Read Stars of Charon (Legacy of the Thar'esh Book 1) Online
Authors: Sam Coulson
“Watch your ass, those are the two that got Skunks!” I
thought it was Trasher, but I couldn’t be sure. “Rockets!”
“I’m empty,” Ju-lin answered. “I spent my last two saving
your ass two minutes ago.”
“Dammit, lost Links,” Teigan broke in. “I’m alone over here with
five on my tail. Report?”
“Pots and I just dusted a pair off by the big wreck. We’re
clear and coming back in. If you need a hand angle up toward us.
“Roger that, thanks Bing,” Teigan answered. “Everyone, keep
tight.”
“Captain Teigan,” I broke in, hoping the static would
disguise my voice. “Sorry we’re late to the party.
Tons-o-Fun
and I ran
into the re-enforcements.”
“Lee, about damn time, status?” Teigan answered.
“We’re clear, took care of their bombers and a few snub
fighters,” I answered.
“Good, at least we won’t have to contend with missile boats,”
Teigan responded. “We’re falling apart. Get your asses over here and give us a
hand. We can’t last much longer.”
“Negative,” I answered. “
Tons
is loaded with a dozen
stolen Draugari ordinance and the haulers are undefended.”
“Draugari?” He echoed.
“Disintegrators,” Loid follow my bluff. “We lifted them off
the ship that attacked the colony a few weeks back. I’m loading them up now,
should be in range in two minutes. We can burn down the haulers and take the
terraforming equipment with them. The colonists will be safe.”
There was dead air for several seconds.
“Do it,” Teigan answered.
I watched the scopes and waited. We were close enough to the
haulers that the fighters engaged with Teigan and the Falcons would have no
chance to intercept us, and even if they did, turning their backs to Teigan’s
wing would be suicide.
One minute. Nothing. I began to doubt. They either weren’t
listening, or they were calling my bluff. Maybe I’d made one too many guesses.
I’d assumed that Alume would be with the fleet. A man like him wouldn’t allow
something this important to carry on without him. I’d also figured that, if he
was here, he would have found the Falcon’s coms channel and broken the
encryption key. He would be listening.
One and a half minutes passed. I had assumed too much. Why
would he believe we had the warheads?
No, I swallowed. Despite my doubt, I was certain. Alume was
here directing the battle. He had to be. And he may be the fully devoted to his
cause, but he was also the center of the circle. The Mastermind. The General.
The man who sends others to their deaths, but never risks his own. One minute
forty-five seconds. Time was almost up.
“Prepare to fire,” I said over the air.
“Roger that,” Loid answered. “Preparing a full spread, I
should get the lead three in one go.”
Two minutes.
“Humans?” a smooth, alien voice crackled over the radio.
I was momentarily too stunned to respond.
“Are you human? Domari? Earthborn?”
“
Tons-o-Fun
, stand down. This is Commander Teigan,
identify yourself.”
“Oh my, no, you are human? Not Draugari?” the voice
responded. “Stand down, please, I am ordering my fleet to stand down.”
“Who is this?”
“Commander Teigan is it? My name is Caleeb. My cohorts and I
were on a terraforming mission to this system when we were set upon by a party
of Draugari raiders.”
“Yes,” Teigan responded. “You dealt with them and then
attacked us.”
“Attacked you?” Caleeb answered. “I hardly think so, we would
never attack our human friends! You and your fleet set upon us, we thought that
it was another wave of the Draugari.”
“The Draugari flying Falcons?” Teigan snapped back.
“If you will pardon sir,” Caleeb answered. “But most of the
vessels the Draugari fly are stolen from Earthborn hands. We saw you on
approach and could not take the risk. Please understand, we are part of a
peaceful organization. Our goal was to build an academic commune and we came to
this remote world.”
The voice had a familiar air of elitism.
“You don’t fight like a peaceful organization,” Teigan
countered.
“Well yes,” Caleeb responded smoothly. “As I’m sure you know,
my people are required to submit to military service. Every adult is a trained
warrior. But please, believe me, our intentions here are peaceful. This entire
situation is a horrible misunderstanding. This world is not on the
Protectorate’s or Collective’s colonial register, we did not know that human
colonists had claimed it.”
Clever, I thought. I was certain that the voice belonged to
Alume. Was Caleeb another title? Another alias? Or his real name?
