Terra Dawning (13 page)

Ben replaced his hand. “My name is Benjamin Anthony Bedouin, I am the current Prime Council for the free citizens of the planet Earth.”

When the device beeped again, Jance nodded to him, and turned to Deirdre, who copied her husband. “My name is Deirdre Ann Bedouin, I am the current Minister of Logistics for the free citizens of the planet Earth.”

Jance nodded to the two. “Thank you, I will keep the information you have entrusted to me to the best of my abilities.”

Ben smiled at the woman again. “Commander, we haven’t even started giving you classified information yet. Please follow me, let’s get this part over with.”

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Ben led the small group into the room that everyone seemed to come out of. It was set up like a small theater, which made sense to Jance, since they'd told her it was a pilot's briefing room. The seats were set in curved rows with each of the rows slightly elevated over the one in front of it. There was a narrow isle down the middle, dividing the seats into two sections. The room could easily hold a hundred pilots. Seated in the far section was a group of men that had also been waiting for the meeting. Jance briefly wondered who they were.

Deirdre indicated where Jance and her team could sit – the front row of the non-occupied side, before she and Addson Dee took seats behind them. Ben took the place of the briefing officer behind the podium that was just beside the door. In the front center of the room was a huge holographic projector. Currently, it was displaying an image of an unfamiliar planet.

“Okay, now that we're all here. Let's get this show on the road. Rangers, the planet before you is the same one you are currently on as it appeared eight thousand years ago. At that time, it held a population of between eleven and fourteen billion humans,” Ben started at the beginning and told them everything. Stopping occasionally to answer brief questions, it took the better part of two hours to relate the entire story, including the discovery of the pirates and the information that they'd uncovered concerning that group.

“Can any of this information concerning the pirates be independently verified?” Jance asked.

“I can certainly point you to where the messages are located in the pirate's computers, Ranger Commander,” Mother said. “However, the only trace I can find in the Duke's computer is a log stating he sent the messages, but not what they contained.”

“Please understand, it isn't that we do not believe you...“ Jance tried to explain, but Ben held up his hand.

“Don't worry about it, Commander. We understand that you need to verify the information yourselves. It is the hope of the people formerly called the pirates that, in light of the new information the Imperial Court will see fit to at least spare the families and perhaps reduce the sentence for a few of their members,” Ben said.

“I cannot speak for the Courts of course, but if there is evidence that they were coerced into these actions as you have said, then there is a better than average chance the Courts would dismiss the charges against them. That being said; it will be difficult to prove coercion if their families are with them,” Jance replied.

“Commander, their families weren't released to them until it was too late for them to stop. Several acts of piracy had already been committed by the time that happened. The records for those acts are present and available in the memory systems of the ships. The Duke had constructed plenty of evidence against them by the time he released their families. They had little choice but to continue doing his bidding, since they couldn't prove he was the one sending them their orders,” Ben replied. “They are also very concerned about their families. Since they were with them at their base, but didn't have anything to do with the actual attacks.””

“By Imperial law, they are guilty by association, as are you, now. However, I can see that there are extenuating circumstances. Since you have come forward with your information, I can dismiss the charges against you and your people based on the fact that you delayed coming forward until you had what you believed are all the facts,” Jance said and the rest of her squad nodded agreement. “As citizens of the Empire the families are duty bound to report all criminal activity. However, considering the seriousness of this case and the involvement of the Duke, I could drop the charges against them as well if we can get definitive proof that the Duke is behind this.”

“Prime Counselor, forgive me for asking, but you have not yet mentioned a motive for the Duke to act in this manner. I grant there is no love lost for this being because of his attitude; however, he is a very important member of the Empire and many would find it hard to believe he has done this just because he could,” one of Jance's team asked.

Ben nodded. “I was actually waiting for you to ask me that. We are still trying to gather data, but everything we have so far tells us that the Duke is planning on staging an attack on Hyperion in an effort to overthrow the Empire.”

