Earth Song: Etude to War (51 page)

Chapter 56

June 3
rd
, 534 AE

Unidentified Star System, Contested Territory, Galactic Frontier

Moving over two thousand Rangers from the derelict transport to the next closest star system with a Portal, a world humans called Beacon, eleven light-years away, was just not practical aboard the Kaatan, as Lilith explained it.

“Cramming every single person possible aboard and making the best speed would still mean at least ten trips. The only real option is the tactical drive.”

“How long for each trip in that case?” Aaron asked.

The CIC was split in partial gravity as Lilith often did for meetings. Present was herself, Aaron, Gregg (nearly healed from his injuries), Cherise, Kal’at, and Minu. As their leader, Minu listened and worked from her tablet. She’d been obviously preoccupied since the loss of Pip over two weeks ago. She’d also hardly exchanged a word with her longtime friend, Cherise, who was avoiding her.

“Each trip will take about one day,” Lilith said, “with loading and unloading of personnel because they will all need to be shuttled to the surface. The problem is power. I am below twenty-five percent main power. This sort of operation will nearly deplete my stores, leaving only auxiliary.”

“Can’t you do the star recharge thing again?” Minu asked without looking up.

“Potentially,” Lilith replied, “though it is not without risk. The star in the system I utilized to recharge that one time was almost ideally suited. I could begin a search—”

Minu gave a dismissive gesture. “No, we can’t risk this ship, period. Not after the recent revelations.”

Lilith nodded her head. They’d discussed the fact that the Mok-Tok and T’Chillen ships were new days ago. It was the last in a long line of disturbing information Minu was forced to assimilate. Somewhere, somehow the higher order species of the galaxy were again building new starships. And worse, they were cooperating with each other. Something that Minu knew from studying history and warfare within the Concordia was a rare and dangerous thing.

“We’ll use the tactical drive to transfer all the Rangers to Beacon where we can stage them for movement to Bellatrix. Once that’s complete, we’ll take the ship back to Dervish and get a charged power core. Will your auxiliary reserves be enough for that?”

“We’ll be somewhat limited in our speed and other functions, but I believe that is within my abilities.”

“Good,” Minu said and turned to Cherise who jumped in surprise. “Prepare the transfer of men and equipment to be as efficient as possible. Abandon anything that isn’t absolutely essential or simply too expensive to lose.”

Cherise nodded.

“Wounded personnel and top priority gear like the surviving Lancers go first.”

Cherise nodded again as she made notes.

“Meeting adjourned.”

Outside the CIC, Minu floated to the floor and found Cherise waiting there. “I think we should talk.”

“Now isn’t the time,” Minu replied curtly.

“Minu, please—”

“No!” Minu snapped, her green eyes boring to the center of Cherise’s soul. The woman who’d always been like a rock seemed to deflate under the scrutiny, validating Minu’s stance. “I said later, and I meant it. Oversee the evacuation. Do your job,
Chosen.
”

Cherise jerked at the way her friend said the last word. Minu left her there, crestfallen and defeated.

“What was that all about?” Aaron asked when she rounded the hallway corner to find him waiting there.

“Work,” Minu mumbled and kept going, forcing him to hurry to catch up.

“What happened between you two down on Planet K?” he persisted.

Minu kept walking, refusing to say another word, and after a few paces, Aaron stopped. In the years they’d shared together, he knew there were some lines she would never cross. The one between Chosen and spouse was one of those.

* * *

After another day the last of the critically injured Rangers were finally stabilized and they began the transfer operation. Exactly two hundred and fifty Rangers were loaded aboard along with a quantity of valuable equipment and Lilith undocked from the remains of the Ibeen.

“We are ready mother,” Lilith told Minu through their link.

“Okay, let’s go.” Minu was in her customary stateroom with Aaron as they awaited the transition from tactical drive. As the moments passed she tried to envision the Weaver becoming visible in its ‘quasi-Portal’, the ghostly form floating from the depths, those pincers extending that seemed to go on, and on, until your mind started to itch in a way that minds were never meant to itch. She gave a shudder and tried to think about something else, anything else. And then it happened.

The universe ‘blinked’. It was the only way she’d ever thought to explain it. For a moment they were not there, they were nowhere. And then, they were back. It made her think back to the horror Pip had said he experienced during the jumps of the tactical drive. And that reminded her that he was gone.

“You okay?” Aaron asked, and she realized she was crying.

“Yeah, just thinking about Pip.”

“I understand,” he said and gently brushed her cheek with the back of her hand. She smiled, then her stomach did a flip-flop.

“Oh,” she said and put a hand to her mouth.

Aaron lifted and eyebrow and she gave a halfhearted laugh and waved him away. Then it returned, twice as powerful and three times as urgent.

“Oh shit,” she gulped and leaped for the quarter’s tiny bathroom.

Aaron stared after her, but the retching sounds held him back as effectively as a forcefield.

“Is mother well?” asked Lilith over the room’s PA.

“I think she’s having morning sickness.”

“It is not morning, father.”

Aaron chuckled and explained. “Is the baby making her ill?” Lilith asked.

“I guess you could say that.”

“Perhaps she should report to the medical intelligence.”

“It is normal for a great many women, Lilith. Don’t be concerned.”

And as if to validate his statement, Minu appeared from the bathroom, wiping her mouth with her black Chosen jumpsuit sleeve. She looked a little green, but other than that well enough.

“I’m fine dear,” she said to the room’s pickup. “Your little brother or sister is starting to make herself known. My—” she stopped before continuing.

