Precipice of Darkness Read online

  Sera wondered about that. It would be hard to discount such an argument, given the results. However, much of that would depend on this Roxy person.

  She glanced around the corridor they stood in at the tip of the docking spire. No one was in evidence except for Flaherty and the two High Guard, all of whom were in light armor. Sera had shifted her skin to take on the appearance of red-tinted light armor to show that she wasn’t being completely blasé, but still presenting a soft target.

  What an attacker wouldn’t know was that there was an entire squad of stealthed TSF special forces troops in the spire, ready to act with deadly force.

  As she mused over what the next few minutes would bring, the umbilical extended and connected to the Damon Silas. An indicator showed positive seal, and then the ship’s outer airlock cycled open.

  Feeds from within the umbilical showed an azure-skinned woman drift into the connecting tube. EM monitoring showed only one Link present, but Sera wondered how likely it was that Carmen had remained behind on the ship.

  Had Sera been in Roxy’s shoes—if Roxy even wore shoes—she wouldn’t have come into the lion’s den without her strongest advocate at her side.

  Then the station-side lock was cycling open, and Roxy stepped through.

  “President Sera, thank you for seeing us in person,” the azure woman said the moment she stepped through.

  “Us?” Sera asked.

  “Yes.” Roxy touched her abdomen. “Carmen is within me. It was a part of how we took the ship from Justin—and beat him in the end.”

  “Beat him?” Sera asked. “Did he escape?”

  A feral smile crept across Roxy’s lips. “Oh, he most certainly did not. My brother breathed his last—or rather, tried to—a few days ago. He’s dead.”

  A dozen conflicting feelings cascaded through Sera. Justin had been her mentor at one point, and she still felt guilty that he’d taken the fall for Andrea’s attempt to kill Tanis. But then one of the words Roxy had spoken leapt to the fore.

  “Brother?”

  Roxy nodded. “Justin and I had a…complicated relationship.”

  another voice joined the conversation. It’s Link route showed it to be coming from Roxy, but Sera could tell it was someone else.

  “Carmen?” she asked.

  Jen added privately.

  Sera said to Jen as Carmen replied.

 

  “No need to jump quite that far ahead yet,” Sera replied. “I’m also no longer the president of the Transcend. My father has resumed that role.”

  “Your father?” Roxy’s face took on a look of utter confusion. “I thought he had…”

  “Died?” Sera asked. “He did. But it looks like I’m not the only one Airtha was cloning.”

  Roxy put a hand to her forehead, and then took a step forward. “I suppose this is a waste, then.”

  “Stop!” Flaherty called out and raised his rifle.

  “Make me.” Roxy held out a hand and filaments of light twisted through the air, some streaking toward Flaherty, others toward Sera.

  The two High Guard soldiers fired their pulse rifles, but the shots seemed to dissipate into nothingness before they reached Roxy.

  Sera danced back, trying to evade the filaments, as the TSF soldiers around her decloaked and began firing. Like the first two, none of their shots reached the azure woman, who was smirking as she took a step forward.

  Then the first ephemeral strand of n-dimensional energy brushed against Sera’s chest, and Roxy’s expression turned from one of triumph to horror, and the filament of light retracted.

  “How?” she hissed.

  “I’ve got powerful friends,” Sera said with a smile. “Besides, we’re about to go up against Airtha; protection from remnants like you was the first order of business.”

  Next to Sera, Flaherty unslung a shadowtron and activated its n-dimensional field stabilizer, drawing the remnant out of Roxy and into a waiting black brane.

  “I’m not sure who you’re splintered off,” Sera said with a grim smile. “But we’ll find out soon enough. You’re going to need to re-evaluate that smug attitude, as well. We’ve become rather adept at getting remnants to reveal their secrets.”

  As Sera spoke, the last of the remnant was drawn out of Roxy, and the woman collapsed to the deck.

  “I wonder if she really did kill Justin,” Sera mused, then glanced at the lieutenant leading the TSF squad. “Secure the Silas, but be careful. There’s no telling what traps she may have set.”

  Carmen’s wavering voice came over Roxy’s Link.

  “That wasn’t from Justin,” Sera replied. “Though if he’s been working for the core AIs, then a few things are starting to make a lot more sense.”

  ALDEBARAN

  STELLAR DATE: 10.03.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Aleutia Station

  REGION: Cheshire System, Large Magellanic Cloud

  When Tangel reached the docking bay where the Mandy rested in its cradle, she saw Lieutenant Brennen standing near the ship’s entrance, speaking with a man who was nearly the lieutenant’s spitting image.

