Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame (13 page)

The room exploded into uproar. Winter took a step back and waited; she had been expecting this, of course.

‘I think they’re actually taking it better than I thought they would,’ she said to Aneka.

‘Well, no one’s tried to shoot you.’

‘Exactly.’ She stepped forward. ‘Representative Usher?’

The woman looked a little surprised that Winter knew her name. ‘We are at war with the Herosians. You can’t expect us to calmly accept that they’re going to learn stratospherically high technology from you which they can use on us?’

‘All students and their respective governments will be required to sign an agreement. Knowledge of some technologies will be off limits. Use of high-technology weaponry will be strictly prohibited. Anyone breaking their agreement will be subject to sanctions…’

‘What? You’ll kick their students out? It’ll be too–’

‘No, we’ll destroy ten per cent of their star systems,’ Winter stated flatly. ‘Not the worlds, the entire systems. There will be nothing left but a stellar remnant. Do you consider that a sufficient sanction, Representative?’

Usher sat down as silence fell over the room. Winter looked around the chamber once before continuing, and very few of the people there met her eyes.

‘Make no mistake, we are not taking this lightly. We
will
have peace if we are going to allow you access to our facilities. We were responsible for the disabling of the Herosian communications system and the destruction of their Xinti-derived technology. The woman standing behind me delivered the virus we used to do it. If you wish to fight the Herosians, who are currently at a severe disadvantage, we will shut down that virus and re-enable their tachyon network. And then we will step back and watch you destroy each other. I built the Jenlay up to be the best Humanity could be. Please, don’t make me think I should have let you die in the dark.’

She turned quickly and started down the steps toward one of the exits. Aneka followed, unsure whether she had seen on the synthetic woman’s face the look of anguish she thought she had seen before Winter had managed to control herself. Her sibling, Summer, had been driven to insanity by the behaviour of the Herosians, whom he had been built to uplift. Was Winter worrying that the Jenlay might deliver her the same fate?

‘There’s still Old Earth if this lot decide to be idiots,’ Aneka said when they were out of the room.

‘Yes,’ Winter said softly. ‘The ones I neglected seem to have turned out better than the ones I nurtured.’

‘I don’t believe that. They can be turned around. We just need to find out who’s pushing their buttons.’

Winter nodded. ‘
When
they reject our offer, and they will initially, I’d like you to stay here with Gwy to assist Elaine.’

‘Ella is going to want to stay too.’

‘She’s proven more than capable. I suspect that Cassandra will ask to remain with you. I suggest you agree. She has capabilities regarding computer systems which are easily a match for Al’s.’

‘She does,’ Al commented, sounding quite proud.

‘It’s not like she uses up resources. Neither do I for that matter. All right. When do you think they’ll say something?’

‘They’ll wait for the rest of the fleet to return. They’ll want news of all the badly wounded refugees to reach the public before they make their plans known.’

‘Plans?’

‘Yes. I don’t know what they are, though I could guess. I’m just absolutely sure that they already have them.’

Tristar Township, 26.9.530 FSC.

‘Aggy, what do we have?’ Aneka asked as the golden-skinned avatar appeared on the wall screen.

‘My sensors have detected a number of ships exiting warp over the last few hours,’ Aggy replied. ‘All have been directed by New Earth Control to Corax. The Old Earth ships have been delivering their patients to the orbital hospital and then moving here, though Control has seemed reluctant to give them clearance. There is large-scale use of radio jamming around Corax which is making detection difficult. Communication is impossible currently.’

‘The Navy issued a statement saying the incoming ships were to be isolated for security reasons.’

‘I find that… unlikely,’ Aggy replied.

‘Have you seen the Admiral Banfry?’ Gillian asked.

‘The Banfry arrived forty-nine minutes ago. It is now in orbit over Corax.’

‘I’d really like to know that Dad’s okay,’ Monkey said. He sounded worried.

‘We could do with hearing what he has to say,’ Aneka agreed. ‘Aggy, I’m coming up. Tell Gwy to get ready for a short trip. Make sure her cloaking system is operational. Ella, I could use your help.’

Ella got to her feet without comment.

‘A cloak takes care of your ship,’ Sharissa said, ‘but you’ll be seen going aboard…’

‘Oh no,’ Aneka replied, grinning. ‘No one’s going to see me until I want them to.’

