by Robert Boren
“Did the four eject?” JJ asked.
“No,” Klemperer said, his voice wavering. “Good men.”
“Wow,” Nolan said. “Clan Razors over Oollanders just went dead in the water. Sensors aren’t showing any reactor or drive activity.”
We watched. The emergency lights were on in the bay, which was littered by exploded humans.
“Who’s gonna clean that up?” Skip quipped.
Sondra shook her head. “This isn’t funny.”
“They can’t get out,” I said. “We can see the bay doors. They’re locked up tight. How soon will they self-destruct?”
“We have neutralized all the other Razor ships,” Nolan said. “These worlds have a lot of debris in orbit, and it’ll be falling to the surface sooner rather than later.”
“Maybe we should keep one flight suit on each Razor to blow it up,” I said. “Smaller pieces coming down that way.”
We watched video as the flight suits turned towards the bay door on the Razor.
All the flight suits opened fire with their rail guns.
“That’s a tough door,” Skip said, getting closer to the screen. “No, they’re cracking. Look there, along the top.”
“That door’s breaking up all right,” JJ said. Suddenly the inside of the bay swirled with debris as the vacuum was broken, the flight suits flying out in an instant.
“It’ll also hide our tracks,” Vermillion said.
We watched from the video drone as the first Razor exploded, the flash blinding.
“What?” I asked.
{ 19 }
The Admiral
O ur mission was complete, the flight suits and fighters jumping back to our position, as Butch told us there were Clan Razors heading for Earth.
“Only Earth?” I asked.
“We should go contact Simone and Bryce,” I said.
Vermillion nodded. “Let’s go to my office.”
“Sondra, you have the bridge. Keep scanning. I want to know if anybody follows our flight suits or fighters home.”
“Yes sir,” she said.
We left the bridge.
We grabbed a tin can to Vermillion’s office, then went to the small conference room.
“I’ll get Simone and Bryce on the line,” Vermillion said.
“Simone might already be jumping towards Earth,” JJ said.
“That’s why I wanted to hurry,” Vermillion said, sending out the pages. Simone’s face showed up on the screen, Bryce coming on a moment later.
“I was expecting a call,” Simone said. “I assume that was you?”
“Yes, it was us,” Vermillion said.
Bryce chuckled. “Knew it. Boeraton is gonna go nuts. Can’t wait.”
“Why would the Admiral have a problem with an attack on the Clan?” Simone asked.
“That’s a good question,” Bryce said. “He asked me to warn Trey against it.”
“He’s probably dirty,” Nolan said.
“Or scared,” Simone said. “I don’t suppose you can tell us how you did this with only one battleship?”
“Four hundred Mark V fighters and a new secret weapon,” Vermillion said.
Simone’s eyebrows raised. “I thought the Mark IV was the top-of-the-line.”
“Mark V fighters are still under development. We were at some risk using them. Didn’t think we had a choice, because troop transports were being populated at all four locations we hit.”
Simone’s brow furrowed. “They were getting ready to invade. Good thing we got rid of the bugs. We’re moving to a new location as soon as this call is over.”
“We’d better do the same,” Bryce said.
“I’d suggest that,” Nolan said.
“Obviously the Mark V fighters can jump,” Bryce said. “No other way to do a four-theater attack without it, unless you have four battleships.”
“Yes, they can jump, and they have advanced weapons and shields,” Vermillion said. “They’ve also got Nolan’s drive modules, which makes them very stealthy.”
“We lost four of those fighters,” I said. “The Clan has some strength in that area, and we know their fighters can also jump.”
“How do you know that?” Simone asked.
“We engaged them earlier, when they followed their bugs to our position. After we destroyed their Razor ships, the fighters jumped away.”
Simone’s expression showed near panic. “The fighters they sold us for our Razors can’t jump. They’re good in a dog fight, though. They’ll do well against Mark IV fighters. You still have those, I assume?”
“Guarding our bases, mostly,” Vermillion said. “You know we’ve got Clan Razors converging on Earth, correct?”
“What?” Bryce asked. “Dammit.”
“We’re still working on the scan technology you shared with us,” Simone said. “It’s quite complicated. When will the Clan Razors arrive at Earth?”
“The first batch will be there in just over four hours,” I said.
“First batch?” Bryce asked. “How many are there?”
