“Wait.” Kora turned to face the captain directly. “I thought you just said the Niets hated Genevian mechs.”
“Well, I didn’t say that exactly, but I imagine a lot do. Either way, they used our own mechs against us in the war, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again. There’s still that planet in the Melburn System. People say it’s been cleaned out, but I think a lot of mechs are still there.”
“Shit,” Kora muttered. “Rika will be interested in that.”
“So what are you worried about specifically?” Rajiz asked. “The Marauder mechs have been altered. The chips won’t work on them.”
The detective drew in a deep breath and rolled her shoulders in a slow stretch. “That’s true, but what if they use one on a human close to Rika?”
Avi blinked, her expression turning from haughty to grave. “You’re thinking assassination.”
Kora only nodded. “I need to relay this to Leslie.”
CORONATED
STELLAR DATE: 06.09.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Royal Palace, Mount Genevia, Belgium
REGION: Genevia System, New Genevian Alliance
The ceremony had been blessedly short. It consisted of her reciting an oath of office that was similar to the one the presidents used to swear, and then Tremon placed a small circlet on her head.
As much as Rika wanted to consider it a foolish bit of pomp and ceremony, the feeds were alight with the pride her people had in having a warrior queen, someone who would bravely lead the charge against the Nietzscheans.
There was some grumbling, but Niki assured her that those not in favor of having a queen were a distinct minority.
After shaking more hands than she ever had in her life—most prepared to use their left, though a few still surprised by the gun-arm on her right—she’d retreated to a balcony to gather her thoughts.
“Queen Rika,” a voice said from behind, and Rika turned to see a slender, dark-haired woman walk onto the balcony, left hand extended to clasp hers.
Her HUD gave the woman’s name, and Rika extended her hand. “Becky, captain of the Slyfe.” They shook. “How nice to see you here. Thank you for getting us the news from Gerra so quickly.”
Becky’s eyes grew cloudy. “I’m just sorry it wasn’t better news. I can’t believe what the Niets did there! I knew they were savages, but attacking innocent civilians like that….”
Rika withdrew her hand. “Well, we saw worse in the war—though not by much. The Niets hate to lose.”
“Yeah…I’ve noticed. Even after you beat them here, they tried to steal that ship.”
<Something’s off,> Niki said privately. <Her speech patterns seem different than what’s on file from when she sent the message about the attack on Gerra.>
<Could the differences be accounted for by stress when she first arrived?>
<Maybe. I don’t have a baseline for her. Either way, something seems off.>
Rika gave a mental snort. <Thanks for all the compelling detail.>
<Happy to help.>
“Well, the Marauders’ Lance is quite the ship. I can see why they’d want it back.”
“It’s big, sure, but it’s really not that good in a fight, is it? Just a large target that’s hard to move around the battlespace. That’s why I like my Slyfe, it’s quick and nimble.”
“The Niets like to make big ships,” Rika shrugged. “Just like their Harriets and the Fury Lance. Then, later on, they realize they’re not that practical, and focus on their smaller cruisers and destroyers.”
Becky nodded as though she had a solid understanding of fleet strategy and tactics—which Rika very much doubted the woman did. She seemed to just fly around, living off money given to her by her wife.
She wondered what it would be like to have no worries, no stress, not a care in the world other than where you’d dock next.
<Boring, I bet,> Niki said. <It sounds like a life without purpose, which sounds like death.>
<Surely it couldn’t be that bad to just go a little while without purpose,> Rika suggested as Becky began talking about interesting ships she’d seen at various stations in the past few years.
<Sure, if you’re taking a break. But this woman isn’t taking a break, her whole life is a vacation. There’s nothing to take a vacation from, nothing to go back to when it’s over—which is why it’s never over for her.>
Rika tried to imagine what that would be like, but couldn’t begin to fathom it. Still, the idea seemed enticing, even if it were just something to try for a while.
<See, you’d just be trying it, knowing that there are still other things you’d go back to if you didn’t enjoy an eternal vacation. My money is on Becky here having nothing to go back to. This is as much meaning as life will ever have for her—provided she doesn’t make a change.>
<OK, OK, I get it. Point made and taken.>
<Good, now shoo her off, she’s going to bore me to sleep with her commentary on which were the prettiest hulls she’s seen.>
<You’re an AI,> Rika chuckled. <You don’t sleep.>
<Exactly.>
“…the hull was this amazing iridescent blue, it was so beautiful. Too bad warships can’t be pretty like that.”
