by B. V. Larson
No one met my eye.
“So,” I said, clapping my hands together loudly. “Let’s get to the details. How are we going to pull this off?”
Slowly, they came around to helping me solve this part of the problem. Involving them in the minutiae and taking their suggestions on details helped massage damaged egos. I’d overruled them all, and I knew that could cause sour feelings. I had to give them something to fuss about.
In the end, the plan they came up with was simple and clever. I contacted Miklos to set things up.
Boarding the cruiser Lazaro, Sandra, Kwon and I flew back to the battle station. I’d left Captain Sarin behind in the Thor system with her carrier and most of the fleet. When we reached the battle station, I transferred over to the new carrier ship, the Defiant. It was the third ship to bear that name in Star Force. Miklos had named it himself, as was customary.
Miklos stood on the massive hangar deck when I came out to meet him. It was amazing. There were rows of fighters and cylindrical launch tubes through which they could be deployed. When the fighters launched, they didn’t use their primary engines. Instead, they were propelled out using gravity repellers in the tubes. The technology was impressive, because the hangar deck itself was pressurized. The tubes also acted as air locks, and the released gas helped launch the tiny ships that much faster.
“Spacious!” I said while touring the hangar. “This is the first time I’ve boarded one of these motherships. I never got the chance to inspect Captain Sarin’s Gatre.”
“The ships are essentially identical,” Miklos said, “but I have made minor improvements in the design of Defiant.”
“I’m impressed,” I said as we traveled down a long echoing passage that traveled along the spine of the ship.
We soon reached the officer’s quarters. These chambers were simple steel cubes with nanite-laden smart doors. I was stunned by their starkness, but I tried not to let on. Even the bunks were flat planes of shiny steel.
“The accommodations are bare-bones…” I said, “but I guess that’s to be expected.”
“Exactly sir,” Miklos said. “We have very few amenities for such a large vessel. I had a very tight schedule to meet to get her up into space on time. But the ship is effective. She is a beast of war, not a luxury liner.”
Miklos proudly walked at my side down another echoing corridor to the ship’s bridge. Here, he had not spared any expense. He had installed our best sensory systems, shock-absorbers and consoles. Even the brainboxes were veterans, I could tell by their serial numbers.
“Did you take some of these gunnery control systems from Welter Station, Commodore?”
Miklos cleared his throat. “I thought it might be for the best, sir. These ships were built to fly directly into a war situation. I didn’t want baby brainboxes in place, cutting their teeth in battle, so to speak. The boxes come from the battle station, while new ones have been installed there. I felt it was better to have the fresh, inexperienced components placed on the battle station where they would have time to learn. Eventually, they will operate at top efficiency.
I nodded, thinking it over. I decided it had been a wise decision to outfit the two carriers with the veteran boxes rather than having the ships’ AI be hopelessly green.
“Well done,” I said. “We’ll fly Defiant out into the Helios system with a full complement of fighters and crews. We’ll meet the Earth ship and make no mention of this design being new. We’ll just act natural about it, like it’s no big deal. When they ask about it, we’ll tell them it’s one of our carrier ships, without an explanation. If we don’t tell them we only have two of these monsters, they’ll naturally assume we have several of them.”
Miklos liked the plan, and the voyage began. At first, the plan went without a hitch. We flew to the Helios system and sat there at the ring in our carrier. A single ship approached us.
I knew right away when I saw it that Crow was trying to impress us just as hard as we were trying to impress him. The ship was a monster. About the size of two Macro cruisers sandwiched together, the vessel was an oblong rectangle that bristled with equipment, sensors and gun tubes. It probably displaced more mass than our carrier.
“That, gentlemen, is a battleship,” I told my staff as they eyed the ship in concern.
We gave them docking instructions and waited tensely. I’d have been nervous if I hadn’t been surrounded by twenty gunboats and several destroyers. Altogether, I was certain we outgunned the battleship.
