A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver (36 page)

Within seconds, the Marines assigned to check the room were standing on either side of the doorway. When they were ready, Cardaro nodded to Murphy, who tapped the door sensor. The two doors slid back into their pocket, revealing a room bustling with activity.

"Grenades," Cardaro shouted.

Within three seconds, six grenades had been tossed into the room and the door sensor tapped to close the doors. The Marines dropped to the deck as explosions shook the section.

"Squad, fall back," Burgess yelled. "We're evacuating this area. Into the carts, people, and stay low."

The Marines were hardly in the carts before the drivers applied power, but no one was left behind. They had only traveled about a hundred meters before Denubbewa began spilling out of the room. As the enemy aliens opened fire with laser rifles and some sort of weapons like RPGs, the Marines in the third cart opened up as well. The corridor provided no turns or cover, so they would be under fire until they reached the airlock with Section Five.

The Marines continued to fire until their batteries ran out, then changed batteries and resumed their fire. Burgess briefly considered stopping and taking cover in one of the previously checked rooms from which they could fire and have some protection afforded by the walls, but if the number of reported Denubbewa in that room was accurate, they'd soon be overrun. He decided they had to keep going until they reached Section Five.

~

By the time the third cart got to Section Five, all seven Marines in the cart had been hit at least once. Their Dakinium armor protected them completely from the laser fire, but Private Mahoney and Lieutenant Burgess had been hit by an explosive device fired from the RPG-like weapons, and their bodies had been ripped apart. As the third cart passed through the second door in the airlock, Staff Sergeant Cardaro was waiting to jam the doors open believing it would slow any Denubbewa attempting to follow because the first door couldn't open until the second door had closed or the safety controls were overridden.

"Com control, this is Staff Sergeant Peter Cardaro. Put me through to Marine Captain Lockhart immediately."

"Standby, Staff Sergeant."

"Captain Lockhart, Staff Sergeant. Where's Lieutenant Burgess?"

"Dead, sir, along with one of my squad. We found the room those scientists reported. The report was accurate, sir. It's full of Denubbewa, and they're alive. We took down the first three that came at us with laser fire, then gave a second group a grenade lunch as we evacuated. I doubt we took down more than a couple of dozen at most."

"Where's the room, Staff Sergeant?"

"We had cleared one hundred seventy-eight rooms into the corridor from the airlock before we were attacked, so it was the one hundred seventy-ninth door."

"Where are you now, Staff Sergeant?"

"In that same corridor, but in Section Five where the two sections join."

"Can you hold that position?"

"For a short time, sir, if necessary. But they can go to a different floor or corridor and outflank us. We can't stop them, and we can't even slow them for long. Their laser fire has been ineffective, but they also have some kind of RPG weapons."

"How many Denubbewa would you estimate?"

"I only saw about two dozen moving around in the room that faced the corridor, but there was an enormous room behind them and it looked to be filled with them things."

"Do you have any more grenades?"

"Each of my people was carrying two, so we should have about eleven left."

"Good. Booby trap the airlock to slow any Denubbewa that try to follow you. Report in when you reach Section Four."

"Aye, sir."

"Lockhart out."

~     ~     ~

"Captain," Captain Dellzon said when his com buzzed and he saw the caller was his XO.

"Sir, our Marines have come under fire in the mothership. We have two dead, including Lieutenant Burgess. Those two scientists were right. The Denubbewa they reported as being there— are there. The Marines, under the command of Staff Sergeant Cardaro report having downed about two dozen, but there were far too many for them to even consider remaining there. Their position would have been overrun in no time if they'd stayed. Marine Captain Lockhart has ordered them to pull back and is requesting permission to order a full evacuation of the mothership."

"Good Lord. Permission granted, get our people out of there."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain out."