Rika suppressed a laugh. “Well, it’s hard to be stealthy when your entire ship is glowing.”
“Maybe they’d think you were so sure you’d win any conflict that no one would even take a shot…like those brightly colored frogs.”
<Wow…that’s rather insightful,> Rika commented to Niki.
<Stars! She’s infected you!>
Rika laughed. <Stop being so melodramatic.>
<No, seriously, she got some sort of nano-agent on you. I didn’t pick it up at first because it registered as no-threat, but then she added more and it activated.>
<Can you neutralize it?> Rika asked as she took a careful step back from Becky, not wanting the other woman to realize that the ruse was up.
<Yeah, but only because I’m me and we have ISF tech. If you were just a normal person…shit, you’d be dead.>
<Leslie,> Rika called out, only to encounter a dampening field that blocked her Link connection.
“Please,” Becky whispered, her carefully crafted look of benign interest cracking. “They’re making me do this. I’m so sorry.”
“Who?” Rika hissed, anger causing her cheeks to flush.
“The PLI…Rachella. She said you took her sister and she wants her back.”
Rika glanced around the balcony, scanning the area beyond the doors to see if anyone else was nearby. Stars, Kelly, where are you?
“How many are there?”
“Please, they put something in my head, it hurts so much when I don’t do what they want.”
<No…> Rika whispered to Niki. <Do you think?>
<Touch her, I need to get a heavy dose of nano on her, see what’s up.>
Without a moment’s hesitation, Rika took a step forward and reached around Becky, placing her hand on the back of the woman’s neck.
As she was delivering a passel of nano, the captain of the Slyfe jammed the heel of her hand under Rika’s chin. There were tears in her eyes, and she mouthed, ‘Sorry’.
Then Rika’s entire world turned into pain.
* * * * *
<Silva, have you seen Rika?> Kelly asked. <I was checking on a suspicious-looking woman, and when I turned around, she was gone.>
<Everyone’s suspicious here. How did you manage to single one out?> the colonel asked. <And why not just reach out to her?>
<Funny.> Kelly suppressed a groan. <And I didn’t reach out because I don’t want to have to admit to our new queen that I lost her on her first state event.>
Silva sent a laugh. <OK, I can see that. She’s out on the east balcony, talking to the captain of the Slyfe.>
<That’s Becky, right? She’s the one that gave us the heads-up on Gerra.>
<One and the same,> Silva replied. <She…oh shit.>
<What?> Kelly asked, but had her ans
wer before the message had even been sent.
Rika and Niki’s signals had dropped off the network.
<Dampener,> Silva said unnecessarily. <We’re under attack!>
A second later, every member of the queen’s guard was on alert, with Silva, Kelly, and Keli moving toward Rika’s last known position.
<I just got intel from Kora,> Leslie joined in on the Guard’s combat net. <Some of these people might be chipped. Could be anyone.>
<Discipline chipped?> Kelly couldn’t keep the note of incredulous dismay from her tone. <How the hell did that happen.>
<Looks like Arla’s people, making another play.> Leslie provided details on a woman named Rachella and a man named Belfas. <I don’t have these two as having made it into the palace, but that doesn’t mean they’re not here. Assume that at least five people have been chipped as well.>
Kelly sent an affirmative as she and Silva closed on the exit to the balcony where Rika had last been seen. She was three strides away when something slammed into her and knocked her to the side.
She rolled to her feet and squared off against a massive man who didn’t hesitate to fling himself at her once more. There wasn’t room to bring her GNR to bear, so she grabbed her pulse pistol, jamming it between them, and squeezed the trigger a half-dozen times.
The man shuddered and groaned, but didn’t release his hold. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Silva was also grappling with an opponent, and another—a tall woman with a menacing glower on her brow—was closing in.
The man was punching her in the face with one hand while the other was clamped around her neck. Neither tactic was doing more than annoy her, and she thrust her arm into the air and swung her elbows down on the man’s forehead. There was a sickening crunch and he staggered back before falling to the ground.
