“Aren’t you a clone?”
“It’s a metaphor. Oh, motherfrek it! Just do us all a favor and transfer to someone else’s squadron, cause we don’t need you here, you copy me,
Commander?
”
“The admiral seems to think you do, but what about if you prove you don’t need me, Lieutenant, and then I go.”
“How’s that?”
“We battle it out in the simulators. I score higher than you, I stay. You score higher than me, I go.”
For a while the man just stared at him.
“We do have simulators, right?”
“Yea we got ‘em spaceside aboard the
Liberator.
Rules of engagement?”
“No rules.”
“All right, but you gotta prove yourself on our turf, greeny, and that ain’t air or land—it’s both. You beat me in a Nova
and
a Zephyr, and you stay. Lose in just one, and you go.”
“Deal,” Ethan said, before he could stop himself.
Then the man slapped him
hard
across the face. Ethan took a moment to recover from that. That was a step too far. “Did you just strike a superior officer?” he asked in an icy whisper.
“Frek no, you think I’m a skiff?” The man pulled back abruptly, giving him another look of incredulity. “That’s how we show each other re-spect in the Rictans, but you ain’t bin here, so you don’t know that yet.”
“I see.” Ethan reached out to slap the lieutenant back, but the man caught his wrist in a vice grip before he could.
“I’m your subordinate. You don’t need to go respectin’ me,
sir.
”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. It was a load of krak and they both knew it, but rather than deal with it head-on, he smiled and turned the other cheek—literally—to find Atta watching him with considerable amusement.
“We should go get my uniform, Field General,” he said.
Atta nodded and led the way back out into the hallway. Once the door slid shut behind them, Ethan let out a breath.
“What was that?” he asked. “Is
everyone
in the Union so poorly disciplined?”
“They had to
earn
their chevrons. Magnum is just sore because you swept his squad out from under him a week before we launch for Avilon. He’s been training here as long as I have.”
Ethan considered that as they walked down the hallway. “How long is that?”
“It’s been more than eight years now.”
“That long?”
Ethan was shocked. “You must have been…”
“A little girl.”
“How did you even get here? The last time I saw you and your mother was in Dark Space.”
“It’s a long story,” Atta said. “I grew up here with these people and the Gors. The Sythians, too, but they mostly stick to themselves. I know just about everyone here, even the newcomers—though most of them don’t end up being appointed commanders of elite combat units right out of the clone tank.”
“So that’s why you don’t like me?”
Atta stopped and turned to him, her eyes dull and full of strained patience. “What makes you think I don’t like you?”
“That look on your face, for one thing.”
She sighed. “It’s not you, Ethan.”
“Then what?”
“We’re all tense. I haven’t been sleeping for weeks, and yeah, I don’t like being outranked by a newcomer like you, but we’re in different branches of the fleet anyway, so I guess that makes you Magnum’s problem, not mine.”
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Atta looked around quickly, as if checking to see that no one else was around to hear; then she pulled him aside and waved open another door. As soon as they were through, she waved the door shut behind them. Ethan saw that they were in some kind of utility locker.
Atta whispered, “Something’s going on around here. Our captain, Captain Hale is Therius’s second-in-command. She knows something, but she’s not talking. There have been rumors, though.”
“What kind of rumors?” Ethan asked.
“Rumors that we’re hopelessly outmatched, that Omnius has some kind of super-ship waiting in reserve.
”
“The Icosahedron,” Ethan said.
“How did you know that?”
“I overheard your captain talking with Therius in his office. They were arguing actually.”
“And?” she whispered.
“It’s true. Therius knows we don’t stand a chance. He’s planning to plant nanite bombs on Avilon and threaten Omnius with the extinction of the human race. Therius thinks the big eye in the sky will back down if he’s faced with an eternity of solitude.”
“What?
That’s
frekked up,
Ethan. Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“This is bad,” Atta said, shaking her head.
“You’re telling me. My family is on Avilon. And if I know Omnius, he’d rather let us kill ourselves than have us get the better of him.”
“Then we have to stop this.”
“I agree,” Ethan said.
“But
how… ?
