The Shattering War

by James Edward

  “Thank you, Byron.” Gable Houseman rose and looked at the assembled staff. “We have estimated that the assembly will go into a self-destruct mode within a year and a half to two years. As stated, the PRC has managed to wrest control of eight planets with another four ready to swing over to them. That will make twelve out of twenty-five planets. With half the assembly voting for the PRC, we will be in a perilous position to hold the government. The president will be holding the swing vote through our capital at Cappa Tauri, but we anticipate that the PRC will only allow that for a very short time before they trump up some charges to have him disgraced and removed. They will then install their own president that will orchestrate the swift and violent destruction of anyone opposed to their policies. This is the reason they have kept their forces local and scattered the loyalists to the rim and pirate patrol. We anticipate that the PRC will bring about a military coup approximately three years from now. Several scenarios are suggested, but the end result will be that the PRC will wrest control and will use repression to ensure power.”

  “Thank you for the update,” Weatherfew said. “I assume that I will have about a year to two before I am removed from office and either arrested or disappeared. I will be working on our connections to ensure that this op gets the most help possible. We are in a crisis mode at the moment. There are six planets that did form the assembly originally that will not bow to the PRC demands and will be forced to defend themselves. They are at this time covertly arming and preparing for a civil, space, and planetary war. I will be helping these core planets out as much as possible. Now Sin here has a small briefing as well.”

  “Thank you, Uncle,” Sinclair said. “Yes, he is my uncle, but that is not how I got this job. Originally I was the one that discovered the plot. I was a young IT clerk and found some sub mail attached to regular reports. These I kicked upstairs and was lucky enough to catch the ear of a very smart administrator who did some follow up. It could have been worse; it might have fallen on the wrong desk, and I wouldn’t be here. These people play for keeps. I have managed to trace and infiltrate the majority of their operation systems. This has given us the advantage of knowing what, when, and where something will happen. That way, we have managed to move some of our ships out of harm’s way and to have some of the shipping protected. It is a delicate dance, as we don’t want the PRC to know we are watching. I have been working with another cell that is creating a completely different database with all our assets removed so that they don’t even know that they exist. This project is one of them, and I will be working with Ray here to change a few things. In effect, a body of the Fleet, ground forces, and financial institutions will begin to disappear in the next few months up to two years from now. When the government collapses, we will institute a purge program that will clean all government computers. This will be anticipated by the PRC, and they have their own backups, but fortunately we have had access to those backups and will institute a wipe and install of our bogus program. I will not go into the hows and whys, but we are preparing for the only option that we will have left, a rear guard action. As a second piece of info, the PRC is sending its own spies out. We are aware of some but not all. You will have to be very diligent as you grow bigger to watch what info is available and what can be seen. These people are better off being removed as soon as possible but are very difficult to spot. Some are trained assassins, and some are trained in disruption and terror. Lyn and I are doing our best to find and close transmission points, remove operatives, and neutralize the people involved, but we are a small op. Be aware of the Great Ursa Corp, as they are a direct front for the PRC. They will do their best to disrupt, challenge, and cause problems. They are also known for using raiders and pirates. They will be the ones that will lead the attack, only to be backed up by Fleet forces loyal to the PRC. All of this will be an act to destabilize the government. When the call goes out, I hope you all will be in position to heed it.”

  “Thanks, Sin. We all hope that we are in some position at that time. But make no mistake, people; you are the ball carriers and the only team in town when the shit hits the fan,” Weatherfew stated. “As a gift to that purpose, we have managed to create a solution to your problem of protection, due to the utterly incompetent abilities of our favorite sub admiral and the machinations of Lyn and Sin. Hey, that rhymes. We have managed to have a very competent officer and staff man the space yard at Carver. In that yard are a number of ships that have been removed from the database and for the most part don’t exist anymore. Two such gifts are the mothballed military repair ships Boxer One and Boxer Two. When you get to the point that you need those ships, they will be ready along with some staff. Right now I want to see the progress that we have made here.”

  The next two days were a blur of meetings, show and tell, and plans. By the time Weatherfew and his team of inspectors were getting ready to depart, a plan was forming. The business of mining Panhandle and Darcy was ramped up. A special computer program had been installed, and new sensor satellites were dropped off so that the gate was now permanently under watch. The gate was in immediate communication with the station, so there were now at least four hours of warning before the entry ships came within range to scan the station or shipyard.

  Ray was having dinner aboard the cruiser with Sinclair and Weatherfew and Olaf Trogsen. As they settled back, Weatherfew looked at Ray.

  “Ray, we are pleased with the progress to date, but you must move faster now. You have the infrastructure in place, plus with the mining and R&D starting, you will start bringing in needed capital. All must show that you are just a mining group.

