“Pulling back?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said. “Everything above Sub-25 is pulling out. Our units are maintaining the engagement, but they are meeting only minimal cover fire.”
“What about the ones below S-25? The drill was down on 27.”
“We ordered everything adjacent to their positions below there to withdraw,” he said. “Hang on. We’re getting reports that they are moving toward the conveyor shaft and are not engaging even civilians.”
“I don’t like that,” she said. “Why would they flip and run? They owned the decks they’d taken.”
“Maybe they got what they came for?” he suggested.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“Maybe it does,” he said. He sounded distracted like he was listening to someone else talking to him. “Yah, sorry. I think we might know what they were after. We have two of their troops that surrendered down on Sub-27. They said they were in the room when Paulson Lassiter was killed.”
“He’s dead?” she asked. “I can’t believe he’d be leading the fight clear down at the bottom of the push.”
“No, he wasn’t leading the fight,” he said. “Apparently, he was the target they were after.”
“What? There’s that video of him with their forces.”
“They’re swearing that he was their target, and that their Lieutenant shot him dead in a rat hole down in S-27.”
Governor’s office: Gateway Colony: L-4 Prime:
Anju appeared at his door looking like she was hoping to have a serious conversation, but Jeph didn’t have the space for it on his plate. He sat, leaned forward on his elbow trying to rub out a throbbing brainache.
It wasn’t working.
“Dutch told me you’ve been on a long com with the Armstrong and might need someone to talk to,” she said, walking over and setting a small glass on his desk. She poured something into it and he lifted his head. It looked like water, but in her case, he knew better than to assume. It might be some of her lethal vodka.
He raised a skeptical eyebrow and let the drink sit.
“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got, as a doctor, came from an old vid I saw when I was an intern.” She smiled and sat down across from him. “’A man will tell his bartender a lot more than he’ll tell his doctor.’ Today you look like you need a bartender.”
He reached out and picked up the glass, shaking his head and bracing himself he took a small sip. It wasn’t bad. Not at all like he remembered. His face must have telegraphed his surprise.
“Yah, it’s real. I traded some of my solvent grade stuff to Rocky and she gave me a bottle of real vodka.”
“Where’d she get it?”
“She traded something with the chief engineer on the Armstrong,” she said. “I don’t know what it was, but she seemed pretty happy about it.”
He took another small sip and almost smiled.
“Excuse me, Governor,” Dutch said, interrupting. “The team in the Kanahto control center needs to talk to you.”
“Put them through,” Jeph said.
“Are you alone?” Chei asked.
“Anju is here with me,” he said. “Why?”
“Not a problem, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have visitors,” he said.
Anju blinked several times, and he spun around to see the wall behind his desk disappear. They had used visual com through the wallscreen before, but this time it didn’t look like an image as much as it looked like a door opened between Jeph’s office and the Control Center. Standing up he stepped toward it before Chei warned, “It’s a projection. You’ll smack your face into it.”
“He speaks from experience,” Rocky said, her voice coming from somewhere near the middle of the room beside Anju. He glanced over his shoulder to see the doctor staring at the same point in space. She wasn’t physically there, but there was no doubt of where she stood.
“Damn, that’s …”
“Yah. Magic,” Chei said. “Every time we find something else in here, it’s more amazing than the last. We’ve got the internal com up to full potential now, so this is the standard definition of all com systems inside the Tacra Un.”
“There will be a lot of broken noses until people get used to it,” Anju said.
“It gets better,” Chei said. “Turn around.”
As Jeph swung around, he was no longer standing in his office, but rather in the control room deep inside the Un Kanahto. He gasped in shock as Rocky appeared beside the doctor, right where her voice had placed her. The floor under Anju’s feet had disappeared and Ian stood in the center of one of the control pits below and behind her.
“Is still a projection,” Rocky said, turning to look at Anju.
“Nojo, like magic,” he said. He couldn’t tell a real object from a projection. He shook his head. “I’ve got things going on up here, so what do you need?”
“Oh, yah,” Chei said. “We’re focusing on the internal sensor systems now and even though we have no more than the rudimentary levels operational, I think we’ve discovered something down here that might change the playing field.”
“What?” he asked, feeling around to make sure the chair he was about to collapse into was in his reality and not theirs.
“I think it’s a space ship,” he said.
“We are unsure,” Rocky said, “However, it does not resemble anything else we have discovered thus far.”
“What makes you think it’s a ship?” Jeph asked.
“You look at it and tell me what you think it is,” Chei said. An object appeared in space above the middle of the room.
It was not like any ship he had ever seen, but there was little doubt that was what it had to be. “Where is it?”
“Forty-six kilometers straight down. In the middle of the Tacra Un near the biggest of the singularity pumps.”
“I assume you haven’t gotten into it yet,” Jeph said.
“Not yet,” he said. “Ian pointed out that we might not want to go there until we get more experience with the control systems. We’re barely able to make the com work, and the internal sensors are even more complex.”
