Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (22 page)

“But the officers on board the Yamaro surely had access to your personnel records,” Nathan commented.

“Of course, but I doubt any of them ever paid me a nod. Besides, if any of them ever asked where I was from, I would just answer loudly that we were all Takarans now, and they would smile and walk away.”

“But you fought to retake this ship,” Nathan said.

“To be honest, sir, I was just hoping that it would allow me to get back home to my family on Ancot. Few of us who serve ever make it back home.”

“So I’ve heard.” Nathan noticed that Mister Soloman had finished his meal. “Would you like some more?”

“No, sir. I’m quite full. Thank you. It was quite delicious. I wouldn’t mind having the recipe. I used to cook in a restaurant on Ancot before I was drafted.”

“You’ll have to speak to Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy. He did the cooking.”

“Oh God,” Jessica said.

“I will be happy to share it with you,” Vladimir promised.

“Thank you, sir.”

“So you were born on Corinair, moved to Ancot, and then pretended to be Corinairan on the Yamaro. Why are you telling us this now?”

“Like I said, I would prefer to get back to Ancot if I could. It is my home, after all. Besides, I understand that you’re looking for someone to convince my people to join the alliance.”

“Yes, we are.”

“If that’s the case, my father is the man you need to be convincing.”

* * *

“Man, I hate recon flights,” Josh complained. “Is there anything more boring than cold-coasting through a star system?”

Loki chose to ignore Josh, his attention still focused on the passive sensors that were currently monitoring the Norwitt system. Unlike the last system he had flown through with Tug, this one did have something of interest; it was the home of the Ta’Akar empire’s primary off-world pilot training facility, and that increased the risk significantly. Loki knew that a ship could come out of FTL nearby and spot them at any moment, at which point he would have only seconds to jump them away to safety.

“I’ll take your silence as agreement,” Josh stated.

“Try to relax. We’ve still got eight hours left before we reach the next jump point.”

“Eight more hours?”

“Then we have to recon Taroa and Korak as well,” Loki added.

“What if I need to drop a load?”

“That’s why we used the head before we left. It’s also why we’re not supposed to eat a heavy meal before a mission.”

“We weren’t?” Josh answered, a guilty tone in his voice.

“You didn’t.” Loki suddenly had visions of Josh defecating in his suit.

“Relax; it’s Corinairan food, remember? It’s all meat and fiber, not a piece of bread or a dumpling in sight. Been that way for weeks now. I’m down to once every other day now.”

“Can we choose a different subject?” Loki asked. Josh went quiet for a moment, much to Loki’s relief. Unfortunately, his silence didn’t last long.

“Hey, Loki. Have you ever thought about taking this ship and just jumping away?”

“You mean not finish the mission?”

“No, I mean just taking the ship and going rogue. You know, go explore the galaxy and stuff.”

“Are you nuts? Where would we go?” Loki wondered. Josh’s question had managed to distract him from his sensor suite.

“Anywhere. We could visit your family and pick up some supplies, then just keep on going. There’s gotta be at least a few more inhabited worlds out there.”

“Out where?”

“Everywhere,” Josh insisted. “Think about it. Our ancestors fled the core worlds of Earth and headed farther out into space. They ended up a thousand light years from home. That means they were in stasis for about a hundred years! That is a long time to be asleep, my friend.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that our ancestors weren’t the only ones to head out into space.”

“Sure, but they could be anywhere,” Loki pointed out. “How would we know which way to go?”

“I’ll bet most of the people that fled the core only went a few hundred light years out. If we headed back toward Earth, think of what we might find along the way.”

“Uh, the Jung? Did you forget about them? For all we know, they’ve already spread a few hundred light years out. For all we know, they could be in the very next sector, about to invade the Pentaurus cluster.”

“Then we’d go a different direction.”

“The galaxy is an awfully big place, Josh. The chances of us finding another inhabited world outside of our own sector are so astronomical…”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“Besides, where would we get food? What about air to breath and water to drink? The recycling systems in this ship will only last so long.”

