Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (48 page)

“Where is your
hardware really located?” Alice asked herself as she virtually
attacked all the security walls protecting the information she was
after. After several attempts the ship’s artificial intelligence
realized what was happening and tried to counter, but it was too
late. “The response from one of the hardware locks on the main
system was faster than the rest, I’m sending you the location now.”

“Holy crap, that was
fast!” Remmy said. “We’re moving out. Thanks, Alice.”

“You’re welcome,”
she replied aloud. She deactivated her neural node and realized that
Havernash was just arriving behind her. “Sorry Percy, you can
return to your post.”

“Oh, all right,” he
said with a quizzical expression. “Did you send the order by
mistake?”

“No, I just thought
it would take me longer to hack the Sunny Shifter’s peripheral
systems and find her main processing vault, but it turns out that the
hauler’s AI wasn’t all that bright. Sorry.”

“Well that answers
another question,” he said with a light chuckle.

“What’s that?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, Havernash, spit
it out,” Frost said over his shoulder. “Your superior officer
isn’t asking just for conversation’s sake.”

“Uh, a bunch of us
kind of thought you got the promotion because you were the Captain’s
daughter,” Percy Havernash replied awkwardly. “But you took care
of some serious problems, and if you’re hacking enemy ships while
you’re doing your thing on the bridge, well…” He eyed Frost and
Kadri, who both had an eye on him before continuing. “Looks like
you can do things none of us can. So, um, what are your orders,
Sergeant?”

Alice couldn’t help
but smile a little at the compliment, even if it was pressured out of
him. She tried not to think about how she got her position,
suspecting the same thing that Havernash and his fellows, but it was
good to hear that a few of them might be coming around. “Back to
your post three frames down the hall, Percy.”

“Aye,” he replied.

“And keep your yap
shut next time you have an opinion and not a report,” Frost added.
“We’re in it, lad. No time for back slapping or navel gazing!”
He waited until Havernash was off the bridge before turning towards
Alice and David. “I need you to pay attention there, help other
stations as you can. I know it looks like we’re through the worst,
but we’re nowhere near. Times like these, a crew relaxes a little,
and that’s when it all goes sideways.”

“Aye, aye,” Alice
replied, feeling singled out.

“Aye, aye” David
added.

“Captain Valent is
about to break through to the command deck of the Barricade,” Kadri
announced. “Looks like the resistance was waiting for them there.”

Quick Communications

“Our scouts have been
defeated,” said the translator to Clark. He was in his private
quarters. Only one room was dry, and the entire wall was transparent
so he could watch the Order of Eden Fleet and the warped stars
beyond. They were in transit, using one giant wormhole. He watched
the smaller ships move like a school of fish between whales,
luminescent gaps in their armour shining along their lengths. One of
the Edxians had broken through on an emergency channel and
interrupted Clark as he was preparing to join a combat operation as
soon as they emerged from their wormhole.

“When?” Clark
asked.

“Moments ago. A ship
called the Warlord is assaulting a group of your vessels. My
commander in the area sought to lend aid,” replied the Edxian.
There was no way of knowing who was speaking. They refused to
identify themselves unless Clark met one in person, and that had only
taken place once. Another fact of speaking with the Edxians that
annoyed him to no end was their access to communications systems his
people hadn’t been able to reverse engineer. They could communicate
instantaneously with any of their ships. At first they thought they
used methods that were similar to their space travel technology, but
no, it was something different, and they weren’t sharing. Every
time he had a conversation with an Edxian, he couldn’t help but
think about the technology they were using to communicate with him.

“The Warlord was last
reported on the far side of the Iron Head Nebula, you aren’t
permitted to have ships there,” Clark replied, suppressing his
rising frustration.

“We sent them to
observe one of your more vulnerable points. We were right to do so.”

“That position and
several like it are left vulnerable because the losses we suffer are
acceptable when you consider how much hardware will make it through
the nebula. Having said that, it’s no business of yours,
Communicator. Your job is to supervise and secure the eleven worlds
your people are allowed to settle as broods. How is that going?”

“The humans on Pandem
resist more than expected. You promised they would be easy fodder for
our young,” replied the translated voice. It was easy to imagine
the repulsive Edxian speaking with the lights out, its carapace
plates shifting as it clicked and hissed in its own language.

