A Fiery Sunset

by Chris Kennedy

  “That seems extreme,” Leeto said. “That would almost amount to enslaving the race.”

  “When viewed from the opposite side,” the Goka replied, “I look at all the harm Humans could do if allowed to have continued free access to the Galactic Union unsupervised. If they’ll give each other horrific diseases, what would they do to us? It’s as the Golden Horde representative stated when she noted she could save millions of Humans by affecting one member of the Salusian race. On the galactic scale, think of all the trillions of lives across thousands of races that can be saved by reining in a few billion Humans. When viewed through that lens, how can we do any differently?”

  “Your words are wise,” Leeto said, “and I think we’d be wise to heed them. As such, I propose the Mercenary Guild take over rule of Earth and its colonies, for the good of the Galactic Union, from this time forward, forevermore.” She smiled at the camera. “How do you vote?”

  “I vote for the proposal,” the Goka rep replied.

  “I do, as well,” the Besquith rep agreed. “If only for our own safety.”

  Sansar felt like she was being held captive in a nightmare. The Goka calling someone else psychopaths? The Besquith worried about their safety?

  “Sadly, I must agree,” the MinSha rep said. “Even after 100 years, some of them still can’t forgive us for bombing their planet, even though they struck first, and it was justified retribution.”

  “Although I could vote for the first measure, I can’t agree that they should be governed by us for all time,” the Selroth said. Sansar had a moment of hope, but then the Selroth added, “I abstain.”

  “The Humans have provided some great battles,” the Tortantula noted, “and I’d hoped to face them again.” It gave the Tortantula version of a shrug. “I abstain.”

  “I agree with Zzelban,” the Flatar said. “I abstain.”

  “Humans are liars,” the Oogar said, “and this has gone on far too long. I agree with the proposal.”

  The Goltar stared at Leeto a moment before answering, but finally said, “The fact that you are happy with this outcome shows how little your race has advanced over the centuries, Leeto. The penalty is excessive, based on the proven crimes. Although it doesn’t matter, except to our honor, I vote against it.”

  “I’ll go on record as voting for the proposal,” Leeto said. “That makes the vote five-to-one in favor of the Goka representative’s proposal, with three abstentions. The measure passes.” She tapped her slate. “Now, let’s talk about the punishment for Sansar Enkh.”

  * * *

  Sansar trudged into her cell. “Bad day at the office?” one of the Besquith jailors called. He slammed the cell door while they both laughed. Sansar collapsed onto her bed. The tribunal had, of course, sentenced her to death, by a unanimous vote. How could they not? She was guilty.

  She looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong. In looking back at the day’s events, no matter how she played it, she’d been doomed to lose. The video of Thorb had been damning. If she had to do it over, though, she knew she’d do it the same way. Her life for the thousands of Golden Horde members it saved? A small price to pay. And for the millions of other Humans they’d saved? Totally worth it.

  That didn’t make her upcoming execution any more exciting, though. She sighed.

  Before she could contemplate the manner of her upcoming demise, there was a commotion at the door to her cell—loud voices, followed by large objects being slammed into a wall. After a couple of moments of banging, the sounds stopped, the door opened, and the Goltar representative slithered into her cell. Sansar could see the foot of one of the jailors in the hallway outside—the guard appeared to be horizontal on the floor.

  That was pretty much the first good thing that’d happened all day. She sat up on her bed. “Are you here to break me out?” she asked.

  “Unfortunately, no,” the Goltar said. “The tribunal has spoken, and you’ll be executed. There’s no other way about it.” It looked at her for a moment and then added, “You are guilty of the crime with which you’re charged, correct?”

  “I am…however, I’m fairly certain it was the Merc Guild that put me into the position where I needed to uplift the Salusian in the first place.”

  “Of course it did.”

  “Wha—what?”

