Where We Go One, We Go All

by Robert Boren

  The Clarke

  Chronicles

  Book 4

  Where We Go One,

  We Go All

  Robert Boren

  South Bay Press

  Copyright © 2019 by Robert Boren.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout ©2017 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/Acapellabookcoverdesign

  The Clarke Chronicles Book 4/ Robert Boren. -- 1st ed.

  For Gwen B

  “All of us are not always smarter than one of us, leaders need to distinguish between the wisdom of crowds and the madness of crowds.”

  ―Paul Gibbons

  Contents

  Rabid Prisoners

  Adrenal Implants

  Variant Three Nanos

  Attack or Not?

  Propaganda?

  Rebel Summit

  Mission Jitters

  Departure

  Biologicals

  Scans

  Zone Map

  Nano Mods

  Old Friends

  Grand Deception

  Battle Preparations

  Timing

  Surprise Attack

  Deployment

  The Admiral

  Light Bombers

  Data Link

  Traitors

  Alliance

  About the Author

  Other books by Robert Boren

  { 1 }

  Rabid Prisoners

  T he Zephyrus and Tristar were in jumps, heading back towards Amberis after the rescue operation on Devonia Axxiom. I was in sick bay at Chairman Vermillion’s bedside. JJ had just entered, telling us that Earth was under attack.

  “You talked to Drake?” I asked.

  JJ nodded. “He wants to chat with you as soon as you’re free.”

  “Nothing much I can do here. I’ll go back now. Call me right away if there’s any problem with the Chairman, Doctor Hazelton.”

  “Yes sir,” she said.

  JJ and I raced to my stateroom, closing and locking the door behind us. I sat in the chair and tapped the pad under the arm. The frame displayed. A smooth robotic face showed, of flesh-colored plastic.

  “Is that what you look like?” I asked.

  Yes. Figured you might as well know.

  “Who’s attacking Earth?”

  The Overlords are in orbit, but they’re having big problems. They’ll flee any second.

  “What are we hitting them with?”

  Terrestrial railguns we’ve activated all around the globe. We took their lead.

  “Took their lead how?” JJ asked.

  We’re firing depleted uranium rounds at them. Oh, three just jumped away, one of them damaged in a bad spot. This is strange. They aren’t attacking.

  “We should tell Nolan to track them,” I said.

  Dojo is already on that. The damaged ship came apart in the jump.

  “Simone wasn’t deposed as we all thought, then?” JJ asked.

  I can’t tell you if that’s true or not.

  “It’s classified?” I asked.

  No. Sorry, but I don’t know.

  “We’re in trouble,” JJ said.

  It doesn’t matter much either way at this point. If the Central Authority was in on the kidnapping of our Chairman, we are now truly an outlaw entity, taking on the biggest power in this third of the Universe. If they weren’t in on it, the principles at the summit are either in custody or dead, because none of them mentioned that Chairman Vermillion had stopped attending the meetings.

  “Dammit,” I said, my mind reeling through the possibilities. “Should we go help Earth?”

  The rest of the Overlord ships have left orbit. Dojo’s on them, but he’ll lose them soon, since we can only track them in a jump.

  “How much damage did they do on Earth?” JJ asked.

  None, from the reports I’ve gotten. They didn’t even try to hit our two remaining facilities, so I don’t think they know about them.

  I left the scan program running on the New Jersey. It’s likely we’ve recorded where they jumped from. They didn’t have enough time to do a long impulse cruise, either. We’ll know what vicinity they were, even if we don’t know the exact planet.

  “Can you view that from here?” I asked.

  Not during the jump, no. We shouldn’t be attacking those Razor ships with the Tristar and Zephyrus anyway. Not without the New Jersey close by.

  I nodded. “That’s right. If we’re going to fight with that intensity, we need to be close enough for the New Jersey’s tractor beam to pull us in.”

  Yep.

  “So what now?” JJ asked. “Do we go back to the New Jersey and wait?”

  Don’t get ahead of yourselves. First things first. The Chairman ought to be lucid again within the hour. We need to find out what happened. He might know who the bad actors on Devonia Axxiom were. We’ll chat after that.

  “Simone was fought to a defeat on Devonia Axxiom,” I said. “This isn’t making sense to me.”

  He’s gone already.

  I chuckled. “Whenever he says something like we’ll chat I need to understand he’s done.”

  “Maybe we should go to the bridge,” JJ said. “They’re worried, and they don’t know that the attack on Earth didn’t work.”

  I nodded, and we left the stateroom, on the bridge in minutes.

  “There you are,” Izzy said. “Are we going to Earth?”

  “Drake was watching. I just got off a call with him on the holographic communicator. The terrestrial rail guns did their job. Destroyed one Razor and chased the rest away. Where’s Nolan?”

  “Sick bay, checking on the Chairman. He said one of the principles should be there all the time.”

  “He’s right,” JJ said.

