s my cue to leave, there’s a shuttle waiting,” Carl said, kissing his daughter on the top of the head then striding for the door. “See you down there.”

  “See you,” Ayan said. “I’ll be about twenty minutes behind, can’t hide up here forever.”

  “He’ll probably take it,” Oz said. “He loves Haven Shore and I don’t think he’ll be able to resist the Council Chamber. As for me? I love Triton, and I hope you’re back in place representing us and our other military interests by the end of the week.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get back there,” Ayan said, sitting cross-legged on a round seat. “Jake is going to be pissed, though.”

  “How close were you to consensus on their citizenship?” Oz asked.

  “One holdout in the end. Days of debating it on and off, and it comes down to sour grapes about Liam leaving. We won’t be able to buy anything they capture, and they won’t be allowed to have a home in Haven Shore. I keep feeling as though the Triton, the Warlord, and all our military assets are drifting away from Haven Shore. I might consider the separation of the military a serious option if I weren’t the Liaison.”

  “Former Liaison,” Oz corrected.

  “Not for long.”

  “Maybe you’re thinking of this the wrong way,” Oz said. “If Haven Shore wants to be purely civilian, or the Council majority won’t respect the military, then they should separate and depend on forces in the Rega Gain System to protect them as volunteers. They want to see what it’s like without protection? Let them go. We’ll do whatever we want up here, and they’ll have to politely ask for help if they need it.”

  “With me in the middle,” Ayan said. The thought of Haven Shore, a city with her name on almost every building’s blueprints, being that dependent gave her a sinking feeling.

  “You could always join Triton, Commander,” Oz said,
wiggling his eyebrows. “You know you want to.”

  “I’m too close to Haven Shore to break away, but I promise to visit,” Ayan replied, trying to suppress the amused expression Oz was coaxing out of her.

  CHAPTER 15

  Broken Things

  Alice moved, cloaked and carefully, towards the source of the signal. The jungle’s grip on the interior of the building was complete – there was barely enough room to move in some places. It was too dark to see, but her scanners made up for it, and for the first time in weeks she mentally connected with her suit.

  She kept her neural node off most of the time since training. An education on how direct connectivity with a network could cause various problems with perception, empathy, and addiction, then seeing early signs of those problems in herself, was enough to turn her away from casual use. Besides, the Rangers took their challenges to a new level, and only used mental simulations when they absolutely had to. Most of their training was more challenging that way and they learned to be more self-sufficient.

  Her head’s up display came to life as a mental image. A quick read on the building revealed that this was the nursery from which the entire jungle sprang. The central building was the colonists’ living space, and the other towers were development centres where they did testing and preparation for the initial terraforming of Tamber. There was some functional, dormant machinery under all the growth, but most of it had been rendered useless long ago.

  As she squeezed between a thick trunk and a wall, Alice’s sensors picked up a clear reading on three Ando-Twelve androids. Two were sitting still, deactivated with their central processor access hatches open. The third was digging for something nearby in the heavy growth.

  An electromagnetic pulse pistol was tied to the android’s back with thin vines. Her scanners told her it had never been used and the power cell was missing.

  “Come out, I won’t hurt you,” the android said, kneeling down. “It’s simple work, three deactivations, you won’t get into trouble,” he begged at something under the old, low limbs.