Voice of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Three)

by Lawrence White

  His eyes opened wide in awe. “You’re that Commander? And I’m just learning it?”

  “Sorry.” She returned her attention to Captain Arrits. “I’m going to talk to the local squadron, see where their loyalties lie. I’ll let you know how it goes. If I fail, it will be obvious. They are not to link with the station. We need reinforcements inside the station as soon as you can get them here, but you need to deal with the enemy ships first.”

  She sent a tight beam to the local squadron commander. When the connection was complete, she stared into the eyes of a Grbant, a frog-like creature. “Commodore, is it?” she asked.

  “What’s going on?” the Grbant demanded, both of his eyes focused on her. “Station security said they were under some kind of attack. They were incapacitated for a time, and now your shield is down.”

  “You didn’t feel it?”

  “Feel what?”

  “Let me ask a question, Commodore,” she said, studying the creature’s expression carefully. She had worked for a Grbant and knew them well. “Do you have any Chessori aboard?”

  One eye moved to the side, but the other remained focused on her. She suspected evasion. “What does it matter?”

  “It only matters if you value your life. Answer my question.” His throat expanded as it filled with air. Squadron commanders were not accustomed to receiving threats, so she clarified her position.

  “I am Lady Akurea. I speak for the Queen.”

  Both eyes instantly swiveled to the monitor. “Lady Akurea!”

  “Lady Akurea, Knight of the Realm. Answer my question, Commodore.”

  “Surely you jest.”

  She frowned. “Tell me, Commodore, are you familiar with the recent successes of the Queen’s forces?”

  Both eyes swiveled outward, then returned to her. “We are not a high priority here. We hear rumors, but nothing concrete.”

  “You don’t stand a chance against them. Do not test me, Commodore. I repeat my question. Do you have Chessori aboard?”

  “I do.”

  “How many?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Meaning you won’t say. So . . . you have chosen sides, the wrong side. I’m sorry. If you value your life, and if you want your squadron to survive, you will move away from this station. I offer terms of surrender, but only if you accept before battle is joined. Once battle is joined, it will be too late for you. The Chessori aboard your ship will take control. It will be your last memory.”

  “I have my orders.”

  “You have new orders from a Knight of the Realm. My orders to you, spoken in the name of the Queen, are to move away, far away. If you fail to obey my order, you are lost. The decision is yours, Commodore.”

  She cut the connection and reestablished a tightbeam connection to her ship. “What’s your status?”

  “Ready to move on the Chessori, My Lady. Your capital ships are in position to attack the Rebel squadron.”

  “I have ordered the squadron to move away. If they comply, give them room. If they do not, take them out. The squadron commander admits to having Chessori aboard his ship.”

  She turned to the assistant security officer. “You’re going to evacuate the station. I am told the process requires three days. You are in charge, and your people’s lives are in your hands.”

  “Three days under ideal conditions, My Lady.”

  “Conditions will be less than ideal. The station will be on emergency power in a few hours.”

  The man gulped. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am deadly serious.”

  “My Lady, we already have panic. Everyone has suffered horribly. I cannot keep control under emergency power conditions.”

  “Do the best you can. We’ll evaluate it as you progress, but this station will be uninhabitable within days.”

  Stor whispered to Harriman, “He’s going to need weapons to maintain order. Hopefully his men won’t have to use them, but they might have to threaten to use them.”

  He considered. “You’re probably right. We’ll consider issuing them after we get our reinforcements.”

  * * * * *

  The Rebel squadron commander failed to heed Akurea’s warning. His last thoughts were, indeed, of the scree aboard his own ship. They were close enough that the whole station suffered. Rescue ships approaching from the surface lost guidance, as well, and had to depend on their AI’s to avoid hitting the station.

  Akurea’s squadron made short work of the Rebels, then moved in on the Chessori ships. Her own ship had already taken out two of them. The last tried to flee, but a fast frigate took it out with little effort. As soon as Captain Arrits gave the all clear, Harriman looked hard at his four Chessori. They took the hint, and the scree stopped.

  This time the station had been under the influence of the scree for almost an hour. People all over the station were slow to come back to their senses, and when they did they were confused and panicked. Harriman and his partner guarded entrances to the security section, waiting patiently for people to recover. The security staff slowly came back and began a systematic check of the station. Akurea’s ship docked, and six Great Cats raced for the security section, bowling over anyone who got in their way. Four Terran Protectors followed at a slightly more sedate pace.

  The security chief gulped when the Great Cats entered his domain. He had seen a Great Cat or two during his lifetime, but never in such close quarters, and never had he been on the wrong side. Four cats remained outside to guard, prowling the nearby corridors and forcing unwary station employees to seek different routes to wherever they were going.

  The Great Cat Lex took control. After a briefing from Akurea and Harriman, he issued his orders. “We’ll deactivate the core tomorrow, but we’ll reevaluate before we do so. Emergency energy supplies will last for days, and we want those supplies used up, but we don’t want innocent people to die during the evacuation. We do want this station to be inoperable for a long time.”

