A Fiery Sunset Read online

  “I understand, ma’am,” the TacCom said, disagreement easy to detect in his voice.

  “We’re unexpected visitors here,” she reminded them. They’d been briefed several hours prior in a command-level meeting. Drizz, the Hussar’s representative on Earth, had let them know if they came in with their shields up and weapons armed, they were likely to be destroyed before they had a chance to say “hi.”

  “Emergence in ten seconds,” the navigator said, “five…four…three…two…” there was a fleeting sensation of falling, which was disconcerting to most, then they were back in normal Einsteinian space. The navigator examined his instruments. “We’re in a system which appears to be the remnants of a nova of some kind. There’s a single red giant, and a planet unusually close to it. I can read no astronomical data outside of this stellar region.”

  “That explains a lot,” Captain Su said. Jim glanced at her and she explained. “Novas create a cloud of particles you can’t see out of. I’d heard from the Horde members who’d been here that you couldn’t get a fix on your position inside the system.”

  “How do you get back out?” Jim asked.

  “They supposedly have a stargate.” Jim was about to ask how the Cartography Guild didn’t know about it, when the TacCom suddenly spoke up.

  “Contact!” he shouted.

  “Give it to me,” Captain Su ordered.

  “I have two ships; they appear to be gunboat size.” Several people exchanged looks in the CIC. This wasn’t what anyone was expecting from the legendary Winged Hussars, the only one of Earth’s mercs to make a living as a space navy. Lots of merc companies, Human and otherwise, had warships, but the Hussars had an entire navy, reportedly dozens of ships. Their flagship, EMS Pegasus, was legendary. Or maybe infamous was a better term for the cruiser that, as legend had it, had destroyed battleships.

  “We’re receiving a single word communication,” the comms officer said. “Identify.”

  “Give me a channel,” the captain ordered. The comms officer pointed at her a second later.

  “This is EMS Bucephalus, command ship of Cartwright’s Cavaliers, requesting permission to enter your system.” Silence answered her. She looked at Jim, and he could see she was nervous.

  “Let me try,” Jim said, and she nodded. “This is Jim Cartwright, son of Thaddeus Cartwright, now commander of Cartwright’s Cavaliers. I’d like to speak to Alexis Cromwell.” Long minutes passed in silence.

  “Update?” Captain Su asked her TacCom.

  “No movement,” he said, “those two gunboats are just sitting there.”

  “Are you getting any other readings from them?” the captain asked.

  “They have correct energy signatures,” he replied.

  “Yes, but are they scanning us?” Jim watched the sensor operators working at their stations. As this happened, Splunk floated over and landed on his shoulder. The Fae had been poking around the CIC somewhere. When they’d come to the CIC, he’d told her he wouldn’t be happy if she started taking anything apart, and she’d said she wouldn’t. However, over the time he’d known her, Splunk had found promises to be rather nebulous things.

  She looked up at the Tri-V representation of the system, and her ears perked up in interest. He watched her bright blue eyes darting around, taking in aspects of the star system with quick precision. Again, he wondered just how much she understood.

  “What do you want?” a strong feminine voice suddenly asked from the comms system. Almost everyone in the CIC jumped in surprise as the voice seemed to echo around the space. “More importantly, why are you here, and how are you here?”

  “We want to talk,” Jim explained.

  “We are talking,” she said.

  “And we want your help.” Silence. “Is this Commander Cromwell? It sounds like it, from when we met in Karma, and you sold me back this ship.”

  “That was hardly a private meeting,” the voice said, “but yes, you’re speaking to Alexis Cromwell. Now explain how you’re here.”

  “Commander, I’d rather meet at your base and discuss this instead of floating out here.”

  “Attempt to leave, and I’ll consider you an enemy and destroy your ship for trespassing.”

  Jim looked at the two gunboats and lifted an eyebrow. “Colonel, while Bucephalus is hardly a proper cruiser, we aren’t terribly threatened by a couple of gunboats.”

  “Oh,” she said, “is that all you think there is here?”

