Diamond Cut: Book Three in The Glass Complex Trilogy

by John Hindmarsh

  Alke brought the two captured ImpSec destroyers alongside Wanderer in case she needed them to provide further diversions. Their crews had been offloaded, and now the two starships were totally unoccupied. Alke ignored the explosive traps that the departing ImpSec crew had placed in vital areas of each vessel; while she could send in some of her bots to defuse the devices, she had a better idea. Zhu was standing off, shielded, ready to assist if necessary.

  At Alke’s direction, Ioke moved Wanderer into a position level with the collection of antennae, detectors, reflectors, and s-t communication arrays on the top of the way station. She verified that the top of the center tower was unoccupied and fired a volley from the starship’s heavy lasers, destroying millions of credits worth of communication equipment.

  Alke unshielded both Wanderer and the two destroyers, aware that their location less than a klick from the way station would alarm the Imperial military forces. The results should be everything Jessie hoped for.

  “Unknown starship, this is Imperial Military Traffic Control. Move away from the Eirie Way Station or be destroyed.”

  Every viewscreen except one in the Imperial Military Traffic Control Center switched to an image of Wanderer’s bridge, seemingly fully crewed and busy.

  Ioke replied, “Hello, Control. We’ll move away once your forces cease their attack on our starship, which is docked at your way station. Her name is Dreamer, and her passengers are visiting the Emperor.”

  While her companion AI was speaking, Alke generated her hologram inside the military control center. She was wearing her revealing uniform.

  “Good morning.” She greeted the control center crew with a wave. Some stared in shock while others stared in admiration, not realizing the hologram was not of a real person.

  “Who the hell are you?” demanded an apparently senior officer, distracted by the inability of his team to contact the circling Imperial destroyers that were supposedly on guard duty.

  The AI said, “Call me Alke. I’m the person who wiped out your ability to communicate with the outside world. You’re attacking our yacht. Cease, or we’ll destroy your way station.”

  “Sir, she’s correct,” exclaimed one of the control room operators, looking up from a viewscreen. It was the only one not displaying the image of Wanderer’s bridge. He tapped the screen. “It looks like an ImpSec squad is attempting to gain access to the yacht that arrived yesterday. She’s also correct about the passengers. They’re meeting with Emperor Quinton.”

  “Damn—why does this crap happen on my watch?” cursed the senior officer. He said, “Contact General Sedlack.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He addressed Alke. “Return control of our viewscreens. We need to guide and monitor starships on flight paths to the way station. Do you realize this degree of sabotage could result in your arrest for criminal damage and sabotage?”

  “We’ve instructed all starships to reverse their course away from the way station until this crisis concluded.”

  “Crisis? Any crisis here is of your making. ”

  “You’re attacking our yacht. We could arrange to arrest all senior officers—including you—on your way station and arrange for them to be charged with a range of crimes: criminal conspiracy, unauthorized use of military personnel, criminal damage to our yacht. The list is a long one.”

  The officer turned red in the face and spluttered his response. Alke ignored him. She was entertained by the increasing panic as the control team failed to clear their viewscreens. Ioke had switched them to display a scene of hundreds of Ebony Company marines lining up to board shuttles; there was an inference that this was a current scene on board Wanderer. The marines appeared to be armored and heavily armed. Alke subverted one of the control room vidcams and relayed the video of the control room to Jessie Brent with a short message.

  The watch officer, his temper under control, said, “We’ll sort this out with ImpSec. In the meantime get your ship out—”

  “Sir, I have the ImpSec general.”

  “Good morning, General.”

  “Thompson, what the frek do you mean by waking me at this hour?”

  “Sir, one of your squads is attacking a yacht that docked yesterday. The passengers are visiting with Emperor Quinton. We’re under attack as a result.” He indicated, and his vidcam turned its focus to Alke. “This person has destroyed all our communication arrays and antennae. We’re deaf and blind and can’t communicate with any of the destroyers or the moon bases.”

  “What? This is impossible. My men wouldn’t—”

  “Rockoe, relay the vidcam so the general can see the ImpSec squad. Sir, they’re your soldiers.”

  “Frek. Link me to the commander of this squad.”

  “Yes, sir. Rockoe, connect the general.” The local vidscreen displayed an ImpSec captain.

  “Who the frek are you—”

  “Captain, this is Sedlack. Who authorized you to conduct this attack? Cease it at once.”

  “But sir, we received an order from your office.” The officer seemed perplexed.

  “What? I know nothing about this. I’m giving you an official order—cease your attack. Captain, you—and your men—report to my office in fifteen minutes.”

  “But sir—”

  “Lieutenant, I can bounce you down to sergeant, if you like. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” He turned to address his team, most of whom were outside the range of the camera. “Men, the general’s ordered us to stop. Stand down, quickly now. We have to report to his office in fifteen. Move!”

  The display disconnected. The control officer said, “Thank you, General. However, we still have this—this attack on the way station to deal with. They’ve destroyed—”

  “Outside my responsibility, I’m afraid.”