“This world is home to three human settlements, there was a
fourth, but it was destroyed. By Celestrial raiders,” Teigan pressed back.
I looked at my scopes and saw the Collegiate fighters drawing
away out of the debris field and back toward the haulers. Teigan and the five remaining
Falcons had formed up and were on their way to rendezvous with Loid and me as
we held position between the Collegiate and the colony.
“Celestrial raiders?” Caleeb responded. “As I said, we are a
peaceful concern of academics. I don’t have any knowledge or responsibility
over the actions of outlaws and rogues. Commander, I’m sure that you would
object to being judged by the actions of your race’s less scrupulous members.”
Teigan said something back in assent.
An indicator light flashed on my dash, a message from Ju-lin:
I don’t like this, he’s stalling, Dad. We can’t trust him.
A pang of guilt passed through me as I saw her words. At
least she hadn’t recognized my voice. She was right, though, of course. My
bluff had worked so far, but Alume wasn’t ready to give up. His fighters
swarmed back around the haulers, rotating into docking clamps as they refueled.
Refueled and rearmed. Eighteen fighters still in fighting condition, I counted,
twenty-three against our eight in open space. If Alume moved to strike with his
ships refreshed and rearmed, the battle would be quick.
“Caleeb,” Teigan hailed. “As you can see, this world is
inhabited. If it was missing from the colonial register, it was clearly in
error. I am going to ask you to withdraw from the system.”
It was silent for a long moment.
“I can’t do that Commander Teigan,” he answered.
Another message, this one from Loid:
I’m being scanned.
They are calling our bluff.
“Come again?” Teigan answered. “Are you having trouble with
your flux drives?”
“No, nothing like that,” Alume continued. “Inconvenient as
this may be, we came for this world, and this world in particular.”
“What’s so important about this world?” Teigan asked.
“No other world will do,” Alume responded flatly.
“It is occupied by nearly eight thousand human colonists.”
“Unfortunately, no other world will do.” As Alume spoke, the
Collegiate fighters reformed into three flight groups, positioning themselves
to attack.
My bluff to stall for time was working against us. It had
given Alume a chance to refuel and rearm his ships while drawing us out into
the open.
I looked out my viewport at the Falcons flying in close
formation. They were pock-marked and blackened. I could see burnt
out-maneuvering thrusters, empty rocket launchers. The pilots were tired, ships
low on fuel. Nerves, lasers, and a bluff had gotten us this far, and all three
were nearly spent. I had one card left to play.
I thumbed my coms: “You’re too late Alume.”
“Who?” Teigan asked.
“The Thar’esh are long dead, but we found what they left, and
destroyed it.”
“Destroyed?” He asked.
“Yes, but not until after we found the truth,” I continued.
“The truth?” Alume replied his voice hissed. “Elicio? That is
you isn’t it? You found your way back. Compelling. But the truth? What truth
did you find?”
“Eli?” my heart froze as Ju-lin broke in over the coms. “If
you’re here, where is my fath-”
Her voice stopped as the truth choked back her words. She
knew. I was certain she knew it all. I shook off the thought, and pushed back
the waves of emotion, of guilt, of rage. With all of my strength, I focused.
“I found the truth of what happened at Vasudeva,” I said.
Again, there was silence.
“You know what happened too, don’t you Alume?” I pressed.
“You know what Navali did. The power she wielded. It wasn’t the Thar’esh who
destroyed those worlds.”
“Oh it was the Thar’esh,” Alume answered. “Make no mistake.
They were a blight. Their shadow destroyed Vasudeva, and with it they nearly
destroyed the beating heart of my people.”
“It isn’t the heart of your people that you should be worried
about,” I replied. “It is your souls. Navali developed the weapon. And she took
fifteen billion lives to keep it from the Thar’esh. She knew if a single one of
her people was left alive that the Thar’esh could have taken their memories and
technology. And you, you choose to hide the truth.”
“As I told you,” he answered. “It is our duty to discern
which books should be written, which books should be forgotten, and which
should be burned.”
“Fear,” I said slowly. “It’s all about fear isn’t it? You
think it’s better for your people to be afraid of what is out there than know
what their own people are capable of, don’t you? Scare them with stories of the
Thar’esh, and uphold the stoic endurance of the Celestrials?”
“This is all very moving,” Alume said dryly. “But immaterial.