  “I said, ‘Of course it did.’ There’s no doubt in my mind that the ruling council of the Merc Guild put you into the bind you were in so they could achieve precisely what they got today—the governance of Earth. The Speaker is the daughter of General Peepo, who’s the leader of the war plans against Earth. I imagine the war has been going on against you for many years; unfortunately, you didn’t realize it until now. The Veetanho, in case you haven’t noticed, are master planners and manipulators.”

  “Is that what happened with your race?”

  “Yes. Once upon a time, we were the leaders of the Merc Guild. We were tricked and betrayed by the Veetanho…and now they lead.”

  “And that’s why I can’t find any information on your race?”

  “The tides of time are fickle; they ebb, and they flow. They also conform to the needs of the historians. He who wins the war gets to write the GalNet history files. The Veetanho won, and they’ve marginalized us across the oceans of time. Although we may be forgotten, we’re not gone. Not yet, anyway.”

  “If you aren’t going to break me out of here, why’d you take out the jailors?”

  “They didn’t want me to speak with you and I…I disagreed with their position. I didn’t permanently injure them, but Besquith can be extremely short-sighted sometimes.” The Goltar paused, then shook out its arms. “I wish it were within my power to free you; however, my honor won’t allow it.”

  “Even though you know it’s not my fault.”

  “Even though it’s not your fault, you are, unfortunately, still guilty. I don’t see anything else you could’ve done—anything else you should have done—but you’re still guilty. I’m here to tell you I’m sorry for voting the way I had to. I believe that, had events unfolded differently, our races could have been friends, maybe even allies, on the guild council. It needs new blood, even if Humans bring a touch of disorder and discontinuity to it. Sometimes, creatures like the Veetanho need to be shaken up and taken down a step or five. I’d hoped you Humans would be the ones to do that, but it appears I was mistaken.”

  “My death won’t end it,” Sansar said with a fierce look. “If anything, my death will drive more Humans to our cause. We hate to see people falsely accused, and these proceedings, as obviously as they were rigged, will only cause my people to fight harder. I may have failed here, but if you think we’re going to give up just because of my death, you’re mistaken…badly mistaken.”

  “We shall see then,” the Goltar said as it slithered back out of the cell. “It’ll be interesting to watch.” The alien shut the door, and Sansar heard the lock engage. As the adrenaline left her body, she fell back onto her bed and began to cry.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Nineteen

  Winged Hussars Prime Base, New Warsaw System

  Alexis strode into the meeting room where Jim Cartwright, Nigel Shirazi, and Daniel Walker waited. Nigel had arrived a few hours ago and hadn’t had time for so much as a shower. He looked…handsome. She shook her head and settled for a nod to him. He noted the small bandage on her forehead. She hadn’t yet completely healed from the humiliation of knocking herself cold.

  “I’m glad you made it back,” she said. “Commander Yoshuka reports you acquitted yourself well, and though it pains him, he admitted a grudging admiration for you.”

  “The feeling is mutual,” Nigel said with that devilish grin.

  “As you’ve no doubt heard, we’ve met with success across the board,” Alexis said, sitting at the table. “Commander Cartwright secured 20 of the Raknar, all in excellent shape, minus their power plants. The mission to stop the Grimm succeeded as well, but at a high price.
” Nigel looked curious. “The entire squad of Hussar marines we sent were lost in the action. The corporal was a personal friend of Jim’s.”

  “I’m sorry,” Nigel said and bowed his head. “We shall toast to him later.”

  “Thank you,” Jim replied. Alexis looked at the young man, not even 21 years old. If she wasn’t mistaken, he had tiny worry lines around his eyes. So young, for so much responsibility.

  “On our end of the mission, we found and secured eight capital ships. We’re still evaluating their use, and it’ll take a little time to bring them up to trim, but this changes our equation considerably. How’d you do?” she asked Nigel.

  “The religious leaders of New Persia agreed to assist. We picked up 200 recruits and enough Mk 8 CASPers for all of them. We also have a prototype Mk 9, and all the schematics for it. The plant has shifted production over to making Mk 9s and should have production models ready for us whenever we can get back there to pick them up.”

