Loud enough for all the others there to see, she then made a pass at him. Moretti wasn’t impressed with her charm, but her character shone through as she played the room around them. “You taking me home tonight?”
He picked up his glass, drank the contents and escorted her wobbling ass out of the bar.
“Been doing that for months?” Moretti asked when they were finally on their own.
Sertoria laughed. “Have you?”
They walked for a good while, weaving through streets, the drunken swagger they both used dissipating, till they walked with purpose.
She finally stopped, reaching her destination, and let him inside the apartment block and then into her studio apartment.
“Thought I’d never get out of that place,” she said. “Really needed those damned drinks this time.”
Moretti wanted to go deeper, but didn’t ask. Instead, he moved to her small kitchen unit, and poured them both a drink.
“Sorry,” she said when he sipped it and winced. “The only thing I can show to afford.”
He put the glass down, checking the security in the room with his NIAI and then personally checking all the places he would hide monitoring devices. The room was clean.
He sat on the edge of her bed and watched as she drank.
“I’ve seen some nasty shit,” she said. “But nothing like what’s going on down there.”
Moretti nodded and passed her his drink.
She took it, shaking her head.
“How close are they?”
Sertoria was the only one he had who knew both sides to this. “They’ll never get what they want,” she said. “That much is clear. But they’re doing something. They’re creating something no one has seen before.”
This really worried him. He moved to take the bottle once more, and as bad as it was, he poured himself a drink. “Show me.”
Sertoria gave him an odd look, but he insisted. “I know what you’re saying, but I need to see it. I need to have records, because when we destroy this, there’s only one person in this entire world who will have this info.”
Sertoria pushed herself up. “I didn’t record it for any real reason. I would destroy everything before I even reported back to Zedra.”
This surprised him. “Why?”
“I’ll let you be the judge of that, Mr. Moretti.” She turned away from him for just a moment and then handed him a data chip.
Moretti took it, and within seconds had it playing.
There wasn’t much that made him physically sick. He’d seen it all. Hell, he’d done more than he would ever admit to. But here, now, he leaned over and threw up in her trash bin.
“My thoughts exactly.” She patted his back.
Moretti looked up into her eyes. She seemed so innocent in all of this. Had she a real clue to the things she even witnessed down there?
Moretti pulled the data. “There’s no way in hell I’m showing that to anyone. Even their creator. Sertoria, are you really with me? Would you do anything to stop them, even if Zedra ordered you otherwise?”
“Like I said, I’ve seen some pretty awful things. There’s no way in hell I’d ever let that get out. Even if Zedra ordered me.” Sertoria looked to his fingers as they crushed the chip; then he moved to fry it over the grill till there was nothing left at all.
“Then, as painful as it is, as exhausting as it is”—he tapped the side of his head—“this…is on us.”
Chapter Sixty-Six
VCF Fernix
Emarl System
7/3557
Pela had heard there were some big changes coming. But she had not expected this. Watching as one of Osdal’s refining stations was maneuvered into place was on today’s list of things to do, but she couldn’t spend all her time daydreaming. Today she was also meeting up with her friends. It was an off day and they had plans to relax, unwind, and discuss their next moves. She had lots of decisions to make over the next few months. First was getting settled and into a position that meant money and stability. That meant moving out and working with the miners she’d been signed with. This had come with everything she’d imagined: the thrill of being out there in space and the finality of getting the job done, bringing in the best quality stuff you could to split down the middle.
The gang hadn’t been all bad. They were mostly family, related by blood or marriage, and they took her in to train and work. That she did. She’d worked solidly for them and become fast friends. However, she also knew this wasn’t the full-time life and home she wanted. She wanted something a little, well, different.
Pela had fallen in love with this job though and when some different mining jobs came in as the refineries landed, she had jumped at the chance for something new once more. She’d had an open contract with her first crew, after all, and now had some time off to assess where and what she wanted next. Where she rested her feet now was a middle way for all miners and workers. A station built just for that time in between. She’d just needed to get some of her debts paid and some cash to her name. Now she was being a little choosier about what she wanted, and she had the right; she’d worked hard to be here. This was a good thing and Aileen was encouraging her, along with Ashaeed, and Lucus.
Now, though, she stood with everyone else, watching as the viewing screens showed VCF Fernix moving in with the refinery in tow. All she wanted above anything else now was to go visit it. See what they had brought with them. Was it similar tech? Better?
“They’ve had nothing but months to upgrade all the systems on the refinery,” Gondi said in her ear. “If there were better tech out there, then I doubt we’d see it soon. It just flew in.”
“It’s fantastic,” she said.
Lucus and Remy came in behind her. “Hey, I think the others are here too,” Remy said, looking up at the ships easing the refinery into place.
“Cool. We can meet in a minute. Let me watch them just a little longer.”
