by Sid Kar
As the soldiers stormed in from behind the tanks they had expected to take fire instead they were stunned to see a podium set up in the middle of the lawn with megaphones on both sides and a man in a suit standing there smiling at them with his arms stretched out on both sides: it was Senator Solus.
“Soldiers, Peoples,” Solus began, “I implore you to consider my words carefully. I know you have your grievances. This is a government of the elites, generals and officers. Officers who use you soldiers as pawns. I hear you, I sympathize with you, but this is no way. The Republic belongs to the people and must not be trampled and overthrown on the orders of the officers.”
The soldiers stopped and looked at each other and the tanks shut off their engines. A capitan fought his way through the soldiers to see what the commotion was about and then called Commander Nolfus on the radio.
“What the hell is Senator Solus doing up there,” Nolfus yelled on the radio when informed by the capitan. A soldier tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and saw Solus on a big screen outside a store on the street leading to the Senate.
“Soldiers, you must not listen to the man who has put you to this,” Solus continued his speech, “We have a better way to solve our problems and that is an election. Next time do not elect fools and lackeys of bosses and officers to the Senate. That is the way to end people’s grief. Elect those who care for the people. Soldiers, if you wish to end the republic, end my life first.”
“Damn it,” Nolfus said and lifted the radio, “Capitan, order all troops to advance on the Senate but I don’t want Senator Solus hurt and I don’t want riots on the streets. Force him off the podium and detain him but do not harm him.”
“Yes sir,” Capitan said and ordered his troops to march ahead. The Republican Guard advanced on the lawn, sporadically exchanging fire with the senate guards but mostly the two sides withheld their fire.
“He must be on every screen on Nestor,” Nolfus thought and if the communications leaked out then he would be on display across 60 planets. There was chaos on the streets as the troops were confused. Someone tapped Nolfus on his shoulder and he turned around to see a stranger who shoved a laser pistol near his solar plexus and pulled the trigger while holding him in place with his hand.
“Cloaked Man thanks you for your services,” the stranger said emptying the laser charge into Nolfus, “unfortunately, they are no longer required.”
Chapter 23: Silencer
It took Antrar two days of hanging around Alligator’s Den to find Magyar Harwyk: The Silencer, but find him he did sitting in a corner of a more upscale bar room in the Den sipping a mixture of fruits and whiskey and perusing a newspaper with sunglasses on his face. Antrar’s hunch was right, the Silencer did pick Jiggermaster’s place to hide out since he had done a couple of jobs for the pirate lord in the past.
“Hit me with rum and tomato juice,” Antrar said to the bartender as he sat down on the stool opposite to the bar. There was a shiny glass behind the bartender with translucent reflection of the room and Antrar could keep an eye on Magyar without being noticeable. He slowly sipped his cocktail while stealing an occasional glance in the glass that showed the reflection of the corner.
Antrar had never met or seen him in real life and had only his recollection of a photo to go by. That is when The Silencer was actually in a database. As a condition of him doing that job for the Army, he required his identification to be deleted from Army and SPASI databases and had an uncanny way to know if they were bluffing or had actually done it.
Approximately half an hour passed during which Antrar drowned over four cocktails and was feeling a little tipsy. Silencer got up, walked across his back and exited from the main door. Antrar waited a couple of minutes then put down a fat tip to make the bartender happy and exited from the side door. This was a waiting room for a brothel nearby, just one amongst a multitude of sinful recreations that were available in this station.
Antrar turned to the right, walked through the door and made another right turn. He picked up his pace but kept a distance behind Silencer. Silencer walked over to the bay, got into his spaceship and took off. Antrar waited a few seconds to look around and when it was all clear, he got into his own spaceship and picked up Silencer’s ship on his gravitron scanner.
He kept his distance and the asteroids allowed him to pursue undetected. When Silencer’s ship came to a stop in front of an asteroid, Antrar hid his behind another large one nearby and pushed a button to extend a large metallic arm with a camera that peaked around the space rock and showed him the display of Silencer’s ship entering the asteroid.
Antrar raised his spaceship from behind the rock and turned on the heat imaging. He could see Silencer sitting down inside his spaceship. Around fifteen minutes later Silencer’s body was flat on the screen and a few minutes later he stopped moving. Antrar watched the display for a few and then decided that finally Silencer had fallen asleep. He slowly brought his spaceship to the asteroid and pressed a key on his computer to turn on a decryption algorithm. He was glad he had downloaded an army grade decryption AI which took just a minute to decipher the code that opened the asteroid door.
He flew his ship inside and saw that the interior of this asteroid was nearly similar to his and there was space for an additional ship. The door slid closed from the outside and Antrar parked his opposite to Magyar’s. He took out his laser pistol, quickly walked over to Magyar’s spaceship and toned down the intensity of his laser to avoid a splash and a sound. Then he sprayed the lock with laser and it took half a minute to melt a hole in the door. He yanked the door opened and jumped in with his laser gun pointed at Silencer who suddenly awoke from the bed that was laid opposite from the pilot’s console.
