111 Souls (Infinite Universe)

by Justin Bohardt

  He was seated on the bridge of the Resistance ship Tora, impeccably dressed in his old navy blue Terran Federation uniform. Noichi was the first officer of the Tora back when it was one of the few T-Fed cruisers that had make it out of the war intact while also not being turned over to the Gael, known then as the TFS Tora. The Tora had been one of many ships that the Terran Federation had thrown out in a last desperate attempt to defend their planet, even after Major Dominic Ounimbango had sold out his own people and planet by giving the Gael the codes necessary to shut down Earth’s defenses.

  The ship had been captained by a fellow Japanese officer, Captain Oh Nobou, an aging veteran of the T-Fed navy, who could trace his ancestry back to Japanese aristocracy and who took his adherence to the code of bushido and the ancient Japanese ways of the Samurai very seriously. When the Gael fleet had brushed aside the majority of the T-Fed force relatively easily and had launched its devastating aerial bombardment of Midway, Captain Oh had turned to his first officer and handed him the katana that had been in his family for generations. Despite it being technically against T-Fed uniform regulations, Oh was never without the blade. Noichi had accepted it with a bow and had watched as his mentor then drew a dagger from his belt and rammed it into his own guts.

  This had drawn gasps from the crew who had stopped paying attention to the battle outside as their captain committed seppuku. Although Noichi had not been one for bushido and he was a descendent of simple fishermen, he locked eyes with Oh as the captain went down to one knee, his teeth gritted and his breath coming in rapid quiet gasps. There was an unstated demand in Oh’s eyes, and Noichi understood it almost immediately. Noichi had witnessed it in films about the history of his land and people, and had never understood it before. In that moment though, he thought he understood. Drawing Oh’s katana from its scabbard, Noichi let out a cry and sliced off his captain’s head.

  There was an uproar from the bridge officers, but Noichi silenced them with a mere look. “To end his pain,” he said. “To save his honor.”

  Noichi had sheathed the sword, had sat down in the captain’s chair and had taken control of the Tora. He had fought tenaciously, taking down two Gael cruisers in the process before the surrender order at last came through. When his superiors ordered him to stop firing at the intruding Gael, Noichi wondered if he should not join his captain in death. Death would certainly have been preferable to the dishonor of surrendering to the enemy.

  While that was clearly Captain Oh’s opinion, Noichi had chosen a different course. Refusing to comply, he ordered his ship to evacuate Terran space, crippling a Gael destroyer in the process. Noichi had believed that a time would come when the Terrans would throw off the yoke of their Gael oppressors and he had wanted to face the Gael on that battlefield.

  When the Resistance was formed, he offered up his ship to it and had been given overall command of one of the Resistance’s four space bound battle groups. With the job came the title of commodore, a meaningless designation to signify that he had slight command over the other captains in the battle group. He was the most experienced space officer in the Resistance, and he wanted the title of Admiral and the ability to make decisions that came with it. That would have meant leaving his ship behind though as Resistance Admirals sat on the Resistance Council and did not actively participate in missions or the fighting.

  Noichi craved the ability to direct some of the Resistance’s action, because he was beginning to despise the direction it had taken. Most of the Resistance’s hostility was directed against human collaborators, even civilians, and not the Gael themselves. The Gael did not often present targets, of course, but that mattered not in the slightest to Noichi. As far as he was concerned, killing other humans only turned people against them and made the Gael more sympathetic. They needed to be recruiting followers to their cause, swelling it with numbers so great that a second Gael War could be declared and won.

  That was one of the reasons he hated the orders that he had just received from Major Paulsen. The limey had ordered his battle group to Barnard’s VI to attack a Terran Gael Force carrier in order to ensure the death of a woman that the Gael had captured. Noichi had read the Resistance’s file on her. The Gael wanted her alive for some reason. Their manufactured reason was terrorism and Resistance affiliation, but the Resistance claimed no knowledge of her. Besides, if she were really a captured Resistance agent, she would have taken her suicide pill and been done with it.

