Badger (20 page)

Then again, Jacob doubted Al-shira would want to associated with his failure. At times he even wondered if the families he wrote the letters to would want his words, or if they would hate him enough to wish for someone else to deliver the news. Yet all the same, they had been his crew, and it remained his duty. In the end, there would be no one else to speak for them, and for what they gave their lives trying to accomplish.

Gritting his teeth, Jacob set his hands to the keys once more, and began.

It is my responsibility to inform you of the death of Lieutenant Andrew Delarouge.

The day the
Badger
finally returned to the Celostian system, Jacob saw his coming banishment to the surface almost as a relief rather than a punishment. Jacob had managed to worm his way free of the medical wing only a handful of days prior to the riftjump, but he was more than well enough to observe the arrival of the command ship in the center of the Union.

Celostia was the closest thing to a perfect human planet Jacob had ever seen, which was probably why the world had grown into the center of the Union’s government and economy. Very little about the system deviated from the conditions that had formed the home of mankind on Ancient Earth. Seven planets filled orbits around the star, three of which were rocky, inner bodies. One of those was a radiation-baked rock no corporation, agency or hermit was mad enough to attempt to develop, while the second had formed too far out, reducing it to a mildly toxic iceball.

Celostia itself orbited directly in the thin band of space ideal for habitable planets. The atmosphere was the right mix of nitrogen, oxygen, and other elements, and life had flourished on its surface long before the first colonists had set foot on its soil. Fortunately for those first colonists, the microbes and parasites of the virgin planet failed to make much of a dent against them and continued to fail as more and more human invaders had descended from the sky to live there.

The planet’s axial tilt was a little less than Earth’s had supposedly been, but that had only produced far less instability in terms of seasonal weather, and the inhabitants of the world had taken full advantage of the fact. Farmers could count on the rains and weather conditions with such regularity that they grew incredible yields of crops without the need for habitation shelters or control domes. Imported animals and crops had taken to the environment with almost perverse glee, and the colonists had to restrain their efforts to remake the world in the image of home in order to avoid causing too severe a change. As it stood, much of the native fauna and flora still survived and was even cultivated over Earth species due to their unique qualities.

Those advantages showed; the system boasted a population in excess of five billion people. The sheer number of people in the system staggered Jacob—he’d already heard mutters about overpopulation from some people—and that was only considering the planet-bound civilians. Space stations, mining and farming platforms, and other habitats sprawled across the length and breadth of Celostian space. The iceball orbiting the star had managed to spawn a few domed habitats on its surface, though they mostly consisted of research stations and a few ambitious but likely doomed extraction sites. Each of the four gas giants had smaller colonies dotting their moons and stations orbiting their storm-tossed surfaces. Even the larger asteroids in the system were already being turned into hollowed out trading posts.

Not that the civilians were alone in spreading out across the system. There were repair and construction yards in orbit around the second gas giant. Their massive berths and giant frames made Reefhome’s efforts look amateurish and mismanaged by comparison. The frantic activity there nearly doubled as the Navy’s engineers saw the remaining damaged members of the flotilla arrive, and Jacob grimaced as he thought of the work they would need to do to restore the crippled ships still following the command ship home.

Warships were gliding through the void around the Celostian capital as well, but they rarely saw anything more dangerous than a pirate raid in the center of the Union. Still, as events at Rigannin had proven, it was better to be cautious than to be sorry, and the three cruisers and their escorts had provided more than enough security for the central government to feel secure in their seat of power.

The sheer scale of the Union’s capital system was alien to Jacob. He felt as if every single person on those habitats and ships were staring at him, and he had a sudden, overwhelming urge to shut off the projection and hide in his cabin. Even when his father traversed the Union on his trading runs, he had only rarely stopped here to visit. The Hull family had tended to stick to the Frontier, where if the risk was higher, so were the profits and opportunities available. His father had always disdained the more settled regions, declaring that running some giant freighter on behalf of a corporation on preassigned trade routes was far too much drudgery for him to consider.