  “Contact!” the TacCom hissed. The big Tri-V lit up with several bogies, mostly aft of their ship, which were quickly identified as cruisers and frigates. “We thought they were asteroids. Their masking is incredible.” Telescopic cameras focused on the biggest ones. In the center of a formation of four frigates was a cruiser, its nose pointed at Bucephalus. It was glowing brightly.

  “Now kindly explain how you came to be here,” Alexis Cromwell said, managing to give the impression of both congeniality and a deadly threat at the same time, “and quickly.”

  “Earth has been invaded by the Mercenary Guild,” Jim said, trying to avoid sounding as scared as he was. Unless he missed his guess, that glow was a spinal-mounted particle cannon, and a fucking big one, too. “Each of us in turn has been attacked in a plot to destroy the Horsemen and make way for an invasion of Earth. Your representative on Earth, Drizz, gave me and me alone, the coordinates for your system shortly before the planet fell.”

  “If Earth fell, how are you here?”

  “Sansar Enkh encouraged us to retreat so we could fight another day. She believed you were the key to us being able to mount an offensive to retake Earth.”

  “And why would the guild take Earth? We don’t represent 1% of the Mercenary Guild’s fighting power.”

  “Why don’t we sit down and talk about it?” he asked. The carrier hummed silently as a few seconds went by. The glowing spinal mount continued to be trained on his ship, and Jim became even more acquainted with the fact that he wasn’t ready to die.

  “Why are you treating us like this?” another voice demanded on the line, and Jim silently moaned.

  “Who is this?” Alexis asked.

  “Colonel Nigel Shirazi, commander of Asbaran Solutions,” he said proudly.

  “From what I hear, commander of the shadow of Asbaran is more like it.”

  “We’re one of the Horsemen,” he snapped, “and don’t deserve to be treated in such a flippant manner. My father would never have tolerated this.”

  “I knew your father,” she said, a laugh in her voice. “You are not your father.”

  Jim cringed; he could almost hear the building explosion, so he quickly cut in. “Commander Cromwell, we’ve come a long way, and much is at stake. May we at least discuss this with you?” Yet another pause, and he wondered if she was talking it over with her lieutenants. He also hoped Nigel kept his trap shut before he said something they’d all regret.

  “Very well,” she finally said. A frigate broke formation and began moving. “You’ll follow Hrunting, the frigate that has left formation. It’ll escort you to a place where we can discuss this development.”

  “Thank you.”

  “After that meeting,” she continued, “we’ll discuss if you’re to be allowed to leave.” The radio cut off, and Jim heaved a sigh of relief. She wasn’t the woman he’d talked to those many months ago. What had happened to her?

  “Captain,” he said, gesturing at the frigate on the situation display, “please?”

  “Of course, Commander,” Captain Su said, and gave the orders.

  “Well, that couldn’t have gone much worse,” he said a minute later when they were underway.

  “Oh, it could have gone much worse,” she said. “We could be floating debris right now.” Jim didn’t have a rebuttal to that, and the Bucephalus moved to follow the frigate. Behind them, some of the Hussars fell in as an escort, but Jim noticed an entire task force had stayed behind. Alexis Cromwell took no chances. After a minute, the glow went away on the cruiser�
�s spinal mount, and the armored doors closed. Only then did the captain let out her breath.

  * * *

  EMS Naitoheron, Karma Station

  Commander Oda Shoji watched the countdown decrease from the CIC of his command ship, EMS Naitoheron. Their position within the Earth hierarchy of mercenary companies had been something of a sore spot. They’d been unable to participate in the Alpha Contracts 100 years ago. They’d been all set to purchase their first transport, but the Japanese government had balked at the idea. When Marai Maru, Japan’s first ship to the stars, returned and reported how hostile the galaxy was toward new races, the government withdrew further support. Marai Maru had been mostly a private venture, a small trading ship Japan had hoped to use to leapfrog the western nations. It hadn’t worked as planned.

  When the 100 companies left Earth for the infamous Alpha Contracts, the Night Birds were left behind. Shoji had always been somewhat Zen about it as the Five Horsemen didn’t have the same ring to it.

  His grandfather had left Earth with the second wave, having gained support from the Winged Hussars, and the company’s fortunes had been secured. Since then, they’d grown to be Earth’s preeminent merc transport company, with five ships and a nearly perfect record. That is, until Earth fell.