“We see eight total, coming from several locations,” I said.
“How many Clan Razors did you take out in that last action?” Bryce asked.
“Twenty,” Vermillion said. “Plus eight troop transports and four ground troop bases.”
“Bases too?” Simone asked. “The fighters?”
“The new weapons,” Vermillion said. “When we get together I’ll share more about our capabilities.”
“What are you going to do about Earth?” Bryce asked. “Should we all get over there to attack?”
“Earth has strong defenses,” JJ said.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to reveal what we have on Earth yet,” I said. “It’ll put a huge target on Earth, and we’ve only destroyed a third of the Clan ships in the Central Authority Zone.”
se the New Jersey against eight Razors?
“Something wrong, Captain Clarke?” Simone asked.
“No, sorry, just working out a strategy in my head.”
“You’re thinking of taking the New Jersey to Earth,” Nolan said. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
“It might be. The fighters will have enough charge left after they get back here for another engagement, and we’ve got plenty of the other weapons, plus the guns and cloaking capability of the New Jersey.”
“Earth can use their railguns without tipping their hand on the other weapons,” JJ said.
“What other weapons?” Simone asked. “Oh, never mind, you aren’t going to say, and I wouldn’t either. At least not yet.”
“Maybe we ought to let the Admiral handle it,” Bryce quipped. “Kidding.”
I shook my head. “You haven’t changed much. I don’t want you putting your Razor ships at risk unless you’ve gotten the bugs removed and the weaknesses fixed.”
“Plus you might shoot at us if we show up,” Bryce said.
“We can tell your Razors apart from the Clan Razors,” Nolan said.
“Yes, that’s obvious,” Simone said. “Since we have to jump away from here anyway, we’ll jump towards Earth and hang out, in case we’re needed.”
“Not a bad idea,” I said, “but be careful. This is just the beginning, and it won’t be an easy war. The Clan may have hundreds of Razor ships sitting in their zone, ready to jump here. We need every battleship we’ve got. We shouldn’t use them until their ready.”
“I’ll talk to the other captains,” Bryce said. “We’ll want to jump away too, provided we’ve gotten rid of the bugs.”
“You’re thinking again,” Simone said, her eyebrows raised.
“Sorry, that was a message from the bridge. The Clan Razors are no longer headed for Earth.”
“Well, that’s good,” Simone said.
“They’re headed for the Hodge system.”
Simone couldn’t hide her alarm. “I’ve got to go.”
She disappeared from the screen.
“Uh oh, that’s where Simone is, huh?”
“Probably, and you’d better move quickly too, if you’ve got the bugs neutralized,” Vermillion said. “They’ll get to you in a hurry, especially if Simone makes her escape.”
“Got it,” Bryce said. “Talk to you soon.” His face left the screen.
“AIs, on speaker please,” I said.
“If you don’t see anything I’ll be worried,” JJ said.
Nolan nodded in agreement. “It’ll mean they didn’t get their bugs taken care of, or worse.”
“Any other movement of Clan Razors, Butch?” I asked
“Maybe we should go to the Hodge system and give them a welcome,” Nolan said.
“We’re not doing that,” Vermillion said, “but let’s watch carefully. We’ll learn about the Clan and Simone from this situation.”
“If they get there and can’t find Simone, they’re liable to go back towards Earth,” Nolan said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” JJ said.
“Should we move the New Jersey into Earth’s orbit and wait?” Nolan asked.
I shook my head. “No, I want to go back to the spot in Earth’s solar system where we picked up the flight suits. We’ll wait there and see what happens.”
Vermillion got up to pace. “I’m fine with that, but we can’t put the New Jersey in direct danger. Understand?”
“Yes sir. Butch, when will our fighters be back here?”
“All right, then we should break this up and get back to the bridge. AIs, keep the scans running. If more Clan Razors show up, I want to know about it the second you see them.”
All of us except Chairman Vermillion went back to the bridge. Skip and Sondra looked relieved to see us.
“What are we gonna do?” Skip asked. “Zeke said the Clan ships aren’t going to Earth after all.”
“They changed course, heading for Simone’s hiding place,” I said.
“Crap,” Sondra said.
“Don’t worry, Simone’s forces have already left the area.”
“The Clan ships will go back to Earth,” Skip said, his brow furrowed.
