Veil of Shadows (Book 2 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (30 page)

Jared came out at a run right behind them. “Kelsey! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said through her still-tight chest. “Most of us made it, but some of the marines are badly hurt. One of the pilots is somewhere back there.” She gestured toward the raging forest fire behind them. Of course, except for the scar they’d made while crashing, everything around them was on fire.

“We’ll start a search. I’m glad you got our message. I was afraid we weren’t going to get back in time.”

“What were those things you sent? Probes?”

He shook his head. “Five missiles. We added a communications package onto them and fired them as soon as we got in range of the planet. They were the only things fast enough to beat the asteroid.”

Doctor Stone took the worst of the injured onto her pinnace and lifted off for
Courageous
. It took another hour for the rest of them to recover all the data units they’d captured. And to find the pilot’s body.

Jared filled her in on the mutiny and his fight to regain control of the ship and she recounted their attack on the AI. He shook his head when they she finished. “We were both lucky. Luckier than we deserve to be.”

“I know. I’ve been loaded down with all these implants and now had an asteroid dropped on my head. My father is going to be pissed. I hope you like Thule.”

Once they had everything secure, they lifted off and headed for the mountains. They landed in almost the same place as Kelsey had this morning. She shook her head. Had it only been this morning? It felt like an eternity ago.

She led her half-brother to the hidden entrance, which opened as soon as they arrived. Da Silva was waiting to escort them to the same conference room that she’d visited earlier. Once again, Reginald Bell was waiting for her. Alone this time.

The old man gestured for them to sit. “We found some sturdier chairs, Princess. You look like you need to sit down.”

Kelsey sat wearily. “Reginald Bell, this is our expedition commander, Captain Jared Mertz. Jared, Reginald Bell.”

“Captain Mertz. It’s a great pleasure to meet you, though I wish it had been under better circumstances.” He straightened and saluted, his fist to his chest. “Ensign Bell reporting, Captain.”

Jared returned the salute and extended his hand to old man. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. I’m so sorry that we weren’t able to stop the kinetic strike. I hope your people made it through.”

The older man clasped Jared’s hand in his. “They designed this facility to survive a near miss from just such a weapon. I’m pleased to say it is a credit to its designers. I’m much more concerned with the long-term effects of the impact. We’re guessing that there will be months of darkness under a global debris cloud and years of bitter winters. The roving tribes of primitives will suffer greatly.”

“I wish we could offer more help there, but it will be weeks before any other ships can arrive. Even then, the scale of this disaster is beyond imagining. We’ll do what we can, but it won’t be nearly enough.”

“We appreciate everything that you can do. I can hardly credit that you’ve brought
Courageous
back to life. I never expected to meet a Fleet officer again.”

Jared spread his hands. “Seeing everything about
Courageous
, I’m almost hesitant to call myself Fleet. Meeting a true Fleet officer is an unexpected dream come true. If you only knew how many questions I have.”

“Don’t raise us to mythical heights, Captain. I’d imagine your Fleet is much like the one I served. Good men and women doing the best they could. Technology doesn’t define who we are. Was the impact a rebel counterattack?”

“More like a last gasp, though I’m afraid the Pale Ones aren’t directly responsible for it in the end. It’s a long story, but the important part is that we’ve defeated the rebels. The controlling AI is gone.”

The man blinked in surprise. “You’re certain?”

Kelsey nodded. “There was a wrecked battlecruiser in a lake. We entered it and I communicated with it before I shut it down. Then the kinetic strike blew it up. No mistake.”

Bell shook his head as though trying to clear away cobwebs. “It’s hard to believe. Can this nightmare truly be over?”

Jared put a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “It is. We’ve defeated the rebels and freed Erorsi. I’m just sorry we couldn’t stop the asteroid. Erorsi was such a beautiful world.”

“And it will be again. We recovered from the initial bombardment. We’ll survive this one, too. I think this calls for a drink. I happen to have some truly magnificent brandy in my quarters. I’ve been saving it for just this moment. I won’t tell my doctor if you don’t.”