“Leave it to you to shoot down my fantasy with practical logistics,” Josh complained.

Loki suddenly felt bad. He knew his friend was only fantasizing. The fact was he had never seen Josh as happy as he was these days, despite the frequent dangers. In fact, Loki himself was happier than he could remember, and that didn’t make sense to him. They were caught up in the middle of an interstellar war against an enemy with greater numbers and, for the most part, superior technology. It was dangerous, yes, but it was also exciting, and he was getting a chance to fly some amazing ships in some incredible situations. More importantly, he was doing something that had meaning, something that had purpose. He was part of something big, something really big. Although the enormity of it scared him to death, it also made him quite proud.

“I guess it would be fun,” Loki finally admitted.

“Yeah, it would!” Josh agreed, happy that his friend was willing to partake in the fantasy. “I figure for food and stuff, we could fly some missions for people.”

“What kind of missions?”

“I don’t know, missions that only a ship like ours could fly, like this recon mission.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be much demand for recon missions, Josh.”

“Something else then.”

“We could convert the weapons bay into a passenger compartment. I’ll bet we could easily fit three of four people in there.”

“Like an interstellar jump taxi. Now you’re thinking, Loki.”

“We could also carry urgent cargo in there.”

“Yeah, we could be smugglers!”

“I was thinking of something more legal.”

“Why not? How the hell are they going to catch us?” Josh insisted.

“What about Kaylah?” Loki wondered.

“There you go, ruining the moment again.”

“What?”

“It’s not like we’re married or something,” Josh insisted. “We’re just having a bit of fun.”

“I was just asking,” Loki defended.

“What about Deliza, then?”

“What are
you
talking about?”

“I’ve seen the way you smile when she’s around,” Josh teased. “And I’ve seen how she always finds a way to be near you when she’s in the same room.”

“She’s only a child, Josh.”

“A child who has the hots for you.”

“It’s not going to happen,” Loki insisted.

“Why not?”

“She’s what, sixteen, seventeen years old?”

“There are girls that age getting married and popping out kids on some worlds, my friend.”

“There’s also the fact that she’s Tug’s daughter,” Loki reminded him. “Or have you forgotten that part?”

“Yeah, that would make things kind of tricky, wouldn’t it?” Josh admitted. “Screw it; we leave the women behind. It’s just the two of us. Besides, we’ll probably meet tons of girls along the way.”

Loki’s attention returned to his instruments, his interest in the fantasy waning. “I think we’re better off staying where we are,” Loki mumbled.

“Well of course we are,” Josh agreed. “It was just a harmless fantasy.” Josh stared out of the canopy at the stars. “Still, it’s an interesting one.”

“Yes, it is.”

Josh continued staring out at the stars. “Hey Loki,” he said after a few moments, “you got anything to read?”

Loki pulled out a data pad and floated it forward to Josh. “Here.”

Josh caught the data pad as it floated past his right shoulder heading forward. “What’s this?”

“The captain gave me a bunch of stuff about Earth history. He studied it in school or something. I guess he’s supposed to be some kind of an expert. He thought I might find it interesting.”

“Did you read it?”

“I started to, but it’s a bit depressing. It starts right after the plague and covers the history of the recovery of Earth. Pretty gruesome stuff. Makes Haven look like a paradise. He said it gets better at the end, where there’s a bunch of historical stuff found in the Data Ark. I just haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Josh turned on the data pad and began skimming over the table of contents, looking for a section that piqued his interest. “Do you think we’ll make it?” he asked as he scanned the contents list.

“Do I think we’ll make what?”

“Do you think the Alliance will be able to defeat the Takarans?”

“I do not know, Josh.”

“Well, if it all goes to shit, we can always jump away and go rogue,” Josh stated.

“Of course.”

* * *

“As you were,” Nathan ordered as he made his way to his seat at the head of the conference table. “Jalea, nice to see you once again,” he stated as he took his seat. “I hope your mission on Ancot was not too difficult.”

“It had its moments, Captain,” Jalea responded.

