Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Sean followed their lead and gave the man in the lab coat a hard look. “My name is Commander Sean Meyer. These Fleet personnel are my people. I’m told you drugged them and questioned them against their will.”

  The man drew himself up and stared down his nose at Sean. “I’m Doctor Paul Nelson and you have no right to—”

  “I don’t care what your name is or what you object to,” Sean said, cutting him off. “You’re guilty of kidnapping, torture, and a host of other crimes against people under my command. I could have these men frog march you outside and shoot you in the head. No one would care and many would thank me. If you want the opportunity of dealing with the civilian authorities instead, you’d better start cooperating. Do you understand?”

  The man swallowed noisily and nodded convulsively, unaware of the grins his captors were sporting at the deception. At least Sean hoped they knew he was lying.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Someone kidnapped Coordinator West,” he said. “I want to know who.”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Take him outside and shoot him. Dump the body in the woods near the coordinator’s guards.”

  “Wait!” The scientist dug in his heels as he shrieked. “Wait! Deputy Coordinator King probably took her. She left just after the fighting started and went toward the woods.”

  Sean held up his hand and stopped the men. “She was here? I thought she was at the council building.”

  “She wanted everyone to think she was there, but she came here with the political prisoners. When you attacked, her guards took her out toward the woods.”

  “Where were they going?”

  “How should I know?”

  He considered the scientist. King hadn’t taken him with her, so he might be telling the truth. Maybe. Or perhaps he knew more than he suspected.

  “That’s not good enough. I need someone here who can lead me to her. If you’re not that man, you’d better come up with someone else for me to focus my attention on before I give these boys their marching orders.”

  “Her personal assistant was here,” the scientist said in a voice filled with desperation. “I saw him lying near the questioning equipment. I’ll show you. Just don’t kill me.”

  Sean gave the man a long, searching look. “Show me.”

  The scientist led them to a young man laid out with the other wounded. He’d been stunned, but was coming around. Someone had bound his hands together in front of him.

  Sean gave the scientist a cold look. “You’d best hope this man has the answers I’m looking for. Put the good doctor into one of the cages he kept my people in.”

  The guards took the scientist away while Sean knelt at the young man’s side. He only had to wait a few minutes before the man was able to process his surroundings.

  “What happened?” the man asked.

  “I think you can guess,” Sean said. “You’re Deputy Coordinator King’s personal assistant?”

  The man blinked at him. “You obviously know that.”

  “I want to know where your boss is.”

  “If you don’t already know, then I won’t tell you.”

  Sean had heard that tone before. This man wasn’t going to cooperate, even if threatened with death. Sean needed another plan.

  He searched the man’s pockets and found his com. It was locked, of course. “Give me the code.”

  “No.”

  Why did everything have to be so hard? He gestured for one of the guards to come over. “This man is an important prisoner. Segregate him and make sure nothing happens to him.”

  While that was happening, he searched out Coordinator West’s tech guru and handed her the com. “Abigail King’s personal assistant is here. Another prisoner says that King was here, too. I think she took your boss. Can you crack this?”

  The woman took the com and plugged it into a portable computer. It took a ridiculously short amount of time for her to access its contents. “Here we go. I have his contact list, and he’s thoughtfully labeled her private com code. It looks like she tried to contact him after the attack, probably to see if he’d escaped. Let’s see if she left a message.”

  An audio only message began playing. “If you got away, meet me back at the council building. I have West in my custody.”

  The message terminated without any further pleasantries.

  “My, she’s a friendly sort,” Sean said. “Can you locate that com and confirm where she is?”

  “Maybe. I used to have access to all the major planetary systems, but they’ve been locking me out. That one isn’t high priority, so let’s find out.”

  She worked at her computer for a few minutes and grinned. “I’m in. They blocked my original access, but I found a backdoor. Yes. The com is at the council building. It seems to be in the executive wing. I’d wager she’s in Coordinator West’s office.”

  “Do you have floor plans for the council building? It might be advantageous to get in through a less obvious route.”

  She shook her head. “Those kinds of plans aren’t available to the general public, and they’re not kept on a system I can access from here. That said, it should be possible to find or create access with the right tools. I’d have to be on site to make that happen.”

  “Gear up. The main force of marines will be ready to assault the building before dawn. Let’s see if we can get inside before then. If need be, we can make a hole to let the marines in after we reconnoiter the place.”

  * * * * *

  Kelsey was pleasantly surprised at how much work the engineering team from Boxer Station had completed on Persephone. They’d not only verified the grav drives were fully functional, they’d vetted the fusion plants and sealed off the damaged sections of the ship. The makeshift crew could access every functional area without vacuum suits.

  They’d also moved the dead into the damaged section of the ship. That was a relief. She’d not been looking forward to moving the bodies. She could only imagine how bad that would be when they started clearing out the derelicts. There must be millions of dead on those hulks.

