The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (42 page)

Chapter
65.

In space near the uncoupled tenth ring of the Santana Nexus Station, January 13, 2599.

"I can see you, Lieutenant," said Carlisle.

"Thank goodness," replied Harris, "Where are you?"

"I’m at your two o'clock and about thirty degrees below your current vector."

"How far away?"

"Half a kilometer or so.
Wait, I'll see if I can turn on my suit lights."

"Ah! There you are!" Harris couldn't keep the relie
f out of his voice. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

He maneuvered up close enough to her that she could pull herself into the back seat of the two man sled.

"Got her, Commander," Harris announced, "We're heading back towards the
Beastie
now.

"Roger, Lieutenant. Good work!"

***

Military spaceship docking area near
the Santana Nexus Station, onboard Federation prototype cruiser
, Foul Beastie
, January 13, 2599.

Oskar Kresge was
still on the bridge of the
Foul Beastie
, coordinating the surrender of the remnants of the Sheik of Barsoom's Navy. The communications tech on the
Beastie
called out to him again from her station across the bridge.

"Commander Kresge?
"

"Yes, what is it?" replied Kresge.

"I have another call for you. There is someone on the tenth ring who wishes to speak with you."

"Do you know who it is?"

"He didn't say, Commander, only that it was extremely urgent."

"
Alright, put me through," said Kresge.

"This is Kresge, who in the hell are you?"

"In a moment, Commander, first I have news. The Sheik of Barsoom or Prince Merrikh of Jasmine, if you prefer, is dead; killed by one of his ship commanders."

Kresge sat in shocked silence for a long moment before finally responding with,
"You are absolutely certain of that?"

"
Yes, Commander, there was a dispute between the two leaders that broke out into violence. The entire ring is in total chaos."

"Who did you say you were?"

"This is Lester Dobbins, Commander."

"Lester Dobbins?"
The voice sounded familiar but Kresge couldn't quite place it.

"You probably know me by another name, Ezra Brimstone."

"Brimstone! I might have known you'd be a part of this mess? What do you want now?"

"
You need my help, Commander."

"Like
the help you gave me out at my Scrapyard? You killed almost two hundred of my men! Thanks, but no thanks!"

"
Hear me out, please. I...I have made mistakes, Commander, horrible mistakes. The situation here has now gotten totally out of hand."

"I can't argue with that! Where are you?"

"I don't know if that really matters but I am somewhere on the tenth ring of the station, the one you and your colleagues have so conveniently just separated from the rest of the station."

"What is it you want,
Brimstone, I still have a battle to fight."

"I have a very simple request, Commander.
You know the thruster system that you used to move the tenth ring away from the rest of the station?"

"Yes, what about
it?"

"
Put all of those thrusters on full power and get this ring as far away from the rest of the station as you can in the next half hour."

"Now why in
Space would I want to do that?"

Brimstone hesitated but only for a short moment before he replied,
"Because there is a weapon on board this ring of the station that can generate a hyperdrive transfer field two hundred kilometers in diameter. It is currently set to transport whatever is inside the field into the nearest star. This device has been set to go off in half an hour and it will destroy the tenth ring and anything else that is within a hundred kilometers on either side of it."

Kresge fell into silent shock for a few moments.

"You're making this up."

"
I'm afraid not, Commander. The man who designed this device is the same one that designed the hyperdrive damper module. His plan for this device had been to use it to destroy the Federation Navy. That changed when the Sheik was killed. He doesn't want his invention to fall into Federation hands so he has locked himself up with it and has activated a countdown."

"Can't you stop him?" asked Kresge.

"Sorry, Commander, the area he's barricaded himself into is impenetrable."

"What about the Sheik's men? Can't they get in there somehow?"

"The Sheik's forces disintegrated into chaos right after he was assassinated, Commander. It's every man for himself down here. I have pulled together a small band of fighters but it's not enough. No one else will listen to me and, besides I don't think there is enough time to organize an assault on him."

"Who is this guy?"

"I don't know his name, he calls himself Al Majnun, which literally means "the madman." The name is, unfortunately, an entirely accurate description. The man is utterly brilliant but, I am afraid, he is also utterly mad. Look, Commander, even if his device doesn't work, it is powered by the nuclear self-destruct unit that I took from the Veritian derelict!"

"What!
You're just full of good news aren't you?"