“I’m sure it did. However, the information provided saved countless lives, as did the sacrifices made by your operatives during the raid on the Ancot garrison.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Your incitement of the crowd in support of Na-Tan could not have come at a more opportune moment,” Cameron commented rather sharply.

“It seemed the best course of action at the time,” Jalea responded, choosing to ignore the tone of the Commander’s comment.

Nathan decided to change the subject before things got ugly. He knew that Cameron, just like Jessica, did not trust Jalea, and for good reason. Her actions in the past had been reckless and self-serving, at times even bordering on immoral. Unfortunately, her actions also seemed to produce results, which Nathan assumed was the reason Tug seemed to trust her as much as he did. “The purpose of this meeting is to discuss our situation, examine our options, and devise a plan to exercise those options.” Nathan looked around the command briefing room, scanning the faces of his senior staff as well as those of Tug and Jalea. “Our primary concern, of course, is the threat to the Darvano system.”

“Isn’t the Savoy system also under threat?” Jessica wondered.

“I do not believe so,” Tug interrupted. “The Ta’Akar obtain much of their food from Ancot. While they may choose to punish some of their citizens as a show of force, it is unlikely they will take any actions that might significantly disrupt the flow of food from Ancot.”

“Do the Ancotans realize this?” Nathan wondered. Their reaction to the Alliance’s attack on the Ta’Akar garrison on their world had been unexpected.

“While the people may not, I am sure their leaders are aware.”

“Won’t that make it more difficult for us to convince them to help us?” Cameron asked.

“Possibly,” Jalea admitted. “However, the leaders of Ancot will also recognize the long term potential of an alliance. The defeat of the Ta’Akar would not only gain them their independence, but it would also open up new markets as well as give them the freedom to charge what they like for their exports.”

“The technological gains would also be taken into consideration,” Tug added.

“Indeed,” Jalea agreed. “However, they will have to weigh long-term gains against short term risks, one of which would be the reaction of their citizens.”

“Are their leaders elected by popular vote?” Nathan asked.

“To some extent,” Tug explained. “Each local representative is elected to the council by an election within their own district. However, the leaders of the council are selected by the council itself.”

“The current leader of the planetary council of Ancot has voiced his disagreements with imperial policy in the past,” Jalea explained, “so there may be some possibility of negotiation on his part.”

“Then perhaps we should speak with him,” Nathan observed.

“That may not be possible,” Jalea warned. “Simply granting us an audience would be considered a treasonous act by the empire. I suspect he will not agree to speak with us unless he has already made up his mind to openly support the Alliance.”

“Perhaps through a back channel?” Tug suggested.

“We are attempting to arrange such communication as we speak,” Nathan told them.

“Really?” Jalea said, somewhat surprised. “I was not aware that you had any assets in place on Ancot.”

Nathan understood her insinuation. “A few hundred of them,” he jested. “Although, I wouldn’t exactly call them assets. More like, enthusiastic supporters,” he added with a smile. He wasn’t about to reveal their conversation with Dexter to Jalea. She had a nasty habit of twisting things around to work in her favor. It wasn’t anything that Nathan could prove, but as long as he’d known her, she had always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He had no idea what her level of involvement was with the near riot on Ancot. However, he was sure that it was more than she had revealed in her debriefing. “For the time being, we must assume that assistance from Ancot will not be forthcoming. We will maintain communications with them via jump shuttle for now in the hopes that they may be willing to provide humanitarian assistance for the people of Corinair. Meanwhile, we need to figure out what our next step should be.”

“That would depend on our goals,” Major Prechitt pointed out.

“Agreed,” Nathan said. “Obviously, our primary goal is to protect our allies in the Darvano system and possibly in the Ancot system as well. The question is, how do we go about this?”

“We must attack the Takaran homeworld as soon as possible,” Tug insisted. “We must cut off the head of the dragon once and for all.”

“Again, I agree, but I’m not entirely convinced that removing Caius from power will solve the problem. You’ll still have an empire, and surely there is some form of succession in place to fill his shoes. Who is to say the next guy will be any better?”