The Ascendant Stars (42 page)

As the picture faded to black, Greg sat back in his chair, noting the grim faces all around him.

Well, how would I feel if I’d found out that something like that had happened during the early years of our colony? In fact, it could have happened when we discovered the Uvovo on Nivyesta. Were we just lucky enough to hold on to reason?

‘So, have many of your people seen this?’ Greg said.

‘As soon as the Bund became aware of its existence, via some unknown source, it was banned, declared an illegal propaganda tool designed to break our unified will,’ said Braddock. ‘So naturally people then began actively seeking it out. At the same time, several pieces of corroborating evidence started showing up, century-old diaries, secretly recorded group testimonials, even a couple of hundred-year-old commandery reports hinting strongly at disturbing events. In short, Alecto City has become a simmering pot of allegations, accusations and denials, even administrators who seemed to be in danger of being thrown out of their offices.

‘But then Becker’s Shadow Watch troopers began arresting the more vocal critics, as well as their associates. The last we heard, the clampdown was so heavy-handed that some districts of Alecto have refused to permit entry to any city officials.’

‘I didn’t know that the situation had become so charged,’ said Berg. ‘How has it affected the Nightwalker Commandery?’

‘There was fighting outside the barracks when Shadow Watch troopers tried to arrest a couple of our men.’ Seeing Greg’s puzzlement, Braddock explained: ‘Before Captain Rawlins became Preceptor of Veterans, he was Captain of the Nightwalkers, highly decorated and well liked. Our current captain, Eisler, is unfortunately one of Becker’s sycophants, which if anything has intensified our loyalty to the memory of Sam Rawlins.’

‘I see,’ Greg said. ‘So what you need to know is how welcoming a future Darien government would be to an immigration of Tygrans, aye?’ He leaned forward. ‘Assuming that we survive the drittstorm that’s about tae come down on our heads!’

Braddock met his gaze. ‘That’s correct, Mr Cameron.’

‘Well, I tell ye, my people are as cantankerous, difficult and opinionated a bunch as you’re ever likely to meet. We’ve a saying – put a Scot, a Rus and a Norj in a room and after an hour ye’ll have six different arguments not just three!’ Everyone around the table laughed. ‘Of course, that just means that we don’t enter into friendships that easily, but – if someone goes out of their way to help us, even risking their lives to do so, then you can be sure that when they need help we won’t let them down. Does that answer your question?’

‘It’s as good an answer as I could hope for,’ said Braddock. ‘Especially now that our Ezgara cover identity will soon be completely blown.’

‘Aye, well, in the meantime we should concentrate on staying alive, I reckon. Oh, and I probably don’t need to say this but hold off talking about the Rawlins testament with anyone from the Vox H or the Imisil, right?’

Braddock gave a sardonic smile. ‘Yes, Mr Cameron, it goes without saying.’

‘Of course, which is why I said it.’ Greg stood, as did the others. ‘Lieutenant Ash and the new ranking Imisil commander, First Proposer Conlyph, are putting together a definitive defensive battle plan, in consultation with the Vox Humana. Ash should be in touch after we’re away, to let you know where you fit in. Also I think the survivors of the
Firebrand are
going to be gathered by shuttle from the Vox H ships they ended up in, then brought here.’

‘That is excellent,’ Braddock said. ‘My thanks.’

With that the meeting was over and Greg and Lieutenant Berg were escorted back to the airlock. On the way Berg reminded Greg about the Vox Humana admiral’s request for a meeting, which she was now adamant should go ahead. All through the audience with Braddock, Berg had been receiving updates from the commentary network grouping together the commanders and need-to-know advisers. This innovation had been strongly recommended by First Proposer Conlyph, and the others had readily
agreed. After the meeting Berg had used his datapad to advise the command group that Braddock was prepared to be part of the defence of Darien.

‘How long will it take to get over to their flagship?’ Greg said as they re-entered the shuttle.

