The Prodigal Emperor (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 3)

by Kal Spriggs

  Feliks nodded his head. With his glasses and mannerisms, he suddenly struck Lucius as very owl-like. “The Zarakassakaraz are the most human-like of the alien races we've studied. Even more so than the Ghornath. They colonized worlds, built mines and industrial centers, they even thought in terms of empires and we suspect they even had internal factions and nations. That is so important because everything they built, we can use.”

  “That's why this is so important,” Rory said. “Every other alien technology, we have to retrofit it for human use. Sometimes, like with the Balor, that's a huge overhaul and we just can't use anything besides their weapon. Other times, like with the Ghornath, it's a factor of scale. Everything Ghornath-sized makes us look like children. Neither of them are anything near as dangerous as Illuari artifacts of course...”

  “Oh, don't get me started on those,” Feliks shook his head. “I had a headache for months.”

  “But you have to understand, for the short term, that fleet might be amazing, but in the long term, if that Gamma Base holds all the technology that it appears to...”

  “Then what?” Lucius asked. “What's the bottom line?”

  “Our understanding would advance by leaps and bounds,” Rory said. He obviously struggled to find the words and when he spoke, he chose what he said very carefully. “We could surpass the Centauri Confederation in a decade, possibly draw within shouting distance of the Balor, fight them on more equal terms.” He shrugged, “You have to understand, the Zar were fighting another alien race, the Illuari, who were an order of magnitude ahead of them... and they managed to hold their own for some time. Almost a century, as far as we can tell. Think of what we could do with their knowledge and technology.”

  Lucius pursed his lips. He looked at where Harris and Jessica perched on the edge of their seats. They had clearly thought of the ships and base as a bargaining chip, one to be spent and discarded. Lucius saw realization dawn on their faces as they saw that they hadn't considered the long term implications.

  We are all like cave-men trying to figure out how to use a plasma torch to cook with, Lucius thought, or more accurately, how to jump our neighboring tribe with a bulldozer. “Fine,” he said. “I understand the importance, now what about the base itself, will it have defenses and will they be active?”

  “Absolutely,” Rory said.

  “Hmmm, possibly,” Feliks shrugged.

  Rory gave an angry look at his companion, then addressed Lucius, “The base has a variety of active and dormant defensive systems. From what we know about a Gamma Base, it would include some kind of planetary scale defense screen or shield, what the Zar called a Gorog.”

  “Planetary?” Jessica Penwaithe demanded.

  “Oh, certainly,” Feliks said with another owl-like head bob. “It would have been one of the first things they built.”

  “They'll also have extensive active defenses, extremely sophisticated jamming arrays, weapons emplacements, and probably a system-wide sensor array. I would imagine that most of the weapons emplacements were buried in the disaster, but we can't discount the possibility that they got some of them online.” Rory broke off and looked around, “Whoever they have bringing systems online there is doing a tremendous job. I really hope that after we capture the facility we can get him on our team.”

  “It's my former brother-in-law, apparently he signed on with Admiral Mannetti,” Lucius said.

  “Oh, good, so you could talk to him,” Rory said absently.

  “I plan to have him interrogated and then thrown into prison,” Lucius said with complete sincerity.

  “Oh,” Rory said, obviously distracted by the diagrams. “That works, too, I suppose.” He brought up a schematic of the base and highlighted a central region of what looked like a huge mass of machinery. “The planetary defense screen looks operational and you can see it is directly tied into the geothermal generator, which is powered off of a magma pipe here.. We can almost certainly activate it, given enough time. From there it would only be a few minutes–”

  “Several hours at least,” Feliks cautioned.

  “No longer than an hour,” Rory snapped, “to get it online. Once it goes up, it should entirely prevent attacks against the base or the civilians.”

  Lucius looked at Harris and Jessica, “How does that sound for ensuring your people are protected.”

  Harris frowned, “Are you sure this would work?”

