Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (2 page)

“We’ll find out when I come up to discuss the matter in person tomorrow morning. You will send a cutter for me. I suggest you take whatever steps you need to salve your bruised ego, Admiral, because this matter is going to be decided in my favor.”

She disconnected without another word.

Jared rubbed his eyes. “Can she really be that stupid?”

“I’ve discovered that rhetorical questions often have yes for an answer,” a mellow voice said through the overhead speakers.
Invincible
, the AI they’d installed inside the hull of the same name was fully sentient, just like the lords of the Rebel Empire, only without their homicidal core rules.

“That’s because we have to ask to be sure we heard the idiots correctly the first time,” Jared said. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “Which doesn’t explain why she’s so certain that she’s going to get what she wants. Does she know something we don’t?”

“Almost certainly. Until we can unlock the memory of the AI from Boxer Station, we have no idea what caused it to suppress this system. Though the presence of this vessel does indicate some kind of revolt was in progress.”

They’d found
Invincible
floating in the graveyard when they’d snuck into distant orbit around Boxer Station. Rebel Fleet personnel and civilians from Harrison’s World had restored it to complete functionality, minus any computer system. They’d also shielded her power systems, so they’d obviously desired to avoid discovery.

The final messages from the people onboard had strongly hinted that they were going to rebel against the AI. They would’ve failed, but they wouldn’t have known that until it was too late. It had taken the addition of his ships to make the battle one they could win. Barely.

The senior Rebel Fleet officer had left a message to the woman ruling Harrison’s World, Olivia West. She must’ve been in on the coup. Jared didn’t know the reasons why, but there was more going on than met the eye.

“At least we have all night to figure out how to handle her,” Jared said. “And with the flip point jammers in place, we can finally be mostly certain no one is about to spring a surprise on us. How goes the scan of the system?”

“Our probes are still searching the more distant areas, but they’ve located a single weak flip point. I only received the data a few minutes ago.”

Weak flip points were a previously unknown version of regular flip points. Unlike the normal kind that assured reliable travel across hundreds of light-years, the weak ones were hard to detect. And, in at least some cases, didn’t assure two-way travel. Hence, his people being trapped so far from home.

The science teams were working overtime to understand them more fully, but he didn’t trust having one in his lap.

He grunted. “So there’s a backdoor? Wonderful.”

“If I might be so bold, Admiral, you’ve never had anyone sneak out of one to surprise you.”

“Unless you count Captain Breckenridge.”

The disgraced Fleet captain was in
Invincible
’s brig. He’d betrayed his oath to the Empire and attempted to kidnap Princess Kelsey. His retreat through another weak flip point had led to the crippling of his ship and the capture of thousands of Fleet personnel. The very ones Jared was trying to get back.

“We should send a probe through,” Jared said, “but I’ll hold off until we know a little more about the situation here. We absolutely don’t need a second front to this war. Any word from Kelsey?”

“She’s exploring an unusual derelict,” the AI said, “but everything looks safe enough, according to Captain Roche. He’s listening in as they check it out.”

“Well, I certainly hope she doesn’t find anything dangerous. She has a knack for turning up trouble in the most unusual places.”

“The odds of that seem unlikely.”

“That’s only because you don’t know my sister. If there’s something dangerous on any of those ships, she’ll find it.”

* * * * *

Kelsey headed into the lift. It took her swiftly down to the appropriate level and she made her way to
Ginnie Dare
’s marine country.

It was kind of spooky.
Ginnie Dare
had the same layout as Jared’s old ship,
Athena
. Kelsey had many fond memories of spending time with the marines there.

Bittersweet, too. So many of the men and women she’d befriended were gone now, killed in the various actions against the Pale Ones and the AIs. The worst loss was Lieutenant Tim Reese, the commanding officer of the marines on
Athena
and then
Courageous
. He’d died taking Boxer Station.

Kelsey put on a neutral face and walked in. This wasn’t the time to bring everyone down.

