The Terra Gambit_Book 8 of The Empire of Bones Saga Read online

  Sean grunted sourly. That had certainly been true. He’d rescued Princess Kelsey and Jared Mertz from his previous commander, Captain Wallace Breckenridge, and been thrown into the brig for mutiny.

  Then the AI had captured Spear and many of the crew had been sent to Harrison’s World. Olivia had locked them all up in a prison camp. One he’d escaped from, but he didn’t think he needed to mention that little detail right now.

  “I do hope you realize bringing that up is going to cost you,” he said with a grin.

  Olivia set her wineglass down and smiled back at him. “And what is the price that I shall have to pay? Does it, perhaps, involve some late-night entertainment?”

  “Considering this might be the last evening we’ll have to ourselves, you’re damned right it does.”

  2

  Crown Princess Elise Orison wasn’t a happy woman. Her sources inside the Imperial Palace at Avalon in the New Terran Empire had told her that Jared’s father was sending him off on another mission.

  Not exactly the news a newly wedded woman wanted to hear when it involved her husband of only a few weeks. Particularly when they’d only had stolen moments to celebrate alone.

  Well, they’d had one night after the wedding, but it was so rushed that it barely counted. It had been divine, but far too brief.

  The night she’d come to visit him at Erorsi was even worse. The threat of imminent attack had hung over them, distracting him when she wanted his undivided attention.

  Jared was a serving Fleet officer. One critical to the defense of both the New Terran Empire and her own Kingdom of Pentagar. His focus had to be on the war with the Rebel Empire, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t arrange for a little more time at his side.

  By all accounts, the journey to deliver the message would take six days and then they’d spend the same amount of time coming back. Two weeks sharing their marital bed, even with his attention focused on the mission, would just about satisfy her. For now.

  That was how she’d found herself waiting for him in the Nova system aboard His Majesty’s fast courier Lance.

  The quarters were cramped, but such was the nature of a ship designed to get from one place to another at the fastest possible speed. The little vessel was mostly drives. That meant her closet back at the palace was bigger than her current accommodations.

  Not that she cared. She was focused on work. A princess’ duties were never done.

  A rap at the hatch drew her attention from the report she was reading. She rose to her feet, crossed over, and opened it. Lieutenant Commander Gerald Parker, the ship’s commanding officer, stood outside.

  “My apologies, Highness, but we have a priority message for you.”

  “You could have just sent me a message through your implants,” she reminded him.

  He grimaced. “I’m still trying to get used to the idea and it’s only a few steps from the bridge to your door. Just contacting you seems rude when it scarcely took ten seconds to come in person.”

  She smiled and shook her head. “I suppose it makes no difference. What’s the message? Admiral Sanders needs something? My father? Maybe even Jared?”

  The young officer shook his head. “It’s from Omega, actually. He indicated that he needs to speak with you in person as soon as practical. His words.”

  “Truly? And he asked for me?”

  “He did, Highness.”

  “Then I suppose I’d best go see him straight away. I assume you have a suit I can use?”

  He nodded. “All ships are now equipped with hard suits that can survive in the radiation here for just such a contingency, I believe. We have three. Shall I accompany you?”

  Elise shook her head. “Not inside, no. You can fly me over, though.”

  An hour later, she stood on the hull of the alien space station looking at the bright gas circling the black hole where the sun in this system once gave its worlds life. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined seeing such a thing.

  “Welcome to my station, Highness,” a male voice said through her suit’s com system. “The journey through my hull is disconcerting, but safe. Are you prepared?”

  She waved at Commander Parker. He stood in his ship’s sole cutter watching her.

  “I’m ready, Omega. And it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  “As it is for me. Here we go.”

  The hull deformed under her, sinking in to deposit her into a corridor filled with liquid. Water, so she was told. Omega came from an aquatic species before he’d volunteered to physically become part of the station.

  “You’re right,” she said. “That was disturbing. What did you need to speak with me about?”

  “That is something of a complex issue. There is a chamber around the ring where an environment suitable for humans is maintained. It would be much simpler if you were there. Turn right and it is only a few minutes away.”

  Moving through the liquid in the heavy suit taxed her skills, but she managed to slowly make her way around the alien ring. That gave her plenty of time to think about where she was going.

  The story of the chamber she was heading for was gruesome. Omega’s station had been designed to capture the power of his race’s star and create bridges to other realities. That was how his people had escaped the death of their world. They hadn’t had flip drives.

  Her people were slowly adopting the term “flip point” in place of “space-time bridges” simply because it was more useable. Before the arrival of the New Terran Empire destroyer Athena, the Pentagarans hadn’t had interstellar drives and had been trapped in their own system, so not many people needed to use any term to describe them at all.

  In any case, after the explosion of the sun in the Nova system, the station seemed to have been somehow linked to all others of its kind across the multiverse. In effect, they became a single station with Omega as the being in control.

  Something about the bizarre situation made the skin of the station impenetrable and indestructible. It also meant that people from any universe where the station existed could make the trip inside it, if they solved the riddle of opening its skin.

