“What kind of drone?” Sonya asked.
“One of the morphs, shaped like a block of ice, nano propulsion, it wasn’t moving when she saw it,” Goodwin said. “She hasn’t scanned it either.”
“How does she know it is a drone?” Sonya asked heading for the CIC.
“I have no idea, Captain,” Goodwin said. “Honestly? If I initiate the self-destruct, it will kill her.”
“Don’t initiate the self-destruct unless she takes it inside a structure,” Sonya said. “I’m almost there.”
“Aye captain,” Goodwin said.
Arriving in the CIC Sonya looked around. It was late, ship’s time, and Goodwin was still working third shift. The Marine Lieutenant Shelton, and Lieutenant McLaughlin were also present and standing beside the Commander watching several screens.
Numerous displays and cameras displaying the area around the drone. The displays were consolidated and provided a three-dimensional view of the surroundings, adjusted and updated by one of the Cincinnatus’ AI’s. Three Conglomerate droids were also nearby in the CIC but they did not appear interested as they were still going through reports and transmissions.
From what she could tell, the Marine, who was alone, was carrying the drone along the ridge line, parallel to the habitat but not toward any of the outposts the Cincinnatus had detected from orbit.
After twenty minutes, the Marine stopped and then peeked over a ridge composed of crushed ice, rocks and snow. Sonya couldn’t tell what the Marine was looking at but she ducked back down and then pushed the drone over the ridge.
The drone fell several feet, and the view was chaotic for several seconds as the systems adjusted and the AI made sense of what had happened.
“Holy shit,” Goodwin said, seeing it first. Sonya stared at the screens, trying to understand what she was seeing.
“How long have they been dead?” Goodwin asked, filling the pieces of the puzzle for Sonya. She was looking at a pile of bodies, thrown into a trench. The skin was already bluish black, the hair color unknown because of the snow and ice.
McLaughlin shook his head.
“Permission to pulse?” Goodwin asked.
“Go,” Sonya said. “Also see if you can zero in on it from an aerial drone.”
Then she remembered the Marine, just over the ridge, who would detect the pulse but it was too late as the pulse sent back information.
“Son of a bitch,” Goodwin whispered as he looked at the results.
“What do you have?” Sonya asked looking over his shoulder at his public display.
“Thirty bodies,” Goodwin said. “Ages eight to seventy and.”
“And what?” Sonya said then saw it. ‘Cause of death’ was small arms fire.
“I want to get a drone inside,” Sonya said. “What are they doing?”
“I don’t know Captain,” Goodwin said and looked at McLaughlin who would have to re-task the drones.
“What is that Marine doing?” Sonya asked.
Goodwin checked his displays.
“I don’t know,” Goodwin said. “I’m not detecting her. Looks like she left.”
“I’ve got her,” McLaughlin said from his station. “Orbital drone. I also have the mass grave and I’m looking for others. She is moving back toward that observation post.”
“Why didn’t we see this before?” Sonya asked.
“We weren’t looking for it,” Goodwin said. “Sorry Captain, I think the systems tagged whoever brought the bodies out as taking out trash.”
“They didn’t flag the bodies?” Sonya asked. “Go back through recordings. Find out when and where and how many.”
“Yes ma’am,” Goodwin said with a glance toward McLaughlin.
Goodwin came up to Sonya as she was sitting in her chair staring at the screen. He couldn’t tell she was just staring, lost in thought, not doing anything. Sonya couldn’t get the images from the drone out of her mind.
What had that Marine been thinking and how had she discovered the drone? Why hadn’t the Marine blasted the drone instead of revealing the atrocity?
Turning to Goodwin she nodded.
