Star Brigade: The Supremacy (SB3) (11 page)

“Smart strategy, Nwosu,” Hollienurax extoled. “Let us know if you require additional resources.”

Habraum casually saluted the three. Every holo winked out at the conference’s end—except Greystone, much to his chagrin. “What?” he snapped, making no effort to hide his dislike.

“Children of Earth?” Greystone let out a condescending laugh. “That’s the white whale you choose to hunt?”

Habraum narrowed his eyes. Deep down he felt the same, but would never give Greystone the satisfaction of knowing that. “UniPol requested the Brigade take point on taking down CoE after seeing the value we added to their operation. I’m not questioning that order out of ego.” He picked up his datapad from a chair in front of his desk, prepping to head to the War Room.

“The good soldier response? That’s not fooling me. At the end of the day, your Star Brigadiers are beatcops thrown scraps dolled up as important missions by UComm,” Greystone sneered, digging deeper. “Allow me a more active role as liaison, and the Brigade would be getting real missions—”

“Goodbye, Greystone,” Habraum cut him off. “End call.” Atom Greystone’s holo vanished, his mouth open in mid-sentence. This wasn’t the first time that sleazy bureaucrat attempted to gain real authority in Star Brigade, nor would it be the last. With Star Brigade back at functioning capacity, many within UComm wanted a piece.
Politics
, Habraum bristled, one thing he loathed about his current position. Shaking his head, the Cerc called up a holoscreen of Star Brigade’s War Room, where CT-1 was waiting. He usually did this before arriving at a debriefing, relishing the sight of his operatives connecting.

CT-1 and Jan’Hax sat around the War Room’s large round table. Habraum had lost count of how many post-mission briefings had occurred in this room. Khrome wore a t-shirt with the encircled Star Brigade logo, as did Tyris and Jan’Hax. The uniformity didn’t surprise Habraum, given how close those three were. Sam sat next to Khrome, butter-blonde hair piled atop her head. She had changed into a body-hugging crimson magnezipped hoodie and matching drawstring pants, both made from velvety kurthon fabric. Liliana Cortes, parked between Jan’Hax and Tyris, looked lithe and slender in her long-sleeved black tee and khaki cargos. V’Korram, also dressed down, wore long shorts and a dark cutoff t-shirt that displayed his fur-covered arms with their lithe, chisled muscles. A red bandana covered the Kintarian’s forehead, his long ginger hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. The being not casually dressed was Marguliese, svelte in a dark-grey catsuit and her scarlet mane in a side-parted bun. The Cybernarr sat removed from what looked like a spirited conversation.

“He’s useless,” V’Korram growled, arms folded across his massive chest.

“Morje’Huijadan’s not useless,” Liliana fired back, her words accented with the Spanish flavors of Navarre, on Terra Sollus. “Bogosian threw him under a hovertram, so now he’s dealing with the fallout of the botched trade agreement and the Battle of Terra Sollus.”

“Barely the start of his blunders,” V’Korram snarled out. “Useless.”

Liliana rolled her eyes ferociously at V’Korram’s surliness.

Politics
, Habraum decided sourly. The news streams nowadays were rife with the failings of interim Chouncilor Morje’Huijadan, the former Vice Chouncilor who took over after Ari Bogosian’s surprise resignation months ago.

“I get why Bogosian resigned, but Lily’s right, no?” Sam added, idly fingering her Cantalesian heartknot necklace. The silvery chain was subtle, a green quosprace gem encircled by knotted metal hanging off it. Except on the field, Sam wore it everywhere. That made Habraum smile.

“Have you seen public-opinion polls on Morje’s performance?” Jan’Hax asked. Tyris shuddered.

Liliana raised her eyebrows. “That bad?”

“Useless,” V’Korram hissed.

“Word around Terra Sollus is that the Bicameral’s pushing for a referendum vote to dump Morje and hold emergency elections for a New Chouncilor,” Khrome added with a scandalous smirk.

Shock rippled around the table, save from Sam and Marguliese. Tyris’s eyes narrowed into dark-blue slits. “Wonder which high-powered doofus will get elected?”

“When the vote passes, Ty,” Sam leaned back and stretched, catlike, “you’ll have many doofi to pick from.”

V’Korram snorted. “Senator Guilloche should be Chouncilor. He has the experience.”

“Honey?” Sam looked at the Kintarian sideways. “That’s someone we never want as Chouncilor.”

V’Korram was looking surly at that response. “Why?”

“Well,” Tyris said coldly, “he’s a morally bankrupt powermonger.”

