Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood (5 page)

Kale Beth knew he was in shock. He couldn’t form words. He couldn’t respond to the monster that was speaking to him. All he could do was moan. The pain from his leg was numbing now.
Where
is
my other leg? Oh. There it is next to my shoulder. That is odd. What will it be like outside? How could this man be so callous? How could he just throw my life away?
The shock kept him from realizing the irony of his thought.

Cort opened the inner airlock and dragged Beth into the small chamber. Beth saw the inner doors close and the outer doors start to open. That was when the real terror set in. He closed his eyes to block out the pain and felt himself being lifted. As he flew through the thin atmosphere of Mars, he felt his skin begin to burn. His lungs collapsed, drowning out his screams before he could voice them. He landed against what felt like a rock, and the impact caused the ribs on the left side of his body break. The monster was wrong, though. He could feel the cold.

--

“Would you like to go for a walk around the colony?” Cort asked Kim when she opened her door to greet him. He had commed Aeolis to update them on the situation before he got to her quarters.

“I would like that very much. Thank you.” Somehow the giant man’s cold and armored arm felt caring as she slipped her own into it. “Is he really dead?”

“Yes he is. All of them are. How are you?” Cort asked.

“I don’t know. They say it takes time. But knowing he can’t do this to me or anyone else again makes it better. Thank you. Why did you do it?”

“Do you remember what I said after I first came here? When I killed the old governor? My grandson was a prisoner here. He had been sent here for killing a man in Taps’ family who tried to do the same thing to his mother Kay. I did it for the three of you. I meant what I said about family. I will protect ours.”

A loud chime sounded three times throughout the Colony. “Good morning. This is Governor Keen. I’m sorry to disturb you, but you need to be updated on things that happened last night. The main commons area has been closed for the day. Please use alternate areas and routes as you move around the colony. Also, the quarters and corridors the visitors have been using are off limits. The reason for this is that our ally Mr. Addison from the Aeolis site has helped us to rid our colony of Governor Taps’ mercenaries.”

Keen paused. “No, that is not right. He did not help us. He did it
for
us. Those men are no longer a threat. I am truly sorry for what you have gone through over the last few months. But it is over thanks to him. Let’s get our lives back to normal. If you are fortunate enough to see Mr. Addison before he leaves, please give him your thanks.”

“Damn,” Cort said, “so much for a quiet walk.”

“Let’s just go back to my quarters.” Kim started to turn.

“No, just a moment.” Cort called up his HUD and found what he was looking for. Inside his suit, he said, “Rhodes, I have job for you. We’re going to the central garden. Lock it off for us. We want to talk privately.”

“No problem,” Rhodes replied. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. Get all my relatives together. I want to talk to them later. First I will meet with you and Keen.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”

Turning to Kim, Cort said, “Let’s go to the garden. I have it on good authority that it’s empty for the next hour.”

He took Kim’s arm again. They met a few people along the way, but most of them were still too apprehensive of Cort to approach them.

--

Keen sat across from the man in the armored suit. “Mr. Addison, It’s clear that we need you. By our charter, we can only refuse criminals. Anyone else who wants to come here can. You don’t have that problem. You can shoot a transport out of the sky. So that means the people who come for you have to come through our colony. And we’ve seen how that ends. I’m at a loss for a solution.”

“It is a problem. I see that. The only solution I see is to prevent Atlantica from sending armed men to attack me.”

“Any ideas how we do that?” Rhodes asked.

“I have lots of ideas, but they all end in the restriction of freedoms for your colonists. You could also implement a two stage disembarkation protocol. When newcomers arrive, connect their modules to empty ones. Use the empty ones to search everyone and seize weapons or contraband. You would still have the problem of sleepers, though.”

“Sleepers?” Rhodes was taking notes.

“People who come here and blend in. At a predetermined time, they act on previous instructions. Or maybe they earn your trust and get jobs that put them in position to feed information to others. Get the idea?”

“Yes,” Keen said, “what do we do about them?”

“You don’t. Unless you control the screening process on Earth, you can’t. It’s like manufacturing. Unless you control every stage of the process, you can’t control quality.”

“That can’t happen. We don’t have the authority. Again, our charter.”

“Then you are stuck.”

“What would you do if an unauthorized vessel arrived at Aeolis?” Chief Rhodes asked.

“I have the weapons necessary to defend our installation. And the legal right to use them. You lack both.”

“Can you provide us with better weapons?” Keen asked.

“Absolutely not. With just the weaponry I have in this room, I can wipe out this entire colony. And I’m an expert at their use. I wouldn’t even consider turning your people loose with them. Cort could see the disappointment on both men’s’ faces.

“It’s not just about us, you know,” Keen said. “With us guarding this site, you would be safe from any type of incursion, then.”

“Not true. There is always the Argyre site. If populated, it would be ideal to launch an attack on either colony. It’s offline, but land a few modules there and they have a staging area. For now, anyway.”

Rhodes looked up from his notes. “What do you mean?”

“Argyre is a threat to both of us. You haven’t known me long, but you’ve known me long enough to know that I don’t tolerate threats to my people. In this case, we have a mutual threat. I am going to deal with it.”