  “That’s excellent,” Alexis said. “The new recruits will take time to train, but I believe we’re in a position now to effect the rescue from Karma we planned.”

  “Yes,” Nigel said. Jim smiled and nodded, as did Walker. “I have some new information,” Nigel added. “But let’s go over the Karma plan first.”

  “Okay,” Alexis said, nodding. She looked to Cartwright. “Jim, the Raknar won’t help in this situation, so what we’re going to do is a straight assault. We’ve got your Raknar offloaded into storage, and once Colonel Sinclair returns with your power supplies, you’ll have all the technical support you want. Our chief scientist, Taiki Sato, is studying up on the mechanical engineering for them and will be ready to assist when we get back from Karma.”

  “Sounds good,” Jim said.

  “We’ll get Bucephalus ready for the operation. As your ship is more suitable, I think it makes sense if we have Nigel’s units come along with you.”

  “I’m agreeable to that,” Nigel said. It appeared to Alexis the two men had become more amiable, if not outright friendly, to each other. Jim hadn’t brought his little alien buddy, probably because it didn’t seem to like Nigel in the least.

  “Lieutenant Colonel Walker, are you agreeable to taking half the forces you have here along?”

  “That sounds fine,” Walker said. “Our people are also working with yours on the SalSha. They’ve been flying some kind of bomber prototype?”

  “Entropy, those things?” Alexis asked. “That was Sato’s brainchild back when I was a teenager. They were unusable by Humans. You’re more likely to die than succeed in flying one.”

  “The SalSha love them. We don’t know if they’ll be able to use them strategically, but they’re good training ships.”

  “I reviewed some of the data on them when I got back,” she said. “The SalSha are a little headstrong, their egos are too big, and they are more than a little crazy. Our pilot instructors in the Hussars Academy say they have all the key elements to be great pilots.” Everyone chuckled at that. “They’ll be in good hands while you’re gone. Everyone seems to like the slippery things.”

  “They are rather…likeable,” Nigel agreed. She exchanged a smile with him, then pulled herself back to the present.

  “Now, on the matter of the assault. I plan to bring two full squadrons, in addition to the Horde forces, Asbaran, and Cavaliers. My own marines will be bolstered by Commander Earl’s Bert’s Bees. I’ve already talked to him, as well as Commander Drake. We’ll be using her Rangers to infiltrate the station.

  “Interestingly, a lot of the unaligned mercs in Karma are not happy with what’s going on. The place is half-deserted. I plan to insert Drake’s Rangers ahead of our main force. Their mission is to infiltrate Karma’s defenses so we don’t have trouble there, then warn everyone they can that if they don’t want to get splattered in shit, they’d best leave town.”

  “That’ll keep civilian and unaligned merc casualties down,” Jim said, nodding in appreciation of the plan. “I like that. We don’t want to give Peepo’s crowd any ammo to use against Sansar.”

  “About that,” Nigel said.

  “”

  “I’m sorry,” Alexis said, holding up a hand to forestall Nigel, “I have an important message that just came in.” He looked grateful for the interruption. Alexis used her pinplants to access the raw data from their courier. This one had come directly from Capital, a very difficult transition. She was immediately suspicious why the captain would take that risk. When she read his personal note, she knew the answer. Everyone was looking at her in concern now, so she suspected some of her emotions had slipped through.

  “What is it?” Jim asked.

  “The tribunal against humanity is complete.”

  “Already?” Walker exclaimed in surprise. “Those things are supposed to last months.”

  “Our sources in the Mercenary Guild HQ say they didn’t really bother with the rules of evidence.” Walker’s eyes went wide. “Sansar has been sentenced to death.”

  “They wouldn’t dare!” Walker roared and shot to his feet.

  “Yes, unfortunately, they would,” Nigel said. Everyone looked at him, and he sighed. “I have some…friends, who warned me this was about to occur while I was on New Persia. That was the other information I had.”

  “What kind of friends?” Alexis asked.

  Nigel looked at her for a moment as if considering what to say. “Pendals.” This time it was Alexis’ turn to look surprised.

