AMP Private War (18 page)

"The great culling then took place. That was almost 400 of your years ago. At first it was a culling through attrition, but the most powerful families decided to accelerate the cull through the addition of a birth rite ritual. Families were only allowed one offspring. Soon after, that number dropped to zero and the population soon stabilized at its current level. Now, except for the royal families, births are dependent on a lottery system. The twelve royal families retain unlimited birthing rights."

I asked what they were doing on the ship, away from their world. "Our mother controls 32 worlds, she has 16 daughters, we have all been given duty of one year away from the planet so that we would grow to appreciate its beauty and wealth. It is a practice that our family has undertaken with each new generation. It is frowned upon by many others in our ruling class, but our mother is a powerful woman. She is third in line to the throne."

"I am Princess Missa Maliashe of the House of Maliashe. Our wealth in the empire is surpassed only by the Queen. Queen, Trilia, from the family Girge, rules the empire from its most powerful and beautiful city, Moffial. The palace is paved with Diamond floors and the walls are Thurrian Silver with inlaid streaks of Rubies and Emeralds."

"I have been to the palace once when I was betrothed to the eleventh prince. I was only four at the time, but the beauty of the palace stayed with me. The Queen took a special interest in me as the eleventh prince was her favorite. When I return, I am destined for the palace and the prince, I am eager to rule over him as is the Torrian way."

I asked Missa the location of Torrus; she shrugged and said she did not know. When they were taken from their world it was without knowledge of how to return. When their time in the outer worlds was over, someone would come for them. They were four months from that time and the planet they would be waiting on was Barithia.

I turned to George and the Colonel who had joined us. "Barithia is in the sector we were in. If we find it and have a ship in wait, we may be able to follow them back to Torrus. If we can find that planet we may be able to end this war with a single mass attack."

I turned back to Missa and asked about the defenses around Torrus. "I am not privileged to the full extent of that information, but I can say that it is formidable. We have much wealth to protect on our planet and other empires that want it. The region around our planet has great ships, ships that are the size of your grid. They are heavily armed and their numbers are in the hundreds if not thousands."

I asked where the Mu Darker Expansion and the Nillian Conglomerate were located. She stated that they were on the far side of the Torrian Empire, stretching out towards the end of the galaxy arm. I then asked why it was that the gravity drive of the Grid was so important to them.

"In the early days of the empire we were allied with the Nillians. When your Human ships arrived we moved together as a team to capture your ships. Your people fought a brave war, but they were losing. Two of your Grids were about to be overrun when they self-destructed. A third succumbed to battle with an internal explosion nearly ripping it in half. Your Grid and one other, fled at a speed we could not match."

"The other ship was lost, but our scientists and engineers determined how to follow you. We have been following ever since. Our alliance with the Nillians fell apart when they claimed the remaining damaged station for their own. It had been moved to their territory as we attempted to pursue your Grid."

I asked if the Nillians had the gravity drive. "The drive on the remains of the ship had been too badly damaged for them to unlock its secrets. But their treachery drove a wedge between our empires, a wedge which still exists today. One day the Nillians will pay for that treachery. When we obtain the gravity drive our ships will be unstoppable."

I then turned the conversation back towards the royal families. The Colonel insisted that we continue with their military power and history. I overruled him.

Missa continued, "As I said, my mother Monta Maliashe, has eyes for the throne. Her every moment and every move are spent scheming and planning for the House of Maliashe to one day take rule. That day may be by my daughter or my granddaughter, but it will happen."

"With my betrothal to the eleventh prince she placed me as third in line to assume power. The first and second princes, should they be deemed competent, will wed the new Queen and the first princess. The favorite son, my betrothed, the eleventh prince, may be moved up the line of succession, in this instance he has been. When I return and the ceremony is complete I will become the second princess. My daughters will be in line to be betrothed to the second prince of the then Queen."

