Beyond Those Distant Stars

by John B. Rosenman

  “Please,” Gage said, “come in and dock.” She clasped her hands on her desk. “I swear to you, Commander, that I knew nothing of Orian's intentions.”

  Stella locked eyes with the base commander, knowing she was telling the truth but not wanting to give her anything. Thunderheart touched her. She looked down at his armored hand covering hers, an anchor holding her to reality.

  She returned her gaze to Gage. “I know you didn't, General. We were both deceived.”

  Gage visibly relaxed. “Thank you, Commander. And thanks too for not attacking Orian's ship. I will order all ships to return to base.” She smiled. “You may dock at Loran Base at your pleasure.”

  Stella nodded, and a few moments later, as the firedarts and rescue squadron began to return, they took with them the last of her anger.

  “Thank you, General,” she said. “I'll see you soon.” She started to accelerate.

  And that was when the All-Mother struck, pouncing across the void of space. Destroy the base. Attack and drive my son's ship into its sterile womb. Impale and gut it, spin its death song.

  Her will staggered. Stunned, she tried to resist, to regain control of herself as she had while pursuing Orian. But the All-Mother seemed closer, stronger than before. She felt herself weaken. Jason, her mind cried, I wish I'd told you how I felt.

  The voice filled her being until there was nothing else.

  Attack and destroy it, Stella Singlethorne McMasters. Avenge my son!

  Before Stella, Loran Base waited-unguarded, unsuspecting.

  Attack. Destroy. NOW!

  As the Pregnant Song roared onward, Stella readied its artillery for battle, her eyes glassy with delight as she prepared to obey.

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  * * *

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The radiant globe of Loran Base hovered before her, a world waiting to be destroyed, just ten thousand kilometers away.

  “Commander,” Thunderheart said, “shouldn't you decelerate? At this rate, we won't be able to dock.”

  Instead of slowing, the Pregnant Song accelerated. Like a Scaley, she possessed no will or volition, existed only as her master's tool. When Thunderheart gripped her shoulder, she barely felt it.

  “Commander, what are you doing?”

  The base was centered in her scopes now. Submerged in hundreds of force fields, she awaited her master's call.

  And then it came: FIRE on the base. Avenge my son!

  Thunderheart's grip tightened. A rebel pocket of Stella's mind stirred, struggling to free itself. Ahead, blinding white blips shot for the base, now less than two thousand kilometers away.

  And missed, continuing on into space.

  You missed on purpose! The All-Mother railed in her mind. I order you to avenge my son!

  To hell with your son, Stella's mind managed to reply. Bent, but still struggling against her oppressor's will, she savagely worked the weaponry. More tracers shot out, missing the base.

  Nine hundred kilometers away now. A tongue of light streaked narrowly past them. Loran Base was retaliating.

  Despicable, inept human ... Do not dare to resist! Yet there was surprise in the imperious tones. Unleash my vengeance upon this frail egg of your species’ technology. Impregnate it with death!

  Instead of a ruined globe, Captain Orian's exploding firedart filled her vision. A shroud of radioactive iodine. Orian's murdered parents and dead brother. Despite what Thunderheart said, was there really any difference between her and Orian? Weren't they both victims? Yet before she'd held back, she had been about to fire upon him.

  I will not fire, she resolved despite a thought-numbing haze. You can't make me!

  The All-Mother's voice sliced through Gage's and Thunderheart's shouts. Very well, if you will not fire upon your precious base, then RAM it. Impale and stave it in. Let the sterile vacuum of the void spin its death song.

  Directly before her, the base's colossal structure loomed. She couldn't miss hitting it, even though Thunderheart had unlocked his harness and labored to free her from the chair. A blast struck their bow, casting him to the deck. She aimed the Pregnant Song at the globe's equator, torn between the desire to obey the All-Mother and the need to resist her terrible order.

  At the last moment, something inside her unfolded throughout the bowels of the drive system and the ship reared up in a steep trajectory. Dazed, she banked the ship around and headed back.

  “What's going on?” Gage shouted. “I gave you free passage.”

