Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (22 page)

“What
about Trojan?” asked the squad leader. Her first impulse was to leave him where
he was to be blown up with his mechanical god, but she decided he was worth
saving just in case he did know something that might prove useful.

“Bring
him with us. We’ll take him back.”

The
squad leader told two of his men to lift up Trogan. When they tried to, one of
them said, “Ah, I think he’s dead, Sergeant.”

Molitor
walked back over to squat down in front of Trojan and look at him carefully. He
wasn’t breathing. She reached over to check his pulse and found nothing. He
really was dead. “Leave him,” she ordered.

By
the time they were finished setting the warhead up for a delayed detonation,
Molitor’s attitude toward Trojan had changed. She no longer thought of him as
an evil man, but rather as a misguided individual with good intentions. What
was that phrase? The road to hell is paved with good intentions? Trojan had
certainly added to that road. She was the last one to leave the room, and she
stopped in the doorway to look back at Trojan’s body one last time.
He
didn’t deserve my anger. He played the hand he was dealt, and it’s not his
fault that his Ace turned out to be a Joker. What a shame that someone with so
much potential to be a great leader would end his days like this.

The
shuttle was still within visual range of the Complex when the warhead
detonated. Molitor watched via the shuttle’s optics. The black pyramid that was
made of collapsed matter neutron armor rose into the air as the ground beneath
it bulged upwards. The bulge seemed to freeze for a second, and then it
collapsed into a wide depression with the still intact pyramid armor settling
back down on a crooked angle. With the warhead exploding deep underground,
there wouldn’t be any mushroom cloud or fallout, but the fact that it exploded inside
the original Majestic meant that most of the machine would be vaporized, and
whatever pieces might still be left would be completely useless.

There
was enough time left before reaching Coral Sea for Molitor to ponder their next
move. Trojan hadn’t said so, but she was willing to bet that there were still
some Empire ships that were spreading the bio-weapon. She had no idea what
planets they were heading for next, but her fleet could check on a few of the
more populous planets that happened to be on or near the path back to
Excalibur. In any event, her ships had to replenish their supplies somewhere
because they didn’t have enough to make it back to Excalibur in a single jump.
That they had to make their way back home was not in doubt as far as she was concerned.
Drake’s orders to her didn’t begin to cover this situation, and Excalibur’s M2
computer might be able to predict where Majestic went, not to mention the fact
that some of her ships needed to be repaired. She contacted her Astrogator and
told him what she wanted. He had the answer by the time she was back on Coral
Sea’s Bridge.

“The
closest colony with a population in excess of a hundred million that would
minimize our detour in terms of getting back to Excalibur is Sparta, Commander.
I’ve already sent the jump co-ordinates to all ships.”

Molitor
was surprised by that answer. Her first impulse was to ask what the next
closest colony to meet her parameters was due to the fact that Sparta had over
a billion inhabitants and would surely have been near the top of Majestic’s
bio-weapon target list. How likely was it that no plague-carrying Empire ship
had been there yet? On the other hand, if it hadn’t been attacked yet, then it
could potentially form the nucleus of a new multi-planet political entity to
take the place of the Federation and the Empire. That potential was worth
checking out.

“Very
well, Sparta it is. Helm, the fleet will leave orbit and head for Sparta as
soon as possible. I’ll be in my quarters. The X.O. has the Con.”

When
she entered her quarters she ordered the computer to prepare a hot bath. While
it was filling, she dictated a log entry to cover the events of the last 24
hours. Drake would want a full report from her, but she had plenty of time to
prepare that. She wondered what his reaction would be when he read it.

Day
194/2556

Sparta
Orbital Space:

No
sooner had Coral Sea and the rest of the fleet emerged from hyper-space than
the Ether detection system picked up a ship that was accelerating away from Sparta.
The bogey, which the Weapons Officer designated as Sierra1, was still inside
Sparta’s hyper-zone but wouldn’t be for much longer. Projecting trajectories
based on long range detection was problematical, but they could tell what
general area of Federation Space it was headed towards, and there were several
large population colonies it could be aiming for.

“Can
we intercept Sierra1 before it crosses the boundary, Astro?” asked Molitor
quickly.

After
some fast calculations, he turned to her and said, “It’ll be damn close.
There’s not enough time to triangulate with data from the other ships for a
close approach. If you want to catch that bogey, Coral Sea has to jump right
NOW!”

“Do
it!” she responded. The A.O. initiated the jump himself instead of letting the
Helm Officer do it as per tradition. The relatively short micro-jump took less
than a second. Molitor had just enough time to notice that her ship had emerged
from hyper-space less than 500 kilometers from the hyper-zone boundary and just
under 1,000 kilometers from Sierra1.