‘We could just use the shuttle, head straight there,’ Berg said. ‘It would be faster than returning to
Starfire
, flying it to the flagship, then getting back in the shuttle for another short hop.’

Greg strapped into the co-pilot couch next to Berg, then nodded.

‘Makes sense. Let’s do it that way, then.’

Muffled thuds came through the hull as the airlock declamped, releasing the shuttle. Soon they were on their way and Greg settled back, eyes shut, enjoying the comfort of the padded couch. Yet relaxation proved elusive, somehow, and the tension in his neck eased only slightly. Fragments of the Rawlins testament replayed in his thoughts, along with the sense of revulsion he’d felt on witnessing the evidence of genocide. Previously he would have said that such a crime would be impossible to conceal for any length of time, yet clearly it had been.

And it struck at the heart of his sense of Humanity. Cynics would say that any Human being, any community, any society was just as capable of such atrocities – all it would require was the right combination of circumstances, the right pressures, the right fear, and it would happen. Greg had encountered such arguments before, faced them down, defeating them with his belief in the basic compassion of Human individuals, that in the end the compassionate reason of Humanity as a group existed and would triumph over or at least outlive the savagery of rationalised callousness and the cruelty and hate that it fostered.

Yet he still heard his inner cynic laugh and say: Really? You can look upon the situation we’re in, surrounded by rapacious foes whose soldiers would burn you away to ashes as soon as look at you, sitting here and waiting for a truly gigantic hammer to fall, and you’re still mouthing high-flown rhetoric. What kind of a fool are you?

A realistic fool
, he thought.
We’ve gone from being on our own to gaining the support of our Human brothers and sisters, the Pyreans, the Tygrans and the Vox Humana, and we even have the backing of the Roug and the Imisil
…

Aye? And what about the warpwell? What about the Legion of Avatars? See? – there’s always some bigger, nastier brute getting ready to carve a path of blood. Now, for us cynics that’s what’s known as a win-win …

Greg found that he had no answer, except for the embers of hope.

Next to him, Berg was dividing his attention between monitoring the shipboard systems – which were already under the control of an artificial cognition – and a console holopanel showing the ongoing movements of ships into a sparse-looking shell formation around the planet Darien. The Imisil newcomers were slow but powerful cruisers with wide, almost barrel-shaped midsections and armed with heavy-output beam projectors. Two of them were stationed over Nivyesta along with the smaller, faster Vox Humana ships. All the others were moving into position over the planet.

Berg had configured the holoscreen into a number of sub-screens that he could bring forward, expand, minimise and move by touch. One of them showed a cycle of topics from Nivyesta, each one a capsule summary vid. Leaning forward, Greg saw views of the great continental jungle Segrana, the evidence of battle that he had seen first-hand, the charred trees, burning body pyres, the heaps of wrecked machinery. Contact had been established with an enclave of Human researchers and one of the subscreens showed an interview with a bearded man he didn’t recognise. The researcher spoke of the battles within and above Segrana and how the Uvovo had kept the Humans safe, but there was no mention of Catriona.

He closed his eyes and lay back again.

No mention of a ghost
, he thought.
No mention of what she did, what we did
…

A low, insistent pinging made him open his eyes to see Berg frantically keying through screen menus.

‘What’s the problem?’ he said.

‘We’ve got company,’ the Tygran said, indicating the shuttle’s viewport with a tilt of the head.

Scattered across the black interplanetary void, Greg could see momentary flashes, one or two every few seconds. He was puzzled for only an instant.

‘Ships,’ he said. ‘Dropping out of hyperspace. That’ll be … ’

‘Not the Imisil,’ Berg said. ‘They’re Earthsphere warships!’

The shock news made his heart start to pound.

‘But … they’re not supposed to be … ’ He paused to compose his thoughts. ‘Are we in danger? How many are there?’

‘They’re coming through in a rough arc extending away from the gas giant so we shouldn’t be in any immediate peril,’ Berg said. ‘Numbers – currently thirty-six and rising.’

‘What’s the reaction from our superiors?’

