by T S Paul
“I have good news Gen Mod. You get to live. We have uses for your breed, unlike the sapes you came with. They went for a walk outside. Their usefulness is over. Take him down to the Quartermaster. Inform him that this one is to survive, but to feel free to work him.” He motioned to the Deltas, and they dragged Johann off the bridge.
Alpha 364 looked at his co-captain, Alpha 366 and they both smiled. The plan was coming together. “Attention on the bridge. Navigation, continue the course for Mars. Communications, begin scanning for Martian frequencies. As soon as we reach the frontier we will be sending a message. A message of peace.” The bridge crew looked back at him in shock. “For now.” They all nodded and began to laugh. Their laughter echoed through the halls and corridors of Colossus.
__
The Empire was burning. The inner circle of the Cabal all stood atop the Imperial Senate building watching the flames. By morning the worst should be over but for now the battle for control continued. “How much of the Empire do we control?”
“Sir, Jeremiah 117 and his people control seventy percent. Over ninety percent of the Navy is with them. They’re actively hunting down Admiral Kane and her rebel fleet. A few of the larger ships escaped but most were heavily damaged and have no chance of linking up with her.”
“What are we telling the masses? What is the spin?”
“Rogue Senators attempting to pull off a coup were intercepted by loyal government troops. In the resulting battles many of the conspirators were killed and others captured. Elements of the Imperial Navy were involved and are now on the run as brave patriots sacrificed their lives intercepting the enemy ships and destroying them. Martial law has been declared to help round up those few traitors who escaped. The curfew will end in two days after Government troops have had time to ensure public safety.”
“Excellent. Be sure that the Vid networks don’t alter it too much. We need a unified message to go out. Get with Robert 025 and start planning the public trials and executions. We need for the people to trust us to protect them.”
“Sarah 100, get with your people in the education system. We need patriotic youth groups started, plans for this should be in the archives. Control the youth and you control the country.”
“How stands the non-Empire worlds? Did any of our groups succeed?”
“No, Sir. Hong Kong intercepted the hit squad and captured them. Somehow they have discovered all the listening devices that we have planted on Freedom Station. The last of our people retreated to the Consulate and are staying in hiding there. New Reno was our only success. Our agents eliminated the bridge crew and took control of the station. A pitched battle broke out in the main concourse lasting for several hours. Without access to Station supplies and services our people managed to capture them.”
“How many are they holding?”
“None now. They all went for a walk outside.” The leader of the circle smiled.
“What about Sam 0256, did we capture that old bastard?”
Peter 400 winced. “I’m sorry, Sir. Sam had a hidden ship no one knew about and used it to escape. It was a Mark One Starfury.”
“Damn it, Peter! You had one job. Find him and kill him! What of Mars?”
“Another failure, Sir. Our agents were intercepted and destroyed. They, like Hong Kong, have some sort of new surveillance detection system. Somehow they located our training camps and captured many of our graduates.”
“One last question and there had better not be bad news related to it or off the roof you go. What of the Earth ship?”
“Our sensors show that it met up with Johann’s ship at the correct coordinates. The ship then continued to the frontier forts. Our last message stated that it was docked at the one closest to Mars.”
“Has Johann been in contact?”
“Not him personally, but a coded message was received bearing his code words. Earth wishes for us to claim as much territory as possible for the new Earth Empire. They welcome all of us back into the fold and promise that we will be rewarded as befits our station.” That last bit puzzled James 112. What is our station?
“Finally. Now with any luck we can all go home again. It has been too long since any of us last saw Earth. Good. Let us all get to work. The Empire needs to be in working order when the Earth ship arrives.”
Chapter 16
“Admiral, here is a list of the ships that managed to break free of the ambush.”
Admiral Emily Kane took the tablet from her new aide Lieutenant Hollis. She looked at the list in horror. Only half of the fleet made it to the jump point during the escape. Everything happened so fast! She and the other prominent Admirals were at an impromptu meeting at the New San Diego Fleet supply base. They and their fleets were gathered to hear of a new threat to the Empire. Grand Fleet Admiral Conrad Cobb had given the orders to meet, so every officer was there.
New San Diego was at the heart of the Empire, every new ship was launched from here. One of the earliest systems settled during the colonization years, it was primarily a huge mining colony. Three Navy shipyards were located in this system. Heavily defended, it held the honor of never being attacked in either of the two interstellar wars. Each jump point was protected by massive hollow asteroid defense stations and over twenty fighter wings. Only an idiot would try to attack this base. It made the perfect meeting place for high-level conferences.
The meeting began like any other. Admirals and their aides and bodyguards all attended a meet and greet in the main conference area. Nothing stood out as unusual at least in the beginning. The Grand Admiral arrived late. His protection squad circled the room taking up positions on all the wall. There were a few more troops than usual but nothing out of the ordinary. The Grand Admiral was the most protected man in the Empire.