  Noichi shook his head as he finished re-reading the file. The Gael wanted her alive, so the Resistance wanted her dead, and to do so, they had ordered him to kill an entire carrier’s worth of humans. The end of his official orders bore the words: no survivors. Although he had found it abhorrent, he had ordered the Tora and the battle group based at a Resistance-constructed base, located in the middle of nowhere between systems, well away from the shipping lanes, to deploy. Ten ships and their fighter complements were now streaking toward Barnard’s VI at light speed, their commodore wishing that he did not have to fulfill his orders and that he had a real enemy to fight.

  Chapter 28

  1

  The cargo bay to the Melody Tryst opened and Lafayette, Fix and Squawk strode down it, looking around until they spotted Captain Jennings at the Grey Vistula’s hangar bay control station. He was still in his spacesuit.

  “Mon capitaine,” Lafayette called with a wave as he started striding over to him. “I must say of all your plans, this has to be the craziest we’ve ever tried. Can’t believe it’s working so far.”

  “It’s not exactly working,” Jennings responded as he nodded behind him.

  As they got closer, the others could see the woman dressed in a black flight suit holding a plasma pistol to Jennings’ back. Lafayette and Fix immediately went for weapons that were holstered on their hips.

  “I wouldn’t,” Selena Beauregard cautioned. “He’ll be dead long before you get a draw on me.”

  Jennings’ crew hesitated for a moment and exchanged glances while Beauregard stared at them. “Wait a minute,” she muttered. Nodding toward Fix, she said, “I know you. You were at that fraternity party. You dosed Jacq Clemmons and got him out of there.” She dug the gun into Jennings’ back a little more. “I’m guessing that makes you his partner.”

  “Technically, he’s my partner,” Jennings muttered.

  Beauregard laughed mellifluously.

  Fix nodded slowly, staring at Beauregard. A slim grin crossed his face. “Didn’t recognize you without a barely post-pubescent teen’s crotch attached to your ass,” he said. “Or puke all over you.”

  Beauregard shot him a dirty look. “I thought you were some more of Petrova’s people or TGF,” she mumbled.

  “Sneaking back onto a ship that TGF has captured?” Lafayette pointed out.

  “You can’t possibly still be seeking the bounty,” she chided, giving them a little tut-tut with her tongue. “Persistence in this instance will get you killed.”

  “We’re not here for the bounty,” Jennings said.

  “What are you doing here then?” she demanded.

  “It’s a rescue op,” Jennings replied.

  Beauregard laughed even deeper. “Oh God, that’s good,” she said. “Let me guess, she fluttered those pretty eyes or maybe shook those big tits in your face and got you to sway.”

  “It’s not like that,” Jennings said darkly.

  “Oh, so you’re just the big hero then, is that it?” Beauregard demanded, still laughing as she tapped the gun against the back of Jennings’ head. “Not very smart, hero.”

  Moving faster than Beauregard would have thought possible, Jennings dropped to the floor, taking his head out of the line of fire. Beauregard instinctively fired and missed, sending a plasma bolt into the ceiling high above them. Jennings kicked out at her shin, and Beauregard cried out in pain, but still bore her weapon down on Jennings. There was the sound of a shot, and Beauregard screamed, her left hand instinctively going to the smoking skin on her right arm
. The plasma pistol flew from her hand, straight up into the air. Jumping to his feet, Jennings caught in, primed it, and placed it in Beauregard’s face.

  “Nice shot, Fix,” Jennings said.

  “Aimin’ for her head, Cap’n,” Fix said as he placed his pistol back in its holster.

  “Guess I’m lucky he’s a bad shot,” Beauregard said to Jennings.

  “You’re lucky that he’s a doctor,” he replied.

  “You want me to fix her up?” Fix said with an inscrutable expression on his face. “I just finished shooting her.”

  “What’s your name again?” Jennings asked of him, throwing a stern look Fix’s way.

  “Aye,” he muttered, pulling out his medical kit and kneeling down to start tending to the wound on Beauregard’s arm.

