The Prisoner of Eldaron: Crimson Worlds Successors II (30 page)

“Yes, Captain. Indeed, that is almost certainly the case. But General Cain is not so easy to defeat, nor are the Black Eagles.” Cranston was trying to sound confident, and some if it seemed genuine. But Elias could hear worry there too.

Elias’ mind went to Eris, to the mysterious organization behind that base, and the slaving ring it supported on Earth. Then he thought about
Black Viper
and the attack on
Carlyle
, the level of intelligence gathering it took to learn the schedule and course of the secret shipment of STUs. It couldn’t all be a coincidence. The slavers, the pirates…and now Eldaron.

It can’t be chance. It all has to be related
.

“I know my brother is very skilled, Major…and the Eagles’ reputation precedes them wherever they go. But to walk straight into a trap…”

“There was no choice, Captain. If there is any chance your father is still alive, the general had to go. And the men and women had to go with him. He did not order anyone to undertake this mission. He asked for volunteers.”

“How many volunteered?” Elias asked, wondering how large a force his brother had with him.

“They all volunteered, Captain. The entire mobile force is en route to Eldaron. And whatever is waiting there, whoever thinks they are clever enough to trap the Black Eagles, they will have a rude awakening.” Cranston’s tone broadcast confidence, but Elias could still hear the slight doubt still lingering behind his words. And something else? Disappointment perhaps…at being left behind?

“You wanted to go too.” Elias hadn’t intended to verbalize the thought, but it just popped out.

“Of course, Captain. This will be the Eagles’ greatest test.” Cranston’s guard dropped a bit, and the level of his concern became clearer. “Our thoughts are with those who travel now to the great battle, yet we all must fight our own demons. We have our duty, for the Nest must be manned and defended, but we long in times like these to seal our armor and march into the landers alongside our comrades…to hit the dirt of the target world. Every Eagle longs to follow General Cain, to save his…your…great father. Or to avenge him.”

There was dreamy a quality to Cranston’s voice, one of remembrance. Elias was sure in that moment that John Cranston had been one of Darius’ field officers, probably a highly valued one. He understood. Darius had assigned this man to protect his stronghold when the field army was deployed. It was an honor, a sign of trust…yet it carried with it a cost, at least for a veteran like Cranston.

Elias saw much of his father in the Eagle major, and he knew, for all Erik Cain’s longing to live in peace, he had never been able to stay back from the front lines when war called.

“You are here because my brother trusted you, Major.”

Cranston smiled, and he looked at Elias as if he had just seen something unexpected in his commander’s sibling. “Yes, Captain. He has good reason to. I saved his life. Twice.” He paused, then he rapped his hand against his thigh. It made an odd sound, like he was slapping metal. “The second time cost me this. Turns out I’ve got a rare genetic disorder. Regeneration won’t take.” He sighed softly. “Nothing to do with the half-soldier except put him in command of the base…”

Elias wanted to say something, but he had no idea how to respond. Finally, he just said, “Major, I know my brother well, and the one thing I’m sure of is that if he assigned you here it’s because this is where he needs you. Where the Eagles need you.”

Elias was surprised how the veteran officer had opened up to him. It seemed wildly out of character. Is it because I look just like Darius? But he knows who I am…and my brother and I are nothing alike. Nothing.

But he began to wonder. He’d always taken the fact that he and Darius were very different as a given, but now he began to think about it. He liked Cranston, and he found that he respected the man. Everyone he’d met in the Nest had made a good impression on him, and he found himself regretting all the times he’d declared them criminals and mercenary killers.

He felt unsettled. He’d grown comfortable with his beliefs, with his baseless prejudices, but the past weeks had shattered his view of things. He’d found the government he’d believed in to be riddled with corruption and dishonesty…and those he’d considered villains to defy that simplistic characterization. He felt a longing to see his brother again, for the two to talk…truly talk.

And my father…is it really possible…

He felt his stomach twist into a knot. But if there truly is one massive enemy behind all of this…they surely know how strong Darius’ Eagles are. Any trap they set would be powerful enough to destroy them, almost certainly.

