by L. Fergus
“Very odd,” said Sarin. “If it had been a battle, Enterprise would be in the center. Far more ships would have been destroyed before Enterprise took any damage.”
“Rumors out of Shadow Fleet say Political Bureau officers have replaced the upper echelon officers. They say it’s in response to the fleet failing its mission. I have not been able to find out what that mission was.”
“That explains why the Political Bureau is flexing its muscle. There’s no one to keep them in check,” Talon said dourly.
“But how are we going to move Gjord Industries out to the frontier?” said Cinnamon.
“The industrial workers are already out there,” replied Kita. “We need to get the brains from here to there.”
“What about the information, supplies, families, and equipment? There isn’t enough room out there for everyone in Gjord Tower, let alone all the workstations.”
“Why go out there at all? What’s the end game?” said Talli.
“To be the resistance,” said Sarin. “War is coming. The sides haven’t taken shape, but we need to get as many people to safety as we can.”
“And recruit our own navy,” said Kita.
“We won’t be able to take on the Shadow Fleet,” said Sven.
“I was hoping to recruit them.”
“How are we going to do that?” said Talon.
“Be an alternative to Galina and the Political Bureau.”
“I don’t understand how we’re going to move so many people so far, and fast enough to not have the Political Bureau stop us,” said Sven.
“Start identifying who we need,” said Kita. “I have plans for a quantum entanglement communicator that will let us move our data anywhere. We move everything from Gjord Towers and neighboring facilities to the servers here, and we pack these up and take them with us. While Sven and Cinnamon are moving the head of Gjord Industries to its new location, Sarin and the other Angels will become a distraction Galina can’t ignore. They’ll be so focused on us, they’re not going to care that a few dozen shiploads of people just left.”
“With your permission, Sven, I will start sending orders to the facilities in the Rainbow Belt to prepare for our arrival,” said Athena.
“That’s twenty-three light-years away,” said Sven.
“I understand a new entanglement communications unit will be installed in the central office by tomorrow.”
“Of course. I forget that’s a hop and a skip for some of us.”
“It’s no small feat,” said Sarin. “That kind of jump will be the kind that will draw the attention of the elder gods. It will take Kita and I a few hours to install the communicators.”
“The more help you AI girls can be by coordinating material and strategic resources so Kristi and I can work on the personnel part, the better,” said Sven.
“We’ll make it happen,” said Athena.
“What do we do?” said Talli.
“Whatever we can to help,” said Talon. “But if they don’t need us we’re going to train, train, and train.”
“I’ll be around and can teach you all the cool assassin tricks Galina failed to teach you,” said Kita.
Talli’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you were busy.”
“Don’t worry, kid. She’s superb at multitasking. Even I don’t get her full attention,” said Sarin.
“Ouch,” said Kita.
“All right ladies, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Kita, how much time do we have?” said Sven.
“How much time do you need?”
“I’d like a week.”
“Can you do it in four days?”
“Getting the people moving will be the hardest part.”
“Then tell them something worth moving for. I would like to think taking people and their families away from the tyrannical new world the Political Bureau is creating would be enough.”
“It’s not that bad yet,” said Cinnamon.
“Yes, but by the time it is, it’ll be too late,” said Talon.
“Let a couple of them get roughed up on the street,” said Kita.
“We’ll make them see the light,” said Sven.
“Otherwise, they’re out of a job,” said Kita with a chuckle.
Sven rolled his eyes.
Sarin strolled through the Political Bureau headquarters of Neptune as she reloaded her pistols. She and the other Angels were giving the Political Bureau something more to think about than a corporation relocating its headquarters. Her father’s ships were loaded and ready to depart. It was the Angels job to be enough of a distraction so the ships could leave untraced.
She pushed open a door and found a squad of soldiers waiting for her. They fired at her until their magazines were empty. Nearly a hundred bullets hung in the air in front of Sarin. She waved her hand, and the bullets rained to the floor. A blue-tinted cloud billowed out from her hands. Flapping her wings, the blue cloud rushed towards the soldiers. As the cloud passed, the soldiers choked and fell to the ground, spasming and seizing until they died. An elevator door opened, and Talon and Talli stepped out.
“Everything under control?” Sarin said with a smile on her face.
“You’ve been waiting a long time for this, haven’t you?” said Talon.
“Ever since they led me off Base Station in chains. I’ve had a bit of time to let my hatred and anger percolate.”
“I thought those were bad things to use in a fight,” said Talli.
“For those who do not know how to harness them. I don’t use blazing hatred and fiery rage like Kita. Mine is cold and calculated. That’s the difference between someone who needs strength and power to wield a weapon and someone who needs control and precision. But, don’t be like us. It requires a complete frame of mind and a strong stomach. You kill people for an end and nothing more. Kita and I will kill for fun.”
“I like to fight,” said Talli.
“Yes and remember that. You like to fight, not to kill. Keep following what Scarlett teaches, and you’ll be an unstoppable warrior,” Sarin said as she tried the only other door in the room.
