First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun (16 page)

“So, Junior Officer,” Grattus asked the big question, “who is to be given the honour of commanding this expedition of yours?”

“Why General Darrien,” Batarrien smiled, “that would be you, of course.”

For a moment, Grattus stood stunned to silence as the enormity of what he was being asked to do started to sink in. It was a very big request indeed. Six full Imperial Fleets; nearly a quarter of a million transports and nearly seven million personnel was a big responsibility. If he was successful, the name Grattus Darrien would be the most famous in the Empire. In his mind’s eye he saw fame, fortune, wealth, honours and power heaped upon his head by a grateful Empress.

Still not quite able to believe his luck he mumbled, “Long live the Empress!”

Chapter 20

Planet Earth

“Billy, phone!” Elizabeth Caudwell called from the living room.

Amongst the boxes and clutter of his bedroom, Billy Caudwell was attempting to pack away the treasured items that had to survive the ruthless cull of personal possessions that made up the move to the new house. With two days to go to the house move, Billy was excited at the prospect of the new property. All through his early childhood years he had stayed in police accommodations, which required that he move house every two years to fit in with his father’s new postings. The stay at their most recent house had been five years, since his father had left the force; that was much longer than he had been accustomed to. The house the Caudwell’s were leaving was damp and cold and Billy had never really felt any physical warmth or a psychological sense of belonging in the run-down Council-rented property. Now, with the new house, Billy felt that, at long last, he might actually have somewhere he could call home.

Despite all of his travels across the universe, Billy felt that this would be somewhere he could feel grounded and secure, even if it was only going to be for a short while. A home on Earth was at least preferable to the nomadic existence of the First Admiral of the Universal Alliance. Living in the Private Quarters next to the War Room aboard the Aquarius, or the Commanding Officer’s quarters aboard a Star-Destroyer, no matter how luxurious, was not the same as having your own roof over your head or your own four walls surrounding you. There was just no comparison in the mind of Billy to having a home.

Trotting down the open-plan staircase, Billy took the ultra-modern phone receiver from his mother’s outstretched hand. Around him, the living room was pretty much in the same state of disruption and disarray as his own room. Open boxes littered the ancient carpet that was soon to be discarded as his mother returned to wrapping the myriad of ornaments and family photos that would survive to be transported to the new house.

“Hello?” Billy said calmly placing the cold plastic receiver to his ear.

“Hello, Billy, it’s Emma,” a tinny-sounding, nervous voice greeted him on the other end of the line.

Immediately, Billy’s expression shifted from calm to annoyance.

“I was under the impression that we had nothing further to say to each other,” Billy said with that edge of annoyance manifesting.

“Billy, I need to talk to you…” Emma stammered.

“Well, I don’t need to talk to you; goodbye,” Billy said tersely.

“Please, Billy, hear me out,” Emma pleaded her voice cracking with emotion, “I broke up with Micky last week, he was just using me to…”

“Well, that’s too bad Emma; but, sorry I’m not in the-shoulder-to-cry-on business any more, go and whine to one of your girlfriends.” Billy snapped.

“Look, Billy, this isn’t easy for me…” Emma responded sharply.

“Really, oh boo-hoo,” Billy mocked, “didn’t your mummy tell you, life isn’t easy, Princess; welcome to the real world.”

“I didn’t have to call you, you know?” Emma responded her temper rising.

“Oh, that’s right, doing me a big favour speaking to me are you? It’s funny how I don’t feel blessed at hearing the sound of your voice” Billy barbed.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Emma protested, “I didn’t have to phone you, you know?”

“Yes, you did,” Billy replied pragmatically, “you had to phone me because you want something; that’s usually the only time I ever hear from you,” he added, “well, bad luck, I only do maths tuition for my friends now. If you’ve got anything to say then get on with it, I’m busy.”

“Billy,” Emma paused, swallowing her pride, “I’m trying to say that I was wrong and that I’m sorry.”

“Really,” Billy sighed, “you’re sorry are you? OK, why?” he challenged.

“What do you mean?” Emma quizzed, taken aback.

“It’s very simple; you say you’re sorry, I’m asking you why,” Billy replied.

“Billy, I’ve said I’m sorry,” Emma snapped, thrown back in confusion.

“And, I want to know why,” Billy interrupted ruthlessly.