When channel request came in hailing us, I nodded to Miklos to answer.
“This is Commodore Nicolai Miklos,” he said. “Please dispatch a pinnace to transfer your committee to our ship.”
The other ship slowed and stopped only fifty thousand miles from our bow. She was huge. I tried to look like I didn’t care, and that seemed to calm my crew. They stopped murmuring and staring.
“This is General Kerr of Earth’s Imperial forces,” said a very familiar voice. It had a southern twang and a Texas swagger to it. “I don’t want to talk to any underlings,” Kerr said. “Get Kyle Riggs on the horn, pronto…please.”
Miklos looked at me again. I nodded to him curtly. We had a plan, and I wanted to stick to it. I knew it was possible this monstrous ship had come out here for the express purpose of giving us a sucker-punch. If Kerr thought I wasn’t aboard, he was much less likely to take a shot and unload at close range.
“I’m sorry sir,” Miklos said. “I’m in command of this ship. You will be transferred aboard and transported to Shadowguard. There, you’ll meet with Colonel Riggs.”
“Shadowguard? What the hell is that? Some kind of penal colony?”
“No sir, it is a fortress. A command center on Eden-8.”
“Hmm, so Riggs is dodging me, is that it? Too scared to come out and talk like men? Why should I put myself at risk? Why should I trust you lot when you won’t return the favor?”
“General, may I remind you that you requested this meeting. Our last encounter with Imperial forces was less than cordial. If you are as you claim to be—an ambassador—then transporting yourself and your staff to our ship should not be a hardship.”
“Cagey Riggs…making me come to him. Well, tell him for me I won’t be on my knees. Not unless he chops off my legs at the shinbone!”
“We have no such intentions, sir,” Miklos said patiently. “Will you be coming aboard?”
I had to smile. The General had always been demanding and flamboyant. He was, however, a very sharp man. Sometimes I thought his entire act was designed to throw off casual observers. He came off as an arrogant blowhard, but he was dangerous.
Kerr grumbled some more, but eventually he boarded a small ship and floated across the last few intervening miles and docked with my new carrier. I headed down to the hangar deck to meet him.
I surprised myself as I walked the long passages. I was actually looking forward to seeing the General again. I didn’t trust him, however. Not even as far as I could throw him—which was a considerable distance.
-11-
Kerr was naturally annoyed to meet me on the hangar deck.
“I thought you weren’t here!” he roared, not even bothering to extend his hand.
I let my hand drop slowly. “I didn’t know you cared so much about my whereabouts, General.”
He eyed me suspiciously for a few seconds. “I don’t like starting off talks like this—with lies and tricks. What’s going on here, Riggs? What are you trying to pull? Am I under arrest or what?”
As he spoke, a number of my stern-face marines approached the General and his party. They had guns—but they had instruments in their hands as well. They ran the scanners over every member of the General’s staff, all six of them.
“They’re only here to make sure you are unarmed and not carrying any kind of contraband.”
“What? You think I smoke weed, boy?”
I chuckled. “No sir, I was thinking more along the lines of bombs, or transmission devices.”
“Found it!” shouted one marine. He tugged at the waistband of a major in General Kerr’s group. A device with dangling wires popped out.
“That’s nothing but a music player!” Kerr complained.
“We’ll check it out and return it if—”
“She’s wearing one too,” said another marine. He pointed to a small young lady wearing a lieutenant’s bars. He was pointing to her chest.
“Harassment, pure and simple!” Kerr declared.
The woman looked at Kerr, and he nodded slightly. She reached up under her shirt and removed a device. I was under the impression she’d pulled it out of her bra.
I had to smile. It was a game, but quite possibly a deadly one. When we finally had all the devices on a table, they were analyzed and identified. Scanners, recorders and compact radios designed to transmit coded data that resembled static or background radiation. There was nothing deadly, other than their sidearms.
I picked up the General’s revolver and returned it to him. He looked at it in surprise.
“I can wear this?”