I won’t be lectured by a child. You say you destroyed whatever it was the
Thar’esh left behind? I want to believe you. I honestly do.”
“Yes,” I answered as I keyed in and broadcast the
coordinates. “Run a long range scan, you’ll see the after-effects of a plasma
bomb.”
There was silence for several moments. The Collegiate
fighters remained, poised for attack.
“I see remains, yes,” Alume responded. “Splendid. Then our
job is half done.”
“Half?” Teigan interrupted.
“You and your pilots have fought bravely commander,” Alume
said solemnly. “Take your end with dignity.”
In the distance there were flashes of light as the Collegiate
fighters ignited their thrusters.
“Damn you!” Teigan roared.
“They’re incoming,” Trasher called. “All of them. Three
minutes to intercept.”
“What about those Draugari warheads?” Someone asked.
“A bluff,” Loid answered flatly.
“A bluff?” Teigan snapped back.
“It was the best idea we had,” Loid answered. “At least it
bought us some time.”
“It also bought
them
time,” Teigan replied. “Now
they’re re-armed and fueled.”
I looked out at the wave of oncoming fighters. There was
nowhere to run or hide. They would be on us in minutes. Like the Draugari
fleet, we had already lost, and the Celestrials only needed to come in for the
kill.
Despair began to set in when I saw it, a faint flash
somewhere distant to my right, and then another, and another. It took me several
seconds to realize what it was: the flux point. As I craned my head and peered
into the blackness. I saw a shadowy bulk lumbering forward. The shape was huge,
ominous, and unmistakable against the stars even at that distance.
A message was being broadcast on all channels:
“This is Earthborn Protectorate Dreadnaught battle group
Dante. The Protectorate has granted a petition to deem this system as a
provisional colonial outpost. All register Protectorate and non-Protectorate
vessels, please cease and desist any activities, and either petition for a
temporary authorization, or observe and acknowledge that you have eight hours
to vacate the system.”
Chapter 37
It was a clear, bright day. I was one in three-hundred,
standing at attention. Our uniforms were crisp white. Our shoes polished to a
perfect sheen. I held my chin high and ignored the sweat on my palms. Face
forward. I quickly straightened the new badge on my chest that read Private McCullough.
The Admiral walked to the podium with deep solemnity.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today you become more than men and
women,” his voice boomed. “Today you take your first, real step from being just
boys and girls, toward becoming a piece of something more, something greater.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
“Because today, you take your first step toward joining the
highest cause for the Earthborn. You follow the worn, proven, and noble path of
the fleet. This is a tradition that draws back distant to the days before when
we were stuck floating along the oceans back on Earth. Today, we sail further,
faster, and bolder than we ever have before. We reach for the heavens that our
ancestors dreamed of.”
He paused.
“Men and women, today you become soldiers and sailors. From
today on, you are the Protectorate of the Earthborn.”
The grandeur of the Dante’s entry dissolved into anticlimax
as the bureaucracy settled in. We were ordered to remain in orbit for the next
two hours while the Dante crossed the system and began to inspect each ship’s
registration and what their business was. As I sat in my ship, I ran scans,
trying desperately to find any sign of Growd’s shuttle, but there was nothing.
If Alume’s fleet had caught him in their net, there would be nothing left. If
he had made his way toward one of the flux points he would still be on long
range scans. The shuttle was nowhere to be found.
Alume, once again calling himself Caleeb, went back to his
story about how he and the Collegiate had come to the system to start a new
colony, only to run into a roving band of Draugari, and ultimately find that
the planet was already colonized by the humans. Though he acknowledged that his
ships and the colonists had exchanged fire, he insisted that any engagement was
in error, and that they had mistaken our defense force for another wave of
Draugari.
For our part, we didn’t argue. The Collegiate were
withdrawing, and the Dante promised to leave a garrisoned defense force in
system. The colony was safe. Whether the Dante’s commander believed the tale or
not didn’t much matter. As Loid pointed out to me later that evening, relations
between the Protectorate and the Empire were tenuous, nobody was willing to
risk open war; not even Alume.
Especially not Alume, I realized as I brought in my Falcon
down to the landing field. Both the Empire and the Protectorate were ruled by
fear. Whether it was the threat of Draugari invasion, or myths of the Thar’esh
hiding in the dark, fear is what kept the common men and women quiet and in
line. I thought back to Filian and Taro’s memories. Fear had ruled the
Thar’esh, there was no question of that. Maybe the fear was universal? Was fear
the pillar that holds up the structures of nations? I hoped not. There had to
be another way.