“Piloting a ship would likely be impossible,” Rocky said.
“Agreed,” Jeph said. “I think we need to keep this to ourselves at least until we know for sure what it is.”
“I figured,” Chei said. “No point in running before we can walk.”
“And I don’t need you wandering off chasing wild leads,” Jeph said. “Roja just came down on me like a bag of wet recycler biscuits. They’re running scared up there with Odysseus driving the ghost fleet. We’ve got to stay after the quicksand.”
“Yah, we only got the com and sensors first so we could see if they might lead us in the right direction. But keep in mind it’s taken us a week to get the damn room to quit making us puke every time Ian punches a button.”
“I know,” Jeph said. “But the ivory tower hasn’t figured that out yet.”
“I have some good news for you though,” Anju said. “I think by tomorrow we can get you some help down there.”
“Really?” Jeph and Chei said at the same time.
“Tana Drake just brought us a whole boat load of Ians.”
Tsiolkovskiy FleetCom Center: FleetCom Headquarters: Luna:
Graison Cartwright and Carranza Pratte shared an entire deck in the administrative tower complex of FleetCom. They worked together, but in name only, as their staff handled most of the routine interactions. But since the battle had started at New Hope City, they had been almost fused at the hip. One or the other, and often both, of them occupied the conference room that connected them to L-2 and Quintana. They both had staff officers sharing desks along the walls, and the room had become their situational command center.
“We’ve got a com from NHC,” one of Pratte’s assistants said. “She says it’s urgent.”
The mayor’s face appeared, and she looked both relieved and worried. “The enemy units are withdrawing,” s
he said without preamble.
“Yes!” Graison said, smiling for the first time in days.
“Maybe,” the mayor agreed.
“Why are they pulling out?” Carranza asked. “Have you pushed back hard enough to make them reconsider or regroup?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “It might be that they got what they came for, but that isn’t making sense. We captured two of their soldiers from their forward fire team and they say they were here after a specific target.”
“What was it?” Graison asked.
“Paulson Lassiter.”
“I thought you had intel that put him with them?” he asked.
“We do. Well we thought we did at least.” She shrugged. “These two men were on a team that supposedly killed him down in Underhive Sub-27.”
“They have to be lying,” Pratte said.
“Yeah, we are interrogating them now, but the one was carrying a genmatch kit, and he said it would prove their statement. We sent it over to the lab and we’ll know in under an hour,” the mayor said.
“Even if it’s true, that seems like an awfully big operation just to take down one person,” Pratte said.
“I agree,” Graison said. “Underhive isn’t a safe place for anybody, if you wanted someone dead, it’d be easy to arrange an accident wouldn’t it?”
“Unfortunately, that’s true,” Pallassano said. “But they are pulling out no matter what caused it. We’ve got a rover crew watching the landing—” The mayor’s face froze and then the screen went blank.
“Did we lose the com?” Pratte barked.
“Yes Ma’am,” one of her aids answered. “Carrier signal is completely down too.”
“Get it back,” she said, shaking her head.
“Working on it,” he said.
“We’re also getting widespread reports of outages on civilian com channels to NHC as well,” Grayson’s com officer said.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he said, nodding at the commandant. Her face showed she was going in the same direction he was.
“There’s com on the relay that a geologist at the University at Tokyo Down Under is reporting a large ongoing seismic event.”
“TDU is about 500 klick from NHC.” Grayson tapped into his thinpad and called up a map of the lunar nearside. “Get Chang ‘E Industrial and Tranquility Ridge on the com now. They both should have geology missions and I need to know if they’re seeing anything.” They were the next closest major settlements and, if he was right, they’d be getting shockwaves next.
“Yes sir,” the com officer said.
“We’ll pick it up here in a few minutes,” Pratte said as she got up and started pacing. She looked like she was praying.
“Chang ‘E geology is confirming it, but nothing yet at Tranquility Ridge,” his com officer reported. “Wait. They’re now reporting it just started.”
“Frag, frag, FRAG!” Graison said, slamming his fist down on the table in rage.
“It peaked at 6.7 magnitude at TDU,” another of his staff reported, “but it’s still ongoing.”
“It’s got to be nuclear,” Pratte whispered. She’d stopped pacing and was staring at the map. “Get Admiral Quintana on com.”
“Galileo has just activated the emergency broadcast system,” her com officer said. “It’s overriding all channels.”
Paulson Lassiter’s face appeared on the conference room’s screen. He sat motionless on what looked like the ConDeck of a ship somewhere. He wore a dark uniform and was staring into the optic. “People of the New Union. Many of you have been aware that there has been a rebellion brewing against our government. For the last several days, we have been involved in a police action to excise this cancer from society.
“I am pleased to announce that the fighting in New Hope City is now over, and we have eliminated the separatist faction based in Underhive. They will no longer be a threat to our peace and stability. Unfortunately, as a result of their actions against us, there has been a substantial loss of human life.
