"Why?" Mark asked, still staring at Felix.
"Shall we begin interrogation?" Aide asked.
"Assemble the council," Mark said. "An emergency session. Also let Allison know what has happened. Either the Jupiter Alliance is getting desperate or something has changed."
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Evasions in Stattdennen
The Proud Infidel slid into the wormhole, and it was a nervous twenty-one hours.
When the Proud Infidel slid out of the wormhole, moving as slow as it could to minimize detection, everyone was at battle stations.
The Stattdennen system was a double star system with a dim red dwarf circling a yellow white main sequence star. Both stars had planets and most of the wormholes lurked in between the two massive stars among the asteroids and other interstellar junk snagged by the massive bodies and ripped apart. The Conglomerate star charts showed no less than five wormholes in these gravity shadows although only one of them led to Conglomerate space.
"Random course," Bruce said, sending the Proud Infidel off at a tangent, just in case someone was watching and noticed the Proud Infidel emerge. The Infidel's AI processed and identified everything in the system it could. The lack of missiles homing in on them was a relief, but that didn't mean the Proud Infidel was alone, or undetected.
"Nothing obvious yet," Bruce said. "Lots of space junk, but nothing that appears to be powered and moving. If we go slow and quiet, it looks like the trip to Papi is five days out. Or we could make it in two."
"Go slow and quiet," Luke said looking at the system plot, the spinning planets and distant suns. "I'm willing to bet we aren't alone."
"Agreed," Bruce said. "It is only a question of where."
* * * * *
It was the third day that things got bad and Luke was called to the CIC. He had been expecting the call since they arrived in the system.
"What's going on?" Luke said as he entered, followed by Shum. Leonessa was already in the CIC, learning the systems from Erica.
"We have visitors from Nana," Bruce said. "Four cruisers, same modus operandi as the strangers. Estimated eleven hundred gravons. They aren't broadcasting any ID and they are stealthed. I only saw them because we detected the wormhole emergence and they are traveling as fast as they can to the Papi wormhole."
"No chance of us beating them?" Luke asked.
"Not with one engine still being repaired," Bruce said. "They are pulling some serious G's getting there. You think they are going to Papi?"
Luke shook his head.
"Nope," Luke said. "I'll bet good money they were alerted that we snuck out of Stattdennen and are racing to make sure we don't escape to Papi."
"Which means they aren't ready to attack the Conglomerate," Bruce said. "They must be worried about us blowing the whistle. It also means someone told them we haven't left yet."
"Or they want revenge," Luke said.
"There is that. So, how do we get past them?" Bruce asked.
"They are reacting," Luke said. "Let's keep them keep reacting. Is there another possible route to Conglomerate space besides Papi?"
Bruce pulled up the star charts, and they both looked them over.
"Pachinchana, then Kekuguana, then Goshana," Bruce said, putting the course into the system. "Won't put us near Churen, but at least we would be back in Conglomerate space."
Luke looked over the plot.
"It will also add five weeks to our trip," Bruce said. "Through dark space."
"And five weeks of playing hide and seek," Luke said. "Fine. Let's play. Set a course for Panchinchana and let's find out if they have a guard watching that wormhole. Can the Proud Infidel fake a wormhole transition?"
Bruce shrugged and grinned, "It can now. I read your after-action report about ten years ago, what was that system? Boogerwart or something?"
Luke smiled back, "Close. Bogawert. Pays to be paranoid sometimes."
"What happened?" Leonessa asked.
"I was being chased by some Srakka mercenaries," Luke said. "They wanted to kill a diplomat I was protecting. I pretended to jump out of the system but killed my engines at the last moment and went into stealth mode. The wormhole opened, on sensors, I disappeared so they dropped shields and powered down weapons in preparation to enter the wormhole. I ambushed them and finished the rest of my journey peacefully."
Shum stared at Luke and Luke wondered what he was thinking.
"We will do that and ambush them?" Shum asked.
