The Complete Warlord Trilogy: An Aeon 14 Collection Read online

  Even as she said it, Katrina knew that a wild chase after the Intrepid was not so very different. She was desperately pursuing the past; eager to relive those golden years while the Victoria colony was being built. The years of working late with Markus, and counselling both he and Tanis on how the integration of the Victorians and the Edeners should best proceed.

  She hoped that Laura would carry on that legacy. The woman had a bright future, and she had a good heart. When she got the message that Katrina had left for her, perhaps she would be able to do what Katrina could not.

  Katrina took a deep breath and opened Troy’s protective case.

  “Here goes,” she said.

  the AI replied.

  A chuckle followed by a sniff escaped her, and she wiped her eyes, drying her hands on her pants. Katrina pulled Troy’s core from the case’s socket, and placed it on the pedestal between the two seats in the pinnace’s small cockpit.

  Once securely in place, the pedestal retracted into the floor, taking Troy’s core with it.

  Troy asked.

  “Bodies are nice,” Katrina said. “Though I’ve never gone without one, so it’s just an assumption that they’re preferable.”

  Troy replied.

  “Dockmaster has us cleared,” Katrina said. “Should be transferring to the launch rail in three minutes.”

  Troy said.

  Once in space, the pair would pilot the pinnace in a slingshot around Victoria, which would line them up on the proper trajectory for Tara—the second terraformed world in the Kapteyn’s Star System.

  Tara, a moon of Albion—the third planet in the Kapteyn’s Star System—was smaller than Victoria. Though Tara was a pleasant world with less than 1g of gravity, its parent planet, Albion, was a massive super-earth with a punishing 5gs of gravity.

  With other planets and asteroids offering much more easily-accessible resources in the Kap’s System, the surface of Albion was relatively untouched. A few mining outposts—mostly automated—dotted its surface where exotic elements had been found over the years.

  It was to one of those mining outposts—not the world of Tara—that Katrina and Troy were headed; or so the Primacy Space Force would ultimately believe.

  A request reached the edge of Katrina’s mind, and she saw that it was President Leanne. She let out a long-suffering sigh and accepted the communication.

  Leanne said without greeting.

  Katrina replied.

  Leanne asked.

 

  That much was true. Katrina had booked meetings with hundreds of individuals, both humans and AIs; all lined up to fill various roles in her campaign. It was not the first time she had run for office; anyone looking over her itinerary would have no reason to doubt that she was engaged in the opening stages of a major political run.

  Katrina wasn’t running for Leanne’s job, but that of the Chancellorship. Therefore, theoretically, Leanne shouldn’t care; but ever since Katrina had declared her intent to run, she had seen how the Victorian president carried more than a little water for the chancellor.

  Leanne said.

  Katrina replied.

  Leanne took a moment to respond, and Katrina knew that she had hit upon the heart of the matter. Beating Katrina at the polls would require discrediting her thoroughly. But that was a dangerous thing to do. It could backfire and be perceived as a hate campaign by the public.

  Finally, Leanne spoke.

  Katrina allowed a laugh to pass across the Link to Leanne.

  Leanne said.

  Troy said privately, listening in on the conversation.

  Katrina didn’t respond to Troy. He was right, but Leanne was doing this to stop legal democratic change; the thought that she would abuse her power like this incensed Katrina. However, anger would not serve her, so she pushed those feelings down and replied calmly.

  Katrina closed the connection and looked at the countdown on the holodisplay. Just over a minute until the pinnace moved to the launch rail.

  A message came through on the docking bay’s net, and Katrina switched it to audible systems.

  It was Perry, High Victoria’s dockmaster. “You certainly pissed someone off, Katrina.”

  “Well, people don’t want to know what will happen if I get back in power. There’d be some house cleaning, to be sure.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Perry said with his deep chuckle. “Oh, wow, they’ve put President Leanne on; she really wants me to stop your launch.”

  “I assume you have a contingency?” Katrina asked evenly. She was placing a lot of faith in Perry. He was a good man, and she remembered bouncing him on her knee when he was a baby. She hated to call in such a big favor from him, but given that it was her last, she hoped he wouldn’t mind.

  “Oh, yeah,” Perry said, his words dripping out in a droll tone. “The cradle your pinnace is on was due for maintenance a few weeks back, but no one got to it. Now we can’t stop it from launching without doing a full system reset, and…well, that takes ten minutes.”

  “Thanks, Perry,” Katrina said.