  He looked to another Great Cat, Rogue. “You’re in charge of securing the core. Lady Akurea and Stor are the experts. They will conduct the shutdown. Take one more Great Cat and two Terrans. I will remain here and keep an eye on you through the monitors.”

  Stor gave Harriman a long, lingering look, then turned and left with Akurea.

  The evacuation was, truly, a remarkable feat, never before actually accomplished within living memory of any station. Lex wanted to evacuate Harriman back to the ship, but he did not have enough people to provide an escort. Harriman would just have to suffer a little longer. Or . . . maybe a lot longer.

  * * * * *

  Akurea and her team drove half way around the station, working their way through masses of evacuees until reaching the utility corridor leading down into the central core. So far, no one had threatened them. A steady stream of vehicles poured out of the ramp leading up from the central core. Stor and Rogue stared at each other, the Great Cat’s tail twitching from time to time.

  “It could become a trap,” Stor said.

  “It could already be a trap,” Rogue growled. “I don’t like this. Is there another way?”

  “Elevators.”

  “Just as bad. What else?”

  “There are service ways, but you’re talking about multiple levels, thousands of steps. I don’t recommend it.”

  “Do you know the way? Can you lead us?”

  “I can, but you’re not going to like it.” She turned to Akurea. “It will be an ordeal, My Lady.”

  “Time is wasting, Stor.”

  Stor led the way to a service door and entered without looking back. Rogue was right behind her and she heard him grumble, “Into the belly of the beast we go.”

  The long, grueling journey began. A wide stairway lined with pipes stretched level after level into what seemed like infinity, and the descent was steep. All of them were in excellent condition, but hours after beginning the descent, muscles rebelled and started cramping. Rogue called for regular rest periods
, but the rest periods almost seemed to make things worse.

  Akurea’s legs finally gave out, and she tumbled down several steps. Stor was by her side in moments, cradling her in her arms.

  “I’m okay,” Akurea gasped. “I just need to rest.”

  Stor just stood up with Akurea in her arms and continued down the steps. Rogue stared at her back in amazement, his own body crying out with each step, but he kept up with her, taking one step at a time. So did everyone else. These men refused to accept the fact that they might have limitations. They simply endured until the end.

  When they finally reached the end, Stor settled gracefully to the floor with Akurea still in her arms. Even with her great strength, she was done in. All of them sat, then all of them stood and shuffled around the small landing to ease aching muscles. The Great Cats bounded back up a few levels just to feel the effort of going up instead of going down. When Rogue returned, he gathered them together.

  “A terrible ordeal. We will do our best to find a different way out. Now, prepare yourselves for battle. We don’t know what conditions are like here. Stor, what are we up against?”

  “Since they were ordered to evacuate, I don’t know how many engineers stayed behind. They’re typically a dedicated bunch, so there could be five or ten. They won’t be the fighting type.”

  “We are the enemy,” Rogue said. “Will they sabotage the station to prevent us from achieving our goals?”

  “Never,” she said. “They would never willingly cause harm. This station is their life’s work.”

  Rogue turned to Akurea. “That is your argument to them, My Lady. Call upon that loyalty when you speak to them. You and Stor need their help, but never forget that any guidance they offer will be to the station’s advantage, not necessarily ours.”

  He lined them up on the door. The Great Cats went first, followed by the Terrans, then Stor and Akurea. From the stairwell exit, they entered a wide, short corridor that led to a closed bulkhead door. The door was locked, but Stor had the command override code and entered that code. The bulkhead irised open.

  Several shots sounded, and blaster bolts slammed against the bulkhead. More shots sounded, and a few even made their way through the opening. Rogue groaned. “Amateurs.” He let out a great, chilling roar and bounded into the corridor, exposing himself, his yellow eyes burning. His partner followed. Neither raised a weapon.

  “Are you insane?” he roared. “Do you really want to take on Great Cats?”

  Silence met his words. In a more normal voice, he said, “Thank you. Place your weapons on the floor and slide them toward me.”

  Akurea, waiting behind the bulkhead, heard the clicks of dropped weapons and knew the worst was over. Rogue started into the huge cavern, his nails clicking on the shiny floor, but he suddenly stopped and backed up. He glanced toward Stor and motioned to her.

  Her eye ticked up in surprise, but she obeyed. When she rounded the bulkhead, she, too, stopped in amazement, staring in disbelief. She took a few hesitant steps and stopped, then spoke a few words in another language. She received a reply and nodded to Rogue, then he and his partner split up to search the huge facility.

  Stor motioned for Akurea to follow her. The two Terran Protectors split up and moved to opposite sides of the chamber, but both remained in line of sight to Stor. Akurea rounded the bulkhead and stared as Stor approached two Llaska, each showing signs of advanced age. When she reached them, she sank down on both knees and leaned back on her feet. The two before her did the same. Before long, tears cascaded down Stor’s cheeks. The three Llaska embraced.

  Akurea approached them and the trio stood up. Stor introduced them, and the two Llaska went to a knee briefly, then stood back up. Akurea looked expectantly at Stor.

