Shadow Space Chronicles 1: The Fallen Race (32 page)

“
I—”

“
I think we’re ranging a little away from the important thing, right now,” the Emperor said.  “Now that we have the Dreyfus Fleet, we need to use it.  Nova Roma is currently under the control of the Chxor.  Admiral, you once defended my world from the Wrethe, when they attacked human space almost ninety years ago—”

“
We have other issues besides that.” Kandergain said.

“
My people are dying.  Every day we wait thousands—”

“
I know exactly how bad it is on Nova Roma right now, trust me.” Kandergain’s impassivity disappeared, replaced by something dark and angry.  “And I know something that everyone else seems to forget.  The Chxor are not the main threat.  The Balor will exterminate humanity.  They will eat or enslave every last man woman and child.”

“
The Balor aren’t on Nova Roma, they aren’t butchering my people!”

Kandergain sighed, “No, they’re not.  Currently, a significant force of them are headed here, though.”

Into that silence, Lucius spoke, “The Balor are coming here?”

“
Yes.”

Lucius stared at her.  He realized suddenly that some of the darkness, some of the anger in the psychic woman lay in another emotion.

Kandergain felt fear.

Even in the midst of battle against the Chxor, when the
War Shrike
heaved around them, he hadn’t seen fear in her face.  Lucius hadn’t thought the woman knew
how
to fear.

But she feared the Balor or, at least, feared what they might do.

“How long do we have?” Lucius’ voice felt weak.

“
Two months, more or less.”

“
Why even defend this—”

Lucius’ head snapped around, “I did not fight a battle to save this system from the Chxor, did not lose many good men in battle, just to abandon it and its people to the Balor.”  He stared at the boy Emperor, wondering if the time had finally come to sever ties with his home.

He stared at the boy and something told him that the time had not yet come.

But it would soon.

He turned his gaze back to Kandergain, “Can we defeat them?”

“
Balor ships are faster than most of this fleet.  Also, their weapons outrange even the heaviest gun batteries aboard these ships.”  She shrugged, “Their missiles are smaller and faster, and carry heavier payloads.  The
War Shrike
has more acceleration than anything but their fighters, but one of their battlecruisers carries a heavier armament.  All of their ships mount shields, actual shields, not defense screens, that you need to hammer before you can even damage the ship beneath.”

Lucius met Dreyfus’ eyes.  “We’re going to need a battle plan.”

***

CHAPTER
XI

March 3, 2403 Earth Standard Time

Faraday System

(status unknown)

“
You promised
what
to the Garu?” Admiral Dreyfus demanded.

“
The terms of our original alliance stated that they would receive all of the transport vessels of the Dreyfus Fleet, after we recovered it,” Lucius said, massaging his head.

“
That’s thirty four ships!”

“
Thirty seven ships,” the Garu spokesman corrected.  “Your ammunition ships are transport vessels as well.”

“
How are we supposed to fight a war without transport ships?” Admiral Dreyfus snapped.

“
The Garu people, of course, would be willing to lease some vessels back to you, at a reasonable price, considering the current situation.”  The Garu leader spoke in a polite tone.

“
At the time, I thought that warships would be more important than the logistical chain.” Lucius said, with a shrug.  “As it is, I still believe so.”

“
I see.”  Dreyfus turned his gaze to the Garu leader.  “What kind of reasonable price are we talking?”

“
We are not unreasonable.” The man smiled, and Lucius winced.  “We wish duty- and tax-free trade with any world that comes under your protection.”

“
That seems pretty reasonable…” Dreyfus frowned.

Lucius held up a hand, “Any world?” He asked, eyes narrowing.  “You’re essentially stating that we’d be blackmailing worlds to open their trade to you.  If they didn’t, they’d lose our protection.”

The Garu man’s eyebrows went up in mock surprise, “Why, I do suppose it could be seen that way.  Certainly a suspicious government, not… fully appreciative of the benefits of free trade, might come to believe so.”

“
If you deal tax-free with a dozen worlds, you could undercut the prices of any other merchant.” Lucius said, “You’d have a monopoly on trade within a decade.”

The Garu man shrugged, “There are many families and clans within the Garu.  We would still have competition.  A healthy economy requires such.”

“I see.” Lucius frowned.  “We’ll talk more on this later.  In the meantime, ‘recovery’ of the Fleet is not yet complete.  The crews, their cargoes, and their passengers must still be offloaded.”

