Accord of Mars (Accord Series Book 2) (4 page)

W
e touched down right
next door to the same facility I’d used as a base of operations during Dad’s trial. The spot had a lot going for it. It was relatively out of the way in rural western Massachusetts. There was the fact that I knew the place well - I’d had to defend it against an attack once so I was pretty sure I could do so again if I needed to. The compound had been rebuilt after that event, and fortified so that it was something of a stronghold. It wasn’t like I’d be living in NORAD - but it was the closest thing a civilian version could get.

Besides, I wasn’t worried about a missile strike taking me out. I was on the ground now, on United States soil. Even enemies from the UN would have to walk a little more carefully.

The attack in orbit was worrying me. It was technically in space. Even though we’d been on approach to US airspace at the time, it wasn’t in the US jurisdiction. The UN was supposed to be policing space, and they weren’t answering my calls.

That wasn’t a shock to me. But then I knew a lot more than the average person did about the man in charge of the UN these days. Choi had succeeded Shaunesey as UN president. Officially, Shaunesey had died due to a heart attack when terrorists attacked the prison where my father had been held.

But Dad had watched Choi inject Shaunesey with a drug that had induced the heart attack. Then Choi tried to kill my father as well. It didn’t take. Dad is notoriously hard to kill. Choi had played his hand well though. We knew that he had created the pirate threat as a bid to take over the Earth. And when Dad foiled him, he tried to frame my father for Shaunesey death in a bid to take over the UN.

We’d messed up the frame-up operation, but Choi had still ended up in charge. The man was ruthless and deadly. And he was pretty much in charge of the planet. The US was the one place that still put up any serious resistance to UN policies, and that was more out of stubbornness and spite than any real power.

Luckily I still had a few friends who might help me out. That was the other reason for my choice of location. The compound was a short airship hop to New York City. I might be able to get some assistance from US personnel working in the UN building there.

I stepped out of the Skylance and onto the snowy grass. I’d forgotten that it was winter here and shivered. In space and on Mars, climate is what you want it to be. Down here? A light dusting of snow covered everything. The wind was brisk and cold out of the west. I beat a fast trot toward the main building, Acres trailing behind me.

“I’m going to need an air car,” I said into my wrist com. “Taking a quick trip to New York.”

“It’ll be ready in fifteen minutes,” came the reply. “Anything else, sir?”

“Yup. Who’s in charge of security here?” I asked.

“Mr. Bolton.”

“Have him meet me inside, please,” I said. I wanted to see the state of the facility and update the guy on what was going on.

The snow blown up from our landing was still settling to the ground when I reached the door. I was trying hard not to shiver. I definitely needed to add some time to get into more climate appropriate clothing onto my schedule.

A man was opening the door for me as I arrived. He was a tad taller than me - maybe six feet, and about thirty. Clean shaven, with a military look. He dressed the part too. Building security had worn black combat fatigues the last time I was here, and it looked like the style hadn’t changed.

“I’m Adam Bolton, Mr. Stein,” he said. “Good to meet you. I understand you had some trouble on the way down?”

He was already in the loop, then. I made a mental check mark in the plus column for his competence. “Yeah, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The ship will need a once over, though.”

“We’ve got maintenance crews on their way here who will take care of that. I understand you’re on a tight schedule?”

“Yes,” I said. “I need to snag a coat and go, I’m afraid.” I had in mind to hit the ground running. Back on Mars, it looked like we still had plenty of time. But with the attack on Mars Station and then on my ship during our descent, it was clear that time was something in short supply. “Any news from Mars?”

Bolton frowned. “No, sir. Just the news feeds. Nothing from the company at all. It’s odd.”

“It means Dad is alive,” I said, smiling. He looked confused for a moment. “If he was dead, they’d be calling me. If he was incapacitated, they’d be calling me. But since they’re not calling me, he’s all right.”

“It might mean they were hit pretty hard though,” Acres growled. He stepped in out of the snow behind me. “If he’s having the company on Mars go radio silent, there’s news he doesn’t want leaked.”

“Bolton, this is Chief Acres,” I said.

“We’ve met,” Bolton said with a wry grin.

“Oh?” Acres said, raising an eyebrow.

“Combatives class. A number of years ago. You had a mean right hook,” Bolton said, rubbing his jaw at the memory.

“Still do,” Acres said, returning the smile.

They shook hands. I relaxed a little. If they were going to get along, that was going to make my job a lot easier.

“I’d like you both to go over the security procedures in place here while I’m gone. I picked this spot because it’s good. Make it the best.” Acres seemed about to object, but I held up a hand to stop him. “I’ll bring someone from security. But I need you two working together on this.”

Bolton looked like he was going to object as well. I wanted to sigh, but instead tried to maintain a stern look at both of them. As if Acres wasn’t bad enough, now I had two nursemaids? I was torn somewhere between frustration and chuckling out loud.

Acres broke the silence first. “Better listen to the kid,” he said. “He’s got a lot of the Old Man in him.”

“I’ll get you a coat, sir,” Bolton said.