All of which meant Jacob was completely uncomfortable with the presence of so many people in one place at one time. There didn’t seem to be any damn place where a ship could go to get some space to itself. Where did all these people go, anyway? How could they all possibly just get along? Jacob shook his head, fighting down the unease the image created in him, and continued to watch as the flotilla drew near the repair docks.

They had nearly reached the spot when a button on his console glowed. Surprised, Jacob reached out and touched it. A beep sounded to let him know the communications channel had been opened. “Captain Hull speaking.”

“This is Commander Al-shira. We have a standard transmission from the planet addressed to you.” The bite in Al-shira’s voice was curiously missing, but the content of her message distracted him more than her tone.

He frowned. “Thank you, Commander, but I am sure I could wait to pick it up with the rest of the traffic.”

A certain amount of almost comforting derision crept into her words. “No, sir. It’s a
live
transmission. I was told you would recognize a Catherine Hull?”

Jacob’s eyebrows shot up, and he sat back in his seat. Of all the things he could have expected, this surprise was the last. He shook his head. “I do. If you could put her through, I would appreciate it, Commander.”

The sarcasm had hardly lessened. “It is no problem at all
captain
.” He felt half a smile tug at his lips even as the bite in that word stung him, and then the console beeped again. A second louder tone announced the transmission had gone active, and the projection of the Celostian system vanished.

The image of the head and shoulders of Catherine Hull took the system’s place. Her brown hair and blue eyes did not show precisely in the glowing hologram, but Jacob recognized her all the same. He smiled, a little uncertainly. “Hey, Sis.”

There was a delay in his sister’s reaction. Such was the unavoidable necessity of light speed communication, especially in full hologram, but her face suddenly lit up with joy. “Jacob! It’s been too long.”

Jacob grunted and rubbed a hand across his chin. “Yeah, it has. I thought you were still studying at Corleigh. When did you get to Celostia?”

Another short delay, and then she shook her head, her shoulder length hair swaying with the motion. “Oh, I’m still working in Corleigh, but there was a work program I thought would give me experience out here.” Her face brightened slightly. “Michael’s here too! I’m so glad the two of you can finally meet.” She paused. “That is, if you’ll have time.”

He nearly groaned in frustration, but he swallowed it. She’d mentioned this Michael in quite a few of the letters he’d gotten, and he was fairly sure that even had the situation been perfect he wouldn’t have wanted to meet the man. As it was, it seemed like the universe was piling on the fun a bit. “Yeah, I will have the time. I’ll be on leave for the next little while.”

“That’s perfect! When you get to the spaceport, let me know. Michael and I would be happy to give you a place to stay.” Catherine’s face glowed with excitement; she obviously had not picked up on Jacob’s dour mood.

“I will, Catherine.” Jacob tried hard to keep the gloom and frustration out of his voice as he spoke, but something must have leaked through. The glowing expression on Catherine’s face faded slightly, and her brow furrowed.

“Jacob, he’s not that bad, really. You just need to get to know him.”

“It’s not that. I’m looking forward to meeting him.” Jacob had to force the last sentence out through half-clenched teeth. She raised an eyebrow at him, but Jacob forged on ahead before she could express her skepticism. “There’s just a few things going on with the fleet right now I’m having to deal with. It has me a little stressed out, but I’ll be alright when you introduce us.”

“Oh really.” Catherine folded her arms, her eyebrow still arched in a skeptical fashion. “You’re sure.” Jacob nodded. “Because the last time I introduced you to someone I was seeing, you didn’t exactly react well.”

The memory managed to pierce the haze of grief and pain that had enshrouded him. Jacob smirked before he caught himself. “I thought it went rather well. You didn’t agree?”

Exasperation filled Catherine’s face. “You practically accused him of treason by the time we finished dessert! He broke it off with me after a couple of days of avoiding me like the plague.”

The smirk started to tug at his lips again, and she seemed to notice.

Catherine leveled a finger at him like a railgun battery and scowled. “Jacob Hull, I don’t care what rank they’ve made you, you’re still my little brother. You’re going to be nice to this one, or I promise, you will regret it.”