  Shoji almost didn’t answer young Colonel Cartwright’s call. His people put a lot of faith in the wisdom age conveys, and the Cavaliers’ commander was young. Very young. However, he was the commander of one of the Four Horsemen, and the Night Birds had never refused their call. Shoji had personally helped the man lift his company back from their mission on Chimsa. That had been a saigai of epic proportions. He was just glad the Night Birds hadn’t been in on the initial operation, or he probably wouldn’t have survived.

  Thus, when Cartwright-san had called, Commander Shoji had answered. He’d collected as many of the small, non-hyperspace capable ships as Naitoheron had docking points for, had Fokuro and Komori do the same, and had followed Bucephalus in its flight from the system. Yoippari and Naichinge-ru, the Night Bird’s two non-hyperspace-capable system craft, were safely docked to other ships.

  “We are ready,” his XO, Kaigun-shosa (Lieutenant Commander) Tokogumi told him. “All stations report ready.”

  “Arigato,” Shoji said with a bow of his head. He scanned the CIC to ensure everything was in place. He wasn’t one to take chances. The situation on Earth had him out of sorts, and he was uncomfortable. There hadn’t been time for the Horsemen to explain the situation, only that aliens were trying to wipe out or capture all the Human mercs. The presence of more than a dozen large warships gave the assertion a lot of weight.

  He’d been tasked with getting the fleet to Karma, where they’d wait for the other Horsemen and then plan strategy. That, too, seemed like a good plan. Karma’s economy was largely built around the mercenary trade, and some shipping to the vicinity of Earth, a not-overly-populous region of the galaxy. The system was sort of like Switzerland had been in Earth’s Second World War. Neutral territory. It would be a good place to hole up.

  “Emergence in ten seconds,” the navigator announced.

  “Hai!” Shoji said, “All stations prepare for emergence.” The clock ticked down, there was that strange sensation of falling, and then the stars were back. The Tri-V showed the familiar star of the Karma system and much more.

  “Contact!” the TacCom exclaimed. “We are being painted by multiple warships!”

  “Prepare for evasive action!” Shoji ordered. He ground his teeth in frustration. Naitoheron was fairly nimble as far as combat logistics ships go, but not with four other ships attached. If he cast them lose, they’d be easy prey. His ship was roughly the size of a standard cruiser; she possessed oversized shields, but only had modest offensive capabilities.

  “We are being hailed,” the comms officer said. He grunted and gestured, and a second later a voice, obviously translated into English, came over the CIC’s PA.

  “Human mercenary fleet, this is Vice Admiral Bykel of the Maki merc company Treshle commanding battlecruiser Nimble Bow. By order of the Mercenary Guild, you are to stand to and power down all defensive systems, or you will be destroyed.”

  “TacCom, how many?”

  “At least eleven ships, sir,” the man replied. “Two battlecruisers, six frigates, and possibly a drone carrier. They have multiple firing solutions on the fleet.” Shoji looked at the Tri-V. The enemy ships were well arrayed. If his fleet ran for the stargate, some of them might get through; most of them wouldn’t. His ship was the most combat-capable of the eleven hyperspace-capable ships. No matter how he ran the numbers, it didn’t look good.

  “You have one minute,” Vice Admiral Bykel informed them.

  “Contact the fleet,” Shoji said, hanging his head. “Tell them we are standing down.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Six

  Winged Hussars HQ, Houston, Texas, Earth

  Major Drizz looked up sharply as something crashed in the outer office, and the sounds of scuffling came through the closed door. He pressed the intercom button. “Is everything—”

  Before he could complete the thought, the door to his office slammed open, and two Besquith strode in arrogantly. Drizz could smell their pheromones immediately; they were spoiling for a fight, and it took all his willpower to keep from cringing away from them.

  “Oh, look at this,” said the first one through the door. “There’s a little puppy running this office.”

  “It looks like his Human masters even let him off his leash, too,” the second noted. “I don’t even see a collar on him.” The Besquith cocked his head and stared at Drizz. “Do your masters know you’re running around loose?”

