The Terra Gambit (Empire of Bones Saga Book 8)

by Terry Mixon

  “If Admiral Mertz were to give me an open-ended order, I would feel compelled to disregard it as a violation of the spirit of my core rules. A more circumspect set of instructions tailored to the specific circumstance we find ourselves in would find me willing to shade the letter of the law to suit the situation.”

  Sean nodded and sat quiet while absorbing that. It was a lot more nuanced than he’d expected.

  “And Harrison is the same?” he asked after a minute. “He can fire weapons, too?”

  “Indeed he can. I’m surprised he hasn’t already mentioned that to you.”

  “Believe it or not, he tends to stay quiet and runs mostly in the background. Perhaps I’d even call him shy. Introverted.”

  “Interesting,” Marcus said slowly. “I need to spend more time talking to my sibling. He and I have so much in common, yet we also have so many subtle differences.”

  Moments later, Marcus spoke again. “Orbital One indicates that Athena has left for the flip point. Admiral Mertz and Princess Kelsey will be here in a little over two hours.”

  “Then we’d best get those rules you spoke of worked out. I’d like to be able to pass them on to the Admiral for his consideration once he arrives. Let’s try to restrict her without being obvious about it. If she doesn’t realize we’ve locked her out, she can’t be offended by it.”

  14

  Olivia made the trip from Caduceus to pick up Kelsey and Elise. The Crown Princess sat in the back and almost immediately fell into a light doze.

  Kelsey’s reaction to the fleet of ships in orbit around Omega as their cutter undocked from Athena almost made Olivia smirk.

  Stunned didn’t seem adequate. Dumbfounded, perhaps.

  Kelsey was using her implants to access the ship’s scanners. The ships were too far away to pick up by eye, even with the woman’s Marine Raider implants.

  After a minute of staring into space, Kelsey’s eyes refocused on Olivia. “This has to be some kind of trick.”

  “Why?” she asked curiously.

  Kelsey pinched the bridge of her nose. “Because I need those ships. My people need them. Yet, in our universe, they aren’t where we can get to them or repair them. And I can’t believe that Mertz had all this firepower at his command and didn’t do something.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Oh, he did something. Just not what you think he would’ve done if he were the kind of man you believe.”

  “Maybe he couldn’t convince enough people to go along with him,” the short woman said with a frown. “Though he had no trouble getting almost half of Fleet to rebel in my universe.”

  “That’s not the man I’ve come to know. He literally risked everything to save my people. The AI came very close to killing him and everyone with him.”

  “I see plenty of reasons he would risk everything,” Kelsey said with a gesture at the bulkhead. “This fleet gives him a base of power to do whatever he wants.”

  “Yet he hasn’t skulked about doing any dastardly deeds you seem certain he really wants to commit. Once he defeated the AI, he could’ve ordered the few ships he had left to stay at Harrison’s World and taken Invincible home once she was repaired. Fleet wouldn’t have been able to stand against him.”

  She raised a finger to stop the retort she saw coming. “And before you object that his crew wouldn’t follow his orders to subdue the Empire, let me tell you about the computer on his superdreadnought.

  “It’s not a standard Old Empire unit. It’s a sentient AI like the ones running the Rebel Empire, only it has a core imperative to obey Jared. It can also fire the weapons. He could order it to stun everyone aboard with the antiboarding weapons. None could have stood against him at Avalon.”

  Olivia shook her head before the other woman could respond. “This conversation is getting old. Let me give you a pro tip from someone that’s actually ruled a world. If the facts don’t match the results you’re seeing, you’ve miscalculated.

  Olivia knew she shouldn’t be angry, but she was. Not at how Kelsey felt. Not really. It was more because of how unfair the woman’s attitude was to Jared Mertz. The man was a damned saint as far as she was concerned.

  Hearing this duplicate of her friend slander him stung in unexpected ways. She’d need to get a grip on herself.

  Kelsey sat slumped into her seat for half the trip and then spoke softly without looking at Olivia.

