The Fringe Series Omnibus

by Rachel Aukes

  “What group is that?” Joe asked.

  “No, it’s not,” Seda said. “I broke my affiliation with that group before the war.”

  Reyne wasn’t so sure he believed Seda. “Well, I still think it’s mighty suspicious for a group to pop up out of nowhere. Why would a group have an immediate need for so many resources?”

  Seda inhaled deeply. “As we speak, a significant faction is breaking off from the Collective. Under the command of Corps General Barrett Anders, they are repurposing no small part of the CUF armada into colony ships. Parliament does not support this action, which is why they must depart with haste. Now I hope you can see why time is of the essence.”

  “The Collective is entering a second civil war,” Hatha said.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Seda said. “There are many citizens who feel that the Collective must expand in order to thrive. They have no intention of raising arms against their compatriots. They are simply volunteering to expand the Collective.”

  “Without Parliament’s approval,” Reyne said. “That makes them traitors who are stealing CUF property. We saw how well that worked out when Commandant Heid ran off with the Arcadia.”

  Seda sighed. “This is different, in that as soon as they have the necessary supplies, the colonization fleet will be heading away from the Collective and out of our system.”

  “What to stop the Collective from coming after anyone who helps these people? By all rights, we’re allying ourselves with their enemy the moment we accept the money.”

  “Because the Collective needs the colonies far more than we need Alluvia and Myr. If the CUF attempts to instigate a fight with the Alliance, they’ll have both their own ships as well as our new military fleet to face.”

  Reyne jerked. “What are you talking about?”

  Seda motioned to the woman at his left. “Captain Fields has accepted the position of Commander of Alliance Marines. Commander, if you please.”

  She stood. “The Collective has the CUF. The Alliance has nothing. We need a military force capable of standing against the Collective, should they choose to try to reclaim the colonies. Within a year, we expect to have two warships, six destroyers, and three dozen gunships. One destroyer is nearly complete.”

  Reyne frowned. “Where are you building these ships? Why haven’t we heard of this until now?”

  “We’re building the ships at an asteroid within the Space Coast. Seda and I believed it was imperative to keep the early development of our infrastructure quiet to ensure the Collective did not learn of our intentions and act before thinking. Now that we have a good start, we’ll soon open up recruitment with a training facility on Terra.”

  “Where on Terra?” Joe asked.

  “At my old landing strip,” Seda said. “It’s not within Rebus Station’s jurisdiction, therefore, I didn’t need to inform you.”

  “But it’s called common courtesy,” Joe retorted.

  “I don’t like being out of the loop,” Hatha said. “And all of a sudden, I feel like a puppet getting my strings pulled. It feels a lot like when Sol Base was a part of the Collective.”

  Seda leaned forward. “I knew this would be a challenging conversation, but you forget our roles—all are important, but they are different. I’m president, and accountable for the Alliance of Free Colonies. Everything I do is to strengthen the Alliance. You’re stationmasters, responsible for the livelihoods of each of your colonies. If anything at any point impacts your colony, you’ll be the first to know. Once established, the Alliance Marines will protect all the colonies from outside aggression. To put it bluntly, Commander Fields’s job, and the forming of our military force, is outside your purview. However, feel free to contact the commander or me whenever you have questions. I know you have enough on your hands already, such as making a ten-billion-credit decision.”

  Margerite spoke. “As you all know, I was a madam before I became a stationmaster. Accepting money from those I’d rather not was necessary for staying in business, even when that money brought problems. I see it no different for Devil Town’s prosperity. I’ll accept the offer on behalf of Devil Town. They’ll have enough blue tea to last a thousand people ten years without water.”

  “Sol Base still has plenty of food stored in the warehouses from when the blight hit,” Hatha said. “This will give us a chance to clean out all that food without having much impact on our current contracts.”

  “We’ll barely be able to meet their demand, if it’s even possible,” Joe said. “Seda, you own the juice plants. You know the production levels. What they’re asking for may be more than we can pull together.”