  “They are the first of my kind I have seen since I left home,” she told Akurea. “Their names are Loang and Eroun Firlaif. They are husband and wife, and the only two engineers remaining here. The rest joined the exodus as soon as the scree ended.”

  “Will you help us?” Akurea asked the pair.

  “What is it that you need?” the woman Eroun asked.

  Akurea stared at her, then shifted her gaze to Stor. “Would it be better if you talked to them in private?”

  “No, My Lady. You’re the Knight here. But it might be easier on them. Neither of them has ever met a Knight, and they’re a little nervous. So was I when I met you.”

  Akurea smiled. “I’m a little nervous about the whole thing myself. We have until tomorrow to come up with a plan. Take your time.”

  The three Llaska joined arms and retired to an office. A Terran joined them briefly to inspect the office, then he left them alone. Akurea wandered through the enormous facility, recognizing most of the equipment but glad that she would not have to shut the station down on her own.

  * * * * *

  Akurea ended up waiting two more days. The exodus was not going well - no surprise since nothing like it had ever actually been put into effect. Stor and the two Llaska engineers developed a detailed plan that would halt station production for at least two years and possibly as much as three years. The station had two main power plants and a several smaller ones. Stor would destroy both of the main plants. She would leave the smaller power plants operational - she did not want to kill the station, just damage it. Restoration teams would need lights, heat, and air in order to work.

  Hydroponics was the heart of her plan. Possibly the most complex system on the station, it supplied air, humidity, and pressure, and it recycled waste. It was a living system, and any slight change to its intricate balance would take a lot of time to repair. Replacing power plants would take months at best, but once they were operational again it would take a year at least to restore hydroponics. Only then could station staff return. More time would elapse before the assembly lines started up.

  Lex finally gave the go ahead from the security offices, and Akurea and the three Llaska entered the station’s net. Stor was in charge of the process - the others were there for guidance.

  The AI that greeted Stor was not the friendly chatterbox she had grown accustomed to aboard Akurea’s ship. She let the AI get used to her, then began issuing instructions.

  “Bring all production to a halt.”

  “It will take 1.23 hours. I will advise when the process is complete.”

  An hour and a half later, she said, “Shut down the number two power plant.”

  “My programming prohibits this action.”

  “Prohibition override: Imperial code 3X92NC9142YPD.”

  “Override accepted. Shut down process initiated.”

  Stor waited until the plant was completely shut down, then she removed her helmet and directed the engineers to physically deactivate every switch on that control panel. She led Rogue into the number two power plant chamber and helped him place shaped charges. Two small shaped charges went on the power bottle - any slightest deformation would remove it from service forever - and just for back-up four more charges were attached to main structures that held the lasers in perfect alignment.

  She returned to the net. “Are systems stable?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is the station’s orbit stable?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will the orbit decay without guidance?”

  “The station is in geostationary orbit. The orbit will never become irretrievable.”

  “But the station itself will become unstable. Will the instability prevent ships from docking?”

  “Cannot compute. Minute degradation will occur immediately and increase over time.”

  “I am going to remove capsules on arms 19, 32, 57, 63, and 71. They contain nearly completed power bottles that must be eliminated. How will that affect station stability?”

  “You should also remove capsules 3, 25, and 97. All removals should be as simultaneous as possible.”

  She took a deep breath, then commanded, “Shut down the number one power plant.”

  “Shutdown process initiate
d.”

  Moments later, she felt the floor fall away. She ripped the helmet from her head to discover everyone floating away from the floor, herself included. She reached for the chair but missed. She just managed to grasp the control panel. The two Great Cats floated in mid-air looking like they’d been electrocuted, their fur standing straight out, their four hands splayed with claws extended, reaching for anything. Akurea and the two Terran Protectors drifted slowly toward the entrance to the compartment, both men retching into their shirts in an effort to keep the contents of their stomachs from spreading. They were not successful.

  She’d never seen an angry Great Cat, and she hoped to never see one again. Rogue’s eyes literally glowed with anger.

  She and the two engineers were the only one holding to anything. She pulled herself back to her seat and floated there, in awe of what she had just done. This very scene was repeating itself throughout the station. People were floating, parts in the warehouses were probably floating out of their orderly containers, and anything loose, including fluids, had probably escaped normal containment. The assembly lines had been stopped, but some damage was bound to occur to them as well. She hoped that after all the trouble they’d gone through to limit damage, her one simple act had not destroyed the station.

  Her communicator buzzed. It was Lex in the security center. “What happened?” he growled.

  “I just deactivated the second main power plant. The station is without guidance.”

  Silence met her statement, then a whispered comment: “I didn’t think about that particular consequence.”

  “Neither did I. I just wanted to disable the station. I hope I haven’t destroyed it.”

  “I’ll check the monitors and get back to you. In the meantime, don’t turn anything else off.”

  “Trust me, I won’t. Get back to me as soon as you can.”

  * * * * *

  Stor’s job was almost done. Rogue set charges on the number one power plant, then everyone floated back to the security center. They took the main corridor this time and only had to guide themselves with occasional help from a wall, ceiling, or floor. Minutes after setting forth she heard and felt the charges detonating. What she had done could no longer be undone.