FNb Admiral Banfry.

The urgent alarm tone from Ape’s console made him turn quickly from the book he was reading to find out what was going on. He stabbed at the comms button and there was an almost immediate response from the bridge officer.

‘Captain, we’ve got a breach. Airlock six just opened and closed for no reason. It’s re-pressurising.’

‘Get Leeforth and four Marines down there. I’m on my way.’

‘Marines are en route, Captain.’

‘Right. Tell them to hold position until I get there.’ He cut the connection and stood up, taking two paces toward the door before turning back and grabbing his pistol from the drawer in his desk.

It was not a long walk. Airlock six was one of two secondary hatches on either side of the hull, beneath the main habitation area, on either side of the cargo bay. Certainly it made a suitable place to sneak in; the cargo bay was basically there for weapons stowage and was little used outside of active operations. But anyone trying
had
to know the attempt would be noticed, right?

Four Marines in hastily donned armour were positioning themselves in front of the inner hatch when Ape marched up. Leeforth was standing nearby with a carbine settled into her shoulder, but pointed down. The door was still closed, which was odd given that the airlock did not need that long to gain one atmosphere.

‘What do we have?’ Ape asked.

Leeforth handed him a tablet. ‘Probably a malfunction. Sensors are showing nothing in there. Cameras aren’t seeing anything.’

Ape looked at the tablet and the interior camera view it was displaying. The airlock did, indeed, appear to be empty. Frowning, he flicked through the display to the remote access system. ‘I’m going to open the door. Stand ready.’ He flicked through the override codes, ignoring the fact that Leeforth was moving between him and the airlock. The door slid sideways and…

‘It’s empty, sir,’ one of the Marines stated.

Ape moved up to stand beside Leeforth, peering in at the bare metal of the small room. There was nothing to be seen aside from a couple of control panels.

‘All right,’ Ape said, ‘stand down. Go back to your Fives, or whatever it was you were doing.’

The Marines looked a bit like they were disappointed, but they trooped back toward the ladders to the upper level.

‘Malfunction?’ Leeforth asked.

‘Looks like it,’ Ape replied. ‘You’d better get a team down here to check it over. I don’t know, we go to war, come home, and
then
things start going wrong.’

Leeforth’s eyes widened. ‘Maybe not,’ she said. ‘Something just grabbed my gun.’

Ape was reaching for his own weapon when Aneka materialised beside him and whispered, ‘I really didn’t want to get shot appearing out of nowhere, and I didn’t know how much you trust your crew.’

Leeforth grinned at her. ‘You been learning new tricks?’

‘Oh, I’m full of surprises me.’

