Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (18 page)

Abigail shrugged. “Will the time ever be better? The Lord is disabled and these people only have two ships. They think themselves safe. Also, they don’t have a superdreadnought as they’d claimed. The prisoners all agreed that this so-called Admiral Mertz is a commander in their Fleet and only has a repaired battlecruiser and a freighter. They don’t even have widespread use of implants. We can eliminate them all with one bold stroke.”

“They defeated the system lord. Are you telling me they did so with one cobbled together warship?” Master Calder sounded unconvinced. “Then where did these thousands of prisoners come from?”

“Other ships that followed Mertz to this general area. Based on what I heard, a patrol sent out by the system lord crushed their ships. I’m not sure how Mertz was able to capture this system, but he cannot hold it from us.”

Master Calder shook his head. “This Mertz may be more formidable than you give him credit for. I need to think for a moment.”

He paced his office for a few minutes before seeming to come to a decision. “If we can take the orbital bombardment platforms off the table, the ships can’t cause widespread damage to the planet. Even if the intelligence you have is wrong. The time has come for us to restore order to this world. Do not fail me.”

Abigail rose to her feet. “I won’t, Master. By nightfall, Olivia West will be dead and we’ll control our own orbital space.” She smiled widely. “And then we’ll eradicate these rebels from the heavens.”

* * * * *

William directed his driver to take them to a location away from the city. Kelsey happily switched her observation to the coastline. The never-ending flow of dilapidated buildings had become monotonous.

The city trailed off into rural areas. Much of the land seemed dedicated to food production. Massive machines tended and harvested vast fields. The corn was recognizable, but she couldn’t place the other plants.

“The land below produces the food that keeps us all from starving,” William said after a while. “Well, not really starving. Even though the urban centers are large here on Harrison’s World, we’re not lacking for arable land. Still, it feeds everyone in this city and much is exported to surrounding areas.”

She pulled her gaze away from the fields below. “Was that a danger when the AI attacked? I’ve seen the results of large-scale bombardment up close. It can be…extreme.”

He gazed out the window for a few moments. “It feels wrong to say this, but the damage from the bombardment was limited to areas close to the targets. Rather than one large kinetic weapon, the orbitals have smaller ones that strike in close proximity to one another. That still means total destruction for a city and all the horror that entails, but it restricts large-scale damage to a manageable level. Has something larger been done elsewhere?”

She nodded grimly. “I’m afraid so. A ten-kilometer asteroid. Not quite an extinction level event, but far too close for my peace of mind. And, let me tell you that being nearby when it hit was…unpleasant.”

He stared at her. “You were that close to a massive asteroid strike? And you lived?”

Kelsey shrugged. “We had good pilots, but not everyone made it. I can’t go into the details of the situation, but I’m here to tell you that those rides at the amusement park no longer even raise my heart rate.”

“I’d imagine not.” He took a deeper breath. “Anyway, my family owns a fairly large swath of these fields, so it’s been my pleasure and headache to see every inch of these lands for the last few years. We have a number of houses and buildings, but there’s one in particular that I’d like to show you.”

“I don’t know that much about architecture.”

He laughed. “You won’t need to. It’s not the building itself that you’ll find intriguing. It’s what’s inside it.”

The building in question looked like a large warehouse. They circled it once and the driver brought them down to a cracked plascrete slab beside it. The exterior of the single story structure hadn’t seen fresh paint in quite some time. The original color was white. She could tell that from the few places where the last coat was still intact.

The sliding doors were locked tight and small blinking lights told the tale of alarms at the ready.

William climbed out and held the car door for her. Her two marine guards flanked them as he led her to the building entrance.

“If it had been anyone but me, the alarm would’ve already warned the intruders away. A hidden weapons emplacement would’ve targeted anyone foolish enough to continue. Only the most stubborn would feel its wrath, though.”

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. “You’d keep something that valuable way out here in the middle of nowhere?”

He smiled. “This seemed like the best place for it. Come.”

