Read Inherited War 3: Retaliation Online

Authors: Eric McMeins

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Military, #Space Opera

Inherited War 3: Retaliation (14 page)

BOOK: Inherited War 3: Retaliation
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“Don’t worry, Sky,” Gavreal said. “West is part of the plan. He won’t let anything happen to Cole until we have had a chance to help him. This may work in our advantage. If his mind has been clear for a few days, then he may be slightly disorientated upon his return and his defenses may be weak. Grab something to eat on the way, we must get ready.” Sky pulled herself together and grabbed a nutrient bar to eat on the way. It took a few minutes to reach the access hall that ran parallel to the hanger Cole would be landing in.

“When we invade Cole’s mind, he should be rendered unconscious. At that point, West will get all three of us to the med bay and hooked into the life support machines I have readied there for us. We will live long enough to either win or fail.” They settled down onto the floor and Sky began fighting down her sudden nervousness. It was one thing to say she was going to do it and practice to do it. It was something entirely different to find herself actually about to do it. She was scared—for herself, for Cole, and for Gavreal. Gavreal had said Cole’s mind was a dark and twisted place now. What if she couldn’t find the real Cole? What if she became trapped inside his mind forever? The what ifs, pounded her brain and she started to shake. Then she felt the gentle hands of Gavreal settle on her shoulders.

“Calm, push all other thoughts aside. You can do this.” He settled down near her. “Find my bodies rhythms. Breathe.” Sky slowly settled her mind and her body fell into sync with Gavreal’s.    Their hearts beat together and their breath passed in and out together. Sky felt her consciousness pass into Gavreal between heartbeats. She felt herself stopped before entering his deeper subconscious and held tight like a bowstring. Her mind could feel the massive pressure of Gavreal’s as he prepared to force her into Cole. She hadn’t done this part in their practices before. She was scared and thought her mind would break before she was released. Then, when she feared she couldn’t take it anymore, she felt her mind rocket like a bullet. Through the walls of the hanger, across the many empty feet of hanger floor, and slam into something, something dark and insane.

 

Cole finished transmitting the message to Home Base and disconnected from the ship. West, Anastacia, and Liam were all looking at him expectantly.

“Knock it off,” Cole said. “Do you expect me to go insane while you sit there and watch me?”

“No,” West replied. “But it is kind of like a train wreck. I know I shouldn’t but I can’t help but watch.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cole said as he rolled his eyes at his friend. “Well if I suddenly snap, I am coming for you first.”

“Shit, you and what army?” West said with a grin.

“Whatever army it is it won’t have those fucking aliens in it this time, that’s for sure.” Coles suddenly had a vague look on his face. His three friends traded worried glances. “But like I said, I am not going to go bat shit crazy right here and now, so find something else to stare at. Manny, bring up the deployment readiness for the ships and men.”

A small flat screen slid up in front of Cole and he perused the reports his ships had filed on their readiness to deploy. A frown darkened his face as he watched each ship go from ready to inactive. “What the hell,” Cole muttered under his breath.

“Your orders, Cole,” Anastacia said, and Cole whirled his chair to face her. A twisted mask of anger clouded his face for moment. His eyes cleared and his face softened.

“Yeah, right sorry I forgot for a moment.” He spun his chair back around and stared at the screen. Emotions flew across his face quickly as he struggled with himself. He fought as best as he could, there was no hope. He was losing, and he hadn’t even landed yet. It was going to be up to West now. Immobilization or death. He focused all his will on hiding that from himself. There was no telling what would happen if he acted to prevent West from succeeding.

Cole was startled as he felt the landing skids touch down on the hanger floor. He glanced up and saw his friends waiting by the door to the exit ramp.

“Come on, Cole,” West said. “Let’s go have a decent meal and relax a bit.”

