Empire (Empire, Book One)

by Logan Rutherford

  Hayden thought about it for a moment. He knew he couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass. He had the most experience and was the most competent. He didn’t want his life—much less those of his friends—in anyone else’s hands. Even if temporary, there weren’t many L-Cadets going into the fleet that could say they were the XO of a Borvorian-class warship during wartime.

  Hayden grabbed Ivan’s hand and shook it. “Let’s get these bastards.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Ivan sat in his study, going over the footage of the battle like a coach before the next game. He searched for patterns, trying to figure out what their plan of attack might be. They had to have one, even if it was to go out and improvise. Having no plan was still a plan, albeit not a very good one. Still, it meant there was always something Ivan could exploit.

  That is, if he could stare at the screen long enough to concentrate.

  His attention kept wandering. His thoughts scattered, yet the idea of collapsing into his bed being the one constant. Ivan scratched at the top of his left wrist as he sighed and tried once more to figure out their best plan of attack for their next encounter with the Mortuks.

  Maybe it was the fact that Hayden was in charge of keeping the ship running, while Ivan studied the footage. No. He shook his head. That wasn’t it. The teeniest bit of faith he had in Hayden knew would keep everything running smoothly.

  He scratched at his left wrist again and the answered seared itself into his brain like a brand.

  Mia.

  He remembered the promise he’d made to himself. The promise to give her a call once he was on board the Comoran. Well, now was the time. Now more than ever, given the revelation that the Mortuks had made it further into human territory than he previously thought.

  Ivan pulled the application up on his screen and saw her dot flying down the road. She must’ve been in a vehicle. Her vital signs seemed good. She was alive.

  Ivan’s finger hovered over the call button. It’d been so long since they’d talked. So long since he’d seen her face.

  He couldn’t think about it any longer.

  He pressed the button.

  Call connecting…

  He had to remind himself to breathe.

  Call connecting…

  Would she know what to do? How would she know how to answer the phone?

  Call connecting…

  She’s a smart girl. She’ll figure it out.

  “Dad!” a voice yelled.

  Ivan realized he’d looked away from the screen but his attention snapped back at the sound of his daughter’s voice. He was stunned. She was as beautiful as ever, despite seeming tired and dirty. Her hair was a mess, the dark curls hiding a twig or two inside their grasp. Her cheeks were dirty, but not enough to take the beauty from her olive skin. Unlike Beth, who took after Ivan, Mia took heavily from her mother. At one point, it‘d explained why he found himself unable to look at her without feeling disgust. Now, however, he realized how much of a fool he’d been. Mia was beautiful and no part of her soul came from her mother.

  “Mia, what’s going on? Where are you?” Ivan said. The image froze and sputtered, her voice not coming through clearly.

  “Dad…you…cutting…”

  Ivan slammed his fist on his desk. All he wanted was for the damned thing to work. All he wanted was to talk to his daughter.

  Something popped into the edge of the frame.

  Ivan leaned in a bit closer. The face of a baby filled the screen.

  His heart sank.

  “Is that a baby?” he asked, trying to sound excited through the guilt.

  “Not…my…are…safe?…Everything…destroyed.”

  Ivan had so many questions he wanted to ask. So many things he wanted to say—most of them beginning with the words ‘I’m’ and ‘sorry.’ But he knew he didn’t have time. The call connection grew weaker and weaker with every moment and he hadn’t the slightest clue why. All he knew was that if he had just a few more moments to talk to his baby daughter, he wanted her to know one thing.

  “I love you,” he said, fighting back the lump in his throat.

  “I…y—”

  Call failed.

  “Dammit!” Ivan shouted, slamming his fist down. He couldn’t believe what he’d just done. Who he’d just seen.

  The face of his daughter brought back so many emotions he’d tried to keep locked away since the last time he saw her. She was nothing like Beth and he didn’t do the best job of keeping secret whom he loved more. And now, more than ever, Ivan knew he was an idiot. A fool. A man worthy of all the shit he’d gone through—punishment for keeping a daughter from the full scope of a father’s love.

  Seeing her, talking to her, it was as if a puzzle piece had slipped into place. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe. His desire to hug his daughter was enough to power the entire Empire.

  Then there was the baby. Had she really had a baby and never told him about it? Or had she been trying to say that it wasn’t hers? Either way, Ivan desperately wanted to find out.

  He settled down into his chair, taking a few moments to let his emotions—guilt, love, excitement, anxiety, fear—settle down to a manageable level.

  He turned his attention back to his tablet, two words that Mia spoke ringing louder than the others.

  Everything.

  Destroyed.

  It seemed as if Hayden was right. The phone call with his father did contain footage of the Mortuks’ attack on Earth. Their assault had made it all the way there already, seemingly without notice. It was the only explanation for Mia’s words, the quantum network interference and the fact she was in a vehicle going down a rural road with a strange baby in her lap.

  Everything.

  Destroyed.

  Ivan took those words—used them as fuel. He pulled up the footage of the battle at the Comoran with the Mortuks. There was nothing to distract him now—only to motivate.

