They were still an auxiliary unit and newly formed, but their connections weren’t weak. Moreover, their connections were all military. There were few, if any, people with political ties.
Hesra let out a breath. Without political backing, they would be easier to deal with.
He just needed to make sure any evidence was cleared away.
Hesra started to clear the different logs connecting him and Senator Rimateus. He made personal copies to his NIAI, clearing away any indication that they had been talking to each other.
Even if they brought charges on them, they would need to find evidence first and Hesra hadn’t been idle as an admiral. There were many people who owed him favors over the years.
Chapter 54
Victor Corporation Shipyard
“The Yard”
In Transit to the Tricticus System
Moretti looked over the reports coming from the different parts of the shipyard.
When they had left Earth, they had used the strapped-on ships to build up their inertia. Their first priority was to create Alcubierre drives. With them, they gained greater mobility. They had built up the one on the shipyards and also made one for the Osdal freighter. Originally it was supposed to go and buy the materials they needed from the legion as well as different contractors that had been met throughout the Harmony War.
With their support, then they could meet with the different freighters that were in transit and pass to them what they needed to make Alcubierre drives, have them drop off their loads, and return to the shipyards.
This had failed to happen as the Osdal had gone off in support of Mark to try to pull him out of a dire situation. Moretti understood and agreed; so did the EMF members of the shipyard. Many of them and the others they were able to pull from Earth came with them to assist.
Though, there were a number of civilians within the crews who had banded together and didn’t agree with this measure. They’d been overruled but now they were trying to fight Moretti on everything and this was making his life hell.
He wished he was off with the others supporting Mark, but he knew his place was here aboard the shipyards. He was an intelligence officer, not a trooper.
Managing the shipyards, although it was different from what he was used to, wasn’t impossible for him.
“We’re getting a communication from the Salisa Corporation freighter,” one of the officers in the shipyards’ command room said.
“Good,” Moretti said. Although he might not be able to make the drives in-house, if he was willing to give the other party enough benefits, then they would happily sell them to him. The Salisa Corporation had agreed to a deal with the Victor Shipyard: for several Alcubierre drives, they wanted a freighter. It was a total rip-off, but Moretti didn’t have any room to maneuver. He took the contract and they’d sent their fastest ship to dispatch the drives.
Specifically, they’d sent over the software and hardware used to control the drives. The yards had not been idle. Their own Alcubierre drive was hacked together and although it could hop from one spot to the next, it could only go a certain distance and be used for a certain time. This was the limits of the computational power with Earth and Her Colonies tech.
With the hardware and software of the Alcubierre drives control system, they could greatly increase the distance they were able to travel in one jump. With the multiple drives, they could outfit some of their smaller freighters and send them off to meet with the freighters that were already moving between systems.
With that, they could complete their orders, gather more supplies and truly establish themselves. With their contacts, they could pull in the massive amount of materials, ship them to technology centers and bring back working tech to Tricticus to expand their fleet and strength.
Moretti wasn’t an idiot. As soon as they showed the kind of support that they could call upon, he knew that no government was going to just let them be. The EHC and the legion were unstable with the recent changes. They couldn’t afford to look weak and the Victor Corporation was doing just that.
“Very well. Keep an eye on them. If they do anything, blast them. As soon as the drives are turned over to us, get the engineers to work. We don’t have time to mess around,” Moretti said.
“Understood.” One of the aides turned back to their station to repeat his orders to the right people.
“We have a long-range message from Admiral Hall for you, directly,” another person in the command center said.
“Send it to my station.” Moretti sat up a bit as the message was sent to his station. He used his thumbprint to open the message, a few simple lines of information and a request.
Moretti closed his eyes. Behind his eyelids, the NIAI started to project information over his eyes as he brought it out of sleep mode.
Moretti opened his eyes as he saw the world through his NIAI.
This had been one of the hundred or so NIAIs that had been handed to them through Mark’s back channels. They were incredibly useful and Mark had made sure that there were no bugs in them so that others would be able to find out what they were doing.
For Moretti, it was a godsend as he no longer needed to keep all of his important information just within his mind. He could get the NIAI to remember it for him so that he could concentrate on other things. It was also the reason that Moretti could continue to operate as an information officer for the yard and Victor Corporation as they traveled toward Tricticus.
Moretti had been able to incorporate his information network, with his NIAI giving him massive access to the information of Earth and Her Colonies. No one would be able to find him in their systems. He had found Nivad Selvra’s files. They were filled with information to control the other people of Earth and Her Colonies.
With the chaos that was going on there, Moretti held the information and gathered more, waiting until the major powers started to appear in the EHC so that he might exert some control over them. If they would let themselves be controlled again; that remained to be seen.
