by Max Jager
"Yeah," Jameson stammered. "Sorry. Just got lost in the size of it. Keep going."
Torik looked worried, but pressed on as they headed for the lift. "Let's take a look at the Admiral's Bridge. I think you'll like that…"
It really was an impressive ship. Like the rest of the Fleet, a lot of it was very utilitarian in design and function. Jameson still remembered vids of the ships the old Republic had used; the interiors so decorated and pristine that they looked more like film sets rather than military vessels. Gibraltar had to scrap that kind of polished look when it began building warships in the aftermath of the Great Civil War.
Yet despite having a bland, industrial look to the interior layout, the starship still had an air of strength and dominance about it. Jameson felt powerful standing aboard the Victorious. This was the ship where he and the rest of his friends would command some of the most strategic battles in human history. If Draconia ever thought twice about war with Gibraltar, then they would taste the wrath of a thousand starships like the Victorious.
Soon they were exiting the lift into the private Admiral's Bridge. Jameson wandered behind Torik as he gave a grand tour of each terminal and station. It was breathtaking, especially the massive holo-projector in the middle of the room.
If Victorious was the ship they would command battles from, this was the room where those commands would be given.
Standing on the far side of the bridge, plugged into an active terminal, Rappel stood up quickly, waving them over.
"Torik! Jameson! Check this out."
The two wandered over, finding that Rappel wasn't just at any terminal; he was at the main command chair. It was forward facing, turned away from the rest of the bridge, looking out at a wide panoramic view screen that was currently plated over. But Jameson could just imagine the view from this seat, watching out over a vast star field as ships engaged in pitch battle.
Rappel sat in the command chair, letting himself get cozy. "I call this spot."
Jameson nudged him on the shoulder. "So you'll sit here and watch while we do all the work back there?"
Rappel huffed, hopping to his feet as the three of them walked back to the main holo-projector. He entered some command, bringing the massive display to life. Someone had already pre-loaded the latest graphic of the Kraven Approach.
Jameson watched as an animated avatar showed the progression of the Peacemaker Fleet out across the far side of the Mediterranean Expanse, to a little remote system near Draconia called Kraven. Here the ships would form a supply line, target any Strategic Cannons from Draconia, and then press into the heart of enemy space. It was far enough away from other Expanse worlds to keep from stirring up trouble with local militias. They always seemed worried about war coming through their private space.
Too bad it was the perfect staging area for an all out attack on Draconia.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Rappel. "Just think: one day all of us we'll be hunched around this display, watching the battle play out in real time."
"Not any time soon, I hope," said Torik. "We've got a lot to do before we jump into a full scale campaign against Draconia."
They killed the display, heading back for the lift. Jameson reflected on that as they made their way through the massive ship back to the airlock. Torik was right; brilliant plan or not, it would be troubling if Draconia decided today to make an attack on Gibraltar. The Peacemaker Fleet was still almost two years out from full strength. And while there were other Divisions planning strategies and approaches for such contingencies, Jameson was only interested in a war situation where the Peacemaker Fleet was armed and ready for conflict. Then Draconia wouldn't stand a chance against their might.
Then Gibraltar would be able to secure true peace for the human race.
Jameson was so caught up in these thoughts as they disembarked through the airlock that he had almost forgotten why he was so upset earlier. And then he saw Strange and Axus walking across the hangar towards them, hand in hand.
Jameson's stomach turned over, his face flushing red with fury. Part of him wanted to turn around and sulk back into the Victorious.
Torik and Rappel paused, obviously confused by the sight of Jameson's girlfriend holding hands with their arch rival.
"Hello boys!" Axus called out cheerfully. "Jameson," he added pointedly.
The two stopped a meter from the three of them, Strange looking slightly uncomfortable with the surprise encounter. She smiled politely to Jameson, but he had to look away. It had been a mere two weeks since Arkus had called her away from their private time.
Two weeks and Axus had once again managed to turn his world upside down.
"It's impressive how much work they've accomplished," Strange added, turning her gaze towards the large windows overlooking the construction docks. The Victorious wasn't alone through the viewport; surrounded in long rows by several other Logan-class frigates caged in by thick scaffolding.
"Don't get too cozy with it," Axus grunted. "You three won't ever command that ship. It's going to be ours before this is over."
Rappel scoffed. "Yes, because Command still has doubt about our battle plans."
Axus sent a fixed stare Rappel's way, which strangely enough seemed to shut him up. Axus then turned his attention to Jameson, almost forgetting their earlier discussion.
"I have something to show you, Jameson boy."
He unfastened part of his uniform, exposing the bare flesh of his upper right arm. Jameson frowned, not sure why he needed to see Axus's pasty white skin. Then Axus pressed down on the flesh, revealing a series of sub dermal tattoos that began to appear on the surface.