  In those days, Omega had been unable to communicate with humans. He had no basis for establishing a dialogue with the humans trapped inside his station.

  People that were variants of others Elise knew. People that had died building that chamber she was heading for while they waited for rescue that never came.

  Carl Owlet—Sir Carl, she corrected herself—had managed to crack that secret, just like so many others the brilliant young man had solved. He’d also found the dead bodies of a number of people he knew in the chamber, including several versions of himself.

  That had to be eerie. And macabre.

  Elise arrived at the hand-built airlock leading into the compartment and started cycling herself in.

  “Once you get inside, I think it best you know that you aren’t alone,” Omega said as the water began draining from the lock.

  “What?” Elise straightened in surprise. “Who else is here? Our ship was the only one in the system.

  “True, but there is a visitor from another reality.”

  Elise started to ask again who was waiting on the other side of the hatch, but stopped herself. It was already swinging open. She might as well find out the old fashioned way.

  She also made a mental note to explain the difference between pleasant and unpleasant surprises to the alien when she had the opportunity.

  To Olivia’s mind, her original tour of the destroyer had been a tad underwhelming. Of course, it had been converted to computer control and no longer had the fittings for human habitation at that point.

  The Fleet personnel of Boxer Station were rapidly correcting that deficiency and she wanted to see her new quarters. Lieutenant Logan Butters, one of the base’s engineering officers, was escorting her.

  They exited the cutter that had delivered her to the destroyer in its repair slip. The inside of the ship seemed much the same as she remembered, but men and women were bustling about and getting everything prepared for the human crew.

  “How long until the ship is ready to depart?” she asked her guide.

  “It could leave tomorrow, Coordinator, but the refurbishment will be complete the day after that. Call it forty-eight hours. They’ve reserved one of the senior officers’ cabins for you.”

  “I do hope that no one was displaced to make room for me.”

  He shook his head. “No. They’re running with a reduced crew, so they didn’t need all of them. The automated systems will allow them to get by with roughly two-thirds of a normal crew.”

  They stepped into the lift and he sent them up. Moments later, the lift doors slid open and they continued down the corridor. He went a little further and then gestured at one of the hatches.

  “This is it. I’ve taken the liberty of linking the controls to your implants already.”

  Olivia sent a signal to the hatch and it slid open. She walked inside and schooled her expression. It was even smaller than she’d imagined. Well, she’d make do.

  They’d moved standard Fleet furnishings in, so she had a bed, a desk, and all the other aspects of life she would need for the next two weeks. Everything had probably come from ships in the graveyard.

  Including the bed.

  Sleeping on something belonging to a long-dead Fleet officer was a little ghoulish. That might take some getting used to.

  “I took the additional liberty of providing all the little consumables you’ll need,” the lieutenant continued. “They’re stashed in compartments in the bathroom and in here. Let me show you.”

  Over the next half hour, he gave her a detailed tour of her accommodations and demonstrated everything. Much of it was already familiar to her, but some was new and strange. It would take a little getting used to.

  Once she was satisfied she had everything committed to memory, she turned to face him. “Could we see the bridge?”

  The officer nodded. “Of course. This way.”

  It was on the same level and just down the corridor. She imagined that the designers had wanted to put the senior officers right at hand in case of an emergency.

  The hatch leading in was open. Unlike other parts of the ship, the bridge work was finished. All the modifications for human control were in place.

  Olivia marveled at how much smaller it was than the flag bridge on Invincible. Cramped didn’t begin to describe the difference.

  She took a great liberty and sat in the commander’s seat. Everything was so intimate. She could almost read the screens on the other control consoles.

  The main screen showed the interior of the semi-open repair slip on Boxer Station. A man on a small sled zipped by, probably delivering something to the massive ship just visible behind him in the next slip.

  That was the superdreadnought Implacable. The battle damage that had killed her was still all-too visible down her flanks. The crew had committed suicide by dumping their air when the AI-controlled ships had brought her to heel.

  The idea of so many people still floating unrecovered in the ships of the graveyard turned her stomach. She knew how their friends and family must have felt. Intimately.

  Fleet Captain Brian Drake, her lover a decade ago. The memory of his suicide still tore at her heart, even though Sean Meyer had brought her feelings back to life.

  She’d seen Brian and his comrades buried with every bit of pomp and circumstance. The same was true with the dead from Implacable. The ship was going to be the nucleus of the new fleet based here at Harrison’s World. It seemed only right.

  That left the millions of bodies still entombed on tens of thousands of derelicts. Recovering them and seeing them laid to rest would take decades. Well, they’d been waiting five hundred years already. What were a few more?

  At one time, Fleet in the New Terran Empire had buried their dead at a monument called the Spire. There was no way that could continue, so she had overseen the dedication of an identical monument here on Harrison’s World.

  Located in the area around one of the cities destroyed by the AI during the suppression of her world, it had space for all of the dead they might find.