“Yeah,” Cole said as he rose from his chair. “That sounds good to me; my heads a little cloudy right now.” Cole walked to the door, passed by the other three, and walked down to the ramp. His footsteps echoed down the ramp and into the big empty hanger. As his head cleared the deck and his vision opened up to the hanger, he saw the far door opening and a stunning Jess leading a small parade of men and women into the hanger. Jess was a rare beauty, one plainly evident now that she was no longer pregnant. She was tall and thin, her curves cutting a fine figure in the skintight suit. Her body had responded well to being pregnant. Her breasts had swollen to almost gigantic proportions. She also held two babies in the crooks of her arms. He heard a quietly muttered, “Oh shit, I am in trouble,” from behind him. Cole’s mind cleared for a brief moment as he saw the first new humans in the galaxy in the arms of their loving mother. As he began to smile at the rapidly approaching family, he caught a streak of something out of his left eye. It was ghostly, an ethereal streak of nothingness, and it hit him right in the head.

Cole let out a soul-wrenching scream and clutched at his head as he tumbled to the deck. The incoming crowed stopped moving and stared in horror at Cole as he lay writhing in pain on the ground. West ran to Cole’s side and pinned him to the floor, shouting for help while holding him still. It took four men to hold Cole to the deck, and he was still managing to thrash quite a bit. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to the men holding him down, Cole’s body went limp. For a brief moment, a smile touched his mouth. Then it opened and he spoke softly.

“Sky…please save me again.” His eyelids fluttered open and his eyeballs rolled up into his head. West placed two fingers on his neck and found a pulse.

“Quick, get him up and to the med bay.” He pointed at two more men. “Get those panels off the wall, and get Sky and Gavreal out of there and in the Med bay as well.” There were shouted questions and nervous conversations, and finally West couldn’t take it anymore.

“God damn it, they are trying to help Cole, now do what I say.” His shouted curse got their attention and got them moving. Three anitgrav gurneys were brought in and after the wall panels had been removed, all three of the unconscious beings were loaded up and pushed out of the hanger.

West felt a sudden presence at his elbow. He glanced over and saw his new wife standing there with his two girls in her arms. He smiled at the two small lives held securely in their mother’s arms.

“Will he be okay?” Jess asked her husband.

“Honestly,” he placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in as tight as he could, “I don’t know.” He leaned over and gave all three of his girls a kiss on the tops of their heads. He took one of the girls from Jess and grabbed her now empty hand in his. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, he led his new family out of the hanger and straight to the medical bay. He couldn’t abandon his friend now; he needed to be there incase Sky failed. He stopped by a weapons locker on the way and grabbed out a length of detonation cord. After all, the only way to kill Cole was to take his head off.

CHAPTER 7

 

 

 

—No further logs found—

 

Administrator Fire was, of course, the last to arrive. He entered silently and found his seat. He was plainly nervous as well as a few other members. It made Thalo wonder who else had illegal dealings on the side. Rank obviously didn’t weed out the criminal element. Finally with everyone in attendance, the Master called the impromptu session to order and turned over the floor to the Prime.

“As all of you know, the Prime Administrator’s primary function is to oversee the laws passed by this body are implemented according to its will and break ties whenever necessary. Few times in the history of this body has a Prime enacted the Second Code of Primes.” There were audible intakes of breath; no one had expected this. It had been hundreds of years since the last Prime had evoked the Second Code. Not since the colonies had threatened civil war. If the Prime then had not acted, the Nixa may still very well be torn asunder. The room quieted down as they listened for an answer to the obvious question.

“I can see it in all of your eyes, ‘why?’” the Prime continued. “And what do I plan to use the powers in the Second for? If you would bear with me a moment, you will all understand why.” He looked over his audience and saw hesitant nods of acceptance. “Thank you.”

The Prime turned to the Master. “Could you open external audio communications please?” The Master nodded and moved to open the channels required by the Prime. “I ask this body to please look at the information about to appear on your screen.” Every single eye in the room darted down to the small display screens in front of their chairs. “Can anyone identify that ship, its captain, and its owner?”

“This is nonsense!” Came a shouted voice. Fire, and he was mad and looking caught off-guard.  “That is my ship, everyone here knows that. I have done nothing wrong and demand to know what is going on?” He slapped his open hand down on the desk in front of him.

The Prime just smiled and spoke into the com at his podium. “Colonel, are you and your men in position?”

“Aye, sir. Ready when you are.” A calm voice echoed around the chamber.