  “Thank you, Katrina,” the dockmaster replied. “My gran always said that none of us would be here—that our grandparents and great grandparents would have all died back in Sirius—if not for you. Making sure you get to take your bird out seems like a pathetic repayment by comparison.”

  “Nevertheless, thank you.”

  The pinnace vibrated as the cradle slipped over the rail launch system. The ship’s holodisplay lit up with the launch control countdown.

  “Happy flying, Matrem Katrina. See you when you get back.”

  “You bet,” Katrina lied. “When I get back—maybe then you’ll have this cradle fixed.”

  Perry laughed. “Maybe I will.”

  The dockmaster signed off and, a moment later, the cradle dropped into the deck, settling the pinnace onto the launch rail. A clang reverberated through the ship, and then the rail grabbed hold and pulled the small craft forward out of the docking bay, accelerating it down a long chute.

  And then they were in space.

  Katrina ran a systems check, though it was just a perfunctory review of Troy’s work. Everything looked good.

  Troy said.

  “They’re really pulling out the stops here,” Katrina said. “If I were actually running for office, I would crucify them for all of this.”

  Troy said.


  “Or they’re taking advantage of my stubbornness to make a criminal out of me,” Katrina replied, her voice far calmer than she felt.

  Troy announced.

  The pinnace boosted around Victoria in a broad arc, angling to remain close to the planet as the engines pushed the small ship to a far greater velocity than required for breakaway.

  The roar of the chemical burn taking place only twenty meters away thrummed through her body, and Katrina closed her eyes, clamping her jaw shut as the pinnace skipped across the upper levels of Victoria’s atmosphere.

  When their trajectory lined up with Tara, Troy rotated the ship, punched the boosters once more, and the vessel broke free from Victoria’s ionosphere, shooting out toward the distant world.

  Katrina opened her eyes as the boost evened out and the ship ceased shaking. Then the chemical thrusters cut off, and the fusion engine activated. The burn was low, just a trickle, but the fusion drive delivered over 2g of continuous thrust, driving the ship ever onward.

  “Oh, great,” Katrina said as scan lit up with the signature of a cruiser closing in on them. “Leanne’s really lost it, now.”

  Troy said.

  “Well, yeah, I know we did, but that still doesn’t make me happy that it’s happening,” Katrina replied.

  Troy said.

  “You can actually pick that one hail out from everyone trying to contact us right now? Even half the news agencies are trying to reach me for a statement. I’ve had to queue all incoming connections.”

 

  “Yeah, they have to get closer before we can deal with them, anyway. A little chat will be a good distraction.”

 

  “Both, I suppose.”

  As Katrina had planned, the cruiser that the Primacy Space Force was putting in her path was her ship, the Victory. She also knew who the captain was—a man named Wilson, who was less than pleased that Katrina wanted to take his command away.

  “Matrem Katrina,” he said, his posture stiff and formal when he appeared on the holo. “You will cease burn and prepare to dock with the Victory. You are to be taken into custody for violations against the Veil Act.”

  “Captain Wilson,” Katrina replied with a sweet smile. “It’s so good to see you. I trust you’re taking care of my ship? No scuffs or scratches?”

  “I heard of your plan to end our lease of the Victory,” Captain Wilson said with a deep frown. “Not that anything will come of it—especially now that you’ve committed acts of treason.”

  Katrina laughed. “Seriously, Captain. What acts of treason? I am a free citizen, flying my stellar pinnace. This ship couldn’t even make it to the heliopause, let alone out into interstellar space. What Veil Act violation have I made?”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Wilson replied as he pulled himself up straight, his expression somehow both magnanimous and haughty. “I have my orders. You will dock with this ship and be taken into custody.”

  “Which ship?” Katrina asked with a smirk.

  Wilson’s brow furrowed. “The Victory, my ship.”

  “We’ve been over this, Captain Wilson. The Victory is my ship.” As she spoke, Katrina sent the command override codes, which the space force did not know she had.

  For a moment, nothing happened, and she worried that the space force had discovered the alterations she had made long ago, before leasing the ship to them.

  Captain Wilson began to speak again; something about a timeline, and cooperation being encouraged. Katrina muted him.

  Troy said, his mental tone filled with confidence.

  Katrina replied.

  Troy said with a laugh.

  Sure enough, the Victory suddenly changed course and began a hard burn away from the pinnace. Katrina saw a look of anger and consternation cross Captain Wilson’s face before the Victory’s comm systems shut down.