“Don’t make a foolish move, Silencer,” Antrar said pointing his pistol forward while he sat down in the pilot’s chair, “Slowly get up and keep your hands on your knees.”
“Who are you?” Silencer asked but complied with Antrar’s directions.
“That don’t concern you,” Antrar said, “but let me tell you something, I am from Starfire Army, have been in battle and can put you through a real good beating to get you to talk, better answer my questions straight.”
“Jiggermaster isn’t going to like this,” Magyar rubbed his eyes.
“Let me worry about him,” Antrar said, “now I am in a hurry and I need only one answer: who hired you to assassinate Nestorian Republic’s vice-chancellor on his trip to Bravo?”
“Oh man…” Magyar dropped his shoulders and sighed, “Starfire Army knows that I was behind it?”
Antrar guffawed, “we hired you once, we know your footprints.”
Surprisingly Magyar replied with a guffaw of his own, “if you are privy to such secrets of the Starfire Army to know that you boys once hired me, then you should also know who hired me this time.”
Antrar did not say anything but raised his pistol higher and spoke slowly but deeply, “who hired you?”
“You did,” Magyar replied.
“Me?”
“Starfire Army,” Magyar said.
“Get out of here,” Antrar scoffed.
“It was the same fellow as the last time: Lambda Man,” Magyar said.
Antrar nearly dropped his pistol and his hand twitched a couple of times. He stared down at the ground and tried to remember hard. This did not go unnoticed by Silencer.
“You should not dig into matters above your rank,” Silencer said, “We are merely pawns in the games of the big boys, although I am an expert one at my task and given that you managed to track me here, you must be good too; but that’s what we are, excellent foot soldiers. That’s why I never inquire too deeply into my client’s identities.”
“This is not above my rank,” Antrar said and looked up at Magyar, “I was the Lambda Man.”
“You?” now it was Magyar’s turn to be shocked and he jumped in the bed.
“Yeah, one of them,” Antrar said and got up while aiming his pistol at Silence
r, “Stay here till I am gone and if you tell Jiggermaster about this then I will inform the Fifth Frontier Fleet of your location.”
Antrar walked out and quickly jumped in his spaceship. He opened the asteroid door and flew his spaceship right out in a vertical ascent. He accelerated as fast as he could away from the asteroid belt. He had kept all his belongings in the spaceship itself and didn’t trust Silencer not informing Jiggermaster. But he had no intention of returning here nor of informing the frontier fleet.
Lambda Man!
It was a secret department within Starfire Army composed of a small team of high-ranking officers and he was one of its founding members. Its officers hired space outlaws and arranged for secret operations in rival powers space that Army could not do openly. This did not involve just the star commander of one region but went much higher. As his spaceship moved away from the asteroids and towards deep space Antrar started running through the names of all his ex-army friends trying to think of someone he could trust and might be in the know. And then it hit him, the first leader of Lambda Man was his good friend ex-commander Yarwyk Gyte.
Chapter 24: Conquistador
“Commodore, the signals interception room is reporting disturbing developments on the capital planet Nestor based on the signals we intercepted and decrypted from the Whisper Station,” Signals Officer Hedgewyk said as Starship Conquistador entered the star system of Nestorian Republic which contained its home world of Nestor.
“What is it?” Raptor asked.
“The Republican Guard, their elite light infantry force, is staging a coup,” Hedgewyk said, “They have taken over the orbital battleships as well as planet’s ground defenses and are marching on the Senate.”
“What the hell?” VC Barryett said and looked at Raptor.
“Are we going to have a government to deal with when we get there?” Raptor wondered.
“Commodore,” Horyett said, “A spaceship just rapidly accelerated out of Nestor.”
“So what?” Raptor asked.
“Republican Guard has forbidden all spaceship launches,” Hedgewyk said.
“It appears to have launched from the region where the Senate is based,” Horyett said, “but can’t tell from this far. Could be the government officials escaping.”
“Tag the ship and get identification, if refused we will use our magnetic beam to capture it,” Raptor said.
Communications officer Dorrvyk sent out the request and received a screen full of list a couple of minutes later.
“It’s Nestorian Senate’s staff and there is one major name: Vice-Chancellor Remus,” Dorrvyk said.
“What about the Chancellor?” Raptor asked.
“Might have hanged the poor bastard,” Tollvyk commented.
“Tol…” Raptor looked at him in slight annoyance and Tollvyk shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s what happens in revolutions.”
“No report of him abroad that vessel,” Dorrvyk said.
“Order that ship to dock and keep it in our containment bay,” Raptor said, “if it refuses then use the magnetic beam to haul it in.”
Dorrvyk conveyed the order and the spaceship replied with confirmation of compliance.
“Alright,” Raptor said then switched his display to Capitan Styx’ room, “Capitan Styx, we will have visitors on board in a few. Take the staff to the guest quarters and have Starship Guards keep a strict watch on them.”
“Yes sir,” Styx replied.
“Except one person: VC Remus,” Raptor said, “Bring him to my visitor’s office. Me and Barryett will meet him there.”
“Alright,” Styx replied and Raptor turned off the connection.