“It looks like the Jupiter Guard unit is bringing out the bodies. The system flagged them as non-functional suites based on their shape,” Goodwin began. “Replaying things, it looks like that Marine is an NCO or officer who stumbled across a guard unit disposing of the bodies. We still don’t know how she found the drone, but the drone is still in place. There have been about ten bodies added. Definitely a Guard unit. Marines are being used for outer perimeter security and we haven’t seen them anywhere near the inner perimeter. The mass grave is between the inner perimeter and outer perimeter. We suspect they might be trying to keep the Marines out and away from what is going on inside.”
“What is going on inside?” Sonya asked. Ten more bodies added to the pile.
“We have also found two other dump sites,” Goodwin said. “Marines are kept out of those areas. We can only guess at the number of bodies.”
“Cause of death?” Sonya asked feeling cold inside.
“Firearms, blunt force trauma, or exposure to the elements,” Goodwin said.
“Exposure?” Sonya asked.
Goodwin nodded but wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Death was quick, almost instant once exposed to outside,” Goodwin said. “But he was alive, probably unconscious when they dragged him out of the airlock.”
“What do you think is happening?” Sonya asked.
“If I had to guess?” Goodwin said, still unwilling to look her in the eyes. “I would say it is a purge of undesirables or malcontents. There can’t be that many terrorists that were captured, and they would parade them around on trial. Based on the wounds and the people killed? This is an intentional genocide Captain.”
Sonya nodded and closed her eyes. What had the Jupiter Alliance become? She would expect this behavior from the Caliphate, but not the Jupiter Alliance. Never in her most horrible nightmares. It wasn’t just one colony dealing harshly with another colony. These were Jupiter Alliance Home Guard. The peace keepers and the enforcers of the Jupiter Alliance.
“Was this ever normal for the Jupiter Alliance Captain?” Goodwin asked. Sonya could hear the pain in his voice.
“Not when I last served,” Sonya said locking her eyes on Goodwin and trying to sound confident. “I don’t know what is going on, but I think the Marine was as shocked as we are.”
“Yes ma’am,” Goodwin said.
“We have missed forty years of history in our home system,” Sonya said. “A lot can happen.”
“Yes ma’am,” Goodwin replied.
“Keep me posted,” Sonya said.
“Aye, aye ma’am,” Goodwin said and turned away.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SSGBerry
Sarah’s couldn’t take her mind off the strange drone and the bodies. What if the drone belonged to the Guard? She had never seen a drone like that but there was no mistaking what it was and she knew the Marines had nothing like that. Caliphate? It was way too sophisticated to be a Caliphate drone, or even a Xu’an Dynasty drone. There had been no sign of propulsion and it seemed too small for a quality sensor suite and communication package, unless there was a relay nearby, but that wouldn’t be practical. It might be on the edge of Jupiter Alliance technology and the JA was the most advanced culture in the solar system. Or was it?
A knock on her door dragged her back to the screen she was staring at. It was the outer perimeter of the rescue site and she was supposed to be reviewing it, looking for gaps that drones could slip through. It was covered with overlays showing radio frequency ranges and how they would be impacted at different distances by the current terrain.
What she could see of the inner perimeter looked solid since it was smaller, but the outer perimeter had plenty of gaps that a smaller drone cold slip through. The problem was communication with the owner. Unless the owner was in orbit and using a tight beam laser, the auto-guns deployed around the perime
ter would detect any transmissions.
JA Fleet had elements in orbit keeping the skies clear which meant it had to be somebody with excellent stealth, and civilians would not have stealth. Regular media agencies didn’t have those kinds of resources.
“Enter,” Sarah said shutting down the display as the door slid open and Staff Sergeant Berry entered. She looked bothered by something.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Berry said coming to the position of attention in front of Sarah.
“At ease,” Sarah said. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know, ma’am,” Berry said, sounding unsure which was odd for the usually overconfident staff NCO.
Sarah raised an eyebrow as Berry relaxed a little.
“Well,” Sarah said, her curiosity piqued. “Start at the beginning.”
“Major Hansen has overridden the schedule,” Berry said. “The Major has removed Sergeant Jackson from the perimeter rotation and told me to stand her post instead.”