‘Everyone has gone to combat alert. The remaining Vox Humana vessels including their flagship are moving off and the
Vanquisher
is with them. Should be about to make microjumps to Darien … yes, they’re away. And we’ve been advised by Lieutenant Ash to forget meeting the Vox-H admiral and to get the hell out, as he put it. I’ve signalled the
Starfire
to rendezvous with us in ten minutes—’

A dazzling flash of light blasted into the cramped cockpit, cutting him off. As it passed Greg blinked a few times then yelled at the sight of the ship now looming directly ahead, filling the viewport.

‘This boat better have an autoevasion system,’ said Berg as he braced himself against the console. ‘Or else we’re dead meat.’

The autopilot applied braking thrusters to angle the shuttle away, yet still the warship seemed to be all that was in front of them. Its name was spelled out across the stretch of stern hull plating –
Tiberius
, its black capitals growing ever larger … until the shuttle’s autopilot finally got it on a parallel course, sweeping across the upper hull, missing a sensordome by metres.

Greg gave a shaky laugh then noticed that Berg still looked grim.

‘What?’ he said. ‘What now?’

‘They’re activating their grappler field. I might be able to … ’

‘Unidentified small craft, this is ESS
Tiberius
– come about, power down your drive and prepare to be brought … wait, sir, what are you doing?’

As Greg and Berg stared at each other, a second voice came over the link.

‘I ordered you to target and destroy that vessel, orders that you disobeyed in a war zone … you know what the punishment for mutiny is … ’

There was a sudden chorus of angry voices, some of them shouting about new orders, then the channel went dead.

‘What … the hell was all that about?’ Greg said.

‘Not sure,’ said Berg. ‘But those grapplers have been switched back to standby mode, which is the signal for us to put some distance between us and them … ’

Berg had also sent a brief message to the
Starfire
and less than ten minutes later the shuttle rejoined its mothership. Even before he left the shuttle, Berg was ordering the bridge officers to ready the navigationals for a microjump to the Darien vicinity. But when they entered the
Starfire
’s bridge the face of Lieutenant Ash was on the holopanels, waiting.

‘Mr Berg, Mr Cameron,’ he said. ‘Nice to see you back in one piece. Now, rather than cross half the system to join us, we want you to take up a position near that gas giant and monitor developments as they unfold.’

‘Developments?’ Greg said with a frown.

‘The Earthsphere fleet is not making any move or preparation in the direction of Darien,’ said Berg, who was studying data-streams on his holoconsole.

‘Exactly so,’ said Ash. ‘Something is very wrong aboard some of those ships. Half of them aren’t in formation and a few are still where they were on exiting hyperspace.’

‘We overheard an argument during a communication from one of them, the
Tiberius
,’ said Berg. ‘Something about new orders, and it sounded like a fight was about to break out.’

Ash nodded. ‘The Imisil long-range sensors have been picking up a lot of ship-to-ship messaging on the subject. Seems that the Earthsphere president was forced by political pressure to cancel the fleet’s original orders. They are now supposed to take up positions around Darien, which has now been declared a provisional Earthsphere protectorate … ’

Greg felt a wave of exhilaration and almost cheered out loud.

‘That is … amazing! … isn’t it? … but their ships aren’t … okay, Ash, what
is
going on?’

Ash was wearing a knowledgeable smile which at that moment Greg found aggravating.

‘On many of their ships,’ the Tygran said, ‘the new orders have been rejected by either the captain or the first officer, who have taken extreme measures to exert their authority. Four captains have been removed from command and confined to quarters, and two have been shot. Six first officers have been shot dead and nine have been confined to quarters. And here is the revelation – all who rebelled against the orders have AI implants, every single one.’

‘That’s a bit disturbing,’ Greg said.

‘It gets better. There are two ships whose senior officers nearly all have the same implants. The captains have refused to recognise the validity of the orders, claiming that President Castiglione has been blackmailed into rescinding the original ones. Both ships are surrounded by vessels loyal to the fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Ngassa.’