Finding the door locked, Sarin changed her pistol ammo to thermite rounds. She fired six times into the door, causing it to melt into a pile of slag. She led the Angels through the hole into the next room.
The thirty people in the room were in disarray. Some were in a tactical position with weapons trained on the door, others were in the process of taking cover, while the rest tried to shield what they were working on.
Sarin shot those she could see from the door. “Thank you all for your service to the Emperor. But I regret to inform you, your service is in my way.” She fired three times into a cabinet, and a pair of bodies slumped out.
Talli and Talon followed Sarin to the main console. With a wave of Sarin’s hand, she pushed the body and blood aside. She tossed a pair of holographic generators into the air. Kita and Athena appeared. With a twitch of Sarin’s nose, Cinnamon materialized.
“Oh, dear,” Cinnamon said, looking around. “You’ve been hard at work, haven’t you, Jane?”
Sarin smiled. “Work? I’ve only been on a pleasant stroll.”
The main console came to life as Kita and Athena hacked the Political Bureau’s computer system trying to locate Galina.
“I found her,” said Athena. “Putting the call through.”
A large screen dropped down on the far wall. The Angels stood together looking formidable.
Galina’s half-plastic, half-human face appeared. “What do you—”
“In what world—,” said Sarin.
“Did you think—,” said Athena.
“You could beat me?” said Kita with a vengeful grin. “And us.”
“Impossible, you’re gone,” Galina snarled at Kita.
“Am I? I think I’m pretty real.” Kita’s face darkened. “You have my baby. I’ll give you one chance to let her go.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Galina.
“Then we’re
going to tear apart every Political Bureau installation, gut every Political Bureau crony until we get to Earth. Once there, we’ll rip apart every city until we find her and you.”
“And when we find you,” said Sarin, “you’ll suffer for eternity and beyond for what you’ve done.”
“Vengeance will be total and absolute. For Quill...” said Athena.
“Spike,” said Kita.
“Leo,” said Sarin.
“Echo,” said Talon.
“My mother, Dev,” said Talli.
One-by-one they listed off the Angels that had died at Galina’s hand. Galina stared back, stone-faced.
“We’re coming for you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us,” said Sarin.
Kita blew her former lover a kiss and then closed the connection.
The dull thumps of heavy-soled boots on a metal gantry made their way into an empty concourse. A small group of armed guards in black Political Bureau uniforms waited with a pair of stern-looking officers. Off to one side, a group of legionnaire officers in blue uniforms stood looking dejected.
Two men exited the gantry.
“Stop right there, legionnaires. Take off your belts and any weapons and lay them on the floor,” a Political Bureau officer ordered.
“No one gives my legionnaires orders without going through me first,” Sarin said with an unhappy growl.
She exited the gantry. Her ice blue eyes darted around, taking in the empty concourse. Usually, Glacier Station would be bustling with military traffic. She wore her custom tailored Legion uniform. She wore subtle makeup, black with a hint of red, and had braided her floor-length blonde hair into a bun that sat at the base of her skull.
Sarin assessed the soldiers in the groups in front of her. Something didn’t feel right. Why don’t the legionnaires have weapons? The looks on their faces said they were captives. Her eyes settled on a short round man who seemed to be in charge. He smelled of cheap cologne. She hoped it wasn’t for her. She only had a nose for one scent, a sweet mixture of brimstone and blood.
“I am Commandant Sarin,” she said to the shorter Political Bureau officer in charge.
“Yes. Your codes are old, but they checked out,” said the officer.
“Of course, they’re old,” Sarin snapped. “We’ve been cut off for sixteen months. Reestablishing contact is one of my first priorities, but even with the fastest ship we could find, it takes time to get from point A to point B. And who are you?”
“Colonel Saunders,” the officer answered. “Now, if you’ll turn your weapons over to my guards, we can talk about integrating your command into mine.”
Sarin raised an eyebrow. “Last I checked this is Legion work, not Political Bureau. Protecting and serving the population is our business. Yours is to watch the population and give us the intel to do our job.”
“Times have changed. The Legion now answers to the Political Bureau.”
“I’m sure the Shadow Fleet has something to say about that,” Sarin replied with a frown.
“That’s none of your business.”
Sarin folded her arms across her chest. He hadn’t addressed her by rank once, and he was by no means her equal. “You’re awfully young to be a colonel, Saunders. You can’t be one of the Bureau’s best and brightest if you’re out here.”
“Last warning,” barked Saunders, his face red. “I will have my men shoot you.”
Sarin dropped her arms and folded her hands behind her back. “You realize you’re just a colonel and I’m a deputy commandant of the Legion. Threatening a system grade officer is several sizes of magnitude greater than just threatening another officer. You don’t get reprimanded or ushered out of the service. You disappear, if my people don’t shoot you first.”
“Who you are no longer matters, legionnaire. You’re nothing but dirt under my boot. I have my orders from the Bureau. We are to control everything, including you.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.” Sarin drew her pistols and put a hole in the forehead of each of the Political Bureau guard detail, and then put a hole in each of Saunders’ shoulders.
