by Terry Mixon
“I went there once,” Olivia lied. “The Imperial Palace still ranks as the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a museum now, filled with the finest art from all corners of the Empire. The Imperial lords think we need to have those things as humans, and I suppose they’re right.”
She smiled. “I hope to show you how Harrison’s World compares very soon. You said you’d thought of something I could offer the ruling council in exchange for the release of your people?”
Mertz nodded. “When we secured Boxer Station, we rescued hundreds of Fleet officers. They mostly hail from your world, so I think allowing them to return home for treatment is the best course of action for everyone.”
That was the very last thing she’d expected to hear. Surviving Fleet prisoners? Could Brian be among them?
Her throat felt suddenly parched. “Do you have a list of their names?”
“I do,” Mertz said. “They’ll need therapy. They were under direct control of the system lord for a long time.”
Her implants pinged with an incoming file. She scanned it and her heart sank. No, Brian wasn’t among them. Loss rolled over her again. She shouldn’t have allowed her hopes to rise. He was long dead.
She cleared her throat. “I believe the return of these brave officers is certainly worth the return of your crewmen. I’ll need to get the agreement of the ruling council, but I don’t see that as difficult. It might take a day or two before some of the more obstinate members give in to the reality that they won’t get more concessions, though. Is that acceptable?”
“One can’t ask more than a best effort,” Mertz said. “It’s really all we can offer at this time, other than my word that your cooperation will speed your release from this world.”
“Then I think we’ve achieved as much as we can in this first talk,” she said. “I’d like to return home to get the process started. As you agreed to grant me safe passage on your ship, allow me to offer you a chance to visit my world and depart in peace no matter what the decision is. I personally guarantee your protection and speedy return to your ship the moment you decide to leave.”
She smiled. “While Harrison’s World isn’t quite up to the standards of Terra, I can assure you that it has its own wonders. I’d be pleased to show you some of them while we wait for the formalities to be worked out.”
The other two looked at one another and Mertz nodded. “We’d be honored.”
Olivia couldn’t wait to speak to the Fleet officers. What stories would they tell her? And she would speak with Mertz’s crewmen, too. They’d make up stories, she was certain, but the lower orders had never been very clever. She’d get to the bottom of this mystery. Of that she swore.
* * * * *
Kelsey watched the other woman depart with mixed emotions. The woman’s body language was very controlled, but there was a new dynamic to it and that worried her. Had they somehow given away the fact that they weren’t from the Rebel Empire?
The plan of sending the AI-controlled Rebel Fleet officers down was good, but it had its own risks. The longer the men and women were on Invincible, the better the chance they’d realize something was amiss. So, getting them down to the planet was in everyone’s best interest and the gesture might get their men and women back.
Elise and Talbot joined them as soon as the cutter carrying the coordinator undocked.
“That seemed to go very well,” Elise said. “Though I think you raised some suspicions. I’m not sure how, but Coordinator West seemed more on guard at the end.”
“It happened on the flag bridge,” Talbot said. “I was watching her through my implant feed. Damn, that’s going to be useful. She was only curious right up to this point.”
He fed them all a vid and they saw her watching the tour with mild interest until she looked toward the rear of the compartment. Then her body stiffened and her eyes widened. The expression only stayed on her face for a few moments and then vanished as though it had never been.
Jared sighed. “Yeah, she saw something. Any idea what?”
“No clue. I’ll scan the room from that angle and see what pops, but does it really matter? She knows something.”
“And yet she’s willing to continue negotiating,” Elise said. “I think she meant everything she said at the end. She wants to convince them to return our people.”
“I hope you’re right,” Jared said. “We can’t very well get our people back by force. We don’t even know where they’re holding them. We’re scanning the planet looking for possible locations, but that’s hard to figure out. If they’re in buildings, how would we know?”
Kelsey nodded. “All we can do is keep trying. If we locate them, we might be able to get them, though lifting thousands of people out under fire seems a recipe for disaster. I think the best plan is to try to get them released peacefully. We might not be able to make friends here, but I’d rather not make new enemies.”
Kelsey yawned. “Sorry. I need to take a quick nap. I’ve been up for almost two days and even my enhanced body needs a little rest.”
“I’ll stop in later and take you to lunch,” Talbot said.
“That sounds good. Night.”
Kelsey made her way back to her quarters, took a shower, and crashed.
* * * * *
Ned watched the town through his ocular implants. Parts of it were still on fire. People ran furtively from one building to the next, probably searching for food or shelter. Other groups of armed people, mostly in Fleet uniforms, stalked the streets. They stunned anyone they met. Others piled the unconscious onto vehicles and took them away.
They’d landed the pinnace under stealth a fair way off from their current observation post. The Fleet cruiser in orbit hadn’t seen Persephone as she’d ghosted into the system. They’d dropped on the far side of the planet. He’d suspected then that the vessel was under the control of the rebels, but now he knew.
Time to get a prisoner to question.
