Assault on Ambrose Station: A Seth Donovan Novel (21 page)

I sighed. So I was being called to the bridge? It hadn’t taken long for me to start getting ordered around. I hadn’t even been here for a full day. When I arrived at the bridge, Ormund and Garner were conversing in quiet tones that I couldn’t make out. They stopped when I entered and turned to me. Capt. Garner spoke first.

“I wanted to take a moment to welcome you properly to the ship, Mr Donovan.”

“It’s no problem, sir. She’s a fine ship indeed. I’ll admit, I’m impressed.”

“It’s a shame we didn’t have more like her for the Push, isn’t it?”

I considered my response carefully. “I’m not sure it would have made much difference, sir.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“From what I saw, there was too much emphasis on bravado, glory and striking hard. The entire plan seemed to be based around an overwhelming onslaught that was never realised. The commanders at the time were brash, inexperienced and politically motivated. There was little need for subtle insertions during the Push.”

“That’s an astute observation, for a Corporal.”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, sir.”

“I bet you have. You know I lost my civil union partner during the Push?”

“I’m sorry for your loss, sir.”

“I believe you served with him. Captain De Lacy?”

“I did, sir. He was a fine Captain. I believe he saved my life, and the lives of the crew, when the Sardonis Mist was hit.”

He seemed to be appraising me, silently watching me. Ormund broke the silence, before it got uncomfortable.

“Who is Artemis Derris?”

Oh, boy,
I thought. “It’s complicated.”

“We tried to do a background check on her,” said Garner, “We didn’t get a single hit.”

“All I know is she’s ex-Royal Guard. Been operating as a freelance active ever since.”

“What is her relationship to the Dreaming?”

“She’s…our client’s factor.”

“And that’s as much as you need to know, boys.” came Art’s voice from behind me. She sauntered over to us from the elevator hatch.

“With all due respect, Ms. Derris…” started Ormund.

“You people only ever say that when you’re about to say something disrespectful.”

“With all due respect, if we’re going to have you on our ship for the interim – you need to be cleared for security purposes.”

“You really think I might sell you out to the Ghantri?”

“No, but we have protocols…”

“Oh, did you think I’d come all this way just to steal your precious tech?”

“Miss Derris,” said Garner, putting the smallest hint of authority into his voice, “What would you have us do? We can’t very well have an uncleared, unknown active freely walking about this highly classified warship. You must understand, you put us in a precarious position. We
want
to help you. Help us help you.”

I could tell this man had a way with words, because this seemed to get through Art’s smug indifference to military authority.

“What’s the best you can give me without a background check?” she said after a moment’s though.

“You’d be confined to quarters.”

“How long until we reach Ambrose?”

“Two weeks.”

“Deal.” She held out her hand to Garner, who gave it a firm, brief shake.

“Sir!” complained Ormund, “She’s a criminal…”

“She is a guest on my ship, Lieutenant. A guest that
you
had a hand in inviting.”

Mollified, Ormund closed his mouth.

“Now, what brings you to my bridge, Ms. Derris? You are in a compartment without authorisation, in accord with our deal.”

“I’ll be leaving, I just wanted to speak with loverboy here before he gets too busy.”

“What do you want, Art?” I said.

She glanced around the bridge, before she sighed. I could tell she wasn’t happy with the situation, but at this point I knew she would warm up to the idea.

“It can wait. Just check in with me before lights out?”

“I will. I promise.”

She gave me a look of annoyance before turning about and heading back to the lift.

“Now that that’s been settled,” said Garner when the doors closed, “We need to talk about your own status.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t very well have civilians running about involved in military operations.”

“Ex-military. I’ve been an active ever since mustering out…”

“We’re well aware of your background, Mr Donovan. I’m talking about your official status.”

“I’m not sure I follow you. What about Dr Elias? The Votus?”

“Neither will be involved directly in military operations, they are support personnel only.”

“I suppose my girlfriend is as well?”

“We can talk about that later. Are you familiar with the Sirius Accord?”