“What?” Sarah said standing up to stare at Berry.
“The major did not inform you, ma’am?” Berry asked.
“No,” Sarah said. “He did not. He has no authority.”
“Actually, as the company CO, he does, ma’am,” Berry said.
“Technically,” Sarah said, trying to think it through. It was insulting for a senior officer to make such decisions in a platoon without involving the platoon commander and it was a sign that the Major didn’t trust or respect her enough to let her run her platoon, and for the Major to put the platoon sergeant on the duty roster like that was inappropriate. The Staff Sergeant was busy enough as it was.
Sarah didn’t say what she wanted to, but Berry could figure it out.
“Did he say why?” Sarah asked.
“There is a JSP meeting in the main habitat,” Berry said. “The first I heard of it was when the Major contacted me though. Usually, Jackson would have informed me and we would have worked something out, changing her shift or something, but the Major just called and told me to stand duty instead of her because he wanted her at the meeting.”
“Why is the JSP holding meetings in the middle of this emergency?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know ma’am,” Berry said, seeming to relax a little but the look of concern didn’t leave her face.
“Any word on a Marine CO, ma’am?” Berry asked as Sarah sat back down to think about it.
“No,” Sarah said. “It seems there is now a shortage of Captains and senior staff NCO’s. First Sergeant Kane was escorted away for questioning a few hours ago.”
“Shit,” Berry said under her breath. “Will there be a guard replacement for the first sergeant?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah said wincing. She hadn’t thought of that possibility. When the two guardsmen had escorted the First Sergeant away during the officer’s meeting the Major hadn’t said who would take over his responsibilities and Sarah had been too shocked to ask. The First Sergeant was a hard-ass, but he was a veteran of the Sadr campaign and was popular despite his hard as nails attitude.
“Then my days are numbered,” Berry said.
“I doubt that,” Sarah said, but she wasn’t so sure. Were her own days numbered? She hadn’t taken up the Major’s offer to join the JSP? Perhaps she could have concealed her lack of interest in the JSP a little better. “If they take you, then they will have to take me.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Berry said. “But please don’t endanger yourself or your career for me. If they drag me away, they will let me go. I’m small fry.”
Sarah thought of the growing stack of bodies not far from the main habitat, hidden away in a trench. Marine NCO’s and officers were a hell of a lot more dangerous than civilians. If civilians were inconsequential enough to execute, what would they do to a Marine staff NCO?
“It won’t come to that,” Sarah said. She couldn’t promise it though and that bothered her the most.
“Maybe it is time to retire?” Berry said. “But I doubt it is too late for me to find a boyfriend and get pregnant.”
Sarah didn’t know what to say that Berry wouldn’t see through. Sarah suspected she might be right.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Contact
Sonya’s InnerBuddy woke her up, flagging her attention. Why did everything seem to occur during her off shift?
Opening the link, Sonya stared at Goodwin.
“Sorry to bother you Captain,” Goodwin said. “But I think the Jupe Marine is back.”
“What?” Sonya asked sitting up and getting her clothes back on. More bodies had been added to the pile and there were now robotic sentries around the habitat that would detect and destroy any drones the crew of the Cincinnatus tried to get closer.
“Oh shit,” Goodwin said, forgetting who he was talking to. “She’s transmitting, low strength. I think she is trying to open a link and talk.”
“Open it,” Sonya said. “I’m on my way. Patch me in.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Talking
It was snowing again and while her armored suit kept her warm, but her mind told her she was cold and a shiver ran down her spine as she changed frequency. Were they listening?
“This is Khukri,” Sarah said again. “Will the owner of the spy drone please reply? If this is being recorded for later review I will return in six hours.”
Sarah repeated her message and then changed frequency again. She figured Khukri would be a good call sign that wouldn’t identify her.
“We read you Khukri,” a woman’s voice replied. “What do you want?”