  “I am quite aware of production levels, and my new plants won’t be opened yet. That’s on me,” Seda said. “As soon as I received the proposal, I opened extra shifts to ensure we’re running at maximum capacity every hour of the standard thirty-hour day. We’ll at least give them what we can. I suspect Reyne is in a similar situation.”

  Reyne nodded. “We sent much of our extra inventory with the Gabriela, and everything else has been going towards the building of Tulan Port. I’m not sure how much we can scrounge together.”

  “What if you give them semi-processed rilon?”

  “Carbon fiber? I’d have to check with the production plants, but I know creating the carbon fiber is the fastest part of the process. If they’re willing to take weaker production materials for the same price, we can provide them with all the carbon fiber they can carry.” Reyne held up a hand. “It looks like we’re all in for this get-rich-quick scheme, but we’d better sleep with one eye open for the next year, because we’re not making friends with the Collective by doing this.”

  “I know accepting the proposal presents us with risk, but the money can be used to establish a strong economy across the Alliance far faster than the scraping by that we’ve been doing. I’ll notify Barrett Anders immediately after we break. Expect to see the news covering the colony fleet’s movement.” Seda took a deep breath before continuing. “Now, I have some bad news to share. A friend of mine on the Littorio has notified me that Drake Fender, who many of you know as Critch the pirate, has been arrested and is scheduled for execution.”

  Gasps erupted.

  “When?” Reyne asked.

  “I believe Anders has scheduled his execution for two days from now.”

  “We can’t allow it to go through. Fender is a war hero,” Joe said.

  “He may be a war hero to the Alliance, but he’s committed war crimes against the Collective.

  “You could say the same of all of us,” Reyne countered. “You see how Critch is now? That’s how I used to be. A man can change, and I sure plan to give Critch that chance.”

  “You may have been through a dark time once, but we must all admit that Critch has spent more of his career as a pirate than as a war hero,” Seda said.

  Reyne scowled. “You say that while you’re sitting around Critch’s table in Critch’s office and drinking his whiskey.”

  Seda pursed his lips. “If we try to intervene, then we could risk our proposals. Are you saying you’re willing to risk ten billion credits for the life of one man?”

  Reyne stood. “Absolutely, unequivocally, emphatically yes. He’s saved all our lives here, mine on more than one occasion. There’s no way we can leave him to die.”

  “I agree,” Joe said. “I will be hung in the streets of Rebus Station if the colonists there learn that I could’ve saved Drake Fender and instead sold my soul to the devil.”

  “Colonists will never know that we even aware of Critch’s imprisonment prior to his execution,” Seda said.

  “Bullshit,” Reyne said. “Colonists are smart; they’ll figure it out, and then we’ll be in deep shit. I’m not saying Critch hasn’t crossed lines here and there, but haven’t we all in the name of independence? I just know that Joe’s right. If we allow Critch to be publicly executed, then we’ll be next. The solution’s easy. Anders brought us the trade proposal, and An
ders is the one planning to execute Critch. I say we accept the proposal under the constraint that Marshal Drake Fender is returned to us, unharmed.”

  “Unfortunately, Barrett has already made it clear that he is unwilling to stay Critch’s execution. I contacted him as soon as I learned of Critch’s situation, and Barrett was quite adamant. It seems he believes Critch is a continued threat to the Collective’s well-being.”

  “I bet Anders gets more flexible when he has no supplies from the Alliance for his colony ships,” Reyne said. “Listen, I don’t agree with Critch all the time. Hell, we rarely agree on anything. But the fact remains that Critch—Drake Fender—has dedicated his life to the colonies. To the colonists, he’s the personification of the torrent ideal. If we side with the man who’s kidnapped and going to kill him, we will lose the complete support of the colonists. Those billions of credits filling our pockets won’t do anything to help the economy when we’re at civil war with ourselves.”