The marines were bustling around doing tasks that she actually understood now. Commander Roche must’ve called ahead to start people moving.

Lieutenant Angela Ellis,
Ginnie Dare
’s detachment commander, was waiting for her. “Highness. The captain let us know about the excursion. Do you need a full complement of marines?”

Kelsey looked up at the woman. Angela was tall and well built. Not just tall for a woman. Really tall. As in over two meters. She towered over most of the men under her command. And she was easily a giant as far as Kelsey was concerned. Half a meter was a lot of difference.

If they were ever able to start enhancing other people, Angela would make a formidable combatant.

“I don’t think so,” Kelsey said. “It’s not very big. I’m thinking Senior Sergeant Coulter, my team, and some techs.”

Howard Coulter was the man that Marine Captain Russ Talbot—also Kelsey’s boyfriend—had placed in charge of her guard detail. He’d be going no matter what she said, so she might as well incorporate him into her plan.

If her decision made the marine lieutenant feel slighted, she showed no sign of it. “I assumed that’s what you’d want, so they’re already armoring up. I took the liberty of getting your gear prepped, as well.”

“Thank you. This shouldn’t take long. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get ready.”

The compartment outside the armory was where marines prepped for missions. As they were a co-ed organization, there weren’t separate areas for women. That had taken a while to get used to, but now she was able to strip down and armor up without turning beet red.

The marines were almost ready to go, so she changed into her skinsuit. The Old Empire garment provided some protection of its own, which had come in handy on Boxer Station. It also allowed her armor to handle waste management. That was embarrassing, too, but after six hours in a suit, one welcomed the ability to use the bathroom.

Coulter and his people were still using Terran Empire Marine armor. Her powered Old Empire commando suit was significantly tougher and more capable than anything they’d ever seen before.

They’d captured suits of powered marine armor from the Rebel Empire that unenhanced people could use, but she didn’t trust them. Those paranoid bastards had put bombs and other devices in them to control their military.

In her mind, it was far better to get something set up to do implants again and allow their marines to use the armor they’d found on so many Old Empire ships in the graveyard. The vast amount of salvageable equipment was arguably enough to outfit every marine in the Terran Empire, with plenty left over to share with their allies.

Kelsey’s commando armor was dark grey with a faceless helmet. It augmented her already formidable strength and speed. It wasn’t invincible by any means, but it made survival possible in the insanity that was combat with Old Empire weapons.

The armor hung from a rack, so she was able to open the back and step into it. A mental command through her cranial implants closed it up around her. She stepped clear and held her helmet in the crook of her arm.

Coulter and the half dozen marines assigned to her team gathered at her gesture. “We’re ready, Princess. What’s the target?”

“A mystery ship that doesn’t appear in the Old Empire databases. It might not even be Imperial. We’ll board and clear. Once we’re sure it’s safe, we’ll bring the technical people in to give it a look.”

Coulter nodded. “Got it. We go in prepared for hostile action. If it’s as dead as everything else in the graveyard, no problem. If it has any surprises, we’re ready. Mount up, people.”

They boarded the marine pinnace together with a dozen technicians.

The approach went smoothly enough. Since they were using an Old Empire pinnace, she could interface with its scanners.

The small ship certainly looked dead as it tumbled in space half a dozen kilometers from
Ginnie Dare
, but
Invincible
proved that appearances could be deceptive. The people from Harrison’s World had brought the superdreadnought online and shielded her so well that Jared’s people hadn’t known she was operational until they boarded her.

Kelsey spotted a small hole on the other side of the ship from the large one she’d noted earlier. It was less than half a meter in diameter. It looked as though something small and fast had punched through the vessel. An asteroid, perhaps?

She supposed it was possible the damage was post-capture. Maybe they could figure it out once they boarded.

The pinnace came in slowly and matched the tumble of the ship. They clamped on with a thump.

