A Pale Dawn Read online

  “We have all the arms taken from the wolves, right? What’s the condition and count?”

  “Yes, sir, all stored and reviewed. Armorers report 219 functional weapons, including 92 hand weapons, 111 long arms, and sixteen heavy weapons, as well as a large supply of ammo.”

  “Very good. See that all those men and women are armed as they wish,” Jim said, pointing at the newly released colonists.

  “What?” Bates cried out. “You promised us those weapons.”

  “I made no specific promise,” Jim replied, “only that they’d be turned over for your defense. As it appears, some of your own people will need to be defended from you. They need them more.”

  “You can’t do that,” Bates growled and came around the table toward Jim.

  Jim reached for his GP-90, but before his hand reached the weapon, Buddha and Corporal Moose stepped in front of their commander, both with weapons in hand.

  “You should seriously consider your next action,” Jim said, his voice low and menacing. The room was deathly silent as the two men locked eyes. Jim was concerned about what might happen, though not afraid. He’d been through far more desperate standoffs in his short merc career. Even though there was a pistol on the man’s belt, Jim knew Bates would be dead before he could get his weapon clear.

  After a long moment, Bates cursed and returned to the desk he’d been using to try the prisoners. Jim nodded to his men, who also returned to their positions. “Complete the trials,” Jim told Hargrave. He noticed his XO’s hand was on his own sidearm under the table where he’d remained seated during the entire exchange.

  “Yes, sir. Mr. Bates, you were saying?”

  Jim moved away, back toward the garrison area. Buddha patted Jim on his shoulder and gave him a slow, respectful nod. “Well done,” he said quietly.

  Jim gave him a little smile as he moved on. As he reached the top of the auditorium, the crowd of families pressed in to thank him. He shook a few hands, patted some backs, and assured them that he’d, “Only done what justice demanded.”

  “Are you really going to arm us?” one man asked.

  “Yes,” Jim assured him. “Just remember that this imparts a responsibility on you. Remember the mercy I gave you,” he said, looking at the men and women he’d freed. “Violence is easy; mercy is hard.”

  He disengaged from the families and went to the repair area to check on progress. He found most of the work completed, and men getting back into their suits. The technical sergeant confirmed that all the suits were operational, and another resupply dropship was due in only five minutes.

  “Order the company to prepare to move,” Jim ordered. He went to his own CASPer and reached inside the open cockpit to trigger the startup sequence. Splunk was perched on the suit’s shoulder, looking out into the afternoon. The precipitation had turned from rain mixed with snow to merely snow. It would likely make combat more complicated as they moved onto their next objective, Redoubt.

  At first Jim thought the Fae was watching the weather, then he saw she wasn’t really focusing on anything. She was staring off to the west as if she could see something he couldn’t. “You okay?” He had to ask her a second time before she slowly looked down at him.

  “Not sure, Jim, ”

  He looked at his friend for a long minute, then looked at where she was staring. All he saw was the falling snow.

  * * *

  Winged Hussars Prime Base, New Warsaw System

  “There you go, Dr. Sato,” the marine said as he coded open the door. “Home, safe and sound.”

  “There is no need to do that,” Sato said, looking at the young man suspiciously.

  “I’m afraid I have orders, Doctor,” the man explained. “Captain Teenge gave explicit instructions from Colonel Cromwell that you are to be kept in your quarters—”

  “Locked up!” Sato exclaimed.

  “—to be kept in your quarters and given all consideration you are due.”

  “I’m sure,” he said, not bothering to hide his contempt. “Am I even to be allowed access to my lab?” The marine gestured and Sato walked inside. The quarters looked the same as when he left, except a new door had been added. He went to it, and it slid aside for him. His entire lab had been moved. Sato walked inside and looked around, trying his best to find something to complain about. Whoever did the job had done it well. Everything was there, even in the same places he’d left them, except it was all in his quarters. “Okay, I’m impressed.”

  “You’re welcome, Doctor.” The marine left without fanfare, the door sliding closed behind him. Sato checked and wasn’t surprised to find the door locked.

