by Ryk Brown
“Thank you, Martile.”
“Will there be anything else, sir?”
“Thank you, no,” the general replied. He turned to his longtime aide, a sad look on his face. “You have been a good and loyal employee, low these many years. You have protected my house, and my assets, well while I have been away. For that, I thank you.”
“No need, General. I have been well compensated for my efforts.”
“As you deserved,” the general said earnestly. “I trust you have secured new employment?”
Martile took in a deep breath, letting it out in a low, long sigh. “The time is not right, I believe. With so many out of work, and all. Besides, my wife has been wanting me to retire for some time now. I am considering doing just that, as we have managed to save a tidy sum over the years.”
“That is good to hear,” the general said, forcing a smile. “At least something good has come from all of this. I only wish I could have added something to your retirement, as I had always planned.” He offered his hand. “Good luck to you.”
“And to you, General,” Martile replied, shaking the general’s hand.
General Bacca watched as his trusted aide turned and headed for the front door. The general moved toward his office, the only room that was still at least partially furnished. He entered the office, noticed the balcony window was open, and headed toward it. So unlike Martile, he thought as he closed and locked the doors.
“Rather spartan furnishings,” a female voice said from behind.
General Bacca spun around, spotting a young woman with long, brown hair standing in the doorway. He instantly made a move toward his desk, but another person appeared from the shadowy corner of the dimly lit room. A man, square-jawed and muscular, with a fierce look of confidence and determination in his eyes.
“I know you,” the general said, squinting his eyes to see in the dark. “From the Aurora…” He turned and looked at Jessica. “You were there, as well.” He laughed. “Are you both mad? Coming to Nor-Patri?”
“Nice to see you haven’t forgotten about us,” Jessica said, walking toward him. “Because we sure as hell haven’t forgotten about you.”
“What could you possibly hope to…”
“So, it appears you’ve fallen out of favor,” Jessica said mockingly. “Must be tough.”
“A minor setback, I assure you,” the general replied, standing tall in the face of the intruders. “Lieutenant Commander Nash,” he said, pointing at Jessica. He turned and pointed at the commander. “And you’re the Ghatazhak, Commander…”
“…Telles, quite right,” the commander replied.
The general chuckled to himself again. “You both realize that your mere presence on Nor-Patri will bring the cease-fire to a grinding halt.”
“Assuming anyone finds out we’re here,” Jessica said.
“Trust me, my dear, they will find out. And when they do, your Alliance…your world will burn.”
“Actually, we’re no longer with the Alliance,” Jessica corrected. “Well, I’m no longer with the Alliance. Technically, the commander never was.” She looked at Commander Telles. “What was your exact function, by the way?”
“To protect Captain Scott.”
The realization hit the general. “You’re here to try and rescue him, aren’t you?” The general laughed even harder than before. “You’re fools! Both of you! You’d never get anywhere near him!”
“Not by ourselves, no,” Jessica admitted. “But maybe, with the help of a prominent general…”
“Haven’t you heard? I am to be stripped of all rank and privileges. I am no more able to gain access to Captain Scott than you are.”
“As of tomorrow morning,” Commander Telles interjected, “as I understand it.”
General Bacca’s eyebrow went up. “You have assets on Nor-Patri. Well connected ones, apparently.”
“Not really,” Jessica replied. “They’re just really good at cracking your encryption algorithms, and you guys love to send all manner of communications whizzing around across the system. All they had to do was listen and decrypt.”
“Regardless, what makes you think I would be willing to help you?”
“Because we would be willing to compensate you for your assistance,” the commander replied.
“Turn traitor?” The general laughed yet again. “I have seen how traitors to the empire are treated. The compensation would have to be considerable, especially considering the lifestyle to which I am accustomed.”
“Actually, we were thinking more of letting you live as your reward,” Jessica told him.
“After tomorrow, my life here will hardly be a reward, my dear.”
“We could get you off Nor-Patri,” Jessica offered.
The general was suddenly interested. “How?”
“You don’t really think I’m going to answer that, do you?” Jessica said.
“How is unimportant,” Commander Telles said. “Trust that we can is all that is necessary.”
“Obviously you can, otherwise neither of you would be here. And if you are here to rescue your captain, then you surely have a means of escape. A small jump ship, perhaps?” the general surmised. “I hope it is well hidden. Nothing happens on Nor-Patri without the Jung knowing.”
“Our presence, as well as those of our previously-placed assets would indicate otherwise,” Commander Telles stated.
“Hmm, I see your point,” the general admitted.
“Or, you could stay here, and work for us,” Jessica suggested.
“As what? Your spy? My dear child…”
“Excuse us a moment,” Commander Telles interrupted. He looked sternly at Jessica as he walked toward her.