  “Absolutely,” Rory said. Behind him, Feliks shrugged, as if to say he wasn't as certain, but he didn't speak up.

  At Jessica's nod, Lucius smiled, “Good. We'll work out the details on the base assault, but Rory, go ahead and prepare anything that you and Feliks will need.”

  “Wait... we're going?” Rory said. Feliks' eyes grew round. “We're not exactly combat qualified. I don't think I should be on this mission.”

  “There will be a team with you who will be charged with your protection,” Lucius said. “Our only other option would be to nuke the base from orbit to prevent Admiral Mannetti from using its defenses against us.”

  “You can't do that!” Rory said, his eyes wide in horror. “It would be like destroying...” He trailed off, apparently he couldn't find an appropriate analogy.

  “I trust you are capable of going, then?” Lucius asked.

  Rory stood up straight and Feliks stepped up next to him, “To prevent the loss of such a priceless find, of course!” Feliks gave a sharp head-bob of approval.

  “Good,” Lucius said. He turned his gaze to Commodore Pierce. “Now then, Commodore, I think you and I need to discuss how to best utilize the resources we have.”

  ***

  Lauren Kelly wasn't entirely certain how she was still alive.

  She hadn't planned on being taken prisoner. She had, in fact, held back one last grenade to ensure that they didn't take her alive. While she had no particular desire to die, she knew well enough that Admiral Mannetti wouldn't hesitate to torture her for information. For that matter, she had killed enough of Mannetti's people that she expected them to kill her rather than even attempt her capture.

  Just what had happened in those last few minutes in the base, she still wasn't certain. Mason hadn't realized it, but her body armor hadn't entirely stopped the round that had struck her. Blood loss from that wound had been severe enough that she didn't figure she had long to live anyway, when she sent him on his way and set to playing decoy.

  Things had grown increasingly fuzzy, to the point that she had attempted to use that last grenade.

  She must have failed, because here she was, recovering and under guard in what resembled the Kraken's medical suite. That told her she was probably still at the base. When she had first awakened, she assumed that it was the Baron's people in the black uniforms that looked so familiar. It had taken her a few minutes to remember that they were the United Colonies, now. She was absurdly grateful that they hadn't questioned her then, else she would have given up everything without realizing it. She didn't know why Mannetti's people were keeping her alive, but she was determined to keep quiet as long as she could.

  On that thought, the door opened. She kept her expression stony as Reese Leone stepped inside. With his blonde hair, blue eyes, and friendly smile, she almost felt inclined to trust him... except for the whole fact that he had undoubtedly been the one to blow her cover. “Awake and lucid, I see,” he said, “looking much better than the last time I saw you.”

  Lauren's eyes narrowed, “What do you mean by that?”

  He took a seat, “You were quite a mess when they had the happy drugs in you, trying to save your life. Admiral Mannetti had them question you while they had you drugged and she wanted me there to confirm some technical details, I'm afraid.”

  Lauren's eyes went narrow. The implication was that she had already given them everything. It's possible, she thought, I never received any kind of implant or neurochemical block from that sort of thing.

  “If you doubt me, I can sum up,” Reese said. “You and the smuggler
slipped in here at the behest of Admiral Collae, though you are working for Lucius Giovanni… though he doesn't even know you're here. Collae wanted you to murder Admiral Mannetti.”

  Lauren looked away, suddenly ashamed of herself.

  Reese came forward and took a seat next to her bed, “Don't be too hard on yourself. I've no doubt you resolved yourself to torture, but it isn't as if you had any protection from drugs.” His voice turned bitter, “You're not the only person the good Baron has sent in without the proper protections, without support, and without any chance of success.”

  “He didn't even know we were here,” she snapped. It wasn't the Baron's fault, she knew that.

  “No,” Reese shook his head, “But you told us about the letter of marque. He knew something would come up... and he encouraged you to deal with it on your own. What kind of suicide mission that would be, he couldn't know, but he knew it would probably kill you.”