I was lost in my thoughts as I powered down the Falcon and
stepped back out onto the landing field. As soon as my boots touched the dust,
reality of what I had done closed in around me like a noose.
The first person I saw was Ju-lin. Teigan was with her,
smiling and talking. Her hair was matted from the sweat in her helmet. I stood
some distance off, watching and waiting. But she never looked my way. I was
certain she knew I was there. How could she not?
I wanted to talk to her, to see her, to hold her like I
had before. But my desire was mixed with a rising sense of paternal care, and
even pride. Lee’s fatherly feelings shadowed my own. What would I say to her?
What could I say to her?
“Helluva day,” a friendly hand was on my shoulder. I turned
to see Loid. He looked haggard, and for the first time, old.
“You aren’t kidding,” I responded with a sigh.
“Keep your distance,” he said following my gaze. “Trust me on
this one.”
“I don’t want to keep my distance,” I answered. “I need her
to know what happened. I need you and Chen to explain it to her.”
“Explaining won’t help,” Loid answered. “Her head already
understands it all. But her heart is another matter. She will need some time to
process it all.”
“
Some
time?”
“Okay a lot of time,” he answered. “You
did
kill her
father.”
I turned, glaring.
“Gallows humor, sorry,” Loid responded. “It’s my way. All
that said, that was some magnificent flying today kid. You saved our asses up
there.”
“So what’s next?” I asked. For some reason the last thing I
wanted to do was rehash the battle. “Picking up your lumber and flying off to
sell it to your friend?”
“I think so,” Loid said as he shrugged. “I’m stuck here for
the next week until the Dante lifts the lockdown.”
I nodded.
“I’d invite you along, but-”
“But what?” I asked.
“Ju-lin,” he said. “She already asked to come with me. This
world’s too small for her, that’s for sure. And the fleet isn’t her speed. The
structure would strangle her. And I promised the old man I’d make sure she was
alright.”
“Oh,” I said sullenly. “Right.”
“If I didn’t let her sign on she would probably fall in with
Teigan and his boys. Don’t get me wrong, they are some good fighter-jocks, but
the life of a merc turns you cold.”
I nodded again.
“So hey,” he said, trying to pull me out of my mood. “I’m
going to go check out the whiskey that Jager says he’s been secretly brewing in
an old ceramics kiln. Interested? It will help.”
“I’ll pass,” I said, looking down at the blood under my
fingernails. “I need to clean up anyway.”
Unsure where else to go, I was heading back to the old
dormitory when Chen caught me in the street and led me back to the hospital. He
showed me to a quiet room, the same one that they had brought me to when Lee
had first found me. After a long shower and a hot meal, I laid down and finally
slept.
Over the next week, the colony was transformed. The crew of
the Dante set to work finishing the hydro-electric dam and replacing the dusty
field with a proper spaceport capable of berthing a few dozen large combat
vessels. The provisional defense force wasn’t large, but it was enough: a dozen
fighters, two corvettes, and an armed orbital supply and monitoring station.
I also learned that Marin McCullough, who had returned with
the Dante after petitioning the Protectorate for help, had been installed as
the provisional planetary governor. He quickly went to work, coordinating aid
from the carrier group, and establishing the seeds of the great Earthborn
Protectorate on the little colony world.
During most of the week, I stayed to myself in the hospital.
Ju-lin turned away when she saw me on the street, avoiding my eyes by miles.
Loid came by once or twice a day to check up on me, and Chen made sure I was
fed and comfortable. But it was clear that my stay was temporary. Chen had seen
to it that few people knew what had really happened with Lee. Though I wasn’t
sure what story he gave out, it was clear that the colonists were no more or
less skeptical of me than they had always been. Chen told me that there were
only two other people besides himself and Loid who knew the truth, Ju-lin and
Marin.
I knew all the questions he must have had. I’d expected, if
not dreaded, the moment when Marin came to see me.
But when the time came, I was surprised by what he had to
say.
“I know what happened,” he said easily. “I’ve spoken with
Loid and my sister. I know all of it. I was here those first few days after you
left, I saw the change in him. The poison the Draugari used was vicious.