“Because, I was wrong…” Emma stammered still reeling from the question.

“And, it took you four weeks to realise that, did it?” Billy probed.

“Look, I was angry and upset…” Emma protested.

“About what?” Billy challenged again, “Someone standing up to you? Calling you on your bad manners and dishonesty? Boy, are you in for a disappointing lifetime, lady!” he added.

“I’m trying to apologise so that we can be friends again,” Emma blurted.

“Well, I don’t need your so-called friendship, Emma Wallace. I had a bellyful of it at the dance,” Billy said icily, “now if you’ve got nothing more…”

“Okay, Okay!” Emma interrupted, “I was wrong. I treated you badly. I shouldn’t have said all those stupid, horrible things. I apologise. I’m really sorry, Billy,” she pleaded.

“No, I’m sorry; that’s not good enough. I don’t believe you,” Billy replied calmly, “You have no integrity; your word is worthless and I simply don’t trust you.”

“You could give me another chance?” Emma said softly.

“Why would I want to do that?” Billy asked.

“Because everyone deserves a second chance,” she replied hopefully.

“No they don’t,” Billy responded, “second chances have to be earned they’re not simply a right.”

For a moment the line went silent; the static crackling in Billy’s ear.

“I’ve really blown it, haven’t I, Billy?” Emma said sadly.

“Blown what?” Billy asked.

“Our friendship,” she replied.

“Don’t make me laugh” Billy snorted, “there was never any real friendship between us,”

“That’s not true!” Emma protested.

“Yes, it is, Emma,” Billy cut in remorselessly, “I was a convenient shoulder to cry on when it suited you, a back-up plan for the school dance and a handy maths tutor to get you through the pre-Quals.”

“No!” Emma protested loudly, “That just simply isn’t true!”

“Really?” Billy snapped, “Then, please, tell me one thing, just one thing that you ever did for your old and dear friend Billy Caudwell!?”

“Well…” Emma blurted, “There was…” the line fell silent once more.

“There was nothing, Emma Wallace,” Billy responded, “Friendships are about give and take, and that doesn’t mean you doing all the taking.”

“I’m really sorry, Billy,” Emma said dejectedly and hung up the receiver.

“You all right there, Billy?” his mother said quietly, looking up from the box she was packing as he gently replaced the receiver.

“Just putting out the garbage, mum,” he replied softly and climbed slowly back up the staircase.

Chapter 21

The Star-Cruiser Aquarius

Intelligence Technician, Junior Grade, Marilla Thapes, sat alone, in utter silence contemplating the Display Screen on the table in front of her in the Intelligence Section’s Bardomil Desk. It had been another long and frustrating duty shift for Marilla. She knew, just knew, that the Bardomil had deployed some kind of emitter weapon. Every instinct in her body told her that somewhere out there, in the depths of space, a Bardomil weapon was pointed like a pulsar-pistol at the proverbial head of some life-bearing planet. The question was; where they would deploy it? The video signal from the Explorer-Class Science Ship Magellan had shown her that something had been launched from the Bardomil incursion close to the frontier. To all the Scanner Interpretation people it had looked like a small rock, with a high metallic content, not unlike many trillions of other small rocks in that sector.

Looking carefully at the data once more, Marilla could clearly see ‘the rock’ being jettisoned by the damaged M-Cruiser before it disappeared in a huge blinding fireball. The debris from the blast was scattered in all directions. Yet, Marilla still believed that this ‘rock’ was moving under its own propulsion. Again and again, Marilla watched the few fractions of a second before the fireball, where ‘the rock’ seemed to move quickly away. Rubbing her tired eyes once more, Marilla was starting to doubt the evidence of her own vision. Was she really seeing an object moving of its own volition or was she simply imagining it, she asked herself. She couldn’t possibly have gotten it so badly wrong, she challenged herself. And, to stand up in front of Admiral Lokkrien and get it wrong stung Marilla even further. Further, the look in Senior Intelligence Officer Sownus’ eyes told her that her opportunity to shine was about to come to an end. The normally philosophical Marilla Thapes would have usually taken the disappointment in her stride, but this time, she knew, that this was her one and only chance to impress the top brass. But, she had blown it.

