“Hey,” Joel said as soon as he recognized her face on the screen. “How’re things?”
“Good,” Christine replied. “We’re all in a good place, but I think we might be moving soon. How secure is this?”
“With the app I added to your datapad? Very,” he said. “Don’t tell me where you are, though, just in case. How’s Lady Ravenwood?”
“Gone,” Christine answered as she gave him a quick rundown. Joel remained silent until she finished explaining.
“Makes sense,” he told her. “Big fish, small pond. I’ll pick her up somewhere and meet you wherever she decided was safe.”
“How’d you get out of there?” Christine asked, genuinely curious. Joel smiled and winked.
“I’m good at what I do,” he told her. “Do you still have your service weapon?”
“Yeah,” Christine said, though a quick glance into her bag proved her wrong. She swore silently. “Never mind. Lady Ravenwood must have taken it. Damn it.”
“Grab one from wherever you can,” Joel warned her. “They know people escaped from MITC. There are rogue Wraiths running around in the mountains right now, and the poor marines can’t keep up. Even without suits, Wraiths are tough. Physical training is pretty brutal here.”
“So I hear,” Christine muttered darkly. It was something that still bothered her, so she changed the subject. “I’ve been thinking about the men who killed Malachi and Wil.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Christine nodded as she looked down and saw that Maxwell had finished feeding. He was sound asleep again. Christine checked his diaper and saw it was clean, for now. “I’m not certain they were Navy personnel.”
“I think that was established by the way they moved to back each other up,” Joel confirmed. “You have a good eye.”
“I think they were Praetorians pretending to be Navy officers,” Christine declared. This was met with stony silence from Joel, so she continued, “I know Praetorians often pretend to be Deebs when they have no authority in some situations or places, like on Argus and Vitae. Why not here, as well? You know what those people are like. They’re nothing more than animals, wolves tending to the sheep.”
“Curious analogy,” Joel said in a thoughtful voice. “That makes more sense than what I was thinking. But why send Praetorians and not DIB agents?”
“Perhaps the rot in DIB isn’t as bad as I initially thought,” she suggested as she walked back to the spare room. She opened the safe and grabbed two small sidearms and four magazines of matching calibers. Closing and securing the safe, she walked back into the living room. “When your son informed me about the massacre at Jericho headquarters, he mentioned he was surprised there weren’t more Deebs there cleaning up. I think far more of those loyal to whoever is behind this shadow war against Jericho were killed during Jericho’s last stand than I’d originally thought. If that was the case, then the Praetorians, who have no scruples about who they’ll fight for, would gladly allow themselves to be deputized. I’ve never been a huge equal rights supporter for Imperfects, but how the Praetorians treat them is cruel and unjust.”
“Then be careful,” Joel said. “If Praetorians are hunting Lady Ravenwood, they won’t care if she’s nobility or not. They’ll shoot on sight.”
“I think we’ll be fine.”
“You don’t understand, Christine,” Joel warned in a concerned voice. “They’re occupying the planet completely. If they find out who you are, or more importantly, that you’re vulnerable…”
“Don’t worry about me,” Christine murmured softly as she slid the new pistol into her holster. While it felt fine, she was already beginning to miss her service weapon. Perhaps she could get it back from Lady Ravenwood sometime in the near future. For now, the new pistol would have to do. “My job is to protect my son.”
“And my job is to protect my grandson,” Joel countered. Christine, shocked, stared at the comms device for a long minute before responding.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I’ve been running intelligence operations since before you were a twinkle in your daddy’s eye,” Joel lightly teased her. “I could hear it in your voice when you told me about Andrew. You love him. From there, it was easy to figure out who the father of your child was.”
“I won’t tell you my plan,” she warned as she situated Maxwell against her chest in the sling Wil had given her. She then slipped the child-sized hearing protection back over his ears. They were fuzzy and warm, and nothing over forty decibels could make it through. Outside of a bomb going off right next to them, Maxwell could sleep through just about anything. Whispering a silent prayer in memory of her oldest friend, Christine grabbed the ballistic silks Joel had helpfully tossed into her bag before she left MITC.
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Joel replied. “Do me a favor?”
“Depends on the favor,” Christine countered as she began to maneuver the silk over her chest, carefully positioning it so it would protect her child and offer her some armor, as well. Satisfied it was in place, she hid it with the larger sari. She’d be toasty warm, and since she was on Corus, and Lares was near the magnetic pole of the planet, the extra heat would help protect both her and her newborn from the elements.
“Fair enough,” Joel said. “If I don’t make it out, find Andrew and be a family. The Espinozas need more people like you, Christine. You’re one of the good ones.”
“I know,” she said as she carefully positioned the backup piece in an ankle holster. Satisfied, she then moved the primary holster to her hip under the top layer of the sari for easier access. “For what it’s worth, you raised some good men, Mr. Espinoza.”
“Above all else, family remains,” Joel intoned. “It’s our family motto. Do you know why we chose it, back before the founding of the Dominion?”
“Andrew never told me,” she replied.