There were several other men and women about them, and the more she watched, the more crowded it got.
Then she noticed something off in the trajectory. It couldn’t be right. The captain on the VCF would know, right? But when the side of the refinery lurched to the right, she and Lucus shared a worried glance.
She asked Gondi whether everything was all right and he confirmed it was. But she knew otherwise. She turned to Lucus. “That ship’s listing. Something’s unbalanced them.”
“The captain will see it. Don’t worry,” Remy said.
Pela turned back to watch with everyone else, but the refinery wasn’t altering its course. Come on, she thought. You have to move!
Lucus leaned over and whispered in her ear a moment later. “He’s got it—watch! That captain’s a pro!”
The close contact from him unnerved her, but she didn’t pull away. She didn’t want everyone here to panic. They had no clue about what could happen. None of them. “We’ve just covered all this in basic training, but there’s no training when it comes to being out in the dark for real.”
Lucus pulled himself closer to her. “Don’t worry, seriously.”
“How do you know?” she said.
Lucus tapped the side of his head.
“Of course.”
Gondi projected a path of the refinery with its current speeds. It looked better. Pela, however, wasn’t relaxing just yet.
Ashaeed and Aileen came in beside her, and she never even noticed as Ashaeed kissed the side of her cheek.
Then she waited again. As the engines of the VCF Fernix kicked in again, there were several shouts as the refinery twisted a little and then was in its final resting place.
A moment later, she heard the announcement over the main PA systems. All the workers’ breaks were over. She turned to her friends and patted her stomach. “We getting lunch or what?”
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Navy Headquarters
Ark Orbit, Emarl System
7/3557
Admiral Hall looked at the newest arrival. T
he mega freighter Promise arrived just a few hours ago and was moving directly for the station.
In its holds, it carried some two point one million people and resources. The people were all from Masoul, looking at an opportunity at a new life.
He shook his head, remembering the campaign in Masoul. It had not been pretty and the conditions that people were living in on the planet were nothing less than terrible.
It seemed that although the Harmony were gone, there was just too much pain in those underground cities.
Many of the people moved out to the station and to the refineries on the gas giant. The problem was that they weren’t trained and many died as they looked to repairing the different facilities and getting them functional. Birth rates were low and people were depressed with their lot in life.
Once they were offered a chance and Moretti used the contacts that he still had in place, the entire system was looking to leave.
Even now, there were freighters picking up more people and resources from the system, taking them to Emarl.
With the Promise, there wasn’t enough room in the containers for everyone if they were awake, so they had rigged up cryopods, put everyone to sleep and that allowed them to carry many more people.
They’d gone to sleep in Masoul, but they’d wake up in Emarl. Hall knew how odd it was waking up in some unknown place. He hoped that they would adjust well and come to love Emarl.
“We just keep on growing bigger and bigger,” Hall said to himself.
It seemed that there were craft coming in all the time, with more people and items that they needed.
He knew that after the initial flood, it would calm down and the Emarl system would need to rely on itself. Still, for the time being, seeing the system go through so many changes and advances left him with a sense of pride and thinking that they were on the edge of something massive here.
If they could make it past the Luyten forces, then they wouldn’t just be holding Emarl. They could strike out at the Maraukians. That was, if Moretti and Cassius played their hands right and were able to get rid of the cancer that plagued the Union.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
The Crucible
The Ark, Emarl System
7/3557
Mark watched through the nearest window. He couldn’t see the outer system of Emarl but he knew things out there were changing. And changing in a good way. “Can you get me scans—anything?” he asked Sarah.
A moment later, an overview of the system ahead showed two tiny spots against the black. “Hope and Novum.” He saw his own grin spread out from the corners of his mouth in the window.
“What makes you so happy?” came Ava’s voice from behind him.
“Dominguez is waiting on your link,” Sarah said.
“Connect.”
“Honey, we’re home!” Dominguez’s laughter echoed inside his mind.
Mark instantly linked in Jerome, whose excitement echoed through as he panted out, “They’re here, already?”
Mark glanced to Ava. Of course she’d spoken with Dominguez but the two of them really meeting was exciting. In the depths of his soul, Mark really wanted them to like each other. There would be nothing worse than if they didn’t.
“Stop fretting,” came Ava’s calm thoughts.
Jerome was still panting as his thoughts tumbled out. “How long till you get here, here?”
“Calm down!” Dominguez could only laugh at him. “I hope that panting means you’re in training, and not in bed with your lovely wife!”
Mark laughed. He could almost see the blush from Jerome.
“Training, of course. Can’t be out of shape when you get here. No doubt you’ll want to kick my ass.”
“You bet. I know you ain’t been in the training room since I’ve not been there to push your scrawny ass in.”