It was a list of names: Lizzy Sophen, Chela Yadon, Strange.
While it was a little sickening to see Axus keeping a running tally of girlfriends he had managed to steal, Jameson couldn't help but chuckle that even he hadn't been able to coax a last name out of Strange. Apparently no one—not even the Fleet—was getting that out of her.
"Oh, you think that's funny?" said Axus. He began unweaving his left arm uniform sleeve.
Jameson rolled his eyes. "What's this? A list of girlfriends you haven't stolen from me yet?"
Axus pressed down again on the flesh, a new list forming that made Jameson blink. The new list had Jameson's name at the top:
Jameson Gray, Zac Sokras, Chris Albren, Kaitlin Beck, and on through all of the individuals in the Eighth Flotilla. All of Jameson's friends.
Strange's name was on the list near the bottom. Axus pointed to it in particular.
"You'd say Strange used to be in your Flotilla, kind of, yeah? Well…" A jagged line cut right through her name. "Not anymore. She finally accepted the invitation to join my Flotilla."
Jameson blinked, his jaw dropping open. He looked to Strange for confirmation.
Strange shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry, Jameson," she mumbled.
"And so it begins, Jameson," Axus taunted, chuckling. "Take a long look at this list. Before this is over, I will personally cut out every last name. Your Flotilla is going to be taken apart, even if I have to do it one person at a time."
He let go of his arm, the tattoos disappearing again below the surface. Grabbing the components for his uniform out of the air, he reattached them back into place. A surge of blue light ran the creases of his dark uniform as it synced into a single whole again.
Then the cruel delight in his features hardened, his mouth forming a blunt line; his eyes turned cold.
"Pay close attention Jameson, because I don't want you getting too attached to my ship. You will never command the Victorious and your Flotilla will never be Fleet Commanders."
Then the seriousness in his expression faded, being replaced by a suddenly friendly, homicidal smile.
"See you around, choppin'-block-doc."
He and Strange disappeared back across the work hangar.
Torik and Rappel watched them go; then turned slowly to face Jameson. For his part, Jameson managed to slowly push away the red flush washed over hi
s face. He even laughed to himself.
"Don't worry about it guys," he said aloud. "Axus is nothing but talk. He's just trying to psych us out."
Torik and Rappel shared a look.
"Well," Rappel began, "I agree he's way over the top. But he's still a dangerous person."
Torik sighed, shaking his head. "I guess this would be a bad time to tell you that he's in the process of getting a second vote of opposition on the Kraven Approach."
Jameson blinked. "They can do that?"
"After three months, yes. Especially if there are any changes he feels he can convince Command are discrediting."
Jameson ran a hand down his face. "Of course there are going to be changes! It's an evolving battle strategy."
"Well apparently it's a loophole he's decided to exploit," Rappel grunted. "And if this one passes, then we'll definitely lose our position."
Jameson huffed, marching forward. "To hell with Axus."
"What about Strange?" Torik pressed, close on his tail.
"He can keep stealing girlfriends," Jameson replied through gritted teeth, "but he will never take that Fleet Commander's title from us."
Intel
Chapter 9
Intel
* * *
The Mediterranean Expanse
Aspansiz Star System, Mining Belt
Asteroid Forsa
* * *
Present Day
Sidearm out in front, Jameson led from behind, marching Giger ahead of him.
The large hangar just inside from the docking ring was quiet, the few workers normally about their day paused to watch the procession. Everyone knew who Keshon Giger was here. Now they were about to watch the murderer face the man whose daughter he had raped and killed.
The mining boss stood at the far end of the hangar, near the main terminal point that branched out to all other sections of the asteroid. He was flanked by security officials on both sides, some of which looked like they were police for the whole of the Aspansiz system.
They waited patiently as Jameson escorted Giger forward, but he was honestly having a hard time focusing on the present moment. It had been simple enough to track the criminal to the dead end canyon where he had holed up. Backed into a corner, Giger had made easy prey. Still, heading back through Peoria and eventually back into orbit where the Crimson waited, Jameson hadn't been able to shake what Strange had told him.
If she really was Strange.
Mathison had started analyzing the data the moment Crimson synced back up with his armor. It checked out; Jameson hadn't spoken with a ghost. Somehow Strange had survived everything that happened at the Peacemaker Station and was out playing like an Intel officer after all this time. He tried not to think too much about it; about her. Now that he knew the data was accurate, there was really only one thing that mattered.
Finding Axus.
Jameson blinked, realizing that the security men were now surrounding Giger and hauling him off to a waiting tram back at the terminal point. Alone now, the miner stepped forward, his face grim set.
"Thank you, Mr. Gray."