‘Something of an understatement,’ Ape replied. He seemed to consider for a moment and then added, ‘I trust my crew, but there’s no point in them knowing things they don’t need to. Vanish again, and we’ll talk in my cabin.’

~~~

Aneka looked around the single, if larger than average, room which was the Captain’s cabin and immediately said, ‘You two have finally decided to be less formal then?’

Ape raised an eyebrow. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well… Judy’s blushing and…’ She bent down and pulled a small thong from under a corner of the bed. ‘I don’t see you in these, Ape.’

The big man shrugged slightly. ‘The battle here changed my view of a few things. I chased off the mother of my son, and she’s happy with someone else now. And Judy… I wasn’t appreciating her in some respects.’

Aneka smiled and nodded, and then sat on a corner of the bed. ‘So… how’re things on the Admiral Banfry? Your son wanted to know you were okay. At least I can give him some good news.’

‘Good is relative. We’ve been ordered to stand ready for departure. Destination to be identified twelve hours before warp. No shore leave and they’ve been bringing up supplies for heavy bombardment and ground fighting.’

‘We’ve been told to check
all
the sleep pods,’ Leeforth added. ‘They’re planning to put a full contingent of two hundred Marines aboard before we go. We’re getting no broadcasts from New Earth either, so we don’t have much information on what’s happening.’

‘There’s been a lot of media coverage around the Herosians still being a threat,’ Aneka told them. ‘CFM has been a little more balanced than some of the other channels, but people are pretty worked up. Several ex-Navy types who went into politics were elected to the Representatives and there seems to be a move to continue the fighting.’ Neither of the two officers seemed shocked. ‘Nearly half the prisoners taken on Lonar seem to have vanished. No one who has come back has been allowed to talk to the press, and the Navy isn’t allowing anyone, even Elroy, to visit them.’

‘So far I’m not too surprised,’ Ape commented.

Aneka shrugged. ‘Winter came back from Shadataga with us to give the Jenlay the rules for becoming students there. You can learn science you haven’t dreamed of before, but only if you put down your guns. Or that’s the basics.’

‘And I’m sure that’s gone down well.’

‘We haven’t had an answer yet, but now you’re back we expect things to heat up. We know someone’s manipulating the media, and we’re pretty sure a Jenlay frigate fired off those nukes at Beryum. Someone wants this war to continue so they can grab Herosian worlds.’

‘But, in the state they’re in, the Herosians are no threat,’ Leeforth said.

‘That’s why they want to attack now,’ Ape replied. ‘It makes too much sense. Damn.’

‘I didn’t join the Navy to go beat up defenceless aliens,’ Leeforth said, frowning. ‘What do we do?’

‘Hopefully,’ Aneka replied, ‘you won’t need to do anything. If they do decide to push for continued hostilities, Abby will pull the Old Earth ships out and the AIs will restart the Herosian network. We think that’ll stall them.’

‘Maybe,’ Ape said. He did not sound as though he was too convinced.

High Yorkbridge, 28.9.530 FSC.

Vice Admiral Part, an older officer whom Aneka had something of a dislike for, had been promoted to full Admiral as a result of the demise of Admiral Farmer in the Battle of New Earth. As Core Fleet’s leader, it was given to him to present the Navy’s plans, so it was he who stood in front of various assembled dignitaries in a conference room in the Administration building.

There were about twenty Representatives in the audience, as well as all the available Vice Admirals, Senator Elroy, Pierce, and Truelove, but the primary reason for the presentation was the non-Jenlay. Abby and Norden were in the room to hear what he had to say. The presence of Winter and Aneka had produced several objections which both Elroy and Abby had denied. Technically, Winter was there in an advisory capacity, and Aneka was there as her bodyguard carrying as much firepower as the Marines stationed around the room.

Part cleared his throat and a number of graphics appeared on the wall behind him. Aneka scanned over them, determining that they said nothing useful aside from identifying six systems in the border space between the Jenlay and Herosians.

‘Al, what do we have on those?’ she asked, just as Part began to speak.

‘As we all know, the Herosians initiated a conflict with us which is currently in a holding position. We have secured the worlds they captured with some difficulty. Our intelligence gathering continues, but interrogation of prisoners taken on Lonar has determined that there are six key systems which are acting as the primary rallying points for a Herosian counterattack.’

‘One of them,’ Al said, ‘has a Herosian Navy base in it, but it is primarily a Helium-three mining facility. Four are mining colonies. Heavy metals, iron, aluminium. One provides most of the food for the Herosians in the region.’

‘Right…’

‘In order to secure our position,’ Part went on, ‘and ensure that the Herosian threat is effectively eliminated, we plan to take these worlds placing a barrier between Herosian space and ours which will–’

‘This intelligence,’ Winter said, interrupting him, which appeared to annoy him as much as Aneka expected it would. ‘You say that you got it from the prisoners on Lonar?’

‘That is correct,’ Part replied.

‘And these are the staging sites for a counterattack, implying that forces have been moving there since the loss of the Herosian network…’

‘They received word via a courier vessel prior to the arrival of the liberating force,’ Part stated, smiling. They had thought of that one.

‘I see. Unlikely, but let’s move on. You want to attack… Well, we have Gothriam, population one hundred and ten thousand Herosians and a few million sheentoe. No significant military presence, but it does supply meat to most of the region. Four planets with high reserves of minerals and facilities for processing them into metals useful in the construction of starship hulls. Again, no military presence. And then there is Tandu, which does have a Navy facility there, primarily a fuel production and maintenance station.’

‘Your information is out of date,’ Part replied, ‘we have–’

‘My information is two days old, Admiral,’ Winter replied. ‘There have been no significant Herosian military movements in several weeks. They are sticking to their own worlds, unsure of the situation beyond the systems they are in. They are entirely on the defensive. Let me make this clear,
there
is no Herosian threat
.’