Hidden Enemies (Book 9 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  “Uh oh,” Carl said. “We’ve got a problem. Two of the security guards are exiting security central and are headed this way. It looks like they’re going to arrive about the same time as our guest.”

  Kelsey listened to Veronica explain what they’d found with a frown on her face. She wanted this to be a game changer, but she wasn’t certain they could make it work.

  “You know those suits are booby-trapped and require a specific code to activate, right?” she asked. “Not only do we not have the right tools for the job, the only person we brought that has ever done this successfully is back on the station.”

  “I’ll admit that adds a certain level of complexity to the task,” Veronica agreed. “Yet, I don’t see that we have a lot of choice. I’m hoping we find some additional weapons that we can use if this doesn’t pan out.”

  Jason Young waved a hand in front of Kelsey’s face. She blinked at the distraction and then raised a hand to let him know she’d seen him.

  “We can’t do anything until we’re further away from the shipyard and Archibald,” Kelsey said. “Get one uncrated and we’ll see what we can do.”

  “Copy that,” Veronica said. “Out.”

  Kelsey focused her complete attention on the young security specialist. “What have you got, Jason?”

  “The bridge crew is preparing to move the ship. They’ve received clearance from control to depart the shipyard and try to hide in the outer system. I suppose it’s possible. Every hour without pursuit makes it exponentially more likely they can elude detection for as long as their supplies hold out.”

  “How long do we have and in what direction are they planning on going?”

  “Just a couple of minutes, I think. I’ve tapped into the controls and it looks like they’re headed away from the multiflip point. I’m not sure that’s a negative at this point because that will draw any pursuit away it.”

  Kelsey pulled up a map of the system in her implants. This was going to add time to their escape, but it might make it difficult for any of the forces currently here to track them. Jason was right about that.

  She checked the current location of the Clan warships and saw they had about five hours remaining before the hostile vessels engaged anything in orbit. The Rebel Empire warships were going to intercept them a couple of hours out. Even with the four battlecruisers, the Clan vessels would be able to take them apart without much trouble.

  Tapping into the scanner feed, she watched as the freighter pulled away from the shipyard. She was able to link to the ship’s passive scanners and saw that a number of ships were leaving both the station and the shipyard, running in any direction they could. Some smaller Clan vessels were pursuing some of them. Odds were good they’d get one, too.

  She sat down and gave herself over to thought, checking the scanners every ten minutes or so. Less than an hour later, her fears were confirmed. The freighter was making good time—though not using its full acceleration, she noted—and had drawn what looked like a frigate in pursuit.

  While less powerful than a destroyer, a frigate was more than capable of chasing down a freighter and forcing them to stop or be destroyed. Since this vessel was actually a Q-ship—an armed freighter made to look harmless—the fight would be brutally short and certain to give victory to the freighter.

  That would draw the Clans’ attention. They’d send follow-up ships with more powerful weapons. If the Q-ship went to full acceleration, it might very well elude detection, but they wouldn’t just let it go.

  More worrisome to her, their original freighter was still in orbit around the station. Talbot and Zia had not yet completed their mission and pulled out.

  At this range and lacking the ability to communicate, it would be impossible for her to get an update. She’d just have to hope that her husband and friends managed to get out of there before the enemy arrived in force.

  They could call Fiona and Persephone if they needed to, but the FTL com she’d intended to use was on the shipyard. The AI was monitoring the situation and would blow it up if it was discovered or when the Clans attacked the shipyard. The damage would then be blamed on them.

  The Clan warships had altered course to meet the Rebel Empire warships and were spreading out into a battle formation. That was going to delay their arrival at Archibald, which was a good thing.

  Still, Talbot and Zia really needed to speed things up. If they delayed much longer, they were never going to escape the station at all.

  If things went really badly, Persephone could intervene, but that would cause a whole new set of problems for them. Secrecy was still their best weapon. If they couldn’t keep themselves and their mission quiet, the Pandorans would be the ones paying the price.

  Well, worrying about her friends wasn’t going to help Kelsey do her part. She needed to capture this ship.

  She examined the internal video feeds and allowed her combat implants to sort the various enemy personnel inside the deck plans. Her people needed to strike simultaneously and with overwhelming force on the bridge and in engineering when the time came.

  Then they’d have to hold those areas against a determined counterattack. How they’d manage that might revolve around the armor Veronica had found. If it could be rendered safe.

  That was outside her personal control, so she’d have to pray the other woman figured out a path to success. If not, they were probably screwed.

  36

  Talbot waited inside the second lab for their unwanted visitors to arrive. He was crouched behind a computer on the right-hand side of the compartment. Everyone was under cover except for two marines who now wore the white lab coats and stood at the work table with their backs toward the hatch. They were the distraction.

  “I’ve put the corridor feeds back to real time,” Carl said over the com. “There’s someone in security central monitoring it now.”

  “Acknowledged,” Talbot said. “Be ready to put it back on the loop when we have these people in custody. We’ll have to take out security central as soon as we can. They’ll be worried if these clowns are too quiet.”