General Bacca watched as they moved away from him to the far side of the office. The commander never took his eyes off the general. For an instant, the general considered going for the weapon kept under his desk, but the steely, confident look in the commander’s eyes encouraged him to stay put.
This could be an opportunity, the general thought.
After a few moments, the commander moved away from Jessica, walking back across the office to his prior position, once again putting the general between him and Jessica.
“Come to a consensus, have we?” the general asked.
“You help us rescue Nathan, and we let you live,” Jessica proposed.
“Hardly an attractive offer,” the general replied, scoffing at her.
“In addition,” Jessica continued, “you spy for us.”
“My dear, as intriguing an offer as that might normally be, I’m afraid that my new situation will not exactly put me in a position to be of use to you.”
“Unless you manage to uncover the identities of four, well-placed Alliance spies already on Nor-Patri,” Jessica explained. “Would that get you back in your leaders’ good graces?”
General Bacca thought for a moment, his face slightly contorted in concentration. “It might,” he finally admitted, one eyebrow rising. “It just might.” The general looked at the commander, then back at Jessica. “What would I have to do?”
Jessica smiled. “Like I said, help us free Captain Scott.”
* * *
Admiral Dumar looked around his now-barren office. He had spent the better part of a year running, first, the Karuzara asteroid, and then the entire Earth-Pentaurus Alliance from this very room. He had made decisions that had saved millions, and he made decisions that sent thousands to their deaths. He had told himself again and again that the sacrifices, both his and those who had given their lives, had been worth it. After all, the Jung had been stopped. Furthermore, they had been pushed back a safe distance from Sol, and were now being held in check by the threat of ten times the devastation that they had already experienced on Nor-Patri two months
earlier. Hundreds of thousands of Jung, both military and civilian, had died that day. It was a price the Jung Empire had to pay for imposing their will upon billions, if not trillions of others.
“Reflecting?” Mister Bryant asked from the doorway.
“You might say that,” the admiral replied. He let out a sigh, then looked at his trusted right-hand man. “Was it worth it?”
“Was what worth it?” Mister Bryant asked.
“All the lives that were lost…both ours and theirs.”
Mister Bryant entered the office and took a seat. “I ask myself that same question every day.”
“And what do you tell yourself?” the admiral wondered.
“That only history can answer that question. We believe it is worth the sacrifice at the time, otherwise we would not have made the decisions we did. But those decisions are weighed against what we hope the outcome will be. Only time can tell us if we were correct.”
“Was it worth sacrificing him?” the admiral asked, his voice suddenly sounding weak and unsure.
“It was his decision to make, Admiral. We both know that.”
“But I put him in that position,” the admiral said in horror, as if admitting it to himself for the first time.
“Captain Scott may have been young, Travon, but he was not stupid. He knew what he was walking into.”
“But I left him with no good alternatives,” the admiral pointed out, clearly guilt-ridden.
“Fate left him no good alternatives,” Mister Bryant insisted. “Fate threw down the gauntlet. Nathan chose to pick it up.”
Admiral Dumar sighed. “Would that I could have picked it up in his place.”
“Perhaps, rather than punishing yourself, you should honor him as best you can. We should all honor him as best we can.”
The admiral looked at his friend. “How?”
“By making the best of what he has given us… The gift of life.”
Admiral Dumar nodded his agreement, forcing a smile out in the process. “Will you be attending his memorial?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Mister Bryant replied. “The Glendanon departs prior to the ceremony. Most of us are departing on her, lest we have to wait two more months. Yourself?”
“I shall attend. Commander Telles has promised me passage aboard one of his boxcars, along with his remaining troops.”
“I can think of no better men with which to travel,” Mister Bryant said.
“I can think of one,” the admiral replied.
* * *
Nathan closed his eyes, and let the sweet, fruity, gelatinous frosting melt on his tongue and drain down his throat. He normally did not have much of a sweet tooth; however, Trever’s choice of desserts, just as all the other dining choices the Jung guard had made, was heavenly.
“Good, yes?” Trever asked expectantly.
“Divine, my friend,” Nathan replied, his eyes still closed.
Trever smiled. “You are not bad, Scott.”
“Call me Nathan,” he replied, opening his eyes and stabbing another piece of the dessert with his fork.
“Nathan.” Trever thought for a moment. “In Jung, is ‘Nato’, I think. It means…‘God’s gift’.”
Nathan smiled. “It means the same in English.” He placed the next bite in his mouth. “And in Angla, too, I believe.”
“You are not afraid?” Trever wondered.
“To die?” Nathan sighed. “Sorry, yes… But afraid? No, I think not.”
“You should to be,” Trever warned. “Jung way is most painful.”
“Okay, now I’m afraid,” Nathan admitted.
Trever set down his empty dessert plate. “Why you do this thing?” he asked, looking at Nathan. “Why you kill so many Jung?”
“Why have the Jung killed so many of us?” Nathan asked.