Ben had been expecting a reaction from the Rangers and he hadn't been disappointed. They were all shocked and very upset.

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“What evidence do you have that leads you to this conclusion, Prime Council? Please be as detailed as possible so we can follow your logic,” Jance asked, suddenly very serious.

Ben bowed slightly to her and told her everything they knew, as well as what was suspected, as of this moment. When it was over, Jance looked thoughtful and her team looked troubled.

“Prime Council, is there any evidence of the Duke billeting troops here? Such an attack would require a considerable number of troops on the planet, not to mention a great number of warships. We have seen no evidence of either,” the other human Ranger asked.

“Rangers, we have no off-planet resources in which to verify anything, although, I did find references to several off-planet sites scattered around this system in the Duke's computer system. Nothing was mentioned about what was there, but he uses those points as a form of contact with those sites. I've been waiting for him to make contact again so I can trap the message; however, it hasn't happened as yet,” Mother replied.

One of the men in the group on the other side of the isle from the rangers stood. “Uh, begging your pardon, Prime Council, but I think I might know somethin' 'bout that. Uh, not the off-planet stuff, but 'bout the troops here, on this planet.”

Ben nodded to him. “Any information you have would be appreciated, Sir.”

The man nodded and hesitantly began. “After we'd raid a floater or train, we'd have to deliver the cargo we took to a depot out in the ocean. For the last few months, when we'd make a delivery, we noticed that there were a lot of house soldiers there and more seemed to be showing up all the time. Willid told me, uh, Willid runs our scanners for the deliveries, he said that the rock formations on the bottom had changed from the first few trips. He showed me that when we'd started that run, there was a few rock ridges just to the south of the depot, but the rest of the area was sandy. But the last scans he'd taken showed almost no sand at all. There was rock ridges almost covering the bottom for as far as our equipment could reach,” the man said.

Ben looked at Jance. “In case you haven't figured it out by now, the men here are the group you call the pirates,” he indicated the group of men. “They have agreed to surrender to you. These are the men and women that took an active part in the illegal activities. We have taken their families into our population under asylum.” He looked back at the still standing man. “Do you have the coordinates of that depot, sir?””

Another man stood up. “I'm Willid, Sir. The depot is listed as an emergency sea shack in sector one-ninety-nine-thirty-four, delta. It's the only one in that sector, Sir. It has an active beacon, so it shouldn't be hard to find. Just to say, that place is no emergency shelter, Sir. It far too big for that."

Ben nodded to the man. “Mother? Can you get us a picture?”

“I can, but the only one I can get is from the planetary survey office and the image has been tampered with,” Mother replied but put the image up in the hologram.

“Can you show us what's been altered?” Ben asked.

“These images are multi-spectral in composition. While what you see here, is actually the original image, the differences occur in the thermal and topographical settings. Defining the area of tampering is not possible; however, the proof is evident when we compare these two modes.

“In the topographical scan, depicting the actual bottom of the ocean in that area, we can see the rock shelves Mr. Amerath described. As you can see, it covers a very large area surrounding the emergency shelter.

“Now, on the thermal-graphic setting, all we can see is the shelter itself. However, since we know rock tends to hold heat energy better than sand, we can see a discrepancy here.” She put an overlay on the thermal image of where the rock shelf from the topographical scan should have been.

“As sensitive as this scan claims to be, we should see the temperature differences, even thru the water. The recorded depth in this area is less than a hundred feet.” She switched back to the original image.

“Depending on the type of rock, we should also be able to see it with this resolution. I would mention as one last comment – this area was very sandy and flat with no rock outcroppings within five hundred miles according to our original geological study of this area. However, the possibility exists that the rock came to the surface either due to wave activity, or through another cataclysmic event,” Mother finished.

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Jance took out her communicator. “Jance to
D
alphine
, do you read?”

“Good to hear your voice, Commander. Orders?” a voice replied.