“
Under some interpretations of the law, a ship’s cargo—“

“
Under my interpretation, Admiral Dreyfus owns those ships and that cargo until they’re offloaded.”  Lucius snapped.  “You’re already getting far more than you or I planned for, don’t get greedy.”

The Garu man smirked slightly, and bowed.  “Understood, Baron.  We will have to discuss the exact terms of the lease at your earliest convenience.”

“Agreed.” Lucius growled.  He waited for the trader to depart, then turned to face Admiral Dreyfus, “How long do you think, for your people to off-load?”

“
It’ll take time.” Dreyfus shrugged, “Families have lived on those ships for eighty years.  Most of that for many of them was in hibernation sleep, but even so, they’ll have to pack and unpack their private possessions.”  He frowned, “All of the manufacturing equipment we can offload in a couple weeks.  The scientists and their labs… some of that we’ll need to build facilities for.  Some of those facilities need to be in space or on an uninhabited world, just for safety.”

“
Some of their projects are dangerous?” Lucius asked.

“
Some of those
scientists
are dangerous,” Dreyfus shrugged, “I took a couple of them out of mental institutions.  One of them…” He chuckled, “Well, he means well, but I honestly feel uncomfortable being in the same
star
system as his experiments.”

Lucius winced.  “There’s plenty of uninhabited systems in the vicinity.  If all else fails, there’s Alpha Seven at Zeta Tau.”

“Yes, I think an out-of-the-way spot is best for some of them.”

Lucius spent a moment in thought, “My staff is meeting tonight to discuss the defense of this system.  Can you have your—”

“We’ll be there, Baron”

***

“
We need to talk.”  Lucius said as he stepped into Kandergain’s quarters.

Kandergain, seated in a chair already, gestured to a chair across from her.  Lucius had a sneaking suspicion she expected him.  “Yes, Lucius, we do need to talk.”

Lucius again felt the same sense of bitterness.  He clenched his jaw, “Why didn’t you tell me that the Dreyfus Fleet lay manned and armed, just waiting?”

She cocked her head, “Do you want the truth?”

Lucius threw his head up, “Of course I want the truth.”

“
Then here it is, Lucius.  You didn’t need to know.”

“
Of course I needed to know!” Hands clenched, Lucius shot to his feet, “I lost one hundred and seventy two people taking this system!  I still don’t know how many millions of civilians died!  All that time, that entire force lay there waiting!”

“
Are you done?” She asked, her voice cold.

Lucius let out a short angry breath, forcing himself to calm.  He really didn’t want to.  “Yes.  I’m done.”

“Then sit.” Her sharp words startled him into his chair.

She stared at him for a long while, and Lucius realized she, too, had grown angry.  “First, Lucius, the universe doesn’t revolve around you.”  She shook her head, “I didn’t know the Chxor came here, I didn’t know you fought a retreat against them before you went to Alpha Seven.  I’m not omniscient.  I couldn’t have told you the fleet lay hidden at Sanctuary without knowing that.”

“But—“

“
Second,” She cut over his words, “What good would the fleet have done you?  You couldn’t have reached it without drawing the Chxor’s attention.  If it came out of the clouds of Sanctuary to fight, the Chxor would have seen it coming.  What would they have done, seeing an overwhelming force bearing down on them?” She demanded.

Lucius knew, he looked away.

“Say it Lucius.”

“
They would have gassed the entire population, rather than let it fall.”

“
Exactly.”  Her icy voice continued, “Third, the success against the Chxor by you made you a hero, Lucius.  You saved a planet, you saved the colony of Faraday.  I don’t think you realize how much that means right now.”

“
I lost—”

“
And third,” Kandergain spoke over him again, “The few million people who died on Faraday are only a drop in the bucket, Lucius.”  She shook her head, “I’ve watched billions die, so far, killed systematically by the Chxor and slaughtered by the Balor.  I’ve fought, as hard as I can, to save individual lives, but we’re in a war for species survival.”  She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, “When it comes to it, I’d have let you lose here at Faraday, I’d have let the entire populace die, if I thought giving you the Dreyfus Fleet would ruin humanity’s last chance.”

She stood from her chair and went to the window to stare out at the battle-scarred city.  “Lucius, the human race is doomed.”  He could hear the despair in her voice.  “We’ve garnered the attention of two powerful races and neither has any problem slaughtering us to the last babe.  This is a war of survival.”  She let out a long sigh, “Part of what makes you a great leader, Lucius, is your compassion.  You care about your people.”