Moretti’s largest frustration right now was the Union. The Roma Union was a massive institution and Moretti was only just starting to seed different spies and information brokers through the Union. He was well behind the other powers in the Union but he was taking his time to make sure that he had the best people in the right places.
It would take time to grow, but Moretti was someone who had survived the Harmony War and been right next to the commander of one of the first systems to rebel.
Nivad Selvra even moved to bring Moretti closer and make him his man. This showed how well-suited Moretti was to dealing with others.
Moretti was looking over public records and doing a bit of digging with some keywords.
“Sir, the captain of the Salisa wishes to talk to you personally before continuing the transfer,” one of the aides said.
“Understood.” Moretti passed off the query to one of his trusted people. In his department, none of his aides were normal intelligence officers. All of them were troopers who had served with the Victors or the members of the legendary Triple-Twos. He’d picked out the best candidates and groomed them as soon as they entered the Victor Corporation.
With their loyalty assured, Moretti had nothing to fear.
If it was a request from Admiral Hall, they would put their everything into finding out what was going on.
Moretti composed himself and looked at the screen on his armrest.
The command center of the shipyard wasn’t set up as a normal operational command. In fact, it was buried deep within the shipyard, underneath armored panels with command tables dotted around. It looked more like a mobile command center that a group of troopers would set up on a planet. He didn’t want them to see that the shipyard was more than they expected.
Moretti sent a command, with his NIAI allowing the connection.
It showed him a proud-looking woman in a spotless coverall. She looked like a king upon a throne, the angle of the video input made to emphasize her
position over those she was talking to.
“Mister Moretti,” she said in a curt manner, nodding to him.
“Captain Onari,” Moretti said.
A trace of surprise made the woman’s eyebrow lift slightly.
They hadn’t said who would be delivering the goods and with her not saying her name, it showed that she wanted to have the upper hand in this talk from the start.
“We are ready to transmit the goods over to you. We will need your signature,” she said.
“Only when all of the goods are delivered will I sign,” Moretti said.
“Mister Moretti, this is not the way things are done in the Union,” she said, clearly not liking how he was talking over her and not allowing her to gain any power.
Moretti sent a command to his NIAI as a document was sent to Captain Onari.
“This is a contract of trust,” Moretti said. With trading in the middle of space, a contract of trust was a contract that could be signed before transferring goods between people. This made it so that someone couldn’t get the goods and run off without repercussions. It was a contract that wasn’t used that much as most times these trades happened in the middle of space, where people didn’t want others to see what was going on. Or it was in a remote location that didn’t have a dock to facilitate trade between two groups.
The contract was well known in rural areas of the Union but not in the central areas where information was hard to find.
Moretti, with the power of his NIAI, had quickly looked into all possibilities where this trade could go wrong.
Captain Onari waved her hand and dismissed the contract. There was a sour look on her face but also a gleam of amusement. She seemed pleased that she had found a worthy opponent. “Very well. We will begin delivery.”
“We will go according to what was said before: load over the items to a bridge freighter, vet and check before shipping to the yard.” Moretti wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with the goods before bringing them aboard the yard. It might be a bit over the top but he wasn’t going to put the Yard in harm’s way if he could help it.
“Of course.” Captain Onari nodded.
“Thank you, Captain. I look forward to doing more business with you.” Moretti gave her a smile. It wasn’t kind but rather the look of a wolf that had captured their prey.
Captain Onari flicked her hair away in frustration. Before she could say anything, Moretti closed the channel.
“It’s fun to win.” Moretti laughed to himself. Soon they would have the parts for the Alcubierre drives, as well as the four industrial fabbers.
With those fabbers and the plans that they had been given by Mark, they could start converting their raw materials into useful products that could be used to increase their strength and trade with the Union and their contacts in Earth and Her Colonies for more items.
Chapter 55
Ducharev City
Indalia, Otarvi System
8/3555
Primus Legate Quina had landed with the last shuttle in the heart of Ducharev’s defenses. She had no time to grieve her losses. She needed now more than ever to rally her men and get them out into the best spots in case the Maraukian horde decided to move from Edani toward them.
Walking to where most of them were gathered, she noted the weakness showing on their faces. They’d lost most of their friends and comrades. Those who they’d fought against with all their might across many battles. They were eating at least, and drinking, but they thought they’d lost the battle.
Quina moved to take a bottle of water from a woman on the outskirts of the gathering. The woman smiled at her, noted her uniform and rank, and lowered her head. Reaching down into her tunic, she pulled out a hand-stitched cloth and proceeded to wet it with some water. “Here,” she said.
Quina drank the water. It relaxed her parched throat and gave her at least some renewed energy to get up and address the lady. She took the cloth. “It’s beautiful. I shouldn’t.”
But the young woman stepped forward and wiped the grime from her face. “Without you, we’d have fallen a long time ago. It’s but a small thank-you, but it is a thank-you.”
