Ep.#5 - Balance (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  “I thought you hated him?” Jessica said. “Didn’t he chew your ass a few times?”

  “I still trust him.”

  “It does concern me that Roselle is pretty much stuck on the Benakh. Both he and his XO, Martin Ellison, have been passed over for promotion. Gil has pretty much accepted that. Scuttlebutt has it that he has a fiancé on Kohara, and is headed for retirement soon. Ellison, on the other hand, could use an event to help push him past the old-school hurdle faced by all of us who served with you.”

  Nathan and the others reached the bottom of the ramp, and turned aft toward the main hangar deck. “What are you talking about?” he asked Cameron.

  “Galiardi doesn’t trust us,” Cameron explained. “Me, Vlad, Gil, Robert; pretty much anyone who served under you and Admiral Dumar. That’s why he’s been promoting anyone with any promise who demonstrates loyalty to his command. You’d be amazed at how quickly your average ‘fresh out of the academy ensign’ can find themselves in command of a gunship as a newly minted lieutenant.”

  “So you think Ellison might give us up to win favor?” Jessica asked.

  “Anything is possible,” Cameron replied. “That’s why I told Robert not to tell anyone but Roselle.”

  “Gil and Marty are pretty close,” Jessica commented. “They’ve served together since before any of us were born.”

  “Roselle isn’t stupid,” Nathan insisted. “He wouldn’t tell his own mother, if he wasn’t sure he could trust her.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Jessica said.

  “I’m sure I am,” Nathan insisted as they entered the Aurora’s main hangar deck.

  Just ahead, Nathan and Jessica spotted General Telles and a contingent of Ghatazhak. Telles was dressed in full combat armor and was carrying his chest piece and helmet at his side.

  “Where are you going?” Jessica asked as they approached.

  “This mission is vital to the future of this rebellion,” General Telles replied. “Therefore, I am going to ensure its success.”

  “Great,” Cameron said. “What am I supposed to do if all three of you get killed?”

  “Protect the fleet and keep harassing the Dusahn however you can,” Nathan replied.

  “Thanks, I never would have thought of that,” she said sarcastically.

  “Ghatazhak!” General Telles barked. “Mount up!” He turned back to Nathan and Jessica. “I shall see you at the rally point in a few days.”

  “Safe flight,” Nathan replied. He turned to Cameron. “If we don’t make it back, the rebellion is in your hands.” He looked at her for a moment. “Are you okay with that?”

  “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Cameron stated confidently.

  “I only know two people that I would trust with such a responsibility, and I’m looking at one of them right now,” Nathan told her.

  “Shouldn’t that number be four?” Cameron wondered.

  “What, Vlad and Jess?” Nathan laughed. “Hell, no. Vlad’s too emotional and Jess is too damn reckless. Leaders have to see the big picture. They have to think in longer terms than the here and now. That’s always been something you have excelled at, Cam. That’s the real reason I asked you to come. Not for the Aurora.” After a short pause, he added, “Well, for the Aurora too, I suppose.”

  Cameron smiled. “Stay safe, and don’t let Jess get you into trouble.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Nathan replied before turning and heading for the Seiiki in the starboard airlock bay.

  Cameron watched as General Telles and the Ghatazhak boarded their cargo shuttle and Nathan and his crew headed up the Seiiki’s cargo ramp. Things were starting to feel like old times. The problem was, those times were always fraught with danger.

  * * *

  Miri entered her father’s office to deliver the documents that he would need to review upon his return. The office was dark, as he had left for another council meeting at Port Terra hours ago.

  It was late in the day, and the sun was already setting. Once the papers were on the president’s desk, Miri looked forward to being able to spend an evening with her children. She missed listening to them argue, as all teenagers do.

  She placed the papers on her father’s desk, then picked up the remote to close the curtains over the massive windows that filled the wall behind it.

  “Leave them open,” her father said.

  “Oh my God,” Miri replied with a start.

  The high-backed executive desk chair rotated to the left just enough to reveal her father’s presence. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Well, you did,” she said, reversing the motion of the curtains. “When did you return?”

  “Nearly an hour ago.”

  Miri set the remote down. “Well, that was a short trip.”

  “He wants to take out their battle platforms,” her father stated.

  Miri moved around to sit on the bench seat in front of the big bay window, facing her father. “And that’s a bad thing, I take it?”

  “I never should have reappointed him,” Dayton said.

  “You didn’t have a choice, father.”

  “I could have opposed him.”

  “That would have been the end of your presidency, and you know it. Galiardi was going to regain power, no matter what you did. You said so yourself when you decided to put him in command again. At least with you as president, there is someone to hold him back.”

  “He has been preparing us for a war with the Jung since you were a child. And now, he is going to get exactly that. And millions will die again.”

  “Then, you don’t believe we can win?”

  “Ours or theirs, it matters not. Death is death. War is the most wretched thing humanity has ever conceived, and it is the one thing we can never seem to escape. It is part and parcel to the human animal.” He looked at his daughter. “I don’t know that I have it in me to lead us through another war, Miri.”