“Wait a damn minute.” Fire was up out of his seat and screaming at the Prime. “What the hell do you think you are doing? That is my ship and any unauthorized action against her will be cause for your removal. I don’t think you know the consequences of what you are doing, Prime.” The last was said with a sneer.

The Prime noticed that during his whole tirade that Fire had been fiddling with something on his wrist.

“Do stop trying to send abort codes to the captain of that ship. The only external communications are between me and the Marine Colonel. Sit. Down.” The Prime ordered Fire. “And by the order of the Second Code, I wield complete authority in this room and of the military. What I choose to do with that authority is mine alone to decide. Again I say, sit down, Fire.” Chuckles reverberated around the room. Now that everyone knew it wasn’t them under the magnifying glass, they took pleasure in the dressing down of the Colonial Administrator.

“Colonel, you are a go on your mission,” the Prime spoke into the com.

The Marine didn’t bother to respond with words; he just ordered his men in. Every display screen in the room was showing feeds from dozens of different boarding Marines. Teams breached at every external door and stormed into the ship. With Fire’s com offline, the Captain and crew never knew what hit them. It was over in minutes and everyone onboard was restrained and quartered in the ships mess hall. The teams broke up and began to search the ship.

“This will go slightly easier on you if admit what you have been doing, Fire,” the Prime announced to the hall.

“Whatever is on that ship that you think is mine was obviously planted there. I have nothing to hide, and if something turns up, you have no proof that it is mine.” He crossed his arms defiantly over his chest and jutted his chin out.

“Prime, we found them.” The colonel’s voice broke the calm of the room. All the video feeds in the room switched to the boarding team that had just opened up a false bottom of the ship. Dozens of eyes stared up into the bright lights of the Marines suit lights. “Initial counts of at least thirty Nixa here and may be more hidden around the ship. They are in pretty bad shape. This ship was supposed to leave days ago when the embargo started. They haven’t been fed or cared for since, I would say.”

“Colonel, call in a medical frigate and begin to evacuate the hostages. Return to the mess, I would like to speak to the Captain.”

The Prime pressed a button and the doors in the chamber hall opened to admit capitol police forces. They had their weapons trained on Fire. The Administrators nearest to Fire slowly backed away from him to clear a path for the police.

If looks could kill, the Prime would be a pile of ash on the floor from the looks that Fire was sending his way.

“Restrain the Colonial Administrator, but keep him here,” the Prime said.

“Sir,” the Colonel broke in, “the Captain.”

“Captain, do you know who I am?” the Prime asked.

He mumbled something that was unintelligible. “Don’t say a damn thing!” Fire shouted from his knees.

The captain looked up into the Marine’s camera with a look of fear and, oddly, relief in his eyes.

“No. No, I will talk. This has gone on too long, and I do not believe he will keep his word now. What do you want to know?” the Captain said.

“Do you know what was hidden in the secret storage compartments on board your ship?” the Prime asked.

“Don’t you do it,” Fire shouted again. “And you, Prime, you just can’t forgo centuries of law on a whim.”

“Actually I can. When invoked, the Second gives me absolute power as the head of the government, commander of the military, and chief law enforcement officer. I will do what I must to get to the bottom of the most heinous crime ever committed against our people, by one of our own. Now Captain, answer the question.”

“Yes I know, one hundred Nixa colonists,” he replied.

“Why were they hidden and mistreated if they were colonists?” the Prime asked.

“Because, they were never going to the new colonies. They were destined to be traded to the Esii for pirated merchandise. Their ship was to be reported as never arriving with all hands and passengers lost in transit.” The Captain actually seemed relieved to be telling the Administrators this news.

“How many of these exchanges have you done over your career, and do you know of any other captains that have done the same?” the Prime pushed for more information.

“Hundreds,” he sobbed out. “I can’t count how many times I have gone out with a hold full of Nixa and returned with stolen goods. There are dozens of other captains who were forced to do the same.”

“Forced? How were you forced?” the Prime was furious.

“Our families, Prime. He used our own families against us. They were taken to a location that wasn’t known to us and kept their indefinitely. If we didn’t cooperate, he would show them being taken to an airlock. None of us could refuse after that. We love our families.” He broke down completely at that point. “It was wrong; we knew it, but were weak. I am sorry, please forgive us.” Stunned silence permeated the chambers. Administrators stared astounded at Fire, though he hadn’t been named; all knew who was being referred to by the captain.

