Starclash (Stealing the Sun Book 4)

by Ron Collins

  Pinot took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. They both knew that last statement was too simple. In the game of politics, applying grease had a way of actually changing the skids. There was no reason to voice this, though. No reason to say aloud that in this configuration Sela Matz and Willim Pinot alone could conspire to change civilization in ways they felt was for the better, that control of information was the most important force in existence, and that in this configuration the two of them could be the two most powerful people in the Solar System.

  And the fact of the matter was that in this configuration, Willim Pinot was the more powerful of the two.

  Yes, Matz could give him simple access to information and people he couldn’t easily get elsewhere, but he could control everything that the leadership of the United Government heard whether it was true or not.

  This was it, he thought. This was his dream.

  He was sure there would be a process—meetings, hearings, confirmations. But he understood how this game was played. If the supreme president wanted it to happen, it would happen. And Sela Matz would ensure the supreme president wanted it to happen. Beyond the facts of their past relationship, which had always been professional and productive, he knew she had his back because she had come here, rather than summon him to her place. Coming here was a vote of confidence in itself. It said it was his job to deal with the internal fallout. Coming here gave him control of the message, and said she knew he could deal with any fallout.

  That realization built a sense of victory that made him feel like he was going to combust there on the spot.

  He was one person, yes. But he was about to become one person who could shape the rest of the world.

  “That sounds fantastic,” he finally said. “I can’t wait to help.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Atropos, Eta Cassiopeia System

  Local Date: Conejo 14, 9

  Local Time: 1730

  Gregor Anderson’s living quarters was a standard mudbrick house built on a solid foundation. It consisted of six rooms, including the small kitchen.

  Paying extreme attention to her disheveled appearance and her broken arm, which Dr. Iwal had already set and put into a sling, Gregor’s aide let Deidra directly into the study.

  A small computing pad sat on one side of the desk, a cup of coffee or, more likely, tea sat on the other side, looking like it hadn’t been touched in some time. The office chair at the desk was empty, but Gregor sat in a wicker seat that faced the open back door, dressed informally in a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of cloth pants cinched with a drawstring. His sandals revealed a gnarled pair of feet that seemed even older than he was. The skin of his face looked gray and pasty, like Deidra could press her finger into his cheek and it would leave a finger-sized hole. He stared into the distance with an empty expression on his face.

  “You already know why I’m here,” she said.

  “Yes,” Gregor said. His voice sounded like old concrete. His eyes were bloodshot. “Matthew is dead.”

  Deidra pulled the desk chair over to Gregor’s side, and sat down.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  She imagined Papa sitting here where she was, which brought tears welling into her eyes. She blinked hard. No. There was too much on the line to let herself break down now. She hadn’t cried earlier, she wasn’t going to cry now.

  “How is your arm?”

  “It hurts, Dr. Iwal is working on it. Should have it healed over in a few days maybe.”

  “That’s good.”

  They sat for several moments. Outside the door came the sounds of recovery—engines grinding, rubble being removed, voices calling in anger or surprise.

  “They know where we are,” Gregor said.

  “Yes,” Deidra said, understanding that they were the United Government.

  “And they know we can’t match their production.”

  “Maybe.”

  Gregor’s gaze fell on her then. It was heavy and scalding. “You are young, Deidra. You will make many mistakes. This is all right. The people of Universe Three are familiar with problems and the mistakes that come from our kind of struggle. They will forgive them all as long as you keep one promise.”

  “Which is?”

  “You have to promise you will never lie to yourself.”

  Deidra smirked, then moved the fingers of her bad arm so she could feel the dull ache that came through the pain retardant. Gregor may be an old man, and his advice may sometimes be as outdated as he was, but he was speaking the truth here.

  “We have to leave Atropos City,” she said.

  Gregor nodded.

  “You and Papa talked about it in the past. We have to find other planets, places where we can settle—more than one—places where we can grow without fear of attack.”

  Gregor sighed and blinked.

  “That’s the real reason you’re here, isn’t it?” he said. “You didn’t come to tell me about Matthew. You came to ensure my support.”

  “I need you,” Deidra said. “My father played the long game, and I know a lot of that is because of you. But I am truly sorry about Matt. We’ve both lost someone in this mess, now. I was coming here before the attack to give you the news.”

  “I’m tired,” he said.

  “I may not know much, but I figure it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

  He laughed. It was a thin laugh, but a laugh full of emotions, one she couldn’t decipher fully.

  “I need you to work with our planners to develop a plan. We have another Star Drive coming ready soon. We need to use it to shuttle people to as many places as makes sense. We need to ensure communications are available. There are plans to make, Gregor, and I need you to deal with them.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  She was silent long enough that Gregor craned his head to look at her.

  Deidra looked out over the rubble that the UG attack had created, and at the people who were working to recover. She thought of Jamal and the calm sense of balance he brought to her life, and she thought of Kel, beautiful Kel, both of them, buried in the remains of the house that she had considered her home until earlier today when the skimmers came and made everything a mess.

