Shadow Space Chronicles 1: The Fallen Race (29 page)

“
Admiral Collae, I think letting him go might be overly generous.” Mannetti said, “He’s betrayed me once before and he’s certainly shown a determination to return here.  Besides, the
War Shrike
was mine and I want it back.”

Admiral Collae stared at Lucius, “Perhaps you’re right.”

Lucius nodded, “I see.  I wish that things could be otherwise.”  He nodded to Doko, and the
War Shrike
’s defense screens came active, along with those of the
Gebneyr .

“
Surely you don’t want to fight this out?” Collae said.  “You won’t cost your crew’s lives for nothing will you?”

Lucius waited.

“You know things can get quite painful for those civilians on the planet, don’t you?” Collae said.  “A weapons exchange in orbit can have shots hitting planet-side.”

“
Let’s just get this over with.” Admiral Mannetti said.  “We’ve got—”  She broke off and her mouth hung open as she stared at her screen.

A new fleet crested the horizon of Faraday.  It came around from the far side of the planet.  Led by a screen of destroyers and cruisers came a massive superdreadnought.  The first, and only, of its class, the
Emperor Romulus
swept forward menacingly, a massive, black wedge.

“
Attention pirate craft.  This is Emperor Romulus IV of the Nova Roma Empire.  You have voided our treaty and insulted the honor of our military.  You are trespassing on my sovereign territory.”  The young man’s voice could sound quite stern when backed by that firepower, Lucius decided.  “I offer you this chance to surrender.”

Admiral Mannetti stared at the screen, totally speechless.

“To the crew of the traitor to the Empire, Admiral Mannetti, I offer leniency for your crimes should she be apprehended alive and turned over for Imperial Justice.”  There was a slight pause.

Admiral Mannetti looked around rapidly.  “Don’t you—” Her transmission cut off.

“Admiral Collae, what do you have to say about this?” Lucius couldn’t, quite, withhold a smile.

“
It appears you planned to betray us, in turn.” Admiral Collae said, his face as emotionless as a stone bust.  “I suppose it’s only foresight that I took my own precautions.”

“
That’s absurd.” Lucius snapped.  “I would have split the fleet—”

“
Whatever you say is irrelevant.”  A relayed tactical screen replaced Collae’s image.  It took Lucius a moment to recognize the Zeta Tau system, and Alpha Seven.  He immediately recognized the Forerunner-class destroyer that rested in high orbit above the moon.  “I interpolated that your base of operations would have to be a system receiving little traffic, and still retain a place to keep several thousand refugees in relative comfort.  Few places manage to meet those requirements.”  Admiral Collae’s gruff voice said, “Unfortunately, my men had to destroy the corvette you had on station.  They fought valiantly, I’m told.”

“
What is the meaning of this, Admiral?” Lucius said.

“
Simple enough.  That destroyer can kill everyone in the base on Alpha Seven.  They can finish the job that the PCRA never did.  It might even be lauded as a victory.” Admiral Collae's gruff voice cut through the silence of the bridge.  “But I’ve no taste for that.  My offer is that you withdraw.  Leave this planet and the Dreyfus Fleet.  I’ll leave your people alive.”

Lucius let out a sigh, “No deal.  You’ve shown you can’t be trusted.  I’m not going to let you have an entire planet’s population to use as pawns.  I’m not going to let a callous bastard like you have the Dreyfus Fleet.  I’ll let you leave, alive, and that’s all you get.”

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation, Baron.” Collae said.  “Perhaps I didn’t make it clear?”  On the screen one of the destroyers fired, once.  A blossom of gas vented from the hit on the base.  “How many people just died, a hundred, a thousand?”

Lucius shook his head and cut the connection.  He broadcast out to all of the ships, “All units who surrender will be treated favorably.  I gave Collae a chance to leave, he didn’t take it.”

They waited almost a full minute, “Collae is trying to reach you, sir.”

Lucius shook his head.  “Open fire.”

Weapons went hot.  The ship thrummed as weapons prepared to fire on the Republic officer’s ships.  An instant later, Collae's ships vanished.  “They jumped to shadow, sir,” Doko said.  “It had to be an emergency jump.”

Lucius shook his head, looking over at Kandergain.  “He had Mistress Blanc plot the course, didn’t he?”

She nodded, “She’d be able to plot a course in under thirty seconds, she could have transmitted that to the other ships.”

Lucius sighed, he opened a channel to the Emperor’s flagship, “Well, your Highness, I hope the evacuation went as planned?”

The younger man nodded, “We left a small caretaker force.  Hopefully they got into the deeper bunkers in time.”

