Abysm (14 page)

His whispered murmur cut deeper still. “Did you feel that?”

She nodded; her lips parted, but no words came out.

He seemed as if he were about to say something else…then his eyes closed and he dropped his forehead to hers and hugged her close.

It was all she could do not to break down sobbing. She was wrecked, shredded and strewn across the stars.

She reached out with her mind, just a little, enough for the barest link.
Valkyrie, I don’t care who you have to threaten or what you have to hack, but find out where they’re taking Abigail.

I need help.

12

ROMANE

IDCC
C
OLONY

N
OAH WAVED HIS FATHER INSIDE
the Connova Interstellar meeting room. “Thanks for making the trip. Kennedy’s over at the IDCC hangar checking on a few ship details. She’ll be back soon, but I wanted to talk to you alone, anyway.”

Lionel Terrage strode purposefully around the room, as if he were inspecting it to determine if it passed muster. “I had a meeting with a customer here, so it was convenient. How’s the arm doing?”

Noah stretched it out in front of him and twisted it around a few times. “Better than the real thing. A few days ago I woke up and it took me until lunch to remember it wasn’t the original. Was a nice morning.” He laughed. “Mind you, the reason I finally remembered was because I crushed the takeout container from the lunch restaurant. But hey, as problems go….”

He sighed as Lionel activated the control panel for the conference table and began opening screens. “Dad, stop.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Stop screwing with the furniture and the fixtures and sit or something. Or no, don’t sit, seeing as I’m not going to sit. Stand, but still. Can you manage that?”

At the sight of his father’s condescending scowl, Noah almost gave up and walked out. But then he remembered Kennedy last night, how she’d shared with him what she wanted to do and stayed up half the night working on the speech. He owed it to her to do this.

“You know about the Alliance’s absurd adiamene restrictions, don’t you? You know how the government chased Kennedy away in an overbearing attempt at an illegal power grab, then had the gall to issue an arrest warrant for her when she refused to play by their new rules.”

Lionel nodded and settled against the wall with a greater degree of attention. Better yet, he stopped touching things.

“It’s only a small part of Winslow and the Assembly’s increasing authoritarianism and, more relevantly to you, anti-free enterprise leanings. Last month they came for Kennedy—maybe next month they come for you.”

“I am aware.” Lionel looked out the window rather than meet Noah’s gaze. “Far more aware than you are, in fact. The schemes being hatched by bureaucrats and power brokers behind closed doors, the subtle pressure exerted on businesspeople which, if unsuccessful, escalates to blackmail or at a minimum the threat of it. But in politics phases such as this are nothing new. They come and go like seasons, and one can weather them as such.”

“Not this time, Dad. This time what’s at stake goes far beyond local Assembly elections and a few lucrative government contracts.”

“We will see. I do admit, it appears this will be a more troublesome period than usual.”

Noah saw his chance in the uncertainty tinging his dad’s voice. He leaned forward over the table, enjoying the sturdy support his new arm provided him. “You’ve lived a charmed life, Dad. Proper, wealthy Alliance luminary by day, clever Pandora profiteer by night. You’ve enjoyed—”

“I have not—”

“Shut up and listen to me for five seconds, for once in your life. We share the same genes. On the theory we must share something more,
listen to me
. Kennedy already gave up everything to come here to Romane and start fresh. I would love her forever for that alone, but it’s not enough for her. She can’t stand by and watch her beloved Alliance fall to people like Winslow, not without trying to help stop it.

“She’s planning to give a speech to the Allied Manufacturers Chamber. Idealistic, crazy woman she is, she believes she can convince a bunch of plutocrats and robber barons that it’s in their best interests to defy the prime minister and the Assembly and instead support Admiral Solovy. I think she’s giving them way too much credit. But she grew up among these people. She gets them, and she might be able to do it.”

He paused, shifted his weight onto his back leg, and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know what would go a long way to help tip the balance in her favor?”

Though he now had Lionel’s rapt attention, the man nevertheless frowned and shook his head ambiguously. Dear gods in the heavens, was his father the densest, most tone-deaf individual in the cosmos?

He moved down the table, closer. “
You
, Dad. You’re a highly respected member of the Chamber. Practically revered. If you support her, they’ll have to give her the due she deserves. And she’s right—it is in their best interests, which means it’s in your best interest. Stop perturbing yourself trying to keep your hands clean and take a goddamn stand.”

“I don’t—”

“I’m not asking you to rattle any sabers or wave any blooded flags. It’s enough for this to be about business. About protecting your admittedly hard-earned and richly-deserved earnings from what you’ve created. You do deserve it, and so do they. Well, some of them. A few.

“But I’m not here for them. I’m here for her, and because I have to believe somewhere inside of you is a decent soul. You made me, and in many ways—definitely more ways than I care to admit—I am you. Which means there
has
to be a decent soul inside you.

“So I am asking you. Frankly, I guess I’m begging you. For her. Because she’s right, Dad. She’s right, and you know it. So please. Just this once, and I’ll never ask anything of you again. Not money, not sanctuary, not another robotic limb. The next one’s on me. But
do
this.”

His father stared at him for a long time, then out the window for longer. Noah recognized this was not the setting for an acerbic wisecrack, but damned if he didn’t badly want to make one.