The Colonel was agitated with my line of questions, but I continued, "If we were to return you to your home planet, and if we were to assist you in becoming Queen, would you repay the favor and end the war on the Grid?"

She replied without hesitation, "No, the Torrians are beholden to no one. The galaxy is rightfully ours and we will not stop until its riches have been returned to Torrus. Alliances and friendships only lead to daggers in the back. Other species shall nevermore be our equal."

The Colonel added a comment, "She might as well have put a gun to her head with that one. Once we have all the info from her we need she is no longer of any use. At that time I say we pop her and send the body back to her mother with a note."

I looked at the Colonel in shock. He again spoke, "What? She killed Rauch and Harvey back there on the Helix. If you don't have any interest in doing the deed I have about a thousand Marines that will step up. She doesn't deserve to live after what she did."

I felt bad for Missa as the Colonel was right. We were not in the business of taking prisoners and holding them. For a moment I thought of sending her to Admiral Zimmerman when we were done. While the day's revelations were stunning, they did not clear the Admiral or his man Cortes from suspicion.

I then asked Missa about the Prassi and the new sector, who on or off the Torrian world was in charge there. "I have heard some of the Prassi campaign. They are a powerful species, but they will succumb to our forces as the resources we have at our disposal will lead to their eventual fall."

"We call the sector Pollus. The campaign is governed by the second princess and her family, the Savens. The word before my departure was that the Savens have fallen out of favor with the Queen. There are only three sources of Tantric ore in the Torrian Empire. One was the Milgari home world, but that source has been long depleted. And it is at too great a distance to be transported."

"A second source is small and will be mined out in the next fifty years. A great discovery was made in the Pollus sector. Our dwindling stockpiles were on the verge of being replenished with enough ore to last 500 years. But pirates have been an issue, with the ore stolen after it was mined. The Savens then made a deal with another species for ore and that shipment was stolen as well. That and the seeming inability of the Saven forces to kill off the Prassi have placed the second prince in jeopardy. Should he be ruled incompetent, I would benefit by becoming the first princess."

I posed another question. "So, who is the first princess, of what family?"

Missa replied. "The first princess is of the House of Olivia. They are obsessed with gold. Their palace is like a golden flame inside where every floor, wall and ceiling is covered with gold. The reflecting lights give a feeling of a palace that glows, that transcends all other things in nature."

"It is a family that has ruled Torrus many times. I have heard rumors that the first princess, Daliat, wishes to once again explore alliances with the Nillians. I know this rumor to be false as I have known Daliat since we were small children. She is more selfish than could be known, spiteful and evil in her ways. The other families fear the time when she will become Queen."

I asked when that time would come, when the throne would be passed to the next in line. Missa replied, "Daliat will assume the throne two years after our return. During those years, she will be tested for her ability to lead, tests that she will be ready to pass."

We continued to question Missa late into the night. By early morning the drug was wearing off and her answers were slow to come. She was given a sedative and placed on the bunk in her holding cell. The Colonel, George and I returned to our quarters for a rest. Missa would need at least a day off from the Dutellium before the interrogations could once again begin.

I was awakened in the middle of sleep by a loud knock on the door. "Sir, we thought you should know. The Torrian committed suicide."

I sat up as I wiped the sleep from my eyes. "What? How?"

The voice at the door answered. "There was a chair in her cell Sir. She turned the chair over and rammed a leg into her eye Sir. She had been dead for an hour when we found her."

I got dressed and met the Colonel at the holding cell. "Grange! That's a shame. That girl was a gold mine. I wish we had stuck with questions about the Milgari. Where are their fleets, how many ships, you know, the usual stuff you like to know when you are fighting a war!"

The Colonel did not hold back about his displeasure with my line of questioning. We were indeed at war. But war can be fought on many fronts with many tactics. Sometimes a war can be won from activity behind the lines. There were 13 other House of Maliashe sisters out in the sector they called Pollus. We had four months to try to find one.