She’d been about to say her mother was sick often during her pregnancy. Now, of course, that all rang as yet another lie in her life. She bit back the feelings of betrayal and patted Aaron on the shoulder. “Come on hubby, time to fly.”

Flight operations were quick and efficient. Lilith remote piloted all three of her shuttles and Aaron flew his now battle-tested Phoenix. Minu went down with him on the first trip, as was her custom. The delta-winged craft cut through the atmosphere and circled the high escarpment where the Portal sat.

Remains of a small city lay to one side and distant mountains to the other. The area was in early morning as they flew over, Aaron using all the craft’s sensors to verify no-one waited for them. Gregg rode with them and he stood to look over their shoulders as they made the first circuit.

“Never thought much of Edge on my first visit a few years ago,” he commented.

Aaron was nodding. “The Tog had a real hard-on for this place though. Sent my team here at least three times looking for who knows what.”

Minu just looked on. She’d never worked as a scout, unlike her husband and their friend. It was an irony that didn’t escape her that the highest ranked among them was now the least traveled.

“Any signs of recent activity?” she asked over her shoulder. Kal’at sat at the shuttle meager instrumentation and was just finishing his work.

“No,” he hissed, snapping his jaws for emphasis. “I see no signs of any activity.”

Minu nodded and pointed as they orbited. “Over there, I think?”

“Good choice,” Aaron agreed and began to adjust his course and ready the gravitic assist for landing.

A minute later the ramp lowered with a whine and Minu strode down the ramp, one of her shock rifles in one hand, the butt stock resting against her hip. A squad of Rangers in full combat armor flanked her and quickly deployed into a protective formation.

She glanced back at Gregg with a clear “what the fuck is that all about?” look on her face.

He only shrugged, but the echo of a grin on his face told her he knew damn well what was going on. All the men were familiar, especially the sergeant she’d first met while marooned in the engineering section.

A half hour later all the Rangers were mustered in ranks, their equipment prepared as she took out her PCR and programmed the Portal. That done, she turned and found the sergeant and his squad waiting nearby, seemingly relaxed to casual observation. Anything but to her practiced eye.

“Sergeant Selain, isn’t it?”

“Yes Chosen,” he said, obviously pleased that she’d learned his name. The Rangers didn’t wear name tags on their uniforms, something she’d insisted upon.

“Commander would be sufficient in this case. You want to tell me about this dog and kloth show?”

“Just keeping an eye on things, ma’am.”

“Klothshit.” He had a wonderful poker face. “Fine, muster your men with the rest.”

“No ma’am.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s following the orders of the Ranger commander,” Gregg said, coming up from behind.

“Need I remind you—” she started, upon which time Gregg lifted his sleeve to show off his two red stars. Minu looked at them and up into his smiling eyes.

“I am not amused.”

“I don’t really give a shit.”

“Sucks when you don’t outrank everyone else for a change!” Aaron chuckled nearby.

“You aren’t helping,” she growled at her husband.

His ear to ear grin, while lacking the others’ subtlety, obviously spoke volumes of the conspiracy. “Are all of you honestly shackling my ass with a bunch of nurse maids?”

“They are just a personal squad,” Gregg explained.

“Purely for your protection,” Aaron agreed.

She started to complain and it was Gregg’s turn to interrupt. “First of all, you don’t have a say in what I do with my Rangers. Second of all, they can be considered an attaché attachment, and it will be good for their dossiers.”

“And you get to keep tabs on me as a bonus.”

“I never said that,” he replied tersely.

“Say whatever the hell you want,” she said and glanced at the men. “Fine, but this isn’t over with.” She spun smartly and marched towards the Portal.”

“Well that didn’t go too badly,” Gregg said with a shrug.

“You don’t have to sleep with her tonight,” Aaron mumbled and followed her.

As Minu walked she glanced down at her sleeve where two golden stars rode. They couldn’t see but she was smiling, more glad than she could say in front of them that she wasn’t the only one in her group to reach that rank. With some luck, they might reach a majority of the Chosen council someday. Then she snorted at the thought. With Pip gone, Cherise losing her edge, and Aaron retired, it no longer seemed possible.

The Portal was glowing blue, awaiting orders. She took the PCR and keyed the sequence to initiate. Instantly it swirled and a vast snow-covered plane appeared. The planet had always been known as Jumpoff, and other than having a breathable atmosphere, was just about the most worthless world in the galaxy. That, of course, was why humanity had picked it for their primary off-world rally point.

She nodded to a Ranger nearby who quickly initiated the laser communicator. A second later, her earpiece crackled to life with a recorded message.

“Chosen Minu Groves, you are ordered by the First among the Chosen to return to—” She thumbed her tablet and killed the replay, buffering it into her message list and instead triggered the prepared transmission.

The file contained her after-action report of her relief of the siege on Planet K, and that was it. No more details on herself, Lilith, the Kaatan, or what they intended to do. And not a damn word on the ghost fleet of dozens of starships they’d found.

“I’ll skin that kloth when I come to it,” she’d explained to Aaron as he helped her write the report.

“Company C, 2
nd
Battalion!” she called out loud and clear, “prepare to disembark!”

The Rangers gave a cheer and she stepped through, her new personal squad right on her heels. Where Edge was mild and relatively calm, Jumpoff was frigid and windy. The frozen plain around the Portal was well traveled and sported a few equipment caches there for the Chosen to use if necessary. After decades of use, the Chosen knew no other species ever visited the boring and permanently winterlocked world.

The company commander saluted as his men moved through in quick order. He was one of the first Rangers who’d been promoted to officer level, and according to Gregg, would likely be the first non-Chosen battalion commander as well.