“I wish I could think like an Earthling and tell you that’s a bad idea, but I do not think it is. It does take away the only remaining evacuation site, though. How will we deal with that?”

Keen spoke. “We cannot deal with it. We would have to agree to help each other in the case of an emergency.”

“Considering you assisted me in the commission of several hundred crimes against your alliance charter this morning,” Cort began, “I think we’ve crossed that bridge. Gentlemen, here’s the deal. I’m not giving you weapons, but I am your only defense. You have people that I need. You can replace them. I can’t. So we have to compromise. All of my family members are going to be asked to move to Aeolis in a few minutes. If you fight that, I won’t help you again. And I’ll take anyone who wants to go anyway. So it’s in your best interest to help me with staffing and equipment, and it’s in my best interests to ensure your safety. I have options. You don’t. But it would be safer and easier if we were in agreement.”

Keen said, “I can agree to that. And after the last few months, I think my people will too. But they will vote on it. I am not Taps. I govern by consensus, not decree.”

Rhodes looked up again. “Mr. Addison, how did you separate yourself from Atlantica oversight?”

“For that you need to talk to Dar.” Cort was standing now, showing that this meeting was coming to an end. “But I would support your move to independence. Which means if you want it, I’ll defend you. But you need to be self-sufficient. Once you sever those ties, you’re on your own when it comes to gear. Since you can’t export back to Earth, you have no currency to bargain with. I don’t have that problem. Between the two trusts supporting my colony, there is about half a percent of the total wealth in Atlantica. But again, talk to Dar about all that.”

--

There were a hundred or so adults in the auditorium. No children were here, but there were some adolescents. Cort was at a lectern in the CONDOR suit, with Kim sitting to his right. Keen was at her right. A vid was being sent back to Rhodes, and from him it was being sent to Aeolis.

“I am Cort Addison. Some of you have read about me since you were a child. Some of you have not. But I assure you, I am who I say I am.” Cort took the CONDOR helmet off, revealing the scar that defined his face. He spoke for almost an hour before asking if anyone wanted to move to Aeolis.

--

“I didn’t think they would
all
want to go,” Keen said as they watched Cort’s family walk out of the room.

“I knew they would. Since I arrived in this time, I’ve found that part of the Addison genome doesn’t seem to have diluted at all. We have an independent streak. Being under obligation to Earth is not ideal to them, even if the Martian frontier is.”

“I didn’t believe you were really from another time. Now that you’ve shown us your face, I’m not so sure you are as insane as I thought.” Keen watched as Kim handed the helmet to Cort. “You were smart to ask them not to say anything about your appearance.”

“Everyone, even Earth will know soon enough. I just want it to be on my time, not theirs.” Cort lowered the helmet into place, twisted it, and walked out of the room with Kim and Keen and continued in the suit’s authoritative voice, “Keen, I know you have thrown your lot in with me, but the fact is, you are going to have to do so publicly. And soon.”

“I know. Earth may cut us off. We are somewhat self-sufficient, but we will grow much more slowly if they do. I’ve been thinking a lot about that.”

They reached Keen’s office; Kim hesitated at the door as the two men walked inside. Cort turned and said, “Kim, you have a new job while you are still here. Call it ‘Personal Assistant’, ‘Secretary’, whatever. But you are my right hand at Aeolis. When I am here, you will be with me. All the time. You will also coordinate the moves for our people. I want Keen to assign someone as your counterpart as well.”

Kim was taken aback. “Me? Why?” She stepped into the office with them and the door slid closed.

“Because you trusted me at a time when you didn’t trust any man. That is important. And it means I can trust you. What is your professional background?”

Kim and Keen laughed. “I just assumed you knew, based on the job you gave her,” Keen said. “She’s a logistics specialist. She was in charge of new arrivals. Equipment and personnel.”

With the door closed, Cort took his helmet off again. “See? Kismet. Okay, Governor Keen. You have a new security protocol. If you want our help, you will follow it. I’m not taking over for security for you, but you are following my plan. I may also supply the team that handles it. But one of your people has to be in charge. I don’t want it to look like an occupation.”

“Rhodes will like that very much. I am in agreement. The last few months have shown that we cannot effectively protect ourselves,” he said as he looked at Kim. “Mrs. Point, I’ve never had the chance to tell you how sorry I am for what happened. I lost two good men trying to stop those monsters. But you lost much more.”

Kim’s eyes were watery but her voice was strong as she said, “After my husband died, I didn’t have anything else to lose. So they only took my body. Mr. Addison gave me back my hope today, though.”

“When it’s just us, my name is Cort. Save the Mr. Addison crap for the others.” Cort touched her hand.

Kim was still amazed at how she could feel his compassion through the armor. It was ironic, considering how he dealt with problems.

Atlantica Science Headquarters, Earth

“Dr. Pan, we don’t like what is happening on Mars. It looks to us like this ‘Addison’ is hell bent on taking over the Oxia Palus colony as well. Two months ago, Governor Keen retracted his request for additional security. Now, according to your latest report, the official population has dropped by over two hundred in the last year. Can you explain that?”