  “We’ll go in a minute. Anything else happening?”

  “Smooth sailing,” Tim said. “I’m relieved. I figured we’d be taking on Razor ships with this freighter. Not the best idea, even with its new capabilities.”

  “You’re right about that,” I said. “See you in a little while.”

  JJ and I left the bridge, getting to sick bay in a few minutes.

  “Sometimes the lack of distance on this little ship is nice,” JJ said. “No need to line up for the tin can, for instance.”

  I nodded as we entered the room. Nolan was sitting on a chair next to the bed, Vermillion still asleep.

  “Good, Captain, you came back. Dojo told me what happened on Earth.”

  “Is he still tracking them?” I asked, pulling up chairs for JJ and me.

  “He is, but as soon as they drop out of the jump we’ll lose them.”

  “Butch has scans running on the New Jersey. Hopefully we got a good recording of their trip to Earth. They didn’t have enough time for a long impulse cruise before they jumped.”

  “As
suming the attack on Earth was a reaction to our rescue operation and the detonation of the Samson Corporation Office,” Nolan said. “I wish we wouldn’t have done that.”

  “Me too,” JJ said.

  Vermillion stirred, eyes fluttering open. A smile washed over his face as he saw us. “It worked.”

  “The operation?” Nolan asked. “Yes, it did.”

  “No, those coma Nanos,” Vermillion said softly. “I was skeptical.”

  “How’d they knock you out?” I asked. “Do you remember?”

  He sat up, using his PA to raise the top half of the bed so he could sit upright. “Must have been something they put in my food. The last thing I remember is eating lunch. It’s possible I wasn’t the only target. We were eating off a buffet.”

  “So others might have been knocked out too,” Nolan said.

  Vermillion nodded, looking stronger by the second. “Very possible. I take it those flight tubes and the Nano suits worked well?”

  “Who told you we used the flight suits?” I asked.

  “That’s the only way you could’ve pulled off the operation. Landing the Zephyrus and the Tristar on the surface of Devonia Axxiom wouldn’t have worked.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right about that. The flight suits were hard enough. We had to fight our way in and fight our way out.”

  “Did we lose anybody, Captain?” Vermillion asked.

  “Nope. Nobody even got injured.”

  “Good. Anything happen afterwards?”

  I glanced at Nolan and JJ. “Earth got attacked.”

  Vermillion’s brow furrowed. “Who?”

  “Simone’s Razor ships,” I said. “Earth used the terrestrial rail guns you mentioned a while back. Damaged one bad enough that it failed during the jump. The rest got away.”

  Vermillion smiled. “Your AI was running that scan on the New Jersey. Please tell me it’s still running.”

  “It is, but we can’t access it until we get back. It’s running on my token.”

  “Dojo is still tracking them, of course,” Nolan said, “but now they’ve got time for a longer impulse cruise, and we’ll lose them.”

  “I feel pretty good,” Vermillion said. “How long till I can get out of here, Doctor?”

  Doctor Hazelton got up and approached, looking at the machines hooked up to him. “Give yourself a couple more hours. You’re still a fall risk.”

  “I could wheel the holographic communicator in here, you know.”

  Vermillion thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “I want to speak freely with Drake. I’ll wait. We’ll be in this jump for a while anyway, won’t we?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Are you hungry, Mr. Chairman?” Doctor Hazelton asked. “I can get some food brought in.”

  “Sure, I could eat. Good way to kill time, too.”

  She nodded, getting up to leave the room.

  “You should get back to the bridge,” Vermillion said.

  “Yes, that’s what I’m thinking,” I said. “The crew is nervous.”

  “I’ll go back up with you,” Nolan said, “if that’s okay. Somebody should still stay here, though. A principle with a Nano suit on.”

  “I’ll stick around,” JJ said.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Vermillion said.

  I shook my head. “We’ve got prisoners in the brig, and we don’t know anything about them. I’m going by there on the way to the bridge.”

  “Do that,” JJ said. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on things here. I’ve got military experience now.”

  “That you do. See you soon. Take it easy, Mr. Chairman.”

  “I will,” he said. “Thanks for the rescue.”

  I nodded, getting up to leave, Nolan following me.

  “He looks okay,” Nolan said.

  “So far. Want to stop by the brig with me?”

  “Sure, might as well,” Nolan said. It was down the hall about forty meters.

  “Hello, Captain Clarke,” said the man guarding the door. “Haven’t heard much out of them. You here to check?”

  “Yes.”

  “Follow me,” he said, going through the door, then holding it as we walked through, closing and locking it behind us. We walked down the short corridor towards a door with a window, looking inside. There were four cells, each of them holding a prisoner.

  “Let’s go in,” I said. The guard nodded, using his PA to unlock the door. We pushed it open.

  The man on the left end cell sat up and eyed me. He had military-style short black hair and a clean-shaven face.

  “You’re him.”

  “Him?”