  Hatha sighed. “You overestimate his worth. I believe it’s in the best interest of the Alliance to allow the execution to proceed without intervention.”

  “I like Critch, I really do,” Margerite said. “But I’m with Hatha. He’s just one man, while the credits can benefit thousands of people.”

  “Anders doesn’t get anything from Playa,” Reyne said. “Not without Critch.”

  Seda narrowed his gaze at Reyne. “The proposal is for all four colonies. We’re not omitting one because you disagree with something taking place outside the proposal.”

  Reyne shot him a hard look. “Oh yeah? Then how are you getting Playa’s resources?”

  “I am president,” Seda said. “The needs of the Alliance must outweigh the willful segregation of a single colony.”

  “President? You’re starting to sound more like a dictator to me.”

  “You know everything I’ve done is to benefit the colonies,” Seda said. “We’ve fought together. We want the same thing. But our hands are tied. I only told you all about Critch because I wanted you to hear it from me before you saw it on the news.”

  Reyne watched him for a moment and headed toward the door.

  “Reyne,” Seda called out. “Give me your word that you won’t try to do something stupid.”

  “You have my word,” he said and walked out of the meeting room. He wasn’t going to do something stupid. He was going to do something heroic and incredibly crazy.

  He tapped his wrist comm to call his crew to him, and he found them waiting for him at the Uneven Bar.

  “Anders is going to execute Critch,” Reyne said bluntly. “Now, you don’t have to go with me—”

  “I’m in,” Sixx, Boden, and Bree said at the same time.

  Reyne held up a hand and looked from Sixx to Bree. “What about Lily? She can’t come on this mission.”

  “Layla will watch her,” Bree said.

  “I hate to say this, but what if something happens to both of you out there?”

  Sixx and Bree looked at each other as though having a conversation no one else could hear.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Bree said quietly.

  Reyne gave an understanding nod. “Okay.”

  “Reyne, wait.”

  He turned to see Hari approach.

  Reyne scowled. “What? Did Seda send you to make sure I behave?”

  “Quite the opposite in fact,” she said. “Whatever you’re planning, I’m in.”

  He watched her dubiously. Hari had always sided with Seda. That she’d sacrifice years of friendship made him suspicious, but then again, the Hari he knew had always been a straight shooter, so maybe she’d come on her own volition.

  “All right. You’re in,” Reyne said.

  “All the specters will be on board, I’d bet,” Sixx said.

  Reyne nodded. “Once we figure out where Critch is—”

  “He’s on the Littorio,” Hari said. “His tracker is still online, and I have it programmed into my wrist comm.”

  “Okay.” Reyne took in a deep breath. “Here’s what we’re going to do…”

  Seventeen

  A Bid Farewell

  CUF Armada, outside Myr

  “We can’t leave yet. My wife hasn’t arrived.”

  Corps General Barrett Anders turned to face the owner of AlluMyr, the Collective’s largest interplanetary transport company.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Traveres, but you’ve had a year to coordinate. Unless she arrives within the hour, it’s up to her to book a flight to meet up with us in the Alliance sector. You clearly have a transport ship capable of delivering her to our rendezvous coordinates.” Anders turned away, only to have his arm grabbed.

  “Wait a minute, General,” Traveres said. “I’ve sunk every credit to my name into this trip. The least you can do is wait for Lenda.”

  Anders grew tired of catering to his wealthiest passengers. Each one seemed to think they deserved special treatment for contributions to the mission. “We are all thankful for your support, Mr. Traveres. However, you are not the only citizen to support our cause, and it’s not fair to jeopardize the entire mission—and the lives of everyone on board these ships—by waiting one more hour for your wife. As I said before, if she doesn’t make it before we leave the Collective, then it’s up to her to make it to the Alliance. Though, if she’s not on board now, I wonder how much she really wants to go on this trip.”

  “Lenda wants to go,” he snapped. “But she doesn’t want to leave her parents behind. She’s been trying to talk them into coming. She said she’ll be here within two hours.”