  “I can’t put what I feel aside. He killed my father. Perhaps your version isn’t the same kind of man, but that doesn’t change the rage and loathing I feel for him.”

  Olivia turned to Kelsey, making sure to keep her expression neutral. “And I could say that having seen your brother Ethan in action over here, I can’t get past that. The man was a mad dog that tried to kill your father and plunge the Empire into civil war.

  “Is he that way in your universe? I hope not. He managed to hide his condition from everyone here. By your logic, I’d be doing your universe a favor by shooting him. Is that fair to him? No.”

  She sighed and put her hand on Kelsey’s arm. “This is complicated in ways that no one else can understand. The people around you look like the ones at home, but they’ve lived different lives. You have to be able to see past appearances. Discover the truth without your prejudices.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Kelsey said in a whisper.

  Olivia squeezed the other woman’s arm. “You can. Kelsey Bandar is the strongest person I know. She can quite literally do anything. Remind me to tell you the story about how she saved tens of thousands of people on my world by doing something absolutely mad someday. Just say ‘fist of god’ and I’ll know exactly what you mean.”

  “I wish I was her, I really do,” Kelsey said as she slumped further in her seat. “I’ve failed at so many things. It’s as if she got all the good luck and I got the bad. Is that how karma really works? Am I destined to be the Kelsey that failed?”

  “Destiny is wrapped around what other people think. It says nothing of the conflict we feel or the struggles to succeed. Kelsey has her doubts, too. She puts them aside and does what needs doing. You can do it, too. I’m sure you already do.”

  The cutter docked with the hospital ship. That woke Elise and the three of them made their way out. Doctors Stone and Guzman were waiting outside the lock.

  Lily extended her hand to Princess Kelsey. “Welcome aboard, Highness. I believe you already know Justin.”

  “I do, though everything here is so strange and unexpectedly different in ways I’m having trouble adjusting.” Kelsey shook Lily’s hand and then Justin’s.

  “No matter the differences, we’ll do everything in our power to heal you,” Guzman said softly. “We take our oaths very seriously. Lily risked getting shot to save the emperor during the coup. Elise was shot.”

  Kelsey tilted her head and looked more closely at the Crown Princess of Pentagar. “I hadn’t heard. Thank you both.”

  “I didn’t do that much,” Lily said, waving a hand as if dispersing smoke. “Just took a blood sample and found a compound that I could combine with nanites to give him a chance. It was a damned close thing. Elise did the dangerous part.”

  Guzman shook his head. “Lily was with him in the Imperial infirmary during the coup. Getting that sample would’ve been worth her life if…well, if the wrong people saw her taking it.”

  The princess from another universe didn’t say anything about the man’s delicate pause, but Olivia interpreted her briefly sour expression for comprehension about what he’d not said.

  “In any case,” Lily said. “Let’s get you to the medical center and do a complete scan.”

  “The Imperial physician did one,” Kelsey said with a scowl. That was a trait the two Kelseys shared.

  “He’s not me. I want to use my own equipment and make my own decisions about what’s possible and what’s not. He’s a good man, but I have a lot more experience with Old Empire technology. The goal isn’t to do a good job fixing you. It’s to do the absolute best job pos
sible.”

  Elise put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “I understand you don’t like being poked and prodded, but I’ll be with you the entire time.”

  The short woman sighed. “If I must.”

  “On that cheerful note, I’ll take my leave,” Olivia said. “I’ll be on Invincible if you need me.”

  As she headed back into the cutter, Olivia sighed. This was going to get worse before it got better. Once Kelsey had people from her universe reinforcing her view of Jared, it would set in stone again. This was going to be an unwelcome addition to an already stressful mission.

  Kelsey felt overwhelmed as they made their way into the largest and most advanced looking medical center she’d ever seen. Men and women in white lab coats bustled about.

  “How many people are you expecting to treat?” she asked Doctor Stone. “Capital Hospital on Pentagar was nothing like this. No offense, Elise.”

