“Am I to understand your intention to keep my corporate space for yourselves?”
“Not at all. We just want primary trading rights and in exchange you will receive our protection and your military will become auxiliaries to ours when we need them.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then we will fulfill our pledge to refit your destroyer and send you out of Border World space with our blessings. Your people will be given the option to stay or join you. We will still prosecute the war against the Petrov Corp. This is the will of the senate and cannot be countermanded.”
Balin sank visibly in his seat and nodded affirmation to the deal. He knew he had no choice if he was ever to return to his home in any capacity.
“The tenth legion has been called out and will assemble in the Cassiopeia 83325 system. It will take about a month to shift protections and release the legion. In that time, the senate has ordered the scout vessel Draco and her crew to travel to the home world of the Balin Corporation and bring back information concerning the status of affairs. Decanus Marshal, you will again accompany them. I have taken replacement troops from the first cohort to fill your ranks and bring your unit to full strength. There was no lack of volunteers for the mission. Any questions?”
Alaya was the first to speak up. “Consul,” she was careful to use his political title in this situation, “I assume you will want us to leave immediately. We will need maps of their home world and their cities.”
“Glad you asked about that. We have something better in mind. Captain Rand has been assigned to the cruiser Reynolds as her captain. He is now a member of the Border Worlds auxiliary. Since his cruiser will be in space dock for several months of repairs, he has agreed to go with you as a guide.”
Slone congratulated the captain on his promotion to cruiser command; the promotion was well deserved and he indicated his assent to having Captain Rand join them. The Draco and her crew remained on the Longinus as the remainder of Decanus Marshal’s troops was ferried over from the Reynolds and protection was turned over to the Balin marines. The Petrov prisoners were transferred to the Border Worlds freighter and taken out of system under Balin guard. They would be held in the Border Worlds region until the war was resolved or they could be sent back in a prisoner exchange.
Two days later the Draco was ready to depart. The crew was aboard as was Captain Rand and the Romani under Decanus Marshal. Captain Rand also met Sly. He was told about the Serpents, with the usual threat of execution to keep it quiet. Slone had to admit, he took finding out humans were not alone in stride. Captain Lorenzo came to see them off in his military role, without Lictors, and wished them well. The Romani knew this was a momentous moment. They would at last reveal themselves. Henceforth, they would be more than the Matsua Rim Pirates. An entirely new civilization was about to burst into corporate space and prove the rumors true.
Chapter 3 – New Wales
The Draco landed in a small clearing on the subtropical planet of New Wales, the home world of the Balin Corporation. They spent a week and half traveling here from the Border Worlds. They landed ten kilometers outside the Capital City of Penllyn. Captain Rand recommended the spot based on distance, close enough to walk and far enough to escape detection unless someone stumbled on them while walking in the jungle. Slone had a feeling that no one was walking around. When they first entered the system, they detected several dreadnoughts, cruisers and destroyers coming and going in a routine of patrols through the system and beyond. What he was told seemed to be true, the Petrov Corp was here to stay. Their plan was simple, split into small groups and enter the city at staggered times. Walk through and contact people to see what was known and what could be spied. They hoped to spend a week checking things out and then get back into space, move to another system and send a message capsule to the Cassiopeia 83325 system, where the tenth legion was assembling. They would then rejoin the fleet.
They took clothing from the civilians on the Balin transports and dressed themselves to fit in as Balin natives. They would have to limit their interaction due to the difference in speech patterns. This was mostly a problem for the Romani troops, since they had a decided accent. The corporations had so much intermixing with trade and immigration; there was no distinctive speech for any of them. Regional variations existed but no one cared if you sounded like a Sinclair spacer or a Balin spacer. The groups formed as follows: Slone, Alaya, Rand and Decanus Marshal were to spy out the administrative center; the Gardners along with two Romani were to enter the city and check out the shopping districts, always a good way to find out what people’s topics of conversation are. The rest were to stay with the ship and be ready for contingencies. Communication was for emergencies only and on a tight band, burst transmission. Communication was the Achilles heel of the operation, since all transmissions are a risk.