"No," Luke said. "I don't think we are up for that just yet, but we can pretend to use the wormhole, drop into stealth mode and then sneak back to Papi. If they all make the jump, we sprint to the wormhole, otherwise we sneak. If they fall for it. Maybe they will divide their force, at worst they will ignore our ploy, at best we will be home free."
Shum nodded.
"We will have to calibrate the wormhole generator," Bruce said. "That hasn't been a big priority, but I think we can still calibrate it in stealth mode."
"And make sure they don't have a watcher on that wormhole or they will see us when we don't transition," Luke said.
"That could be a problem," Bruce said.
"I'd be willing to bet they won't be as easy to detect this time either," Luke said. "They know we snuffed their ship in Nana and they will know we have teeth."
"It is getting more complicated," Bruce said. "This was supposed to be a simple armed escort mission. Not a game of cat and mouse with an unknown enemy in deep space."
Luke smiled. "But you are a cold-blooded mercenary killer," Luke said. "You will get it done."
Bruce nodded with a cold smile. "The Proud Infidel was designed as a ship killer. She hunts and kills enemy ships. That is what she does."
"Anything I can do to help Captain?" Luke asked looking around.
"Give me a target and stay out of my way, Commander," Bruce said. "You are doing a magnificent job of that too. At first, I figured you would be some micromanaging control freak. I'm glad you aren't."
Luke laughed. "Been there, done that, got the ribbon and the badge. You know what you are doing. If there is anything I can do, let me know."
"Will do Commander," Bruce said. "Thank you."
"And you thought this would be a nurse maid mission," Luke said as he walked out.
Bruce's chuckle was forced as he looked back at the holographic display, reaching out to calculate distances, routes and estimated sensor ranges. Maybe it would have been safer to take part in the assault against the Caliphate. Bruce would probably still be sitting around waiting for the go order.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Games
"We found it," Bruce said as everyone looked at him. He walked around the conference room and he seemed to have a nervous energy. Everyone watched him as he walked up to the main display. Luke sat in the back where he could watch the others and their reactions. He was leaving a lot to Bruce, and Bruce would not screw this up, not with the hero of Naantali and Josaka watching him. The dim lights made the displays brighter and caught people's attention. Admiral Kishi's eyes were locked on Bruce and Bruce imagined he could feel the weight of them on his shoulders. Once long ago Bruce had outranked Luke. Bruce had been a squadron commander when Luke was just a drone frigate captain, with only a crew of himself. In that time Luke had come so far and Bruce had not. It reminded Bruce of his shortcomings and humble wasn't something that sat well with him.
"There are two of them," Bruce continued and looked at Luke.
"You think we missed one in Nana?" Luke asked and Bruce shook his head. "What about entering the system?"
"Maybe. I believe they are adapting," Bruce said. "Whoever they are, they don't fight like anyone in the Conglomerate I have ever heard of or studied. Those stealth ships watching the wormhole are acting professional. They are constantly changing course and they were hard as hell to identify."
"Could there be more Captain?" Brita asked.
"It is possible," Bruce said. "But so far, we haven't found a trace o
f anyone else. We are getting some faint gravity fluctuations because they are making hard course changes. When we get closer, we will have to go to active sensors to find them. Right now, we know they are there and we have caught visual traces of them."
"That complicates things," Pavlis said. "Can we find and kill them in time?"
"Maybe," Bruce said. "But that would look very suspicious if we destroyed them both."
"What do you mean Captain?" Brita asked.
"We suddenly appear, blast them out of space and escape? Why not just escape?" Bruce said. "It would make me suspicious because we didn't do that before and they can't hurt us. Technically we can slip through without engaging them."
"Any idea of what kind of ship class they are?" Luke asked.
"Maybe a corvette class," Bruce said. "If that much. Not a threat to us one on one, maybe even four on one, even though we aren't up to fighting fit. They could get lucky."
Luke leaned back and grinned.
