Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection (129 page)

The other MP succumbed to the peer pressure and joined his colleague at Foster’s side. “Sir, please come quietly or we’ll have to place you in restraints.”

Liam sneered malignantly. “Yes, Foster. Think of the morale of your men and women. It wouldn’t do for them to see you being dragged through the halls like a common criminal, now would it?”

Foster snarled at him ineffectually but acquiesced to the MPs urging him toward the door. As he passed, Liam clasped him on the shoulder.

Foster shrunk away, but it didn’t matter. The purpose of the gesture was to place a small nanoweave on his uniform, one which scrambled the man’s outgoing comms so long as the jacket remained in a five meter vicinity, ensuring they never reached their intended audience. The garment would stay close to Foster for long enough, Liam hoped.

After they departed he roamed around the office, counting down the seconds until Foster would be far enough away to not trouble him further. When his mental timer hit zero he pivoted and headed back out, waving to the stunned secretary on his way by. “You’re dismissed. Go home for the day.”

He allowed no one to distract him on this traversal of the Command building and was out the back door and headed to the hangar in less than thirty seconds.

Despite being surrounded by meadows, the sprawling hangar complex did present an impressive sight. The paint had barely dried it was so new; it made the forty-year-old complex on Deucali look regrettably drab by comparison.

It was also a hotbed of activity, with soldiers bustling around hauling in gear and supplies and foodstuffs and mechanics effecting repairs. Most of NW Command had been recalled in anticipation of shipping out east. The Second Crux War was over and there were aliens to fight.

The chaos was going to aid him, though the notion of Solovy throwing the entire Earth Alliance military at a bunch of aliens irritated him greatly. He shuddered to think of how the Southwestern Headquarters was surely being stripped bare and left a ghost town. Were he back on Deucali he’d put a stop to it, but there were more important matters at stake now.

Five cruisers were docked end-to-end along the far left side of the hangar. The
Akagi
hung at the front of the line. But first things first. He sent a message to the captain of the
Yeltsin
and began making his way down the long double-row of frigates.

The XO of the
Yeltsin
was reviewing stocking reports with the master sergeant beneath the hull. He caught Liam’s approach out of the corner of his eye and snapped a salute, which Liam returned.

“General O’Connell, it’s an honor to see you again. I didn’t realize you were on-base.”

“Good to see you, too, Major.” Major Peltski had been stationed on Deucali four years earlier, doing a two-year stint in Space Logistics. He was a competent officer and Liam had gotten along with him as well as he was capable of getting along with anyone. More importantly, Peltski was a follower. He could carry out even difficult orders with efficiency and skill but displayed little in the way of initiative or ambition.

“Peltski, I’m here with good news. Your captain received a reassignment as XO of the
Brandenburg
. You’re receiving a field promotion to Lt. Commander. The
Yeltsin
is yours.”

“Sir, I…I don’t know what to say. Thank you, sir.”

The other key facet of his plan was very simple, and the most basic of all rules in the military: subordinate officers did not question the orders of generals. It had been true for millennia and was no less true today.

“You deserve it, Lt. Commander. When will you be ready to ship out?”

“Another hour, hour and a half tops.”

“Excellent.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I’m here on top secret orders from the Prime Minister and EASC Board. I need the
Yeltsin
to accompany the
Akagi
on a secret mission. You’ll receive the details once we’re spaceborne.”

Peltski regarded him solemnly. “I understand, sir. It will be an honor to serve with you.”

“I appreciate it. Now if you’ll excuse me, much to do and little time to do it in. Make sure you are out of dock by 1430.”

He pivoted and continued down the row, grimacing from the effort being so hideously cordial for such a length of time and from the thought of having to do it a second time in mere minutes.

Liam barreled up the ramp to the
Akagi
. The captain of the
Chinook
had been dispatched to the third cruiser and a sympathetic XO, Major Charlton, similarly promoted. Now for the final step in this initial phase.

He was met at the hatch by a female officer, though it didn’t appear intentionally so. The woman was traversing the hall and spun in apparent shock at finding a general in the entryway.

“Name and rank, Marine.”

“Captain Brooklyn Harper, 1
^st
NW MSO Platoon, on loan to the
Akagi
, sir.”

He reminded himself to be polite. Those serving on the ship would be under his command in tense circumstances, and it was best to not actively encourage disloyalty or disobedience. “Captain Harper, can you show me to the Commodore?”

He saw her mouth twitch, though she quickly squelched it. Special forces types weren’t generally accustomed to being relegated to escort duty, but that was not his problem. “Yes, sir. Follow me.”