Quina let her wipe her cheeks. She knew there were tear stains there. The close comfort of the stranger made her all the more determined. “No,” she said in return. “It is I who thank you.” With that, she moved away, and toward the back of a truck, which she knew gaining height on would help.
She’d been in command of near sixty thousand when they’d first landed, taking on a third legion to help out. Now those ninety thousand men were down to less than one legion. She was a good judge of numbers and she didn’t need to know there were so few left, but she did. Approximately twenty thousand by her count, but only eight thousand in fighting form.
Choking back a gasp, she pushed forward. Seeing her head his way, a young man held out a hand. She used him to help her up a step, and then pulled herself up onto the back of the truck. She looked out to the roughly eight thousand fit and strong legionnaires. Even though her heart sank, she sucked in a breath. “Centurions, get your people sorted out and organized. Command staff on me,” Quina said.
The mass of people started to regain order as people moved around with purpose.
“The mergers are surrounded. We should be there!” someone cried out.
Quina, who had been about to turn away, stopped in her steps. People were still moving but they looked to her with anticipation. The mergers laid down their lives for them; how couldn’t they be interested in what she had to say?
Quina agreed. “Those were not our orders. We complied with command and brought these people to safety. Do not think you’ve done wrong. Civilian safety is also as paramount as the mergers’ survival. That is what we do—protect. Now we need a plan, if the Maraukians turn to this city. We need defense lines better than we had at Edani, hear me? We may have run from Edani, but we are not defeated.”
It was only their training and the fact that these were career legionnaires that more didn’t raise arguments.
Dark grumblings were passed between the legionnaires.
She understood it and felt the same but it was bad from a command point of view. Quina had noted the man who called out. She’d have a word with his commander later—if they all survived. She knew chastising him here and now wasn’t the right place, no matter how much hierarchy demanded it.
The fact she agreed with him made it all the harder.
Seeing the last few in command head her way, she was struck by Xiao’s loss. She pulled herself together, a cold expression on her face as she detached herself from her emotions. She needed to meet with the legate in charge of Ducharev’s defense as she was turned back to a legatus in charge of an extended legion.
“Legatus Quina, this is Legate Standring. I’m in need of your help. I’m forwarding you the information on a sector facing Edani. I have sent supplies there for your people to pull from. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Understood, sir,” Quina said. The channel ended and Quina sent the information to the other leaders around her.
“All right, we’ve been given a sector to look after. Supplies have been sent to the location…” Quina quickly fell into the briefing as the others listened to her attentively.
Quina looked at the new faces and thought of the faces that were missing. The loss was too recent for her. A part of her thought she imagined it all and she would see them in a few moments as they showed up late for the meeting. Unfortunately, although there were many wounded, many hadn’t survived Edani.
Chapter 56
SLS Moby
Indalia Orbit, Otarvi System
8/3555
Charles hit the rewind on the video feeds he’d been sent. He watched it again and again and knew the furrows on his brows were getting deeper.
It was Jess who stooped over his shoulder in the end and asked, “What the hell has you so damned worried?”
“Oh, it’s not the images I’m looking at, th
ough their animal behavior and herd mentality is different from species on Earth. It’s the sounds. Take out all the explosions and natural background noise, and there’s something else there.” Charles moved the screen so she could watch it, and she did. He then passed her a set of headphones. “With...” He touched a key and removed the loud sounds. “Without.”
“I’ve seen animal behaviors before and I’ve seen their herd mentality. But, yeah those sounds are odd.”
“There was something similar when they first entered the system. I just can’t break it down enough.” Charles rubbed the back of his neck, feeling there was a big headache coming along for him.
“Why hasn’t anyone else heard it before now?” Jess asked.
One of the others in the room leaned in, handing him two tablets and a glass of water. Charles looked up into brown eyes. “Thanks,” he said.
“No problem. I’ve seen that look a fair few times now. You don’t drink enough to start with.”
Charles knew that. Eating and drinking when he was in one of his creative states was a thing that went right out of the window. Without the others to watch over him and sit him down to a plate of food, he’d keel over.
“Why hasn’t anyone heard it?” He finally answered Jess. “I think they did, but they didn’t think much of it. It’s only now it’s standing out.”
Jess pointed at the screen once more. “I think Liang might be able to help us out some here.” She smiled.
“Excellent idea. If you don’t mind sorting out those files for him, I’ve an idea.” Looking up and around the room, the new plan now formed in his mind. One thing stopped him though: merging. The thought of doing so had crossed his mind before. A genius already, he knew what opening up his mind and body could do.
Yet, he glanced around to the people in his care, those who had followed him halfway across the galaxies, Gomez and Jess, would merging be letting them down?
The Vanguard Emerges (Maraukian War Book 2) Page 26