  “What a gentleman,” Beauregard said sarcastically as she continued to stare up at Jennings, who shrugged in response. “Oh God,” she spat. “You really buy into it, don’t you? You really think you’re a hero.”

  “Could you please shut the fuck up?” Jennings growled. “You’ve got to be the most jaded person I’ve ever met. Not that we’ve actually met of course.” He paused. “But I’m guessing you were in the stealth ship that attacked us when we were leaving Strikeplain.”

  “Very good, Captain Jennings,” she said. “Selena Beauregard.”

  Jennings laughed explosively. “Selena Beauregard?” he echoed, still laughing. “Really?”

  “Yes, you’ve heard of me?” she said with a smile.

  “No, that’s just the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard,” Jennings answered. “And you clearly made it up. Didn’t have a cool enough name for the Resistance, so you had to fashion a new one?” Selena looked like she was insulted and opened her mouth to speak but Jennings held up a hand, “No, no, wait a sec,” he said. “If you were in the Resistance, you would have spat out some ridiculous rank before your name. Those idiots have a bunch of corporals calling themselves colonels and some civvies parading as admirals. No, I’m guessing you’re working for them, but you’re a freelancer. Am I right? You don’t have any ideals, and you laugh at those who do. You don’t believe in honor and you therefore call yourself a capitalist. Any guilt you ever felt for your crimes has been bought away or rationalized that you were not making the decision and that if you didn’t do it, someone else would.”

  Beauregard stared daggers at him as Fix finished putting a bandage on her arm. He stood back up and stepped away from her. “She’ll be fine,” he said.

  “Personally, I don’t care why you do what you do,” Jennings said. “I won’t even hold it against you for trying to kill us back on Strikeplain. But we are here to get Michelle Williams away from the Gael, and if you get in the way of that, then you and I are enemies.”

  “His enemies tend to spring leaks,” Fix muttered darkly.

  Beauregard pulled herself to her feet. “I don’t have any interest in the girl any longer,” she said. “My contract with the Resistance expired right around the time I was captured by Petrova.”

  “How come the TGF didn’t capture you when they took Petrova’s ship?” Lafayette asked.

  “They didn’t search the cells too thoroughly,” she responded with a sharp laugh. “And the Resistance doesn’t hire me for my good looks.”

  “If you’re not working for them to kill the girl, you could always help us,” Lafayette pointed out.

  Beauregard laughed, and Jennings shook his head at Lafayette. “I don’t think we could afford Ms. Beauregard’s services,” he said.

  “Too true,” she said with a smile.

  “But you’re stuck on this boat with us,” Lafayette said as he walked around to the control terminal and called up a general ship status report. “And pretty soon, we’re going to be docked inside a TGF carrier. Not the best place for you to be.”

  “I’m pretty resourceful,” she replied. “And I’ve already made a deal to get myself out of here.”

  Jennings glanced to Lafayette, his eyes set with meaning that Lafayette did not understand. Jennings turned back to Beauregard. “How long until they get here?” he demanded.

  “Until who gets here?” Lafayette asked.

  “Beauregard squared herself away with the Resistance by giving them Michelle’s position,” he said. “They’ve probably got one of their ragtag little fleets on the way here now. Am I wrong?”

  “You’re not wrong,” she replied. “Even managed to arrange a little transportation out of the deal.”

  “Can we kill her now?” Fix demanded, drawing his weapon again.

  Jennings held up a hand. “No,” he said. “But we can lock her back in the cells again. She’ll find it harder to catch a lift from there.”

  The confident smirk vanished from Beauregard’s face. “Look, I’m sorry, but the girl is gone,” she said. “You’ll never get her away from the Gael and certainly not before the Resistance turns that carrier to slag. Once that runabout is docked, we can take this ship and get out of this system before they are able to launch anything against us. Hell, we could even use the ship as a decoy and get away on your ship there. Everybody wins.”

  “Except Michelle Williams,” Jennings said.