Joel chuckled. “That’s because Andrew, unlike Gabriel, isn’t sentimental. He prefers the greys of the universe, whereas Gabe and Kevin both lived within the black and white. We chose this motto because we know empires rise and fall, but to survive everything, the family structure must remain intact. My ancestor was a smart man, smarter than me. He knew for us to be strong, we had to recognize our family first, then our nation. That’s why he sided with David Lukas during the War of Independence. You’d better stay safe and keep your child well. And please, for me? Find Andrew. He’s a good kid.”
“I’ll do my best,” she replied. “But, he’s got to shed that stupid, ugly, smarmy Hastings face before I kiss him again.”
Joel laughed. “If you ever get married, know that you have my blessing, and Rona’s as well. She’d have loved you.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save her,” Christine said regretfully as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She looked at the comms device in her hand, uncertain. “I didn’t mean for them to follow me. I just wanted to let your family know the truth.”
“We’ve made enemies everywhere,” Joel stated. “We’re an old family. It happens. I thought…well, I blamed myself at first, because I thought someone had tried to assassinate me.”
“You?”
“I kind of have a history of things like that happening,” Joel informed her. He coughed and sounded embarrassed. “Take care. I’ve got to get my friends out of here.”
“Friends?”
“I have a man who’s learning how to use his new bionic arm, and a fresh young field agent I shanghaied into helping me months ago,” Joel said. “I’m responsible for them. Perhaps one day…” his voice trailed off.
“Yes?”
“Just thinking, once this is all over, I’d very much like to hold my grandson on my farm in Soldier’s Retreat,” Joel murmured. “That’s probably not possible, considering everyone thinks I’m dead, but still…take care, young lady.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The comms died, and Christine sat quietly for a moment, thinking. Instinct told her to hole up, to find a safe locat
ion from which to defend herself from anyone who might harm her and Maxwell. There was no reason for her to feel this way, except for motherhood. However, she also knew the only way to find Andrew would be to leave. He didn’t know where she was going before he left. Unlike most, Christine believed in operational security. It was one of the reasons she’d thought she could restart.
Now? She wasn’t certain. Her first priority was Maxwell, with herself second. Everything after that, from reuniting with Andrew to founding an organization similar to Jericho, was much further down her list. Andrew would understand, she knew. In fact, Christine was fairly certain he’d have told her the same thing. Unlike most men Christine had dated, Andrew understood her. He got her, from the quirks in her behavior when she was in full-on “agent” mode to the way she could tune out everything in the world while reading.
“Time for Maxwell and Mommy to hit the road and find somewhere safe,” she whispered as she gathered up the last of her things and her brand-new go bag, courtesy of the VIP apartment at MITC.
Forever grateful that Malachi had given her the safety deposit box that held all the account numbers for Jericho and the password to access it, she gave the room one final look. She didn’t want to leave any trace of her presence, outside of a DNA scan. When the DIB came to do the quarterly sweep, they’d replace the funds and try to figure out which undercover operative had been forced to use them. By then, she’d hopefully be long gone.
As she headed for the front door, a faint sound hit her ears. Someone disengaged the lock, she realized. Christine stopped in the middle of the living room and watched as the front door swung open. An armed woman stepped inside the safehouse, her head down. Dressed in body armor, but showing no signs of battle, it was plain to see she hadn’t been one of the arresting officers at MITC, which suggested she was with Ezekiel and his fleet. The outfit was too clean and tidy, though it had seen some wear and tear. Seemingly oblivious to Christine, she turned and pushed the door shut. She latched it and sighed before turning around and coming face to face with Christine.
“Who the hell are you?” the woman asked, surprised. Her hand dropped to the butt of her service weapon, but there was some hesitation. Her eyes flicked around the room, taking everything in. Christine could tell she was a pro, which meant in about two seconds, someone was going to die. “What…who’s running your op? Give me your code phrase! Command, this is Special Agent Maria Diaz at the Safehouse! There’s an—”
Christine slid her sari aside with her right hand and, in one smooth motion, brought up her pistol and shot the DIB agent in the face.
* * * * *
Chapter Thirteen
Andrew
“I can’t believe you found a new gate passage past Trono del Terra,” Andrew said as the CAS Iroquois continued its journey through near-space. He shook his head before looking at Captain Ezell. “That could radically change the balance of power in the Dominion.”
It had taken longer than expected for the doctor in sick bay to rid Andrew’s system of all the nanites. His normally dark-hued skin was a shock, as he’d been the pale senator for a long time. His brown eyes were back, though the hair was still giving him issues. There was no way he had grey in his natural hair color.
“Not necessarily,” she responded, her eyes constantly moving about the bridge. They’d pause at a duty station, silently evaluate the situation and, pleased with what she saw, move elsewhere. “We merely found a loophole in the physics of the gates. If the gates are close enough, we can skip the re-entry point and move on to the next. For example, Ceres and Trono del Terra are 50 light-years apart. Trono del Terra and Avalon, 30 light-years. But the gates are weird, and Avalon’s gate is only 22 light-years from Ceres. We don’t understand why the gate builders didn’t make the connection between the two directly, but we did find out that, with a little, ah, tweaking of the physics of the gates, we can make direct connections between two that aren’t normally linked. It just takes twice as long as a normal gate transition.”