  “You bet. Our guests are in the main corridor and will be at your location shortly. Good luck.”

  A minute later, the hatch slid open and the intruders stepped inside. The security guards didn’t have their weapons out, but their hands hovered near them. They were definitely expecting trouble.

  “Did anyone come in here half an hour ago?” the project lead demanded. “I was notified about several unsuccessful access attempts.”

  All three of the men had taken several steps into the lab so Talbot stunned one of the security men. The target dropped without a word. Two other marines took out the remaining hostiles a moment later.

  Talbot stepped over to the hatch and closed it. “Start that corridor loop, Carl,” he said over the com.

  Several of the marines searched the new prisoners and removed the weapons from the security men. They then bound all of them and put them into the corner with the original researchers.

  “The loop is playing now,” Carl said. “I’ll meet you in the corridor.”

  Getting to the security center wasn’t difficult since Carl was able to monitor all the corridors for wandering people and block out any images of them moving through the facility. That didn’t make things less tense for Talbot, though. There were still plenty of things that could go wrong.

  When they arrived outside the security center, he motioned for Carl to stay to the side. “How many people inside? Where are they located?”

  “Two people, both almost directly ahead of you. Since they didn’t have any indication of people in the corridor, I suspect the door opening is going to cause them some consternation and surprise. Both are seated, but armed.”

  Talbot nodded and motioned for three marines to join him directly in front of the hatch. “Two of you down on your knees, one of you stand next to me. When the hatch opens, we open fire. If you’re on the left, take out the person on the left. You’re on the r
ight, take out the person on the right.”

  As soon as they were ready, Talbot made a gesture to Carl and the young man got to work on the lock. His friend was turning into quite the expert at breaking and entering.

  Twenty seconds later, the hatch slid to the side and all four of the ambushers fired at their targets. The security men had barely begun to turn their heads toward the hatch and hadn’t even reached for their weapons.

  As soon as they were down, Talbot led the marines into the security center and they spread out to make certain there were no unexpected surprises waiting for them. Sixty seconds later, they were sure the facility was secure.

  “Get these two down to the lab with the others,” Talbot said as he holstered his stunner. “Let’s make them a priority and get them over to the freighter now. If things get chaotic later on, I don’t want to have to worry about leaving witnesses behind.”

  To be certain they weren’t surprised again, he stationed two of the marines in the security center to keep an eye on all of the monitors and to handle any incoming calls. He picked two that could wear the security uniforms and had the prisoners stripped.

  He didn’t anticipate much action this late at night, but with the lead researcher having shown up unexpectedly, he wasn’t going to rule it out. Having a few men that looked like security might come in very handy.

  Talbot took Carl back to the research area. Zia had been working hard with her people and their primary target was almost cleaned out. He estimated they probably only had another fifteen minutes or so to strip the room bare.

  She stepped over to him as he looked into the lab. “Everything taken care of?”

  He nodded. “I’m worried that they’re going to come and find us, though. We really need to get this done. Moving all of that equipment from one lab to the other is a pain in the ass.”

  She shook her head and smiled at him. “You’re not thinking this through. As soon as we finish clearing this lab out, we can disassemble the large transport ring and move it over to your lab. We’ll set it up there and finish cleaning everything out. It’ll be faster that way.”

  Talbot blinked in surprise at the idea and then laughed. “That’s thinking outside the box. It’s still going to be close, though. I’d like to get every single thing we can out of the other lab, but I don’t want to get caught or need to destroy the transport rings. Any word on Kelsey?”

  Zia shook her head. “The other freighter left the shipyard over an hour ago. It’s making for the outer system. Not exactly in the direction we’d like them to go, but beggars can’t be choosers. It looks as if the Rebel Empire warships in the system are going to try and intervene with the Clan warships. I don’t think we’re going to see anyone here sooner than six hours now.

  “With that in mind, I want to be done in four. Sooner, if we can. Let’s say it takes another hour after that to get the small transport ring back to the cargo bay, onto the shuttle which is on its way there now, and back out to the freighter. That still gives us an hour to get clear of the station before the Clans arrive in force.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a lot of time,” Talbot said with a scowl. “They’ll send someone after us.”

  Zia nodded. “Of course they will. Unfortunately for them, Persephone is going to be shadowing us once we get clear of Archibald. The Clans aren’t going to send a large ship to chase us down. At most, they’ll send a frigate. A Marine Raider strike ship should be able to take it out in one salvo.

  “It’s not my favorite plan and it certainly is going to let them know something is wrong, but I don’t see that we have a choice. Let’s get moving. We’ve got a lot of work to do if we’re going to make that timeline.”

  Veronica eyed the uncrated combat suits uncertainly and then turned toward Doctor Rehnquist with a look of suspicion. “So, let me get this straight, you didn’t remove the explosives but you think you have them all disabled. Exactly what order of probability would you give to that assertion?”

  The older man shrugged. “Nothing in life is certain, Commander. All Princess Kelsey could do is give me a general idea of how the self-destruct system worked. She didn’t have plans for exactly what needed to be done to make these absolutely safe. Even if she did, we don’t have the tools to disassemble the armor. Or the time.”