  His ident lit up on her HUD, and her lips formed a broad smile. “Lieutenant Joshua Mason! I owe you a deep debt of gratitude!”

  The Marine turned toward her, and his face reddened. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

  Tangel held out her hand as she approached and clasped the lieutenant’s firmly. “There’s doing your job, and then there’s doing your job. I believe they give out medals for acts of heroism like yours.”

  “I just flew a few meters on my armor’s jets, is all,” the lieutenant replied, his face maintaining its flushed hue. “It’s your daughter that deserves the medal. She finally took out that fucker Myrrdan. Even if I saved her a thousand times over, the debt would still be mine to pay.”

  Lieutenant Brennen slapped his father’s shoulder, a grin on his lips. “Just wait ‘til I tell Mom. You saving Cary Richards, and me escorting the Admiral. She’s going to be green with envy.”

  “What does your mother do, Lieutenant?” Tangel asked.

  “She’s head nurse at the ER at Landfall General,” Joshua replied. “Misses us fiercely, but I think this will help ease it a bit.”

  “Sounds like she saves people every day, then,” Tangel replied. “It’s hard to stop missing family, even if they are saving people in other galaxies…actually, that may make you miss them more.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the father and son said in near unison.

  “Speaking of saving people, Amavia and Iris still need us to free them from a never-ending series of negotiations. We’d best be on our way.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” Lieutenant Brennen replied, as Joshua stepped back and saluted.

  “An honor, Admiral.”

  “Don’t you salute me on the day you saved my daughter,” Tangel replied while snapping her hand against her brow. “You keep doing a fantastic job.”

  * * * * *

  Thirty minutes on the clock later, the Mandy was decelerating into the Aldebaran system, matching stellar delta-v before lining up for an approach with Lunic Station.

  “That was…unusual,” Lieutenant Brennen said from next to Tangel. “I really didn’t expect a journey like that.”

  “Me either,” Tangel replied, “but let’s focus on the task at hand. This should be nothing more than run-of-the-mill diplomacy, but today has been a bit off-kilter all around.”

  “Don’t you worry, Admiral, we’ll be frosty.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Lunic Station orbited a
terrestrial-sized moon named Idaiac that orbited a large jovian planet thirty AU from the system’s star.

  For most of its life, Idaiac was a cold world on the fringes of an old star system, but Aldebaran was in its death throes, having expanded into a red giant, now over forty-four times its original diameter.

  Though its mass was only slightly greater than Sol’s, it shone with over four hundred times the luminosity, warming the surface of Idaiac and making the moon a habitable world for humanity.

  The idea of settling around a dying star felt odd to Tangel—even though she knew that Aldebaran would likely still be burning long after the human race had disappeared.

  Or maybe not, one never knows. The estimates Tangel had reviewed gave the star millions of years more as a red giant before collapsing into a white dwarf. I suppose they’ll have plenty of time to move elsewhere before that happens.

  She marveled at the composition of space around the Mandy as she approached the station. Though red giants like Aldebaran or Arcturus appeared to be violent monsters, they were much more relaxed than nearly any other type of star.

  For a variety of reasons, Aldebaran did not possess a corona, and shed almost no X-ray radiation—compared to younger, more active stars. It had also gone through its first ‘dredge-up’, where convection from the giant star’s core brought elements it had fused over its billions of years to the surface.

  The result was a stellar medium that was far richer than what surrounded most stars. Carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen flew from the star in its stellar wind, which extended nearly one thousand astronomical units from the star itself.

  The light show it created in extradimensional space was astounding, and Tangel had to take care not to gape.

  “We have final docking,” Lieutenant Brennen announced as they drew near to Lunic Station’s hundred-kilometer-long spire. A dozen toroid rings spun further up the spire, but the long shaft itself was stationary, allowing for easier docking at the long spurs jutting out from its ‘bottom’ twenty kilometers.

  “Looks like an internal berth,” Tangel said as she looked over the assignment. “I want you to keep a pair of Marines on the ship at all times, monitoring passive scan, as well as a fireteam out in the bay. For the duration of our visit, that deck belongs to us.”

  “Understood.” Brennen gave a crisp nod. “We leave the QuanComm box in here?”

  Tangel glanced at the case strapped to the bulkhead next to Brennen’s seat. “Yeah, no need to advertise that we have soemthing as valuable as that. Should we need to, we can just link through it and call for backup.”