Lucius nodded, but he thought of Lieutenant Jessi Toria and her crew.  Only the latest of the ghosts on his conscience.  “Can you dispatch some ships to look into it?  I don’t think Collae is the vengeful type…”

“But he’d kill every man woman and child on Faraday or any other world to accomplish his goals.”  The Emperor nodded.  “I understand, Baron.”

Lucius nodded.  “I believe we'd better get some Marines aboard Mannetti's ships before some enterprising person decides to emulate Admiral Collae.  Thank you for your help.  Excellent timing, your Highness.

“Do you think I’d let him be late, brother mine?” Alanis said as she jutted her head into the screen.  There was a slight pause, “Let me know as soon as you hear anything about Reese.”

Lucius nodded.  He did not mention the fact he’d specifically told her
not
to be anywhere near a ship that might be involved in the fight.  He had a terrible suspicion that she’d ignore any such orders from him or any other person.  He cut the link, “Thank god she hasn’t joined the military, she’d be impossible.”

Kandergain smiled at him, “I can’t imagine.”

Lucius shook his head, “She’s too smart for her own good.  She’d never follow orders, she’d always be haring off on her own missions, she’d probably have some kind of cult of personality of followers…”  He trailed off, then gave her a suspicious glance as the psychic giggled.

“
What?”

She burst out into full laughter.

“Lets just get down there and see what kind of mess the Chxor made.”

***

The first shuttles to land on Faraday contained medics and their supplies.

Lieutenant Lauren Kelly was very, very glad of that.

Just over five thousand rebels had attacked Flattop Mountain.  After the Chxor surrender, less than two thousand remained.  She heard of substantially more casualties at Grey Coast.

She didn’t want to know about civilian casualties in the cities.  Some people always took the chaos to heart, and aerial footage still showed riots in progress.  She looked over at Mason, who stood cold and silent nearby.  “It shouldn’t be like this.  We won.”

He turned dead eyes towards her, “This is a victory.  Defeat is worse.”  He shook his head and pushed his own dark memories aside.  “Was it worth it?”

“I hope so.”

***

Chapter
VIII

February 15, 2403 Earth Standard Time

Faraday System

(status unknown)

A week of frenzied activity later, Lucius finally set foot on Faraday again.  The tiny customs station remained, bullet pocked and windows smashed.  The tower of the space port, gutted by fires from the riots, lay empty.  The handful of cargo ships left by the Chxor lay abandoned as well.

The celebration underway had a muted quality.  The men and women that survived Chxor occupation possessed a dark attitude.  It was as if the Chxor had leached away their ability to experience joy.

The once-refugees return had not been a thing of welcome.  Though the populace hated the conservatives who’d ousted the Contractor, there remained a core of resentment to those who had left.  Part of that seemed to be a sense of abandonment, part was simply a sense that the refugees had not suffered to their extent.

Lucius learned, as evidenced by the riots and collapse of Chxor surrender, that the occupation had destroyed the society of Faraday.  Many of the educated and knowledgeable people fled with the refugees.  Most of the rest went to the Chxor death camps.  The Chxor killed the military, teachers, doctors, judges and police.  They hadn’t killed the lawyers.  Perhaps they possessed a professional courtesy.

Lucius met a crowd of self-appointed officials and leaders who’d filled the power vacuum.  “How many of them will I have to shoot for corruption or outright treason?” he asked rhetorically.

“
At least three of them were Chxor supporters,” Kandergain said.  “Five others spent the whole occupation reporting on their neighbors.  Two more of them used the riots and witch-hunts to kill off political opponents.  One of them is a child murder-rapist.”  She frowned distastefully.

“
There’s two leaders of organized crime, they actually think of themselves as patriots, though and they did help to fight the Chxor.  They, by the way, have plenty of evidence on the others in this deputation.  I’m sure it is enough for trials and executions.”

Lucius stared at her for a long moment.  “You’re certain of all that?”

She nodded, “I’m surprised half of them aren’t screaming about their guilt.  The worst part about being a psychic is that sometimes you can't shut people's thoughts out... not when they are this worked up.”

“
Point out the two we can use,” Lucius turned to Colonel Proscia.  “Take those men into custody, minus the two she points out.”

“
With pleasure, Baron.”

The Marine Colonel spoke into a hand communicator, and a moment later, a dozen Marines started to move forward.

Lucius smiled coldly, “The one advantage in putting down riots with Marines is that the law-abiding citizens know to stay down when they start moving forward.”