After the suicide of Missa I ordered all Raiders to the Pollus sector to search for more Torrians. Two newly commissioned Raiders brought our numbers to six. The Colonel was given the orders he wanted, orders to search for more Tantric freighters. If he could knock out another shipment the Torrians would be in dire straits when it came to their ability to build warships. The Milgari would not be permitted to commit to battle if they were unable to replenish the supply of ships. The Milgari that piloted the ships were themselves expendable.

We placed the Swift in the hold of the Helix and I joined Jarrod Mashburn on the ride out to Pollus. Davis was on the Hunter ferrying the Hammer in its hold. The Swift and the Hammer would be used to extend our hunt for the Torrians while the remaining Defenders flew with the Colonel and his warships.

Jarrod had interest in the Torrian's story. I relayed to him what I could. "So, all this time, the Milgari have been chasing us under orders? And it's all about the gravity drive? Wow. I bet the politicos would have a field day with that one. I could see a big movement to try to trade the Grid of a planet of our own. Only problem is, the Torrians would not hold up their end of the bargain. We would be enslaved before we knew it."

I set my cup on the table. "You and I both know that, which is why I have asked you to not mention this to your crew. We won't be out here forever and rumors have a way of spreading. So, this info is as classified as it gets."

Jarrod sat back in his chair. "No worries from my end. I don't tell anybody anything. My father and brother think I'm wasting my time on some third world mining operation making the minimum pilot's pay."

When we arrived in the Pollus sector the Swift and the Hammer were placed into service. The eight ships were split into teams of two with each team taking a number of Grid locations to scan. Frig calculated that it would take two months to cover 85% of the sector. A central rendezvous point was established and each set of crews would return to it once every five days.

A report of their findings would be dropped in a matrix probe and then deployed for the others to find. If a sighting was made the ships that had made it would wait for the others to join before making a move. With luck we would stumble upon another large freighter from which we would extract another Torrian. We were completing the third such rendezvous when the Raider named Goliath returned with a possible hit.

The Goliath’s captain spoke, "Yes Sir, it is one of the big freighters. Scan shows that it is laden with Silver ore. It has a sixteen ship military escort, nothing that we can't handle Sir."

It took a week for all eight ships to reach the space dock where the freighter was being loaded. I held a meeting on the Helix between all the captains. I spoke, "I want to say that we wait until the freighter leaves, but we only have a few more months before the next coronation on Torrus. After that it will be another generation before any more of them are out away from their world."

Davis added his take, "Sir, we aren't even sure any of them are on that barge. If we attack and they aren't there, do we keep looking? And if so, what do we do with that barge? That is a lot of Silver ore Sir."

The discussion continued for an hour before the decision was made. We were taking down the freighter. The Helix would hold the freighter in place while the rest of us took care of her escorts. We were soon flying into action.

"This is Swift; we should swing in behind that planet and attack as if we are coming up from the surface. It might add a bit of surprise to the mix, letting us get off those first rounds of shots. Set all cannons on negative and let's show them what we've got!"

We raced to a position on the back side of the planet from the parked minor fleet. As we dropped from light-speed we entered the planet's atmosphere and circled around to the other side. We shot through the atmosphere and our targeting software picked out a battleship as our first mark. Before it could fire we had knocked out one of its two main cannons.

I yelled, "Pulling left! We are swinging about for a shot at that cruiser.... he is turning away, take out his engine and we will get the gun on another pass."

Frig fired and the cruiser began to list as it lost engine control. I pulled back hard on the stick and looped back towards the battleship we had targeted before.

Boom!

I spoke, "Awe crap! We've lost steerage! We must have a weak spot somewhere on this hull that we haven't identified!"

Frig responded, "It could be a glitch in the software Sir, perhaps we could try a reboot."

I shook my head. "Computers… reboot and let's see if we are dead or not. Hammer, this is Swift, we are going to need some backup for about 45 seconds, systems are hung. We are going down for a reboot."