”
Ethan shook his head. “If we could find out where the bombs are going to be, maybe we could disarm them.”
Atta looked up quickly.
“You know something?”
“My battalion has some type of capsule to take down to the surface. It’s magnetically-sealed and heavily-shielded. I assumed it has something to do with the Eclipser, but now I’m not so sure. It could be filled with nanites for all we know. I can talk to the other ground teams and see if they have anything similar. If they do, those are probably the bombs.”
Ethan let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Sounds like a plan.”
“It’s a start. What else did you hear?”
“That was it.”
“What about the Icosahedron? Any idea what it is?”
“From what they were saying, it’s what you said—some kind of super-ship. They sounded convinced that we wouldn’t have a chance against it.”
“So this is a lost cause.”
Ethan shook his head. “Not lost. If nothing else we may have a chance to rescue our families. Is your father here?”
Something broke behind Atta’s gray eyes and he caught a glimpse of her as a child, looking lonely and scared. “No,” she said. “You didn’t see him on Avilon?”
Ethan nodded. “I did…”
Relief loosened the tightness around Atta’s eyes.
“But I also saw you and your mother.”
Atta’s brow furrowed. “
I’m
there?”
Ethan nodded.
Atta blew out a breath. “That’s frekked up.”
“So what now?”
Atta pursed her lips. “We get you your uniform,” she said. “And for now, keep what you told me to yourself. We don’t want it getting back to Therius’s ears that we’re planning to find a way to stop him.”
“Agreed,” Ethan replied.
Atta walked over to the far wall of the utility locker, and Ethan saw row upon row of white uniforms and jumpsuits hanging on a rack.
“Oh,” he said. “I thought you brought me in here to talk.”
“I did,” she said, handing him a squadron commander’s insignia and a Star of Etherus to pin on his uniform. “But it was also our destination.”
Ethan eyed the insignia in his palm—two gold chevrons and a silver Nova fighter emblazoned in the middle. It was identical to the old ISSF insignia. “How did they get these?”
“It was easier to use the old surplus aboard the derelict ships we refitted for our fleet than to fabricate something new. Uniforms were another matter. Most of them were either shot full of holes or already worn out from decades of disuse. Personally, I would have gone with ISSF black, but Therius prefers white. It’s a devlin to keep clean, even with the self-cleaning fibers.”
“I see,” Ethan said, accepting a dress uniform and a pilot’s jumpsuit. “Now what?”
“You get dressed.”
He eyed her pointedly.
She rolled her eyes and turned around. “I see naked men all day long. No need to be shy.”
“All day long? I wouldn’t tell your mother that.”
“I meant—”
Ethan chuckled. “I know what you meant.” He disrobed and pulled on his jumpsuit. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing he’d worn, but it would do. “All right. You can turn around,” he said while clipping on his rank insignia and star.
Atta turned and nodded appreciatively. “Now you look the part of a commander.”
“Time to act it.”
“You won’t beat Magnum in a Zephyr.”
Ethan grinned. “You sure about that?”
Atta looked puzzled. “You
do
know who the Black Rictans are, don’t you?”
It was Ethan’s turn to be confused. “Should I?”
“Well, they’re from your time, so yeah.”
“My time?”
“Before the Sythian invasion. They were an Imperial spec ops team, and from what I hear, they were pretty famous.”
“So you’re saying there’s no way I’m beating one of them in a Zephyr.”
Atta looked thoughtful. “Well… maybe one way.”
“How’s that?”
“I’m going to help you.”
* * *
Hoff sat down to eat with his wife and daughter.
“How was work?” Destra asked, while they waited for their servant drone,
Triple Nine,
to bring the food. Hoff could hear her
clanking
around in the kitchen—not that
her
was a meaningful distinction for a drone.
Hoff shook his head. “Same as usual.” What could he say? Omnius was using his family to blackmail him into being the leader of the largest Bliss distribution empire this side of Avilon.
“Good, then?”
“Good. Yes.”
Destra gave him an annoyed look. She didn’t like how close-lipped he’d been since they’d left Etheria. He’d lied to his wife in the past about what he was doing, and she suspected he was doing it again.
She was right.