“Mathews, Walker, you’re with me. I want one live prisoner. If we can get him or her alone, perfect. If not, take down anyone who resists as quickly as possible. The rest of first squad will come part way as backup.”
The remainder of the team would stay here, long-range flechette rifles on standby, in case he needed fire support.
His armor was in camouflage mode and blended with the foliage as he moved. As long as they didn’t run, they were as good as invisible from fifty meters. The optics in his helmet, and on the rifles, made certain his people knew where each other were.
They slipped in close to the town and he called a halt as he looked for likely targets. The rebels were operating in groups of at least four. He’d prefer not to kill too many of them right now. A missing person wouldn’t raise the alarm like a pile of bodies.
“Captain, I have something,” Corporal Davidson said over the encrypted link. He was the team’s best sniper.
“Go, Hawkeye.”
“There’s a small group of civilians fleeing down a street to your left. Two hostiles are in pursuit. They should be coming out into the open in less than twenty seconds.”
Ned pivoted to face the area in question and his teammates reacted without orders. They could hear the information as well as he could.
“Thanks. Okay, boys. We stun both of them, if possible.” He crouched down and aimed his neural disruptor at the street opening.
Two children, a boy and a girl, erupted from the street and ran for the trees as fast as they could. They looked to be ten or eleven to Ned. A man and woman, presumably their parents, ran after them.
A blue bolt flashed from the street behind them and the woman fell soundlessly. The rebels had stunned her.
The man gave up his chance to reach safety and tried to pick her up. A second bolt took him down before he’d even gotten the woman onto his shoulder.
The rebels came out into view. One was a woman in a Fleet uniform that had seen better days. She was filthy. Her rank tabs marked her as a lieutenant commander. The othe
r rebel was a civilian in even worse condition. His scraggly beard looked as unwashed as the woman’s hair.
What was going on?
He mentally shrugged. They’d find out soon enough.
The woman made a better target. A Fleet officer should know something about what the rebels really wanted. At this range, he had to restrict himself to just her. His implants helped him line up the long-range shot and he squeezed the trigger.
The blue bolt took her in the shoulder and she dropped without a peep. The man ignored her and pulled a flechette pistol out of his pants. He was going to shoot the prisoners!
The man’s head exploded long before the weapon was high enough to threaten the civilians. Davidson had taken him out.
“Get in there,” Ned said. “Secure the prisoner and the civilians. We’ll take them with us. Backup team, catch the kids. Try not to scare them too much, but we’re on the clock. I want to be back in orbit before someone comes looking for these people. The Empire needs this data.”
His men grabbed the civilians. With their enhanced strength, particularly in their Raider armor, that was no problem.
He was reaching for the Fleet rebel when Davidson called back in. “More rebels! They came out of a side street.”
Four men in enlisted fatigues came boiling out of the street, almost in hand-to-hand range. They had neural disruptors in one hand and flechette pistols in the other. Blue bolts and fast moving projectiles began slamming into his armor.
It was time to go old school. His hands flashed to the sword hilts over his shoulders. The dark blades were just like the Raider issued knife on his belt, just bigger.
In seconds, he was among them. Arms and heads flew. It was over almost as soon as it started. The enemy was dead and his short blades were running with blood. He wiped them off on a dead man’s tunic and sheathed them. Time to get out of here.
Ned picked up the rebel Fleet officer and tossed her over his shoulder. In moments, he was back in the forest. The support squad reported they had the kids, so he ordered a retreat to their concealed pinnace.
Everything went smoothly and they made it back there in less than half an hour. The kids were terrified, of course. He took his helmet off and gave them his most reassuring smile.
“Hey, you’re safe now. We’ll get you and your parents out of here. My name is Ned Quincy. Who are you?”
The boy, who was about eight, stuck his chin out. “Larry. This is my sister Anne. Are you going to hurt us? What’s wrong with Mom and Dad?”
“We’re not going to hurt you. We’re going to save you from the bad people. They’re just asleep. They’ll wake up in a few hours. By then, we’ll be a long way from here. Come on.”
They secured the prisoner tightly, even though she shouldn’t wake up for a while. The medic checked the civilians and pronounced them healthy. This mission was a bigger success than he’d hoped. They had a prisoner and they’d saved a family from the rebels.
That was nothing compared to the billions of people on this world, but he had to take his victories where he could. They might be rare, if what he’d seen so far was playing out across the Empire.
The pinnace lifted off and began the slow trip back up to his ship. They couldn’t let the enemy spot them now. They had to get the prisoner back to Fleet for debriefing and that meant they couldn’t allow the enemy to spot Persephone.
He sat down at the command console and looked at his reflection. There’d be a time in the future where he and his Raiders could fight back against the enemies of the Empire. It just wasn’t today.
* * * * *
Kelsey sat bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily. The final view of the man in the console hung in her mind. It was the dead man from the stasis chamber.
What the hell?
Chapter Nine
Olivia focused on her duties for the first few hours after she returned to Harrison’s World. There were too many eyes on her to dig into the mystery. She needed to document what she’d officially seen and what she’d discussed for the ruling council.