They set out before dawn and the Gardners left first. The main shopping district was along the northern area of the city and they would follow the jungle paths to the paved footpath to a northern approach. An hour later, the Slones left with their group. It was decided to send the married couples since, in the event of questioning, they would be able to tell the truth and not worry about a cover. They would use their aliases, even though Captain Rand now knew the truth. He would briefly split from the group after the primary mission to check on his family, who lived in the capital. Slone and his group followed a well-worn path to the paved road leading to the western approach of the city. They moved as rapidly as they could without attracting attention, since there was considerable pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the road. Anti-gravity vehicles of all types were flying over the heads of the pedestrians walking from their small, jungle villages to sell their goods in the markets. They pushed their goods ahead of them on anti-gravity sleds. Those coming from other cities were in the public and private vehicles flying overhead. Essentially, there were no signs of an invasion. As they approached Penllyn, Slone looked at the city. From a distance, it looked like any other city in the galaxy. There were high-rise buildings marking the high rent district with lower dwellings radiating outward. Captain Rand told him the city was originally founded while earth was still habitable and was patterned after a typical city of old England. When earth became uninhabitable, the expansion of the city became more haphazard and the “Old City” became an historic area to commemorate the founding of the Balin Corporation. The target of their primary mission was the administrative complex just outside the historic area. They entered the city and the beauty seen at a distance gave way to the reality of a major city over a millennium old. The Balin Corp was one of the poorer of the minor corporations and it showed. Slone could not imagine why the Petrov Corporation would want to invade it. All the Balin mining interests were routine with nothing rare or unusual. They should be much better off than they are, but for the corruption of the corporate government. Once inside the city limits, the first signs of fighting were visible. Some areas of rubble from bombardment stood out, but overall, the planet did not put up a fight. Slone guessed the Balin navy was outmatched from the start. If Captain Rand was any example, they did not lack courage, only support and equipment from their corporation. As far as Slone was concerned, Arthur Balin got what he deserved. If the Petrov Corp had not violated Border World space, Nova Romae would not have gone to war.
Passersby ignored the group, since they looked like a young couple walking hand in hand with some friends. A few people seemed to recognize Captain Rand, but did not speak to him. That suggested to Slone that Petrov Corp was looking for members of the Balin military, and Rand was a hometown boy who his acquaintances did not want to turn in. Unfortunately, they could not rely on all of them being honest. They left their weapons back on the ship, since most occupation forces confiscated weapons as a first order of business. Slone, Alaya and Captain Rand carried only a dagger while Decanus Marshal had his short sword under his long coat. They could see constant shuttle flights from orbit to the administrative center and back. Slone kn
ew the normal standard operating procedures of corporations, and the shuttles indicated political prisoners taken to the orbital ships and replaced with Petrov bureaucrats. Most political prisoners were never seen again.
They continued towards the administrative district only to find all of the streets into the area blocked by concrete barriers and heavily guarded. Captain Rand lead them away from the area to what appeared to be a store that had suffered looting. He went to the front of the store and looked into the window. As he did so, a teenage youth approached him.
“Don’t bother. They cleaned that place out the first day. Food became a hot commodity when the Pets arrived and blockaded us.”
“What happened to the protective fleet?” Oskar Rand asked.
“I hear some fought and died, others ran. They were no match for the Pets.”
The teenager now took a close look at the strangers. “You’re not from around here, or you would know this.”
Oskar answered before Slone could. “We were traveling from Koras in the mountains when the attack happened. They took our goods and held us while they moved along the road. We were finally released and just arrived in the city.”
“Well, be careful and keep your heads down.” He then looked at Alaya, “Pretty ladies aren’t safe on our streets anymore.” With that, he ran off and was gone.
“We best keep our eyes open. Why are we here, Oskar?” Slone asked.
Oskar Rand looked around and, seeing no one on the street, he signaled the others to follow him into the store. They did and moved to the back, totally out of sight of the street. “Follow me into the meat storage freezer and you’ll see soon enough.”
They moved to the back of the store and Slone could see there was not enough food left on the shelves to satisfy a mouse. This was discouraging. They hoped to stay in the city for up to a week and wanted to buy food locally. They may have to return to the ship sooner than expected. He hoped the other group had better luck in the shopping district. They found the meat freezer at the back of the store. As expected, it was empty. Slone couldn’t help think that was a blessing, since the refrigeration had long since been shut down. They entered the freezer and closed the door behind them.
Alaya was the first to ask, “Well, Oskar, now that you’ve gotten us here, what’s next?”
“Help me get this floor panel up.” Rand indicated the floor panel near the far wall. They moved an empty shelf standing on the panel. They pried the panel up using their daggers. Once it was up, they could see a dark opening with a ladder on one side extending into the darkness. “This leads to a passage to the corporate headquarters.”
“Nice,” Slone said. Each carried a small, very bright light. As they went down the ladder, they put on their lights. They pulled the floor panel back in place and met at the bottom of the ladder. “Ok, Oskar, lead on.”
The tunnel went straight in the direction of the administrative portion of town. The lights in the tunnel were off; for some reason the power was out in this part of the city. Slone realized the damage he had seen might have been a power plant. The tunnel contained no utilities. It was obviously designed to be an escape tunnel. It was now clear how CEO Balin and his sycophants escaped. Once the leader runs, it is not surprising the people have no fight left. The group continued through the tunnel for a bit over a kilometer, until they found the end with another ladder leading up. They all knew to keep quiet as Captain Rand climbed the ladder and slowly lifted one side of the door. Slone knew the tunnel was undetected for two reasons. One, there was no sign of any fighting or blocking of the passage. Two, there was nothing preventing them from opening the door at this end. When Captain Rand was satisfied that the coast was clear, he opened the door wider and signaled all to come up. Decanus Marshal went after Captain Rand, and then Alaya and Slone came up last. When the door was closed behind them, they found themselves in a very dusty room, filled with clutter consisting of old office furniture and equipment. There were a large number of footprints leading from the door of the storage closet to the tunnel door. Obviously, the courageous Balin CEO and his companions made them. Slone felt it sloppy on the part of the Petrov troops not to check this closet, but then, they may have wanted the CEO to escape. A coward held up to his people’s ridicule is worth more than a dead hero.