Triple Nine hove into view balancing a large platter of food in one hand, and a stack of plates and cutlery in the other.
“Good evening.”
Hoff eyed the platter, his nose twitching. “What’s that?”
“Tonight we have stonefish fillet and roasted squash with a honey-drizzled snowberry pie for dessert,” Triple Nine replied.
“Sounds yummy,” Atta said, rubbing her hands together.
Hoff favored his daughter with a smile. She was almost seventeen now, and more beautiful than ever. She wouldn’t change much from this point on. Omnius had frozen the aging process for all the clones at twenty-one. As a result, he and Destra looked more like Atta’s siblings than her parents. Unfortunately in the Null Zone their youth and beauty made all of them targets. They looked out of place, and immortal clones were not welcome among mortals. If it weren’t for Triple Nine, they’d all have been killed several times already.
Turning to the living room, Hoff waved the holoscreen on. It was already set to the local news, so he didn’t need to change the channel. An aging Null reporter appeared in front of a burning building on the surface of Avilon.
“The White Skulls struck again this morning in what appears to be yet another retaliatory gesture. At nine o’clock this morning, a firebomb exploded, burning up this convenience store in seconds, with its owner still inside. According to Enforcer reports, the storekeeper turned in a pair of local Bliss pushers just two days before the incident occurred, and eye witnesses confirm that they saw known White Skulls members exiting the store less than an hour prior to the incident. The message seems to be clear:
you blow the whistle on us, and we’ll blow you up.”
“Switch that off, Hoff. This is family time.”
Hoff waved the screen off and turned away slowly, his cheeks slack, his face pale. He didn’t order that retaliation. In fact, he’d specifically ordered everyone to stop all the unnecessary violence. Omnius was forcing them to distribute Bliss, but they didn’t need to go around killing innocent people to do it.
“Hoff? Are you okay?”
He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m fine, just tired,” he said, rubbing his eyes with one hand.
Destra placed a hand on his arm and squeezed. “You’ve been working too hard. You need to take a break.”
“Yes… I think you’re right.” Hoff looked up to see Triple Nine staring at him with her glowing white photoreceptors. “Would you like some wine to ease your nerves, sir?”
Hoff stared into those artificial eyes. Nine’s face was expressionless, but he could have sworn there was amusement shining in her luminous eyes, as if Omnius were looking through her and laughing at him.
“Yes, please,” he said.
“I’ll be right back,” Nine said.
Hoff watched her go clanking off, her mirror-smooth armor throwing off sharp slices of light as she moved. That drone wasn’t just a guardian; she was also an insurance policy to keep him in line. Triple Nine was a deadly reminder that he had no choice. Either he led the White Skulls and took part in their crimes, or Nine would turn on his family, and he would lose his wife and daughter forever.
Hoff looked away, his eyes wide and staring. Visions of that convenience store burning danced before his eyes, making him feel sick. At least the storekeeper was free now.
Freedom is overrated, Hoff,
Omnius said, slithering through his thoughts.
“Hoff?” Someone was shaking him. “Hoff!” He blinked and noticed Destra staring at him. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head.
No.
“I think I drifted off. Too little sleep.”
“Then we’re going to bed right after this, and you’re going to take a sedative to make sure you get some rest tonight.”
Hoff nodded stiffly. “Yes, rest would be nice….”
* * *
“Jump successful. All systems green, Captain Hale,” a mechanical voice said.
Farah nodded at 767’s report. She was annoyed with him, but she didn’t allow that to show on her face. Bretton Hale was definitely floating around somewhere inside that shiny casing, but he wasn’t the
man
he used to be. Now he was a pliant, efficient, emotionless machine. He was a shadow of himself, and a painful reminder of everything she had lost.
When Admiral Therius had first introduced her to 767, she’d wondered
why—
why get her hopes up, why bother rescuing a man from Avilon who was no longer a man at all? Then she found out that he’d been appointed as the ship’s XO—her own second in command while Therius was off deck. It hadn’t taken long in 767’s company for her to realize that his purpose was to feed her outrage over everything that Omnius had done, to forge her into a deadly weapon of retribution.