Jared shook his head with an expression of regret. “I’m afraid we can’t stay. Events are driving us back to the system next door. Pentagar. We’re on a tight schedule. Can we evacuate any of your people?”

“Let me call the others. They’re helping put things right after the earthquake.” He walked slowly to the conference table and called someone.

Jared put his hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “I wish we didn’t have to rush back. I wasn’t kidding about all the questions. We might have all the data files imaginable on
Courageous
, but we don’t have any experience using the technology. He was a serving Fleet officer. The things he’s learned about tactics would be invaluable.”

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not. Things didn’t work out so well against the rebels. Don’t be blinded by our vision of the old Empire. We’ve crawled back to our feet after a knockout punch. That’s huge. And what you’ve accomplished on this mission alone is the stuff of legend.”

His skeptical expression made her laugh. “Think about it, Jared. You’ve brought an old Empire ship back to life. You’ve met the rebels and defeated them. You captured an entire planetary system with one ship. Tell me one of your contemporary officers that can claim anything like that.”

“You’re exaggerating my role in all this. You played a bigger hand in this than I did.”

She shook her head. “We’ve done it as a team. Bet nobody saw that coming.”

He smiled. “No. I’m certain no one imagined anything like what we’ve done together. I was wrong to want you to stay home. You’re the soul of this expedition. I’m even warming to the half-sister part.”

His words made her feel more than a bit guilty. He still didn’t know that she wasn’t genetically his sister. To his credit, she imagined that wouldn’t make one bit of difference to him.

Bell ended his call and walked back over to them. “We’ve discussed the matter and decided that we’re not leaving. This is our world. It needs us. We’ll send a team of people back with you, if you have no objection. It behooves us to get to know you and our neighbors. And to get what help we can for the savages living in the wild.”

“I understand. Will you be joining us?”

“I shouldn’t, but I long to walk the corridors of my old ship one last time. My days are numbered and the chance will likely never come again. Our party will be several dozen people, if that’s acceptable. We should be ready to go in an hour.”

Her half-brother grinned. “We’d be happy to have them. If you have any technical specialists that might come along, I know some people would love to talk to them. And we have the Pale Ones data units to get into. They’re water damaged and we can’t chance ruining them.”

Bell nodded. “Our technical knowhow has slipped some from the days of old, but I’ll add a few people to our roster that can help. That’s what neighbors do.”

* * * * *

After they docked, Kelsey watched the old man walk out into
Courageous
with tears in her eyes.

The computer spoke from the overheads and in her implants. Perhaps in all their implants. “Welcome aboard, Ensign Bell.”

Bell spoke softly. “It’s good to be back,
Courageous
.”

“Have you returned to take command?”

Kelsey froze. She’d never considered that possibility. The man was a Fleet officer, lawfully assigned to this ship. He was part of her official chain of command. Would he take the ship away from them?

“No,
Courageous
,” Bell said. “My day is done. The Empire of old is gone. You have a new Captain, and a damned good one from what I can see. I hereby affirm Jared Mertz’s status as a Fleet officer and endorse his command of this vessel. He’s your Captain now.”

Bell turned to Jared. “If an old man might presume on your goodwill, though, I’d love to visit the bridge. I was never senior enough to go there when I served.”

Jared gestured to the lift. “It’s under repair, but we can certainly stop in. Then we can go to the operations center while we break orbit.”

Kelsey followed them with a smile on her face.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Once Jared had seen their guests to their quarters and assigned crew members to act as guides—and guards to a degree—he made his way to the bridge with a silent Kelsey at his side. Engineering technicians were replacing shattered consoles and the place smelled of fried circuitry and blood. Miraculously, his console was undamaged, though splattered with gore.

He cleaned it up with supplies from the cubby in the attached head and sat down. The console lit when he interfaced his implants with it. The ship’s status was mostly green. The bridge showed red, but that would change before they flipped.