Dellzon paused to take a deep breath, then prepared a vidMail to Quesann HQ. He related the events as he knew them and reported that he had ordered an evacuation of the mothership. He then announced his intention to leave the area as soon as all were aboard, or as many were aboard as could be safely recovered, and detonate the two WOLaR bombs planted inside the hull. Since they were in a different solar system, he expected that the troop transport would already be on its way to Quesann before the vidMail reached HQ.

Once all of the Space Command crew, Marines, and civilians had been evacuated, Captain Dellzon gave the order to denote the WOLaR explosives. When nothing happened he said, "Tac, I told you to detonate."

"I did, sir. Twice. The firing mechanism isn't working. The WOLaRs won't detonate."

"Damn. The Denubbewa must have found them and deactivated them. Get us out of here, Helm."

~ November 15
^th
, 2289 ~

Shanara sat sipping her iced tea as she listened to the evening news story about the Yolongi attack on Obotymot. There was no accompanying video of the attack, but the reporter related the facts in great detail, so someone close to the investigation must have briefed her. The speculation was that the attackers were after Admiral Carver, who had reportedly taken leave from Space Command to give birth to twins and was now living on Obotymot until she returned to active duty. Several of the Nordakian women in the greeting party had worked to make themselves look like Admiral Carver, as many had on Obotymot and Nordakia, and it was generally believed that the attackers thought one of them might be the Azula since they had specifically requested to meet with her to negotiate the immigration of the refugees aboard the freighter. A subsequent investigation in space had yielded just two bodies— those of the pilot and co-pilot— aboard the freighter.

There was a video of the memorial service honoring the people who had been killed in the attack, and in summarizing the events, the reporter speculated that the attackers might have been part of the same criminal organization that had been proven to be responsible for bombing the GA Trade Conference at Earth a few years ago. There was also a vid of Admiral Carver leaving the memorial ceremony with her two children, several relatives, and an entire pride of Jumakas. She refused to be interviewed at that time.

Feeling uncontrollable rage, Shanara threw the glass of iced tea at the vid screen with all the force her anger had spawned. "Fools," she screamed. "If you had waited to make certain of your target before you opened fire, you could have gotten her. Now, with that entire pack of wild animals protecting her, no one will ever get close again. Why oh why is it so difficult these days to find good sociopaths and murderers with half a brain?"

She knew it wouldn't calm her or even dull the throbbing she was feeling in her head, but Shanara ordered the automated servant to bring her a sixteen-ounce tumbler of Scotch with two ice cubes.

~     ~     ~

"Hi, Mama," the image of Hugh said as the vidMail began to play. "How's my favorite wife and mother?

"Well, the christening ceremony is over and the
Stockholm
is officially the newest ship in Space Command's armada. The only thing left to do is perform the space trials and then leave for active duty. I've got a great crew, and I can't wait to be underway. I know you said you regretted not being able to attend the christening ceremony because you had to attend the memorial ceremony on Obotymot, but that was far more important. The
Stockholm
's christening ceremony was just a PR event. If I hadn't had to go, I probably would have skipped it myself. I remember you telling me about attending the christening ceremony of the
Prometheus
and how it was a boring chore punctuated with boring speeches by boring politicians. And I'm sure they were just as bored as everyone else.

"Hey, great news. I got special permission from Space Command HQ to stop at Obotymot for six hours on the way out to begin our space trials so I can see the kids. So that means I'll see you in two days. I can't wait to hold you and our kids in my arms. And now I'll even be able to get my arms around you. Just a joke— don't get angry. I'm sure we're both glad you're back to your wonderfully slim size."

Jenetta laughed at the remark. She hadn't been
that
big while she was pregnant.

"Oh, and tell that security chief of yours not to shoot down my shuttle when I come down to the palace shuttle pad," Hugh said with a big smile. "Have to go, my love. See you in two days.

"Hugh Michaels, Captain, GSC
Stockholm
. Message complete."

The news that Hugh was coming for a visit was enough to brighten Jenetta's day considerably. She had been depressed ever since the attack on her people, but this helped ease a little of the pain.

