The Ninth: Invasion (37 page)

“So you’re the one who got them through the nebula.” Brent said after she ended her kiss.

Janet eyed him.

“We’ve had quite an exciting day so far,” Alden said with a smile, “but let’s not discuss things out here in the hallway.  The chefs have prepared a lovely meal for all of us.”

Alden quickly ushered the captains and troopers into the dining room.  The half eaten meals of the troopers were still resting under the decorative hoods.  New meals had been set out for the captains.  With a large smile on his face, Alden retook his seat and waited for the others.  The captains stared at the food in front of them without eating.

“It’s not poisoned, if that’s what you are worried about,” Alden said, taking a bite.  “I know Core Industries and the military haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I think you can all agree we have more pressing concerns at the minute.”

The captains all stared at the short man with the messy beard.  Slowly the short man took a bite out of his meal and chewed it deliberately.

“It’s too sweet for my tastes,” the man said through his unkempt facial hair, “but that’s just personal preference.”

The others started working on their own meals.

“Now that we’ve settled that,” Alden said, eyeing the captains, “I think it’s high time for introductions.”

“Relax, Alden,” Janet said soothingly.  “You know I wouldn’t have guided them here if we couldn’t trust them.”

“Trust is a rare commodity in times of war,” Brent said, eyeing Alden.

Janet instantly locked her gaze on the Weaver.  Several of the captains raised an eyebrow or two as they continued eating.  Humphrey was the first to get Brent’s meaning and scooted his chair closer to Rhea.  Alden started laughing.

“Well spoken.  We were interrupted with such poor timing,” Alden said reassuringly.  “You have nothing to fear; I have no further plans against your friend.  I did give the initial order, but Cartier was the one who ordered the PSF to ignore my son’s protests.”

“I have to agree with you, Mr. Hooten,” the short man said.  “It is high time for introductions.  Who are you, young man, and why is there a squad of troopers at the table?”

“His friends call him Brent,” Alden answered.  “These troopers are friends of my son.  There was a minor altercation between them and the PSF.  It was just an oversight, and things have been resolved.”

“I see.  Is this all this true?” the short man asked the troopers.

“Basically.  We are hoping you could give us more information on the condition of the Commonwealth, Mr.” Tyra’s voice paused as she waited for the short man to give his name.

“Shen.  And it’s not Mr., it’s Admiral.”

Tyra was taken by complete surprise.  Alden raised an eyebrow.  The captains didn’t pause for a moment as they continued to eat.

“Told you I’ve gone up in the world,” Rufas said, nudging Kindra.

“Rufas dear, who is that
charming
girl you keep playing with?” Janet asked with just a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“You’ll never believe this, but she’s my little sister.”

“Really?  I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“That’s not the only secret he’s got,” a captain said with a snicker.

“It is truly an honor to have an admiral of the Navy at my table,” Alden said graciously.  “So, I gather Mr. Linwood was correct in his statement your fourteen ships are all that remains of the navy?”

“More or less,” Shen said dejectedly.  “We knew something was wrong when they started jamming communications, but it didn’t matter.  They knew where and when to hit us.  Most of our staging points were lost in the initial scuffle.”

“That’s impossible!” Rhea shouted.  “The Navy still outnumbered the ITU.  More had to have survived.”

“It’s true, we did outnumber them at first.  But they had the element of surprise on their side and knew
exactly
where to hit us.  Without warning, they razed the dry-docks, destroying hundreds of ships in for repair or still under construction.  Most of the ships at the staging points were refueling or swapping out crews.  They put of a brave fight, but they didn’t last long either.”

One of the captains put a hand on the admiral’s shoulder.

“We would have lost more,” Shen continued, shaking his head as he spoke, “but a lone ship avoided one of the ITU traps and got word out.  By the time we realized what was happening, and how dire our losses were, it was too late to do anything.  We didn’t have the ships to mount a decent defense any more, let alone any kind of offensive.  My understanding is most of the isolated ships intentionally crash-landed on worlds still held by the Commonwealth.  They’ve managed to create a last line of defense that has held off the ITU ground forces, so far.”