He couldn’t wait for them to finally connect, to share a beer, to move forward. Everything had been moving toward this; now he finally felt as if he were winning. Most of the people he’d given the choice to come here were arriving. They weren’t just arriving in their droves; they were bringing more resources—and with that, fighting power.
Then another voice came through as Ortiz butted in, “General,” he said. “So good to have you here. Please ask that you’re dropped off at the station. We’ll meet you there. Novum may also stop by the Yard. Our teams are waiting to off load some of your precious cargo.”
“Where will it all be going?” she asked.
“Don’t worry. We’re not taking it all off you. Once you’re here and rested, we’ll debrief you properly,” Jerome said, trying his best to avoid paying for the beer.
“Rest? Fuck that. I’ve had nothing but rest for months. Most of the men I came with are in cryo. They’ll want out as soon as they can. Get me to your location, now, or I swear I will come and beat your ass.”
Mark started to laugh. “There’s already a shuttle on its way for you and anyone you need to come with you. That good enough?”
Dominguez softened a little. “Yes, sir,” she said. “I’m just excited to get things moving.”
“As are we all,” he replied. “There’s a lot to discuss and a lot to do.”
“Then you can get the beers in, right, Jerome?” Ortiz said.
Jerome let out a sigh. “All right, I’ll get the beers in. I’m not doing that, however, until we can all enjoy it. That means we all sit down together. Like old times.”
Mark lamented a little. “Like old times.”
***
It really was a good while later—in fact, almost a few weeks later—that Dominguez finally stepped off a shuttle to greet them all in person. With Phillips and two others flanking her.
“Mark.” She opened her arms for him.
Mark didn’t have any qualms about giving her a hug. In fact, he lifted her up and into the air. “Good to finally squeeze you!”
When she started to sputter, he let go.
“General Dominguez.” Ava stepped forward with a salute.
Dominguez grinned. There might be a few onlookers, but she held out a hand and when Ava gripped it, Dominguez pulled her into a hug. Ava was a little unsure as to how to respond. Dominguez whispered in her ear, “Thank you for being you. That big lug there needed someone to take care of him. I’m glad he’s got you.”
“I’m glad I’ve got him too. It’s good to finally meet you.”
Dominguez moved around the room with handshakes and hugs for everyone. The chatter inside the bay was rowdy laughter and talk.
It was Esamai who shouted above the din. “Come on, everyone. Let’s take this to the meeting room. The men here need to clear out the bay. You know they have other jobs to do, right?”
Jerome was the one who grunted. “Always the mother.”
“Actually,” Ortiz said. “Always the manager.”
Moving on to the boardroom Esamai had set out, they were surprised to find the beer that Ortiz had been goading about. Esamai opened the barrel. “This was for a special occasion, and I think there’s enough of us that it won’t affect our abilities, mergers aside. So drink up. Talk—do what family do.”
“What’s that?” Jerome asked her.
Even Dominguez knew the answer to that one. She poured a beer and then pulled up a chair. “Come on, I need all the details, from all of you. I’ve seen all the reports—I know the plans. But really, we’re going after the Maraukians? You know where their home base is or something?”
Mark poured a drink and sat beside her. “There’s going to be a bit more that will happen before that, but yes, that’s our goal. Ramesh managed to beat them back. Sacremon isn’t going to be so lucky. They’re hitting harder, with more forces than ever. For the first time, we’ll be the hunters.”
Ortiz and Dominguez had blank expressions as they nodded. They knew what that meant. The only path forward was through hell. There was no sense in lying to themselves.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going,” Ortiz said.
<
br /> Chapter Sixty-Nine
LMFC Righteous
Emarl System
10/3557
Karain sat in her command seat as around her the twenty-three ships of the Luyten Military Force appeared.
They seemed to appear out of nowhere as they finished their last transition.
“The Emarl system.” She snorted in disdain, not bothering to look at the command table where information was coming in from the system.
Everything they were getting was six or more light-hours old but it started to paint an odd picture to her second-in-command and the attaché from Senator Rimateus.
Captain Strong had been Senator Rimateus’s man for many years, earning his trust and his current position. He had been with the final shipment of weapons and tech. He and his command group that the senator had sent across to help with training and raising the forces of the Luyten system had all embedded themselves firmly in the command structure.
Karain might be the admiral but Strong was truly in command of the Luyten force.
He frowned as he looked at the information coming in. It was a lot different from what he was expecting.
The station’s construction is much more advanced than we predicted. The three refinery stations from Osdal are not only in place in the system but they look to be working by the number of freighters going to and from them.
“The fuck?” Strong couldn’t keep his words in as information was resolved around the station and the Yard orbiting the fourth planet.
Karain looked over to him, frowning.
Where the fuck did those come from?
Strong expanded the map on the command table as Karain moved over, interested to see what had got him so agitated.
Strong, sensing her nearby, checked between the station and the Yard again.
“Something the matter?” she asked.
Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4) Page 29