Following the attack, Jenetta had met with her immigration people and announced that under no circumstances would she ever again meet with any more refugee groups. It was the only way she knew to protect the people around her, and it was purposely leaked to the press. If attackers believed they would have no access to her by posing as refugees, they shouldn't make any attempts to use that as cover for their attack.

The size of the Family Carver Estate on Obotymot had once been estimated by the King's Protocol Minister Dtaple Gkibuke as including roughly thirty-six million hectares. From that, Jenetta had calculated that it was about three hundred sixty thousand square kilometers, or almost the combined size of Kansas and Oklahoma on Earth. But the estate had represented just two percent of all vegetation under cultivation on the planet before the meteor struck and an almost insignificant amount of the total arable land on the planet. On the remainder of the planet, it was up to the king and queen to enforce the rules Jenetta had established in her capacity as head of the Refugee Resettlement Program.

The Crown did order that all members of the nobility follow the Family Carver requirements with respect to immigrant acceptance. Further, it designated the Family Carver Immigration Department as the single entity now responsible for maintaining records of all refugees settling on Obotymot and, therefore, the single contact for refugee ships interested in knowing how many refugees Obotymot would still accept. The Immigration Department found themselves suddenly swamped with reports from the other noble families on the planet, especially from the chamberlains of the crown since the king and queen still directly owned about fifty-eight percent of the arable land on the planet.

~     ~

When the GSC shuttle touched down on the palace shuttle pad, Jenetta was waiting to greet her husband. Beside her was the oh-gee stroller with the two babies in it, and on both sides of her were the Jumakas. Behind her were Annette, Marisa, Regina, Berl, and Arturo. And behind them was a small group from the palace security force. Since the attack, they had never been far enough away when she was out of the palace that they couldn't step in front of her in a matter of seconds to shield her from danger.

After passing through the shuttle hatch, Hugh bounded down the ramp. First, he picked up Jenetta and spun her around once before kissing her. Then he smiled, waved, and shouted hellos to the rest of the Carvers. And lastly, he bent over the stroller and looked at Kyle and Kaycee.

"Which is which?" he asked.

"Oh, Hugh," Jenetta said, "Don't you know it's tradition for boys to wear blue and girls to wear pink?"

"Oh, right," he said, snapping his fingers. "I forgot about that. I haven't had much contact with babies during the past half century."

Looking down at them, he said, "But they look so much alike. Are you sure one is a boy and the other is a girl? How can you tell?"

At that point Jenetta knew he was joking around. "Stop being silly and kiss your children."

Hugh bent down and kissed each baby lightly on its forehead. "My children," he said. "I had begun to think I'd never be able to say that. When you first told me I was a dad, I think I walked around on the ship's overhead for a whole day. I'm sure my crew was making fun of me, but I didn't care. I had seen other new dads act the same way."

Jenetta smiled and said, "It's too bad you couldn't be here for their birth, but you're here now and that's all that's important."

"Only for six hours, I'm afraid. And I was lucky to get that."

"Then let's make the most of it."

"First let me greet my mother-in-law, my sisters-in-law, and my nephews," Hugh said with a smile as he stepped around Jenetta. After hugs all around he said, "Okay, I'm ready. What do you want to do?"

"Not what you're thinking of," Jenetta said with a smile.

"You know me so well, babe."

"Let's go out to the gardens and relax a little."

"Okay."

Fifteen minutes later the family was settled in the garden.

"After three months here in this idyllic lifestyle, it was so depressing being back aboard ship. I didn't snap out of it until I got back into the routine of working almost around the clock again." Leaning over towards Jenetta, he said in a lowered voice, "How about an hour of quality time before I have to leave today?"

"I wondered how long it would be before you brought that up."

"You don't want to?"

"Of course I want to."

"Oh, you two go ahead," Annette said. "We'll look after the babies until you get back."

"Thanks, Mother Carver."

"Annette, please, or Mom. I feel so ancient every time someone calls me the Azula Mum."

"Okay, Annette. Thanks. We'll be back in a little while."

~     ~     ~