"
Like I said, Commander, I've made mistakes. When I sold the device to him, I also gave him the activation codes. So you see, my hand is in this as well. I cannot stop him but by warning you and getting you to move this ring further away from the rest of the station, perhaps I can keep the loss of life to a minimum."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Actually, Commander, you don't have to. But moving this ring is really a very simple request and really, what do you have to lose?"

"To be truthful, I wouldn't mind if that part of the station were a little further away.
A moment, Brimstone."

Kresge went away from the audio pickup for a moment.

"Okay, Brimstone, I have given the order for those the thrusters to be used at maximum thrust to push the tenth ring as far away as we can get it in your allotted time."

On his display, Kresge could see that t
he ring of thrusters had begun firing again.

"
Why are you doing this?" asked Kresge.

"
I thank you, Commander, for...having faith in me. Though I admit I have done nothing to warrant it. Why am I doing this? As I was saying, I...have been a bad person... a very bad person. I am supposed to be a Christian leader and I have abused my office, murdered innocent people. The current chaos across this entire quadrant was initiated by my actions out at your Scrapyard. It's all gotten totally out of hand. I...I have to try to do something to make up for it. I'm up to my neck in this whole mess but now I may have found a way to salvage something."

Brimstone
had one more request.

"
Most of the people on this ring are the Sheik's henchmen, Commander, and you would be hard pressed to find a worse lot of bullies and ne'er-do-wells. I think the Sheik somehow managed to recruit every criminal in the Quadrant! All of these people have committed serious crimes and their deaths will be no great loss to humanity."

"I can't argue that," said Kresge.

"A few innocents do remain though,"
continued Brimstone,
"If you hurry, there should still be time to evacuate most of the women and children and some of the wounded. You need to do this as soon as possible, preferably within the next few minutes."

"I don't think I have a suitable ship nearby," said Kresge
, "We'd need something equipped with a docking tube to evacuate people that quickly."

"
I have been in contact with the
Carpathia,
the Sheik of Barsoom's yacht. Her Captain has his ship up and ready. In the current confusion, they were going to run as soon as they saw a chance but her Captain has agreed to a rescue attempt. That ship has a docking tube."

"
I'll tell our forces that he is clear to make the attempt," replied Kresge.

"I
'll call the
Carpathia
. I hope they get here quickly, the force curtain on the big airlock is still working but I don't know for how much longer."

As Kresge signed off he remembered Carlisle and Harris.
He called the Lieutenant's suit radio.

"Harris?"

"What is it, Commander?"

"How far are you from that tenth ring?"

"It's hard to tell, Commander. Probably no more than five kilometers. That ring already had quite of bit of separation velocity, I had to chase pretty hard to catch Carlisle."

"Something has come up. Keep heading this way as fast as you can and we'll come and pick you up."

"Aye, aye, Commander. Anything I should know?"

"Nothing you can do anything about. I'll tell you about it when I have you both onboard."

Kresge turned to Jennifer Helmsford. "Captain? A couple of my best officers and dearest friends are in grave danger. Can we go and pick them up?"

"Absolutely, Commander!"

Ten minutes later, as the
Beastie
rendezvoused with Harris and Carlisle on the two-man sled, they were passed by the
Carpathia
heading towards the tenth ring. As soon as the Ensign and the Lieutenant were safely on board, the
Beastie
accelerated back towards the larger part of the station at the full thrust of her reaction engines.

***

In space near the uncoupled tenth ring of the Santana Nexus Station, January 13, 2599.

Within the allotted time, the
Carpathia
managed to maneuver close enough to get a docking tube extended to the drifting tenth ring of the station. Brimstone himself supervised the evacuation of some twenty-five women and children and about a dozen wounded, several of them unconscious. He and a small group of fighters even held off a lackluster attempt to interfere with the operation. At the last minute, Brimstone refused to board the Yacht himself. Instead, he chose to remain on the tenth ring in spite of his own knowledge of its eminent destruction.

The
Carpathia
pulled away from the tenth ring and before even taking the time to secure her docking tube, she microjumped. Because of the imminent danger posed by Al Majnun's hyperdrive doomsday device, the maneuver was considered a necessary precaution.

Brimstone called Kresge one last time.

"Thank you, Commander, I can die knowing I did at least something to atone for my many sins."