The Prime waited until the Captain had regained his composure before continuing. “Who was it, Captain? Who was in control and who took your families?”

The captain looked into the camera and said one word. “Fire.” The second reason for the police to be there became obvious after the name of the perpetrator was revealed. The crowd of Administrators surged towards Fire, death in their eyes. After much shouting and a few bashed heads, the police regained control of the room and had formed a perimeter around the accused.

“You have no proof, other than that of a Nixa obviously coerced into implicating me by this tired old Nixa.”

The Prime smiled, almost as if that was what he had been waiting for. He motioned Thalo forward and relinquished the podium to the Worlder.

“Don’t get me wrong, I take great pleasure in this.” Thalo said with a grin. “I would like to introduce the Nixa and the galaxy to a, until now, unknown race of beings. Ghost, please come out.”

Another surprise was dropped on the Nixa Administrators that night as they watched a living being step out through a seemingly solid wall, walk to the dais, and stand next to Thalo.

“This is Ghost and had been recently working for Fire as an intelligence gathering source. As you can see, his ability to move through solid objects makes him ideal for the task. He was also forced to work by that Nixa,” Thalo pointed at Fire, “or his entire species would be wiped out. Over the years, Ghost had gained an incredible amount of access to Fire’s computers and logs.” Thalo watched as Fire’s eyes grew wide. “Ghost has aided the Nixa Investigative Service in gaining access to those files.”

“Nooooo!” Fire wailed. “You will pay for this! Your people will pay for this!” No one was sure if he was talking to Ghost or Thalo, so Thalo continued.

“There are centuries of logs to comb through since it appears Fire isn’t the first of his family to participate in the trading of Nixa’s to the Esii for pirated loot.” Thalo looked around the room. There wasn’t a Nixa in there that could look at Fire.

“We did it for the Nixa people.” The voice was firm and uncompromising from the Colonial Administrator. “Our ships were not targeted; our planets were left alone, all because of what my family has done over the years. We saved countless thousands by sacrificing a few hundred.”

The Prime stormed to the podium and shouldered Thalo out of the way.

“No!” he thundered. “You sold your people into death for ill gotten goods. We were still attacked, our ships raided, our planets looted. You did this for your own selfish gain, nothing more.”

“Believe what you will, I did what I had to do,” Fire sneered at the crowed.

“I believe I will. I will render judgment at this time. All property and assets owned and operated by Fire’s family are hereby seized. They will be distributed to all surviving heirs or relatives of lost colonies or colonial ships.”

“You would beggar my wife and child?” Fire roared.

“Silence! If he speaks again, gag him.” Now it was the Primes turn to attempt to kill with a look. Fire was lucky he couldn’t. “As to Fire, the sentence is death. He will be taken out and hung in public and there left to rot until he falls form the rope. Then he will be left in an unmarked grave. His name will be stricken from the records and scrolls of this great nation. He will never have existed. My ruling is final and will be carried out now.”

The police force surrounding Fire collapsed in on him and hauled him to his feet. They began taking him to the nearest door when a panicked shout echoed around the room. Everyone stopped and listened.

“Colonel, what’s going on?” The Prime asked, confused.  They should be all done on the ship and ready to come home.

“Multiple targets just jumped deep into the system, Sir.” The Colonel relayed the information.

Sky’s father turned on the defense network and asked to speak to the General in charge.

“Sir,” the general started, “multiple inbound signatures, more popping in every second.”

“Is it the Humans? I thought we still had a day?” the Prime asked, confused.

“No, it can’t be,” Thalo said. “They don’t have that many ships. Can you get me a closer look at one of the big ones?” Thalo asked the general. The screens in the room suddenly blared to life and showed one of the oddest sights in the galaxy. A massive ship that seemed to be hobbled together from other ships, gun ports, and missile tubes, speckled the surface and an intense light from an unshielded exhaust port. “Shit,” Thalo cursed. “Those are Roche ships.” The Administrators watched in horror as more and more Roche ships appeared in their system.

BOOK: Inherited War 3: Retaliation
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