  “I’m going to repair Icarus,” she said. “And then I’m going to make the Uglies wish they had never come here.”

  NEWS

  SOURCE: INFOWAVE — NEWS for the twenty-third century

  DATE: February 20, 2215, Earth Standard

  HEADLINE: Terrorists Strike Earth

  London, New York, and Beijing were destroyed by devastating surprise attack today when Universe Three used their stolen Excelsior spacecraft to achieve Terran orbit for nearly two hours. The attack obliterated civilian and military personnel, damaged satellite communications, and destroyed several key manufacturing facilities that supported communities across the Solar System as well.

  Casualties are unknown at this time, but are estimated to be upward of 100 million people either dead or injured.

  SOURCE: INFOWAVE — NEWS for the twenty-third century

  DATE: February 28, 2215, Earth Standard

  HEADLINE: U3 Launches Multiple Attacks

  In the wake of Universe Three’s cowardly attack on Earth last week, two separate Universe Three attacks occurred in sequence today. The first destroyed mining capability in the commercial sector of the asteroid belt, the second disrupted manufacturing segments on Io. The damage was relatively slight in relation to the attack on Earth, but the action, when paired with the uptick in incidents of U3 terrorism across the Solar System, suggests that Universe Three may have completed production of their second Star Drive spacecraft, giving them numerical advantage.

  “That won’t last long,” said Kevin LaPierre, the UG’s new press secretary. “Universe Three is pressing their luck now because they know we are just months, if not weeks away from matching them.”

  SOURCE: INFOWAVE — NEWS for the twenty-third century

  DATE: July
30, 2215, Earth Standard

  HEADLINE: Interstellar Command Gets Two New Ships

  “We are excited today to reveal not one, but two new Excelsior class Star Drive spacecraft,” Press Secretary Kevin LaPierre said today. UGIS Venture and UGIS Voyager were commissioned and ran their maiden jumps.

  When teamed with Orion, this gives the Solar System an advantage over the Universe Three terrorists who have been attacking with nearly free will.

  LaPierre added, “The three defensive ships will be stationed at critical locations to reduce U3’s ability to hurt our citizens. Now that these are in place, the mighty production capability of the Solar System’s people will be directed to build an attack fleet that will shut down this war once and forever.”

  SOURCE: INFOWAVE — NEWS for the twenty-third century

  DATE: August 15, 2215, Earth Standard

  HEADLINE: Surprise Attack Destroys Venus Station

  A devastating attack on the science stations of Venus Station, a floating city in Venusian orbit, has resulted in thousands killed and a rescue operation of unprecedented scale.

  “This should not have been able to happen,” said Admiral Naomi Umaro. “The people of the Solar System will be revenged.”

  Epilogues

  GALOPAR

  Galopar

  Local Date: Undefined

  Local Time: Undefined

  The landing had been hard—a half-crash, half-controlled tumble that ended with the Z-pad upside down and with a sliver of metal jabbed into his thigh. After extracting the metal and tending the wound, it took him an hour to get out of the skimmer. Another to rest up and gather what few items he could carry with him. A few blankets, a knife, and some energy bars. The emergency first aid kit.

  He wished he had the painkiller back.

  * * *

  Nimchura limped across what had at one time been the perimeter of the UG’s secret base camp, leaning hard on the branch he had cut from a tree to act as his crutch. He was just in time. The planet’s sun was setting. It would be dark soon. Nimchura remembered the sound of this place’s nocturnal predators. He didn’t want to be out during the darkest, deepest part of the night. He had come too far to die that way.

  His hand hurt as it gripped the rough bark. His leg throbbed and his back ached. Hunger gnawed at the pit of his stomach, and sweat drenched the cloth he had tied over his head to keep the insects off.

  The walk to the camp took an entire day.

  But he had found it.

  The barracks were still up. The mess tent had been mostly reclaimed by the planet, but he found bins of vacuum-packed meals there, thank God, as his aunt would have said. He ripped the first open and gnawed on something that was supposed to be protein. “These things have a half-life of three universes,” Deuce had once said to him. Which was still true—the meal was as disgusting as these things ever were, but that didn’t matter now.

  He ate until his stomach was comfortable.

  There was enough here to keep him alive while he figured out how to deal with the land on his own.

  In the distance, he saw the flat slabs of the landing pads that he and Alex Jarboe had poured so many years ago. They were cracked, but still there.

  Other buildings were in the area, too.

  Places where spaceships had been built.

  Places where components still lay.

  The sky grew darker as he leaned on the walking stick and headed to the barracks. He crossed an open area and recalled the last late-night conversation he held with Jarboe. He stopped then, and gazed up into the darkening indigo sky, watching as the first stars appeared.