"
As you pointed out, it was a reasonable request," replied the Commander.

"I am sending you the information to access my bank account,"
said Brimstone.

"What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Consider half of it to be a donation to the Veritian Way. Caleb and Hanna Jordan can handle that. The rest is for the families of the Federation people who died in your Scrapyard. I would hope that you could handle those arrangements."

"I'll see that it is done."

"Thank you, Commander."

"You do have one consolation, Brimstone," said Kresge.

"And what might that be?"

"
With all of the sons of bitches there are in this Universe...at least you won't be lonesome in Hell!"

There was a short silence.

"I richly deserve whatever fate awaits me,"
Brimstone replied, finally.
"Farewell, Commander...and for what it's worth, I am truly sorry."

The screen went blank
.

S
econds later, the tenth ring was engulfed in a searing white flash. For anyone who had ever witnessed a ship performing a macrojump, the sight was familiar enough, though no man had ever seen a field anywhere near the size of this one. The lozenge-shaped field glowed with an intense white light that persisted for perhaps five seconds before seeming to collapse into itself. Within another five seconds, it was gone.

Nothing remained
in the space where the tenth ring had been.

The Sheik's forces on the Southern end of the spindle surrendered shortly after.
A calm settled over the remaining nine rings of the Santana Nexus Station.

Chapter
66.

Santana Nexus System, on board private ship
Carpathia
, January 13, 2599.

Among the wounded who
had been evacuated by the
Carpathia
was an unconscious woman. Unknown to Brimstone's people supervising the evacuation, but well recognized by the Sheik's former crewmembers was Fahada. She was still out from the whack to the side of the head that had been delivered by Carlisle in the arena. She had suffered a relatively severe concussion and it was only after the
Carpathia
had pulled away from the tenth ring and had microjumped towards the hyperlink zone that the Sheik's former assassin began to regain consciousness.

The
yacht arrived at the hyperlink zone and discovered that there were no Federation ships standing guard, all of them had been needed in the fight to liberate the Nexus Station. The devastated
Hercules
was the only ship near the hyperlink point and no one among her surviving crew was in any shape to challenge the fugitive ship if, indeed, they were even aware of her presence.

Carpathia
translated out to an unknown destination.

Fahada and her new husband had managed to escape from the Federation
authorities and from the sizeable faction of the Revolutionary forces who would have given much to have them in custody.

Such are the fortunes of war!

***

Santana Nexus
System, Whitney hyperlink zone, January 13, 2599.

An hour later, a force of twelve Federation warships, three heavy cruisers and nine destroyers, flashed in through the Santana Quadrant hyperlink zone.

One of the cruisers stayed near the hyperlink zone to guard it and at the same time render assistance to the crew of the devastated
Hercules
. The remaining ships microjumped towards the Nexus Station.

***

UTFN Reclamation Center, on board Meridian Imperial Diplomatic Ship
Istanbul
, January 14, 2599.

On
the
Istanbul
, another meeting of the diplomats was going about as well as could be expected. The same old arguments were being voiced and the gripes about all of them being held against their will were being repeated.

Ambassador Saladin
received a hand-written note. He and Sondia and Talbot discussed the contents of the note for a few moments before the Ambassador called for everyone's attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have news."

The room became silent in expectation.

"
The Sheik of Barsoom claimed earlier today that he was the long lost Prince Merrikh of Jasmine."

After a shocked silence, the room broke out into a storm of conflicting exclamations and arguments.

"I wondered about that?"

"The Prince of Jasmine was alive?"

The Ambassador let the bedlam go on for several minutes before calling for order.

"There is more. Less than an hour later he was
dead, assassinated by one of his own allies."

More loud discussion ensued. Again the Ambassador allowed it to run its course for several minutes before calling for order.

"I am very sorry but I do not have any details beyond these. However I do have some more news. Some very good news. The Scrapyard Strike force has managed to defeat the Sheik's forces and has regained control of the Nexus Station. There is still some mopping up to do but...the
Istanbul
will be heading back to the Santana Nexus within the hour. We can all go home!"

This
announcement was greeted by loud and boisterous cheering that lasted for a good five minutes.

"
Some problems remain," said the Ambassador, after calm had been restored, "There is still a revolution going on out in many parts of the Quadrant and there are enemy forces scattered everywhere. The Federation and the Islamic Alliance will be making a sweep through the Quadrant to locate and eliminate these pockets of resistance."