  “In less than six months, you will file applications to cede from the AGW. You will be inspected by a crack team from the government that will report to their department secretary, who will report to the assembly. If they grant a no contest, then the seceding will be granted. There must be no mistakes on that part; the inspectors can’t find even a hint of covert activity. The granting will be on two parts, military protection and access to main areas. Both of these are expensive to the AGW, and if the inspectors see that it isn’t worth the while of the Fleet to protect an independent mining system or to maintain shipping protection, they will wash their hands of the whole thing, especially in these times. After ceding, you can expect to be visited by Great Ursa; theirs will be a covert scouting trip to see if anything is worth taking. They will also talk of taking over the system in the way of a buyout or a takeover, hostile or not. You must show enough of an ability to reject their overtures by overwhelming in firepower.

  “In all these cases, you must not show any sign of weapons or the ability to protect yourself except for some minor lasers for deflecting or burning asteroids.

  “After all is granted, you can apply to the AGW for shipping access to the planets and ask that they grant you your own freighter and tanker protection. You will then be able to close off the system to anyone but your own group. It will also mean that you are on your own.

  “In a year, I want Conrad Base to be totally self-sufficient both in living and maintaining its own protection. Monies will still be siphoned into it by the government until it falls, so spend wisely. We will also lobby to your requests so that will be expedited.

  “As soon as Conrad is rid of the AGW, we will need to start taking refugees. Well, families of officials and personnel that would be used to force officials to change their stances. People of power in the Fleet that won’t do well when Fugs takes over. This is something that we need to do quietly, but it also opens us open to spies and compromises our security. Eventually, if I am lucky, I will retire here, but I believe that I will be imprisoned long before I can escape.

  “Thankfully, Sin has all my access codes and passwords. She has a file written and instituted so that any mistake on access will completely wipe my files, down to the last data byte. She has also buried Conrad so deep that it would take as good as a cyber tech years to crack it open and discover that it wa
s all a covert op. She has also listed and covered herself to look like a general IT tech, not worth the time to investigate or interview. She has already given you the codes and contact for Carver bone yard. Some time you will also get all the override command codes for the operating Fleet ships out there. You could effectively shut them down. But once used, any competent captain will lock all that down and report that to Fleet, so that will be a Hail Mary move.

  “Ray, I am proud of you. You have done a remarkable job in a difficult task, but we are only a quarter way to our end game. I think I will retire for the night. Oh by the way, when the shit hits the fan, expect to see Olaf at your doorstep. It was only through my efforts that he didn’t jump on your recruiting drive. He is all for the plan and is the only office serving in the Fleet that is aware of the plan. I would expect that he would be able to occupy a leading role in the big picture once we arrive here. Sin and I have given him the name designate of Viking. If you ever hear from Viking, you will know who it is and that you have an ally. You will also know that it will be important. Now I am off. I must have my report ready for Fugs.” Weatherfew rose, shook Ray’s hand, and left the table.

  “I too must be about my duties, Ray. It will be interesting to come on board. Right now it doesn’t look like much, but I expect that we didn’t see it all.” Olaf smiled as he rose. “You will hear from the Viking soon and maybe often. Who knows how the battle will unfold. I will leave you in the capable hands of Mrs. Marsden. I expect that she has a few things that should be told only to you.” Ray watched him walk out of the room; the big man made the room seem small, but he managed to move with the practiced grace of living three-quarters of his life in space.

  Ray looked at Sinclair and had to stop himself from turning on the charm. She was, after all, a married woman. He supposed that was to be expected, that a beautiful woman would have been chased and married. Being in space had limited his chance of chasing after the marriageable type, so he had not given it much thought. But for a woman like Sin, he might have considered giving up his commission for such a prize. Well he had lost his commission anyway, and maybe she was so wrapped up in bits and bytes that she was a cold-hearted woman with a gorgeous shell.

  “Hello, Ray?” She stared at him.

  “Huh? Oh crap. Sorry. My mind was drifting. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you said.” Ray had colored when he realized that he had been caught daydreaming.

  “Well, Ray,” she paused to see if he was paying attention, “the codes and contact are on this chip. When you get to Carver, you can contact the base officer, who will institute a program that was given to him. He will give you the names of the ships to take. An hour after leaving Carver, your visit will be purged from the database. There will be no record of you being there and of course no record of what you pick up. The ships that you do pick up don’t exist there or in the Fleet database anymore. They have all been listed as taken for scrap with the approval of Admiral Fuggoret. Any further investigation will end at Fugs.

  “The ships taken will be two cruisers, two destroyers, four frigates, and six corvettes. You will also pick up Boxer One and Boxer Two, both repair ships, an ammunition-producing ship by the name of Matilda, and my final gift, the Endora. The Endora is an old Starmaker class, heavily armored, heavily weaponed (although obsolete) battleship. She took a real shit kicking in her last battle sixty years ago and was mothballed as the refit expenses were too high. She is space worthy and operational. All these ships are old and forgotten, as there are better ones in the Fleet. I am under the understanding that your R&D boys are working on many projects, so there is a good chance that these girls can be upgraded.” She leaned back and laughed. “The look on your face is priceless.”

  “Wow, I have no idea as to how we will staff all of these at the moment. Captains, navigators, engineers, and support staff just to get them here,” Ray said, looking overwhelmed.