I nodded. “Yes sir. But I don’t suggest you shoot any of my marines with it, not even as a joke. You’ll seriously piss them off and I can’t be held responsible for their natural reaction.”
General Kerr snorted, but he strapped his gun into place. He looked pleased to have it back on his hip.
Kerr then proceeded to introduce his staff to me. I was immediately bored. I disliked shaking hands and mumbling greetings, but I guess it’s all part of the job. When I came to the woman who’d had a scanner in her bra, however, I perked up. She was quite attractive, almost innocent-looking. She appeared to be of mixed heritage, part Asian and part Caucasian. It was an entrancing combination.
“This is Alexa. She’s the daughter of a friend of mine, Field Marshal Brighton.”
“Lieutenant,” I said, taking her hand gently and nodding to her.
“The famous Colonel Riggs,” she said. “You seem less dangerous in person.”
I smiled. “The news vids lie.”
“Not always!” Kerr said, stepping closer.
I let Alexa’s hand drop reluctantly.
“Let me give you a tour of the ship,” I said.
The party followed me out of the hangar. As we left it, a shadow dropped down from the steel trusses in ceiling. No one else noticed, I don’t think, other than me. It was Sandra of course, stalking the group like a hunting panther. I went back over the greetings in my mind. I bit my lip briefly as I thought of how I’d greeted Alexa differently and personally. I hoped Sandra hadn’t witnessed that and taken it the wrong way. It was a faint hope.
Partway through the tour, Kerr stopped and interrupted me. He stared at me in sudden concern.
“We’re moving, aren’t we?” he asked.
“Why, yes General. Of course we are. As I said before, we’re on our way to Shadowguard.”
“And my crew back on the Carrington just let you slip away with me aboard? Without any kind of communication authorizing it?”
I smiled at him. I’d had Marvin compile the General’s voice from a large variety of recordings in order to imitate him. Marvin had done such a good job, the battleship had just stood there and watched as we slipped away.
“I’m surprised that you’re surprised, sir,” I said. “This ship does have good stabilizers, but any Fleet midshipman would have known we were underway.”
“You’re avoiding the question, Riggs. This is typical of you. Bait and switch. The old shell game. I’ve been conned again.”
“Nonsense, General,” I said. “I told you upfront what the invitation entailed and you accepted.”
Breathing hard, the General waved me forward. I had no idea what he had intended to happen, but apparently this sequence of events was not to his liking. I wasn’t sure if this indicated hostile intent or not, but I was glad things weren’t going his way. I’d once read a quote that went like this: “When holding a snake, it’s best not to let go.” That summed up my theory on interaction with Kerr and Crow. They were both snakes, in their own individual ways. I had to keep them off their game, surprising them, never letting them make a move on their own. Otherwise, one of these snakes was going to bite me in the ass eventually.
After the tour was over, I showed them their stainless steel cubicles. They weren’t impressed. We’d dolled them up a bit with blankets and pillows, but there was no hiding the fact their quarters made prison cells look luxurious.
“Riggs, I have to say I’m not surprised. You people have so much iron in your butts you don’t even need a mattress. That’s what this is meant to convey, isn’t it? That you’re tougher than we are?”
“Not really, General,” I said. “Honestly, we didn’t even think about it.”
“You’ve still got nerve endings, don’t you boy?”
“Yes sir. They just don’t get as much use as yours do.”
He glared at me and huffed. I left him there and walked away. I was headed up to the bridge when I heard soft footsteps behind me. I turned, expecting to see Sandra.
I was surprised that it was the lovely Lieutenant Alexa Brighton instead. I smiled at her immediately.
“You should go back to your quarters now, Lieutenant,” I said.
“Why? Are we under arrest?”
“Not exactly, but I’ve got a lot to do and I’m sure you’re tired after your long journey out from Earth. If you sleep now, you’ll arrive at Shadowguard well-rested. There’s more to see there.”
“I’m looking forward to it. But I’m not tired at the moment.”
