Race to Terra (Book 10 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Those questions mirrored what Talbot intended to ask. “See you shortly.”

  Kelsey and Veronica had captured Lieutenant Commander Don Sommerville on their recent mission to the Archibald system. He’d been in the process of running from the Clan incursion with a Q-ship: a warship built inside a freighter’s hull and looking far less dangerous than it truly was.

  He’d claimed to be a member of resistance inside the Rebel Empire, and Talbot saw no reason to doubt him. They had far more evidence than they needed to execute him if they’d been the enemies the man thought they were, so he really had no reason to lie about that.

  Five minutes later, a rap at his hatch preceded Veronica’s entry. The captured man was right behind her, with two marines at his back.

  “Gentlemen, you can wait outside,” Talbot said, rising to his feet and making his way around the desk.

  The marines departed, leaving Talbot alone with Veronica and Commander Sommerville. He wasn’t worried about the man attacking him. Sommerville wanted information as much as Talbot did.

  Once the other two were seated, Talbot sat. “Commander Sommerville, I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to talk. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Russel Talbot, Imperial Marines. Only, not from the Empire you nominally serve.”

  The other man smiled slightly. “Very delicately put. Who do you serve, Colonel?”

  “The AIs failed to stop all the forces that fled when they took over,” Talbot said, crossing his legs. “For ease of understanding, we’re calling ourselves the New Terran Empire and your polity the Rebel Empire. It’s all semantics, but everything needs a name, and we have the guns.”

  Sommerville chuckled. “I’m not in a position to argue, even if I felt inclined to do so. Feel free to call yourselves whatever you like. By the way, this is an interesting ship. I can’t recall ever seeing anything quite like her.”

  “She’s from before the Fall,” Talbot said. “Refurbished, of course. By the Fall, I mean the collapse of the Old Terran Empire. This ship was built for a group of elite fighters called Marine Raiders. So far as we know, it was the smallest class of ship capable of taking people through flip points.”

  “Interesting,” Sommerville admitted. “Still, I’m sure that we both have more pressing things to talk about. If, of course, I’m allowed to ask questions.”

  Talbot inclined his head toward Veronica. “Commander Giguere has spoken highly of your character, though she didn’t know of your double life. We have friends in the resistance as well, though none are with us at the moment.”

  “So she said. I respect Veronica a great deal, and we were once friends. Or as friendly as a spy inside Fleet could be. Sorry about that, Veronica.”

  “I hardly think I’m in a position to judge,” the former destroyer commander said dryly. “I did just help capture you so I could steal a flip drive from your shipyard.”

  “What a complicated universe we live in,” Sommerville mused. “Everyone has their secrets these days. And since none of us is really that willing to share the deep details of our lives, whatever will we talk about?”

  “Actually, I’m more than willing to give you some information,” Talbot said. “Not everything, of course, but enough to show good faith. I’ll start off by telling you about the people attacking the Rebel Empire. The ones you had to run from.”

  Talbot proceeded to tell him what they knew about the Clans. He even told the man how Raul Castille, the Rebel Empire security officer, had stolen one of the New Terran Empire’s ships and provoked them.

  Sommerville shook his head with a wry smile. “You find excitement in odd places. Exactly how did a prisoner manage all this?”

  “I’m partly to blame,” Veronica admitted. “My command crew and I helped him escape. We stole the transport ship they were using to move the Dresden orbital, and he lobbed the orbital right into a Clan battle station. They blew the orbital up, but high-speed shrapnel is a bitch.”

  Sommerville frowned. “How could anyone get that close to a battle station? And did you say the Dresden orbital? A real orbital?”

  “A full-sized one,” Talbot confirmed. “It was being used for classified research, and we were a little pressed for time, so we took it with us when we ran.”

  The other man opened his mouth to say something but seemingly changed his mind and only shook his head.

  “It’s true,” Veronica assured him. “The transport ships are made for moving a lot of mined material or large ships inside arms that project the flip field out. They managed to get them around the orbital.”

  “That’s… audacious,” Sommerville said slowly. “And a bit far-fetched. I somehow doubt the ships and battle stations guarding the Dresden system just let you wander away. Also, exactly how did you find these Clans? Where are they coming from?”

  Talbot smiled. “We used the same kind of escape you intended to use at Archibald.”

  The man’s interested expression closed right up. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

  “I mean the flip points that sit way out past where that kind of thing normally sits,” Talbot said. “You had a way out of Archibald that you weren’t worried about the Clans following you through. I’m sorry to tell you this, but the Clans know all about the far flip points. They’re how we discovered them in the first place.”

  “Let’s assume for a moment that your preposterous story is true,” Sommerville said slowly. “What does the existence of these flip points matter to you? If you know about them and you suspect I do as well, what exactly are we talking about?”

  “I just wanted to set the stage for laying out what we want to negotiate over,” Talbot said smoothly. “You don’t have to confirm that you know about the far flip points since I already know they exist.”

  “Okay, let’s just say they do, simply for moving this discussion forward. What do you want, and exactly how does that affect me and my people?”