Trever nodded. “You were doing your job, then.”
“You expected a different answer?”
Trever looked confused.
“Yes, I was doing my job.”
“Is difficult job.”
“Yes, it is,” Nathan agreed, setting down his own empty plate.
“You have woman? Child?”
“No,” Nathan replied. “No wife, no child.”
“That is good.”
“I suppose so,” Nathan agreed. “Yourself? Do you have a family?”
“Fah-mi-lee?” Trever replied, unfamiliar with the word.
“Woman? Child? Many child?”
“Ah! Frantok! Yes. I have. Woman. Child…three.”
“Your child is three? Or you have three children?” Nathan wondered.
“Child…child…child,” Trever explained, using his right hand to indicate several different heights.
“They were not injured, I hope.” Nathan suddenly felt nervous.
“No, no, no!” Trever insisted. “They good. They home. They safe. We lucky.”
So am I, Nathan thought. “I’m happy to hear that.”
“You…me, we same,” Trever said. “We have duty. We protect what we love.”
“Yup, I guess that about sums it all up, doesn’t it,” Nathan said wearily.
Trever placed the dishes and utensils back onto the cart. He then leaned back and looked long and hard at Nathan. After a minute, Nathan began to feel uncomfortable.
“What is it?” Nathan asked.
Trever shook his head. “I not blame you, Nathan.” Trever looked at him a bit longer. “I respect you.” He thought a bit more, then rose from his seat. “Nato means ‘strength from God’, I think.”
Nathan smiled. “Thanks.”
Trever took the service cart and pulled it toward the door. He paused a moment, looking down at the cart, then picked up one of the meat carving knives and placed it on the table in front of Nathan. “Jung way is most painful. You, Nato… You not deserve.” Trever pushed the knife across the table to Nathan. “Strength.”
Trever stepped back to the door and barked an order to the guard outside. Nathan moved his data pad over the carving knife Trever had left on the table to hide it from the other guard as the door opened, and Trever pushed the cart outside. The door closed, and Nathan heard Trever arguing with the other guard over something as they walked away. Once he was satisfied they were gone, Nathan pushed his data pad aside and picked up the knife, the phrase Jung way is most painful, repeating in his head.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“How do I look?” Jessica asked as she adjusted her uniform.
“The trousers are a bit tight,” General Bacca said with a leer, “but I’m sure the guards will not mind.” He looked at Commander Telles. “You, on the other hand, are most convincing. You’d make a fine Jung officer.”
Commander Telles ignored the comment. “This uniform is a different size. Where did it come from?”
“My younger days,” the general replied. “I was a bit more robust back then.”
“What about unit insignias?”
“The Jung do not advertise their division, unit, or specialty the way that Earth forces do. We prefer to keep that information undisclosed, unless required.”
“How will we get in?” Jessica asked.
General Bacca glanced at his watch. “By now, the detention facility will be at minimal staffing for the night,” he told them. “A junior officer will be in command, and most of them are easily rattled by the presence of a general.”
“Even one who’s about to be defrocked and publicly humiliated?” Jessica wondered, a sarcastic smirk on her face.
“Lord Torret assured me that the decision would not be made public until after your captain’s execution, which means that no one, not even command-level officers, will know that I am about to fall from grace.”
“And why exactly did this Lord Torret warn you?” Jessica asked.
“We have known each other for many years. Let’s just say he owed me a favor, and leave it at that.”
Jessica and Commander Telles exchanged wary glances.
“I assure you, my request to see the prisoner will meet little resistance,” the general insisted, noticing their lack of confidence.
“What about this?” the commander said, placing the bag he had brought from the yacht on the table and opening it up for the general to see.
General Bacca looked into the bag, his brow furrowing as he studied the device inside. “What is it?” he asked, looking at the commander.
“A device that will allow us to copy Captain Scott’s memories and consciousness,” the commander replied.
General Bacca looked puzzled. “Whatever for…” His expression changed as his words trailed off and realization spread across his face. “You intend to clone him?”
“We do.”
“And this device will work?”
“It should.”
“It will,” Jessica said confidently.
General Bacca cast a sidelong glance at Jessica, noting the personal interest in her voice. “So the Nifelmians were lying to us all these years,” the general said, looking back at the commander.
“Not completely,” the commander replied. “They cannot guarantee that it will work.”
“And you are willing to bet your friend’s life on it?” the general asked.
“There is no other viable alternative,” the commander replied, “not if we wish to keep the cease-fire intact.”
“If the Jung find out, they will consider it a violation of the cease-fire,” the general warned.
“The only terms that have yet been agreed upon are that Captain Scott was handed over to them to stand trial for war crimes, and to accept punishment. Resurrecting the captain as a clone of the original has not been addressed. Therefore, technically, it is not a violation.”
General Bacca laughed. “I assure you that the Jung will not see it that way.”