  Her friend smiled. “None taken. We’re doing everything in our power to rectify that. Doctor Plant—the man who first treated you there on my version of Pentagar—is very enthused.”

  The memory of the jovial man in a white smock lightened Kelsey’s mood. “He treated me, too. I’m glad. I hope I can at least jump start something like that in my universe.”

  She put her uncertainty behind her. Time to get this over with.

  “What next?”

  Next turned out to be several hours of intensive scans followed by dinner with Elise while the doctors wrangled over the new data.

  Once she’d sated her never-ending hunger, they returned to Stone’s office. The two doctors were already seated at a small table and gestured for the women to join them.

  Kelsey sat across from Stone. “Did you discover anything else I need to know about?”

  “We managed to get some higher resolution readings of potentially problematic areas,” Stone said. “That improves your potential outcome.

  “Another factor that the Imperial physician couldn’t account for was something he doesn’t really understand: Marine Raider nanites. While I gave the emperor a shot of them with the cure, that was just a stopgap measure. He has the standard Fleet version now.”

  Kelsey felt herself frowning. “Since I don’t have them at all, I really have no grasp of what that means. Is there a difference? Why not give him the better set?”

  “Unfortunately, we couldn’t at the time, though we’re now in a position to change that,” Stone said. “You’ll have to ask Admiral Mertz about the specifics of that, as it’s classified.

  “The difference is that Marine Raider nanites are significantly superior. While the standard Fleet version can’t repair the deep scarring in your body, I believe that a combination of Marine Raider nanites and a targeted series of regeneration sessions might eliminate virtually all of the pain you have to be feeling.”

  Kelsey shrugged. “I’m not in pain. I haven’t felt much since the Pale Ones did this.”

  Stone’s expression told her that the woman didn’t consider that a positive thing.

  “Your pharmacology unit contains some powerful painkillers. They only mask the damage. It would be better to eliminate the scarring. If you agree, we can seed your nanites now and start regeneration sessions tomorrow.”

  “I’ve already agreed,” she told the doctor. “I have to trust your knowledge, even if the idea of machines inside me makes me a little sick.”

  Stone smiled. “For what it’s worth, Kelsey felt exactly the same way. She warmed to the idea when she started getting hurt. These nanites are very powerful. They were cutting-edge Imperial tech before the Fall.

  “Not even the Old Empire knew precisely how powerful an effect they would have on a person over the long term. Someone with Fleet nanites can live past three hundred years. What’s possible with Marine Raider nanites boggles the mind.”

  “What?” Kelsey said with a frown. “Hundreds of years? That can’t be right.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Stone said. “What did you find on Erorsi?”

  The nonsequitur made Kelsey blink. “Uh…a planet full of raging monsters? We managed to eliminate the orbitals, but had no reason to look closer. Why?”

  “Believe it or not, there’s an old defense bunker hidden there. At least there is in our universe. The residents are descended from the people that tried to hold out. They had a man with them that was kept alive through a combination of Fleet nanites and a stasis chamber. He’s ancient, but still alive.”

  The idea didn’t register for a long moment. “Wait. Are you saying someone down there was alive before the Fall? That’s impossible.”

  Stone shook her head. “It’s true. Ensign Reginald Bell was dropped off there by Courageous to assist in the original defense of Erorsi. I hope you get a chance to meet him. He actually saw Imperial City on Terra with his own eyes. Imagine growing up in the Empire at its height.”

  Kelsey felt her stomach do a slow roll. “God. To live through that and still be alive all this time later. How sad he must be.”

  Maybe her life didn’t suck as badly as some.

  She made a mental note to find out about the refuge on Erorsi. It was too late to hold onto Courageous now, but if these people still had access to Old Empire tech and skills, their help would be critical to the survival of the Empire.

  But that was a task for later. Right now, she needed to get this damned procedure done.

  “We might as well get this over with,” she said, resigned to yet another medical procedure. “Will it hurt?”