“And your fourteen ships?” Alden asked.

“Actually, only twelve were under my command.  We were on a border patrol when the fighting started.  Thankfully, we were close enough to pick up Mr. Linwood’s distress signal.  He and a second ship filled with diplomats were on their way to see if they could reason with the ITU and reduce mounting tensions.”  Shen scoffed.  “If only they knew.  Obviously, the ITU wasn’t in the mood to talk.  We managed to intervene and save both ships, but one was critically damaged.  Thanks to Mr. Linwood’s . . . friend,” Shen nodded to Janet, “we were able to disguise ourselves and sneak past the ITU patrols to make it safely here.”

“Things are not looking too good for us,” Tyra said with a sigh.

“That has got to be the understatement of the year,” Janet said.  “The Union is everywhere out there.  There isn’t a single world that isn’t under siege.  The Commonwealth forces, or at least what’s left of them, are managing to hold their own.  But it’s only a matter of time before the Union overwhelms them.”

“So the Union might just win this war?” Ronald asked, rubbing his chin.

“Not while I’m alive,” Alden said with a grin.

“What do you plan to do?” Rufas asked.  “Impose economic sanctions on them?  I’m afraid that refusing to trade won’t stop them this time.”

“Core Industries is planning something a little more heavy handed.”

“With what?” Shen asked.  “Your security force is barely large enough to defend your trade lanes under normal circumstances.  As things are now, you must be pushed to the limit,”

“That would be true if he hadn’t already evacuated the other CI worlds,” Brent said with a smile.

Everyone at the table stared at the Weaver in shock.  Alden and Cain both dropped their utensils.  Janet’s eyes widened.

“Think about it,” Brent said, putting down his fork.  “This world is packed with refugees, and yet they all somehow managed to arrive here before anyone else.  Our ship left Deriso
right
as the ITU started invading and managed to get here without running into any trouble.  We should have been one of the first to arrive.  However, the PSF was already at their limit before we even landed, plus the docking hub was empty when you all showed up.  There isn’t an active flow of refugees through that hub.  Obviously, Alden knew the ITU was up to no good and started evacuating at the first sign of trouble.  I bet Eos is the only world with any CI personnel on it.”

The captains at the table shifted their glances from Brent to Alden, unable to believe what they’d heard.  It made sense, but to evacuate an entire planet was no small matter.  To think Alden could have undertaken such a thing on several worlds without anyone suspecting was borderline insanity.

“Is there any truth behind the boy’s . . .
guess
?” Shen asked.

Janet cast a glance at Alden that answered the admiral’s question.  Brent had hit the nail firmly on the head.

“We are going to have to buy you a leash, young man,” Alden said with a grin.

“Or at least a muzzle.”  Janet did not share Alden’s grin.

“Why didn’t you warn us?” Shen jumped to his feet shouting.

“Would you have listened?” Alden asked calmly.  “If the untrustworthy CI came to your front door with a gift basket and a warning about the ITU, would you have paid any attention?”

“Of course I would!”

“Really?” Alden asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.  “Can you say in all honesty you’d believe us
completely
?

“. . . I might have suspected the gift basket was a bomb.”  Shen slowly sat down and let out a sigh.  “You’re right.  We never would have believed you.  If you had tried to warn us you would have tipped your hand to the ITU for no reason.”

“That’s a very mature position, Admiral.  I see you deserve the rank.”

“Don’t stroke my ego.  Just tell us what you’ve got planned.”

“Sorry, I’m used to dealing with politicians who would
die
without their daily ego stroke.  Basically put, we plan on chopping off the Union’s head.”

Shen’s hand started fiddling with his unkempt beard; he was obviously deep in thought.  The rest of the table watched silently, waiting for the admiral’s reaction.