Sarin holstered her pistols and picked the colonel up by his front. She looked at his collar. Many trips to the cleaners had left the dark outline of captain’s bars. The leaves of a colonel were new.
“Your commander didn’t believe the orders to take over or did you have separate orders to kill him?” Sarin demanded.
Gritting through the pain, Saunders tried to kick Sarin in the crotch.
Sarin blocked him with ease. “Really, little man?”
“You won’t get anything from me.” Saunders spat in Sarin’s face. Sarin changed her grip to hold him with one hand. Grabbing an arm with enough force to break bone, she used his sleeve to clean her face.
“You…You’re one of them aren’t you?” he said, his voice going up.
“That could mean I’m a lot of things,” replied Sarin. “But, I’m pretty sure you’re talking about these,” Sarin purred as her wings appeared. “Now, to business. How many more Political Bureau scum are on the station and where are they? After they’re disposed of, we can get on with handing it over to me.”
“You’ll have to kill me first,” said Saunders.
Sarin smirked. “I do wish I had the time to turn you over to my partner, though you’d regret making it. She takes killing to an art form.”
“It doesn’t help she’s not here either,” said Talon, as she exited the gantry.
“Yes, he is lucky that I only enjoy killing people, I’m not one for the mess like Kita.”
“I suggest you cooperate, human,” said Talon, “you will tell us what we need to know, one way or another. If you do help us, I promise Sarin won’t kill you.”
“Are you going to back that up?” demanded Sarin.
“If I have to,” Talon replied in a calm voice. “Hurry, Mister Saunders, your window of opportunity is closing. Even as we speak another of us is hunting down the Political Bureau on this station, and she is as ruthless and efficient a killer as any trained by Kita.”
“I told you,” Saunders snarled.
Talon’s hands appeared from her sleeves. A four-inch barb extended from the base of her palm.
Grabbing Saunders head, she jabbed the barb into his neck. It was a short wait for the truth serum to kick in.
“How many men are aboard this station?” said Talon to Saunders.
“Twenty-four, including the detail here.”
“Where are they?”
Saunders gave locations of all the personnel on the station.
Sarin sent the information to Talli. She looked at the legionnaires that stood to one side looking meek and overwhelmed. What happened that allowed a slimeball like Saunders to take charge? She couldn’t believe the Legion would allow itself to be taken over by the Political Bureau.
She addressed the legionnaires. “I need you to contact your Senior Legion and Red Legion officers for the Bitterfreeze system and its subsystems. I’ve got some reports they need to see.”
“I’m sorry, Commandant,” said a major, “but we’re it.”
“What?” Sarin gasped.
“That’s one of the first things that little bastard did was round up the senior officers and shoot them. Only General Starr didn’t report from Freeze-1A.”
“Mining and ranching, right? Who are you?”
“Major Baxter, ma’am. General Starr never showed.”
“Where are your men?”
“Those that refused to switch uniforms to the Political Bureau were shipped out.”
Sarin sighed. “Most likely dead somewhere.”
“We’re left as liaisons to our units.”
“Hostages, you mean?” Baxter nodded. “How loyal are your legionnaires to you?”
“They’d switch back in a heartbeat. This was a Legion station. You killed a quarter of the Political Bureau force when you arrived.”
“Anyway to tell the legionnaires from the Bureau?”
“Sure, Saunders promoted all his people and demoted all the legionnaires to privates.”
Sarin smiled. “That will be most helpful. I need into Saunders’ office. I know there are two Shadow Fleet frigates in the area, and I need to talk to them, but only the Political Bureau is going to have the codes.”
“We can take you to the office, but we’ve never seen any Shadow Fleet ships here,” said Baxter.
“I know they have a separate resupply base way out of the way. It’s supplied by the Political Bureau. I’m hoping if I bypass the base and talk to the ships directly I can talk them over to our side.”
“Our side, ma’am?” replied Baxter.
“We’re in the middle of a coup d’etat. What happened here is not some Political Bureau officer overstepping his bounds. The Political Bureau is seizing power while the Shadow Fleet is impaired from a mission gone wrong. The Legion is the only mobilized force that can stand up to the Political Bureau until the Shadow Fleet sorts itself out. For everyone in this system and the adjoining systems, I brought with me as much food, medical supplies, and fuel as I had ships to carry.”
Baxter’s eyes went wide. “How did you get so much, ma’am?”
“I’m not out here alone. I was stationed with Gjord Industries, and they caught wind of the attack early. They moved as much of their operations as they could out here. It took awhile, but we got it up and going. We have farms, mining, manufacturing…just about anything you could want. We’re in position to challenge the Political Bureau, and now it’s time to make our move.”
“We’ll do whatever you need us to do, ma’am.”
“Good,” said Sarin. “Get General Starr off that rock she’s on. I need to know if she’s alive or dead.”
Talon raised a wing. “I’ll go with them. This might be more than they can handle.”
Sarin nodded. “Take Cin, too. She could use the experience.”
“Hmmm. I do declare someone took my name in vain.” Cinnamon laughed as she appeared behind everyone, leaning against a wall.