“Maybe. We’re going to Earth’s outer solar system to wait, after we pick up our forces.”
Commander Klemperer came on the bridge. “That went like clockwork,” he said, expecting all of us to be happy. “All right, what happened?”
I filled him in. He sat down in an observer’s chair. “Our fighters will still have plenty of juice left when they get back here, you know.”
“We’re going to play this by ear,” I said. “If the Clan doesn’t make a move on Earth after they realize they can’t track Simone, we’re going back to Amberis. I want to get that other mission started. We need the Clan to know they aren’t safe in their own zone if they mess with us.”
“Route it to the conference room off the bridge,” I said. “Nolan and JJ, join me please. I suspect Bryce won’t be alone on this call, so watch what you say.”
“Yes sir,” Nolan said.
We left the bridge, taking seats inside the big conference room, the active seats sculpting themselves to us.
“Love this room,” JJ said.
We watched as the screen turned on. The craggy old face of Admiral Boeraton appeared, flanked by Bryce on the left and Stuart Cain on the right.
“Hello,” I said. “You all know Nolan and JJ Ostermann, right?”
Boeraton eyed me. “Who gave you permission to make that attack?”
Bryce rolled his eyes, Boeraton turning to him. “I can see you doing that in our monitor, you know. I’ll relieve you of command.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” I said. “I gave myself permission to make that attack, acting as Admiral of all Samson Corporation Forces.”
“You have no power in the Central Authority Zone, Captain Clarke,” Boeraton replied, his eyes on fire. “You don’t know what you’ve done. The Prime Minister was working a peace deal with Clan leadership.”
“Was that before or after he kidnapped Chairman Vermillion, I wonder?”
“I won’t stand for your insubordination,” he snapped.
“Shut that old moron up, or this call is over,” I said.
“How dare you?”
Both Bryce and Stuart looked at him.
“Leave,” Stuart said. “You’re being relieved of command as of now.”
“I’ll have you shot,” Boeraton said.
“Let’s just shove this old fossil out the airlock,” Bryce said. “We don’t need to pretend he’s in command anymore.”
“What?” Boeraton said.
Stuart spoke into his PA. “Security, come get Boeraton please. Put him in the brig. If he misbehaves, stun him.”
“I prefer th
e airlock,” Bryce said.
“I’ll see you both executed,” Boeraton said as two men came in, pulling him out of his chair and wrestling him out of the room.
“This might mess with our supply chain,” Cain said.
“He’s a bigger problem than lack of his resources,” Bryce said. “Captain Cain is the leader of the Razor fleet, Captain Clarke.”
“Good,” I said, “and nice to see you, Stuart. It’s been too long. Sorry I had to get harsh with your Admiral.”
Stuart laughed, pushing his shaggy black hair back. He was a middle-aged man, larger and a little younger than Bryce. “I know Bryce filled you in on our situation with the Admiral. He’s lucky to be alive after what he did.”
“Does he really think the Prime Minister had a peace deal with the Clan?”
“He was using that as an excuse to hold onto his command,” Bryce said.
Stuart nodded. “We think the Prime Minister is under house arrest, or dead. He’s certainly not in control of Devonia Axxiom or the Central Authority Zone.”
“Sounds like you’re a little uncertain about the situation, though,” JJ said.
Stuart sighed. “It is hard to tell. The local governments of most Central Authority worlds have been in outright rebellion for a while. It was obvious to everybody that the state-run media lied about Simone’s attempted coup. She was beaten back by Clan forces, not Central Authority Forces, although she didn’t know it at the time.”
“Hell, we didn’t know it at the time,” Bryce said.
Stuart shrugged. “I was suspicious. You’re going to ally with her, I hope. She’s not a problem. She did everything she could to stop this situation.”
“We’re still being very careful with Simone,” I said. “The Prime Minister put her at the head of security forces, and while she was in that position, she tried to capture and imprison us.”
Nolan chuckled. “She even said we’d be getting the death penalty.”
“That was probably said to help her stay in the security job,” Stuart said. “After Prime Minister Aeon figured out she wasn’t going to be pliable, he tried to push her out. Finally got it done, hence the attempted coup.”
“We should catch up on this later,” I said. “We’ve got our away teams coming back soon, and I want to be on the bridge for that. Have you found the Clan bugs in your ships?”