  Lauren glared at him. She could understand his perspective, but it was all backwards. The Baron had known that she didn't have it in her to stand by and let innocent people be killed. He'd given her what few tools he could afford, in case she came into a bad situation. She understood that. Reese, apparently, did not. “If I've given you all the information already, why am I still alive? Why even heal me at all?”

  Reese sat back, “You know, Admiral Mannetti is not as callous as you might think.”

  Lauren just arched an eyebrow at him and he shrugged, “I'll not say that she was... happy about the reasons you were sent here, but she knows valuable talent when she sees it. She wants to recruit you, Lauren, to put you in the position that your skills can be put to the best uses... not to put you at the end of a beam and saw it off behind you like Lucius did.”

  Lauren ignored the last part of his statement, “She recognizes talent, then? Like yours?”

  Reese shrugged, “I'm a moderately talented engineer and a very talented programmer. I'm smart enough to read up and study on things that are interesting... like the alien tech we've found at the Brokenjaw Mountain complex. Admiral Mannetti has recognized my skills and has rewarded my hard work. In addition to my position here at Halcyon, I've acquired quite the account balance on Tanis.”

  “So how long have you worked with her?” Lauren asked, “Since before or after you helped her to escape from Faraday?”

  Reese shook his head, “You've got me all wrong, Lauren. I was Lucius's friend and I wouldn't have betrayed him like that... not until he betrayed me. He turned my wife against me,” his voice grew bitter again, “and then put some trumped up charges on me because I questioned his tactics. He's not the man you think he is.”

  Lauren just shook her head, “What do you want from me?”

  “Admiral Mannetti wants you to join her personal bodyguard, after you've proven your loyalty to her,” Reese said. “And doing so is such a little thing, anyway. Just unlock this ship's computer core and let us access it and you'll be halfway there.”

  Lauren snorted with sudden laughter, “Seriously? All that pitch for such a clumsy play? You thought you could bypass Mason's biometric lock fairly easily, didn't you? How much does it gall you to have to ask for help from someone who doesn't know squat about programming?” No wonder the Baron's sister had dumped him, he was far too impressed with his own intelligence. He must have thought of her as a meat-head who was easily led. The only wonder is why she stayed with him so long, she thought.

  Reese's face flushed, “If you think the offer will stand for long, think again. Admiral Mannetti isn't a patient woman... and if you think that her people will forget and forgive the men and women you killed in your rampage down on the base... well, they haven't and they won't. If Admiral Mannetti gives you to them, you will take a very long time to die and you'll give us what we want, anyway.”

  “They better remember that rampage,” Lauren forced herself up in her bed. “Because if they come for me, I'll kill them.” Her hand snatched out with viper speed and she pulled the pistol out of his holster and leveled it at him. “Remember, Reese, I can take care of myself.”

  Reese recoiled from her and his gaze snapped to the guard, who had brought up his rifle. He didn't fire, though, which told Lauren that, for now, Admiral Mannetti had given them orders to keep her alive.

  Lauren tossed the pistol away and slumped back onto the bed, her energy spent. “Tell the Admiral I'll think about her offer.” She closed her eyes. “Go away Reese, I'm tired.”

  ***

  Chapter XI

  Halcyon Colony, Garris Major System

  Contested

  May 1, 2404

  Admiral Lucretta Mannetti, Lady Kail, purred as her aide massaged the back of her neck. The woman's hands found every knot of tension and like magic, eased her stressed muscles into relaxation. If Lucretta Mannetti had her way, every flag officer's aide would have mandatory massage training.

  Then again, if she had her way, she would rule a very large empire indeed and wouldn't be an officer anymore. Well, not unless she wanted to ease the boredom a bit now and again and crush some rebels or some-such, she amended. Perhaps she'd still ensure the rule about aides, though, it would keep her senior officers happy.