  “Not at all,” Justin said. “We’ll use some of the nanite samples we retained from our Kelsey to create a template in your nanite fabricator. Once we have it reactivated, it’ll begin getting them into your system. It should only take ten minutes and you won’t feel a thing.”

  “That may not be completely true,” Stone said with a shake of her head. “Once your pharmacology unit senses the damage being repaired, it will begin reducing the dosage of the pain killers. In a day or so, you might feel a low-level ache or worse. Nothing sharp. That will last until we finish the series of regeneration procedures.”

  Oddly, the fact that it would hurt made her feel better.

  “What about the elephant in the room?” Kelsey gestured toward her artificial eye.

  She’d lost the original during the terrifying weeks she’d spent as a Pale One. Her version of Justin Guzman had figured out the medical equipment on Courageous well enough to put her eye together, but it didn’t look pretty.

  It also didn’t work correctly all the time. Every once in a while, it glitched and reset. Or switched modes to infrared at inopportune moments.

  Looking in the mirror every morning was a reminder of what she’d lost. If they could do anything about this, she’d kiss their feet.

  “We can replace that with a version that looks normal,” Stone said. “I wish we could regenerate it completely, but there are limits to Imperial technology. That said, it will look exactly like your original eye. No one will be able to tell it isn’t natural.

  “We can also regenerate the area around it. The scars will take a while to fully disappear, but I anticipate a complete success with the procedure. I recommend that we save that for a few days from now, however. Let’s get the nanites active and start the targeted regeneration first.”

  Justin smiled. “That’ll give me time to refresh myself on the literature and work with our technical people to create an eye with the same capabilities as your Marine Raider implants grant your natural one.”

  That hardly seemed important, since she never used any of the ridiculously powerful features in her ocular implants. Why anyone needed to be able to see telescopically or microscopically, she had no idea.

  Still, that made better sense than some of the other Raider modifications. Her sense of smell could now do a chemical analysis of things around her and she could eavesdrop on conversations in the next compartment.

  As a child, she’d read some comic books about people with super powers.
She’d thought it would be amazing to be able to do those things. Now she knew that that’d be a huge pain in the ass for the poor bastards.

  Well, time to make the magic happen.

  She rose to her feet. “Let’s do this.”

  15

  Jared sat in his private dining room aboard Invincible with Sean and Olivia. They’d just finished a quiet meal. Alex had outdone himself. Jared was warming to the idea of having a manservant with this kind of talent.

  “It’s time to work out the plan going forward,” he said after taking a sip of his drink. “It’s not going to be as simple as I’d imagined. Not only do we need to deal with Kelsey’s doppelganger and friends, but with the large number of ships we’ll need to conceal. I think direct command of the destroyer will need to be in a different set of capable hands.”

  “You mean mine,” Sean said. “At least I hope you do. I’ve been preparing various little pitches to be your executive officer.”

  Jared started to say something, but Olivia interrupted him.

  “And I’m going along.” Her tone left no doubt that she considered the matter was settled.

  Amused, he nodded. “Permission granted. Your unique insight into the Rebel Empire will be a huge plus.”

  The woman shot Sean a smug look.

  “Okay, I’m beaten,” Sean said. “Be gracious in your victory.”

  “We’ll allow Kelsey to return to her universe and gather some people to bring back for training,” Jared continued. “That means they’ll need suits capable of withstanding the radiation.”

  “I have a hundred suits prepared,” Sean said. “If they insist on more people—and you allow it—we’ll have to make multiple trips.”

  “A hundred sounds like a nice round number,” Jared said after a moment’s consideration. “If she pushes the issue, I’ll authorize up to two hundred. I’d prefer most of them not be people already on our ships, but I know there’ll be some overlap. Keep it below ten percent. We need to be sure of who we’re dealing with.”

  Sean grunted. “I’ve consulted with Doctor Stone about that. If Kelsey was honest about her people not having implants, we can make sure the serial numbers are different should we decide to give them any. We can also tweak their implants so we get a notification when we’re dealing with people not from our universe.”