“No, sir.”

“It was a power granted to Galactic Protectorate officers of Commander rank and higher. In order to deal with emergencies and other unforeseen events, when an isolated Protectorate officer requires manpower they can pressgang local populations for service.”

“Is that what this is? You’re forcing me back into the military?”

“I’d prefer it if you agreed to come of your own free will. The Accord stipulates that you will have the option of leaving once the situation is stabilised or remaining as you see fit.”

“I understand this is a mission of great importance, but it’s hardly an emergency.”

“We didn’t want to let the rest of your crew know this, but the situation in the system is more dire than you know.”

“Does this have something to do with the withdrawal to Eridani?”

His eyes opened at my mention of this. I suppose it
was
meant to be a secret, after all.

“Indeed, it is.”

“How much of the Protectorate is withdrawing?”

“All of it.”

My jaw almost hit the deck. “What? Why? Surely they can see this is a serious tactical…”

“I assure you, Mr Donovan – you’re among like-minded people here.”

“The last attack on Eridani Station was the final straw,” said Ormund, “The brass decided that it wasn’t worth holding the line.”

“When the last of the Fleet goes through to Eridani, they’ll shut down the Gate.”

Garner paused for a moment, while that sunk in.

“How long until the Fleet withdraws?”

“Less than seven weeks.”

“But…it took us nearly two months to get here!”

“Once our mission is complete, we can withdraw to the Jump Gate at flank speed, we’ll have no problem getting there in time if we go directly to it.”

“And the Dreaming?” I started doing calculations on my overlay, recalling distances and acceleration profiles.

“She’ll be closer to the Gate, we’ll transmit the order to withdraw as soon as our mission is complete. Your friends will have ample time to make it to the Gate. They’ll get there before we do, actually.”

I looked down at my feet, frustration brewing.

“What news from Eridani?” I asked at last.

“Not good. DonCrest Corporation retaliated for the attack on Restus Station. Tried to hit a shipyard belonging to Esper Monarchy. Didn’t go down how they expected it would. Meanwhile there are reports of unrest on Tyrillian - terrorist attacks from some group claiming responsibility for the Esper Monarch’s assassination. It’s looking pretty messy.”

I swore. “This is bad.”

“Ergo…the Sirius Accord.”

“So if the Protectorate is pulling out, what are you doing here?”

“We…went dark before the withdraw order reached us.”

I blinked.

“Communications failure.” offered Ormund.

“Right.” I gave them both my best deadpan stare.

“Technical failures are common on prototype ships. Couldn’t be helped.”

“And you believe this mission is important enough to risk court marshal or being stranded in the system?”

“Melafenaseance was correct - we must know this connection to the Destroyers. More than the fate of this star system hangs in the balance.”

“I believe you.”

“That is why we’re telling you all this. So that you know the whole story. All my officers need to understand the importance of our mission.”

“I’m not an officer, I’m a Corporal.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention. We found pending promotional opportunities in your file. Rewards for your efforts during the Push.

“They were pending my acceptance of being made into a Protectorate media puppet. I turned them down.”

“Well, the Sirius Accord also grants me the power to bestow field commissions, Lieutenant. Consider them effective immediately.”

33.

I stumbled out of the bridge after our brief chat, a victim of information overload. So many thoughts were firing inside my brain that I completely forgot about Zoe, until the lift doors opened on the lower decks and there she was.

“Oh, there you are!” she said, beaming me an impish smile. She frowned in concern when she saw my expression. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s…it’s nothing. What’s going on with you? What is Maxine talking about?” I stammered out.

“Let’s go to our cabin and we can talk.”

“Our cabin? You realise this is a military vessel? There are berths. And you’re not part of the crew. You need to be back on the Dreaming as soon as possible before she leaves without you.”

“That’s not going to happen. I’ve made my choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Are you out of your mind? We’re going into the most dangerous place in the Network! This was your one chance to get to relative safety.”

“No one is safe in the system, Seth. I was always going to go to Ambrose with the Dreaming, just because I’ve changed ship doesn’t make a difference.”

