Charles didn’t need to ask what would happen if he went against these rules. The mergers were powerful. If he abused this gift again, then even if he was their friend, they had made a promise when becoming mergers that they would hold one another accountable for their actions.
“I accept,” Charles said.
Dodger nodded and moved to Charles. He put his hand on Charles’s shoulder and nanites moved into his system. Charles stopped his nanites from interfering as Dodger’s package entered the structure of his brain to make sure that it was hooked to the net all the time and recording. These were the watchdog nanites that would keep Charles honest.
Charles knew that this was a gift and a curse. He wished that he had got here through different means but now that he had this ability, he would do everything in his power to regain the trust lost.
Dodger seemed to pick up on these emotions and patted Charles on the shoulder.
***
There was a lot going on around the Moby, but that didn’t help Ava fight her sink into depression. After her initial merging with Mark, where they’d supported each other and Ava had pulled Mark from going on a rampage, their emotions had been stirred up.
Ava had wanted to pursue a relationship more than just commander and subordinate, but she understood the loss Mark had gone through and the belief he held that those he cared for died.
He’d buried himself in work and hadn’t brought it up as Ava worked to try to open him up. She, too, became guarded, not sure of how to act around him anymore.
When Chyna died, she’d left herself open and Mark had merged with her, this time supporting her.
She had seen through it all—the way he cared for her and wanted to be with her. But his own conscience, not wanting to mess with the chain of command or to see her die, held him back.
At that time, he didn’t hide his feelings and pushed that away— no rank, just a man and a woman dealing with loss together and leaving their thoughts, hearts, and souls bare for the other.
When Ava had returned to the Moby docked within the VCF Osdal, Mark had once again created distance, pushing himself to work as much as possible.
She understood the pressures he was under, but at the same time, she saw how he was trying to avoid her and addressing what was going on between them.
Ava, feeling unsure of herself with lingering doubts and the fresh loss of Chyna on her mind, had isolated herself from the rest of the mergers.
Ava wanted to move on, knowing that the pain would get better with time. At the same time, she knew that this loss hit her hard. At random times, the emotions would just pile up and she couldn’t resist them anymore.
She was stuck in the quagmire of recent loss and the knowledge that with time it would get easier. But at this moment in time she wasn’t dealing with her emotions or able to move on. She was just existing.
Sitting at the end of her bed, she had come to a decision. She had done so for the last couple of days but had been unable to take the final step. This time she had ordered Kela to make the call, even if she told him to stop.
She sat there, waiting, wringing her hands as she didn’t know what to do.
With the mergers and the people who were on Indalia, she could talk to them; they could understand what Indalia had entailed. They were some of the few who could relate.
Her family, although they had served in the military and went through loss, hadn’t been on the front lines. There was a gap there to try to translate her experiences with them.
Her emotions were in chaos. She didn’t want their pity, nor did she want them to sympathize with her. She just wanted to talk to them but she knew that no matter what, it would stir up her emotions. She didn’t want them to think that she was depressed, angry or sad, any of those. And it would make her feel weak. She was a fucking merger, tip of the fucking spear. She didn’t need pity. She was dead the moment she became a merger. Already she was mentally gearing up her defenses, thinking of what she would say.
Even as these thoughts went through her mind and she started to make mental defenses a part of her, a hidden away part craved for their kind words and being told it would be okay.
Her father appeared in front of her. Kela used his connection to her optic nerves to link her through the communications net to the meeting room that Hael was in on the station orbiting Tricticus.
“Ava!” He seemed excited and relieved, but sensing the atmosphere and the way she stood, his words cut off abruptly.
Ava gritted her teeth, her body tensing up to attention. She forced herself to keep it together. She was glad to see him. But she saw that sliver of fear that was growing as he took in her appearance. He’d seen the main report on losses no doubts. He’d have known something had drastically changed in just her eyes; that she couldn’t get the words out then had said everything. Today was to finally confirm his fears.
Her face was on his screen, but there’d been no other contact in days. Chyna hadn’t messaged him and that would have been his first port of call. Had her father guessed?
“Chyna died a few days ago,” she said. Those six words were harder to say than anything else, as if she were admitting to herself that Chyna wasn’t coming back.
She had to get them out lest they be caught in her throat.
Hael’s face crumbled. His excitement from before turned to loss.
It was some time until he steeled himself and looked at Ava. “How?”
“We were evacuating through a shuttle accelerator tower when the Maraukians came up behind us. We were in a fighting retreat and Chyna was hit multiple times. Upon our retreat, his armor carried out orders that he had added, igniting his anti-matter core and bringing the city down on the Maraukians, killing thousands and giving the Ducharev line time it needed to gain strength. He died protecting the civilians and legionnaires, allowing them to escape. He died protecting his fellow mergers.” Ava’s words were robotic even as she replayed the scenes over and over in her mind. With her changed body, her recall was perfect, letting her relive the moment again and again.