There wasn’t a keypad, so he must’ve used his implants to disarm the building’s protections. The large door ponderously slid open a few feet and stopped with a screech.

“Well, so much for me avoiding any embarrassing lapses,” he said with a chuckle. “I obviously need to bring someone out to fix the door.”

The interior was dark, but not so obscured that her optical implants couldn’t show her what was waiting. William didn’t know that she could see in conditions of almost total darkness.

In the center of the open area, a civilian cutter sat in the gloom.

He turned on the lights with a flourish. “And here we are. The last ship on Harrison’s World still capable of reaching orbit and beyond. Theoretically.”

Kelsey walked over and gave it a closer look. In the light, it had some similarities to the building. It was obviously old and the fuselage could have done with some repairs. In all, it looked incapable of atmospheric flight, much less making it into space.

Still, it was a ship on a planet that had lost every spaceport, so that had to count for something.

“I can see what you mean by theoretically. Does it still work? And how did it survive the orbital bombardment?”

William wiggled his hand in the air in a way that she thought meant uncertainty. “It should still be capable of flight. At least the self-diagnostics say it is. My father gave it to me as a fixer upper. It was long past retirement from the family fleet, so he told me I could have it so long as I maintained it. I’d brought it out here because we didn’t have an unused space large enough to hold it.”

He sighed. “And then the capital was destroyed, taking the main spaceport with it. If I’d moved it to one of the smaller spaceports, it still would’ve been lost. Like my father.”

She could see the emotion he was keeping bottled inside him. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

He nodded his acceptance of her condolences. “Everyone lost someone that day. I’m hardly alone in that. It still hurts, but in the face of such a tragedy, it seems gauche to mention it.”

After a moment, he continued. “In any case, I’ve made a number of inquiries. I suspect that this may be the only remaining spacecraft on the planet.” He turned to her. “You’re not going to blow it up, are you?”

“I think our ship is safe enough from it,” she said dryly. “Besides, I’m not sure it would even get high enough for the orbital bombardment platforms to shoot it down.”

“True enough. Now that you’ve seen it, I’ll admit to asking you out to see it with ulterior motives.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m flattered, of course, but I’m seeing someone.”

“Dear God!” he said, clutching his chest. “Your virtue is safe with me!”

Kelsey laughed. “Well, if not an assignation, then what?”

His gaze sharpened. “I just wanted to ask you a few questions away from prying ears.”

“Fire away.”

“Where did you come from? You’re not Fleet. At least your Admiral Mertz doesn’t hold the rank he claims. Who are you really?”

She stood there, frozen in place at the unexpected question.

Chapter Seventeen

Olivia allowed her guards to lead the way to the fence isolating the prisoners from the port. A number of empty buildings separated the two areas. There was one guarded gate along that stretch. A heavy stunner commanded all the approaches the prisoners might use.

An unkempt man stood beside the guards. He bowed at their approach. “Coordinator West. Welcome. My name is Jack Oliver. I’m in charge of the internment camp.”

She gave him a nod. “Mister Oliver. This is Fleet Admiral Jared Mertz, your prisoners’ commanding officer. He’s here to inspect their condition. I assume everything is in order.”

His eyes darted to Mertz and then back to her. “Of course. If you’ll come this way.”

The man’s furtive glance filled her with dread. What was he hiding?

They made quite a sight, all of the men guarding her, walking as one large crowd. The camp guards stayed away from her personal protective unit, but that didn’t keep her people from regarding them as possible threats.

It took almost five minutes before she saw the first prisoners. Dressed in Fleet uniforms, they watched the procession curiously. The onlookers grew more numerous as they came to the central square of the camp.

A group of men stood waiting for them. They looked like officers, but she knew that wasn’t the case. They had no implants.

One of them seemed familiar, somehow. A tall, thin man with a clean face and sharp eyes. She couldn’t place him, but she’d seen him before. Or perhaps his twin. If you met enough people, you’d find unrelated folk who were so similar it was spooky.