Barg was soon on our tail, watching for any of the Milgari ships that might turn our way. The Raiders continued the assault with four of the 16 Milgari ships now offline. When the systems came back online the steering was once again free. We turned and re-entered the battle.

The fight lasted for 12 minutes before the last of the Milgari guns that could do damage went offline. The smaller cannons continued to fire, but their effects were not felt as our armor sufficiently dissipated the lower level ion charges. A quick run of taking out their engines saw to it that we would not be rammed by a suicidal Milgari.

"This is Hunter, we are on the freighter deck, breach will occur in three... two... one..."

A flash could be seen as the breach tube violated the freighter's hull. Three other raiders were soon on her deck with their Marines charging aboard.

Frig then spoke, "Sir, I checked the traffic logs during our skirmish. A small shuttle left the freighter. It was headed for the surface. The coordinates should be on your console display."

I looked at the image of the shuttles destination. It had landed in a trade port on the planet's surface. The trade port was quickly identified as Bellows Station and its location was in the center of a large city named Hungren.

A scan of the local data told us that Hungren was the capital city of the planet Woulf in the Woulfan system. A quick scan showed the city to be largely abandoned. Most of the remaining population was working a large open-pit mine just on the outskirts of what was once a bustling metropolis. The trade port looked to rarely be used.

I spoke, "Frig. Put us on the ground where that shuttle landed. Helix and the rest of you Raiders! Get down on that surface and get after whoever that was. If it was Milgari they would not have run, I suspect it might be our Torrians!"

The door opened on the back of the Swift and I stepped out onto the tarmac. It was hot, too hot. The Woulfs had no doubt adapted, but as a Human who had lived most of his existence in a controlled climate, it was an uncomfortable place. Frig stayed aboard the Swift to be my eyes and ears.

Frig spoke, "Sir, I have a connection into their trade system. It's a bit antiquated, but with a little work I should be able to find a way into the main network. If there are cameras in there, I should be able to patch them through to you."

Jarrod set the Helix down beside the Swift and I was soon joined by 40 Marines. I turned to see Sheila Meyer standing beside me. "Captain said to not let you out of my sight. I told him I'd do my best. Hennings! Get over here and take point! Just tell us where you want to go Mr. Grange and we will clear the way."

Before I could speak blaster bolts were whizzing by our heads from a far hangar. Five wheeled vehicles soon left the hangar in our direction carrying a small contingent of Milgari. "Let's go people! Hit that red hangar over there! That was the last place we saw activity from the shuttle!"

The Marines all began to run across the tarmac as the Swift and the Helix obliterated the approaching vehicles. It was by far an uneven match. Several bolts were then fired into the hangar they had previously occupied, setting it ablaze. We entered the red hangar and were immediately confronted by an old Woulf security guard.

"You can't be in here. This is a restricted area. I have to be notified of visitors!"

The old man held a wooden baton and did his best to appear threatening. I found it odd that he had been allowed to stay at his post after the rest of his people had been taken to the mines. I could only reason that they had let him be as he was frail and not altogether in the head.

I stopped and asked him a question, "The others that just came through here. Did they have a pass? They are not supposed to come through without a pass. Which way did they go?"

The old man looked confused for several seconds. "No one told me about a pass. They went through that door over there; it's the tunnel to the main terminal. And they were on foot. Not sure why they didn't take the bus over there. It is fully charged and ready to go."

I turned to Meyer, "Get your men on that bus!"

The bus was an open trolley which seated 16 passengers. I pressed a start button as the 40 Marines piled on; they held onto every bar and stood on every step that was available. When I pressed the gas the bus began to move.

"What the... come on!" I rocked fore and back as if it would make the trolley move faster. Its top speed was five kilometers per hour. The Marines were piling off and running past as I let out a stream of unpleasant words.

I jumped to the ground and was soon in pursuit of the others. Meyer was looking back with a smirk on her face. We reached the double doors into the tunnel and the Marines settled into a sustainable pace. The sweat was pouring from my brow. Even though my combat suit worked to modulate the temperature, it was only so effective in the extreme heat of Woulf.