  “You must,” she reminded him. After a moment, she asked, “How did the council vote?”

  “I insisted that we take a few days to consider the recommendation.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I was stalling for time,” Dayton told her, sighing. “I know Galiardi is right. If those platforms are jump-capable, and if even half of them jump in over Earth at once, we are doomed.”

  “Then vote to strike,” Miri said.

  “Which will save the Earth, but ensure a long, protracted war with the Jung. How do I live with that?”

  Miri sat in silence, unable to find the words to console her father. “If you vote against Galiardi’s recommendation, what will happen?”

  “The other worlds will likely back me.”

  “And if Galiardi is right, and we do not strike?”

  “Then the Jung could walk in and destroy us at any moment…all of us…every Alliance world, one by one.”

  “And if they do not have jump drives?”

  “Then they could still destroy us, but it would probably take a decade for them to get here.”

  “And if you strike now?”

  “War.”

  “And how soon will that war begin?”

  “I do not know. It could be minutes, it could be years. But they will come. And Galiardi will recommend that we strike their worlds next, and millions more will die. Not soldiers, but women and children. He will not stop until the threat is completely eliminated. I can see it in his eyes.”

  “You said that war is something that humanity cannot escape, that it is our nature. Maybe it’s up to you to break that cycle?”

  “With such overt aggressions by the Jung, failing to support Galiardi now will only feed his power base.”

  Miri leaned forward, putting her hand on her father’s knee to c
omfort him. “Not everyone wants to destroy the Jung. Those are the people you represent. If you vote only to retain power, you are lying to yourself and to those who support you. If you vote your conscience, you may be able to protect us from a war we may not need to fight.”

  “Or condemn us to certain destruction. Don’t you see, Miri, my duty to protect the people supersedes my duty to serve them. Either way, I will carry the responsibility for countless lives that might otherwise be spared. How do I…how do we live with that guilt?” Dayton’s gaze moved past his youngest daughter, back to the lights of the capital outside his window. “Nathan knew how to live with the guilt of sacrificing the lives of a few, to save the lives of many. If only he were alive…”

  He is. The thought tore at her heart. She wanted so much to tell him, but she could not. It was not her decision. Her baby brother, whom she too had believed dead, had asked for her help; for her secrecy. She had to honor that request, no matter how much it pained her.

  She was beginning to understand the burdens her father and brother both shared.

  * * *

  Aiden and Ken stood in formation with the rest of their class, outside the Cobra production facility on Kohara. Today was the moment they had all been working toward.

  “Class! Ah-ten-shun!” the master chief called from the side of the formation as the commander walked out in front of the assembled cadets.

  Commander Bastyan came to a stop directly centered in front of the group of men and women, turning sharply to face them. “At ease.” After looking them over, he began. “The Cobra-D gunship is the most advanced, most maneuverable, and most deadly ship in the Alliance fleet. She is a pack hunter, designed to attack a target in concert with as many as twenty elements. She demands your attention to detail, and your respect for procedure. Give her the respect she is due, and she will get you home safely. More importantly, she will see that your enemy does not. Today, you will begin your orientation training. You will meet your crews, and you will get to know every nook and cranny of your ships. Do not hesitate to ask the engineers questions about your ships, should you have them. For in five days, you will be riding those ships down that launch rail, and jumping them into space.”

  “Man, I cannot believe this is finally happening,” Aiden whispered to Ken.

  “I can’t believe we actually graduated,” Ken replied in similar tone.

  “For the next four days, you will be running group simulations, in these very ships. Everything will be as it will be in space. It will be your opportunity to become accustomed to the Cobra-D’s new flight console, and to practice the pack-hunting tactics using the swarm-attack auto-flight system.”

  “Yeah, push-button piloting,” Aiden mocked under his breath.

  “Shut up.”

  Commander Bastyan paused a moment, turning to look in the direction of Aiden and Ken; both of them turned their eyes straight ahead as if concentrating on the commander’s every word. “Do not think for a moment that because you have passed your initial flight training, that you cannot fail this final stage check. I assure you,” he said, looking directly at Aiden, “you can. And some of you will.” The commander continued scanning the formation as he spoke. “Once assigned, you will have access to your ships around the clock. You will spend every waking moment of the next four days in your ships, running drill after drill after drill. In between formation simulations, you will be expected to run crew drills. Your crews must be ready to fight. They must be ready to survive in space. You have but four days to prepare. I suggest you use every minute of them wisely.”

  “I am so damned excited, I’m going to explode,” Aiden mumbled.

  “Master Chief!” the commander barked.

  “Yes, Commander!”

  “Give these pilots their ships!”

  “Aye, Commander!”

  Commander Bastyan turned and strode off toward the training command bunker as the master chief began barking out names.

  “Delton, Ferris; Three Eight Zero! Kin, Sangar; Three Eight One!”

  As their names were called, the flight teams left the formation and headed toward the holding area to locate their ships and meet their crews.

  “Tegg, Wabash; Three Eight Two!” the master chief continued.