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.
“Who are you?” Sarah asked.
The pause sounded dangerous. Were they watching her from orbit?
“I am Captain Sonya Hoffman of the New Alamo Defense Force,” the voice said. “We are on deep reconnaissance trying to learn more about why the Jupiter Alliance attacked us and what has changed. You may call us Ninja One.”
Sarah lay there, staring at the sky. How much could she trust someone who had abandoned the Jupiter Alliance forty years ago?
“What happened to our fleets when they arrived in Josaka?” Sarah asked.
“They were destroyed without mercy,” Sonya said.
“Why?” Sarah asked, shocked at the brutal response.
“You would destroy invaders as well,” Sonya said.
“There were there to apprehend Chief Executive Perrero,” Sarah said.
“Bullshit,” Sonya said. “Two fleets? They tried to capture our sentinel ships here in Sol and destroyed them when they couldn’t, but one escaped, so we know what happened. The Jupe ambassador tried to kill our Prime Minister. Is that how the Jupiter Alliance treats neutral nations?”
Sarah stared up. They had to be lying. Why would the Jupiter Alliance attack neutral ships? She had heard nothing about this. But were they lying? Weeks ago, she had heard about the New Alamo sentinel ships, but nothing since. Nothing had been mentioned about them when the Jupiter Fleets had transitioned to Josaka and been destroyed. She could understand operational security, but now the omission seemed obvious. She had heard nothing about the ambassador either. Another public omission? Why?
“How did you find our drone and why did you move it to the bodies?” Sonya asked.
“I thought you were from one of the news agencies,” Sarah said. “I don’t know what is going on in there but it is supposed to be a rescue mission. You don’t rescue people by shooting them.”
“We are now watching the area closely,” Sonya said. “There aren’t any news agencies anywhere nearby. Not on the surface at any rate. In fact, there is nothing in the news about the surface refugee extraction point at all anymore.”
Sarah felt the chill again, and she checked her oxygen system as she found it hard to breathe. The system was fine. It was her emotions causing the problem. Sarah took a deep breath to calm herself. During missions, and this rescue mission was considered a mission, Marines did not have access to any public media
sources, and she knew Marines would not discuss the mission afterward either. She didn’t like the ramifications though. Civilians being massacred when they were supposed to be rescued? She had seen countless civilians being loaded onto the transports so they weren’t all being killed.
“What do you know?” Sarah asked.
“Not much,” Sonya replied. “Only military transports are taking the civilians away and the civilians are under heavy guard. The Jupiter main stream media is reporting that the colony continues to be evacuated because of the radiation leakage from the bombs and failing infrastructure. If the media can be believed the bombs have rendered the Harristown colony uninhabitable so all colonists are being moved. The media has also reported fewer than ten percent of the colonists have survived.”
Sonya did the math. The colony of Harristown was around sixty thousand. Each troop transport could carry about eight hundred people and they wouldn’t leave unless they were full. At least fifteen transports had departed that was about twelve thousand and she knew there were still people coming up from the city below. That was over ten percent. So why were they reporting such a low survival rate?
“Where are the transports going?” Sarah asked.
There was a long pause before Sonya answered.
“Two destinations it appears. Almost half are going to a low-profile military base on Thebes. The others are going to Ganymede, we aren’t sure of the exact location yet though.”
“Thebes?” Sarah asked. That was a top-secret Fleet base. Why were they taking civilians there? Why two different destinations? There were plenty of closer, more capable, locations here on Europa they could be taken to.
“What do you know?” Sonya asked.
“Nothing,” Sarah said. “Marines are kept separate from the Guard and evacuation. We are here to provide outer perimeter security.”
“That doesn’t strike you as suspicious?” Sonya asked.
Yes, it did, but how much could she trust a people who had spent so long among aliens?
“That is outside my pay grade,” Sarah said.
New Empires: Conglomerate Series Book 3 Page 9