  “The traitor Captain Trey Clarke. Soon to be the late Captain Trey Clarke.”

  I chuckled. “And who might you be?”

  “Don’t talk to him, Renner,” said the man in the cell next to him. “I’ve heard things.”

  “Good job using my name, you moron.”

  “Renner, huh? Who are you with, Renner?”

  The man in the far-right cell snickered. “Go ahead and tell him. He’ll get scared.”

  I walked over to his cell. “Who are you?”

  “Frakes,” he said. “Hope I get to twist your neck and snap it like a twig.”

  Nolan laughed. “Wonder where Simone came up with these losers?”

  All four of the men got on their feet in an instant, trying their bars.

  “I think you struck a nerve,” I said. “I know working for a stupid maniac like Simone is a drag, but give it a rest.”

  The men’s eyes changed as the words left my lips. They were snarling at us like wild animals, drool coming from the corners of their mouths.

  “There’s something un-natural about this,” Nolan said. “It’s like they have rabies.”

  “Small wonder,” I said. “Simone is kind of a dog. A real bitch.”

  “I’ll kill you!” Renner shouted, trying to break through the bars with all of his might, the others joining in.

  “Oh, cram it, Junior,” I said, releasing Variant Two Nanos, the men dropping to the floor unconscious.

  “Whoa,” the guard said.

  “Well, that’ll hold them for fifteen minutes or so,” I said. “Let’s stick around. I want to know if they’re still switched on when they wake up.”

  “Simone has cooked up some kind of mind-control,” Nolan said. “That’s pretty obvious.”

  The guard shook his head. “They were calm until you guys talked about Simone like that. Weird.”

  “Know of any mind-control protocols that would do this, Nolan?”

  “Not that I can remember. Their adrenalin ramped up fast. They’re probably stronger than normal when they’re up like that.”

  “I’ve heard of this,” the guard said.

  I looked at him. “What’s your name?”

  “Haney, sir. Ensign Josh Haney.”

  “Where did you hear of this, Haney?” I asked.

  “My cousin was on Devonia Axxiom when the Overlords tried to take the capitol. Word was that they fought like maniacs. They were way outnumbered, so the Central Authority forces defeated them, but it was a tougher battle than anybody expected. Oh, and some of them just vapor locked. Went crazy like that for a while but then crashed and slept.”

  “Well, if you run that hyped up for long you’ll run out of gas,” I said.

  “I’ll have Dojo research this,” Nolan said.

  On it, but while we’re in the jump I’m stuck with the puny data banks on this ship.

  You can get started, at least.

  Yeah, it’s worth it. Butch, are these cells strong enough to hold them?

  Yes, that’s not a problem. They’re stronger than they’d be normally, but it’s nothing compared to our strength enhancement.

  We leaned against the wall, waiting for the prisoners to wake up again. It took just over fourteen minutes for the first one to stir. It was Frakes, who was larger than the others. He was sitting
up as the others were stirring.

  “What happened?” he asked, a bewildered look on his face.

  “You guys got out of control, so we stunned you,” I said. “Sorry.”

  Frakes smiled. “Oh, I remember now. You touched off the programming. Good thing you had us locked up.”

  Nolan snickered. “Yeah, good thing for you.”

  I shot Nolan a shut-up glance, and looked back at Frakes, who was focused on Renner now.

  “Oh, he’s the boss, huh?” I asked, looking at Frakes but nodding towards Renner.

  “Don’t tell this guy anything, and feel around for darts,” Renner said, standing up to look at his legs.

  “You won’t find anything,” I said.

  “Well it can’t be gas, because I don’t see any masks.”

  The smallest of the four, who was silent up to now, came to the front of his cell and looked at me intensely. “They’ve got some kind of suits on, Renner, and they’ve got capabilities beyond armor. Remember when they broke through the door? We reinforced it beyond what anybody human could break through, even with a battering ram.”

  “Now you’re getting smart,” I said.

  His stare turned icy. “That wasn’t a compliment, rebel.”

  Nolan laughed. “Rebel? If they only knew.”

  “They probably got that capability from the Clan,” Frakes said. “We’ll settle them too.”

  I shook my head. “We’re not allied with the Clan. You’re buying Simone’s propaganda. Don’t be that stupid.”

  “Watch what you say about her,” Renner warned, moving towards the front of his cell, menace in his eyes.

  “We’ll take it under advisement. C’mon, Nolan. We’ve wasted enough time with these cretins.”

  “Scared?” Frakes asked. “You better be.”

  I turned around, starting at him. “You guys had better sit quietly and behave, because if you don’t, we’ll stun you again when we’re out of this jump. Guess what happens then?”

  Frakes stared back at me, trying to look strong, but his expression betrayed him.

  “I think he gets it, Captain. Ready when you are.”

  We walked out the door, Haney locking it after us. “Sir, we should get rid of them at the first opportunity.”