Of course! That’s the whole point of this! They want to destroy the Eagles, get them out of the way
.

“I have to go, Major. Immediately.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but I’ve given you highly classified information. I’m afraid I can’t allow you or your ship to depart until the general returns from Eldaron.”

“
If
he returns, Major! You
must
let me go. I can help him.”

“Captain, I understand how difficult it is to wait while…”

“Please, Major…I have to fight this battle with my brother.” He hesitated. “It is my struggle too.” Another pause. “You have my word, Major. I will do nothing to endanger my brother…or the other Eagles.”

Cranston stared back, his hard impassive face slowly softening. “I would be violating the general’s orders, Captain.”

“Do you really think Darius would want you to keep me here? I understand orders, but my brother could not have anticipated that I would come to the Nest while he was gone.” He stared at Cranston, locked eyes with the officer. “Don’t be a martinet, Major. Let me go help my brother…”

Cranston sat silently for a moment. Finally, he said softly, “You must promise not to speak of anything you have heard here. Not the slightest detail. To anyone.”

Elias nodded. “You have my word, Major.” He extended his hand, feeling a deep pang of guilt as the Black Eagle grasped it tightly. Elias Cain considered himself a man of integrity, one whose word meant something. He had never before broken it, at least not about anything as important as this. But he knew even as he shook Cranston’s hand, he would not be true to his promise.

He would tell someone what was going on, though he would break his word not for betrayal, but to help Darius and the Eagles the only way he could devise. Because, he had a feeling that even the Black Eagles were in too deep this time.

*  *  *  *  *

“I need your help again, Jamie.” Wheaton had been waiting for him when he docked. He caught the smile on her face when she first saw him. She had heard all the legends about the Black Eagles too, and as soon as he saw her face, Elias knew she’d been worried since he’d left
Zephyr
.

“Of course, Elias. We’ve come this far, haven’t we? What do you need?”

His eyes darted toward the crewman standing alongside the docking controls…then back to Wheaton. She understood immediately. He wanted privacy.

“Let’s go to my office,” she said, keeping her voice as businesslike as possible.

Elias nodded, and he followed her through the hatch and down the corridor. They were both silent until they stepped into the tiny room she used as a workspace, and the hatch closed behind them.

“So,” she said, “what do you need me to do?”

“I need to go somewhere. As quickly as possible. And I mean brutal g forces, strain the engines to the breaking point fast.”

She stared back, a troubled expression on her face. “We came all this way to have your brother interrogate the prisoner…and now we’re not even taking him to the Nest? We’re just leaving…and going somewhere else?” She paused. “Elias, you know I support you…but don’t you think we are in enough trouble already? We need to go back to Atlantia.”

“My brother is en route to Eldaron, Jamie.” Elias blurt out the words. “He has his entire attack force with him. That is why we are leaving.”

“Eldaron? What is on Eldaron?” She sounded confused. The Tyrant of that world had a fearsome reputation, but for all its ruler’s reputed cruelty, Eldaron had never been aggressive with the worlds around it.

“Perhaps nothing,” he said softly, a touch of sadness clinging to his voice. “Perhaps my father.”

“Your father is dead,” she said, her voice tentative, sympathetic.

“Perhaps not. Darius had evidence that he might still be alive. A prisoner on Eldaron.”

She stared back with a look of astonishment on her face. “My God…”

Elias just nodded and looked back at her.

“Okay, Elias. We will go to Eldaron.”

“No.”

“No?” she said, a confused look on her face.

“Not Eldaron, not yet.”

“Then where do you want to go?”

“Armstrong.” His gaze hardened, his plan taking shape in his head. “I want to go to Armstrong. As quickly as we can get there.”

Chapter 22

Central Command

The Citadel

Planet Eldaron, Denebola IV

Earthdate: 2319 AD (34 Years After the Fall)

“What in the nine rings of hell is going on?” The Tyrant’s voice echoed across the high-ceilinged room, the caustic edge of it giving no doubt to anyone present he was not in a patient mood. Eldaron’s absolute ruler was standing in the lift, looking out over the command center with a crooked scowl on his face.

