Alabaster Noon Read online

  “Operations,” she called. “Order the fleet to a defensive posture.”

  “Against our own ships?” the operations officer asked.

  “Do it.” Peepo cut the line and waited. Less than five seconds later, the system’s operational status switched from alert to defensive. Starships began breaking orbit to maneuver toward the emergence point.

  Something went desperately wrong at New Warsaw.

  A number of seconds after the reply should have come back from New Era, two dozen more ships emerged from hyperspace. The group was led by the two Bakulu battleships the Humans had captured and flanked by five ancient cigar-shaped battlecruisers that made her whiskers twitch in pent-up rage.

  “No reply from the New Era,” the comms tech reported.

  “You don’t say,” Peepo snarled, and threw a slate at the stunned elSha. She called operations again. “Delay the inbound attack fleet as long as possible,” she said. “And get me the file on New Era.”

  Peepo grabbed a slate and quickly composed a message to Pluis instructing him to get the Raknar and their operators off planet immediately. She’d dearly wanted to have the Fae as well, but that wasn’t to be. For now, anyway. But they wouldn’t escape.

  As soon as she finished the order and saw its receipt confirmed, another message came in. The Oogar strike team sent to take out the probable Cavaliers unit hiding to the south had arrived and found no trace of the mercs. There were remnants of a bivouac inside the warehouse and evidence the Humans left only minutes before. She ordered a sweep of the area and leaned back in her chair.

  * * *

  CIC, EMS Shadowfax, Sol Emergence Point

  “The fleet is out of hyperspace and forming up,” Evie reported.

  “Roger that,” Elizabeth replied and watched for herself on the Tri-V. No losses in hyperspace. So far so good. A light second closer to Earth, New Era and the other new allies of humanity were falling toward the blue planet. A fleet was climbing to meet them. “It seems our surprise was not total.” She shook her head. Where did they come up with so many ships?

  “Tactical, give me a breakdown on enemy fleet composition, ASAP.”

  “Working on it.”

  The Tri-V battlespace evolved quickly, painting and identifying targets. There were four battleships, 11 battlecruisers, 15 cruisers, and 31 frigates of various sizes. Captain Glashpooka commanding the Bakulu battleship and screening vessels for Admiral Galantrooka was maneuvering to flank Peepo’s forces. The dreadnought was moving toward Earth at a painfully slow rate.

  She’d expected the forces Peepo was mustering to engage hard and fast. They didn’t. Instead the enemy ships were engaging at extreme range with immense amounts of missiles. It forced the screening ships to move at the pace of the dreadnought, New Era, or risk having it overwhelmed.

  “Whose ships are those?” Elizabeth asked her TacCom.

  “Jeha,” he answered. “Mostly Jeha ships, though some Bakulu, Izlian, Maki, and even a few Buma.”

  “It’s a motley crew she’s assembled,” Evie pointed out.

  “Still formidable,” Elizabeth said.

 

  Elizabeth jumped. Shadowfax was coasting, and she almost launched herself out of her chair. “Patrick?” she said aloud, but didn’t receive any response. The voice had appeared in her mind, so she replied in kind.

  “Is that you, Patrick? Where are you?”

 

  Elizabeth was aware Evie was looking at her, so she tried to appear to be studying the Tri-V tactical board. “Then what are you?”

 

  “Entropy,” Elizabeth hissed. “Why did you…why did you take Patrick?”

 

  “Is he dead? Patrick?”

 

  “That isn’t much of an answer.”

 

  “You can read my mind?”

 

  Elizabeth checked the battlespace. The sector Ghost noted was on the enemy upper left flank, where they were not keeping proper pace. “Assign Captain Sarauw in Seattle Slew to take Howler, Marmoset, and Tamarin. Include Damocles and Excalibur for escort. Have them break off and intercept sector 11-A to exploit the flank. Have Chimera initiate drone launch to cover the move.”

  Evie checked the board and nodded at the move. The TacCom stared, abashed that he’d missed the weakness.

  “Is this what you did for Alexis?”

 

  “You know Alexis might be alive?”

 

  “Then why did you move to Shadowfax and take my Patrick?”

 

  She was about to ask how that would matter when the enemy fleet responded to the movement of ships she’d assigned. The move opened up a fissure. “Drone strike, there!”

  “Got it!” Evie said.

  “All Egleesius, advance at best acceleration.”

  * * *

  São José dos Campos, Brazil, Earth

  Major Good looked up from his slate as Sunshine and Tsan walked into the command post, followed by a huge Samoan and a Hispanic man wearing a gold oak leaf.

  “Welcome,” Good said. “I’m glad Tsan and Sunshine made it in time to get you.”

  “It was a close thing,” Tsan noted, preening her tail. “They need to move faster when told to move. The Merc Guild almost caught them.”

  “I’m Major Alvarado,” the Hispanic man said, “and this is First Sergeant Akamai ‘Buddha’ Kalawai.” He waved toward where Corporal Bolormaa Enkh was processing video imagery on a Tri-V. “As you may have figured, we’re from Cartwright’s Cavaliers.” He paused a second then added, “Can I ask just what the hell is going on here?”