  The scientist and his impromptu assistants had cleared six suits of armor in the last three hours. There was plenty more, but they didn’t have time to prep another one. The Clan frigate was almost upon them.

  When the confrontation came, her old friend would probably blow it out of space. Based on the weapons she suspected the ship had, he would pretend to surrender to draw the enemy in as closely as possible, then use the beams to eviscerate it. With lightspeed weapons, the frigate would never see what was coming for him.

  If the enemy commander was a little more canny, Don would need to use missiles. However, unlike the frigate, this ship had battle screens to protect it while her missiles finished the frigate at knife range.

  At that point, Don would go to full acceleration and get as far into the outer system as he could. On a ship this size, he probably had enough supplies to last for many months. Perhaps even years.

  All he had to do was outwait the Clans. They’d move on in time, leaving a holding force. Eventually, the Rebel Empire would reclaim the system or he could find a time to use one of the flip points to get clear.

  Princess Kelsey’s plan would disrupt everything for him. Of course, timing was everything. They couldn’t spring into action until the frigate was no longer a threat. Attacking during the fight would only disrupt the crew defending the ship.

  They’d found a few crates of regular flechette weapons, so if they had to fight, they wouldn’t be completely reliant on their stunners.

  She shook her head, dismissing the worry. “I certainly hope you’re right because if they manage to set off any charge you missed, I’ll wager the blast would be more than enough to set off all the ones you’ve disconnected. From what I understand, these make a pretty significant fireball when they go off.”

  The scientist shrugged slightly. “We’ve done the best we can, Commander. At this point, we have to trust that we’ll come out ahead in the end. If not, I’m certain the princess’s ship will come and rescue us. Those of us that survive, that is.”

  “I’d like to avoid the need for rescue and we really can’t count on anything. We play this straight. Total victory is our goal.”

  Her com chimed with an incoming call. It was Princess Kelsey.

  “Are we ready?” Veronica asked. “I’ll need a few minutes to suit up.”

  “The frigate just demanded the freighter surrender. Commander Sommerville cut acceleration and accepted their terms. Of course, he’s powering up his beam weapons. He gave the order, so we can now confirm that the ship has them. We also have battle screens because they’re on standby. The missiles are also ready to fly.

  “Based on my experience, I think we have maybe twenty minutes before this fight is over. The frigate is only going to have a single pinnace, so they’re going to be very careful how they use it. Get suited up and be ready to hit main engineering as soon as the fight is over.”

  “What about those Fleet security goons?” Veronica asked. “As soon as the attack starts, they’re going to come after us. Do we know where on the ship they’re congregating?”

  “Right now they’re spread out preparing to repel boarders. They’re also armed and armored. I think our best bet to deal with them is to wait until this fight is over and they’ve returned to the area they’ve set up as their armory and barracks. Once that happens, they’ll mostly be gathered in one place and out of armor. Their guards will be down.”

  That sounded like a solid plan to Veronica. “Which of us is going to deal with them? I can cut aside a group of marines.”

  “No,” Kelsey said. “You need to focus on engineering. It’s going to be a much more difficult target than the bridge, so I’ll deal with the security forces.
You focus on overwhelming everyone in engineering quickly enough that they don’t damage this ship. That’s the critical part.”

  “Can do. We’ll be ready to go in twenty minutes, just to be safe.”

  She really hoped she wasn’t overpromising with that. None of them had ever used this kind of armor before and getting into it in fifteen minutes might be a challenge.”

  “I’m thinking more like thirty to forty minutes,” Kelsey said firmly. “Getting that armor on isn’t something you can rush into, especially if you’ve never done it before. Also, we need to give the security forces time to stand down. Don’t rush this, Veronica. I’ll let you know ten minutes before we execute and even if it takes you longer, we have time. Good luck.”

  Veronica rubbed at her face as the call ended. She wasn’t afraid of a fight, but this wasn’t what she was used to. Well, she’d rely on Kelsey’s marines for guidance and make it work. Or die trying.

  37

  The next three and a half hours felt like weeks to Zia. They quickly finished emptying the first lab and relocated the transport rings to the second lab to get as much of the computer equipment as possible.

  Carl oversaw the removal of the destroyed Singularity computer and all of the support equipment that had been analyzing it like a madman. He rushed from one end of the lab to the other, seeing that the various server towers were removed and hustled through the larger ring as quickly as possible.

  As the clock ticked down, Zia made more frequent trips to the freighter to check on the status of the Clan warships. They’d delayed their arrival at Archibald to deal with the Rebel Empire ships, but that wouldn’t delay them much longer.

  She and her people only had until that fight was done to get everything they could. There were a lot of vessels fleeing the planet and she didn’t want to be the last one out the gate.

  By her estimates, they were about half an hour away from emptying the second lab when the research center employees started arriving. They’d run out of time and she had a hard choice to make. Leave the remaining stuff in the lab with the Singularity computer or destroy the large transport ring.