They wouldn’t be happy that she hadn’t secured the planet’s release into space. They’d be even unhappier when they found out she’d decided not to even try for it.
The more conservative elements of the council believed that they controlled every aspect of life on Harrison’s World. They hadn’t truly accepted that the situation had changed, even after a decade. They were of the higher orders and that was that. The military would bow to their will.
Even if “Admiral” Mertz and his people had truly been Fleet officers, that stance wouldn’t have worked. They’d have had the full might of the Empire behind them. The lords had decreed they’d remain in isolation for daring to consider rebellion. They wouldn’t be releasing them any time soon.
Ironically, those same conservatives would never have pondered fighting the lords to regain true human control over the Empire. They liked their position in society. Thus, her conundrum.
Olivia suspected the people in orbit didn’t want to let the people of Harrison’s World loose because it would ruin their charade. How they’d managed to take out the AI and gain control of the system, she had no idea.
And that’s what she needed to know. The resistance might be able to deal with these people, even if the coordinator couldn’t.
The buzzer on her desk went off.
Yes, her assistant could just ping her implants, but that wasn’t the way the higher orders worked. The advanced technology of the Empire seemed to inspire them to avoid using it to interface with one another. They’d be more likely to send a hand written note on matters of import than to ping someone.
She pressed the accept button. “Yes?”
“Deputy Coordinator King is here to see you, ma’am. She says it’s quite urgent.”
No doubt, that diplospeak meant Abigail was pissed. She must’ve seen the preliminary report Olivia had filed with the council. Well, this fight had been inevitable. She might as well get it over with. She could use it as a pretext to leave early and get to digging for the answers she needed.
The door burst open and Abigail stormed into Olivia’s office. She didn’t even wait for it to fully close before she started.
“What the hell did you think you were doing up there?” Abigail snarled. “You gave up everything worth fighting for in less than two hours. Everything I’ve worked so hard to accomplish is ruined.”
“Come in, Abigail,” Olivia said with a false smile. “Sit down and tell me what brings you over.”
The other woman stopped in front of Olivia’s desk and glared at her. “Don’t even start that nonsense with me. I demand an explanation.”
After giving Abigail a long look, Olivia leaned back in her seat. “You’re on the wrong side of this desk to be demanding anything. You can calm down or leave. The choice is yours.”
The other woman took a deep breath, and then three more just like it. The flashing anger hadn’t left her eyes, but she was under a little more control.
“Those circumstances could change faster than you might think,” Abigail said in a low, dangerous tone. “The coalition that appointed you coordinator can choose someone else if you fail to lead the way they expect. And right now, I’m certain your actions have a number of the council members reconsidering their support. Perhaps you’d care to explain why you gave ground in the negotiations?”
Olivia supposed the woman’s threats were better than listening to her scream.
“I gave ground because they weren’t going to agree to your hardline terms. The lords hold the power to release us. We can’t continue to delude ourselves that we can force them to do that. We have to bargain in a more nuanced manner. If you think differently, you’re mistaken.”
“That’s crap. We have their people. If we hold out they’ll—”
“They’ll leave them and get more. It’s a miracle that Admiral Mertz is willing to negotiate for them at all. He told me in no uncertain terms that they couldn’t release us wi
thout the approval of the Imperial lords.”
“And you believed him?” Abigail shook her head. “I thought you were smarter than that. He wouldn’t bargain for them if they weren’t worth his time. They know some secret he doesn’t want us to have. Rather than giving in, we should be questioning the prisoners.”
That was unusually adept for Abigail, Olivia mused. The other woman was usually more of a blunt instrument.
“And if they know some secret, then what?” she asked. “Are you planning to blackmail the man in command of the bombardment stations?”
Abigail showed her teeth. “Yes, I am. They took out the system lord. That means there are events happening that we need to know about. That’s not just me speaking, Olivia. That’s the conservative leadership.
“If you don’t address their concerns, they’ll call for a vote of no confidence. They might not control an outright majority, but there are enough others who dislike what you’ve done to remove you.”
Olivia shot the other woman a predatory smile. “I’ve heard that before, yet here I sit. More than enough council members will want to see what I’m up to before they allow the conservatives back into power. After all, you rebelled against the lords. Do you really think the other council members have forgotten how their predecessors died?”
That was certain to infuriate Abigail, she knew. The conservatives had been in power since the rebellion. They couldn’t understand why any of their leadership from a decade ago would support a coup.
Yet, that’s what the system lord told them was the reason it blasted the capital and spaceports to oblivion. And every outpost that had existed in the system.
The other ruling parties had formed a coalition to strip the conservatives of their rule, but theirs wasn’t a strong majority. While Olivia was certain she could bring them around to her point of view, she couldn’t afford to appear weak.
Olivia leaned forward in her chair. “You need to go back and consult with your political masters, because I don’t think they were quite so strenuous in their instructions to you. If you push this matter now, it might be you who is out of a job.”