  All the viewscreens changed to a new image. They now showed another scene on board Wanderer, of three rows of warbots, tracked and equipped with heavy weapons, lined up and preparing to board their shuttles. An inspection team was moving along the rows, checking off readiness of each war machine. Alke linked the general’s comunit to the circuit carrying the image.

  Alke said, “General, I suggest you proceed with more caution than perhaps you’re accustomed to. You can see we’re prepared to land our forces on the way station. Also, you’re aware that we captured two ImpSec destroyers yesterday. I’m arranging for them to arrive at the docking arm nearest your personal quarters. I’m sure you know your officers set some explosive devices in place before they disembarked. I plan to send in a couple of our bots to disarm them. Of course, they may not be successful. I believe the resulting explosions could significantly damage the way station—that would be a disaster for you, no?”

  The watch commander, speechless, had a horrified expression.

  The general, unable to hide his shock, said, “Who the frek are you?”

  The viewscreens switched back to Wanderer’s bridge, which now appeared to be busier than before. Alke instructed the operator who had contacted the general, “Rockoe, one of your vidcams should be able to display an image of my starship—could you show the general?”

  “Yes—yes, ma’am. Although I don’t think we’ll get it all in the viewscreen—that’s one huge piece of work.” An image of Wanderer filled the viewscreen. “I’ll move the camera to show all of your vessel,” Rockoe added.

  As the display changed to show all of Wanderer, Alke said, “General, that’s who I am. The two tiny starships next to mine are ex-ImpSec destroyers. You don’t have anything here to deal with us. Now, back to my somewhat inexperienced bots. They could easily make a mistake. I ask again, will you arrange for removal of all explosive devices and other traps set by the departing crews to damage or destroy these two destroyers?”

  Jessie updated Steg and other members of the team in the Imperial palace. “Sir, Alke stopped the attack on Dreamer. ImpSec officers on the station now think Wanderer has hundreds of marines and war bots preparing to board shuttles. She produced some i
ncredible graphics using Ebony Company marines as models. Apparently Wanderer has some dangerous-looking war bots, and she sent videos to the military command center showing hundreds of them lining up to invade the station. Alke is planning to dock the destroyers, and she’s arranged for an ImpSec decon team to remove explosive devices planted when the crews abandoned their ships. The way station watch commander is having hysterics about their damaged communications. Alke told him to consider it to be the penalty for ImpSec’s attack on Dreamer. There’s a platoon of Specials on guard, now, at Dreamer’s lock.”

  “The destroyers are still under our control?”

  “Oh, yes, sir. They’ll be inactive unless our AIs are involved.”

  Denke interrupted, “Steg, there’s movement in the corridor outside.”

  Ioke had subverted vidcams around their location, which were relaying images to the screens in the common area. They could see armed figures moving from shadow to shadow.

  Denke added, “They have striking snake badges on their uniforms, so I assume they’re ImpSec.”

  “Where are your Emperor’s Own? Did you get any help?”

  “They contacted the Emperor for approval to assist us, and they’re on the way here. Five minutes, I’ve been told. It’ll be close.”

  Steg said, “They’ll be late, more like. It’s time to weapon up.” Velez and Steg had carried out the crate of weapons stored in Velez’s room. There was a Gauss rifle for each, spare charges, and a variety of explosive devices. Ioke had included lightweight armor that would provide protection for everyone against lighter weapons. He cautioned his small team, “Remember, we don’t want to damage the palace too much.”

  They placed every movable light in their accommodation area so that, when switched on, they’d shine on the double-doored entrance; the attackers were wearing night goggles and would expect the suites to be in darkness. Even if the sudden glare didn’t overpower their light sensors, there should be enough of a surprise to give them pause. Steg and Velez also had moved heavy furniture to establish two sheltered firing positions. One was to be occupied by Velez and Denke, while Jessie and Finch had the second position. Steg was planning to locate himself in one of the suites opposite the entryway and was in control of the lights. It was the best they could do under the circumstances.

  Denke said, “We could’ve placed explosives around the doorway. I’d prefer to blow the doors off and destroy the corridor rather than getting killed.”

  “Not a problem,” said Steg. “Just don’t bleed all over the rugs. I think they’re antiques.”

  The detour was unexpected. Mendoza checked with his escort, and they said there was nothing amiss, simply that it was the colonel with the Emperor’s Own who had ordered the route change. He relaxed. The limo was heavily armored and unlikely to be damaged by light weapons, but after the last attack, he knew his enemies were likely to use heavier weapons for their next attack, so perhaps their control center had identified a risk of some kind.

  He had met earlier in the evening—if midnight was early—with a cadre of trusted ImpSec officers. However, he acknowledged to himself that a group of ten officers was likely to have a minimum of one infiltrator, if not two or three. The House of Aluta—or what there was left of it after their disastrous economic crash a year before—was his most powerful opposition. Marius of Aluta was both chairman of the House and a group commander in Imperial Security and was, as far as Mendoza could determine, the ringleader of some of the worst rogue elements using ImpSec to rebuild their fortunes.