“From here forward, there will be a zero tolerance policy for those who seek to join the rebellion, and any future parties who would consider sheltering these so called resistance fighters, must realize that the consequences of such a choice are extreme and swift.”
His face froze again and then faded leaving silence for several seconds before Quintana appeared in his place.
“Does anyone know what the frak he’s talking about?” the admiral asked.
Pratte who found her voice first. “Lassiter just nuked New Hope City off the map.”
“I don’t think it was him,” Graison said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Operations Control Center: Galileo Station:
Derek Tomlinson sat in silence, watching the images of the collapsing crater on the lunar surface. It wasn’t like the millions of other craters on the lunar surface, not just because an impact hadn't left the scar, but because it was burying one of the oldest colonies on the moon under it.
The blast hadn’t torn a gaping hole in the surface, but it had vaporized enough rock that when the explosion quit expanding, it sagged back into the empty cavern below. Gas clouds formed over cracks and steaming geysers spread for kilometers in every direction.
What have you done? Derek asked, through his link. There were a million people in Underhive.
“The loss of life was necessary,” it thought back at him.
And you got Lassiter to take responsibility for this? he asked. How did you … how could he?
“He did not,” it said.
A group of images opened in his mind. Body optics from the team that had reached Paulson in his hideout. He watched several seconds of the video before he realized what he was seeing. “Stop! Don’t make me see this,” he said out loud, forgetting again that staff and security people surrounded him. The scene played out to its end, despite anything he could do to ignore it. He pushed his fists into his eyes but there was no way to hide from the vision in his mind.
How? he asked, when the waves of frustration and anger had faded enough that he could once again think.
“The same way I took control of the fleet,” it said in Lassiter’s voice. Paulson’s face smiled at him in his mind as his image explained, “Assuming control of the unaligned fleet required verbal command authority, so I developed an avatar version of Paulson Lassiter. Now that he has been removed, it is easy for me to use this to get compliance as needed, without concern he might undermine my authority.”
“Removed? Is that what you call killing a million people?” Derek said. You killed them to keep him from proving you were … lying to them? Manipulating them? Are you really that ruthless?
“Director, are you alright?” the watch officer asked, his face showing his confusion.
Tomlinson shook his head.
“I am driven by my protocols, if that resembles ruthlessness in your perception, then I cannot change that,” Odysseus said, still using the Lassiter Avatar through the link. “I am approaching the time when I will be in communication with the ESI, and my primary objectives must be to establish order before I open the contact. If I must move decisively to accomplish this task, I will do so.”
With everything else going on, Derek hadn't thought about the contact in weeks.
“There is no need for me to share information with you, since you have demonstrated that you are attempting to keep secrets from me,” it said, reading a thought in his mind that was below the level of vocalization.
You are making horrible decisions, he said. You will never establish order like this. All you will do is feed the rebellion. You cannot be this ignorant of human nature.
There was a long pause before Odysseus responded. “Human nature is the problem that has created a need for me. It is human nature to die in the face of overwhelming superiority. The ESI contact we face is such an event. Your statement is therefore negated by these facts, and I assert that you are the one with a lack of understanding.”
Kitty Hawk Battle Group: Lunar L-5 Transfer:
The Kitty Hawk, the Ranger, and the Orion hung in the middle of open space, a quarter million klick from anywhere. They had been stationed at L-5 Transfer, but after the change in orders that had called them off their attack run, they diverted to the middle of open space to hold position and wait for further instructions. The second battle group had taken up a similar position about half way between L-4 and the L-2 Shipyard.
“Helm plot a course for Low Lunar Orbit,” Captain Franklin said as she shot onto the ConDeck like a torpedo from her ready room.
“Excuse me, sir?” the ExO said, as he offered her an arm to help her swing down toward the deck and anchor her maglocks in place.
“We’re being ordered to make a recon pass over New Hope City,” she said. “Com, relay the orders to the Ranger and Orion. We need to make way as soon as they are ready.”
“I thought we were waiting until the reinforcements arrived,” he said.
“The situation has changed,” she said, watching her ConDeck crew jumping into action. “We’ve gotten reports of a massive explosion in NHC and the admiral wants us to assess the situation and render aid as needed.”
“Explosion?”
She nodded, and lowering her voice said, “It looks like they nuked Underhive.”
“Nuked it?”
“Apparently, but we don’t know for sure,” she said.
“Last I heard there are over thirty enemy ships in lunar orbit, we aren’t close to a match for that much firepower,” he said.
She nodded. “We’re supposed to avoid engagement if possible on the first pass, but if they move to attack, we’ll do what we have to.”
“First pass?” he asked.
“Second time around we won’t be alone,” she said, handing him the thinpad that had their plan on it. “We’ll be in the hot seat, but hopefully that won’t get us cooked.”
“Helm reports ready, sir,” her pilot said, twisting to face her.
“Ranger and Orion are ready to boost,” the com officer said.
“Then let’s go be heroes,” she said.
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 76