“
There’s something odd, though.” Kandergain said, “Something about— Get down!” She moved impossibly fast and shoved Lucius to the ground.  Something hot and bright cut through the air above him.

Someone screamed.  Shouts and gunfire erupted.  Lucius got his head up and saw something blur across his vision.  Dark shapes moved rapidly among the humans.  A shape collided with a Marine.  The Marine screamed and flew backwards twenty or more feet to sprawl out.  Another Marine disappeared as a beam of energy cut through him.

Another blur, that moved too fast to register, intersected two dark blurs.  For a moment, Kandergain stood still over two dark alien forms.  Then she lurched into motion again.

Marines fired and one of alien attackers fell to the ground and bled dark blood.  Another flew away from Kandergain and smashed into a wall to lie still.  Another beam lashed out from the remaining alien, to cut down two more Marines.  The return fire wounded the last and Kandergain caught the creature and finished it off.

Lucius stood.  He felt a sense of horrified detachment at the carnage.  At least a dozen Marines were down, many of the civilians lay dead as well.  Colonel Proscia snapped out commands at the dozens that had swarmed to the sounds of fighting.

Lucius walked over to stand next to Kandergain where she looked down at the dead alien.  A hairless, eyeless, dark purple head surmounted a slender body.  It looked vaguely insectoid, though Lucius could not tell if it had some kind of exoskeleton or body armor.  “God, that’s ugly.  What is it?”

She looked up, her eyes dark, “This is a Balor drone.”

The hairless creature looked totally alien in a way that made Lucius want to vomit.  A small pistol lay near its outstretched limb.

“So this is the enemy?” Lucius asked.

“
This is the enemy.”

***

Lucius and Colonel Proscia spoke quietly, as Kandergain paced nearby.  She looked uneasy and Lucius wasn’t sure whether that should make him more worried.

“My men have established a perimeter, and—”

Distantly, they heard a scream.

Around them, the light seemed to dim. 

Lucius let out a startled gasp and noticed his breath fogged.  The warm spring day turned suddenly cold.  He looked over at Kandergain, who stared across the pavement.

The ground began to tremble.  “What the hell?”

Lucius fell to his hands and knees, unable to stand against the shaking earth.

He didn’t see the figure cross the landing strip.  Suddenly, it was there, only a dozen meters from Kandergain.  The ground continued to rumble.

Lucius heard screams and shouts from around him.  The shaking earth threw everyone to the ground.  Everyone except the insectoid figure in glossy gray armor, and Kandergain.  The two stood silent and motionless.  A gust of wind buffeted Lucius.  He saw the wind stir Kandergain’s ponytail, and ruffle her clothes.  She didn’t move.

“What’s happening?” Colonel Proscia shouted.

An arc of lightning crashed out from the armored figure to Kandergain and bounced back.  The roar of thunder deafened Lucius.  The wind strengthened and spiraled around Kandergain and the mysterious figure.  Shards of broken pavement, bits of trash, and pieces of equipment spun in the hurricane.

Another arc of lighting crashed out.  The noise assaulted Lucius’s ears.

The ground’s shaking rose to greater heights.

A boulder-sized square of pavement flew up suddenly and swatted the gray armored figure like a bug.

The wind died.  The earth stilled.

Lucius stood, hesitantly, to his feet.  “What was that?”

Kandergain turned, for a second, her eyes seemed to glow.  The second passed, and she returned to normal.  “That was their leader.  He decided to try his luck.  He failed.”  A faint sheen of sweat beaded her forehead.  She turned to Colonel Proscia, “I need you and your men.  We have to cleanse the Balor infection.”

“There are more?” Colonel Proscia asked.

“
They’ll have a base.  We need to move now.” She turned back to Lucius, “Get back aboard your ship.  Ready your weapons.  I’ll relay a target for you soon.”

***

“
Lucius, this is Colonel Proscia.  The psychic woman wants you to fire at the coordinates we’ve highlighted.”

“
What’s there?” Lucius asked.

He heard a muffled conversation, and what sounded like shouting.

“She, uh, says to fire as soon as possible, using your main weapons.  Apparently, there’s a Balor base hidden inside the abandoned hospital.”  Colonel Proscia sounded discomfited. “She believes there’s an enemy ship hidden beneath the building.”

“
Are you clear of the area?” Lucius asked.

“
My men are clear.  There may be civilians in the area.”  Colonel Proscia paused, “Kandergain says that the Balor are about to send some kind of message.  She says to fire now.”

Lucius looked over at Doko.  “Do it.”

“Firing.”  The deck plates vibrated.