I was in the air ten minutes later, speeding on my way to New York City. The car was warmed up before I arrived, for which I was intensely grateful. Even with the coat, the weather here sucked. I was feeling homesick for Mars, and I’d been back on my birth planet for less than an hour. It was the strangest feeling.

It was time to warm up my weapon of choice for today. I whipped out my tablet and quickly connected it to the local data networks. From there I linked into the UN building and set up our arrival notice with their air control. Flying an air car onto the UN roof without authorization was a good way to get shot down.

Then it was time to look into what Choi had been up to. Of course, I’d watched some of the news broadcasts from Earth. I’d seen that he was given the presidency, which came with an awesome amount of power. But what precisely had he been up to with all that power?

The biggest work in progress was the UN Navy. It had once been a small and toothless thing. Two ships with no real weapons; it was more of a police force than a military one. Both of those ships had been blown to bits in their first engagement with the pirates - if you could even call the one sided exchange an engagement.

This Navy was different. I could tell that they were laying the keels for a lot of ships, and that these were going to be warships. What I needed to know was how close they were to being finished. That was tough.

There were only a few really big astrospace industry companies in the world, and Stein Industries was one of the larger ones. My Dad’s company had logically been seen as a security risk, so most of the contracts for work had gone to other companies. But it was a small world, and there was too much work being done on too many ships to keep Stein Industries totally out of the business. We’d had contracts to supply a lot of the parts and software for astrogation, for example. Fairly benign stuff that wasn’t going to give away any major secrets.

It still told me more than Choi probably wanted me to know. I had a good feel for the parts going into a warship, so I knew there had to be at least seven being built. I also knew that the astrogation software wouldn’t be a pressing need during construction. The UN Navy had asked us to fast track the software licenses last month, a request that cost them a chunk of extra money. Those packages hadn’t been due for three more months. What had changed? Why the sudden hurry?

All this was still buzzing around in my head as we came in for a landing on the UN roof. The air car settled down gently. I hadn’t caught the security guy’s name, but I ought to catch it so that I could give him good review on his flying. I closed up my tablet and zipped up my coat. It was going to be chilly out there, even if I was only in the wind for a few minutes.

Then doors to the rooftop elevator burst open, and ten armed men spilled out. They were wearing the uniform of the UN Security Forces, and they were all armed with assault rifles. Before I could react, they had fanned out around my air car, weapons at the ready.

I
tapped
my foot impatiently on the elevator floor, waiting for the doors to open. Mars Station might not be safe, but I was damned sure the bottom levels of my corporate headquarters on the surface were. Anything short of a kinetic strike wouldn’t even touch us. And we had a little while left before we had to worry about anything like that - although I had a sense that the sand was leaving our hourglass more swiftly than I’d thought.

The doors finally snapped open. The bottom floor was my command center, and it hummed with cool activity. Everyone in the room was a hand picked professional. Most of them had a military background. I felt at home down here, maybe more so here than anywhere but the bridge of a fighting vessel. I was going to be back in that seat sooner than I’d expected, so I figured I would try to enjoy the relative comfort of having ground under my feet while I could.

Keladry was waiting for me already. After saving George and I from the gunman, she’d hauled us in to the station, where doctors had worked furiously to stabilize George. They’d managed, but he was still in critical condition. While they’d been working on him Keladry had somehow managed to make the Hawk fighter vanish and then showed back up in a shuttle. She ferried us both down to the surface at a speed that even I found somewhat uncomfortable.

George was now ensconced in the best intensive care unit on Mars - mine. The doctors there would fight to keep him breathing. He’d only been hit by one bullet, but the damage had been devastating. I’d posted a platoon of security around the hospital to keep the place secure. Nobody was getting in there without authorization.

Keladry Flynn had impressed me. I knew she was an excellent pilot. I’d seen her in action myself, during the Battle for Earth. Then I’d run her through a battery of tests before I placed her in the Hawk program. It hadn’t shocked me when she tested out as the best of the pilots in the program and ended up their squadron leader. But the combination of cool ability to assess risk and take the necessary action at lightning speed was a rare asset. She’d performed flawlessly out there by Mars Station.

I could see why Thomas was smitten with the woman. He had no idea that I’d co-opted her for my secret project, of course. He didn’t even know the Hawks existed. He was going to be furious when he found out. But I couldn’t risk letting the information fall into enemy hands, and he was definitely in harms way back there on Earth.

“Flynn,” I said to her. “Thanks again for the outstanding work.”

She gave me a small nod. Another bonus about her. She knew how to read people, and knew I wasn’t done.

“Keep your cool,” I warned. “Thomas was attacked on his way into Earth’s atmosphere. He’s safe and unhurt.”

I’d gotten the word about the attack when I reached the ground. The timing was very close... Choi’s people had clearly tried to catch us all at roughly the same time. They’d managed to coordinate two strikes in the orbits of different planets well enough to hit within hours of each other. It was impressive.

That Thomas had managed to survive the attack so easily was also impressive, but it didn’t surprise me. My son seemed to have a knack for getting himself both into and out of tight corners.