My sister doesn’t understand, because
she didn’t see him then, but he was dying already. Slowly for sure, but he was
dying. A slow, painful death that would rob him of all he was would have been
heartbreaking for him. For us. This is what he wanted, I know it. I can accept
it.”
I nodded.
“When Chen first told me what you had done, I didn’t
understand any of it. But then I talked to Loid. It’s pretty unbelievable. You
survived a terraforming event. Not only that, you were reborn whole, with the
ability to see into other people’s minds. Pretty miraculous.”
It wasn’t the word I would have used.
“What I want to say is that I’m grateful,” he said.
“Grateful?” I choked out the worlds, not quite believing what
I heard. “After what I did?”
“As I said, I knew my father was dying, and I know what he
can be like. He decided that you doing—that—was the only way. Nobody could have
changed his mind. But no, that’s not what I meant. I was talking about the
fight. I’m grateful for what you’ve done for the colony.”
He paused.
“You will have heard that Admiral Mjonor of the Dante has
installed me as the provisional planetary governor?” he asked.
“I heard,” I answered. “Congratulations.”
“Yes, well the position has some perks,” he said as he pulled
a card out from his pocket and held it out to me. “I got something for you.”
I took the little card, it was made of thick plastic with a
digital interface on one end. I flipped it over in my hand. It had my picture,
next to it was the name “Elicio Thar’esh.”
“An official Earthborn Protectorate Identification card,”
Marin smiled. “You’re now in the system. Loid came to me yesterday and told me
that you didn’t exist on any of the Protectorate or Collective records, so we
put this together.”
“It says that I was born on Leir II. Never heard of it.”
“Some creative fiction,” Marin nodded. “Leir II is a colony
on the border with the Collective, populated by Earthborn, Noonan, Osterian,
Lasterians, there may even been a few Celestrials. It was founded by a
religious fringe group that worships the Sower of Seeds. They believe that
someday their God will come back to see what each branch of humanity has
achieved and judge us for it.”
“Why there?”
“The colonists shun any connections to the Protectorate or
the Collective, but they don’t cause any trouble and stick to their own little
world, so they are more or less left alone. They don’t maintain any birth or
death records, something about wanting to avoid touching the greater sins of
humanity. It’s all superstitious garbage. The official story on your records
goes that you were an orphan on Leir II and stowed away on a cargo ship. When
they noticed you were onboard, they marooned you here. We’ve added some notes
in the planetary records to match up.”
I looked down at the ID card and couldn’t help but smile at
the last name: “Thar’esh.” I had little doubt that that had been Loid’s idea.
“The ID is tied to bank accounts, property transactions,
everything,” Marin continued. “You really can’t do much in the Protectorate
without one.”
“Thanks,” I said sincerely without looking up. “You didn’t
have to do this.”
“No,” Marin answered. “I didn’t, but I wanted to. The sky is
yours.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly. “Though I’m not sure what I’ll do
with it.
“You know, I’ve been meeting with a lot of people from the
Dante. Most of them are bureaucrats or Protectorate officers. But there are
also some others who are with the Third Division.”
“Third Division?” I’d heard the word before.
“The Third Division is the covert branch of the Earthborn
Protectorate Fleet. Some call them spies, some call them assassins. But what
they really are is an intelligence agency working to keep the peace across the
Protectorate and between us, the Domari Collective, and the Celestrial Empire,”
he answered.
“Why tell me?”
“Because I think you should talk to them.”
“What did you tell them about me?”
“Oh nothing about
that
,” he answered. “Your secret is
safe. I just told them that you were a genius with languages, and a natural
pilot. Enough to pique their interest. Either way, the man’s name is Fanto
Rings. Odd name, I know. Odd guy. But interesting. I just figured you would
need somewhere to go and something to occupy your mind, and they are always
looking for recruits, especially recruits like you who don’t have any family.”
His last words bit.
“I’ll think about it,” I answered. “Thanks Marin. I
appreciate you talking to me.”
He shook my hand and turned to leave. At the door, he stopped
and turned.
“You know, when they first told me what happened with my
father, I was furious,” he paused. “It was Ju-lin who explained it all to me.
Who you are. What you are. She cares. She just can’t handle it all, not right
now. But if you give her enough time, she’ll come around.”
Before I could summon the words to manage a response, he was
gone.