She turned to face him, “Right now, you feel used.  You feel manipulated.  You think I let your people die for no reason.”  She met his gaze with her chocolate brown eyes, “It’s understandable, admirable, even, in a way.” She shrugged, “But if you can’t realize that I’m doing my best to help you, to help the human race, then I think it’s time we go our separate ways.”

“
I...” Lucius put a hand over his face.  “I just want to know
why
.  Why have I been manipulated?  Why did you tell Dreyfus to hide in the first place… What are you trying to accomplish?  What makes you think you can judge things so accurately?”

Kandergain took her chair again in silence, she stared at Lucius for a long time.  “Now we get to the hard questions.”  She closed her eyes, as if she hoped to find inspiration behind her eyelids.  “You know what a precognitive is?”

Lucius frowned, “A psychic who can see the future, right?”

She shrugged, “In a manner of speaking.  Most can’t do much more than catch glimpses of the near future.  Some can get fleeting impressions of events to come.  Every now and again, there’s the occasional precog that can see more than that, sometimes much more.”

“So… what, you’re a precog too?”

Kandergain snorted with laughter, “Oh, God, no!”  She shook her head.  “Most precogs are a little crazy—” She scowled at Lucius’ sudden smile, “Not a little odd, I really mean a little crazy.  They hear voices from conversations that never happened or might still happen.  The future is just as real to some of them as the present.”

“So there are people that can see a little into the future.  Is one of them whispering in your ear all the time?” Lucius asked, he felt as if she only waited to spring the punch line.

“
No.” She cocked her head, tossing her blonde ponytail back over her shoulder, “Well, not quite.”  She shrugged, “There are the occasional precogs who go a long way beyond most.  Most of them… when they looked far enough ahead, they saw something that scared the shit out of them.”

“
The death of humanity?” Lucius asked.

“
Or close enough to make no difference.” Kandergain shrugged, “When I say occasional, you have to know how rare I’m talking.”  She closed her eyes, “There are, give or take, fifty billion humans alive right now.”

“
Okay.”

“
There’s only one precog alive right now that has the abilities I’m describing.”  She caught his eyes, “And he’s… not nearly as accurate as we’d like.”

“
You’re not exactly filling me with confidence here.”

“
Trust me, try living like this for eighty-six years,” she smiled, “And no, before you ask, I’m a little older than that.  That’s just when I started on this little quest.”  She suddenly looked tired, “Almost a hundred and fifteen years ago, a man named John Mirra was born.”

“
Weren’t we talking about precogs?”

“
He was a precog.”

“
Why didn’t you say so?” Lucius asked.

“
I just did,” She scowled.  “Do you want to tell this story or should I?”

“
Go ahead.”

“
Thanks
,” Kandergain snapped and then let out a deep breath, “As far as the talent of precognition goes, John Mirra went off the chart.  As a child, he could see the result of every decision he could ever make, throughout the rest of his life.”

“
That sounds… impressive.”  Lucius said, thinking of how useful an Admiral with that ability would be.

“
Think terrifying.” She responded, “I’d be paralyzed.  Most people would be.  I mean, what if you come to a situation with no good choice?  What if, no matter what you did, people died?  And remember, I said that the more a psychic practices his powers, the more powerful he gets?”

Lucius frowned, “There was a science-fiction book, wasn’t there, about a man predicting the future with mathematical calculations—”

“Foundation, yes, I read it.  It’s long since been disproved, you can’t predict random things.  It’s the butterfly effect: a butterfly flapping its wings in China causes a hurricane in Florida.  The thing is: John could.”

“
You’re saying he was omniscient.”

She shrugged, “I’m saying that either he had the ability to subconsciously alter random events, everything from dice rolls to the movement of electrons, or he tapped into something big, or else, yes, John Mirra was omniscient.”

“So John Mirra tells you—“

“
I never met him.  When he was twenty five, he gave his life to alter the future.”

Lucius winced.  “He could see every possible outcome and the only way to change the future was to kill himself?  That’s…”

“Horrible?  Twisted?  Yes, it’s a tragedy.  The good news is: he left clues, puzzles.  He left notes in places no one would ever look.  Sometimes it’s been damned odd.”  She shook her head.  “I once found a note from him in a roll of toilet paper...”

“
So, if I understand this right…” Lucius frowned, “An omniscient suicidal riddler left you clues that guide you in making decisions that the survival of the human race depends on?”

“
A simplified but relatively accurate statement.”

Lucius felt a headache coming on.  “Do me a favor, please?  Next time I ask ‘why’ just tell me I don’t want to know.”

***

“Sir, could I... have a moment of your time?”