“Ma’am, something is a bit off with those troops.” Her security had been with her for years and she trusted them implicitly.
She stepped to the side of the room and conferred with her man. “Why do you say that Commander?”
“Call it a gut feeling. I have trained with the Grand Admiral's guard force. Those are not members of it. I should know, I spent two weeks in the mud with their best last year during Fleet maneuvers. I had met their entire team by the time it was all done. Something is wrong for him to have changed his protection.”
“I hope you are wrong John. Keep an eye on them and let me know immediately if that gut of yours twinges again.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” She walked back to the group and continued to mingle.
“If I may have everyone's attention!” The Grand Admiral called attention and waved toward the conference room. “Let’s get this meeting started. We have a great deal to go over.”
As the small groups of officers entered the room, they could see more of the Grand Admiral's men along the walls. Each Admiral was seated at a long table in the center of the room. Aides and guards were seated behind each officer. The Grand Admiral stood at the end of the table.
“Admirals thank you for coming. A great threat has risen that threatens the Empire and everything that we have worked toward for many years. Even now it is changing the way of life that our ancestors started on the colony worlds. They came here to start a new life and…” As the Admiral continued the drone on about history she could hear and feel both John and her aide silently discussing something. She glanced behind her and they were looking at her expectantly. The Grand Admiral’s opening statement had shifted he was now getting to the meat of the situation.
“… expect fleet diversions and possible reorganizations due to the growing threat. We have received word that some of our former allies…” She felt a hand on her arm and looked down.
She looked at her team and mouthed. “What?” Her tablet made a soft ping, and she looked at it. “Ma’am, I figured out what is wrong. This room has been modified. There are now gun turrets located behind the main doors. They were hidden until they closed them. All the troops are out of the main line of fire. Ma’am this is a trap!” Ad
miral Kane considered what her man was saying but refused to believe it.
“Now to the meat of the problem. A new Empire will rise soon. One that will change the galaxy forever as it returns us to our roots. Unfortunately none of you will be there to see it. For you are the Enemy of which I speak.”
As if from a daze many of the attending Admirals and their officers perked up and stared at the Grand Admiral in shock. “Sir, what did you just say? We are the enemy?”
“Why yes Admiral Emment. You and those like you are the real enemy here. A great Empire is about to be born one that has been hiding in the shadows waiting for a momentous occasion to arrive. That time is now and the shadows are moving. Too bad none of you will be around to see it.” He signaled his men who drew weapons and began firing!
John was right thought Admiral Kane as she ducked under the table and behind her chair to avoid the onslaught of fire. Her security team was firing back. “John! We need to get out of here!”
Two members of her three-man team crawled over to her, shielding her with their bodies. Fire from the various security forces was faltering as many were wounded and killed. Off to the side of the room was the catering door, a hole in the surrounding troops opened up and her team took it. John grabbed his Admiral, and they carried her toward the door. One of the other Admirals aides jumped up and tried to join but was shot in arm. John grabbed him and used him as a human shield, dropping his body as they neared the door. Over the individual guns firing Emily could hear the sound of chain guns as the turrets let go and began firing.
The kitchen was empty of help. Her team rushed through it and ran straight into several naval aides hiding in the hallway. She grabbed them, telling them to follow her group. They refused and stayed huddled under some of the furniture. “Ma’am, leave them! We have to go or we are all dead!”
With John leading the way, they dashed for the hangar bay. With luck from the Gods, the shuttle was still there. Emily barely remembered the rest of the fight to the bay. Numerous attacks and assaults killed all but John. Her aide died in her arms protecting her from a sniper's bullet. The shuttle bay was empty of troops and the ships were still there. The pilots, seeing their blood covered Admiral rushed to help. She waved them back telling the other pilots to man their ships. Most refused, this blood covered Admiral was not their Admiral and they would still wait.
The flight back to flagship was fraught with peril. Confusing orders were going out to all ships that the Admirals were traitors to the Empire and should be shot on sight. Emily’s pilots got her back to the ship only to be met by a security team led by Commander Joshua Buckley her security head. “Welcome back Admiral. I have orders to take you into custody for high treason against the Empire.” He and the Marines with him pulled weapons and aimed them at her.
“Treason Commander? That would be the Grand Admiral who is the traitor. It was he that opened fire of a room full of officers with chain guns. I think not. Or would you like to kill me here in cold blood? Finish what the Cobb failed to do.” She pushed through the stunned looking Marines and headed for the main door.
“Stop! I will shoot you!”
“Going to add high treason to that wall of honor that your family has? Go ahead and shoot me Commander.”
Buckley never had time to pull the trigger. He had ignored her lone security and the pilots. John punched him in the back of the head knocking to the ground. “Idiot” Was all John had to say.