"What if we go active, shoot them up with the goal of crippling and boarding one?" Luke asked.
Bruce looked at Luke with a half grin. That plan was brutally simple, aggressive and might cause the enemy to panic. It would certainly force them to react.
"That would raise the stakes," Bruce said. "It would give us a reason to attack and perhaps cripple them both. If we captured anything I think our enemies would freak, especially if they are trying to keep a low profile. They couldn't afford to let us escape and they would chase us anywhere. They can't even take the chance of us having found anything."
Luke nodded. "Let's keep them guessing."
"And kick them where it hurts," Bruce said. Why hadn't he thought of that?
"We only have two assault shuttles," Luke said. "That is an assault party of about forty volunteers."
Luke glanced at Musashi, "which means we have about thirty-eight seats, who else wants to come?"
Leonessa and Brita raised their hands first, followed by Falla Shum and Colonel Gray.
Luke looked at Gray.
"Sorry Gray," Luke said. "I need someone coordinating."
The droid put his hand down and his face was unreadable but Bruce could tell the droid was not happy. Which was odd. When did equipment have feelings?
"I will send most of my remaining officers then," Gray said. "I know they will volunteer. Expect a 3 droid to 1 warbot ratio."
Luke nodded, the droids were better than the warbots. Carmichael, Amanda and Jeremy had also raised their hands but Luke didn't think any of them were ready.
"Thank you," Luke said, looking around. "I can't take all of you. It is a space borne assault and it will be harsh. The assault teams will begin training and we will keep training until the day before we go. That will be in five days. . . So, we have four days of training. I will let everyone know their team and assignment within the hour."
Luke turned to Bruce. "You will have your work cut out. Colonel Gray will be your liaison and point of contact for this unless he appoints someone else. He is also the overall mission commander."
"Aye, aye Commander," Bruce said. "I'll make sure to leave you something to board."
"I would appreciate it Captain," Luke said with a grin. "I don't get to do it often."
"That's not what I hear," Bruce said catching Luke with a look.
Luke shrugged and Bruce wondered why. Bruce had not taken part in a boarding action since before New Alamo had left Sol, and the Marines had already secured the ship by the time Bruce had come aboard. Why would anyone want to put themselves close enough for the enemy to shoot at them with hand weapons?
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The Topa
Musashi was responsible for the training and he didn't seem to understand that his students were not tireless droids like himself. Most of the trip to the wormhole was done in zero gravity with the gravity turned on for twelve hours a day so people could relax in gravity and fine tune the warbot programming. The other twelve hour 'day' was spent drilling about the Proud Infidel, conducting mock boarding actions and exercises.
The door closed behind Bruce who was on his way to the CIC to stand his watch and Luke realized he and Leonessa were alone. He couldn't remember another time they had been alone aboard the ship in a long time.
"How are you doing?" Luke asked and Leonessa looked up at him with her large brown eyes. He could smell her and she could probably smell him as neither had showered since they finished doing breaching drills earlier.
"Fine," she said, looking at him.
"I'm sorry nobody asked you if you wanted to come on this expedition," Luke said and got a look of surprise from Leonessa.
"Who said I didn't want to?" she asked.
Luke sighed. "Leaving behind your mother, a war that is heating up with the Caliphate, your friends."
"Please," she said. "I left behind regiments of intelligence agents that wanted to strip my mind of every coherent thought and a command cadre that wanted to let them. They wouldn't let me anywhere near the front lines, or the Conglomerate for years. This is great, except for the chance of dying."
Luke laughed. "Those Intel types are brain suckers, aren't they?"
Leonessa gave Luke one of those room lighting smiles.
"You know it," she said. "I'm ecstatic I could escape those boring interrogation chambers and see more of the galaxy, go places nobody has ever gone before, meet interesting new aliens and. . ."
"And?" Luke prompted when she paused and looked at him.
"And work with good people," she said, looking back to her display where she was running a warbot simulation.