“With the mergers’ will, his crate will be added to the Hall of the Fallen, which will be erected on the fourth planet in the Emarl system and has been gifted to the Vanguard fighting force by Mark Victor,” Ava said.
Hael looked as if he had aged ten years as he rubbed his face. One hand pinched his temples as he tried to come to grips with the loss of one of his best friends. “I’ll tell his family and let the others know,” Hael said.
“Radis Kallo, Joreen Weloi, and Hedar Osori also fell in battle. Only Hedar’s body is recoverable. They all wanted their crates to be added to the Hall of the Fallen if they were to not make it,” Ava said.
Hael was rocked back again. “How many made it?” He winced at his own words, looking as if he wanted to take them back as soon as they were out in the world.
“Eleven.” Ava’s voice held a slight tremor as she tried to force the word out.
Hael, who hadn’t been expecting an answer, was left in shock. “Ava, I…” He looked as if he wanted to say more but didn’t know how to express it. His voice halted as he fell silent, looking at her.
He might be a powerful king who ruled over Crisidium, but before Ava, he was a concerned father, unable to know what was happening with her and also unable to take that pain away.
Chyna was someone who he viewed as a brother, even if they weren’t blood related. Chyna had taken it on to follow Ava into the legion and to support her. His loss hit them hard in different ways.
Ava tried to force herself to say something else, to do anything. But she couldn’t. The mergers who had survived each used their own ways of coping: working on their armor, helping to upgrade Moby, or work over plans for different systems in Emarl.
Some let their pain out, cutting themselves from the net to deal with their issues. None of them wanted to appear weak in front of the others.
Others, like Mark, internalized the pain and continued forward, blaming themselves and w
orking to do everything to increase their strength and somehow be better. So that another one of their numbers wouldn’t be cut down.
The truth of it was that all of the eleven survivors had suffered in more ways than they had ever imagined.
“Father,” she finally choked out, knowing the truth of Hesra and Senator Rimateus’s involvement made it all the harder to deal with the loss of Chyna and the sixty-two others. She couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if they had been able to get the supplies or support that they needed.
“As your daughter and the once queen-to-be of Crisidium, don’t sign with the legion. We’ll forge our own path forward, without backstabbing greedy bastards.” Ava’s loss turned to anger as she felt combat chemicals moving through her body, urging her to lash out, to fight against these bastards who had led to the deaths of her brothers and sisters.
Hael’s eyes met hers with his emotion clear, but he wouldn’t allow it to show just as much as Ava’s hadn’t. Placing his palm to the screen, he said simply, “I promise you, never.”
Ava cut her communication with him and flung herself back on her bed, allowing the tears to come to her once more. This was it, though, she vowed to herself and silently to the others. She would be back in training with them tomorrow; they would return to Tricticus and their future would be better. Even if she had to die for her cause, she wouldn’t allow Roma and its corrupted legions to stand on Tricticus.
Chapter Seven
Ark Orbit, Emarl System
9/3555
Moretti looked over the freighter. It was utterly unremarkable, which made it perfect for what he wanted.
With him were some of the people from the secret projects group. All of them had been vetted so Moretti knew that he could trust them with this project.
This unremarkable freighter was going to be altered to become Moretti’s mobile command post.
Moretti had a substantial information network already, but it had been created by Nerva and was largely linked to the legion. Moretti needed people who were across different positions in the Roma Union.
He had a good foothold in the EHC, but his contacts and information-gathering ability within the Roma Union needed to be developed.
The freighter was a great cover to move through the Roma Union, moving from planet to planet, station to station.
With the military strength of the Victor Corporation revealed, Moretti wanted to know whether the Roma Union was planning anything and tell the people in Emarl system before it happened.
He recalled the plans that were on his NIAI.
The freighter would be anything but simple, with powered armor, weapons and hidden armaments.
It would have engines many times more powerful than what a normal freighter would, though they would be regulated at a lower threshold.
Their processing centers and power systems were much more powerful and they had hidden power banks that would allow them to travel farther and recharge faster.
“Looks good to me,” Moretti said to the woman beside him.
“It shouldn’t take us too long to get everything modified. After all, most of the extra capabilities are hidden within the storage crates instead of the freighter itself.”
Moretti nodded. He wanted to get moving as soon as possible. Although it was much quicker to move through the Roma Union with an Alcubierre drive, it also meant that things changed a lot quicker.
Information got old fast and people could move around faster.