  Assuming his leg was up to it, and assuming he didn’t get himself eaten by something overnight, tomorrow he would take inventory of the production line.

  Tomorrow, if he could, he would begin building his own damned spacecraft.

  It would be a beautiful thing, he thought.

  He would call it an XB-25 Quadruple Firebrand.

  Then Todias Nimchura, the only human being alive on the planet known as Galopar, turned and walked to the barracks.

  He was alone.

  Completely on his own.

  For the first time in his life, he thought he might actually understand what freedom meant.

  37 GEM

  U3 Ship Icarus, 37 Geminorum System

  Local Date: Undefined

  Ship Time: 1245

  A sense of loneliness settled over Deidra Francis as she sat at the head of the conference table and watched her advisers argue.

  She missed her father, of course.

  She missed her mother.

  She missed having Kel and Jamal to buffer her from her anger. Even now, months after the UG had murdered them, it was hard to imagine a world without the two of them. She missed their touch, the heat of their bodies in the middle of the night, and simply the comforting weight their voices brought to discussions about philosophy, culture, or any one of a hundred different topics.

  Deidra even missed her brat brothers, though both were useless in operational issues like this.

  She thought about Katriana Martinez. At least they had a session planned later this evening when Katriana would guide Vengeance here to sync up the logistics of the three communities.

  Assigning Katriana to command their second Star Drive spaceship had been the right call, even though it cost Deidra a confidante. Katriana was working with Deidra’s mother and Gregor, helping the two of them direct the development of the other two new colonies that would be the backbone of Universe Three’s future.

  Papa should have scattered their resources earlier.

  Looking back on it, Deidra could see that was the root of her father’s primary mistake.

  Focusing everything they had on Atropos City at one time had, admittedly, resulted in getting them a second Star Drive craft in only a few years, but it had also given the Uglies the ability to wipe them out in one barrage.

  That wouldn’t happen again, Deidra thought as she rubbed the headache from her temple. At least not as long as she was in control of the organization.

  She had been firm.

  Three settlements, scattered about the stars.

  Three places to hide. Three places to grow.

  Universe Three would expand from there, but it would expand slowly, and in a way that made sense.

  And what made sense to Deidra was that, while each colony would be designed to be able to subsist on its own in case of emergency, the colony here in the 37 Gem system would be responsible for one thing, and one thing only: build spaceships.

  Their Scorpii colony would focus on education, training, and the scientific research required to stay ahead of the UG. The group that populated the Capella double system would be responsible for agricultural support and expanding the food stock of all their populations.

  Deidra cleared her throat, but the argument was going strong enough that only a few noticed her.

  That made her happy.

  They had been going at it for thirty minutes, which suggested that they weren’t yet fully united, despite the raids they had already successfully executed. This was fine by her. Though she no longer agreed with her father’s fundamental idea of their enemy, Papa had taught her the value of open discussion within her team. Difference of opinion was good. Conflict held value.

  To a point.

  “37 Gem has four planets with the base ability to support life,” said Kyleen Lian, who had taken control of the organization’s entire bio-agriculture program and run it well. In only a few months, she and her staff had designed a system that should support all three of their outposts.

  Kazima Yamada replied. “Yes,” she said. “But we are thin now. We have only three thousand people to create this station. So we need to focus on one only.”

  Deidra cleared her throat again, this time loud enough to bring the rest to a halt. She rubbed her arm where it still ached despite having healed.

  “Kazima is right,” she said. “Focus, remember. The ques
tion at hand is not how many settlements we will have here at first, the question for 37 Gem is only how quickly can it build another Star Drive.”

  “But the other planets—” Lian said.

  “Once the base colony is designed, we can charter operations to use the other planets for lifeboats in case of attack,” Deidra said. “And if we are here long enough, we’ll consider permanent expansion. But one step at a time.”

  The group settled.

  Refocused, it began to make headway.

  Deidra sat back, once again feeling the shell of loneliness collapse over her.

  * * *

  It was important to Deidra that they met in the common mess, so that’s where she took her seat—a booth up on the raised platform, far enough away from others to allow for private conversation, but visible enough to make a presence. It was something her father would have done, something that broke barriers between her and the people of Universe Three. They were at war now. Full and open war. It was important the people feel like she was one of them. She had been excited to see Katriana again, so she was already seated when her mentor arrived.

  “It’s good to see you again,” Katriana said as she settled into the seat across the table from Deidra.

  “You, too,” she replied.

  Katriana’s tray carried a curry dish, and a warm tea that steamed when she took the lid off its container. Deidra was having a grilled burger that had seemed like a better idea when she picked it out than it did now, a piece of bio-base banana, and what was probably too big of a slice of cake.

  “Your mother asked me if you are eating right.”

  “And you told her?”

  Katriana took in the cake and shrugged.

  “How is life on Vengeance?” Deidra said, smiling. It felt good to have a friend here.