"
We would still advise you all to be extremely careful," said Sondia, "There were defectors from all of your governments and you may not know who you can trust. Do I need to remind you that there was an attempt on my life right here on this very ship? Many of the late Sheik's people are fanatics and they will not go down without a fight."

"
I'll take my chances," said one of the diplomats.

"
Yes, we have been kept here for way to long!" commented another

"We c
ould not guarantee your safety," said the Ambassador, "We must continue to be very careful as this ship is still considered to be target."

In the midst of
this discussion, Dr. Frank C. Talbot stood up.

"Gentlemen and Ladies," said Talbot.
"If I could have a moment of your time."

Talbot hadn't spoken very much at any of the previous meetings and the group, surprisingly, quieted down so they could hear the old engineer and philosopher speak.

"Most of you know who I am," he began, several in the audience nodded their heads in affirmation, others looked at him with narrowed eyes, "Some of you have come to know me through the discussions we've had." He paused for a few seconds to make sure that everyone was listening. "I wish to make a plea. I want to beg all of you to consider our actions over the next day or two. The situation in our Quadrant has taken an unexpected turn. As you have just learned, the man who had been calling himself 'The Sheik of Barsoom' actually was the long lost Prince Merrikh, heir to the old throne of Jasmine."

That announcement was greeted by a
more few comments.

Talbot
let the voices die down before he continued, "What the Sheik or the Prince has begun out here in this corner of Human space is nothing less than an attempt to reboot the Succession War! Is there a soul in this room that believes this is the best way forward for our Quadrant? All of our governments have been operating with several basic principles. One of these is the Freedom of religion. All are free to choose how they will worship. Another principle is that of representational government. All citizens have a vote in how they shall be governed. These people want to overturn all of that! They wish to restore the Monarchy and all of the oppression and corruption and inequality that inevitably results. Religions will be tolerated but only if they do their part to perpetuate the Monarchy."

He looked over his audience. All were
listening, some appeared as though they were coming to a realization, others still looked doubtful.

"So I ask you
; is this what you want for yourself and the people you represent? We, those of us in this assembly, have an opportunity to make a statement. A unified voice from this group of distinguished leaders will go a long way towards calming fears and restoring order in our Quadrant. But we must do something that we have not been able to do so far. We must create a unified front. Yes, this enforced and unwelcome isolation has been a burden. The alternative was that all of you would have been prisoners of the Sheik of Barsoom who we now know was the long-lost Prince Merrikh of Jasmine. Who among you can really say that you would have preferred his 'hospitality' to that of Ambassador Saladin?" Talbot allowed a moment for that to sink in before continuing.

"Look around you. You have now spent more time with these other delegates than you ever dreamed you would. What have you learned?
Ayatollah Barzai? Do you still think that Bishop Sinclair is a man you cannot trust? Or does he, like you, only want the best for his people, his flock?"

The two men whom Talbot mentioned looked at each other
. Their eyes met for a short moment before both of them nodded. They had not become close friends but... they were no longer enemies either. With these two strong leaders indicating that they agreed with Talbot, the rest of the meeting took a different direction.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I beg you. Roll up your sleeves and do what this
Assembly was called upon to do in the first place. Forge a new level of understanding with your neighbors and rivals, establish lines of communication so that misunderstandings are less likely to occur."

Talbot, experienced speaker that he was, knew just when he had said enough and the time was right for him to wrap up his presentation. So he sat down.

The next to make an announcement was the Ayatollah Barzai. He cleared his throat before beginning to speak.

"
Thank you, Dr. Talbot. I for one have grown to trust and respect our...accidental hosts. I have even begun to understand the distinguished Dr. Talbot and I agree with him, finally, on one thing: We have been given an opportunity. Who among you, like me, can see the hand of Allah, of God, on our enforced isolation? Ladies and Gentlemen, we got to together in the first place because we have a job to do. I say we sit down and get it done!"

There was long and loud applause when the Ayatollah finished his speech. The group went about the business of selecting a chair.
At long last, the meeting was finally heading in the right direction!

The crew of the
Istanbul
maneuvered their ship carefully out of the Scrapyard and headed out to the New Ceylon hyperlink point before translating out to the Santana Nexus.