  She blinked and shook her head, finding the All-Mother gone. She had managed to resist her.

  “A mistake,” she said, staring past Thunderheart's arm at Gage's face. “As I told Colonel Powers, I've just started learning how to fly this ship. I've got it under control now.”

  On the holovid, Colonel Powers leaned over Gage's seated figure. “Destroy her,” he said.

  Gage snapped her hand up. Silence. Opposing forces warred on her face before she spoke. “I think I believe you, Commander. You could have raked us a dozen times over.” She rapped the desk. “Can you control the ship now? We have a berth prepared for you.”

  Stella sighed, feeling as if she'd just escaped from a nightmare. “General,” she said, “you don't have to tell me twice.”

  * * * *

  Gage was waiting for them in the docking bay when they left the ship. Even more amazing, there was no one about. Marching toward her, Stella realized that the commanding officer of Loran Base had chosen to meet her alone and without protection.

  As she drew near, she assessed Gage. Small and tough, she was the kind of person who would never be intimidated. Or lie. She knew that now.

  Halting, she and Thunderheart snapped Gage a sharp salute and received one in return.

  “Thunderheart,” Gage said, “would you excuse us?” She pointed. “Head that way. Someone will meet you and take you to your quarters.”

  Thunderheart hesitated. “Yes, ser.”

  After his footsteps died away, Gage turned to her. “Commander, did you really lose control a few minutes ago?”

  She considered lying, and then rejected the idea. “No.”

  “What happened?”

  Stella hesitated. Perhaps Gage was screened and half the base was listening in. If so, a few comments about the All-Mother might have her arrested, killed on the spot.

  But you had to trust somebody. Sometimes you just had to tell the truth.

  So she did, boiling the crucial information down to two minutes and trying to present her fantastic discoveries in matter-of-fact terms. Scaleys had been created by Slugs who were created in turn by the All-Mother, an enigmatic horror who could control one's mind from a galaxy away and make one do almost anything.

  “But you didn't,” Gage said when Stella was finished. “You resisted, which means humans can.”

  Stella frowned. “I barely resisted, and I was aided by Thunderheart. If the All-Mother were closer...”

  Gage locked her hands behind her, medals gleaming on her green uniform. “So, you're saying you're dangerous. She could interfere again.” Her jaw hardened. “Could the All-Mother possess any of us?”

  “Perhaps, but I think she's only interested in me because I bonded with her son. Which means I'm the one threatened by the All-Mother.”

  “She could have you sabotage this base,” Gage said.

  “Or kill you,” Stella replied, surprised at her honesty. “So you see, it might not be a bad idea to neutralize me. Or strand me on some asteroid.”

  Gage's lips curled in a faint smile. “Oh, our hospitality's better than that. Besides, you're the only chance we've ever had to win this damned war.” She exhaled loudly. “In my opinion, you're worth the risk.”

  “Would your security officers agree?”

  Gage raised an eyebrow. “You won't wear a weapon. And you'll be watched closely.”

  Stella leaned forward. “General, there could be a hundred sharpshooters following my steps, and I could still snap someon
e's neck before they knew it.”

  “Oh, yes, you're cyber-enhanced. I've scanned your compfile.” Gage rocked on her heels, head tilted up as if in challenge. “What about it, Commander. Will we have to watch our necks with you?”

  “No,” she said. “At least I think not.”

  “Then let's not worry about it. You'll have to go through a debriefing, but as for now, we'll keep the restrictions mild.” Her eyes flashed. “In case I forget to tell you, Commander, well done. You've accomplished what no one else has ever managed, beaten the bloody Scaleys. At the very least, you should get an Imperial Medal of Honor and your comrades’ eternal gratitude.”

  Stella dipped her head. “Thank you, ser. Right now, all I want is a warm bath and a little rest. By the way, I think we'll have to stop saying ‘bloody Scaleys.'”

  “By God, you're right,” Gage said. “It's not the Scaleys at all, is it? Or even the Slugs. From what you've said, it's this confounded All-Mother who's our real enemy.” She shook her head in amazement. “A lot of old ways of thinking will have to change.” A troubled expression settled over her face.