  Not that the existence of rogue elements in ImpSec was a new experience; his review of the military agency’s history showed officers had crossed the border into criminality too many times. As a result, it had the worst reputation of all of the Empire’s agencies. Fifty years ago, Emperor Julius had disbanded the Advocates, executed the Advocate-General, imprisoned large numbers of Deputy Advocates, and their Representatives, for treason and crimes against the Western Star Empire including corruption, fraud, falsification of records, bribery, and murder. ImpSec had been a key supporter of the DAs and had opposed the late Emperor to an alarming degree.

  The trials and related publicity had rocked the Empire. The Advocate-General and the Deputy Advocates were supposed to assure justice was correctly applied in the Emperor’s name, and the populace had expressed their disappointment and fear.

  Mendoza was afraid the same might happen once they began to disband Imperial Security, although given its reputation there more likely would be cheering in the streets. Clearing out falsely accused and convicted citizens, jailed at the behest of a corrupt agency, would take some time.

  He sighed. The pain comes with the responsibility. The limo braked, and he tightened his restraints.

  The front guard said, “We’re being tracked, sir. Team Delta is dealing with it.”

  “A diversion, Lieutenant?”

  “Possibly, sir. We have a platoon of the Emperor’s Own helping us tonight. The opposition would need a brigade.”

  A hologram formed in the seat beside the general. It was Ioke. The general hid his surprise although his lieutenant took a moment to recover.

  She said, “General, our yacht, Dreamer, was attacked by ImpSec. We’ve straightened that out, although there was some damage to the way station’s communication equipment. Admiral de Coeur is under attack at the palace. Oh, and there’s an ambush set for you two klicks further along this new route you’ve taken. I can eliminate them if you want?”

  “Ioke?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I won’t ask how much damage was done to the station. If you can take out the ambush without civilian casualties, do so. You have my authorization. What’s de Coeur’s situation?”

  “We believe the admiral will be able to handle his attackers. Sir, tell your driver to stop and remain in place until I give the all-clear. There’s no risk to civilians although a warehouse or two might be damaged. They selected an industrial location for their ambush.”

  Mendoza said to his driver, “Enro, stop here. Lieutenant, tell the escort to stop.”

  As the vehicle and its escort halted, Mendoza saw three vertical streaks of lightning flash ahead of the convoy, followed by sharp explosions. The armored limo shook with the passing of concussive waves.

  “Sir,” said Ioke. “The ambush was ImpSec. The attackers have all been accounted for. We’ve images of their snake-badged uniforms. We’ll send personnel IDs to your office. Our recommendation is for you to take a different route back to the palace, avoiding the attack area. I suspect there’ll be a lot of activity there in a few minutes when media arrive and explore what happened.”

  “Thank you, Ioke. Now, what do you know—” The hologram had disappeared before he finished his question.

  “Sir—”

  “Don’t ask.”

  “Friends in high places, I suspect, sir.”

  Mendoza frowned at the lieutenant. The man turned back to face the front of the limo, hiding his smile. He had worked for the general for two years and knew what liberties he could take without retribution from his boss.

  The general said, “Enro, make a U-turn. We’ll take the Gamma route. Tell the escort. The sooner we’re back at the palace, the better I’ll feel.”

  When the vehicle and its escort resumed their journey back to the palace, he checked his comunit. ImpSec General Sedlack had circulated a report describing his early morning activities on the way station. It seemed de Coeur’s warship was still within a klick of the station and had halted all space traffic. He noted the estimated cost of repairs to the communication equipment and sighed. The amount was enough to purchase a new destroyer. He continued reading. The captain of Wanderer had promised to destroy the way station at daylight if Steg and his team at the palace were killed or injured. The Homeworld starship was not permitting an evacuation of the station and had already destroyed a shuttle whose pilot had attempted to avoid the embargo. He checked his watch—it was ninety minutes until dawn.
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  He made a note to explore with the Emperor’s Own why they’d changed his original route when the new direction would have taken him right into the ambush.

  The remainder of his day was going to be a challenge.

  oOo

  CHAPTER 15

  HALF THE ATTACKING squad smashed through the double doors into the common area of their palatial accommodation. Steg flicked on the master switch for the lights as they rushed in and five Gauss weapons opened fire. None of the intruders survived. Steg checked the video display and counted another five soldiers in the corridor. He didn’t have audio and couldn’t eavesdrop on their conference.

  Alke apparently read his mind. Her voice was soft in the earpiece. “Sir, there’s a lieutenant, his sergeant, and three privates. They’re uncertain what to do and are trying to contact their senior officer. We’ve blocked their comunits.”

  Steg said, “They don’t appear to have any shelter along that section of the corridor. Activate all the AI holograms behind them—that will distract them for a second or two. I should be able to eliminate two or more.” He moved forward to the open doorway.

  “Sir,” whispered Velez, “what do you think you’re doing?”

  Steg held up his hand to silence the sergeant. He didn’t want to spend time explaining. He positioned himself inside the broken door and said to Alke, “Now.”