We stared at one another for several awkward seconds. She took two steps closer and smiled up at me. I like the shape of her eyes and mouth. She was quite young, no more than twenty-five.
“Call me Alexa,” she said.
“Okay.”
“Could you show me around a little more, Colonel?” she asked. “I have some things I’d like to discuss.”
“Uh…” I said, looking at her.
She took a few more steps closer until she was within arm’s reach. Her hand lifted slowly toward me, as if to touch my shoulder.
I barely saw it coming, but Alexa was taken completely by surprise. A shadow dashed up behind her, grabbed her rising hand and twisted it around behind her back. Her gentle, peaceful expression changed into one of shock and agony.
“Sandra, let her go. Don’t you dare break her arm.”
“She’s trouble, Kyle. I’ve been watching her almost as much as you have.”
“I’m sure you have. Now let her go. She’s unarmed.”
Reluctantly, Sandra let Alexa go. The young woman whirled around angrily, but with one look at Sandra’s murderous eyes, her protests died in her throat. She pushed past and ran down the corridor holding her shoulder which was probably numb and throbbing.
“Cry-baby,” Sandra said. “I didn’t even break it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I would have felt the bones crack.”
“Sandra, may I remind you I’m trying to make peace with Earth? That this is a diplomatic meeting between the Empire and Star Force?”
“That’s how you see it. I see it as a security risk.”
I sighed and headed back up to the bridge. I knew there was no point in arguing with Sandra. Quite possibly, she was right anyway. This girl might be star-struck by me, or she might be putting on an act. Either way, it was probably for the best that I kept my distance.
“Do you think she’s pretty, Kyle?” Sandra asked me as she stalked along at my side.
“I guess so… In a childish way.”
“That’s bullshit.”
I tried to keep my face neutral. I knew she was watching me closely. I’d found Lieutenant Brighton very attractive, but I wasn’t going to let Sandra know that. The lieutenant would live longer if I pretended I didn’t care about her.
“Look, she’s just somebody’s kid who got assigned to coming out here to further her career. You need t
o control that jealous streak of yours.”
“She’d better not be planning to further her career with your help,” Sandra said dangerously.
“If advancing her career is the plan, she should be running from me,” I said with a laugh. “I’m not exactly on Emperor Crow’s A-list—more like his ‘most wanted’ list.”
Sandra fell silent, but I could tell she was pissed off about Alexa. I knew enough about women to take the “silent treatment” for the gift it was. I kept my mouth shut all the way up to the bridge.
I checked every report in my queue and read about a thousand emails. When I finally retired to my quarters, Sandra shadowed me. She still wasn’t talking, and that was just fine with me. There were less than nine hours left before we arrived at Eden-8 and slid into orbit. I was tired and didn’t want to waste them.
I flopped out on my bunk, arms over my head. I didn’t even bother with a shower. About ninety seconds after my head hit the pillow, I fell into a light dream. It was a good dream, something about hunting crows in cornfields and orchards with an old .22 rifle I had as a kid.
I had a thin smile on my lips when I was rudely awakened. I grunted in surprise as a weight thumped down on my chest. My arms snapped up and gripped my assailant. I squeezed—it was reflexive to do so.
“Ow,” Sandra said. “I can’t believe this, but you’re actually hurting me. You can’t do that to a normal person, Kyle. You’d break their bones.”
My eyes fluttered open. Sandra was sitting on my chest like an insolent housecat. I had her wrists clamped firmly in my hands. She struggled, but couldn’t free herself.
Like all Star Force marines, we had both been nanotized. That meant our bloodstreams were teeming with millions of tiny robots. These robots had the job of healing our bodies, but more importantly, they had already altered them. During an excruciating multi-hour ordeal, they changed the internal structures of any human they were injected into. The Nano technology was beyond our own, but we used it wherever we could. Our bones were harder, our muscles more dense. We moved faster and hit harder than any other humans in history.