  Aiden exchanged glances with Charnelle Tegg, her face beaming with anticipation as she and her copilot, Sari Wabash, headed for their ship.

  “Walsh, Lowen; Three Eight Three!”

  A smile drew itself across Aiden’s face as he and Ken marched forward toward the holding area. “Cobra Three Eight Three!” he exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down as they followed Charnelle and Sari toward the rows of waiting gunships. “That’s our new call sign, Ken!”

  “Yeah, I heard,” Ken replied, entertained by his friends exuberance. “How old are you, Aiden? Four?”

  “Tell me you’re not excited!”

  “Of course I’m excited,” Ken admitted. “I’m just not an idiot about it.”

  “Cobra Three Eight Three. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

  Ken just looked at him as they continued toward the gunships.

  Aiden and Ken followed the others to the holding area. Until now, none of them had actually seen a Cobra gunship up close. They had studied countless technical drawings and models, and had spent at least a hundred hours in the simulators, but had not seen an actual ship. The sims were just the front half of the cockpit, with instructors sitting behind them watching their every move. The ships before them were the real thing. Armed combat ships that they would be flying all over the Sol sector.

  Aiden felt as if he would explode with excitement. “Three Eight Three,” he called out to Charnelle and Sari as they passed.

  “I heard,” Charnelle replied.

  Aiden slowed a moment as he and Ken approached their ship for the first time. She was larger than he expected. The interior mockups they had trained in were cramped, with just enough space to get by, so he had always imagined the ships themselves as equally compact. But now, it seemed enormous. “Holy crap.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth,” Ken agreed, equally awed by the ship before them.

  “It’s big.”

  “Yeah.”

  Aiden turned to Ken, the smile returning. “And it’s ours, Kenji. It’s all ours.”

  “It’s not ours, Aiden. It belongs to the Alliance. They’re just letting us use it. Best you remember that.” Ken looked to his left. “Try to look commanding, Aiden. Our crew is coming,” he warned, tipping his head in the direction of the approaching group of cadets.

  The first to approach was a short, stout woman with high and tight black hair, sporting the rank of chief on her lapels and the symbol of an engineer on her shoulder patch. “You must by our captain,” the woman grumbled. She looked Aiden up and down. “You don’t look like much. You sure you’re old enough to enlist, kid?”

  “Are all engineers as old as you?” Aiden quipped, “or did it just take you longer than most to earn those wrenches on your shoulder?”

  Ken looked upward in disbelief.

  The woman squinted, staring Aiden in the eyes for what seemed an eternity. Finally, she laughed and extended her hand. “Ashwini Benetti,” she greeted. “But you can call me Ash.”

  “Aiden Walsh,” Aiden replied, shaking the woman’s rough hand. “You can call me Captain.”

  She laughed again. “This is Sergeant Dagata, Specialist Brim, and Specialist Leger,” she said, introducing the other three members of the group.

  “A pleasure,” Aiden replied. He approached each of them, shaking their hands one at a time.

  “Cowyn Dagata, sir,” the first man announced. “Sensors and computers.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sergeant,” Aiden greeted. “This is my first officer, Ensign Lowen.”


  “Alisanne Brim,” the next person said, smiling as she shook her new captain’s hand. “I’m your medic and gunner.”

  “Nice to meet you, Alisanne.”

  “Please, call me Ali.”

  “Very well, Ali, this is Ken Lowen, my first officer.”

  The last man stepped forward as Ali moved to shake Ken’s hand, as well.

  “Specialist Cosgrove Leger,” the boyish-looking young man announced, saluting Aiden. “Systems technician and gunner, sir.”

  “Relax Cosgrove,” Aiden insisted as he returned the salute. “A handshake is fine. We’re all going to be working together very closely. Can I call you Cos? Cosgrove is a mouthful.”

  “My friends call me Ledge, sir,” the young man replied eagerly. “But you can call me anything you’d like, sir.”

  “No, Ledge will be fine.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How old are you, Ledge?” Aiden wondered.

  “Seventeen and a half, sir.”

  “Do your parents know you’re here?”

  “They signed the age waiver, sir. I can show it to you if you’d like,” Ledge offered, reaching into his pocket. “I carry it with me.”

  “Why?”

  “You’d be surprised how many times I get asked how old I am, sir.”

  “I don’t think I would be, Ledge,” Aiden replied, holding his hand up. “Keep it in your pocket. I believe you.”

  “Thank you, sir. Don’t worry about my age, Captain. I know my stuff. I won’t let you down.”

  “I’m sure you won’t, Ledge.”

  “Cadets,” an older man called as he approached. “I’m Dahr Mencer. I’ll be your orientation engineer for Cobra Three Eight Three. Shall we get started?”

  “You bet,” Aiden exclaimed. “Aiden Walsh…Captain Aiden Walsh.”

  “Oh, brother,” Ken mumbled.

  “A pleasure to meet you, Captain,” Dahr replied. “Why don’t you all climb aboard, and we’ll get started with your orientation.”