Finally Lionel turned to face him, his posture as formal and stiff as it had ever been. “Would she like to give the speech from my headquarters on Aquila? Publicly? I can guarantee her safety. No one will arrest her while she’s on my property.”

Noah smiled. “I think she’d like that quite a lot.”

EARTH

V
ANCOUVER
EASC
H
EADQUARTERS

The EASC Logistics Director leaned over the desk in a blatant attempt at intimidation. “There must be evidence of misconduct on her part. To be blunt, your lack of concern about the matter reeks of misconduct on
your
part.”

Major Kian Lange met the Director’s glower calmly. Calm was a demeanor he had long ago perfected. Unruffled. Composed. A proper officer.

“I’ll repeat what I stated in my report, which is that there’s nothing to investigate. As Fleet Admiral and Chairman of the EASC Board, Admiral Solovy served as the commander of all aspects of the Armed Forces. Adding additional technical capabilities to Northeast Regional Command fell strictly within her purview and did not violate any regulations.”

“And transferring control of the Armed Forces communications network there?”

“If she wanted to temporarily designate Northeast Regional Command as the hub of the network, she possessed the authority to do it. Mobile command centers are used all the time. The power goes with the person.”

“Well. She’s not Fleet Admiral now, which makes her continued efforts to hold the network hostage a violation of the Code of Military Justice.”

Lange worded his response with utmost care. “It is a matter for an Ethics Council tribunal to be sure, but it’s outside my jurisdiction, which encompasses only what happens here on the Island.”

The Director shot him another threatening glare. “This is Earth Alliance Strategic Command, and until proper operational control is returned here, it is your problem. I’m getting tremendous pressure from Washington
and
London on this. The Oversight Committee won’t be pleased to hear of your lack of vigilance on the matter, to say nothing of the prime minister’s office.”

“Brigadier Ojeda, I’m not violating any orders or the guidelines defining my duties.”

“Then maybe we need to get you new orders.”

“I’ll await them, sir.”

The Director pivoted and left the office. Lange shut the door and engaged the lock behind him.

The EASC campus had been in a state of constant uproar since Admiral Solovy’s departure. Initially, no one knew precisely what was happening. It soon became apparent the dispute between Prime Minister Winslow and Admiral Solovy had escalated to a public fissure, but at that point it still wasn’t clear what that
meant
.

Then the prime minister leveled accusations of a variety of high crimes against the admiral, and shortly thereafter the prime minister’s people had swarmed EASC. In addition to demanding incriminating evidence materialize out of thin air, they had executed several ham-fisted attempts to take effective control of the organization.

But the military functioned on rules, regulations and orders. In the absence of a chairman, the EASC Board was in charge, but the Board had descended into as much turmoil as everything and everyone else.

Two of the Regional Commanders, Rychen and Haraken, were unabashedly supporting Admiral Solovy, and Rychen no longer attended Board meetings at all. General Foster was just as unabashedly in the prime minister’s pocket, and Colby, the Southeast Regional Commander, was hedging her bets. The Logistics Director and several others also served on the Board, and they tended to favor the prime minister, but the real, actionable power had always resided in the Regional Commanders.

So the Board sat paralyzed, unable to make even the most basic decisions.

He’d say it was a good thing they weren’t fighting a war at present, but after Admiral Solovy’s manifesto broadcast, in many ways they were. And whatever side you approached it from, the enemy was themselves.

He activated the surveillance shielding in his office. As Security Director he enjoyed the very best and latest in equipment. Then he sent a live message, one which would leave no record of its existence on this end.

Logistics is operating on the prime minister’s orders. The investigation is being directed by the Assembly Oversight Committee, but which representatives in particular are directing it isn’t known. It may still be Winslow herself, or her aides.

Tech is reporting that if breached, the on-site network cannot be tunneled to reach your Artificial, so core functions remain insulated for now.

We have your back.

13

EAS STALWART II

S
PACE,
N
ORTH-
C
ENTRAL
Q
UADRANT

“
T
HIRTY NEW FIGHTERS ARE READY
or coming out of manufacturing today if you want them.”

Miriam squinted at the left-most screen for several seconds. “Of course I want them…but I don’t have the pilots for them. Not yet.” She looked back across the table at Eleni. “Can you sit on them for two more days? Richard believes many of the field officers in the NW 4
^th
Brigade are pressuring Rear Admiral Tarone to join us.

“If that happens, it’ll mean upwards of three hundred additional fighter pilots. They’ll come with their own ships, but I’d certainly like to move as many as I can into the new vessels.”

“Understandable. They’re yours until such time as I have an exigent need for them, which I pray is not anytime this decade.” The field marshal took a sip of coffee. “But the ships you’re using now—they’re working out well thus far?”

“Beyond my expectations. Alex expressed jealousy, which I take as a sign of accomplishment. Thank you. You’ve done far more than I asked.”

“No thanks are needed. It sounds as if you have what you require and can barrel straight through to Earth with it, but do contact me if any problems arise I can help address.” 

The woman shifted in the chair, but not to a more relaxed position. “Miriam, I know you’ve said you don’t wish to discuss Colpetto, but I feel like we should, in the hope we can move past it.”

“There’s nothing to move past, Eleni.”

“Isn’t there? You must realize I did not make the decision to go forward with the operation lightly. I agonized over it. But I felt as if I had no other options left.”