  “Ah, part two of my surprise package.” Sin smiled and winked at him. “On your way to Carver, you will go through the Sermonog system. If you give me a time line on when you will be there, I can supply you with a skeleton crew for each ship except for the Endora, which I believe you will want to captain. You will travel in one freighter that can supply enough accommodations for the guests. It will take a week after crew pickup to reach Carver, so plan for a lot of food, and plan on have enough food and fuel to get the ships back. I will arrange for a ship to meet you outside Gobi 5’s sensor range with the passengers that you need.”

  Just her winking at him was enough to get his blood rushing. What was it about some women that just seemed to ooze sexuality? So far Ray couldn’t find anything to fault her with except she was married to a man that she hadn’t seen in two years, and he was based on a completely different planet. Her presence seemed to make Ray forget the conversation, forget the plan, and forget that he was CEO planning a resistance. He found his mind wandering again and was abruptly pulled back by her “Harrumph.”

  “I was thinking,” Ray said to cover his daydreaming. “We should be ready in two weeks. How long to gather this shadow crew?

  “Three weeks is better,” she replied. “Some of the members will need to close out their affairs and travel to Gobi 5.”

  “Three it is then.” Ray nodded. “I will be in the Sermonog system. What will be my contact be and how do I verify?”

  “Ah, the codes are in the chip,” Sin stated. “When you get to Gobi 5, just broadcast on the assigned frequency, and you will get a response. You are doing nothing illegal, so since it’s all above board, there will be no problem in contact or loading. You will just dock with the liner and offload your new crews. The liner will carry on as if it still had all its passengers, and nothing will be reported.”

  Ray reached over and took her hand. He felt the warm, soft skin. He looked up and looked into her eyes that were holding his in a questioning look.

  “Sin, what will happen to you when this all goes south? Do you have an escape plan?” Ray asked.

  “It’s a little more complicated for me. I will be required to stay after the fall and use my skills to gather info and relay it up the channels. I will be able to hide for some time before they twig that I am more than a common IT tech. Hopefully I can do a lot of damage and sabotage before I am discovered. When I am, I will activate my escape plan. If I am caught, I suppose it will be torture and execution when they are finished with me. I know with my looks that I will be very entertaining to my jailers. I harbor no illusions,” she said with a sad fatality. “My husband, Dan Marsden, is an official for the PRC. He has bought into the whole empire hype and is a willing participant, although he is unaware of the deadly aspects of this regime. But he believes that the bickering of the planets is counterproductive to the well-being of the governing worlds. He believes that a strong government will force the planets to be more productive and stop the financial rot that is now in place.

  “The only good thing is that he doesn’t know just how talented I am and what I am doing. He just believes that I am in the capital working for the greater good.

  “You are probably wondering why I don’t leave him. That is simple; he adds to my cover and also supplies a legitimacy to my job and service. When the AGW collapses, he will rise in power, which could be a benefit for me. Other than that, he and I haven’t been much of ‘us’ for a long time.”

  “Well if you ever need help or a flight out, get a message to us, and I assure you we will do everything in our power to get to you,” Ray said more forcefully than he wanted to. The revelation that her marriage was a shame brought a surge of feeling to the surface.

  “Not to worry, Ray. Lyn has it all worked out, and she will find me if I call for help, but if you ever hear a call for help from someone by the name Vixen, you will know it’s me.” She squeezed his hand. “I will, at some time, look forward to setting up living quarters here in Conrad Base.”

  She got up and walked around t
he table. She kissed him on the cheek, handed him a package, and said, “I really don’t know why I opened up like that. I must be tired. I have to go. The codes are in the package here. I will arrange everything for three weeks from today. It was very nice to meet you, and I look forward to seeing you again sometime.”

  She walked out the door, leaving Ray at the table staring at her retreating form and then at the envelope. Ray sighed and picked up the package. He had a lot to do to be ready in three weeks. Paramount was to hide the ships once they arrived here. Maybe they would have to hollow out the third planetoid called Sloman, an eight-hundred-kilometer ball of rock. They could hide the whole fleet there and spend the time to get them repaired too.

  Two weeks had passed since the visit from Sinclair and Weatherfew. They had sent back that the inspections had passed and were logged. The paperwork was filed and forgotten by the bureaucrats. Now that they had an official file, Sinclair could dip into it any time and modify it to suit their purposes. Sergie and his R&D crew had departed for Panhandle and were ensconced in that planetoid now, running experiments. Darcy was going well, and soon there would be a decent habitation there, probably within the next month or so. Ray had sent the bulk of the mining crew to Sloman to blast and hollow out that planetoid so that the ships that arrived would be packed inside, out of view, to be worked on. The mining lasers vaporized rock, mineral, and other ores. Much to the consternation of the miners who were paid by the tonnage mineral or ore recovered, but Ray had prevented a major crisis by paying for tonnage vaporized instead of recovered. The miners sighed, shook their heads, wondered what was going on, and started working.