Jance smiled. “We have some new friends – the good kind. I need a full spectrum scan of sector one-ninety-nine-thirty-four, better include the adjacent sectors for comparison. Has anyone questioned why you're still in orbit?”

“We'll have it for you in about five minutes, Commander. Yeah, planetary ATC asked us why we were still here. I told them we were ordered to hold position and stand by for new orders. I alerted Command so they'll cover for us if anyone double checks that,” the voice replied.

“Commander, we already know what it is, but since you need independent verification, you should ask for a current fleet status. I'll bet you dinner that most of the Imperial Guardians are away putting out small fires,” Ben said.

Jance passed along the request. “You think the Duke has a fleet hidden somewhere that we don't know anything about?”

Gail stepped up to Ben and he leaned over so she could whisper to him.

“Sir, there are several surface contacts converging over the old pirate base. They appear to be those ships Addson called floaters.”

“Do we have any idea why they're doing that?” Ben asked.

“If it weren't for the fact that those boats are supposed to be nothing but robotic cargo haulers, I'd say the Duke is about to destroy the pirate base,” Gail said.

“Why use floaters? They're slow as hell and they don't have any weaponry,” Ben asked. Then turned. “Mother, is there any unusual computer or satellite activity centered on the old pirate base?”

There was a short pause as Mother searched. “Affirmative, Prime. Two satellites are focused on the area, and a real time feed is being fed to the Duke's private terminal. Further, the floaters are under direct command from a control system located in the local Ducal Residence. The signals are heavily encrypted. It will take me at least two hours to crack it.””

“Can you tap into the satellite feed?” Ben asked.

Jance was watching what was going on. “Is something happening, Prime?” she asked.

“I'm not sure, but it's starting to look like it. There are several floaters converging on the area where the pirate base used to be. They are under direct control by someone in the ducal residence and he's watching this on his terminal. What I don't understand is if he kills off his pirates, how is going to get the rest of the Ranger force to come here? For that matter, who is he going to blame your deaths on and how is he going to make that happen?” Ben asked. “I really don't like not knowing those answers.”

Jance raised her comm again. “Hojoh, you still there?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Raise shields and cloak the ship. Then find someplace to hide, there's a good chance you're in danger,” Jance said.

“Sir, there's nothing up here. Just the standard civilian traffic – the scanners are clear too,” Hojoh replied.

“Hojoh, remember what I said last time you questioned my orders?” Jance countered.

“Raising shields, engaging cloak and looking for a place to hide. Could we return to the planet after we get those scans for you? It's actually the closest and probably the safest place to hide. Otherwise, we could lose contact with you.”

“That's fine, but make damn sure you’re not tracked coming down, and find a spot that's well hidden,” Jance ordered.

“Will do, Commander.”

“Let me know when you're down and hidden,” Jance replied. “Jance out.”

“Prime, I would say you're seeing the Duke's next message to the pirates,” one of the Rangers said.

Ben smiled at the Ranger. “I think you're probably right. That's going to make it difficult to get evidence for you.”

“Not true, Prime. This act alone tells us a good portion of the story,” Jance added. “How would the Duke even know the location of the pirates if he had not been involved with them before this? The floaters are being controlled from his household, and he is currently watching the same feed we are. All of this tells me that he is the shadow in the background.”

“What you couldn't have known, Prime, is that before I came here, I had already had my suspicions about these events. If the Duke had commanded the pirates to continue striking smaller targets, with little to no loss of life, then he would have stayed hidden. But when he commanded them to destroy the Aerie; that broke the pattern. That attack made no sense at all.””

Jance smiled at the 'pirates'. “The fact that you did try to make sure no one got hurt was apparent to us. Up until the attack on Miss Dee's skipper, we had even managed to discount all previous deaths to misfortune due to other conditions. The fact that you did set the missiles to hunt in optical mode thus giving Addson a chance to evade them made us wonder if you were trying to save her, or if you just didn't know how to use the weapon.