Raptor and Barryett walked over to the visitor’s office which was not too far away and was used by the Commodore for private conversations with his staff as well as the guests.
They did not have to wait long and Capitan Styx arrived with VC Remus and two guards.
“Leave us,” Raptor said and Styx left with his guards and waited outside.
“I am Vice-Chancellor Remus Torus of Nestorian Republic,” Remus said, “I had met your Star Commander Carvyk Botlar and requested aid against invaders, but it looks like we have another problem on hand.”
“A big problem,” Barryett said and then Raptor introduced themselves to Remus.
“Are your battleships going to stop the coup?” Raptor asked.
“They are assembled under General Bakus to stop the invasion force sent by Mercurian Empire,” Bakus said.
“Mercurian Empire?” Barryett said, “Never heard of such a state existing in the galaxy.”
“We had neither,” Remus said, “That’s what they call themselves.”
“VC Remus you are welcome to stay abroad under our protection till your people sort this out,” Raptor said.
“Actually Com. Raptor, I was going to ask your help to avert the coup in progress,” Remus said.
“What?” Raptor said, “That’s not what we are here for. Your squabbles concern us none, I am here to ward off these mysterious or Mercurian, as you say, alien invaders.”
“Com. Raptor,” Remus said, “Our protection treaty with your empire has a ‘Suppression of Insurrection’ clause that guarantee’s Starfire Army’s help to protect established governments. As the official representative of my state, I am invoking that clause now.”
Raptor turned to look at Barryett who shrugged his shoulders and said, “He is right about that.”
“Wait now,” Raptor said. He picked up a radio attached to the door and called to Styx outside, “Capitan Styx, fetch the Army Law Officer abroad to this room immediately.”
“Will do.”
“What happened to your Chancellor?” Barryett asked.
“He refused to leave,” Remus said, “and I understand him. He is a very old man and I hope Nolfus doesn’t harm him.”
“Who is that?” Raptor asked.
“Commander of Republican Guard, the man behind the coup,” Remus said.
The door opened and an army officer walked in. He saluted Raptor and Barryett and said, “Law Officer Capitan Legtar Pytar reporting for duty sir.”
Raptor returned his salute. He had never met him before indeed not even glanced at his name on his officer’s list. He was well familiar with army regulations but this was not even in the official rulebook.
“Cap. Legtar,” Raptor explained the situation to him and Remus’ request and then said, “Do I have to put down the coup?”
“Vice Chancellor is right,” Legtar said, “The treaty obliges us to suppress any rebellions or coups.”
Remus smiled but Legtar wasn’t done speaking.
“However, the obligation is on the Starfire State,” Legtar said, “Com. Raptor you are an army officer, you are not responsible for political decisions, only for enforcing army regulations and your orders. In the absence of an order from either Star Commander or House or War; the course of action is left to your judgment and discretion.”
“What would you do?” Raptor turned to Barryett.
“I have never faced such a situation,” Barryett said, “I don’t know and it’s your call.”
“Com. Raptor, the Mercurian Empire will soon be upon us,” Remus said, “Without a stable government we can’t make decisions and properly respond. Our five battleship fleets will be uncoordinated without a central command.”
“He is right about that,” Barryett said.
“On the other hand,” Raptor said, “If this Nolfus has the support of a battleship fleet, I could start a war between Nestorians and Starfire Empire.”
Raptor had a feeling that Commander Carvyk had known that something was afoot in Nestorian Republic and but hadn’t let them on it.
Raptor paced the room for a few aware that the clock was ticking. Then he stopped and turned to face Remus.
“VC Remus, Starfire will fulfill its treaty obligations,” Raptor said.
“Thank you, Nestorians will be grateful,” Remus said.
“C
ap. Legtar,” Raptor said, “write an official pronouncement for our course of action. I will need that when we restore the proper government in Nestor’s Senate.”
“Yes sir,” Legtar saluted him and left the room.
“VC Remus, I am going to let you into our command room as we might need you,” Raptor said, “Let’s go.”
Raptor, Remus and Barryett quickly trotted back to the starship’s command center.
Barryett found a seat for Remus where he could see the large display screen as well as the planet Nestor outside of the transparent diamond cover. Raptor returned to his chair and fetched up a display of the infantry officers’ room on his personal screen.
“Colonel Jarvyk, I need to see you in the command room,” Raptor said, “and order your soldiers to prepare for deployment.”
“Yes sir, right away,” Col. Jarvyk replied.
“Sir, we have four battleships in the orbit,” Horyett said, “but they are just floating and aren’t maneuvering in any battle formation.”
“Dorrvyk, what are they saying?” Raptor asked. Dorrvyk looked at Remus then looked back at Raptor and waited.
“Go ahead,” Raptor said, “I need him here.”
“Signals room is monitoring their communications,” Dorrvyk said, “apparently there was an argument between the republican guard and the battleship officers who are refusing to move into position to stop us.”
“You can intercept our battleship communications?” VC Remus turned around in surprise. Raptor just shrugged and ignored him.
“Sir, the ground laser and rocket batteries are preparing to fire,” Eltar the electronics sensors officer said.