  She stripped off her armor and put it in a handy corner. Getting out of the overcrowded cutter and being able to stretch her arms felt wonderful. Still, she wished they’d managed to stuff twice as many people into the small ship. They were going to be very undermanned for this flight.

  Okay, Ned. Let’s have that code. If it doesn’t work, we’re screwed.

  The code will work. Unless, of course, I changed it and don’t remember.

  You’re filled with positive thoughts, aren’t you? The code.

  He gave it to her and she accessed the computer. It digested the code for a moment and granted her access.

  “I’m in! Holy cow, I’m in! Computer, do you recognize my command authority?”

  “This unit has received the appropriate codes from a qualified Marine Raider. This vessel is yours to command, Princess Kelsey Bandar. Or would you prefer the title of captain?”

  “Kelsey is fine. I want a system status check. Is this vessel capable of in-system movement and a stealth approach to a military installation?”

  “Grav drives are operating within nominal parameters. Stealth systems are in passive mode. Weapons systems are degraded. Four of six beam emplacements are not operational. Flip drives are offline. Warning, with the hull breached, this vessel cannot withstand a high speed insertion into atmosphere.”

  Like the small Pentagaran ship she’d flown on, Persephone was capable of landing. It was significantly larger than that other vessel, but the layout of the hull had told her it was possible. No one wasted time streamlining a hull on a ship that had no need to enter atmosphere.

  “Persephone, do you have any knowledge of how this ship was damaged or of how Captain Ned Quincy died?”

  “Affirmative. This vessel attempted to escape enemy pursuit in the Valhalla system by going through a particularly heavy ring of debris orbiting a gas giant. A small, but fast moving object destroye
d this vessel’s flip drive and killed eight crew members.

  “Captain Quincy was critically injured during the ensuing rescue operations. His actions saved the lives of three engineers trapped in the wreckage. The medical officer doubted Captain Quincy would survive his injuries, but placed him in the stasis chamber.”

  Kelsey considered that. “How did you escape pursuit? And how did the crew die?”

  “The pursuing vessel was significantly less fortunate in crossing the ring. Its terminal course took it deep into the atmosphere where it was destroyed. This vessel escaped into the outer system.

  “Repairs to the flip drive proved impossible. The crew used their remaining supplies over the next several months and made the determination to take their lives with drugs in their pharmacology units. Several decades passed before this vessel once more made its way into more traveled areas of the system. At that point, it was recovered and brought here.”

  “Why didn’t you self-destruct or at least wipe your memory?”

  “This unit hypothesizes that the rebels believed this vessel to be without power. They never boarded, so this unit was not obligated to wipe its memory.”

  That was certainly to her benefit. She doubted she’d have been lucky enough to find another one of these vessels intact.

  “Warning. Unknown vessels approaching.”

  Kelsey tapped into the ship’s passive scanners. There were two Fleet pinnaces approaching at high speed from the direction of Harrison’s World.

  “Open a channel to them. Unknown vessels, identify yourselves.”

  “Kelsey, you’re in big trouble.”

  “Jared, I didn’t expect you to chase me down.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t. It just so happens that I have some free time and I brought some extra Fleet personnel and marines. I assume you don’t have a problem with that?”

  Considering how shorthanded she was, she was ecstatic. “The more the merrier. I’ll meet you at the docking area.”

  She considered how their arrival changed the mission. “Computer, the crewman I have with me are not Marine Raiders. Can I authorize them to operate the ship’s systems?”

  “Yes, Kelsey. Marine Raider vessels are often partially crewed by Fleet officers, though always under the command of a Raider.”

  “Excellent. One additional question. Do you have complete specs on my implants and all Raider equipment?”

  “Yes.”

  A thrill ran up her spine. It felt like Christmas.

  “Upload them to my implants. All of them. Include any classified files you have in storage. I’ll review them as time permits.” She accessed her implants and granted the computer access to some memory.

  “Upload complete.”

  Kelsey made her way to the docking area with a bounce to her step. She skimmed the implant specifications and grinned. She’d been in the dark for so long. Finally, she had the manuals. Now she wouldn’t have to guess what she was capable of anymore.

  If, of course, she survived the next few hours.

  She transmitted copies of everything to Boxer Station, Courageous, and Invincible. This information was so difficult to come by that she couldn’t chance it being lost again. She locked it down so that only someone of the rank of captain or above could access it, but only if she didn’t make it back. After a moment, she added Carl Owlet and Doctor Leonard to the list.

  The docking hatch slid open as she arrived. Jared and a stream of Fleet officers and marines came out. Most headed for the areas of the ship where they’d be working, but some followed Jared as he stepped up beside her.

  “We’re really going to have to work on our coordination,” he said as she led him back toward the bridge. “If you’d simply asked me for help, I could’ve sent a lot more people.”

  “I was afraid you’d try to stop me.”

  He shook his head. “Not this time. One way or the other, we need to stop these bastards. If they get those battlecruisers online, we’re screwed. Does this ship have weapons?”