“Guns,
charge our X turret and fire as soon as you can!” shouted Molitor. The A.O. was
right. It was going to be damn close. Sierra1 would pass out of Sparta’s
hyper-zone in 36 seconds. As soon as it did that, it could jump away, which
meant that they had to hit and cripple it or damage its jump drive with their
one and only shot. There wouldn’t be time to recharge and fire again. She was
certain that Sierra1 was an Empire ship. The zoomed-in optical image that was
now on one of her Command Station screens showed a ship with flat sides. Only
warships had hulls like that, so there was no doubt as to who that ship
belonged. They might be too late to save Sparta, but she still might be able to
prevent that ship from inflecting other colonies.

“Turret
is locked on! At this range we can’t miss! Ready to fire in…three…two…one…NOW!”
yelled the W.O. This was immediately followed by, “We got a hit! She’s gone
ballistic! Sierra1’s gone ballistic!”

Molitor
realized that she was holding her breath and exhaled. The fact that the bogey’s
acceleration had dropped to zero was a good sign. It suggested that the ship’s
power plant had been damaged by the x-ray blast. No power meant no jump
capability too. Its crew would now be working frantically to repair the power
plant. Coral Sea had to cripple that ship while it was still here.

“Good
shooting, Guns! Keep firing the X turret. Helm, I know we’re going too fast to
prevent ourselves from passing Sierra1, but I want you to adjust our vector so
that we keep the range as short as possible. Got it?”

“I
understand what you want, Commander. Recommend we set up an emergency
micro-jump just in case that ship fires missiles at us.”

Molitor
wanted to slap her forehead. How could she have forgotten that possibility in
the rush to stop that ship? “Yes, nothing fancy. A short jump to let us catch
our breath. We’re close enough that we should be able to see them launch at us.
Helm, put the visual on your station screen, and if you see a launch, make the
jump. Don’t wait for me to give the word.”

The
H.O.’s reply was drowned out by the Weapon’s Officer’s shout that they were
firing again and had made another hit. Molitor was about to order the Com
Technician to try to contact that ship when the tactical display pinged and
four ships emerged from hyper-space approximately two thousand kilometers away.
The new icon on the display immediately changed from unknown yellow to friendly
green. Of course, those ships were the rest of the fleet that she hadn’t had time
to give orders to. Yeager must have taken the initiative and ordered the fleet
to come to Coral Sea’s aid.

“Sierra1’s
venting a lot of atmosphere!” said the excited Weapons Officer.

Molitor
nodded. It was impossible to see x-ray lasers, but the sudden damage to the
enemy ship could only have been caused by multiple hits from the fleet’s
lasers.

“Commander!
I’m picking up a distress beacon and an offer to surrender,” said the Com
Technician.

Molitor
knew what she had to do. “Tell that ship they have ninety seconds to abandon
her with the lifeboats. That’s all the time we’ll wait before we blast that
ship to pieces. Guns, pass the word to the fleet to hold fire, but be prepared
to resume when the grace period is over.” Boarding a ship carrying plague was
not an option. The lifeboats would be ordered to land in a remote area, and the
crew would be kept under quarantine until it was clear whether or not they were
infected.

She
watched as lifeboats started to leave the drifting ship. When the 90 seconds
were up, she nodded to the W.O. who transmitted the command to resume firing.
This time the laser shots were aimed carefully to dismember the ship as much as
possible. After five minutes, the enemy ship was a slowly expanding cloud of
debris of various shapes and sizes. Its momentum would carry it clear of
Sparta’s gravity well. The lifeboats were already dropping down towards the
planet. It was time to turn her attention to Sparta itself.

She
ordered Coral Sea’s Com Station to broadcast repeating warnings about a deadly
bio-weapon infecting cargo that had been dropped off by the Empire ship, along
with a report on the collapse of the Empire and the devastation of Hadley. The
warnings were being transmitted across hundreds of radio channels. It didn’t take
long before ground transmitters were broadcasting messages that denied there
was any danger. The officers commanding the Empire troops still occupying
Sparta were clearly skeptical of her claims that Majestic was trying to kill
all humans regardless of their loyalty to the Empire.

When
half an hour passed without any change in the situation, Molitor was at a loss
as to what she should do next. The Empire forces on the planet had tens of
thousands of troops with combat armor, plus armored vehicles including tanks
with railgun cannon powerful enough to punch through the unarmored hull of her
ships if they tried to land. Landing would have been pointless anyway since her
ships weren’t carrying any troops of their own. Her ships might be able to
destroy Empire tanks and troop carriers, but the troops themselves would still
be there and were unlikely to make themselves easy targets.

She
was just about to order the fleet to head for the next nearest colony when the
Com Tech notified her that someone on the planet wanted to talk with her. When
the video channel was switched to the main display, she saw a civilian with a
military weapon slung over his shoulder.

“I’m
Commander Rachel Molitor in command of this Resistance fleet. Who are you?”