"Huh," Luke said with a smile. "I would have said 'and kill them' but I guess the Jupiter Marines are different?"
Leonessa laughed, "I was about to say that."
"Well," Luke said. "I'm glad Topa Suresh selected you. He wants me to train you to be a Shoka. Not that I'm sure how to do that since nobody trained me."
"Why?" Leonessa asked looking at Luke, her eyes wide.
"I have no idea," Luke said. "But the Topa are very selective. Not even Bruce is a full Shoka. I know nothing about Pral religious practices or concepts, but I believe he considers you my Soma. He considered you my Soma before you had even been abandoned on Bizzen. Somehow he knew I would meet you."
"That makes little sense," Leonessa said. "How could he know?"
"I don't know," Luke said. "I haven't thought much about it, I've had too many other things on my mind to think about it. A month before we met, he came to New Alamo and hired me to go to Bizzen, to go to that place where you were attacked under the star port. He told me to meet my Soma, to train her and assist her. I traveled there as fast as I could and it took me a month."
"That's absurd," she said. "That would mean he could see, or influence the future. A month? You sure it wasn't a couple days?"
"Very," Luke said looking at her. He could see Elena there, but Leonessa wasn't Elena, she was Elena and more. "Ask Brita, Gray or Musashi. It makes no sense unless he can see the future, and when he came to visit us aboard the Ultio in orbit around Bizzen? He was also there to warn us, or more specifically, warn me."
Leonessa looked back at her display, her face troubled.
"What is a Soma?" she asked. "Why me?"
"I honestly don't know," Luke said, but all he could think of was Elena. "Perhaps we could ask Shum?"
Luke and Leonessa stared at each other before Leonessa finally nodded.
"Shum," Luke transmitted. "At your convenience, can you come to conference room 'B'? No urgency, just wanted to talk and ask questions."
"I would be glad to Commander," Falla Shum replied. "I came by a few moments ago but your droid Musashi informed me you were busy and should not be disturbed."
"Um," Luke transmitted with a glare that left Leonessa confused. "Thank you. He won't be a problem again."
"I am on my way Commander," Shum said.
"I am not to be disturbed metal head?" Luke sent to Musashi, who was standing just outside acc
ording to Luke's network poll.
"Have you popped the question yet?" Musashi asked innocently.
"How about I pop your head off your shoulders?" Luke transmitted. "Let Falla Shum in and go soak your head in a nice plasma chamber. Clean those component atoms."
"What's wrong?" Leonessa asked.
"Musashi is standing outside trying to insure we have some quiet time," Luke said and Leonessa blushed, which Luke found equally embarrassing when he heard himself say it like that.
"My droids are unique and have interesting perceptions," Luke said. "I don't abuse them enough."
"You should start," Leonessa said with a smile as she glanced at the door.
The door opened to reveal Falla Shum, Luke could see Musashi behind him glancing in, curious and Luke gave him a glare. Musashi smiled back.
When the door closed Musashi remained outside.
"Have a seat," Luke offered Shum. The seats weren't the most comfortable for the over tall Pral but they were sufficient.
"Now I understand if you cannot discuss Topa secrets," Luke began and glanced at Leonessa, "But I have noticed some odd things and some terms used by the Topa we aren't familiar with."
Shum nodded, waiting for Luke to continue.
"What is a Soma?" Luke asked.
Falla Shum looked surprised as he glanced at both Luke and Leonessa.
"It is not obvious?" he asked.
Luke raised an eyebrow and lowered his chin.
"No," Luke said.
"A Soma is a close thread in the tapestry of life, so often it may seem to be a single thread since it is so closely entwined. A Soma pair may share many threads, many lives together," Shum said. "Their past and future is bound together. Alone they may accomplish great things, but together they may accomplish the greatest. They are each other's strength and weakness. Two entwined strands is stronger than two individual strands."
The Darkness: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 2) Page 18