Chapter Eight
Legionnaire Tower
Roma, Hellenic System
9/3555
Damus Versanti looked out on the powerful legion that he commanded. The proud edifice that was the legionnaire tower and the barren land around it. Shuttles and ships moved constantly between the tower and the other stations and ships that orbited Roma.
Training areas were filled with people who had been called out of retirement and others who were just earning their badges as legionnaires.
“Emperor Cassius is calling for you.” The female voice of his NIAI disturbed him from his thoughts.
Damus nodded, quickly moving to his desk and adjusting his uniform quickly.
Emperor Cassius had strong features, so when he was frowning Damus felt a pit open in his stomach.
“Senator Rimateus is using Admiral Hesra on Indalia in a political ploy.”
“The mergers?” Damus asked.
The emperor simply nodded. The gesture made Damus let out a cold breath as he found it hard to hide his anger. Admiral Hesra’s backing wasn’t small and Senator Rimateus was a great politician. Even if this was brought to light, it would be hard to destabilize him and remove his strength.
“The worst part is that they were smart about it. It will be hard to get them to bow in the face of the law,” Cassius said.
“What do we do?” Damus wasn’t one for politics. It was one of the reasons that he had been picked as the commander of the legion.
“Start a rumor and leak the information to the legionnaires. Also, show off the power and push out the stories of the mergers helping out our people. We might not win in a head-to-head confrontation, but weakening their people’s beliefs will be enough. Admiral Hesra’s people will stop listening to him in all but name. They might even vote to remove him by lack of faith.”
Damus nodded. Such a vote had to be agreed by sixty percent of the people under a person’s command. If their people voted against them, then they were removed from command and had to undergo a review by the legion. It was a rare thing. If it was carried out, it would be a great blow to a person’s standing and few would choose to follow them again.
Cassius stared straight at him. “I’ve secured this channel and I speak freely here because no matter my beliefs, I know there is not much that I can do about it. Admiral Hesra’s father pulls a lot of strings within the legion and unfortunately, if I pull apart his only son with a string of treasonous intentions, Roma and her efforts against the Maraukians will fail.”
Damus took in his words carefully. “What does this mean for the mergers and the people on the planet right now?”
“They’re on their own. There isn’t anything that we can do for them right now.” Cassius let out a suffering sigh, looking down at his hands.
“Nerva is there right now. He’s a great leader but he doesn’t care for politics. We both know that he has been unhappy since he returned, calling the senators a bunch of grabbing hyenas, and I agree with him. Mark is like his son. I can’t predict what will happen.”
Damus and Cassius looked to each other. Tension once again returned to Damus’s body.
When Nerva did something, he did it totally. Seeing his adopted son getting pushed to death by political maneuverings, if this was to get out, then Nerva might cut ties to Roma altogether. If he did, with the father of the legion leaving, Damus felt his anger growing toward Rimateus and that useless Admiral Hesra.
“We need to be united and those useless senators are thinking about nothing but political positioning.” Cassius’s anger was clear. “If we can call a state of war, then we’ll push those senators to the side and we can deal with them quietly instead of fighting them directly in the senate.”
“What if the mergers die?” Damus asked.
“Then we’ll have to remake them. The mergers are key to winning this war, I think.” Cassius looked to Damus, who agreed.
“Their combat abilities are unlike any of our other forces and their ability to get into hard to hold positions and control the flow of the Maraukians is a powerful ability.”
“I’ll trust you to make a plan if they are killed—or if they survive, to pull them to our side,” Cassius said.
Damus’s lips moved but he seemed unable to say anything.
“Speak freely.”
“Emperor, they’ve just been stabbed in the back and from the information my NIAI is supplying, it’s Nerva and the people from Earth who are coming to save them, not our people. I don’t know
if they survive if they would come to our side.”
“Where would they go? To Earth? The corporations there don’t care about troopers,” Cassius said.
“I don’t know, but they do own the Victor Corporation and the Yard is moving through space to some unknown location,” Damus pointed out.
“Other than the legion and the EMF, there is no military for them to join other than the small auxiliary forces based on the rural planets,” Cassius said.
“Also, the mergers are an auxiliary unit. They’ve used their own resources for the most part. We even had to gift the Moby over to them. As an auxiliary unit, as long as they pay any fees between us and them, then those who want to separate can. Those who want to become a legionnaire can join one of the other auxiliary legions.” Damus had an uneasy feeling rising in his chest.
“So, they could just separate from the legion?” Cassius said, shocked by this turn of events. “If they did, then how would they support themselves?”
“Well, they do have the largest shipyard in human space. They’ve also got the engineering crew on the Moby, and the technology in each of their suits is generations ahead of ours,” Damus said.
Cassius rubbed his temples as he started to realize just how big this problem had become.
An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3) Page 4