by D. J. Holmes
Imperial Command
Empire Rising Book 10
D. J. Holmes
https://www.facebook.com/Author.D.J.Holmes
[email protected]
Comments welcome!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © D. J. Holmes 2020
Prologue
Freighter Dalliance, New Delhi system, Indian colonial space.
“Easy now,” Angela said softly as she eased back her freighter’s throttle to the point where its breaking thrusters kicked in. “Easy now.” Her eyes were fixed on the four Indian frigates. They were patrolling the approaches to the world that filled her viewscreen. Having spent the last eight hours crawling into the system, she didn’t want them to detect her now.
“Ah,” she said as she let out a deep breath. Her freighter had come to a stop relative to the colony and there hadn’t been so much as a twitch from any of the patrolling ships. Reaching for another control button, she sent out the prearranged signal. Then she sat back in her chair and gently patted her control terminal. “Now we wait.” Her contact had said the locals were crying out for her cargo. He had been so adamant that she had diverted from her original destination. She was much more accustomed to dodging Canadian customs officials, but just this once, she was happy to try her luck in Indian colonial space. With some help from the locals, and a bit of skill, Angela was confident that she was about to come into a nice sum of money. The group calling themselves the Imperial Loyalists seemed desperate for the small arms hidden within Dalliance’s cargo hold.
And if they want to play the fools, who am I to stop them? Angela asked herself. She had laughed out loud when she had first heard the name her prospective clients had given themselves. As far as she was concerned, the Empire was a joke. It was just something the survivors on Earth and the Alpha and Beta colonies had come up with. Sure, she understood their fear. After what had happened to them anyone would be scared. But the rest of the Human colonies? There was no way she could see them joining. Several referendums had been scheduled, including on her homeworld of Québec, but she was sure they would come to nothing. There’s not even going to be a referendum here, Angela thought. Of course, that was why she suspected the so-called Imperial Loyalists wanted her weapons. The intelligence she had gathered on New Delhi before coming to the system suggested the local government officials had basically taken complete control over the colony. With the Indian government having been all but wiped out by the Karacknid attack on Earth, a power vacuum had appeared. And nature abhors a vacuum. Angela thought. Which explained why one of the local elected officials had proclaimed himself Governor of the colony. Now that he has power, there is no way he’s going to just give it up to some Empress back on Earth. And he won’t look too kindly on anyone who thinks otherwise. That explained the tight security patrols in orbit. The new ruler of the colony was keeping a close eye on who came in and out of his system. Which was exactly why Angela had no intention of entering orbit. If the Imperial Loyalists wanted her merchandise, they’d have to come to her.
Just as her patience was wearing thin, a message arrived from the surface. It had taken four hours. “Finally,” Angela said as she sat forward. She opened the text message, unencrypted it, and began to read. “Ok, that’s doable,” she concluded. The Imperial Loyalists had a contact who captained one of the many intra system mining freighters. It was scheduled to break orbit and head out to one of the outer mining facilities to pick up a load of minerals. As it passed Dalliance, Angela was to match its course and speed to make the transfer. A glance at her cockpit’s chronometer told her she had just two hours until the rendezvous. Reaching for Dalliance’s controls, she ever so slowly reorientated the freighter and gently accelerated. An hour later the freighter’s passive sensors detected the massive freighter moving out of orbit. It out massed Dalliance by a factor of fifty. Of course, where Dalliance was built for speed and equipped for FTL travel, the mineral freighter was designed to do nothing more than haul minerals in from the outer system.
Despite its size, the ship’s acceleration rate surprised Angela. Then she remembered it was empty. On its return journey its mass would probably increase by over a thousand percent. It needs decent engines to be able to make the return journey in a reasonable time. It’s a good thing I started moving when I did. With the freighter’s acceleration, Dalliance would just about be able to match its speed when the two ships passed one another. If she had delayed, she might have had to risk increasing her own acceleration to a point where the gravimetric waves given off by Dalliance’s engines could be detected by the Indian patrols.
For another forty-five minutes she watched the freighter approach. When the two ships were close enough, a laser COM link flashed Dalliance’s antenna. She responded by sending the second confirmation code her contact had given her. Then a man’s face appeared in front of her, though he looked more like a boy than a man.
“Greetings Captain, you can call me D,” the man said. His juvenile tone of voice did nothing to reassure Angela he really knew what he was about. “I believe you have something for me?”
“I do, if you have something for me,” Angela replied.
“Of course, just as was agreed. Shall we dock and my men can come aboard?” D asked.
“Not a chance,” Angela said as she shook her head. “No one is boarding my ship. We’ll dock and you’ll hand over the payment. Then I’ll move the crates across. I don’t want to see a single one of you.”