“It does! I was relieved when I had the chance to send the Dreaming away, it meant you’d be safer!”

“I’m not a child, Seth. I can make my own decisions. You need me now more than ever, and I won’t abandon you. I won’t leave you for some stupid University either. I don’t care about my career, not when there are more important things going on in the galaxy. Not when I can make a difference.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve talked with Dr Montannis and Melafenaseance, I’m going to be joining their research team here on the Astral Spider. I’ll also be the lead medical officer on the ship during the operation. Something about Sirius, or Cyrus.”

“Sirius Accord.”

“Yeah. They made me a Sub-Lieutenant!” she showed me a lapel pin she carried in her hand.

“They got me, too. Lieutenant.”

“Great!”

“I’m not so sure. There’s a lot going on here that I still need to wrap my head around.”

“At least the Kanto Prime University has no choice but to let me stay active. They can’t call me back or sue the Dreaming anymore. Dr. Montannis says that the work I do here on the cloaking system will count towards my education, and I should be able to finish my studies under him. Did you know the system uses nanites!”

“I did.” I was thinking hard, rubbing my chin. I was so sure that I’d gotten Zoe away from the danger of this place, so assured that she’d be spared the risk of being this deep into Ghantri space. She was right, though. I couldn’t very well order her about. Things would have to be different between us now, though. We were both signed on to Captain Garner’s mad crusade into the system, and gained access to more resources than we’d need to complete our own objective, but that assistance came with a cost.

We had to observe more stringent doctrines and procedures than we’d given ourselves on the Dreaming. One of which was fraternisation. I wasn’t sure if Zoe had given that much thought.

I was lost in thought when I realised that Zoe was still talking, and she’d asked me a question.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said so when do you want to go check it out?”

“Check what out?”

“Were you even listening to me? The nanites!”

“Oh, er…maybe later. I have to make sure Art and Tac have been looked after, then I’ve got to get make sure the Eclipse Fighter is docked again before the Dreaming leaves.”

I turned to go, but she put a hand on my arm, searching out my face.

“Is everything alright? Are you mad at me?”

I sighed, “It’s not you. You’re right, I was caught off guard is all. I’ve just been filled in on the whole situation with the Protectorate and I need time to process it all.” I kissed her quickly, before someone saw us. “I’m glad you’re coming with us, and congratulations on your commission.”

“It’s not permanent.” she said, all serious.

“I know. This just gives us the best chances of succeeding in our job. We finish up here, and then we get out.”

“Then we get out.” she nodded, “I’ll see you later, text me if you want to talk?”

“I will. Love you.”

I had a hundred different things I needed to do before the hour was out. I made sure that Art had a berthing, and that she wasn’t going to be a nuisance to anyone else while she was confined to quarters. Turns out there were plenty of berths available, and Art had grabbed one that was empty. They weren’t as spacious as the crew cabins on the Dreaming, but then again they weren’t built for comfort, they were built to transport soldiers across the galaxy. As only a handful of soldiers had embarked, many of the berths were either empty or has several empty bunks.

When Tac came on board, I had to explain to him that we didn’t want to get in trouble by snooping around anywhere that we were not invited. This meant digital spaces as well as physical. In the end I asked around a few of the Fleet crewmembers and got him assigned a network station that he could explore. A brief chat with the Captain told me that he would not be allowed access to the ship’s sensor nexus (they had a Galatus Infinity Mk451 sensor
nexus!) until he had been given a full diagnostic by Dr. Montannis. I didn’t like the sound of that, but after explaining it to Tac he seemed to think about it.

The Eclipse was loaded back into the stern door of the Dreaming, and I bade my former crew farewell once more.

It was a strange feeling, watching the tether disconnect and the Dreaming drift away. Was I seeing her for the last time? Her new mission was not exactly a cakewalk, but it was a hell of a lot less dangerous than our original plan. With luck, the ship would get home. I smiled as I watched it sail away, becoming an ever harder to see point of light. It was bittersweet, but I knew I had done the right thing. Max did not need to be pulled into this – neither did the rest of her crew. If only Zoe had stayed on board, I would be perfectly happy to face the danger ahead knowing she was safe. Now she was set on going into the dragon’s teeth with me, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.