Jacob’s humor faded. Catherine might not have studied under the strategists at the Academy, but she knew more than enough about how to make her vengeance stick. He held up both hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll be civil.” She tilted her head to the side and studied him. He sighed. “Alright, I might even like him, if he earns it. That’s all you’re going to get from me.”

“Heaven forbid I get anything less.” Catherine shook her head. “Look, I know it’s hard out there right now, and I’m glad you came to visit. Don’t let it get to you, okay?”

He glanced down, avoiding her eyes for the moment. “I won’t. I’ll call you from the spaceport.”

She chuckled. “You’d better, Jacob. Otherwise you’d wish that those Odurans had gotten you.”

Jacob grunted and gave her a mock scowl. “This is the thanks I get for putting my life on the line for my country.”

Catherine rolled her eyes and mimed a tragic pose. He shook his head and grinned a little. “I will see you on the surface, Catherine.”

His sister smiled back and nodded. “See you then, Captain Hull.” She reached for something outside the scope of the projection, and her image snapped out of existence. In the sudden void, the system of Celostia coalesced into being, showing the progress of the remaining fleet craft towards the main planet. If they maintained their current speed and course, they would be able to enter orbit around the main planet in just sixteen more hours. Jacob sighed and stood up. Given that he was going to be kicked off the ship not long after that, he needed to pack a few things before he went. It was going to be a long trip, after all.

The shuttle ride from
Badger
was uneventful in the extreme. After the danger and chaos of combat, the descent from orbit to the planet below was routine. The pilot seemed determined to make the journey as hair-raising as possible, but the steep trajectory leveled out soon enough, and Jacob was treated to a view of the clouds in Celostia’s skies as they turned into a flight pattern that would bring them to the spaceport.

As the shuttle neared the surface, the clouds around the shuttle were painted a stunning golden pink. Jacob looked out, watching as the shuttle continued to descend. The sun was out of sight, hidden behind the edge of a window, and Jacob wondered for a moment whether it was rising or setting. With everything that had happened, a similar question could have been asked of his life, but he shoved the thought aside for a moment.

Soon enough, the shuttle swept through those clouds. As it broke into the sky below, Jacob focused his gaze on the city ahead. It was not the capital, of course; few politicians would have wanted passenger shuttles from the fleet roaring by their office windows day in and day out. Gorgen City had been founded to support the military spaceport at its edges, and widespread industries had sprung up almost overnight. Entertainment, housing, and restaurants had grown like weeds, until a blooming city of nearly four million people had come to call it home.

The spaceport itself rose outside the official city limits like a spiky, multilayered beehive. Large runways ran up to the base of the spaceport, where the facility received incoming flights and their passengers. Enormous railgun platforms sprouted from the upper reaches where they could give outbound shuttles the boost they needed to clear atmosphere. Around the building swarmed dozens of shuttles, making the entire thing look like a hornet’s nest.

Jacob’s shuttle angled for one of the receiving areas and dropped toward it. Some turbulence shook it, but it was hardly anything compared to the blow of reentry. The pilot lined the craft up expertly, and in moments the shuttle was braking to a halt near a boarding dock, its engines whining in relaxation. They came to a rest at the platform, and a light flickered to life to indicate they could begin to disembark.

Jacob waited while the other officers who’d been ferried to the surface retrieved their baggage and filed out the exit. Unlike him, they were all chatting merrily. Expressions of relief and anticipation dominated their faces, and the only chatter he caught as they made their way to the boarding hatch concerned how they would spend their short leave on Celostia before they would return to the fleet. As Jacob followed them out, he tried to emulate them and failed horribly.

As they made their way through the spaceport, Jacob’s mind returned again and again to the defeat his destroyers had endured under his command. He thought about families who would be waiting for calls that wouldn’t come, and plans his crew might have made that would never happen. The memory of the fate that had claimed them turned his false smile hollow and his step burdened. When the rest of the passengers drifted away, he felt grateful.