  “Baka,” he said. Didn’t they understand he was doing everything for them? He’d been stuck in an AI-controlled doomsday machine for weeks, nearly brought to the point of having to drink his own urine, just to find more tools for the Winged Hussars to use. Sure, the doomsday Keesius ship could have been bad, but Captain Teenge and Arion had caught up with it, and the marines had stopped it and got them all off. Well, most of them.

  “They can’t hold all of that against me,” he said. “Right?” There was nobody to answer him, so he started looking around his lab, trying to find something to mumble about. He was still looking an hour later when a logistics team delivered his Mk 7 CASPer from Arion. Of course, he tried to slip out while they worked.

  “I’m sorry, Doctor,” a marine he hadn’t seen said at the door.

  “I was just going to get some tools,” Sato said with a half-smile.

  “Just use your slate to request anything you need, and it will be delivered.”

  “Can I speak to Colonel Cromwell?”

  “She hasn’t returned and isn’t expected for some time. Please return to your quarters, sir.”

  Sato sat in his quarters and stared out at the slowly rotating view of the dark greens and blues of the planet in the distance. I can’t even go down to the planet, he thought. Of course, he hated it down there. It was too cold and dark.

  He got a shower, some food, and then went to bed.

  When he woke up three hours later, he was fully refreshed and ready to try some new ideas. Some toast and tea in hand, he went to the lab door that led to the main corridor, which had once been the door to the quarters adjacent to his. Apparently, when they’d converted the quarters to his new lab space, they’d altered the control interface on that door.

  Like this is going to stop me, Sato mentally snorted and picked up an interface cable to link the door’s controls with his pinplants. This should only take a second. Only it took longer. In fact, after a few minutes he was forced to admit he couldn’t get the door open. The simple door interface program was gone, replaced by something all too frustratingly familiar.

  “That baka AI, Ghost,” Sato spat, and kicked the door, which had even less effect than his attempt to break the encryption. Not only wasn’t he out of his prison, now his foot hurt. He sat at a table and drank his tea while he thought. Okay, fine, I guess I’ll just go forward with my other plan.

  He immediately set to work on his rack of computers. Less than an hour later, he’d finished his project. Sato walked over to the door and knocked. It opened immediately.

  “Yes, Doctor?” a marine asked, this one an aquatic Selroth.

  “I need to go see Nemo.”

  “The squid?” the Selroth marine asked.

  “Nemo is a Wrogul,” Sato said, more than a little offended. “They resemble an octopus.”

  “Why?”

  “I have a malfunction on my pinplants.”

  The marine considered him as bubbles floated up in his helmet. The apparatus covered most of his face, leaving nothing for Sato to look at to determine what he might be thinking.

  “Well?” Sato eventually asked.

  “I am speaking with my commander,” the marine said. A few seconds passed before he spoke again. “He said you aren’t answering his call.”

  “That’s because my damned pinplants are damaged!”
r />   The Selroth blinked his nictitating membranes. “Please wait,” the marine said.

  Stupid marines, Sato thought, but he went back inside his quarters. He didn’t have too long to wait before there was a knock. Sato opened the door to find a MinSha with a major’s gold oak leaf painted on her chiton, along with the Winged Hussars logo and marine pipping. Sato knew Major Kratlik by reputation but had never met the current marine commander before.

  “Dr. Sato,” she said in surprisingly crisp English. “My man here informs me you are having difficulty with your pinplants?”

  “That is correct,” Sato said. “They were damaged when Walker zapped my CASPer on the Keesius.” Kratlik’s antennae did little circles, a sure sign she was thinking it over. “Do you want to check?” he asked, holding out the cable linked to his pinplants. Kratlik looked at the cable for a moment then took it with one of her delicate manipulator hands and clicked it into her own pinplants. Of course, nothing happened.

  “I see,” she said and handed the cable back. “Why didn’t you report this before?”