When the Dreaming was out of sight, I became resolute in my duties. I had a lot of work to do before we got to Ambrose Station, with only ten days to go before we reached it. Since we would only need to head in a straight line to the station, we cut our travel time down by more than two weeks. The Dreaming would have needed to thread through various debris fields and asteroid clusters to evade the Eye of Ar’od Dar, the Astral Spider had no such limitations.

First on the list – a sit down with Ormund to work out what this command structure would look like. I didn’t want to start the show by stepping on toes, so I wanted to find out for sure what was expected of me. Turns out I needn’t have bothered. When I asked him about it, he merely smiled a mild mannered grin and told me that I had far more experience than he did and that he would welcome some guidance.

“Mostly I just follow the advice of my senior team members - Kekkin, Renthal and Harris. I make all the comms calls and officialise the tactical plans to make sure they align with command strategies and policies, but for the most part those guys come up with the details. I’ve only been on the team for nearly a year, some of those guys have served for well over six years. Kekkin made sergeant after the last was killed shortly before I joined, and they’d already lost their CO twice before me. To be honest, you’ve probably got the most combat experience out of any of us, besides him, no one will second guess you in the field.”

“So how is this going to work?”

“I’ll focus my efforts on tactical support. We’ll get you connected to the battlenet and…”

“I’m sorry, battlenet?”

“A command only subspace network. All field officers have the implant, which will allow you to connect with nearby command systems to call in support or reinforcements. Intel can be transferred directly to your overlay and you can access command chat, maps, troop deployment data and logistical information.”

“Doesn’t that open up sensitive data to anyone listening in?”

“The implants you’ll get use entanglement to make sure that only someone with a battlenet implant can read the data. I suppose someone can scoop an implant out of a fallen officer’s brain and hook it up to an AI Core, but they’re coded to burn out if vitals are flat lined. It’s got limited range but can reach sub-orbital distances - more than far enough for us to communicate. I’ll remain on the Spider, while you lead the field operation.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve studies all your reports, you’ll be fine. You’re a natural soldier, and probably the most experienced person to ever face the Ghantri and survive.”

“Surely people have spent more time in the system than I?”

“Not consecutively, most ops take only a day or two before fruition. We had one Fleet crewman get stranded for three weeks about a year ago, a survivor of a frigate that was taken out by a Ghantri raid, but he spent most of that time in a life pod. Mostly it’s just hit and run, or purely Fleet actions.”

“I ah…have a question of a more personal nature.”

“Go on.”

“Zoe Ward…”

“Oh, your girlfriend? I can see where this is going.”

“I’ve been in the military before, I know the rules, but she doesn’t.”

“Garner is…a little unorthodox when it comes to military policies. If he wasn’t, we probably wouldn’t be here. The man’s bent more rules than I knew existed, the perfect custodian of a spec ops warship. The Sirius Accord is an old custom of the Protectorate, used sparingly in older times. It doesn’t really account for human nature in its deputising of normal people. So long as you keep it behind closed hatches, Garner won’t step in on your relationship. To be honest, I doubt half of the current serving Protectorate Fleet officers know about the Accord.”

“This isn’t the Protectorate I knew years ago.”

“There’s been a lot of conflict since then, a lot of fallout from the Push that saw a big shake up of how things are done. Blindly following orders, or heaping on the bravado, are not the way we do things around here. We fight smarter, not harder.”

“I still intend to hand in my commission when this is all over.”

“I believe you. You’ve more than earned it.”

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t give this my one-hundred percent. Same goes for my comrades. Even Art.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll leave it up to you to brief Naga Team on your mission, then we can work on ours.”

“I have a suspicion the two may coincide. Our target is known to be a rather influential man, if anyone knows what’s going on out here – it would be him.”