  Veronica leaned forward a little. “The short version is that we need to get to the New Terran Empire. All the paths from the area we’re hiding in go through the Rebel Empire. You can imagine why that might not be advisable right now.”

  “And you think, what?” Sommerville asked with a raised eyebrow. “That the resistance knows about these fantastical flip points and might provide you a way home with our secret information? Veronica, I’m afraid that I can’t help you. This is all just a tad crazy sounding.”

  Talbot sent a request to the marines outside his office.

  “I can provide some proof that we’re in an area of space you’re unfamiliar with. I suspected that I’d need a trump card, so I want you to meet someone special.”

  The hatch slid open, and a tall, blue-skinned alien man walked in.

  Talbot grinned as Sommerville sprang to his feet, a shocked expression written across his face at being confronted by something so unexpected. Neither the Old Terran Empire nor the Rebel Empire had ever encountered aliens before.

  “Lieutenant Commander Don Sommerville,” Talbot said, “allow me to introduce Prince Derek of the Kingdom of Raden on the world of Pandora. I believe he can provide corroborating evidence that we’re a long way from home and might have something to offer the resistance in exchange for help getting back.”

  Jared stepped into engineering, still so engrossed in his own thoughts that he’d missed Commander O’Halloran speaking to him for a few moments.

  “I’m sorry,” Jared said, holding his hand up. “I wasn’t paying attention. What?”

  “I said that one of the FTL coms seems to be malfunctioning.”

  Jared blinked. “That’s a first. Some kind of hardware fault?”

  The other officer shrugged. “I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it’s subtle. The unit has thrown three strange faults in the last few hours. Yet when I examine the supposedly bad component, I don’t see anything wrong. I’ve even swapped the same component from another com, and the new part seems to be bad in exactly the same way as the old one.”

  “That
strikes me as unlikely,” Jared agreed. “Which FTL com is it?”

  “The one linked to Princess Kelsey.”

  With any other com, that might be a coincidence. With Kelsey’s group, he couldn’t assume that. Carl was with her, and he’d designed the FTL com system. If anyone could figure out some way to make one act weird, it was the young scientist.

  The problem was that they couldn’t be in range. They were many flips away from where Kelsey had to be, in a completely different sector of the Rebel Empire.

  FTL coms only worked through a single flip point. Even with a dedicated relay, it only gave a good connection to a second system about half the time. Carl had said that had to be technical and that he’d figure it out one day, but today probably wasn’t that day.

  Probably.

  “Could it be some kind of interference that Carl is introducing remotely?” he asked.

  The engineering officer shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible. If so, I can’t see what he’s doing or how. Honestly, this looks like some type of mechanical fault to me, but I won’t rule out external action just yet. No matter what it is, I’m just not certain what to do next.”

  “Don’t we have complete technical schematics for the FTL coms?” Jared asked.

  O’Halloran nodded. “We do, but some of what they describe is fairly esoteric. I don’t want to say that I can’t figure it out, but this is using a level of science and hardware manipulation that I’ve never played with before. Carl Owlet is a genius, and as much as I hate to say it, I’m not.”

  “Don’t put yourself down,” Jared said, clapping his hand on the man’s shoulder. “You’re pretty damned smart.”

  The engineer sighed. “Maybe I can figure this out, if it’s actually something intentional. I can’t imagine how that’s even possible, but Carl has his ways. I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I had a deeper understanding of the hardware itself.”

  Jared pursed his lips. “What you’re telling me is that you need a hardware geek.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t turn one down. Do you happen to have one sitting in your pocket?”

  “I might. Where do we have the FTL com stashed?”

  “In the maintenance tubes just behind engineering,” O’Halloran said, gesturing toward one of the hatches.

  Jared sent a contact request to Austin Darrah through his implants. The other man answered almost immediately.

  Mr. Darrah, would you meet me in engineering?

  I’ll be right there.

  Ten minutes later, Austin Darrah walked into engineering.

  “What can I do for you?” the young man asked, nodding to the engineer.

  “I don’t know if you’ve met, but this is Lieutenant Commander Anthony O’Halloran, our chief engineer. Tony, this is Austin Darrah.”

  From the unfriendly look Tony was shooting toward Austin, the fact that the young man hadn’t been directly responsible for anyone’s death during the action retaking Athena wasn’t holding much water with him.

  Jared couldn’t blame his man. The original chief engineer and Tony’s close friend, Commander Katheryn Pence, had died in that action, killed by Austin’s compatriots.

  “Tony,” Jared said softly, “I understand this isn’t going to be easy, but you need to accept that not everyone that fought against us is an enemy. In a very real sense, Austin was a prisoner of the people that killed Katheryn. He wasn’t armed, he didn’t attack any of our people, and he’s doing his very best to help us.”

  Austin inclined his head. “I’m sorry that the people I was working with killed anyone. I’m not a violent man, and I’m not a supporter of what they were doing here. I give you my word that I’m doing everything in my power to help you fight against the Lords.”

  O’Halloran grunted. “I’ll try. It’s going to take me a little bit to adjust, so if I seem abrupt, I apologize.” He turned his attention to Jared. “Are you really expecting me to brief him on the project?”