  “I was on the ship and couldn’t do any work anyway,” he said then shrugged. “Besides, I didn’t know how bad it was until I got back here and tried to diagnose it.”

  The MinSha marine seemed to think again for a long moment. Sato was surprised he didn’t see smoke coming from between the big, multifaceted eyes. “Private Shev, here, will take you to medical,” she said.

  It was everything Sato could do not to grin ear to ear. “Thank you, Major Kratlik.”

  The major clicked her claws in reply and left Sato with the less-than-interested Private Shev. The Selroth marine seemed to sigh, an interesting thing to watch an aquatic humanoid do, as he gestured down the hall.

  Traveling to the medical center only took a short time. Prime Base was huge, and travel between rings utilized glideways—padded tubes which used pressurized air to move people quickly and safely. Some races enjoyed it more than others. Humans were one of the ones who liked it. Sato always thought it reminded him of a waterslide he’d gone to as a child in Yokohama.

  As they dropped toward the next ring and air pressure slowed their progress, Sato glanced up, hoping Private Shev was falling behind or might accidentally take a wrong turn. The Selroth was not a meter away, watching him carefully.

  The next deck approached, and Sato pushed off the back wall to land gently on the floor. Prime Base’s glideways all worked perfectly. Of course, he’d overseen their installation. The original station was constructed without them. It more closely resembled a starship than a space station. Curious design.

  The gravity was slightly higher here than on the deck where his quarters and labs were. Lower gravity was favorable for many of his experiments and other work. He found he slept better in that lower gravity as well. Ever since the years he’d spent on Yoku—

  “Are you okay, sir?”

  Sato looked up at the Selroth marine in confusion. How did I get on the deck? It took him a moment to realize he hadn’t spoken out loud and to repeat himself verbally.

  “You seemed to have had some kind of a seizure,” Private Shev said.

  “Seizure?” Sato asked. He used his pinplants, which, other than the comms feature, were working perfectly, and ran a diagnostic/recall routine for the last ten seconds. Nothing came up. Well, that is strange. He got to his feet quickly and easily, with no sign of anything being wrong. The Selroth marine watched him for a moment.

  “Are we continuing, or do you need to return to your quarters?”

  “No, I’m fine,” Sato said. “It must be my pinplant malfunction.”

  That seemed to placate the marine, who gestured for Sato to continue. The entrance to the medical section was only a short distance away, and they reached it quickly.

  As Sato walked in, the medical technician, a lovely younger lady in a black uniform with a green stripe on the legs and arms looked up in surprise. “Dr. Sato? I thought you were under arrest.”

  Sato turned and glared at the marine who seemed nonplused by the statement. “I need to see Nemo.”

  The medical technician looked confused and glanced at the marine, who shrugged.

  “Major Kratlik said to bring him here,” the marine said, then he took up position next to the door and looked prepared to wait indefinitely.

  So much for just sneaking out later, Sato admitted to himself. He didn’t know if the medical section had another exit, having never thoroughly explored the area. He’d check into that later, after he’d followed through with his plan. “Tell Nemo I’m here,” Sato said.

  The young technician sputtered, and he gave her his best menacing stare. She blinked, and half closed her eyes. Sato recognized someone with little experience using their pinplants. A few seconds later, a door opened, and Dr. Gorge Ramirez stuck his head out.

  “Dr. Sato!” he said, surprised. “I heard you were under arrest.”

  Sato fumed, almost shaking with fury. “I…need…to…see…Nemo!”

  “Come into my office, Doctor,” Ramirez said and gestured. Sato looked from the young woman, who was staring at her desk, to the marine who was bubbling by the door, then back to Ramirez. “Now, please.”

  “Fine,” Sato said and marched in.

  “Now, can you please explain?” Sato took a few calming breaths then laid out his prepared story. “That is highly unusual,” Ramirez said when Sato was done.

  “Don’t you think I know that? That damned Walker used an EMP weapon on my CASPer, and it shorted out the pinplant.” He was mad enough at having his lie questioned that he didn’t have to try and keep a straight face. The very idea that he would build an interface into his CASPer that wouldn’t protect him from anything up to a nuclear-generated EMP was simply ludicrous. Of course, what would a medical doctor know about such things?