Admiral Kane took the lift to the command deck and entered the bridge. Gasps of surprise echoed throughout the room. She looked down at herself and nodded. Her uniform was covered in dried blood and other bits of things. “Report!”
“Ma’am, we have mixed orders to stand down, arrest any of the Admirals, break formation, or drop shields and prepare to be boarded.” The ship’s Captain, John Langston could not help but stare at her uniform. Space battles were ‘clean’ most Naval officers never saw the blood of the enemy.
“Interesting, who gave the order to break formation?”
“Admiral Johnson, Ma’am. She reported that she was in a shuttle heading for her flagship. She told everyone in the fleet to break orbit and prepare to flee.”
“Have there been any further orders from her? Connect me to her.”
“We can’t Admiral. Her shuttle was destroyed by the combat air patrol circling the station. We watched it happen. Admiral what is going on?”
“Poor Rae, she was a good officer and a friend. Long story short is that the Grand Admiral put all of us in a room and began firing on us. He claims that a new Empire was being formed, and we were the real enemies.” She looked down at the ship plot. “How many of our fleet are responding to orders?”
“So far only about half. Many ships from the other fleets have moved away and are preparing to leave orbit.”
She had to decide. Remembering the sacrifices that her people made for her she came to a decision. “Communications, give me Fleet channel one and prepare to broadcast to all ships.”
At the Communication stations signal she began to speak. “This is Admiral Emily Kane. The Grand Admiral of the Fleet is calling every Admiral under him a traitor to the Empire and is having us arrested and killed.” She pressed a button on her console. Vid footage from the meeting began to play. “His security forces opened fire on us with chain guns and sniper rifles. No warning, no terms of arrest nothing to indicate what crime we committed to deserve death. It is his claim that we stand in the way of those who wish to make a better Empire, to change the way of life we all treasure and make it better. The only traitor I see is the man who spoke those words. As the only surviving Admiral I give these order to those that would listen. We are leaving. You have a choice to make. Join us. We are true to the Empire. I only wish for us to discover who and what is happening and do whatever we can to fix it. We are your comrades in arms. We fight together not apart.”
“Break orbit and make for the jump point. Battle stations!”
The flagship of the third fleet was the Vindex. Her ship was one of the oldest and smallest carriers in the fleet. What it lacked in fighters it made up for in firepower. The ship mounted graser turrets both fore and aft. Point defense batteries surrounded every weak spot on the ship. A holdover from the last interstellar war, the hangar deck could be converted into a troop transport section if need be. On board was two short squadrons of the Navy’s most advanced fighters. The rest of her assigned fleet was heavy in the way of scout ships and destroyers. For the past few years her assignments had her battling pirates throughout the Empire.
“Ma’am, several of our destroyers have failed to break orbit.”
“Which ones?”
“The Jethro Gibbs, Asuncion, Missouri, and the Elvis.”
“Get me Captain Richards on the Gibbs.”
The head and shoulders of an older man appeared on the screen. “Captain Richards you need to break orbit and catch up to us.”
He smiled briefly at her. “Sorry Admiral, but I have my orders and they did not come from you. Surrender now so I don’t have to shoot you down. We have worked together too long for me not to give you one chance to surrender.”
“Why Rich? What sort of hold does Cobb have over you?”
He began to laugh. “Cobb? You think this is Cobb’s play? Ah, Emily. You really do not understand. We are bringing order out of chaos. My family has been working toward this moment for over a hundred years. It is time for the old to become new again.” He cut transmission.
“Ma’am, the Gibbs is coming about and locking on.”
Sorry Rich she murmured to herself. “Lock on with the aft turrets and kill that ship!”
The destruction of the Jethro Gibbs signaled the end of maneuvering. Ship Captains were given little choice, join or die by both sides. The entire area around the supply depot was a massive battle. Ship against ship, fleet against fleet.
Admiral Kane watched Captain Langston as he fought his ship.
“Launch fighters, tell those hotshot
pilots to stick close to us and only attack if fired upon first. Alert gunners fore and aft to attack any ship that appears threatening. Everyone look alive!”
Of third fleet only the flagship, three destroyers, two frigates, and four of the supply freighters broke orbit together. Various ships from other commands tried to stop them and join them. IFF was useless so Captain Langston ordered it shut down.
A massive explosion to starboard lit up the space around the flagship as one of the orbital defense stations fired on and destroyed a fuel tanker attempting to join the third fleet. The jump point was just beyond two of the stations.
“Captain! Order the lighter ships to draw their fire! We will hit them with everything we have and try to break through.”
“Yes, Admiral sounds good. Communications, order our destroyer force to attack the ODP’s and point us towards the jump point. Get those fighters back on board!”