  Good smiled. “Absolutely. Welcome to the headquarters of the resistance. I’m Major James Good of the Golden Horde. Like you, we escaped the failed assault on São Paulo, and we’ve been working on our options for what to do next.” He indicated the other two members of the conference. “Along the way, we picked up Tsan and Sunshine, who’s the last member of the Kakata Korps. They tried to keep the Merc Guild out of Monrovia. Like São Paulo, though, they weren’t able to.”

  “I see,” Alvarado said with a nod to Sunshine. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He turned back to Good. “So, you have been working on options? What have you come up with?”

  “Until your arrival—”

  “I’m going to kill Peepo,” Tsan cut in, “while you provide a distraction as you rescue the rest of the mercs.” She turned to Good and slow-blinked. “Sorry, but you have a habit of talking around a subject.” She turned back to Alvarado. “That is what we are going to do.”

  “I don’t remember agreeing to participate in this plan,” Alvarado replied.

  “That’s because you didn’t know about it until now.” Tsan paused as she licked an errant hair on her paw back into place. “Now that you know, though, you will do it.”

  Alvarado gave her a small smile. “And why’s that?”

  Tsan gave him a drawn out sigh. “Because Peepo is holding your leader. You don’t want her to have him in her claws any longer than you have to. She may extract information from him, or she may kill him in the attempt. Either way, you need to rescue him as soon as you can. I need to kill Peepo before she moves somewhere else. It is all very simple; I don’t understand why you Humans have to talk everything to death before taking action. Can we all agree to that, and move forward with the planning?”

  “I agree that needs to be our plan,” Good replied. “But there’s one more player we haven’t taken into account. They could be very helpful.”

  “Who’s that?” Alvarado asked.


  “I’ll show you,” Enkh said, indicating the Tri-V. On the display, a MinSha lay in a puddle of blue. “Here’s the sentry Tsan killed.” She fast-forwarded the image, and a Veetanho and an Oogar appeared. They looked at the MinSha for a few moments, the Veetanho yelled at the Oogar’s incompetence, then they left. Enkh fast-forwarded the image again. This time when she stopped, two small aliens were searching the room.

  “Who…or what are those things?” Sunshine asked.

  “Those look like Fae,” Alvarado said thoughtfully, looking at Buddha. “I don’t think either of them are Splunk, though, do you?”

  “No, sir,” Buddha replied. “I can confirm; neither of them is Splunk.”

  “What are they doing?” Sunshine asked as the Fae stopped to look at the MinSha.

  “Looks like they’re admiring Tsan’s handiwork,” Enkh said. Tsan slow-blinked back at her. “The question is whether they will find your camera,” Enkh added.

  “They will not,” Tsan said. “Similar to how I can go invisible to your eyes, I can make other things invisible to your eyes and technology, at least for a time.”

  “The Fae are reputed to be very good with technology,” Good said.

  Tsan slow-blinked. “It won’t make any difference.”

  Good nodded as the Fae walked off, apparently without noticing the camera.

  “If there are two of them here, Splunk is probably close by, too,” Buddha said. “I guarantee you that if we can get in touch with her, whatever Fae are in the area will help us get Colonel Cartwright back.”

  Good stared at the image of the Fae. Enkh had frozen it just before they disappeared. “That is…weird,” he said finally.

  “What do you mean?” Alvarado asked.

  “Tsan kills the MinSha spying on you folks, and then immediately after, the Fae drop by for a peek at the assassin?” Good shook his head. “Too coincidental. How would they have found the MinSha? They just happened to be in the neighborhood? I don’t buy it.”

  “What are you thinking?” Alvarado asked.

  “I don’t know,” Good said. “Maybe they were about to make contact with you, but the Merc Guild attack spooked them? Maybe they were positioning themselves to hit the Oogar, but Tsan came in and swept you all away?” He shrugged. “The only way we’ll know for sure is to ask them, and I don’t know how we’re going to be able to do that.”

  “Shit!” Enkh exclaimed. “Time’s up.”

  “What do you mean?” Good asked.

  “The Merc Guild just got a message from the picket at the emergence point. New Era and the Merc Guild fleet have returned to Sol.”

  “Damn,” Good said. “That means…they were only there, what? Three days? They must have wiped out everything there if they are already back.”

  “Wiped out?” Sunshine asked.

  “Nuked it all,” Good replied. “Like what they did to Monrovia.”

  “Are they going to do that here, next?” Sunshine asked.

  “What they decide to do next doesn’t change anything,” Tsan said. “Whether they decide to destroy the other pockets of humanity doesn’t matter, nor does it matter if they decide to nuke Earth. All that matters is that Peepo will die, and I will be the one to kill her.” Her tail flicked once. “You can either help me or get out of my way. Which is it going to be?”

  “With all due respect,” Buddha said, “I care an awful lot about what happens to Earth. I’m kind of attached to it.” He turned to Alvarado. “With that said, sir, I say we help her. You’ve seen what Colonel Cartwright’s Raknar can do. They’re all we have left to defend Earth. If we can rescue the colonel and find out where the Raknar are being held—”

  “We know where they’re being held,” Good interrupted.