  Jared nodded. “Austin happens to be an expert on Fleet and Rebel Empire hardware. From what I understand, he has probably a decade more experience working with the kind of equipment that were talking about, though he’s never seen the machine in question and won’t really understand the theory behind its design.

  “Even if he can’t figure out why it’s behaving in the peculiar fashion that it is, I’ll wager he can give you some insight into what’s really going on. That might allow you to dig into the problem with fresh eyes.”

  He turned and faced Austin squarely. “What the commander is about to show you is one of our very closest secrets. I expect you to keep every bit of information you learn to yourself. Under no circumstances are you to discuss this with anyone other than myself, Sean Meyer, Olivia West, Elise Orison, or Commander O’Halloran. Is that understood?”

  The young man nodded. “I understand completely.”

  Jared gestured toward the maintenance hatch. “Tony, show Austin what you’ve been working on and explain it to him in as much detail as you can. Austin, Tony didn’t design this equipment, and his understanding of the hardware and theory may be a little off. I’m hoping that the two of you, working together, can figure out what’s going on.

  “I’m not certain that it’s anything more than a malfunction, but this could potentially mean something much more important to us, so give it your very best.”

  Austin nodded again and turned to Commander O’Halloran. “Shall we?”

  Jared watched the two men walk away and returned to the privacy of his own thoughts. He wished this really was Kelsey trying to contact them from some unimaginable distance away, but he didn’t believe that was possible, not even for them. There were limits to what even Carl could do.

  5

  Kelsey looked over the FTL com hardware sitting on Carl’s worktable in his bustling lab aboard Audacious. “Do we have any idea if your little trick is doing anything on the other end?”

  The young scientist shrugged. “Since I can’t directly connect to the hardware on the admiral’s ship, I can’t be sure. I designed the coms to be as secure as possible, so hacking into the hardware and trying to make it throw errors is a lot more difficult than it sounds.”

  “Is it really the hardware you need to hack into? I thought you said the software needed to be changed so that the system on the other end would recognize this strange type of connection request.”

  Carl nodded. “That would be ideal, but as I keep saying, it’s not as easy as that. As I said, the goal I had in mind when designing the system was to make sure that somebody didn’t do the kind of thing that I’m trying to do. As you might expect, I did everything I could think of to prevent it, so I’ve pretty well blocked myself away from my usual tricks.”

  She pursed her lips. “Maybe you’re going about this the wrong way. No offense, but you’re a scientist. Even though you know how to program, and you’re damned good at hacking, the criminal mindset for this kind of thing really isn’t in you. We need a professional.”

  “I’m pretty sure that I should be offended,” Carl said, shaking his head and grinning. “You’re talking about Ralph Halstead, aren’t you?”

  “Indeed I am,” she conceded. “He’ll have a lot more experience at industrial espionage via computer than we’ll likely ever have.”

  They’d captured the earnest young Halstead, his aunt and uncle, and two men in their group during the mission at Archibald. They’d been involved in a two-year mission to hack data from a medical research company that was a front for the System Lords doing classified research on what could potentially be a Singularity AI.

  Yet one more project on Carl Owlet’s crowded desk.

  “Kelsey, those people are criminals,” Carl said. “Real criminals. As much as it pains me to say this, I’m not certain that I care how good he is at hacking. Anything he learns is going to be sold to the highest bidder the first chance he gets.”

  She pursed her lips. “I’m not so sure. His aunt? Probably. Him? I think he’s more into th
is for the fun. I guess what I’m saying is that I think it’s possible that we can recruit him to work for us.”

  Carl shook his head slightly. “I hate to be the one to say this, but if we get captured by the Rebel Empire, he’d talk in a moment to save his skin.”

  Kelsey nodded somberly. “And that would be something we’d have to discuss with him. Knowledge of one of these classified systems would be a death sentence if it looks like someone is about to be captured.

  “Of course, each of them already knows about the Singularity computer you have scattered across your lab. I’m pretty sure they know the fate that awaits them just for knowing about it, much less trying to steal it. There’s no way that the System Lords will believe that they weren’t the ones behind the theft if they got their hands on our little industrial spies.”

  Though with the Clans in possession of the Archibald system and invading the Rebel Empire, the System Lords probably had more pressing matters on their electronic minds.

  “The list of things that we’ve done to the System Lords has grown to be truly impressive,” Carl said with a chuckle. “Even if they don’t know who we are, we’ve become quite the thorn in their sides. Scrappy rebels taking the fight to them. That should be a movie.”

  “No!” Kelsey said firmly. “Don’t give anyone any crazy ideas. Have you seen the latest film out of Pentagar? It’s getting ridiculous.”

  The young man’s eyebrows went up. “I saw the first two, and I thought they were pretty good. The woman they found to play you has quite the… screen presence.”

  Kelsey snorted. “What you mean is that she has quite the cleavage. Talk about being out of character. This time they’ve decided to cover the attack on Boxer Station and Harrison’s World, including my little trip down to the surface in the drop capsule to stop that guy with the nuke.

  “Of course the damned thing is a huge success, and every time I think they’ll finally stop producing these idiotic movies, the next one makes truckloads more money than the last one. I’m doomed.”