  “Those freaks? They aren’t friends with anyone. How did you come to have a Pendal as a friend?”

  “Maybe friend is too strong a word.”

  Jim had a vacant look, and a second later his face turned to surprise as well. No doubt he’d looked up the strange four-armed, three-eyed freaks himself. Alexis had only met one once before, and the encounter had given her a case of the heebie-jeebies for a week. She spent most of her life around aliens, and some of them were exotics. She’d rather sleep with a Wrogul than meet another Pendal.

  “Why would they help you at all?” she asked. “They’re on the high end of creepy and almost as hard to figure out as a Depik.”

  “We have blood between us,” Nigel said simply, then moved on. “Regardless, the information he gave me was correct. He also said the guild is out to enslave all of humanity. On the good side, though, they’ve offered to help.”

  “We have to save her,” Walker said.

  “I agree,” Nigel said immediately. “We can’t allow this to occur. It’s symbolic; we must take her back.”

  “Whoa,” Alexis said and held out her hands. “This isn’t like Karma. We’re talking about the capital of the Union. Half the guilds have their headquarters there. The system has a ring of a million junked ships where the last naval battle of the Great Galactic War took place.” She’d seen it once; it was quite a sight. “How exactly do you think we can pull that off?”

  Nigel shot her that infuriating grin. “Let me tell you,” he said, and Alexis listened to what had to be the most bodacious plan in the history of bodacious plans. “So, that’s it. I think it’ll work, as no one will ever expect it.”

  “Wow,” Jim said and gave a little laugh. “How do you walk with those 20-pound balls clanking between your legs?” Walker chuckled, and Nigel gave him that smile again.

  “You know what?” Alexis asked. “That plan is fucking crazy enough it just might work.”

  * * *

  Four hours later, Nigel and Walker had sold Alexis on their plan. It didn’t involve any of her naval assets, but it did have risk. She’d need to send a couple of her special drive keys so they could get back afterwards. Nothing else would change; New Warsaw was still the only safe place for them until they were ready to assault Earth.

  The problem was she’d counted on Walker leading the Horde personnel in the raid, with Nigel’s company of Asbaran troopers to help. Sending those two after Sansar upset the plan; however, Walker refused to be left out of any rescue mission for
his boss.

  “If I don’t go, you can forget any help from the Horde.” Alexis had no choice but to relent and let him join. The fact it depended on the Pendals to succeed added an extra garnish of crazy in her opinion.

  “” Ghost told her, which didn’t help.

  Jim had volunteered his own plan for Karma. Most of the original plan remained intact, except he and his personal platoon would be inserted with Drake’s Rangers in advance. The idea he’d had made her smile. She liked his flavor of bold more than Nigel’s flavor of almost crazy. Jim Cartwright had the family flare for the unconventional. She was also convinced that two entire task forces of Winged Hussars led by Pegasus could unfuck just about anything in Karma. After the second level of hyperspace, she was looking forward to a stand-up fight on terms she was used to.

  Time was of the essence for the rescue plan to work, so Walker and Nigel departed that morning. Alexis met them in the hangar before their shuttle left. “Commander Shirazi, a second?”

  He disengaged from his conversation with Walker. “Certainly,” he said. “Go on ahead, Walker; I’ll catch up.” Walker eyed them both, then saluted Alexis and floated out into the bay. Alexis drew Nigel aside.

  “I’m more than familiar with your penchant for trying to splatter your guts all over the place to make a point,” she said. “I’d rather you didn’t do that.”

  “Oh?” he asked. “Why’s that?”

  “Why do you think? This is war, Nigel. The Four Horsemen are not only the most powerful fighting force Earth has, we’re its heart and soul. They need us alive. Having one of us die stupidly won’t rally the rest of humanity.”

  “Are you sure that’s the only reason?” he asked with his grin.

  She spluttered in surprise, particularly because her heart was racing. What in entropy is wrong with me? she asked herself. “No, not at all,” she said. “Just be care—”