  Anders clenched his jaw. “We’ve talked about this. This trip will take years if not decades. The last thing anyone wants on this ship is a passenger who doesn’t want to be here. And she has one hour, not two.”

  He walked away from the businessman and hustled to the bridge. More people tried to stop and talk to him on the way, but he ignored them. They would have plenty of time to talk after they left the Collective.

  When he reached the bridge, he locked the door behind him to keep out the civilians. He looked over his bridge crew before settling his gaze on his second-in-command. “Tully, how are we looking?”

  The comm tech spun his chair to face Anders. “Commandants Smith and Lyness have reported in from their warships. Each of their complements is ready to jump at your command. However, the CUF armada is blocking our flight path. We still need to bypass them before we jump.”

  Anders nodded. “We won’t know how they’ll respond until we move, but you’d better advise our fleet that they have full authority to fire at any CUF ship that fires first.”

  He took a seat and scanned his comm panel to see the status of the seventeen ships—nearly a third of what had been the CUF armada—that composed the Collective Exploratory Forces: three warships, four frigates, and eleven destroyers, along with several dozen gunships and transports held within the larger ships’ bays. Twenty civilian transports were also accompanying the fleet. The number was higher than Anders had ever dreamed. When he’d first proposed colonization to the Founders, he’d never expected nearly the entire organization to volunteer to jump on board.

  Through the Founders, he’d gained access to the Collective’s wealthiest citizens and their resources. While he had some concerns that they were taking too much from the Collective, he knew that what he was doing was best for its long-term viability.

  Confident that the colony fleet was ready, Anders tapped his comm channel and placed a call.

  Seda Faulk’s face appeared on screen. “Corps General, may I assume things are on track?”

  Anders nodded. “Yes. We move in thirty-six minutes and should arrive at the planned coordinates within six days. Will the colonies be ready to begin transferring the supplies by then?”

  “Yes, and we’ll have Alliance Marines in place to help protect your ships while you’re in our sectors. However, two stationmasters have strongly voiced their opinions about you holding Marshal Drake Fender in your cells—the
y would like to withhold supplies until you release him.”

  “As we’ve already discussed, that is not happening. The war is over, but Drake Fender is not the type who’d care. No citizen is safe from him as long as he’s alive.”

  “And, as I’ve already told you, Fender is a friend, and I don’t stand with you on this. Should you execute him before the supplies are transferred, expect delays. Some delays could be significant. I caution you, if you execute him, you will complicate things.”

  Anders thought for a length. He knew the political quagmire he’d stepped into by arresting Fender, but he firmly believed that he could save hundreds, if not thousands, more lives by taking the pirate out of the picture. “Make no mistake, I will execute Drake Fender for his war crimes, but I can hold him until after our business is conducted and the colony ships depart all Alliance sectors. That way, justice is done while not prickling patriotic emotions. Do you believe that will suffice?”

  “It’s acceptable,” Seda said. “I’ll see you in six days.”

  “See you then.”

  The call disconnected.

  Anders had no doubt that Seda was trying to control him. Seda was a politician and knew that compromises were a part of every step of progress, yet he was running the Alliance like a business, trying to bypass any compromises to get every deal in his favor. Seda had taken advantage of Anders’s time constraints and seen to it that the colonies were overly compensated for their supplies. That Seda was also trying to steer Anders in how justice would be carried out frustrated him. If Anders remained in the CUF as Corps General, he’d seriously consider going after every torrent leader, including Seda Faulk and Aramis Reyne. The only reason he hadn’t sent Ranger after them already was because they seemed to be following the laws. He was starting to reconsider that decision.

  He sent an encrypted message to Ranger to meet at the rendezvous coordinates. It never hurt having an ace up one’s sleeve.

  “Sir, we’re at the ten-minute countdown,” Tully announced. “Do you have any announcements to the fleet?”