  “Sounds good, ma’am.”

  They were within two light seconds of the station, and Tangel decided it was close enough to reach out for an update. She established a connection with Lunic’s general communications network and sought out a route to Amavia.

  she asked the AI diplomat.

 

  Tangel sent a smile over the Link.

  A soft laugh came back over the Link.

 

 

  Tangel took a moment to consider what would have happened if the Non-Organic Supremists had prevailed. Their siren’s call and ability to subvert other AIs paralleled Airtha’s—except where Airtha wished to use humanity for her own ends, NOS’s goal was to eradicate organics entirely.

  Jessica was certain that NOS cells still lingered on the fringes of the Hegemony of Worlds, and Sera had dispatched what few Hand agents they had available to seek them out.

  But for now, the League of Sentients was back in the control of its elected leaders; leaders who were uncertain if joining the Alliance was a step toward a victory for all free people, or merely trading one master for another.

  Tangel asked.

 

  Tangel muttered.

 

  Tangel asked.

 

 

  * * * * *

  President Jasper was waiting for them, alone in his offices deep in Lunic Station.

  Once introductions were complete, Amavia gave the otherwise vacant room a significant look. “I thought we were going to meet with your cabinet, President Jasper?”

  The short—for a spacer—man gave a weary nod. “I would have liked to, but Deia forced my hand into keeping the original time for the emergency session, which is just one hour from now; while I like to have my full team operating in concert…well, let’s just say that we don’t usually become fully simpatico on anything until after at least three hours.”

  Tangel gave the president a reassuring smile. “I understand, and I’m sorry I’m late. I had to attend to a matter of life and death. However, Amavia and Iris have been keeping me updated with the situation here in Aldebaran, and I’m aware of Deia and her push for a neutral stance in the conflict with the Hegemony.”

  “Closer to isolationist.” President Jasper echoed Amavia’s earlier words as he clasped and twisted his hands together. “Honestly, I don’t understand it. Especially after what Amavia and her team did to help Virginis, and then us here at Aldebaran.”

  “It’s amazing how often people think that if they stick their heads in the sand, everything will get better,” Tangel replied. “And from what I understand, she’s begun to make inroads in your own party, weakening your position further.”

  The president spread his hands. “In a nutshell, yes. So what’s your plan, Admiral Richards?”

  “Essentially, I plan to appeal to their decency. I’ll also remind them that when we win this conflict, the peoples of the systems and alliances that did fight against tyranny are going to remember who stood with them, and who stood on the sidelines.”

  “Are you sure a threat is a good idea?” Jasper asked.

  “It’s not a threat.” Tangel’s lips twisted as she replied. “It’s the future state of reality.”

  A look of surprise came over the president. “I thought you’d make some offer to sweeten the deal.”

  “No.” Tangel shook her head vehemently. “The LoS has already received more aid from us than any other non-member of the Alliance. We’ve eliminated rogue elements within your own borders that would have seen every organic in the LoS dead by now. If my personal appeal and our past deeds are not enough to sway the minds of your people, then I will be forced to retract all aid and assistance, and expend it on actual Alliance members.”

  Iris commented privately.

  t,> Tangel replied.

 

  Tangel stopped herself, realizing that she was directing an undue amount of her internal angst over what had happened with her daughters toward Iris.

 

  During Tangel and Iris’s rapid-fire exchange, President Jasper had assumed a look of resigned stoicism. “I hope then—for our sakes—that you are convincing. I would like the LoS to have a bright future; not one that is forever marred by getting off on the wrong foot with your alliance, which I am convinced is operating in the best interests of all sentients.”

  Tangel sat in silence for a moment, and then gave the president an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, President Jasper. I have been unfair to you. Your heart is in the right place, and I want do what I can to help. Tell me, what do you think the best approach is to sway your assembly to join our alliance?”

  Jasper’s wan smile grew a little brighter, and he initialized a holo. “Here is what I think would work best.…”

  SHRUGGING ATLAS

  STELLAR DATE: 10.03.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: TSS Andromeda

  REGION: Buffalo, Albany System, Theban Alliance

  It had taken a week to prepare, and then another week to orchestrate.

  Corsia was more than a little grateful for Kendrick’s ability to corral dozens of disparate salvagers into a unified group that was able to execute her plan, as her idea far exceeded the resources she had at her disposal.

  She had to admit a small amount of glee as she thought of the consternation her scheme must be causing the Trisilieds admiralty.