Commodore Tinibu met him at the door to the CO office, clearly having been alerted to Liam’s approach—presumably by Harper. His salute was grudging. “General, welcome to the
Akagi
. We’re busy getting ready to ship out, but what can I do for you?”

“I’m commandeering this ship for a special mission. You can go see General Foster about a reassignment.”

“Excuse me? Sir? We ship out in half an hour. It’s rather late to be changing mission parameters now. What is this mission regarding?”

“The details are above your pay grade, Commodore. Now, as you said,
we
are shipping out in half an hour. So if you’ll excuse me, I have a ship to captain.” With that he brushed past Tinibu and headed for the bridge.

Tinibu would ping Foster. Receiving no response, he would head to the Command building. No one would know where Foster had gone or why he couldn’t be reached.

Liam would be in space long before anyone began to suspect something might be awry.

As Fionava’s sun receded in the edge-to-edge viewport and the blackness of space took its place, Liam retired to the CO office. Though there had been rampant confusion among the officers on board, the departure itself was executed with a minimum of drama.

He drew in a readying breath and requested Peltski and Charlton on holo.

His expression was properly grave as he addressed them. “Gentlemen, I’m now able to fill you in on our mission. The Second Crux War isn’t as over as the media and official public statements may have led you to believe. The Prime Minister and the EASC Board have determined it is necessary to teach the Federation a lesson, one which will make them think twice about attacking us in the future.”

“But sir, I thought a peace treaty was signed?”

“It was, more or less, but our mission has nonetheless been approved at the highest levels. These actions are extremely clandestine. We will run dark, with no communications allowed beyond our three ships. Spies are everywhere, and if word leaks out too early then Seneca will be alerted to our plans. We can’t allow that to happen. Therefore, I’m implementing a full communications blackout beyond a four megameter radius, effective as of now.

“Our first target will be the Federation colony of New Cairo. Set a course.”

62

SIYANE

U
NCHARTED
S
PACE

“
Y
OU’RE INSANE.”

“It’ll work.”

“Which does not alter the fact that you are insane.”

Alex gave him her most beguiling smile. “You said that wasn’t a problem. In fact, you said it was one reason you thought I was, and I quote, ‘kind of amazing.’”

“I did. And I meant it. But the fact
still
remains.”

“Look. The rules of this place are the same as those in our galaxy. The laws of physics will hold.”

“And the portal itself?”

She worried at her lower lip. He didn’t give a damn what she said, the issue concerned her as well. “The portal, whatever it really is, shouldn’t be a problem. Since it’s our portal we don’t have to worry about the shift in axes. And if it is a problem, it’ll be a blip. Even if it knocks us out of superluminal, by the time it happens we’ll be parsecs away. Far enough.”

He found he was on his knees before her once more, and he didn’t care. Still, his chest tightened when she lowered herself from her chair to meet him as an equal.

“You realize we could die, simply by going through.”

She groaned as her forehead dropped to rest on his. “You’re seriously pulling out that line again? We’ll be fine. Promise.”

“I believe you.” He kissed her softly and let her go.

She climbed back in her chair, ran a hand down her hair, straightened her shoulders…and activated the sLume drive.

They were lined up for a straight shot through the portal. An army of ships approached from behind them and more waited on the other side.

At speeds such as this there was no margin for error. Mere meters off and the warp bubble would graze the ring and they would be dead, though at least they’d probably take out the portal with them.

Their speed was so great they had no perception of traversing the portal or warping past the alien ships which lay in wait for them. But eventually they had traveled long enough to be either well outside the center of Metis or have missed the portal altogether and be somewhere else.

Eyes wide, she disengaged the sLume drive and engaged the impulse engine so they wouldn’t be a sitting target. As soon as the stars solidified around them she was a flurry of movement, checking readings and location.

Abruptly she sank back in her chair in winded laughter.

“We’re okay?”

The laughter devolved into full-on giggles as she gazed over at him. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“What? You insisted it was a sure thing!”

“Are you kidding? I was terrified. I had no idea if it would work. I mean, I
thought
it would work—it
should
have worked—but it’s not like anyone’s ever done something like this before.”

They both stood at the same time, meeting in the middle of the cockpit.

He chuckled against her lips. “God I love you, woman.”

“Good. Want to go save the galaxy?”

“Hell, yes. Where to first?”

“First we send a message. Someone needs to be told what we’ve done and quickly.”

“True. I’m not sure—”

“Hold on. Messages are pouring in, which means my little trick on the comm system worked.” She laughed in amusement. “What do you know, she did remember….”

At his questioning stare she projected an aural. “It’s one of a hundred or so messages from her, but this one was marked ‘super-incredibly-seriously-urgent.’”