  Ramirez held out a connection cable. Sato ground his teeth at being questioned on his fanciful story, but eventually took the cable and connected it to his pinplants. Ramirez hooked the other end to his own pinplants and closed his eyes. A second later, he opened them in surprise.

  “Well, there is a problem,” he said.

  “No shit,” Sato spat.

  “There’s no reason for that,” the physician said. “You must understand, the command structure is rather miffed at you.” Sato tried to look confused. “You unleashed a doomsday weapon, Sato. Entropy, you really stepped in it this time.”

  “It needed to be investigated,” Sato insisted.

  “I understand Kleena was going to assemble a team—with you—when there was time.”

  “Yes, so they could carefully watch me,” Sato whined.

  “Seems like that would have been a good idea,” Ramirez said.

  Sato opened his mouth to rebuff that assertion but gave up and just sighed. “Can I please see Nemo so he can fix my pinplants? I have other work that’s waiting.” Ramirez lifted an eyebrow. “Work Colonel Cromwell has asked me to do!”

  Ramirez eyed him for a critical second, then nodded. “Okay,” he relented. “Nemo is back in his lab. He’s been preoccupied with some side project and won’t talk to me half the time anyway. Maybe you can give him something to get his brain back into the job. That is, if Wrogul even have brains.”

  “Thank you,” Sato said and left without saying goodbye.

  Ramirez shook his head as the scientist left, then pressed his intercom. “Amanda, please let Dr. Sato into Nemo’s suite, would you? Thank you.”

  Sato walked past the receptionist, refusing to look at her as he went by, and to the series of suites occupied by the Wrogul. The door opened for him, and he went inside.

  When he’d first suggested Nemo as a member of the Hussars, Alexis Cromwell was hesitant. There were many alien races in the company, more than a hundred, though none were considered exotics. An exotic species was one with either non-carbon-based biology, required special atmospheric considerations, had abilities which defied explanation, or possessed completely non-Human psychology. In the cas
e of the Wrogul, they fell into two of those categories, non-Human psychology and abilities which defied explanation.

  Based on Sato’s recommendation, Alexis had sent Dr. Ramirez to the biotech firm Nemo was working for, and after interviewing him, offered the alien a job. Because Ramirez mentioned that Sato already worked for the Hussars, Nemo accepted the offer. When he arrived, he’d been given a massive suite of labs in the medical quadrant of the .75 G ring. Which was where he’d continued to work except for an occasional mission when asked. He was quite happy just to do research and supervise pinplant operations as needed.

  Sato looked around the outer labs, which were mainly used for pinplant operations. It was empty, so he moved on deeper into the various labs. One was filled, from floor to ceiling on three of the four walls, with tanks of all sizes. Inside the tanks were a dizzying array of lifeforms living in everything from water to swirling, colored gasses.

  When Sato visited him after the Wrogul had moved in, he’d joked that he wouldn’t have been surprising to see an Izlian in one of those cages.

  “Do you know where I can get one?” Nemo had asked in complete seriousness. It was one of those moments when Sato was reminded that Nemo didn’t think the way Humans did. Not at all. When he was working on other beings, Dr. Ramirez acted as the alien’s guardian. Nemo would never purposely do harm, but he possessed no moral compass whatsoever. Sato once asked Colonel Cromwell if he could move his quarters adjacent to Nemo’s, so they two could work more closely together.

  “Under no condition are you two allowed to work together unsupervised,” she’d said.

  Sato had been both confused and offended. I’m nothing like Nemo, he thought. I carefully think through everything I do! He glanced in a few of the tanks as he passed, thinking he spotted a few creatures which were new. I wonder if Hussars personnel are bringing new ones for him? Since he couldn’t know the answer, he moved into the next lab. This one was full of racks of equipment and instruments, many medically related so Sato wasn’t sure of their functions. With no sign of Nemo, he moved on.