“How many days are we from Avalon, then?” Andrew asked, curious.
“We’ll come out of the gate in twelve hours,” Captain Ezell answered after a quick consultation of her command display. “Because we circumvented translating into real space at Avalon and avoided Trono del Terra completely, we’ll emerge from an unexpected angle at Ceres.”
“That makes sense,” Andrew said as he considered the possibilities. The only issue he could see with the longer transit time was that it would give the crew more time to dwell upon everything that could go wrong between now and the ship’s arrival at Ceres. An inexperienced crew would let the distraction interfere with their work. From what Andrew could see, though, this crew was simply eager. What he sensed wasn’t the desire for combat, but something else. To prove themselves, he realized suddenly. The crew needed to prove themselves to their captain.
Once more, Andrew was amazed by the dedication and loyalty the crew showed Captain Ezell.
He must have made an awkward looking face, because Jack nudged him on the shoulder. Glancing up, he saw understanding in the giant’s eye.
“It’s respect and love,” Jack answered Andrew’s unasked question. “My dad isn’t my real dad, you know. My birth parents were killed during the raid that marooned him there. I was three. He was a Wraith who got left on the planet by the Dominion, probably presumed dead. Our mech infantry units captured him and brought him to trial for war crimes. Instead of punishing him by execution, they forced him to take care of the three kids who’d been orphaned and had nowhere else to turn. He wasn’t happy about that and begged them to kill him. The council said they couldn’t, because death is easy. Life is hard.
“My dad struggled through some shit. He didn’t know how to be a parent, but he figured it out. Eventually. He was too proud to quit and didn’t want to fail himself, or us. He learned, we grew, and the Navy we were building began to take some of the Wraith Corps ideas about squad unit actions and apply them to naval tactics. But where we really figured out how to excel was the same way Wraiths earn command positions: through the popular opinion of our peers and a strict meritocracy. The brass saw how the six men who dropped onto Maelstrom were able to effectively wipe out two National Guard battalions before being stopped, and how they trusted each other and worked well together. It was a brutally effective training methodology, so we stole it. If the crew can’t respect the commander of a ship, can’t love them the way a captain loves their ship, we’ll lose.
“We went to Gran Via, blind to our deficiencies. Captains of ships had their own little cabals among one another, and turned on each other during the fight. The after-action reviews showed that a single enemy suit had gotten into the midst of our battle group and tricked them into firing on each other. That had to stop, or our cause would be lost. So, the captain’s mentor purged the upper command ranks and started anew. We built up a team mentality, unified the states into a cohesive nation, and created a constitution. From this, our new commanders emerged, loyal to the constitution first and their people second, and they put aside their own selfish goals. But even then, there were those who seemed better than others at this—commanders who inspired those under them to aspire to greatness. Captain Ezell is one of those exceptional commanding officers. You have no idea how thankful I am to have my SEAL team assigned to her ship.
“She inspires confidence, bravery, competence—and best of all, Captain Ezell wants us to better ourselves. Not for selfish reasons, but to protect one another. Because of this, these men and women will do anything she asks of them. They’ll spit in the eye of the devil, himself, and follow the captain straight into hell, with Roahirm’s ‘Curze Diaboliq Numero Quattro’ blasting over the ship’s intercoms. We’re her family and she is ours.”
Andrew looked away from Jack and back at the captain. The DIB didn’t have any files on her, and he wondered if they’d ever bothered investigating Maelstrom. The time dilation notwithstanding, it would’ve been immensely helpful to have
had some idea of what was happening on the rebellious planet. Jericho, which was primarily responsible for watching Parliament, wouldn’t have even known about it had it not been for the Seiji incident.
None of the agencies within the Dominion shared information, preferring to keep it within their own little fiefdoms. This meant the directors of both the DIA and the DIB would often be running concurrent investigations and wasting resources. Andrew thought back to the rescue from El Muladar. If they’d been efficient, he’d never have been rescued and would still be at the tender mercies of the Mad Cleaver of Kurong. The thought caused chills to run up his spine.
“Mind if I get some food and sleep before we arrive?” Andrew asked, yawning suddenly. He hadn’t expected to be tired already, but even he knew there was a point when the body had had enough. The memories of his time at Special Projects reminded him he’d been through a lot of physical trauma recently.
“No problem,” Jack said. He turned to Captain Ezell. “Captain?”
“Can he room with you?” she asked without turning, her attention on the vidscreen. “Commander Wandrey would like her bunk back after she’s disinfected everything. No offense, mister, but you were filthy.”
“None taken,” Andrew acknowledged. “I felt pretty disgusting, so I knew it had to be worse for her.”
“Granted, Chief,” she said and looked over at Jack. “From here on out, he’s with you. He’s a guest, but my standing rules from earlier still apply.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jack nodded before prodding Andrew. “Let’s go, little guy.”
Homeguard Page 25