“And don’t get me in full swing on how Guilloche namechecks the Battle of Terra Sollus to justify his stances,” Jan’Hax chimed in, visibly riled. “In every speech.”

“That’s actually impressive on his part,” Khrome pointed out.

“He’s also against Korvenite rights,” Sam continued. “Which gets a big NO from me.”

The Kintarian merely growled under his breath, green-flecked eyes glittering.

“How many times has he run for Chouncilor?” Lily asked.

“Too many,” Sam added, rubbing at her neck. “And whenever a news holovid camera is nearby, there’s Guilloche trying to have sex with it.”

Most of the table snickered in agreement. Marguliese, who had remained silent, looked puzzled. “Senator Guilloche attempts to interface sexually with technology on a habitual basis, in public?”

Everyone stared at the Cybernarr, but none had the moxy to laugh.

“No…Marguliese,” Liliana amended, scratching at her cropped hair. “Guilloche loves getting in front of news-stream cameras for publicity. Sam was stating that in her distinctive way.”

“Indeed.” Marguliese pursed her lips. “The Senator’s predilections and standpoint on Korvenites notwithstanding, he is a logical choice to better stabilize the Galactic Union.”

Khrome snorted. “Of course you’d think that.” Suddenly, the room hushed. Marguliese fixated on the Thulican, her golden features as impassive as ever. Khrome glared right back.

Uh-oh
, Habraum cringed. The short and burly Thulican’s hatred for the Cybernarr was no secret. And it showed no signs of cooling even though Khrome had requested that she stay with Star Brigade. Habraum watched as Sam and Liliana exchanged an uneasy glance.

“If I vote,” the doctor briskly changed topics, “it’d be Pollok Nammat from Uord.”

Silence. Liliana confessing to armed robbery would have gotten a warmer reception.

“Pollok Nammat? The hardcore theocrat?!” Sam looked disgusted. “Really?!”

Jan’Hax’s duck-billed mouth hung open as he jabbed a finger at nothing in particular. “Don’t Theocrats believe that non-Union member races will burn in their respective hells?”

Khrome turned to Tyris with amusement. “You’re plutoed then, Ty.” He spread his arms disarmingly. “I have nothing against faith-based creeds. But the last thing this Union needs is some scripture-spewing loudmouth halfwit from the ‘god squad’ in its highest office.”

His teammates burst out laughing, even V’Korram. But not Marguliese, who observed with an arched eyebrow. Sam gripped Khrome’s shoulders to steady herself. “Amen to that, Khrome-Daddy!” she crowed, her throaty laugh filling the room.

Habraum watched as the discourse continued. He felt a stitch of longing in his chest, knowing that this would be the last debriefing with Sam as his XO.

When he finally left the refuge of his office, a cacophony of sound slammed into the Cerc. But having grown used to that, Habraum didn’t even flinch as he strode forward.

One had just to look over the railing to Habraum’s left to see the source of the commotion. The first tier of this extensive space below housed the Command Center, Hollus Maddrone’s operations hub, a blitzkrieg of organized chaos, as usual. Between the Center’s soaring, silver-white walls decorated with bright red angular tracings, dozens of multiethnic analysts and UComm officers either raced around or tacked away at workstations with tireless speed. In addition, a twelve-metrid-high viewscreen at the Center’s forefront leered down at them, flashing a normal multitude of TransNet broadcasts simultaneously. Managing day-to-day operations and transmissions within the massive Hollus Maddrone starbase, along with Star Brigade’s infrastructure, had trained this team to handle their workload with quality precision and speed. Sometimes Habraum got so wrapped up in Star Brigade duties that he forgot how Hollus Maddrone served as a UComm starbase as well as being Star Brigade’s headquarters, handling countless incoming and outgoing military transports daily.

Good afternoon, Habraum.
The greeting popped into Habraum’s mind just as he neared the Command Center’s exit, as if someone standing nearby had spoken. He looked up from his datapad and turned to the railing. In the middle of the Center’s chaos stood Lethe, Hollus’s director of operations.

The tall Kudoban stood to the side dressed in professional blue and gold robes, discussing a matter with two Voton analysts. Just then, Lethe’s elongated neck and egg-shaped head craned up for a brief moment in Habraum’s direction. This one-time Union diplomat had managed the daily operations of the starbase for as long as Habraum had been affiliated with the Star Brigade. And Lethe had, more often than not, lent his ears to Habraum and other Brigadiers when needed. The Cerc smiled genially and waved downward before exiting the room as its doors hissed open.