Again, she took the heavily magnified image forward, one frame at a time. The fuzzy image of ‘the rock’ seemed to be pushed slowly away from the M-Cruiser as the Alliance pulsar-bolts slammed into its hull.

“Towards me…towards me…towards me…” Marilla tracked ‘the rock’ on each individual frame until suddenly it blurred for two frames as it moved off quickly to the right.

“Yes, it definitely changed direction,” Marilla hissed to herself.

“It’s the first sign of madness you know, Technician Thapes?” a voice said from beside her.

Turning quickly, Marilla noticed the two small golden stars of a Second Admiral on the lower left sleeve of the uniform next to her.

“Sir!” Marilla barked and sprang to her feet, her chair falling to the floor and clattering behind her.

“At ease, Technician,” the familiar voice of Marrhus Lokkrien consoled.

“Sir!” Marilla rested into the ‘at ease’ position waiting for the dressing down she felt that Lokkrien would inevitably deliver.

“Do you really believe that my old friends on Bardan have created this emitter weapon?” Lokkrien asked calmly.

“Yes, sir, the evidence indicates…” Marilla began a further regimentally-correct report.

“The evidence indicates only the possibility, Technician Thapes,” Lokkrien cut across her, stifling Marilla’s flow of words.

For a long nerve-shredding moment, Lokkrien let his view sink into Marilla Thapes’ mind.

“You have nothing but speculation and supposition, Technician Thapes,” Lokkrien added, “However, I happen to think that you might be on the right track.”

“Sir?” Marilla looked in astonishment at the Second Admiral.

“What you suppose and conjecture, Technician Thapes, works in very well with what I happen to know about how the Bardomil Empire operates,” Lokkrien continued, setting up Marilla’s chair once more.

“And, sir, I…” Marilla started to speak once again and then gave up the ghost, “I have nothing to add other than what I presented earlier,” her shoulders slumped in resignation.

“Your reasoning and logic are correct, Technician Thapes, your technique is somewhat lacking,” Lokkrien announced pulling another chair up and sitting down, “sit,” he ordered.

Nervously, Marilla sat slowly down on the chair that Lokkrien had retrieved for her.

“I don’t understand, sir?” Marilla puzzled.

“Let’s look at what we have and do a bit more speculating,” Lokkrien suggested, “The Empress has had the weapons expert Claggit and his assistant killed; that’s standard procedure for the Empire. Aliens are not considered intelligent enough to create the weapons that win glorious victories, only Bardomil scientists do that. So, Claggit and his little friend are removed, do you follow me?”

Still mystified by what Lokkrien was talking about, Marilla stared open-mouthed at the Second Admiral and nodded.

“This tells us that our Bardomil friends have a weapon made by Master Claggit and being a magnetic field specialist, we can assume that the weapon works on those principles,” Lokkrien continued to the confused Marilla.

“We are now also assuming that the Empress has tested this weapon in the Artreaus system, which was chosen for a specific reason. Now, what might that reason be, Technician Thapes?” Lokkrien asked.

“Well, I’d say because it bore certain similarities to where the weapon is intended to ultimately be used?” Marilla speculated.

“Now, Technician Thapes, you’re getting the hang of it,” Lokkrien praised.

“So, the Bardomil would target this weapon at an enemy planet, would they not?” Lokkrien asked.

“Well, yes sir,” Marilla replied.

“And, this planet would have to be a life-bearing enemy planet, would it not?” Lokkrien asked.

“Yes, sir,” Marilla replied, “There’s no point in scorching an empty piece of rock.”

“So, how many life-bearing planets were there in the Artreaus system, Technician Thapes?” Lokkrien continued.

“Just the one, sir, Collizon,” Marilla answered.

“This weapon supposedly created a super-charged plasma stream from the star at the centre of the Artreaus system. So, what kind of star does the Artreaus system have?” Lokkrien questioned.

“It’s a yellow dwarf, sir,” Marilla provided the information from her own memory.

“And, how far was Collizon from that yellow dwarf?” Lokkrien continued.

“About one hundred and fifty million kilometres, sir,” Marilla replied.

“So, Collizon, a fairly unremarkable planet in a back water system in the depths of the Bardomil Empire was wiped out to test this weapon, why Technician Thapes?” Lokkrien asked.

“Same answer as before, sir, because it has some similarity to where the Bardomil want to attack,” Marilla responded.