“Your young are not
robust enough,” Clark said. “Maybe you landed eggs from the wrong
genetic line. Just like I’m starting to believe your commanders are
of an inferior brood themselves. By interfering in human concerns so
far from your designated territory, you’ve exposed yourselves as
aggressors in our war. I’m maintaining the Order of Eden as a
system to deliver worlds to you as brood planets, and to hide your
presence in our galaxy. If everyone finds out that you’re here,
that the true purpose of the Order comes down to supporting your
race’s desire to move into the Milky Way, then everything I’ve
done becomes pointless, and I may as well dissolve the Order and take
my core fleet elsewhere.”

“The overly-complex
political manoeuvres of your people do not concern us. We have
already begun building our own army of humans and they are on their
way to the Milky Way, as you call it.”

Clark had heard that
before, that the Edxians had somehow bred humans in their own galaxy
and they were a subjugated people in their culture. He’d been
hearing of this human army for months, but never met a single human
who said they were a servant to the Edxians. He decided to move on to
more important things. “The Warlord defeated your people and still
has escape capabilities?”

“Yes, they were well
armed. It was unexpected.”

“Did they capture any
of your people or technology?” Clark asked.

“Not yet, our ships
were able to self corrode their systems. The crew will find other
means of survival,” the communicator replied.

“You mean they will
try to take the Warlord?” Clark asked.

“Yes.”

“Then some of your
people will be captured!” Clark burst. He couldn’t contain
himself any longer. “Dead or alive, Jacob Valent will drag what’s
left of one of them in front of the British Alliance, the Core Worlds
media, and everyone else, and prove that you’re in our galaxy!”

“My people will kill
Jacob Valent and take the Warlord. This is something that will be.
There will be no revelation. Humans are weak. You will see.”

The communication ended
and Clark was left in the dark with his rage. The peaceful scene of
his fleet around the command carrier was something to glare at, not
take solace in. “God damn it! Why did I take Hampon’s place?”
he shouted.

He knew there was no
one else he trusted. If the Order and their various partners weren’t
in place to at least try and contain the Edxian threat, they would
wage open war against humanity. If the Order turned and fought the
Edxians, they’d win for a day, wiping out a few small fleets. Not
long after, a few months, perhaps a year later, the Edxian warrior
clans would come, and humanity could be subjugated utterly, or
destroyed.

“I either recruit
more into the Order until we can win every war in front of us, or I
disappear and save myself,” he whispered into the darkness. A
mental image of Eve in one of her fine dresses addressing a crowd
with fevered zeal flashed through his mind and he shook his head.
“She’s become a freak of faith, believing her own rhetoric.
There’s no trustworthy leader there.”

His mind wandered to
the Warlord and he couldn’t help thinking about Jacob Valent. “If
he were in my position, would he do anything differently?” The
question haunted him as it filled the empty room, and continued to
for days after.

Placement and Progression

Ayan took it upon
herself to guide a pair of brothers, the MacMillans, from the shuttle
transporting them from the Port Rush recruitment base to their new
apartment inside the Everin Building. She was escorted by a pair of
senior placement officers, security people, and she had Lacey at her
side. The brothers looked ragged, wide-eyed, and just recently
scrubbed. They were surprised to see her and Lacey with their
security escort, even more shocked that she was going to personally
lead them to their new quarters in the building.

They were experienced
shipwrights from the York-Townsend System sectors away, and were
trapped on Tamber when the Holocaust Virus infected the starliner
taking them home. York-Townsend was struck hard by the virus, and the
whole system was a lawless waste. The most common footage available
was gang recordings made by groups bragging about territory, their
supply stockpile, and their firepower. If they were anything like the
gangs that were plaguing Port Rush City and many parts of Kambis,
then it wasn’t fit to return to. Haven Shore was the first bit of
luck the pair she was guiding had in nearly a year. They’d met the
gangs in Port Rush and been forced to work for one on several damaged
shuttles. They were only able to escape by stowing away in one once
it was finished.