Jameson remained unmoved, his expression unreadable with his faceplate down. "Call me Jameson," he muttered.
"Well, thank you Jameson for bringing in the monster that murdered my daughter. I know his justice won't bring her back, but…"
The miner reached for a tablet hooked to his work belt. He opened a holo-projection, displaying a transaction agreement. Jameson stuck his right first through the display, the computer chirping in the affirmative as money transferred to Jameson's private accounts.
"At least someone is bringing justice to monsters like that," the miner finished. "I added a little more than we agreed upon. Hopefully it's enough to get you through to wherever you're needed next."
Jameson brought up his account on his HUD. The miner had added more than just a little extra. It was enough to have the Crimson's Lauritzen drive recalibrated twice over without blinking.
"It's been a pleasure," Jameson muttered, tipping his head.
Turning on his heels, he marched back across the large hangar towards the docking ring. Part of him felt Mathison was right; they were wasting too much time here in Aspansiz. Even if this was the defining point of his search, finally giving him somewhere to track down Axus, it was time to move on.
Mathison was waiting for him the moment he stepped through the airlock. "I still can't decipher how she managed to snatch this Intel."
Jameson shrugged, patting Grade on the head as he ran up to greet him. "Doesn't matter."
"And you don't think it's strange that she just disappeared from Aspansiz? The moment you got back in sync with me, I scanned through a shit ton of Sat data looking for her. She certainly wasn't aboard any outgoing ships. She just disappeared!"
Jameson ignored him. Strange was irrelevant now. All that mattered was finding Axus.
"What do we know about Jaxx?" Jameson asked as he stepped aboard the bridge.
"I tapped the Gibraltar database. Most of it is high security data, but the system let me steal a few peeks. He's definitely a handler for a lot of counter-intelligence ops going on in Gibraltar. Hell, I've tracked a few of his communiqués. How do you think we found Macormak?"
Jameson frowned, focusing briefly on guiding Crimson slowly out of the docking ring, positioning them for an exit-system trajectory. He hadn't realized how little attention he had paid to Mathison's snooping. The AI had instant access to the whole of human knowledge with their antenna fixed to the galactic net. Mathison just scooped up information and pointed them in the right direction. Maybe it was time he started paying more attention.
"So it's legitimate," Jameson finally said aloud. "We've followed leads from Jaxx before, so we know he's meeting with Axus."
"He's meeting with someone; that much is for sure. Whether it's Axus or not…I don't want to get your hopes up. We still haven't found any leads on folks like Arkus. Gibraltar Intel says he's still actively working with Draconia."
Jameson bit his lip, well aware that Mathison could see him doing it even with his faceplate down. Yes, it was true that there were plenty of other traitors Jaxx might be meeting with. But the more he thought back to Strange's conversation—as much as he tried to dismiss her as a ghost—he couldn't help but feel this was it.
This was where he would finally get his revenge on Axus.
"I still have to correlate some of the data and review footage from the destination," said Mathison. "At least we know that much about where this mysterious meeting is going down."
Jameson glanced down at his stellar map. It leapt into the air in three dimensions, laying out the star systems of the Expanse like Christmas ornaments hanging suspended on different branches of a tree. While planets in a star system always orbited along a plane, stars themselves seemed like dust thrown up in the air, dangling wherever they happened to stick best.
"Well I guess now would be a good time to tell me where we're actually going," Jameson murmured impatiently.
The map shifted, zooming out further from nearby Expanse stars into Gibraltar space. A single system lit up further in, on a direction away from the Expanse and Draconia, out farther along the Orion Arm. It seemed a bit out of the way.
"It's a border world called Aquarius, in the Aquarius system," said Mathison.
The map zoomed in again, zipping past all other star systems until it focused in on the single system. Up this close, it seemed isolated and far away from most other civilization.
"Definitely a discrete enough place to meet up," Jameson added aloud. "And if it is someone still working inside Gibraltar, then they don't have to risk crossing the border into the Expanse and drawing attention."
"My sentiments exactly," Mathison chimed back. "Aquarius, interestingly enough, is one of the oldest known colonies settled by humanity."
Jameson raised an eyebrow to the effect.
"It's covered entirely in oceans, making it somewhat of a private vacation resort for the ult
ra wealthy."
"So we'll stand out like a sore thumb," Jameson mused.
"I think we better play this one in the shadows. I'll get some schematics on the station where Jaxx is registered to dock. Follow him at a distance and we'll wait to see exactly who he's meeting with."
Jameson programmed Aquarius' coordinates into the navigation computer and fired up the Lauritzen drive. A moment later the space outside the main view screen began to distort and warp as the drive began stretching at spacetime. A moment later, the backdrop of stars streaked into blurs of color, filling the view with a wash of meaningless color.