  Earth needed the Empire’s help and Ivan had a daughter to save.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Listen close, Hayden. This is exactly what we’re going to do,” Ivan began as his XO sat in the chair to his right. Ivan sat at the head of the table in his meeting room, a new life breathed into his old bones.

  Hayden leaned in close. “I’m listening, sir.”

  Ivan smiled for a moment, realizing the irony of the situation. It wasn’t the first time he was telling a Key what their plan of action would be. He never thought he’d be doing something like that again, but desperate times call for desperate measures. “We’re setting course for Earth. I have reason to believe that you’re correct in your assumption that the Mortuks have invaded Earth.”

  “What new information did you come across?”

  Ivan explained to Hayden the conversation he’d had with his daughter. How she’d told him everything he needed to know about the situation on Earth.

  Everything.

  Destroyed.

  The smile had long since left Hayden’s face. Now he leaned forward and Ivan had no doubts he was paying attention to every word he said.

  “Once we’re done here I’ll issue the command for us to plot a jump a safe distance away from Earth. From there we’ll assess the situation—hopefully get into contact with the military,” Ivan explained. “We need to let them know what we’ve—you’ve—discovered, regarding the effectiveness of bullets over lasers. Most of the ships in the fleet aren’t as old as the Empire, so they won’t have the ability to switch to bullets so easily. We’ll leave that for people smarter than us to figure out.”

  Hayden sat back and Ivan watched as he processed all the information—putting it through the filter of a green L-Cadet. Ivan could tell he was trying his best and, from what he’d seen so far, his best was better than the rest.

  “What about once we get there? Once we’ve assessed, what if there’s no military to contact?” Hayden asked.

  Ivan chuckled and shook his head. “There’s always military. Whether it�
�s ships who were able to escape or people coming from the depths of space like us, there’ll be back up.” Ivan had given up depending on the military being there for him personally but he knew it’d always be there when it came to the defense of Earth.

  Judging from the look on Hayden’s face, Ivan’s XO didn’t seem so sure.

  To his surprise, Hayden offered up no retort. “Sounds like a plan then. I’m eager to find out exactly what’s going on.”

  “You and me both. I’ll give the order and make sure they put everything we’ve got into our FTL engines. We’ll be home before we know it.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Mia clutched her gun tight in her right hand, while her left hand held Beth in her car seat. She walked behind Sam who held his T-15 standard issue LZAR—Laser Assault Rifle. They walked towards the burnt-out charging station for electric cars they’d come across. It seemed to have been looted and set ablaze. Mia couldn’t decide whether or not the latter was intentional.

  Besides Beth’s heavy breathing as she slept, the only sound to be heard was that of their feet crunching atop the white rock driveway of the station. It was old-timey like that, the type of place you could enjoy a home-cooked style hamburger while you waited for your car to charge. Now, however, the station was the only thing charbroiled. Still, they couldn’t pass it by. They needed supplies for Beth and they had to see if any could have survived the blaze.

  The crunching of rocks turned to the crushing of glass as they reached the entrance to the station. Sam stepped in first, flicking on the flashlight that was built into his T-15. The beam of light illuminated the burnt-out interior. There were burned boxes of snacks and the shelves were warped and black.

  They scanned the room in silence, staying alert for both supplies and enemies. Down the third aisle, Mia hit the jackpot. “Right here,” she said.

  Sam turned and walked a few steps back to her. “Damn, must’ve missed it.”

  Sitting on the bottom shelf were charred packages of diapers. “Go check the rest of the aisle for more baby stuff. See if you can’t find a bag to put this stuff in, too,” Mia said.

  Sam placed a hand on his knee to steady himself as he stood and continued the search. Mia ruffled through the burnt packages of diapers, trying to find as many as she could with minimal fire damage.

  Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She reached for her pistol but saw it was Sam. “What ar—” she started. But the frantic, terrified look on Sam’s face shut her up.

  “Hide,” he said.

  Mia grabbed Beth’s car seat and the pistol, and ran to the end of the aisle with Sam. He pulled her down at the exit of the aisle and they pushed their backs up against the end.

  “What’s going on?” Mia whispered.

  “There’s something out there.” Sam gestured his head towards the outside of the building.

  Mia inched her head up, looking over her hiding place. She scanned the outside of the building and it was only a few moments before she saw what Sam was talking about.

  It was a large creature, twice the size of a Great Dane. It stood on four legs like a dog, too. Except this creature had large teeth that lined the inside of its snarling mouth. It had no hair, just dark brown skin that looked like it was about to burst open thanks to the thick muscles it fought to contain.

  It paced back and forth in front of the store, growling.

  Mia sank back down next to Sam, sure her face was as white as his. “What is that thing?”

  Sam shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Mia racked her brain but couldn’t think of anything. Nothing in what she’d read about the Mortuks mentioned them having any sort of monster creatures. “Whatever it is, it knows we’re in here.”