  “I sure wish they had been reasonable,” Katrina said. “A ship like the Victory would have been much better than what we’ll have to make do with.”

  Troy said.

  “Seems a bit melodramatic,” Katrina said.

  Troy replied.

  Katrina snorted a laugh and then scowled at the console. “I see what you’re doing. No cheering me up. I’m supposed to be sad and melancholy as we flee the system.”

  Troy winked in Katrina’s mind.

  “Ass,” Katrina laughed. It was a real laugh. As it left her lips, she felt as though something was lifting off her; a malaise that had hung over her heart ever since the day the Intrepid had failed to send its update.

  The cloud of worry wasn’t gone, just less ominous now that she had a plan of action and was executing it.

  She would see this through.

  Scan showed a dozen patrol ships boosting toward the pinnace, and Katrina checked and rechecked their vector.

  “We’re in the pocket,” she said. “Passing behind Anne in fifteen minutes. Well ahead of any of their intercept times.”

 

  Katrina couldn’t agree more. This escape would never have worked without just about every AI in the system aiding them. From ensuring that the Victory was the ship closest when they broke orbit form Victoria, to altering schedules and patrol patterns across the system. Katrina would be forever indebted to the AIs of The Kap.

  Neither she nor Troy spoke as the pinnace raced toward Anne, and the blind spot in the system scan that had been created by the aforementioned AIs.

  Once the pinnace passed behind the moon, Katrina activated the ship’s stealth systems, while Troy gave a small burn to nudge the ship onto a new trajectory.

  They weren’t completely invisible; it wasn’t as though the pinnace had anything approaching the Andromeda’s stealth tech. But the ship was small, and so long as no one was looking for them along this new trajectory, they would slip by unseen.

  Or so she hoped.

  PERSEUS

  STELLAR DATE: 08.29.4330 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Voyager, Approaching Perseus

  REGION: Kapteyn Primacy, Kapteyn’s Star System

  Perseus was interdicted.

  Even though Tanis had seen every trace of the secret picotech research facility—known as the Gamma Site—destroyed, the dwarf planet was still off limits.

  Fortunately for Katrina and Troy, few Victorians had any desire to travel to Perseus. Few things were more terrifying than the vids of the Edener picobombs obliterating the remains of the Sirian fleet in minutes. The thought of encountering, or unleashing, some hidden cache of pico on Perseus was more than enough to keep most people away.

  Still, there were always those with an insatiable curiosity, and the Primacy Space Force kept a patrol craft in orbit, along with a sensor web.

  Troy said as they approached the dwarf world.

  “I was afraid of that. We made it here a touch too fast.”

 

  Katrina examined the sensor net around Perseus. They were close to the edge of the disabled section in the sensor net. It was possible that they could make it through undetected.

  “I say we give the tiniest burn to nudge ahead,
and then go for the hole,” Katrina said.

  Troy replied.

  “Yeah, but it will take half a day for the light from the burn to make it to the closest pursuer. If we can angle the ship enough to hide our burn from the patrol craft, we should be OK.”

  Troy didn’t respond immediately, and Katrina was glad that he didn’t dismiss her plan out of hand.

 

  “Glad you agree,” Katrina replied.

 

  “Gee, thanks for the ringing endorsement.”

  The nav holo updated with the burn location and the new trajectory. It would put them a thousand kilometers inside the sensor net’s dead zone, and their wash would be pointed away from the patrol ship, but that ship would only be ten thousand kilometers distant. If it spotted them, they’d be well within its weapons range.

  The space force wasn’t quite at the point of ‘shoot first, ask questions later’, but they certainly weren’t happy about the million kilometer burn Katrina had sent the Victory on.

  When the time for the brief burn came, it was anticlimactic—just a twenty-second boost followed by an hour-long drift toward Perseus. Then Troy spun the ship and began a slow burn with the engines pointed at the dwarf world’s surface.

  “So far so good,” Katrina said as they closed to within one thousand kilometers of the planet.

 

  “Most of the space force’s attention appears to be on Tara and Albion. I bet our friendly neighborhood patrol boat is looking that way, too.”

  Troy said.

  Although Tanis had burned away the Gamma Site picotech research facility—with plasma, no less—there was a secondary site on Perseus. It was an emergency evac location for the Gamma Site scientists. Few knew of its location and, other than herself and Troy, none of those people were within a light year of The Kap.