  Beauregard let loose a cry of exasperation. “Fine,” she said after a minute. “What level of help do I have to give you to stay out of the cells?” she demanded as she crossed her arms and stared angrily at Jennings.

  “How much is your life worth to you?” Jennings responded.

  Grumpily, she responded, “I think you know the answer to that.”

  “Good,” Jennings said. “Because you’re about to participate in a four man assault against a ship crewed by over one thousand.”

  “Fine,” Beauregard muttered. “But could you tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  “I wouldn’t think you would care,” Jennings replied.

  “Well, as long as I am going to do something stupid, I would like to catalogue the full extent of my stupidity,” she answered.

  2

  Twenty minutes later, Jennings had told Beauregard everything that he knew about the situation- it wasn’t much. All he knew was that Michelle Williams was not a terrorist, the Gael really wanted her and he had no idea why, and the Gael had suddenly decided that everyone associated with this bounty had to be either killed or arrested. It sounded from what Jennings had overheard from Pahhal that they were going to destroy any and all evidence that the retrieval of Michelle Williams had ever taken place.

  “Makes sense,” Beauregard said.

  “I’m glad it does to someone,” Jennings responded.

  They were sitting on the Grey Vistula’s bridge, going through Petrova’s files, looking for anything useful in the ship’s inventory: weapons, components for the ship, and supplies. Jennings had already sent Squawk to a mechanic’s locker on the bay level and the amount of material and tools available had apparently sent Squawk into a near fit of joy. Fix and Lafayette had been sent to the weapons locker. In the viewscreen in front of them, the TGF Intrepid loomed large and a fighter wing streaked in front of their view.

  “I take it Operation Aurora was something with which you were unfamiliar,” she said.

  “Doesn’t ring a bell,” Jennings replied.

  “My Resistance contact told me about it. How they got it, I don’t know,” Beauregard said. “They have hackers working non-stop trying to get into TGF files, and they have moles within the TGF that are sympathetic to the cause.”

  “What is it?” Jennings said.

  “It’s a list of one hundred and eleven names,” she said. “All of them have been accused of treason, terrorism or mass atrocity. All of them are supposedly associated with the Resistance.”

  “Let me guess,” Jennings said as he looked up from his computer console. “Your Resistance contact confirmed that none of them are actually in the Resistance, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Based on what I learned about Michelle, I had managed to guess as much ab
out her,” he said. “But if none of them are Resistance members, why the hell do the Gael want them?”

  “Don’t know,” she replied. “Don’t really care either.” After a moment, she added, “Oh, but there’s something else you might be interested in. They already have one hundred and ten of the people on the list. Michelle Williams is number one hundred eleven. We are at their endgame, which is probably why they are cleaning up after themselves so diligently. Whatever the Gael are seeking, they have it now.”

  “Not for long,” Jennings said.

  Beauregard laughed. “You’re insane, Captain Jennings,” she said. “And against my best instincts, I find myself liking you.” She stood up from the navigator’s seat she was occupying and walked closer to him, her beautiful looks and shapely figure nicely silhouetted against the stars of the viewscreen. “Maybe if we survive this…” She bent over to look into his eyes, giving him a look down the top of her flight suit, which she had left partially unzipped.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” Jennings began. “But if I went to bed with you, I have the sneaking suspicion that I would end up dead.”

  Beauregard laughed. “That’s right,” she said. “Besides your heart clearly belongs to another.”

  Jennings was going to protest again, but he noticed the runabout suddenly surge forward toward the Intrepid. “The runabout is docking,” he said. “We’re probably next.”

  “Wonderful,” she replied. “Let’s get this suicide mission of yours over with.”

  Chapter 29

  1

  In the brig of the TGF Intrepid’s runabout, Michelle Williams had noticed a number of subtle differences in their journey. There had been a brief sensation of deceleration and she assumed that they had just dropped out of light speed. It was the second time they had done so, but the first had been followed by a near immediate feeling of acceleration as they jumped back into light speed along a new course. This time was different. She had the impression that they were cruising along at sublight speed, which probably met one thing: they had arrived at wherever they were taking her.