“Terence
Russell. I used to be Deputy Speaker of Sparta’s Assembly before the invasion.
I guess I’m the defacto leader of the uprising that’s happening now. It started
when we heard your broadcast about the Empire’s collapse and the bio-weapon.
Some of the Empire troops decided to get away from the capital and the
bio-weapon. Pretty soon the desertions turned into a rout. I saw what was
happening and organized an ad hoc militia. When we started showing up with
captured weapons, the rest of the troops realized they’d lost the initiative
and surrendered. We’re getting reports of the same kind of thing from all over
the planet now. I have to know, Commander. Is the bio-weapon real?”

“We
didn’t make up the broadcast if that’s what you’re wondering. The only things
we know for certain are that orders were given to spread the bio-weapon to as
many colonies as possible and that the Capital of the Empire is now totally
devoid of all human life. You should assume that the ship that tried to get
away was carrying infected cargo. I strongly recommend you quarantine your
capital city right now. Don’t let anyone out. If you can contain the
contamination to your city, the rest of Sparta will have a chance of making it
through this.”

Russell’s
face showed that he understood the implications of what she was saying.
Everyone in the city, including himself, was at risk of succumbing to the
bio-weapon. It would take more courage than most people possessed not to yield
to the impulse to leave the city right now. Finding enough police and volunteers
to risk their own lives and their families’ lives to stay in the city and
blockade the exits would be a horrendous challenge.

“I
understand. Do you have room on your ships for some of our people, Commander?”

Molitor
shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, I can’t risk carrying the plague to another
planet by landing at your spaceport.”

“No
no, Commander. That’s not what I had in mind. My family is in Sheffield. It’s a
town about 1500 kilometers to the west. There hasn’t been time for anyone or
anything to get there since the ship unloaded its cargo, so those people are
clearly uncontaminated if you take your ships there quickly. I’m begging you,
Commander. Please get my family off this planet. I’ll do my damnedest to
quarantine the city, but you know how difficult that task will be.”

Molitor
thought fast. Coral Sea and Gambier Bay had started life as freighters, and
even after conversion to missile boat carriers, they still had a lot of cargo
space available. They could probably carry 500 people each, but they would need
enough food and other supplies for their crews and the passengers to last until
they reached Excalibur.

“Here’s
my problem, Terence. My ships are low on consumables. We were hoping to
resupply here if we arrived before the plague did. We can make it to another
colony if we have to, but not if we pick up hundreds of extra mouths to feed,
unless…  If that town can provide us with the supplies we need for our crews
AND additional passengers, then we’ll take your family and as many others as we
can fit off planet.”

“Others?
I wasn’t thinking of you taking others but…yes, I understand. You can’t take
just half a dozen if you’re able to save more. My brother-in-law is the Mayor
of Sheffield. I’ll call him. He’ll order the police to round up the supplies
you need. His name is Mitchell Dreyfus. I’ll tell him to call you on this
frequency to work out the details, okay? He’ll get my family ready.”

“Okay,
Terence. I’ll tell my ships to head for Sheffield right now.”

“Thank
you, Commander Molitor, thank you.” The image dissolved and Molitor looked over
at her Helm Officer.

“I’m
already working on it, Commander,” he said.

It
took several hours for the fleet to travel the millions of kilometers that made
up the hyper-zone around Sparta. By the time they dropped down into Sparta’s
atmosphere, contact with Dreyfus had been established and the details worked
out. The four ships would set down on the side of town closest to the Capital
in order to monitor and, if necessary, prevent air traffic from the Capital reaching
the town. The local police had commandeered dozens of cargo vehicles, and
volunteers were busy loading them with requisitioned supplies from local stores
and warehouses. When Molitor asked Dreyfus how he was able to raise so many
volunteers so quickly, he answered that the volunteers had been promised room
on the ships for themselves and their families too. That solved the problem of
deciding who could be evacuated and who had to stay behind. It was all very ad
hoc and unfair to those who didn’t know someone in the town government or
police and therefore wouldn’t find out about the evacuation until it was too
late, but Molitor wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. When all the
supplies had been loaded aboard the ships, Molitor gave the okay to begin
loading the volunteers and members of Dreyfus’ and Russell’s families. She
eventually was told that most of the police and their families came aboard as
well.

With
their cargo holds full, there was nothing left to do except head for Excalibur.
By the time the fleet was approaching the hyper-zone boundary, Russell made one
last call to Molitor and told her the bad news. All the off-loaded cargo from
the Empire ship had been tested, and most of it had tested positive for an
unknown virus. The cargo handlers were already starting to complain of
symptoms. He saved the really bad news until the end. Efforts to quarantine the
city were failing. Hundreds were getting past the roadblocks. Small groups of
Empire troops that had not yet surrendered were forcing their way out of the
city at gunpoint. Molitor assured him that his family was on aboard. She
arranged for his family to be brought to the Bridge for one last chance to talk
and say good-bye. The jump to Excalibur put an end to that heart-breaking exchange.