The man in question saluted with his fist to his chest. “Admiral. Force Petty Officer Sean Meyer reporting. You know my associates. Command Master Chiefs Ross and Newland. We’re glad to see you, sir.”

Mertz returned the salute. “Gentlemen, I’m pleased to see you as well. This is Coordinator West, the leader of Harrison’s World. I hope to conclude negotiations with her very shortly to secure your release. Are your conditions acceptable? Do you need anything?”

Meyer glanced at her and then back at his commanding officer. “Things were a bit rough the first few days, but they’re looking up. I’m most concerned about the men and women separated from us. I know we’d all like to know where they went.”

Mertz frowned. “Didn’t they tell you? They’re going back to
Athena
, our flagship in orbit.”

The tall man shook his head. “Not them, sir. The hundred people the guards took yesterday.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before Mertz turned and gave Olivia a stony look. “That
does
sound like a pressing question. I’m sure the coordinator can tell us where they are.”

* * * * *

Kelsey stared at the man in shock. How had he known?

“Excuse me?” she asked. “I don’t know where that came from, but you’re off base.”

He smiled, showing her marines his hands when they perked up. “Am I? Please tell your men that I’m not silly enough to attack a Marine Raider with my bare hands. I’m certain the results would be spectacularly humiliating.”

She gestured for them to search the building in case this was more of an ambush than it appeared.

Once they were gone, she put her hands on her hips. “I think you should explain what you mean.”

“It was a combination of things, really. Let’s start with the biggest mistake. Terra. I’m sorry to inform you, but the capital of the Empire was suppressed shortly after the revolution.”

His expression became more solemn. “The citizens there resisted fiercely and they never stopped. It became the most impressive guerrilla action in history. The Imperial lords finally decided that the planet was a lost cause and declared the system off limits. It has orbital bombardment platforms much like those over our heads. So, I’m afraid that Admiral Mertz’s claims of visiting it ring false.”

Kelsey had to admit there was a possibility he was telling the truth, but she couldn’t just say so. “Coordinator West also said she visited it, so why should I believe your tall tale? I’m not sure what you hope to gain from this charade, Lord Hawthorne.”

“Olivia would be the first to tell you she knew you were lying right then. Well, actually, she knew you were hiding something even before that moment. If Terra isn’t enough to get you to speak more freely, shall we discuss your ship? Her name isn’t
Athena
, is it? Let’s just call her by her true name.
Invincible
.”

He smiled at her expression. She expected she looked like an animal caught in a bright light, unsure of which direction to run.

“Rest easy,” he said as she struggled to come up with a story. “If we intended to act against you, we would’ve already done so. You can call Admiral Mertz and verify that he’s in no immediate danger.”

She considered doing that, but decided to test the waters a little further first. “How do you know that name?”

“
Invincible
? Simple enough. We spent quite a lot of time and money refitting her in secret. Let me assure you, slipping personnel and parts under the very nose of the system lord was a challenge.

“Olivia, the poor woman, was in a relationship with the senior Fleet officer on that ship when the Lord suppressed us. She received a number of messages from your flag bridge over the years preceding it. Ones showing marks on the Admiral’s console that were quite distinctive. She knew right away where she was.”

He allowed her a moment to consider that before he continued.

“If you were truly Fleet personnel, you wouldn’t need to finish restoring that ship to carry out your supposed mission to take out the system lord. You’d have brought enough force to handle that. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what you’re really doing here or who you are. Perhaps you’d care to explain it to me?”

Kelsey sighed. “I should’ve known things were going too smoothly. Why were you about to stage a coup against the AI?”

“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”

In spite of the gravity of the situation, she laughed. “You’re a rascal.”

“Craig agrees with that assessment completely. Honestly, we mean you no harm. Your people control all access to Harrison’s World, so attacking you would be madness. You truly hold all the cards in this game. Can’t we be honest with one another?”