Rand signaled for the others to stay near the tunnel entrance as he went to the closet door. First, he put his ear to the door and listened for a while. Then he slowly opened the door as he and the others put out their lights. To Slone it seemed he looked through the door for hours, but it was only a few minutes. Then he opened the door more and finally signaled the rest to follow. They entered a darkened room, which had been ransacked. Drawers were open and papers were strewn everywhere. The computers were pried open and the memory bubbles all removed. Nothing left to find here, but then they were not after Balin computers, but rather Petrov devices to find out what prompted this power play. Rand repeated his earlier movement and opened the door to the next room, which was the CEO’s office. He opened the door slowly then slowly closed it. He signaled everyone to go back into the storage closet where the tunnel entrance was. When they were all together at the far end of the closet, Captain Rand told them what he saw.
“The office is lit up and there is a single person sitting at the desk. From his uniform, it looks like a military governor sent in for administration. He has a combat computer with him. That should give us what we need. To get it we’ll have to kill him quietly and get out as soon as possible.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Decanus Marshal said, “Leave that to me. All of you stay here and open the tunnel for a quick exit.”
They all indicated their compliance and opened the tunnel hatch as the Decanus exited the closet. The group guarded the tunnel entrance while Decanus Marshal crossed the side office to the rear door of the CEO office. He looked in and saw it just as Rand described. There was a person sitting at the large granite desk with a computer next to him. As luck would have it, whoever he is, he was napping on the job. Apparently invading planets is tiring. The Decanus slowly opened the door and, with the butt of his sword, he made sure the officer was sleeping. He grabbed the computer and put it in the satchel all Romani troops carry on their belt, picked up the unconscious officer and put him into the side office. He then took a few seconds to make it look like the office was not in use and closed the door. He hoisted the Petrov officer and carried him into the supply closet.
“What did you bring him for?” Rand asked as he closed the closet door behind the Decanus.
“Just buying us some time. They may not think much of an empty office, but I bet they would have a problem with a dead body.”
They moved into the tunnel and closed the hatch behind them. The Decanus gave the computer to Slone after setting the unconscious officer against the back wall of the tunnel. Slone looked at the computer and was pleased. It was a corporate device of the high-level kind used to store all orders and combat plans. This would be invaluable if they can get the information back to the fleet.
“We have to get back as fast as possible. When we reach street level, I want to risk a burst transmission to the ship of the contents of this computer, in case we get stopped.”
“What about him?” Rand said, indicating the unconscious Petrov officer. “When he wakes up it won’t take him long to figure out what happened and sound the alarm.”
“Let me take care of that,” Decanus Marshal said. He then unsheathed his sword, and slit the throat of the Petrov officer as if it was the most normal thing to do. “Problem solved,” he said as he wiped his sword on the officer’s coat and sheathed it.
Rand let out a silent whistle. “Remind me to stay on your good side.”
“War is nasty. Never forget they’ll do the same to us as spies if we’re caught.”
They all knew a truer statement was never spoken. The group hurried back through the tunnel and came out in the abandoned meat locker. They closed the tunnel and looked out the lock
er window. No movement of any kind in the store; nothing left to steal, so a perfect hiding place if not for the tunnel in their backs. They solved that problem with a very heavy freezer placed over the trapdoor. Slone removed the Petrov combat computer out of his pouch and took out a tap node, a small electronic device that will download all of the computer contents and send it to the Draco. He placed the node on the computer and it started to download the contents. In a few seconds, the download was complete.
“I’m going to risk a burst transmission to the ship,” Slone told the others. “In case we get delayed or don’t make it out of here, the Draco can still get this to the fleet.”
They all agreed and Slone sent a tight beam burst transmission to the ship. Two static clicks told him it arrived and he knew they would already be starting the decryption. It was time to leave.
“Oskar, you head out first and go visit your family. Meet at the ship with the rest of us by 10:00 hours ship’s time, tomorrow.”
Captain Rand nodded and without a word slowly moved to the front of the store and, when the coast was clear, moved through the broken window into the street and was gone. Slone took the Petrov computer, smashed it and took out the power cell. This way there would be no tracking it. He then threw the broken device into a corner of the store. The tap node had all the information, as did the Draco. It was normal procedure in the corporate militaries to have two copies of any documents, which is why Slone kept the node on him. One never knew if a ship would make it before sending the information in a message capsule. After waiting another few minutes, the group moved to the front of the store and looked out the broken windows from cover. There was still a lot of activity on the street, and the only thing out of the ordinary was the strong presence of military. Slone hoped their fake credentials as stranded merchants from the Sinclair Corp would hold up if questioned. When the coast was clear, they headed out and walked along the street at a rapid pace that was fast enough to get them out of the city quickly but still slow enough so as not to attract attention.
Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2) Page 7