Keladry took a sharp breath, and then let it out again. “He’s fine, though?”

“Damn it,” I replied. “No, he’s not fine. I’ve sent him into the middle of a bigger hornet’s nest than I ever intended.” For the hundredth time since the bomb had gone off I considered radioing for him to return to Mars. Sending my son right into the middle of Choi’s strong point had turned out to not be my brightest move. I’d thought we had longer. I had been so sure we had months left before they made a move against us.

But I wasn’t sure he’d come home even if I ordered him to. I’d given him a job, and he’d stay there and do it. If I called him home now, he’d think I was coddling him, trying to protect him from danger. And the worst thing was, he’d be right.

“Thom’s smart, sir,” Keladry said. “He might be surrounded by vipers. But I think they’re going to bite off more than they can chew trying to deal with him.”

“I hope you’re right. Frankly, we need the information I sent him after.” I drummed my fingers on a console while I thought. “Now more than ever.”

“You think the bomb was just a first shot,” she said. She didn’t frame it as a question.

“By itself, maybe not. But they hit us here - and then Thomas there - it screams of a coordinated attack. They’re going to blame it on leftover pirates who were never caught or something, probably. But Choi will know that I know better. It means he’s making his move soon. Maybe even right now.”

I wondered about that. It had to mean their ships were much closer to completion than I’d thought. Maybe even finished. For all I knew, they were getting ready to ship out right now. We’d get advance warning when they left Earth’s orbit, but if they left the dock the UN had built there and headed straight for Mars, we’d have precious little time to prepare.

But what about power? They were supposedly working on cold fusion reactors, which would make Earth independent from Mars for its energy needs. Their desperate need for uranium was what I suspected held back Choi’s fist even more than their fleet’s construction pace. But my best engineers had said they should still be months away from finishing the trial reactor. Perhaps even a year or more. And that’s assuming it worked at all, since no previous attempt had succeeded.

“Sir, incoming call from the Council.”

I looked up from my thoughts. That was Brenda Cobert speaking. Captain Cobert now, since she was officially part of the Mars Space Service. Everyone in this room had served with me for a long while. It was the inner sanctum of my operations. There was no way I was taking chances with a bomber getting in here.

“Put them on the main screen,” I said.

One wall of the room was a massive display unit. It had been showing local Mars space until now. It flashed dark for a moment, and then the image was replaced with a video feed from the Mars Council chambers. They were about a hundred miles west and five hundred feet up from where I was standing. Most of the colony was on or near the surface of Mars. The stronghold I was standing in was the only place dug in so deep.

“Admiral Stein, thank you. I know you have to be busy right now, so we won’t take too much of your time. How is the President?”

The council was made up of thirteen people, elected by the populace. The thirteenth was the speaker - a wiry old face I knew damned well.

“He’s still breathing, Tabby, but he’s going to be in my ICU for a while,” I replied.

Tabitha Nelson was an institution out here. The woman had run the comm center on Mars station since its inception. She’d spent decades haranguing pilots making their way in and out, keeping the lanes clear and traffic flowing smoothly. Now traffic control was mostly automated, but that hadn’t always been the case.

After the Battle for Mars, she’d said that things on the station were too busy for her and decided to retire down on the surface. She’d promptly been elected to the newly founded council, and found herself unanimously appointed to the position of Council Speaker. Which meant she only voted when there was a tie - but her opinion held great weight regardless.

She nodded. “You know we’re going to need an interim president while he recovers.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Pick a good one. I have a feeling we’re going to need a modern day Winston Churchill here pretty soon.” George was a man like that. He’d be damned hard to replace. Privately, I was half hoping they’d give Tabby the job. She had the guts and the will for it. She was old, though. Pushing ninety, I’d heard. The council might see that as a reason to make someone else interim president.

If we’d only had a bit more time, we would have had new elections. George was a shoe-in for winning the president’s seat, but then he’d have had a vice president to replace him. Now we were risking disarray right when we could afford it the least.

“The Council has already picked the replacement,” Tabby said. I could tell from her grin that she was happy with the choice. Maybe they’d give her the job after all?

“You?” I asked. I smiled back. “They couldn’t have picked a better person.”

“Oh, not me,” Tabby said. “You.”

I froze. I knew I hadn’t misheard her, and the implications ran through my head at lightning speed.

“Tabby, I can’t. I’m already running our Navy.”

“Yup, and you’ll keep doing that. We’ve already voted to declare martial law if and when those cruisers Earth is building start coming our way,” she said. “We’re not stupid, Nick. We know what’s coming. This is going to be war to the knife. Earth can’t afford to let the colonies slip away. We can’t go back under their yoke.”

“It’s do or die time, and we see you as the best chance of doing, and not dying,” she said. “I know you’re busy, but we need you to come visit for a short bit. Briefings, oath of office, stuff like that. See you soon.”

The screen went blank.

“Well damn,” I said. I sat down heavily in the chair beside me, the weight of an entire world literally coming to rest on my shoulders.