Their combat status was green, though they were now critically short of missiles. There were several dozen missiles that had failed inspection that might be made ready, but he wasn’t going to count on it. If things hit the fan, it was going to get ugly.

Kelsey cleaned off a seat near him, not bothering to hide her distaste. “If our mutineers intended to kick off an insurrection when they came through the flip point, then those plans must be advanced enough to succeed. It wouldn’t take long for the Pentagaran fleet to realize there had been a change in command. They’re going to want to speak to you as soon as we appear. How do we avoid kicking this off ourselves?”

“The computer says no messages were sent back to Pentagar through the probes at the flip point. The mutineers only had a few dozen people aboard. Their patron couldn’t possibly be certain their attack on
Courageous
would succeed. So, it won’t be our arrival that triggers the coup.”

He rubbed his face tiredly. “Not even this ship could survive a bombardment by the defensive orbitals on the Pentagaran side of the flip point, so Rawlins must’ve had a plan to get clear quickly. He could send a signal of some kind to his patron then.”

She nodded. “Probably something innocuous. Why raise suspicions ahead of time? Have their quarters been searched?”

“From top to bottom. We didn’t find anything suspicious. None of the personal communications devices would even interface with
Courageous
. I had them examined anyway. There’s no telling which contacts on them might lead to their patron. If any.”

Jared slammed his palm against the console. “Dammit. We can’t just let this sonofabitch get away. He’ll just keep building his organization and strike when we leave.”

“We have some information. When Rawlins identified himself as a Commander, it might have been a real rank. I met him once before on
Best Deal
. He told me his name was Jacob, but he looked enlisted. What name does the ship have on file for him?”

He queried the computer. “Jacob Randal. An enlisted engineering technician. So, the first name might or might not be real. Let’s assume that it is. It would be damned awkward to fail to respond to your own name. The last name is similar enough to catch your attention. So, let’s assume he actually is Commander Jacob Rawlins of the Pentagaran fleet. They could probably confirm that with his remains. If we can find someone to ask who isn’t in on the plot.”

Kelsey pursed her lips. “We can’t really be sure of anyone, except the King and Elise. Probably Elise. I find it difficult to believe Commodore Sanders is in on something like this, but can we trust him completely?”

“We can’t doubt every friend we’ve made. Someone is going to need to take steps to see that the Pentagaran fleet doesn’t revolt.”

He consulted the time and their ETA through his implants. That would take a lot of getting used to. They had a few hours remaining before they transitioned. “I think we start off pretending nothing is amiss.”

“And then the patron knows his or her minion isn’t in command of
Courageous
,” she added. “If we never let on that anything is wrong, the patron will have to assume his team is still in place learning what they need to take over when more Pentagarans can be assigned to the ship.”

“I think so, too. The question is, how do we track him down?”

“Someone assigned Rawlins to this ship under a fake name. Or someone else’s name. A senior officer made that call. Besides, only someone in a significant position of authority could orchestrate a military coup. The person or persons will be highly placed, but one of a singular clique of people. Flag officers. If we can get back in one piece, the odds of individual ships going rogue go way down.”

That agreed with his assessment. “I can’t make a call from here, so I’ll do it from my office once we flip. I’ll fill them in on our success and ask for an immediate conference with the Elise. She’ll bring some of her senior Fleet officers, but once we fill her in, she can take steps to take this apart without alarming the other senior commanders. If we control the communications, it won’t matter if one of them is with her. They won’t dare reveal themselves.”

The lift doors opened and Talbot came out onto the bridge. He slowed as he surveyed the destruction. “Wow. They really put up a fight.”

Jared sighed. “A completely needless one. They knew we were going to win. Once they lost their edge it was inevitable. What can I do for you, Senior Sergeant?”

The marine held out a tablet. “I downloaded my combat suit’s vid files to this tablet. I found something in the transmitter building that you need to see. I was able to access the AI’s communications records before we ran. The data storage unit is down in the lab, so hopefully we can get more. Most of the transmissions were audio only, but some were video. That caught my attention.”