  Stella waited. “Is anything wrong?” she said.

  Gage struggled with something, her fingers burnishing her chest nameplate as if to hasten the process. A. Gage. Wonder what the “A” stood for. Alice? Alicia? Ann? None of them seemed to fit.

  “You've been honest with me,” Gage finally said. “Let me reciprocate and confide in you.” She glanced about the huge, vaulted docking area as if searching for spies. “Matters were tense here even before you showed up.”

  “I don't follow.”

  Gage rubbed her shoulder. “Commander, the Emperor himself is due to arrive at this installation in less than twenty-four hours after completing a state visit in which he reviewed Loran's forces.”

  Stella blinked at her. “Kolanera?”

  “Affirmative. He will be accompanied by Regent-Protector Malek, a personal staff, and a coterie of New Son devotees.” Her mouth twisted sourly. “In case you haven't heard, the Emperor is the idol of this new millennialist cult.”

  “Yes, I'd heard something about it.” Stella grunted, trying to harvest this revelation. Kolanera was coming here. The Emperor himself!

  “As if the Emperor's visit is not enough,” Gage continued, “the situation's complicated by another factor.”

  “What's that? What could be worse than having the Emperor and me here at the same time?”

  Gage wet her lip. “Surely you're aware that discipline and morale are suffering throughout the Empire? Well, it's especially true here because of our glorious eponym. Loran Base is an emotional symbol because it's named after the great commander who's supposed to save us all. After countless defeats, so many of our soldiers have given up. Pride has crumbled, as well as the will to obey superiors without question.”

  Remembering her first encounter with George, Stella nodded. “Colonel Powers. He second-guessed you when we talked.”

  Gage nodded. “Powers is head of security, and he's far from the worst. His main problem is that he's two-dimensional. He sees chaos growing, disobedience and insubordination spreading, and all he can do is look for scapegoats, suppress all weakness and destroy all threats. When a crisis develops, he wants to attack first and ask questions later. I have to keep directing him to use moderation.”

  Stella tapped her foot against the bay's metallic floor. “He advised you to shoot at me without even listening. That's what one of my officers would call ‘jumping the gun.’ He didn't even care what I had to say.”

  Gage nodded. “He's far from alone. I've got others like him on my staff. Some I've had to reprimand, but...” She turned away, and then whipped back, a stubby turret besieged on all sides. “Commander, they didn't even want me to come here to meet you, especially without a screen. You should have heard the grumbling. Powers and Lovejoy wanted to seize the enemy ship at once, and you with it. If someone who followed regular procedure were commanding this base...”

  Stella mentally completed the thought. If someone else were in command, they would have. Perhaps I'd even be dead by now. “I didn't know discipline was so bad in the ranks,” she said. “Of course, I've heard stories.”

  “Up to now,” Gage said, “I've been in control, though it's been a struggle. But with your arrival, and the Emperor's tomorrow...” She jabbed the air. “Several of my officers feel you should be killed or incarcerated, especially because you seemed to attack us. Others are plotting how to ingratiate themselves with the Emperor and take credit for your achievement.”

  Stella was dismayed. “In the end we could destroy ourselves, couldn't we? It wouldn't require the enemy at all.”

  “That's right,” Gage said. “It wouldn't be the first time an empire's crumbled from within. It's happened before.” She folded her arms. “Fortunately, there are some pluses. The Emperor's much beloved, a unifying symbol that can bring us all together. I've seen him, and he's a sweet, beautiful little boy who should make a good ruler one day, despite some things I've heard about him lately. And then there's you.”

  Stella shrugged. “I'm not the Emperor.”

  “Maybe you're even better: somebody who's finally done something, kicked the enemy's ass and found a way to win this war.” She stepped close, her head not even reaching Stella's chin. “Commander, there are fifty thousand personnel on this base, not to mention families and dependents. Except for second-guessers on my staff, they're predisposed to love you. You're on the brink of becoming the greatest hero we've ever had, a savior they'll leap in desperation to embrace. They've been praying for someone like you for a long time, and I'm going to ride you to the hilt in this crisis, use you to improve morale. All right?”