“We’re tight,” the pilot said. “I’m going to use the pinnace’s grav drives to level us out. With a ship this small, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”

The ship slowed its mad spin until it was at rest relative to
Ginnie Dare
. Only then did Coulter take off his restraints and stand.

“Boarding party, form up on the ramp,” he said.

Kelsey made no fuss when the marines put her at the back. If she needed to get up front, she could do so quickly enough. Everyone hooked up lines to prevent something from throwing one of them into deep space.

The ramp lowered, revealing the cold, bright stars looking down on the tomb beneath their feet. The marines led the way onto the hull, their magnetic boots holding them steady. Her armor had a miniature grav drive that would allow her to fly around if she chose, but she followed their lead.

They could’ve gained access through the rupture in the hull, but there was an airlock right there. The marines circled it and one of them accessed the controls.

“This looks like Old Empire hardware,” the woman said after a minute. “It isn’t opening. It has power, it’s just not responding to me.”

“Let me take a look,” Kelsey said.

The controls had power. She could feel them through her implants. She sent a command to open and the system promptly rejected her.

Nonplussed, she pressed the manual controls to open it. The lock queried her implants and rejected her a second time.

“That’s new,” she said. “It pinged my implants and told me to get lost.”

“Welcome to the world the rest of us live in, Princess,” Coulter said with a smile. “Luckily, we have another way in.”

Kelsey looked at the rupture. The interior of the ship wasn’t inside the reach of the pinnace’s floodlights. The inky blackness had an ominous feel to it. What would they find inside this wreck? Or, what might find them?

Chapter Two

Commander Sean Meyer woke abruptly. The dark shadow of a man hovered over him. The figure had a hand over Sean’s mouth, not to smother, but to keep him from crying out and waking everyone in the prison bunkroom.

He nodded to show the man that he was awake. Frankly, he’d half-expected someone to attack him before now. Many of these men and women had been under his authority just a week ago. Before he’d betrayed their captain. He’d heard more than a few muttered curses and everyone had avoided him like the plague.

The man tugged on Sean’s arm and guided him toward the men’s shower room without a word of explanation. Sean was more than a bit surprised when the man began stripping, with every sign of taking a very early morning shower.

He did the same, hoping this wasn’t some convoluted plan to kill him.

Two men were already in the shower and steam covered every worn surface. They’d been cleaning the buildings, so the smell of old age and lingering rot was beginning to fade.

The sound of the rushing water was loud in his ears. Loud enough to conceal a murder, if the men were so inclined. A conspicuously open spot for Sean stood between the two men. His guide moved away from them and turned on the water at the far side of the room.

In the dim light, Sean recognized his guide as an enlisted man from
Spear
’s marine complement. One of the two older men waiting for Sean was
Spear
’s senior enlisted man, Command Master Chief Ulysses Ross. He didn’t know the other man.

“Command Master Chief,” he said as he stripped and took his assigned place. He turned the water on and adjusted it until it was as hot as he could stand. If he was going to be naked in the shower, he might as well enjoy it.

“No ranks,” the bald man said. “We think the showers are safe, but I’m not willing to take unnecessary risks, Sean.”

“I understand, Ulysses. I was pretty sure no one wanted to talk to me, so I’m surprised to see you.”

Ross gave him a cool smile. “Yeah, well, we find ourselves in odd times. You and the boss had a disagreement. Without going into specifics, I’d like you to explain that to us. Oh, my friend is Albert Newland. Al did the same job as me on
Shadow
.”

Shadow
had been the heavy cruiser
Spear
’s consort before the Rebel Empire had destroyed the light cruiser. Now both vessels were gone.

So, the two senior enlisted men among the prisoners wanted to have a private chat with
Spear
’s disgraced executive officer. He’d find out soon enough if it was for good or ill.

“Well, Wallace and I did have some words. I told him I thought he was making a mistake in the strongest of terms.”

Ross snorted. “That you did. You took something he wanted very badly and gave it away.”