After the debriefing adjourned, he had already planned the rest of his day. He was definitely not looking forward to diving into all the busywork he had neglected this week. However, Habraum couldn’t wait for Jeremy to return from school on Terra Sollus…

Once Habraum reached the War Room and entered, he saw everyone around the table but Marguliese laughing heartily at some bawdy tale Sam was relaying. The jesting quickly tapered off and heads turned as the entrance hissed open.

Sam practically glowed when she saw him. “There he is!”

Khrome, Tyris, and Jan’Hax began to yell out. “HEEEEY—”

Habraum acknowledged them with a nod and sat at the other end of the War Room table, directly across from Sam. “Ollrigh’, we’ll make this meet-and-brief short.”

At the same time, Tyris and Khrome chattered on in a not-so-quiet fashion.

“
Guys
,” Sam snapped, promptly silencing the pair.

“Spoke with UniPol,” Habraum began. “The CoE operatives we caught know little, if anything.”

A groan rippled across the table’s length. “We’re back at square one?” V’Korram grumbled.

“Not necessarily,” Marguliese said, her mechanized tone turning heads. “There is Kingston Reyes.”

Habraum’s gaze fell on Khrome. “Everything prepped there?”

“Yessir.” The Thulican nodded his shiny, flat-topped head. “We can read his vitals and exact location from Hollus. Right now, he hasn’t done much moving, but I have analysts watching him nonstop.”

Habraum nodded in approval before turning to Liliana. “Any news on that Korvenite?”

Liliana cleared her throat before speaking, “The autopsy confirms everything we suspected. Physically he should still be alive, except there is no hint of any bioelectricity levels that the cells in a humanoid body produce.” As the young doctor ran both hands through her pixie-cut hair, one could sense her confusion as she continued, “By the faint energy traces on his chest, it’s as if something latched onto this Korvenite and drained all his bioelectricity. That’s what caused his body to completely shut down.”

“Maybe it was a soul-sucking osvowraith!” Khrome spookily waved about his fingers.

Sam snorted. “Yeeeah, a fable concocted to scare their kids did this?”

“Don’t treat this like some giant greybrick,” Habraum snapped, sucking on his teeth in annoyance. His focus returned to Liliana. “Cortes…Khrome, transfer whatever CoE information you’ve gathered to your CT-2 counterpart. That goes for the lot of you, as well. They’re taking lead on this op from now on.”

Nods of agreement and some “Yes, sirs” followed. Habraum scanned his group and smirked. “O’llrigh. Told ya this would be short and pithy. But before we go, I got some non-assignment items.”

Habraum actually enjoyed this part of post-mission briefings; it lightened the mood. He picked up his sleek datapad to punch in a few commands. “Now, my younger sister told me about some amazing research article she found in the Poston Medical Journal of ExoBiochemistry…” he began.

Everyone at the table looked confused except Liliana, whose eyes widened in terrified recognition.

“…written by Dr. Liliana Cortes, it discusses the effects of xenoprophin, a neurotransmitter produced by maximums, on curing Geusian Syndrome.” All eyes zeroed in on Liliana. The doctor’s light-brown complexion had turned brick red.

Sam gave Liliana a glowing look. “Way to go, Doctor Cortes!” When she began clapping, everyone eagerly followed suit. Tyris patted her on the back. V’Korram harrumphed.

“Thanks, guys,” Cortes mumbled and visibly squirmed in her seat, never one to enjoy the spotlight.

“Lastly, we have the departure of CT-1’s intelligence officer and my XO, Samantha D’Urso.” The Cerc turned to Jan’Hax and eyed him sympathetically. “Ya poor bastard. She’s your field commander now, so good luck. You’re gonna need it by the shipload!”

Again, the group roared merrily—except Marguliese. Sam flashed Habraum a look of mock outrage.

The tall Cerc rose from his chair, sobering his features. “All squit-talk aside. Samantha, you’ve been…you are essential to Star Brigade in so many ways. You’re the glue. So while you’ll be missed on CT-1, I know I speak for everyone when I congratulate you on becoming field commander of CT-2!”

Habraum, Brigade Executive Officer of Star Brigade, raised both his hands and began a slow clap. Liliana stood up to join in, followed by Marguliese, and soon everyone else at the table. Khrome opted to clap his metallic hands very softly, as the din from his normal claps might actually rupture an eardrum.

Looking around at each Brigadier, Sam’s features filled with an untidy heap of emotions—gratitude, sadness, and affection, to name a few. But in typical Sam fashion, she hastily veiled it all up behind a boisterous laugh and waved off the applause. “Oh, stop!”