  “Not many. It comes with six beam emplacements, but only two are working. Other than that, we’re ready to go. I’ve accessed the computer and it has accepted me as its commander.”

  He smiled. “So, now you get to command in space, too. You can appoint yourself an admiral.”

  “That’s not funny. I’ll never know enough to command a ship in space. I’m happy to have you to lean on.”

  They arrived at the bridge and she spoke. “Computer, I’m placing Admiral Jared Mertz in command of this vessel.”

  “Negative. Only a Marine Raider may command this vessel. This unit cannot accept Admiral Mertz as the commanding officer. However, you may designate him as your operational delegate.”

  “Well, I suppose that’ll have to do. Make it so. Are you ready to move, Persephone?”

  “Yes, Kelsey.”

  She turned to Jared. “The ship is yours, Admiral. Let’s go take these bastards out.”

  He smiled grimly. “It’ll be my pleasure, Captain Bandar.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Olivia awoke with a massive headache. She’d been stunned. It took her a minute to realize that Abigail had tied her to a chair in her own office at the council building. And not the comfortable one behind the desk.

  Abigail King sat in that one. The bitch looked smugly pleased with herself.

  “It’s about time you woke up. I’ve been overseeing the consolidation of the planet while you’ve been napping. I hope it doesn’t irk you too badly that I’m savoring the moment.”

  Olivia’s mouth tasted like something had died in it. “This is the point in the program where I tell you that you’ll never get away with this and you share your clever plan with me.”

  “Since you’ll never escape this building, I don’t have a problem with that scenario. Your rebel friends have been sneaking around outside for the last hour or so. They probably don’t realize that I can see them moving into place to attack, but that’s okay. It’s all part of my so-called clever plan.”

  “Not to quibble, but technically you’re the rebel. We’re the resistance.”

  “So you did know. I’d been curious.” Abigail rose from behind the desk and walked around to stand in front of Olivia. “I really don’t care what you and the scum like you call yourselves. You’re traitors and once we restore the lords to power in this system, we’ll root you out.”

  Olivia shook her head. “You know the AIs murdered trillions of people to enslave humanity. How could anyone support continuing that?”

  “Because I and the other loyalists get to wear the boots on the necks of people like you. The AIs are in control and nothing you do will ever change that. What did you hope to accomplish? Revolution? The lords are firmly entrenched and have enough firepower to stop anything you try.”

  “It looks like you’re the one in the building about to be overrun. In the end, it doesn’t matter if I live or die. The resistance will win. You can’t stop men in powered armor.”

  The other woman laughed. “That’s the best part. I don’t have to. Once the attack begins, I’ll scurry out your secret exit and let them have everything. Ah! You didn’t know I knew about that, did you?

  “You also didn’t know we made extra nuclear weapons when we built the bomb-pumped lasers that destroyed the stations and the superdreadnought. We had to, because we didn’t know where we’d need to put every weapon. Besides the three that are still in place in buildings Master Calder owns, I had the spare brought here. Once I’m away, I’ll blow it up. Oh, and you, too.”

  Olivia tried to keep the despair she felt off her face, but she doubted she’d succeeded.

  * * * * *

  Jared was amazed at how stealthy Persephone was. After they began moving toward the gas giant where the enemy awaited them, the computer advised going to what it called “active stealth” and increasing speed substantially.

  That seemed counter intuitive, so he tried to find out what that entailed. The computer politely t
old him to mind his own business. It was classified and he didn’t have need to know.

  Somewhat nonplussed, he kept the speed where it was and told the computer to engage active stealth. Due to the position of Boxer Station, he could communicate with it without risking the enemy receiving a transmission that tipped their hand for most of the trip out. They managed that by restricting where the communication beams went.

  The staff at Boxer Station had replaced the scanner units destroyed in battle, so they had a good view of the system that didn’t tell the enemy anything they didn’t already know.

  “Boxer Station, Persephone. We’ve gone active with stealth. How are you reading us?”

  The voice of the lieutenant in charge of Boxer Station’s repairs sounded shocked when she came on. “Persephone, we’ve lost you on our scanners. You were there one moment and then you were gone. We’ve gone to targeting scans and we think we might have you ranged, but we can’t be sure.”

  That was ridiculous. They were right in Boxer Station’s lap. There was no way they could fail to see them. At this range, they could have seen the fighter that he loved so much, even just coasting along.

  Jared shook his head and stepped over behind the helm console. “Take us up to the speed that the computer recommended.”

  Lieutenant Heather Brand touched her console. “Increasing speed.”

  “Persephone, we have you again,” Boxer Station said.

  “I knew it was too good to be true,” he muttered. “Go ahead Boxer Station. How clear is the reading?”

  “It’s spooky, Admiral. Even though we know pretty much where you are, the readings aren’t firm at all. And they’re getting weaker as you pull away. By the time you get to extreme missile range, we’ll have lost you again. If we weren’t painting you hard, we’d have already done so. Whatever stealth that little ship has, it’s amazing.”

  This might have a chance of working after all.

  * * * * *