When we reached the end of the tunnel it opened up into a large hallway that was full of shops. There were no Woulfan people and as such the shops were all uninhabited, many of them remained open in the very state they had been when the Milgari hordes had first seized control.

"Frig, how long has this planet been in the empire? And where are my feeds?"

Several seconds passed before Frig replied, "The Woulfans were overrun 11 years ago; feeds should be coming online now. I have movement detected a kilometer ahead of you, heading towards the city center. I'm patching that feed through now. Looks like your Torrians are on the run."

We had stumbled onto two Torrian females who were attempting to make their way to the Milgari garrison at the Silver mine. Their pace was slower than the Marines I accompanied, but my pace was beginning to slow as the heat permeated my suit. As we moved down the hallway after the Torrians our task became complicated.

A blue bolt from a blaster impacted Hennings as he led the Marines down the hall. The combat suit he wore managed to dissipate a large portion of the bolts charge, but it was not enough. Hennings heart exploded as the remaining ions spread throughout his chest. He fell to the floor with a thud.

Meyer then jumped into action. "Billis! Take that right side and Moses you take left! Move up under cover and let's take out whoever fired that weapon!"

Our pace slowed dramatically until the single Milgari soldier was taken down. A hail of blaster bolts blew away the cover behind which he was hiding and three bolts intersected his torso at once. His upper body exploded into a thousand tiny pieces leaving his legs standing in place for several seconds.

Meyer again barked out orders, "OK, people, the route just got longer. Stick near those sides and I want to see zigzags. Don't want any easy targets!"

The Marines in front were soon taking shifts with the man on point darting back and forth as he moved forward. When he had tired sufficiently a new Marine would take his place, allowing him to move to the back of the line where he could rest and recover.

After ten minutes on the move I got Frig on the comm, "How's our progress? Are we gaining or falling back?"

Frig replied, "You are gaining Sir. The Torrians are walking. They are now three quarters of a kilometer from your position. A stretch of hall is coming up where you should be able to see them. I would suggest setting blasters to a very low level, perhaps only enough to make them uncomfortable; it should help you to gain on their position."

I turned to Meyer, "You have a sniper on your team?"

Meyer replied, "Hollis! The shot is 750 meters. I'm looking to only slow their pace so set your level at two notches. Let's see how good that training was that the Grid spent all that time on you for!"

Hollis was soon attaching the extension and scope to his blaster. His movements were precise even though he continued to run along with the others.

He yelled out as he slid down onto the floor, "Pop coming through!"

Zzp!

A low energy bolt flew down the hallway, striking the Torrian on the left and knocking her to the ground. Three seconds passed before a second bolt took down the remaining Torrian. In an instant Hollis was back on his feet and jogging with the rest of the team.

The two Torrians got immediately to their feet and once again began to run. Hollis repeated his shots knocking both Torrian females to the floor. When they again got to their feet they began to zigzag. Hollis' first shot found its mark but the second missed to the right.

As the downed Torrian was helped to her feet a slew of blue bolts came our way. More Milgari troops had come to their defense. Meyer took control, "OK people! Keep 'em low and under cover! And Hollis, if you have targets take the shots on full! Just make sure you don't hit those Torrians, we need them all in one piece!"

Hollis had taken out three Milgari soldiers by the time they wised up and took cover. The Torrians were safely behind them and moving slowly along the walls. I then gave a command to Hollis, "Set your power level to three notches and start popping those girls. We want them to stay where they are as we work through these soldiers!"

Hollis replied as he set his blaster, "Yes Sir! Can do!"

Blue bolts flew up and down the hallway as we slowly closed the distance. Hollis was knocking the Torrians down as soon as they were able to get to their feet. After the third such strike the Torrians entered a storefront on the left hand side of the hall. We had stopped their progress.