The ship lay close enough to the planet that they could see the results.  A shockwave of compressed air blasted out from the target and smashed buildings in the vicinity.  Lucius winced at the collateral damage.

Something inside the building or beneath it detonated.  The flash temporarily blinded their visual sensors.

“
What was that?” Lucius demanded.

“
Looks like a one kiloton explosion, Baron.  If there was something under the building, it just blew up.”

Lucius nodded.  He thought of the number of dead civilians now on his conscience.  “Colonel Proscia, are you still there?”

“Yes sir.  Kandergain says you hit the ship, that was the secondary.”

“
Threat neutralized?” Lucius asked.

“
Roger, sir.”

“
Thank you,” Lucius cut the connection.  He turned sad eyes to Anthony Doko.  “I’ll be in my quarters.  I don’t want to be disturbed.  Get some assets down there to help out the civilians.”

***

“
So. Where do we stand?” Lucius asked.  His eyes roamed the council room.  The government center used by the Chxor occupiers had too much damage, and too many bad memories for use.  Today, they met in a board room for a defunct corporation.

“
We still don’t have a full picture of civilian casualties from the occupation.” Kate Bueller said.  “I honestly don’t think we ever will.  There are just under fourteen million people, that we can track, anyway.”  She shook her head, “Best estimates are something over five million dead between the occupation and liberation.”

Lucius knew the estimates on the deaths from his attack on the Balor base to be upwards of three thousand.

“Civilian infrastructure damage will be nominally repaired in many areas in two weeks.” Mathew Nogita said.  “Power and water supplies didn’t take much damage, we’ve found enough people to keep those systems up in the major cities.  Garbage collection is going to be an issue.  Between the riots, damage from the Chxor, and just normal use… there’s a lot of trash that needs removal.  Issues also exist with body removal and disposal.  The Chxor overwhelmed even their mass burial sites.  They’ve got thousands of bodies stacked in trenches. “

“
Disease prevention issues with so many corpses will rapidly become a problem.” The Iodan spoke through his translator.  “We recommend incineration of remains to prevent outbreaks of serious levels of pestilence.”

“
Have we identified…”  Lucius  sighed, “Can we identify the dead?”

No one wanted to speak, finally, Kate did, “Baron, I’ve spoken with a lot of the people here.  Many of them… they just want to put this in the past.  They know anyone missing, anyone taken by the Chxor... they went to the death camps.”  She looked up, “Over one quarter of the population is dead, Baron.  If they held services for them all, they’d never have time to do anything else.”

Lucius nodded.  “Very well, start collection of the bodies.  We can use our Chxor prisoners for that.”  Lucius gritted his teeth as he thought of the culpability of those same Chxor in the massacres of the Faraday populace.

“
What about restoring order?” He asked, turning to Colonel Proscia, “I know we don’t have enough Marines, and I know Marines aren’t a police force.  What’s the best way to do this?”

“
I’ve contacted some of the rebel leaders who our insertion team worked with.  They’ve begun a neighborhood watch program.  It’s got some bad sides, there’s a lot of familial favoritism and patronage, but it’s getting the job done.”  He shrugged, “Once the system is in place, I think things will calm down a lot.” He shrugged, “The riots ended, the remaining violence, some of that is leftovers from the Chxor occupation, I think a lot of it originates from the previous government, both under the Shareholders and even under the Contractor.  There are a lot of people who never qualified for citizenship getting even.”

Lucius nodded, “That brings us to the structure of the new government here.”  His eyes ranged the table.  “I did not liberate this planet for it to return to the status quo.” He paused.  “I personally think the previous Contract of the colony became abusive and distorted, especially by the wealthy of the colony.  It had a number of laws drawn up in its basic premise that allowed such favoritism.  The new Contract will not contain such flaws, is that understood?”

The civilians nodded their agreement, and Lucius sat back.  “What is the plan for drawing up a new system of laws?”

Max Nyguyen spoke, “It’s something a few of us did back at Alpha Seven, Baron.  We drew up several plans, most of them based on a democratic republic.”  He paused.  “Something the entire thing depended on, sir, was whether or not you’d remain in charge.”

“Excuse me?” Lucius asked.

“
Baron, I think I speak for all of the refugees, and a good portion of Faraday when I say that we’d prefer to leave you in charge.”  Kate said.  “You’re an outsider, you have none of the contamination of the old government.  You saved the planet from the Chxor.  You’ve got a significant military force, which will only grow larger with the Dreyfus Fleet.  Our only other option, as I see it, is to petition to join the Republic, or to bow down to the Nova Roma Empire.”