  Stella grinned. “Ser, I try not to disobey superior officers, especially those three ranks above me. You use me any way you want.” She hesitated. “You said ‘families and dependents.’ Did Captain Orian have a family?”

  Gage sniffed in displeasure. “A wife and son. I've already reassigned them to Q-deck.”

  Q-deck. That referred to quarantine for pariahs, those who had shamefully disgraced the Empire and who bore ever after the stain of ignominy. Stella cleared her throat. The terrible threat of the last five years had exacerbated the worst tendencies of a militaristic system, but had it reached the point that the families of failures were stigmatized so blatantly? Apparently it had, at least at Loran Base.

  “I hope Orian's family is all right,” Stella said.

  Half a dozen expressions flitted across Gage's face, none of them pleasant. “A member of it tried to kill you, Commander.”

  His family hadn't. She thought of Sloan, whom she had killed in order to save him and his family from disgrace, and then of Lee, whose sin was that he had been born poor. Why was there such prejudice? She could understand, perhaps, making scapegoats of traitors and those who had failed, but why visit their sins upon their families and descendants? How were they guilty?

  Gage moderated her tone. “I didn't mean to be harsh, Commander. It's just that treason is something I will not tolerate.”

  But you'll be as rigid and two-dimensional as Colonel Powers in handling it, even when it involves innocent wives and children. Stella rubbed her neck, wearied and dazed by all that had happened. “General, I'm concerned about my crew.”

  Now that she had chosen a more acceptable subject, Gage's attitude changed and she assured Stella they were being well provided for. “After you've rested and been debriefed, you can visit them. I've already taken measures to see that some of your personnel and mine remain onboard for essential maintenance. I'll be glad to show you the list.”

  Stella declined the courtesy. “I'm sure you've chosen well.” She shifted her weight. “I assume you're sounding my ship for explosives?”

  “Yes, as we'll do for the Scaley, uh, enemy vessel.” Gage clicked her tongue. “I'm afraid it's more than routine. Some of my officers are deathly afraid one or both of them will blow up. To soothe them, I've ordered that
every cranny be searched for bombs and pathogens, and that certain systems be neutralized so they can't monitor this base.” She snorted. “Hell, they're soiling their pants right now waiting to hear from me, partly because they fear you might injure me.”

  Reaching into her pocket, she produced not the comlink Stella expected but a large red whistle. She held it before her lips. “Time to call in the dogs,” she said.

  Stella smiled, finding she liked this woman very much. “They can search the Pregnant Song till hell grows icebergs, General. But I'm the only one who has some understanding of how it works. If you want your search to be thorough, ask me.”

  Gage hesitated. “I'll remember that,” she said.

  An instant later, a shrill blast shattered the air. Within twenty seconds, the place swarmed with personnel. Some immediately stationed themselves before the enemy vessel with rifles held at the ready. Others, carrying rad counters and anti-demolition devices, disappeared into the Pregnant Song.

  Other personnel, though, seemed to forget their purpose. At least a dozen saluted her.

  One member of the crew, his face streaked with tears, rushed forward and pressed her hand.

  * * * *

  A few minutes later, Stella realized she wanted to see her crew, especially Jason, before taking a bath and getting some rest. By then she and Gage had been joined by Colonel Powers and Major Lovejoy, Gage's Communications Officer responsible for propaganda and the base's public image. Lovejoy himself was a man who seemed misnamed, judging from his marble expression and the hawklike glances he gave her.

  “General,” she said, “do you mind if I check something on board the Spaceranger? It will only take a moment.”

  “That should be no problem.” Gage gestured at a circulator and they cut across the corridor they'd been walking. Once they were inside and the doors closed, the carriage glided smoothly around the base's perimeter. It was a breathtaking sight. One way was the vast, multi-tiered, interior structure of the base, some levels gleaming, some masked in darkness, with the methane-swaddled globe of Etienne far below. Another way was only stars and infinite space up, down, around and everywhere.