  “I’m surprised to find you here,” a voice said from behind her.

  She turned in her seat and found Sean standing beside the hatch. Lieutenant Butters was nowhere to be seen.

  “I must’ve gotten lost in thought,” she said as she rose to her feet. “This little ship isn’t much to look at.”

  He smiled. “Yet she’ll fight hard if she needs to. The metal of a ship isn’t in her hull; it’s in her crew. Have you had lunch? We can drop in on the mess hall and see if the cook is any good.”

  “Can we replace him if he isn’t?”

  Sean laughed and held a hand out to her. “I’ll see what I can do. Come on. We’ll eat and then I’ll give you the grand tour.”

  3

  Jared frowned as he examined the display over the captain’s shoulder. The bridge of the fast courier Javelin was small and he already missed his spacious flag bridge. Even Athena’s control center had been bigger.

  “What are they doing?” he asked, more to himself than anyone else.

  “Looks like they’re waiting for us,” Lieutenant Calvin Fassbinder said.

  “Well, I suppose I’d best find out what this is about,” Jared said. “Might I borrow your seat?”

  The young man rose and took one step away. That put him almost against the bulkhead. The bridge was that small.

  Jared sat and switched the view to the communications controls. The Pentagaran ship sat near the flip point linking to Avalon, where there was zero chance they’d miss Jared’s transit and they were close enough that the incredible radiation density wouldn’t overwhelm his signal.

  Even with the suddenness of his orders, they’d known he was coming. Jared knew that because they asked for him by name.

  They hadn’t said so, but he suspected they either had orders to lure him to Pentagar—which he would have to reluctantly decline—or they’d brought his wife out to see him.

  That would make refusing her entreaties even harder.

  Well, that was why they paid him his exorbitant salary. He opened a com channel. “Lance, this is Javelin. What can we do for you?”

  The image of the ship vanished, replaced by Lieutenant Commander Parker. The man smiled. “Lord Admiral Mertz. A pleasure to see you as always, Highness. Your Lady wife requires some of your time on a matter of urgency. And delicacy.”

  That caused the corners of Jared’s mouth to twitch up. “I see. Well, I do have some time to spare, though not nearly as much as I might like. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

  The other man’s expression became more serious. “Bring your guards, Lord Admiral. All of them.”

  Parker killed the channel before he could ask why.

  With a shake of his head, he relinquished the console. “I’ll need your cutter, Lieutenant. Let me go collect my guards. My wife must be more annoyed than usual.”

  The other man gave him a look. “That’s why I’m staying single, sir.”

  “You say that now, but you’ll find the right person eventually. Never say never.”

  The trip back to his quarters was quick. On a ship this small, getting anywhere fast was never a problem.

  As they were going directly from Avalon to Harrison’s World, only needing to transit the Nova system, he didn’t have to worry about actually spending the night in the cramped cabin. His father had sent him out first thing in the morning after their dinner, so he was good to go.

  His guard staff was holed up in the small compartment. His guard complement consisted of a mixture of Imperial Guards and marines. There were situations where one or the other group might be more appropriate.

  Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Branson was in overall command of the mixed unit. He sat on the bed beside Major Karalee Smith, the marine detachment leader.

  The two of them were more co-leaders than superior and subordinate, so Jared had wisely decided to keep his mouth shut about their budding relationship.

  Frankly, he was surprised he’d figured it out on his own. Elise was much better at that sort of thing than he was. He hadn’t even noticed Kelsey and Talbot were a couple until someone pointed it out to him.

  The third person sitting on the bed wasn’t a guard. In fact, he wasn’t even an Imperial citizen or in any branch of the military at all.

  Alexander Alexander—Double Alex to his friends—was Jared’s Pentagaran manservant. There’d been discussion about giving him both a Fleet steward and a Royal manservant, but he’d drawn the line at one person.

  Hell, one was too many, but he’d seen himself losing that fight. A good officer knew when to perform a fighting retreat.

  Alex could be a little obsequious when he chose, but in private, he’d shown himself able to unwind a little. There was a spine in there somewhere. Out of all the choices presented to him, Jared thought their personalities might mesh the best.

  This trip on the destroyer was sort of a test. If Alex didn’t drive Jared insane in two weeks, they’d probably be able to do this. If not, he’d send the man packing and find someone else that his wife approved of.

  “I’m headed over to the Pentagaran fast courier Lance,” Jared said as he opened his closet. “I was told I needed to bring my guard.”

  Branson heroically managed to avoid rolling his eyes. “Of course you need to bring your guard, Admiral.”

  The two of them had had a long discussion on the use of titles. The Imperial Guard officer preferred “Highness” since Jared was technically a prince of the blood and the Prince Consort of Pentagar, but he’d accepted Jared’s decree to only use that during unambiguously social affairs.

  So, the man had acquiesced to using his rank in all other circumstances. That defaulted to almost every situation, which pleased Jared to no end.

  “I see what you did there, but I mean he made a point of telling me to bring you. That’s weird.”