  “Are you sure?” Sam asked as he slowly sat up, trying to sneak another peek at the creature.

  Mia sat up next to him. “Yeah, see how its pacing like that? It has to know we’re in here. It’s either waiting for us to come out and trying to figure out a plan of attack, or it’s just toying with us—letting its presence be known.”

  “Do you think it was following us?” Sam asked.

  “That’s not important,” Mia said as she sat back down. She grabbed Beth’s car seat, thankful that she was still asleep. Their exact position inside the store was still a mystery to whatever that creature was. “Let’s sneak out the back and make a run for it,” Mia said, pointing with her pistol at the door a couple aisles down, an Employees Only sign drilled into it.

  Sam nodded and Mia got up to her feet. She leaned down, trying her best to stay out of sight. She made a dash for the door and twisted the doorknob. Thankfully, it was unlocked and she entered the back storage room. The walls and ceiling were black and the smell of ash was so strong she thought she might pass out. A part of the roof had collapsed but the backdoor seemed to be okay. Operational, at least.

  Behind her, Sam quietly closed the door. They walked silently towards the back, her pistol trained on the door in front of her. Sam crossed in front of her and with his right hand still holding up his weapon, finger on the trigger, he used his left to rest on the doorknob. Mia made eye contact and understood what he was doing. She stood back a bit, holding her pistol out in front of her, aimed right at the door. She gave a slight nod and Sam flung the door open.

  The creature in the front wasn’t alone.

  A second one was waiting in the back and, when the door opened, it let out a deep roar as it lunged through the open doorway. Mia squeezed the trigger three times, a red bolt of energy firing from the weapon with every shot. The creature slid across the ground dead. Mia stepped over it as she ran through the door, Sam following behind her. They ran for the woods behind the store. There was another roar behind them. The first creature bounded after them, its muscles rippling with every step it took. Its sharp claws ripped up the ground behind it as Mia pushed herself to run faster.

  Sam fired his weapon behind him but one glance over her shoulder confirmed Mia’s fears that neither of them had hit their target.

  The tree line was close. Once in, Mia hoped it would make losing the creature easier. She could feel the vibrations of the creature’s pounding feet through the ground. She could feel it getting closer. Hear it. She turned around.

  The creature reached Sam, lunging through the air, tackling him to the ground. Sam slammed to the dirt, the animal’s sharp claws close behind. It scraped down his back, blood spurting out, a scream of pain escaping the soldier.

  Against every instinct, she set Beth down. The baby began to cry. Mia ran towards the creature, both her hands on her pistol. It raised its paw, ready to dish out the killing blow to Sam who was desperately reaching for his rifle.

  Mia stopped a few feet away, aimed her weapon and fired a barrage of shots into the creature. It fell sideways, holes singed into its flesh from the blasts of energy. She ran to where it lay, lifeless, and fired more shots into its dead body—just for good measure.

  She scanned the area around her, waiting for another attack. There didn’t seem to be any more of these monsters. Mia fell to Sam’s side, pressing down on the gashes in his back.

  “Is it as bad as it feels?” he said through gritted teeth.

  The three wounds went from a few inches below his shoulders all the way down to his lower back. Blood seeped through her fingers at an alarming rate. “It’s not too bad.” She pulled off her dirty, bloody t-shirt. She bunched it up and pressed down on Sam’s back. The early afternoon breeze chilled her exposed body. Her bra was the only thing covering her torso now.

  “Get Beth,” Sam whispered.

  Mia was touched at how he was thinking about the baby at a time like this. She jumped up and ran to grab Beth, bringing the crying baby to Sam’s side.

  “Okay. We need to get this wound stitched up. Except we don’t have any stitches. Which means I’m going to have to cauterize the wounds.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” His voice contained less energy with
each syllable.

  She grabbed her pistol and moved Beth behind her. “I learned this during L-Cadet training.”

  “You were an L-Cadet?” Sam asked.

  Mia checked for a dial on the side of the weapon. But there wasn’t one, and a quick look at Sam’s T-15 confirmed her fears that it didn’t have one either. This is really going to hurt. She got on Sam’s left. “Yep,” she said, answering his question. She knew she had to keep him talking. Keep his mind off what was about to happen. “For a year, before I dropped out.”

  “I didn’t think you could do that,” he said as Mia removed the shirt from his back.

  “You can do a lot of things when you’ve got the last name Ivan.” She lined the weapon up with Sam’s side. She got down on the ground next to him, squinting through one eye, trying to line her gun up perfectly. From what she remembered, she had to line it up precisely to where the superheated laser blast from her pistol would just barely graze the wound, cauterizing the skin. “You ready?” she asked.

  “Yea—”

  Mia fired before he could finish.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Mia threw the bag of supplies in the backseat of the sedan she’d found, followed by the bag for Beth. Then it was time to load them both into the car. Beth was easy—all she had to do was buckle her seatbelt. The little girl was sucking down a bottle of milk, so she was happy. She’d have to eat some real food soon but the bottle did the trick for the moment.