“Not the trusting type?” D asked with a smile. “I guess it’s the times we’re in. But why do you think we’ll just hand over the payment first?”
“Because you need me far more than I need you,” Angela replied as she lifted her chin. “I already had a buyer for my merchandise lined up. I’m sure they’d be happy to hear I still have what they’re looking for. I might not get quite the same amount you’re paying. But I don’t take any risks. So we do it my way or not at all. Take it or leave it.”
D screwed up his lips for a brief moment, but then he broke into another smile. “Ok then, we’ll do it your way. You know why we want the weapons don’t you? We have no desire to cheat you. We want freedom for all.” Angela couldn’t help but snort. “What is it?” D frowned.
Angela rolled her eyes. “Nothing,” she responded. She wasn’t about to get into an argument about politics with someone who looked like he had still been a teenager just a couple of months ago. Not that you’re much older, a voice in the back of Angela’s mind told her. She dismissed it. Yes, she was only twenty-two, but she had been though a lot in her short life, and she had seen even more. She wasn’t a wide-eyed naïve newcomer like her client. If he wanted to play around with regime change on an authoritarian Indian colony, he was welcome to all the ‘fun’ that would come his way. Angela wanted nothing to do with it.
“Alright,” D said in a tone that suggested he wanted to press her but didn’t quite have the guts. “We’ll be alongside you in another five minutes, we’ll have the payment ready to transfer as soon as we dock.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Angela replied and cut the COM link.
Jumping up, she made her way through the freighter’s central corridor to the main cargo hold. The ship to ship docking hatch opened directly into the hold. Moving to the two auto turrets she had set up, she checked their settings. They wouldn’t turn on unless she sent them a command, but when they did, they would open fire on anything that moved. Next she woke up the nearest freight drone. She would use it to retrieve the platinum bars that were
her payment. Then it could begin to move the crates of weapons she had hidden amongst her legitimate cargo.
A sudden clunk told her the freighter had made contact with her own. A few seconds later the docking hatch beeped and flashed to let her know another ship had created an air seal. Moving back, Angela took cover behind a crate, pulled out her plasma pistol, and sent the hatch an order to open. It did with a sharp hiss, but silence quickly returned to the cargo hold. Angela waited a couple of seconds before slowly moving out from her cover. As she began to move D shot his head in through the hatch. Instinctively she raised her pistol.
“We have your payment right here,” D said as he waved towards her with his hands. He froze however when he saw her weapon.
“I said no one was to come onto my ship,” Angela replied through clenched teeth.
D raised his hands above his head. He then looked down to his feet and nodded. “Technically I’m still on my ship. I just wanted to let you know we were here. I’ll get out of your way.”
“See that you do,” Angela snapped. She wasn’t afraid of D, but she didn’t know who else was on board the freighter. She was taking no chances. She had nearly lost Dalliance twice because she had been too trusting. That was not a mistake she intended to make again.
When she was content that he had moved away from the docking hatch, Angela sent the freight drone towards it. She watched through a visual feed it was sending to her datapad. When it identified the crate of platinum sitting just beyond the hatch, she gave it orders to retrieve it. Less than a minute later the crate was safely stowed on board Dalliance. As soon as it was, Angela moved over to it and inspected her pay. After sampling a few of the bars, she was happy she was getting what she had been promised. Pulling out her datapad again she sent new instructions to the freight drone. It quickly began to move the crates she had assigned to it across to the mineral freighter, she wanted to be out of the New Delhi system as fast as possible.
“So,” D said from the docking hatch, making Angela spin around, her plasma pistol in hand once again. She relaxed, albeit only slightly, when she saw he already had his arms raised.
“What do you want?” she asked with a sigh.
“I just wanted to see if you plan to come back this way anytime soon? We might be interested in a few more items if you could provide them.”
Angela glanced at the bars of platinum. They would provide more than enough funds for her to go legitimate for at least six months. With the massive demand coming from the Sol system for supplies and raw materials, every independent freighter operator was flocking to the system. As much as Angela liked to keep herself out of the spotlight and operate in less populated systems, she couldn’t resist the money the so-called Empire was splashing around. And working in the Sol system still beats skulking past Indian patrol ships. She was happy to take a risk for a good deal, but when the money for legitimate work was decent, why take the risk?
“Sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “I don’t think I’ll be out this way again any time soon.”
“Not even if we double the price?” D asked.
That pricked Angela’s interest. At least enough to ask, “Just what kind of merchandise are you looking for?”
“Thermal grenades, explosives, something large enough to take out a building or two, or a tank,” D answered.
Angela had to fight to keep her face straight. That kind of stuff was hard to come by, even for her. But that wasn’t what set her off. Getting your hands on a few hundred plasma pistols was one thing; at worst they could be used to ambush whatever New Delhi had for a civilian guard. Explosives were another entirely; someone who wanted them was likely prepared to use them, and civilian causalities were all but inevitable. “Sorry, I’m not interested,” she said as she shook her head again. “I don’t deal in that kind of hardware.”