  “Even better,” Buddha replied. “If we can break out the colonel, find the Fae, and get them both to the Raknar, maybe we can hold them off Earth.”

  “Weird…” Enkh interjected. “Peepo just moved the fleet to a defensive status.”

  “What?” Alvarado asked. “Why would she do that?”

  “She wouldn’t,” Good replied. “Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless she thought the fleet was being chased. The only reason she would do that was if the Merc Guild fleet failed to capture New Warsaw, and Peepo thinks she may have to defend this system.” He turned to Enkh. “What else do you have? Has the fleet given any sort of update on the battle in New Warsaw?”

  “No sir, and that’s another thing that’s weird. The guild keeps calling the fleet, but it hasn’t replied, not once. It’s almost like it’s a ghost—More ships at the emergence area! It’s the Hussars! The Hussars are chasing them! We must have won!”

  “Wait,” Good said. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. There’s no way the Hussars could have beaten that dreadnought. Are you sure it’s the Hussars?”

  Enkh pressed several virtual buttons, and her Tri-V display changed to show two battleships, flanked by the distinctive cigar-shaped Egleesius ships. A number of smaller ships were moving into screening positions. “I present to you, the Hussars,” Enkh said, pointing to the Egleesius ships.

  “Well, there’s no doubt that the Hussars’ ships have returned. But have the Hussars, themselves? Maybe they surrendered, and the Merc Guild forces captured them?”

  “Not the way they’re forming up,” Enkh replied. “They’re organizing for an attack, not to move into some parking orbit…and the earlier Merc Guild forces are aligning to meet the ships coming up from Earth orbit, not to stop the Hussars! What the hell happened in New Warsaw?”

  “And what does it mean?” Alvarado asked.

  “It means we have a chance,” Buddha replied. “If we can get the colonel to the Raknars, they can get back into the fight, like at Karma. They might be able to help.”

  “What it really means,” Tsan said, “is that everything we thought we knew just became as useful as GenSha shit. Whatever Peepo was going to do, now she is going to do something else. Her prisoners? She may decide to kill them rather than let them be recaptured. Same thing with the Raknar; she’s probably going to move them. Deep night! She’s going to move herself, too. If it looks bad, she’s going to try to flee. We don’t have time! We have to attack now, or we’re going to miss her.”

  “There is no need for you all to get so excited,” a new voice said from behind them. “The Dusman are here now, and we will tell you what to do.”

  Good did his best to commit the moment to memory. He didn’t think he’d ever again have a chance to see a Depik look surprised.

  * * *

  Tsan was only able to avoid pulling quintessence through force of will. She hadn’t heard them coming. She turned to regard the newcomers, forcing her fur to lay flat. The newcomers looked somewhat like monkeys, but with large blue eyes and big ears sporting tufts of fur at their ends. The one who’d spoken was the only one who looked different—he had a cybernetic arm, a patch over his left eye, and his tail looked like it had been partly amputated at some point.

  “I don’t care who you are,” Tsan said after a moment’s inspection had determined the newcomers were unlikely to be of much assistance, despite the big rifle one of them carried, “and I’m not taking orders from you. I already know what to do—I am going to kill Peepo. Do not get in my way; I will kill you.”

  The one-eyed Dusman straightened like he intended to respond; however, Major Good stepped between them.

  “Let’s try to remember we’re all on the same team,” the Human said, making patting motions with his hands. “We have a number of targets that need to be attacked simultaneously. If you will all work together, I’m sure there is a way to accomplish everything that needs to be done.”

  “We need to recover Jim and the other Raknar drivers!” one of the Fae—a female by the sound of her voice—exclaimed.

  “I agree,” Good replied, “and I think that if we get the Cavalier forces in place, stealthily, while the other groups infiltrate, we can use them as a
distraction to free the Raknar drivers and kill Peepo.”

  “You’re not listening!” Tsan’s tail lashed, her patience growing thin. “We have to get in there now, or we’re going to miss Peepo!”

  “I agree, sir,” Buddha said, looking to Alvarado. “We can hit them hard and give the other groups time to accomplish their missions.” He pointed to a dirt road that ran along the other side of the hills from the complex. “If we unload here, we can jump into the complex.”

  “That’s thick jungle in between,” Alvarado warned. “If we have to set down, its likely to result in the loss of the CASPer. They also won’t be able to jump again—any further progress will have to be overland.”

  “So, we don’t land,” Buddha said with a shrug. “We have enough jump juice to make it in one jump. We won’t have a whole lot left over when we get there, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Then we hit them from the side, and the other groups advance while we’re stomping spiders and such.”

  “We need an hour to prepare,” the Dusman with the eye patch said. “We will need access to parts and materials during this time.”

  “What for?” Good asked.

  “We need to assemble Konar so we can participate in the attack. With these suits, we will be able to provide key assistance when and where it’s needed, which will allow us to help turn the battle.”

  Tsan swished her tail angrily. “More delay.”

  “Can you do whatever it is that you need to do en route?” Good asked. “Like in the back of a truck?”