The new recruiting
representatives followed Ayan and her entourage as she told them
about the building, asking the MacMillans about what they wanted to
do, and about their hopes upon arriving on Haven Shore. “Hopes?”
asked the younger brother, who looked older at first with an out of
control beard, standing a few centimetres taller than his brother.
“What d’you mean, hopes?”

“Haven Shore will be
here a long time,” Ayan told him with a smile. “The people who
have stayed with Haven Shore and Triton Fleet have survived a direct
assault from the Order, and we won a fight with the Carthans. Skilled
people like you and your brother have dreams, I’m sure, and even
though we’re headed into a war, those dreams can help shape what
happens here.”

“That’s…” the
older MacMillan brother started. He stopped and rubbed a scar running
across his cheek. “Week ago, we were starvin’ on the Toxic Coast.
Now we’re in a lift goin’ down to family quarters. All respect,
Lady, but I think I’m already dreamin’. Ask us again when that
passes.”

“I will,” Ayan
said. “We’re short on qualified machinists and shipwrights, so
I’m afraid you’ll be working in our main hangar starting the day
after tomorrow.” They stepped out of the lift and were welcomed
into the family quarters by the thick smell of hot food coming from
the cafeteria. They passed the double doors leading there and Ayan
was thoroughly glad to see about thirty people from that section of
the building eating a variety of fresh dishes that wouldn’t have
been possible if they didn’t have something left in storage. The
most important thing about what she was seeing in that room as she
passed wasn’t the food on the table, it was the atmosphere. She’d
seen it before on ships she’d served on, that wonderful, mild
euphoria shared by the crew after a crisis had been overcome and they
felt safe once more. “This cafeteria is communal, every section of
the building has one,” Lacey was explaining. “Haven Shore and
Triton Fleet provide the food, but you’ll have to join the schedule
for cleaning and food preparation. You’ll have to participate in
three meals a week until the section is filled, then it’ll be down
to one. You’ll help prepare a meal under a cook that directs the
kitchens and clean up afterwards. The rest of the week, you won’t
have to worry about it.”

“So there’s a cook
who will show us what we’re to do?” the younger brother asked.
“We won’t have to muck around on our own, try to concoct
something in a pot?”

“No,” Ayan said.
“I’m no cook myself, but when I was on shift for my section I
just followed directions, that’s all you have to do.”

“You were on the
schedule?”

“Everyone who lives
in the Everin Building is. Rank doesn’t exclude you from eating, so
I wasn’t exempt from a bit of work once a week. I don’t think I
would have gotten to know the people in my section at all if I didn’t
work in the kitchen,” Ayan said. It had been a couple of weeks
since she’d thought about it, and she couldn’t help but wonder
how Alaka would make out when he took her place on the schedule. She
would have to check in on him, even if it was just to see him working
in the kitchen.

“You’re probably
wondering why we don’t use automated food preparation,” Lacey
added, “And the answer is fairly simple. We don’t have the
machinery right now, and even when we do, we’ll still maintain a
living kitchen, where the people who live here make their own dishes.
The two hours a week you spend cooking is important partially because
you will get to know the people you’re working with, and you’ll
have an opportunity to do something for your neighbours. It makes all
the difference, you’ll see.”

They turned a corner
and came to a freshly made set of sliding double doors. “Here it
is,” Ayan said, gesturing towards the door. “This is your
apartment, here. Besides you, only security can enter, and they have
to log their reasons for entry with their superiors, so you shouldn’t
expect a visit from them. There’s a reasonable common room, a
private room for both of you and, since you’re both technicians,
there’s a spare room that you can use for personal projects. Oh,
and there’s a bathroom. There are other rules to the Everin
Building, but since you passed all our checks during the recruitment
process, I doubt you’ll conflict with any of them. You should look
them over anyway, just so you’re aware of the laws here.” She
fixed both brothers with a big smile and watched as the door slid
open and the brothers looked inside. “You can drop your things here
and join the others in the cafeteria. You’re on your own from here,
if you need any advice or direction on where you have to be for work,
the Crewcast system will tell you everything you need to know,
including your credit rate. Like you were told before, you maintain
your position in the Everin Building by working consistently, and
over time earn luxury credits that you can convert to cash, give to
people for services and goods, or use to buy extras from our shop.
There’s not much there now because we’re using most of our
resources to build and trade, but it’ll get better.”