The officers present had almost agreed not to wake the Tyrant, at least not until they had a good idea what was going on. The failure had begun with a single satellite, and it had at first appeared to be a minor malfunction, nothing important enough to disturb the sovereign…and risk the often unpredictable results of his temper. But then it spread through the system, one unit at a time, until the planetwide com networks were completely down. The ground backup units were still functioning, providing emergency transmissions to the military and other vital services. But the entertainment networks, the news broadcasts, and almost all civilian communications were out…as well as orbital scanning capabilities.

“We don’t know, sir.” The colonel on duty was trying to keep his voice steady, but a healthy dose of fear was apparent despite his best efforts. “At first we thought it was a mechanical failure on one satellite, but now it has spread to all the others…and it is moving to the ground stations as well. It is beginning to look more like some kind of cyber-attack now. But we can’t trace it at all. The systems appear to be fine, diagnostics check out 100 percent. But nothing is functioning.”

“I would say that means they are not
fine
…wouldn’t you, Colonel?” The Tyrant walked into the center of the control room, his heavy boots slapping down hard on the polished stone floor. His rage hung over everyone, and the officers and other personnel hunched tensely over their workstations, trying to avoid his attention.

“No, sir.” The colonel struggled to keep his voice firm.

The Tyrant turned and looked out past the colonel across the rest of the room. “Listen to me, all of you…I want answers, and I want them now! How could our entire communications system just collapse…”

His voice trailed off, and he snapped his head back to the colonel. “Were there any scanner contacts before this happened?” The Tyrant felt his stomach clench.
Could it be…?

“No, sir. None. I checked it twice.”

“Then check it again!” The Tyrant shook his head. He wondered if the Eagles could have arrived already. It was far ahead of even his most aggressive projections. He knew when Sarah Cain left Armstrong, and he could guess how long it had taken her to get to the Nest. No matter how he looked at it, that didn’t leave enough time for planning and preparation…not for a full scale planetary invasion. One Darius Cain almost certainly suspected was a trap.

Or was it enough time? Are they
that
good…that much better than everyone else?

The thought that Cain might have mounted his invasion so quickly was terrifying. He didn’t believe it, not really. The Eagles were the best, he knew that much. But still, they couldn’t possibly live up to all the legends about them.

Could they?

“I want functioning orbital scans immediately! I don’t care what you have to do. Launch another satellite if you have to. But we can’t be naked up there, with no idea of what is happening. And I want all military units placed on full alert. Now!” The Tyrant’s voice was cracking, shaky. The officers in the control center took it as anger, rage…the unspoken threat of what he would do if they failed to do what he commanded.

But it wasn’t rage, at least not entirely. It was fear.

*  *  *  *  *

“The advance team reports mission complete, sir. The virus has been introduced, and it appears to have spread throughout the Eldari communications networks. Preliminary scans suggest all but ground-based backup com is down.”

Darius Cain sat at his station on
Eagle One’s
bridge. He had a smile of sorts on his face, but it wasn’t one that suggested happiness. It was a symbol, rather, of satisfaction at watching a plan begin to unfold, one that would bring unimaginable devastation to his enemy. Darius Cain was already considered a brilliant strategist, but he had resolved the invasion of Eldaron would be his masterpiece…a battle he intended to see executed with a level of precision even his Black Eagles had never imagined possible. He was walking knowingly into a trap. But he planned to turn the tables…and spring his own trap on his enemy.

The ground stations won’t do them any good. Tom Sparks created this virus, and it’s beyond anything they have. It will compromise all of their communications, not just the satellites. Just a few more minutes…

“Order the team back, Captain. And give Lieutenant Bellows my personal compliments on a job well done.” Darius didn’t move his eyes from the screen as he belted out the order. He’d been a little nervous. The stealth shuttle was new, the latest thing out of Sparks’ laboratory. It hadn’t been tried out, not really. Darius didn’t like testing out new equipment in an actual combat situation, but needn’t have worried. Everything had gone magnificently. From what he could tell, the Eldari hadn’t the slightest idea a hostile ship had even moved into orbit, much less docked with one of their satellites and injected a virus into their network.