  With that thought, her mellow mood ended and she waved a hand. Her aide ceased her efforts and Lucretta waited patiently while the woman buttoned up her uniform top. That done, her aide stepped away and Lucretta sat up, her eyes roving the bridge. She didn't bother to hide her smirk as several of her bridge crew turned their eyes away from her gaze.

  She knew it drove the men crazy to see her topless, reclined on the bridge. That was one reason that most of the men here were hand-picked, less for their brains and more for their looks and loyalty. Not that she ever really trusted any of them, though. That was why the senior officers were all women... women who had proved their loyalty and ambition and to whom Lucretta had added layers of mental programming to ensure that their loyalty never wavered and their ambition stayed focused on what she offered, rather than what they could take.

  It was a shame that Marius Giovanni hasn't made that mental programming more widely available, she thought, else I never would have faced a mutiny aboard the Peregrine when Lucius demanded my surrender. She gritted her teeth as she thought of the loss of her flagship. While it wasn't essential to her plans, it had been the place where everything had started for her. Worse yet, that idiot puppy had ended up with it. Lucius had turned it over to the new Nova Roma Emperor... which meant that it would probably be destroyed in some foolish wasted endeavor.

  She wished, not for the first time, that Marius would have allowed her to reveal to Lucius that she worked for him. Yet, he seemed determined to retain that secret and she didn't dare to challenge him. Her mind flinched away from the very thought.

  Still, the time would soon come when Marius would have to choose whether he wanted his son alive or whether he wanted to succeed in his stated goals. Lucretta had already lost enough to Lucius that part of her hoped that she'd get the chance to kill him. Another part of her, though, feared the confrontation.

  If I can get those damned ships operational, she thought, then I will have something that can take on the Dreyfus Fleet, especially after he weakens it fighting the Chxor. She smiled as she thought of how his face would look as she brought an entire fleet of vessels like the Kraken to seize the Nova Roma system while his own ships were heavily damaged. It would be rather similar to the time she had stabbed him, she imagined.

  Though, the escaped smuggler might give him some warning. Lucretta had taken precautions for that, though. She'd posted a pair of frigates out on the far side of Halcyon's moon on a patrol picket and in conjunction with the orbital sensors and shifting the orbits and positions of her ships on a random cycle, she knew Lucius wouldn't be able to jump in right on top of her.

  All that should be unnecessary, since Marius had assured her that the United Colonies Fleet would be too occupied to attack. He hadn't let her contact his agent there directly, but she figu
red they were fully occupied in planning the assault on Nova Roma. She wished them the best of luck with that, because it would be far easier for her to take the system from the new Nova Roma Emperor than for her to try to do the same against the Chxor. She'd lost enough people and ships fighting the Chxor at Faraday and she had no desire to face more of them. Let other people bleed and die for that honor, she thought, I'll just take my due in the end.

  Lucretta ran her gaze over the sensor feeds and then frowned as a warning light began to blink. Her eyes narrowed as she saw symbols appear for a set of contacts at long range. The likelihood of them being ships spiked since they shared a location and vector and then the sensor department raised the likelihood to almost a hundred percent as military vessels when the contacts vector overlaid orbit of the planet.

  She sat back and let her people work as she monitored their progress. The number of contacts was high, but she had her suspicions about the identity as she glanced over the raw data. After only a few minutes, her tactical officer turned to her, “Ma'am, we've identified a force inbound, range still at over one million kilometers. Probable identity is one Challenger-class dreadnought and seventy-two Hammer-class gunships, with a couple of Defiance-class destroyers... though it's hard to get readings on them with the Hammer's positioned as they are.”

  Lucretta nodded as the officer said what she had already assumed. It had taken them a bit longer than it should have, but not so long as to require any kind of reprimand. At this range, it was better that they were thorough and obtained an accurate result, whereas at close range a valid assumption of capabilities was enough, targeting data was the priority.