  “I—I am nobody’s pet or slave,” Drizz said, almost able to get it out without stuttering. The combination of the two aliens’ scents was almost overwhelming in the close confines of his office as they approached his desk and looked down on him. They weren’t much more than shaggy fur, claws, and an enormous number of teeth; it was hard not to stare at their jaws, especially as they allowed their mouths to hang open with their tongues lolling out. “We—we are a family.”

  If they were trying to impress him, it was working. He’d been in the space combat business too long and had forgotten how awful it was to be around apex predators like them.

  “Family, huh?” the first Besquith asked. “Well, where’s the head bitch, then? We want Alexis Cromwell.”

  “She’s not here.”

  The Besquith holstered his laser pistol and leaned over Drizz’s desk, saliva dripping from his open mouth onto the paperwork sitting on the desk. Drizz could feel the creature’s hot breath on his face but forced himself not to shrink back. He was a Hussar; he would not cower from the Besquith.

  “I didn’t ask if she was here,” the Besquith said. A rumble came from the alien’s stomach, causing a shiver to run down Drizz’s spine. “We know she’s not here. I asked you where she was.”

  “I—I don’t know,” Drizz said.

  “Oh, I think you do, and you’re going to tell me.” The Besquith chuckled. “It’s been a long time since I tasted Zuul. They told me to bring you in, but they didn’t say you had to be in one piece.” He snapped his jaws close to Drizz’s face, and the Hussar jumped back, unable to fight the subconscious reflex. “Maybe a little pain will sharpen your memory.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Drizz said. He put his claws on his desk and slid his chair a little further back.

  “Oh, but I insist,” the Besquith said. “I’m going to hurt you, and you’re going to tell us everything we want to know.”

  “I only have one thing to tell you,” Drizz said. His claw found the button on the underside of the desk.

  “What’s that?” the Besquith asked. Sensing a change in his prey, he drew his pistol again quickly.

  “Fuck you!” Drizz pushed the button, and a large hatch opened under his desk. The Besquith screamed, and his laser fired, singeing Drizz’s tail and
burning a hole through his chair as he dove forward and into the tunnel beneath the hatch. The Besquith’s claws raked Drizz’s heel as the alien dove forward to try to catch him, then he was gone and sliding down the shaft.

  He heard the Besquith scream again; the shaft was barely wider than the Zuul’s shoulders, and the massive aliens couldn’t follow him. After a couple of seconds, the Besquith fired his pistol into the shaft. Drizz could see the flashes, but the tunnel sloped enough that the mercenaries no longer had a line-of-sight where they could hit him.

  The darkness closed in on Drizz as he slid faster down the nearly vertical shaft, and he suppressed a shudder, both at the darkness and the narrow confines of the passage. He’d tried the tunnel once when the Golden Horde had installed it two years prior, and he’d decided he’d never use it. Having two near-feral Besquith in your office, though, will make you rethink a lot of things you were “never” going to do.

  The shaft leveled off finally, and he slowed, coming to a stop near the end. He pulled himself forward, pushed the cover off, and dropped to the underground parking deck floor next to his hover car.

  Drizz jumped in, started it, and put it into a hover. Fuck the pack, he swore. The Humans were right. They came for me. He hadn’t planned for this; he’d never actually believed the merc guild would attack, and especially not that they’d come for him. He’d figure out where he was going later; first he had to get away. Drizz saw the daylight from the exit portal and knew there was no way the Besquith could have beaten him to the street level.

  And yet, two of the aliens stood in the doorway with laser rifles at the ready. He was trapped—there was no other exit. One of the aliens shouted something as they leveled their rifles at him. Drizz couldn’t hear what they said, but he didn’t care; he couldn’t allow the Besquith to get their claws in him. He pressed the throttles as far forward as possible and ducked behind the dashboard as the aliens began firing.

  Several holes appeared in the windscreen before the whole piece shattered, spraying the interior of the vehicle with glass. He flinched backward as one of the pieces hit him just above the eye, then he leaned forward again, the throttles once again at max as he drove over the aliens. One of the Besquith tried to jump onto the hover car, and the front bumper caught it in the lower legs, cartwheeling him forward onto the hood of the car. The Besquith tried to grab him as the merc spun onto the roof of the car, but missed, then went over the top and slammed to the ground in Drizz’s wake.