“It’s madness,” Shen said reluctantly, “but then again so is this entire war.  You do realize they’ll just promote someone off world as the new corporate head?”

“No doubt, but losing their homeworld and their current leadership would be a crushing blow to their morale if nothing else.”  Alden sounded like he was pitching a business deal more than a war plan.  “Plus, it would take them some time to recover, and infighting over
who
gets that promotion could divide their ranks.”

“Do you have the ships or the ground forces for something like this?”

“It’ll be tight, but we can do it.  With your ships and troopers, we shouldn’t have any problems.”

“I’d imagine not, especially if you have the support of the troopers at our table.”  A long smile pulled at Shen’s lip.  “Leashed or not.”

“So, we are agreed then.”

“I’d rather meet my end in the jaws of a beast than living with it in fear.”  Shen turned to face one of the captains.  “How long until we can depart?”

“We should be ready shortly, Admiral.  We ordered the men to restock and refuel while we were away,” the captain said.

“One small problem,” Rufas said.

“What’s wrong now?” Janet asked, wrapping her arms around him.

“The ship I went down in won’t be able to do much heavy lifting.  It will be a miracle if we can get it back into space at all.”

“The navy doesn’t depend on miracles, Mr. Linwood, we
make
them,” Shen said, standing.

Shen and the captains nodded to Alden respectfully but did not salute.  Rufas turned to Janet after the last captain had left the room.

“They can have their miracles,” Rufas said.  “
I’m
not going up in that rust bucket again.”

“Probably better if you stay here anyway.”  Janet played with his hair, winding it into little twirls.  “I don’t think we’ll have much need for diplomats where we are going.”

“You just make sure you get yourself back here in one piece.”

“And you make sure I don’t come back to any rumors about you having fun on the side.”

“You might as well ask him to stop breathing,” Kindra said under her breath.

The troopers chuckled as Rufas made a face at his sister.  Together, they all finished the meal, each heading off after they were done.  After finishing his meal, Brent rose and bowed like the tripod to Alden.

“Go and save the Commonwealth,” Alden said, without looking at him.  “Just know the two of us are going to have a little chat when you get back.”

Brent nodded and hobbled off to collect his personal belongings.  As he got to the room, he found the rest of the squad already assembled, with Cassandra holding his bag.  She quickly moved to his side and helped him keep off his bad leg.

“And here I was just getting used to the idea of sleeping in a real bed,” Sanderson said.

“No rest for the weary.”  Kindra smiled.

“You seem pretty happy about leaving.”  Tyra nudged her.

“Are you kidding?  I’m not happy.  I’m
ecstatic
!  Now that I know where my bother is hiding out, I can properly avoid the playboy.  No woman is safe while he is mobile.”

“I don’t know about that.  That Janet woman seems to have him wrapped pretty tightly around her little finger,” Penny said with a smirk.

“I’m definitely not going to miss this,” Doug said with a warm smile.

“Miss what, Dougie?” Marie asked.

“All this talk.  For the first time we have an assignment and can act like honest troopers for once.”

“All you are is an honest pain that can’t hold his drinks,” Marie said with a sigh.

The troopers burst into laugher as they left for the docking hub.  The mass transit system on the planet was well developed and reasonably quick, but compared to the container network it was dreadfully slow.  Of course, they weren’t thrown around like produce when they reached their destination, so it did have some advantages.  As they made their way to the docking hub, they spotted a large gathering ahead of them.  Troopers of the Commonwealth were loading crates onto the landed warships while local security forces were holding back a large crowd.  Brent noticed Philip assisting the security forces.  As they got closer, Philip spotted him.  Together with a few other Protectorates, he bowed like the tripod to Tyra’s squad.  The gathered crowd seemed to grow more intense after Philip’s bow.  A single trooper left the others loading the ships and headed straight for Tyra’s squad.