“Really?” D asked. “I would think that someone with your skills would know where to pick it up.”
“Moving explosives is above my pay grade,” Angela replied.
“Well maybe we can make it worth your while. I said we’d double your payment. How about triple?”
Again Angela shook her head. She knew she wouldn’t sleep well if she gave over the kind of weaponry D wanted. She wouldn’t exactly call her conscience clean, but she liked it as it was.
D frowned and lowered his hands. Angela’s plasma pistol twitched in her hands. “You do know what we are fighting for?” D asked. “This isn’t a game. We all have to take some risks. If the Governor won’t let us join the Empire diplomatically, then we need to force the issue; before the Karacknids come back.”
Angela was tempted to argue with him. To point out the folly of trying to overthrow an entrenched government. To point out the inevitable bloodshed that would flow. Or how insignificant New Delhi was in the grand scheme of things. But she could see in his eyes that there would be no talking to him. Zeal rather than reason was dictating his thinking. Instead she tried another technique. “What do you think I’m doing now? Enjoying a walk by the beach? I’m taking plenty of risks already. Do you think New Delhi is the only planet that needs help? I am doing my work for the cause. Once I am done here, I have other places I’m needed.” Technically it was true, the Empire did need all the freighters it could get bringing supplies to the Sol system. “The cause is not just about lining your pockets, nor mine. I am needed elsewhere. No amount of platinum will change that.”
Thankfully, the look on D’s face softened. “You have other deliveries to make?”
“Yes, that’s what I do,” Angela responded. “Deliveries your platinum will help pay for. So if you don’t mind getting out of my face. I have work to do.”
D looked like he was about to protest again, then he thought better of it. “One second,” he said instead as he held up a finger. He disappeared. Moments later he returned holding another platinum bar. “You may not be able to get us what we need, but I bet you know someone who could. Will you pass on our requests for us?” As he finished D waved the bar in the air.
Angela sighed. She could do that, for what he was offering. It wasn’t hard to speak to her contact the next time she was back on Quebec. “Fine,” she said as she nodded.
With a grin D tossed the bar into her cargo hold. It hit the deck with a thud and didn’t bounce. “I’ll let you get back to your work Captain,” he said in a tone that made it sound like she had been the one waylaying him. “Good luck.”
“And to you too,” Angela said as he turned his back to her, though she wasn’t sure she meant it. Good luck for D could mean a lot of bad luck for someone else.
With the Imperial Loyalist gone, she focused on getting the last few crates of plasma pistols transferred across from Dalliance. When the third from last was on its way over to the mining freighter, a series of beeps from her datapad whipped her head around. The sensor feed from the cockpit had been automatically sent to her. She swore. An Indian patrol frigate had altered course. It wasn’t settling onto a direct trajectory for the mining freighter, but it was going to come close. They’re on to us, she thought. They don’t want to spook us, but they are on to us. Whether the Indians had received a tip off or had caught a lucky sensor return off her freighter, it didn’t matter. Closing her eyes for a couple of seconds, Angela tried to think as her heart raced. The frigate was still far away. If she finished transferring the weapons and then disengaged from the mining freighter, she could try and sneak away in stealth. By the time the Indian frigate caught up to the freighter she’d be well out of sensor range. But those loyalists can’t be complete idiots. They’d figure out the frigate was after them sooner or later, and when they did, they’d try and make a run for it. If the loyalists had people in some of the outer system mining systems they might have a chance of reaching one of them and offloading the weapons before being caught. And when they ran, the frigate would race here as fast as possible with their sensors blazing. Dalliance would be detected for sure.
That left only one option. W
ith a tap on her datapad, Angela sent the emergency override command to the docking hatch. As it zipped closed, she ran for the bridge. Another series of taps sent orders for Dalliance to power up her reactors and engines. As soon as she jumped into her command chair her fingers worked frantically. Moments later Dalliance’s nose turned away from the mining freighter and her engines pushed her away. Once clear of the freighter, Angela pointed Dalliance’s nose towards the nearest shift passage out of the system and gunned the engines.
Unsurprisingly, the cockpit’s COM unit beeped, D was trying to speak with her. She hesitated for a second then decided to accept. “What are you doing!” D shouted as soon as his face appeared in front of her. “You haven’t given us all our cargo.”
A different beep made Angela pause before she replied. The Indian frigate was changing course again, this time its intentions were clear. It was settling onto a direct intercept trajectory for their position. “Unless you’re completely blind, maybe you see now what I’m doing?” she asked as she failed to keep sarcasm from her voice. “I’d suggest you do the same.”