“Gross,” Keli commented as she raced past, Kelly right on her heels.
“Rika!” Both mechs called out as they saw their queen slumped over the railing, another woman at her feet.
“I’m OK,” Rika said in a weak voice. “Bitch fired an EM burst right into my face.”
<Thank stars for ISF flowmetal skin,> Niki commented, her tone filled with relief. <I would have lost some memories from that, otherwise.>
<Found the dampener,> Silva said a second later.
“Shit, Rika!” Leslie cried out as she swept onto the balcony, her jet black form barely visible in the day’s fading light. “Who—”
“Becky,” Rika said, pushing the figure at her feet over. “Niki shut her down and disabled her D-chip. She’s not a threat anymore.”
“Kelly killed baddies, and mine is going to need a cruiser-sized dose of pain meds when he wakes up,” Silva said as she walked onto the balcony.
“Mine’s going to need a new head,” Keli said with a laugh as she glanced back out into the ballroom where the regular guard—mostly consisting of rebel forces from Gary’s platoon at the Refuge—moved the guests back.
“Palace is locked down,” Leslie said. “If Rachella and Belfas are here, we’ll find them.”
“Oh we’ll find them, all right,” Rika said as she straightened. “They can share a cell with Arla. Stars, it’s like these people want the Niets back in here. Who do they think is going to fight against them if the mechs are gone?”
“Rika!” Tremon burst onto the balcony with his personal guards, Yakob and Gloria a step behind. “Core, you’re alright…what—?”
“More of Arla’s people,” Rika said. “Party’s over, we need to examine the rest of the guests for Discipline chips, and get our survivors checked over and locked down.”
“Oh crap,” Leslie muttered. “The Overwatch just picked up dozens of ships in low orbit making for our position.”
“Military?” Rika asked.
“No,” Leslie shook her head. “Civvies.”
IT’S A TRAP
STELLAR DATE: 06.09.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: GMS Asora, near Orden Station
REGION: Genevia System, New Genevian Alliance
“Glad you decided to slum it with us again, Captain?” Chief Ashley asked as Vargo settled into his chair on the Asora’s bridge.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, a brow raised quizzically.
She shrugged. “I dunno, what with you really being an admiral and all, I thought you’d want to be back with the brass.”
Vargo snorted. “It’s inevitable, but I want to stave it off as long as I can.”
“Inevitable that you’ll be back with the brass?”
“Yeah.” He let out a long-suffering sigh. “I always reset, try to get back to the bottom where things actually get done, but sooner or later, I end up in charge of stuff. I was an admiral in the war, then I got out and ended up a governor, of all things. That was waaaay too much responsibility, so I got out and signed onto the Marauders as a shuttle pilot. Next thing you know, I’m running a destroyer and now a whole fleet division.”
“Don’t forget that little bit of time where you were magnus of all Genevia.” Ashley gave a saucy wink.
“Worst ten minutes of my life,” Vargo muttered. “Can you imagine what would have happened if Rika had died just then?”
“Who knows…choked on a pretzel, had a chandelier fall on her head, anything.”
“There were pretzels?”
“No, but there should have been. Would have made that whole dog and pony show a thousand times better.”
Ashley laughed. “Stars, when they were assigning ships, I got the best one. I—oh shit, we’ve got company.”
Vargo sat up and nodded as the forward holo filled with Nietzschean ships. “Rika called it. The Niets are sore losers.”
“Must be ships from at least six systems out there,” Ashley said. “Over four hundred.”
“A lot of destroyers and patrol boats,” Vargo commented.
The ships were over an AU away, and as soon as they jumped, they began to spread out, making for a number of outsystem stations and moons.
Vargo had expected that. The Niets knew—or they’d better, by this point—that going toe-to-toe with the Marauders would only end in defeat. However, the enemy still had numbers on their side, and the Genevia System was filled with targets they could strike. Vargo’s goal was to bog the enemy down and ensure that they didn’t get into the inner system.
His fleet consisted of twenty-three vessels, four of which were cruisers, while the rest were destroyers. Each one was a Marauder stasis ship, though further insystem, at the outer edge of the Outer Asteroid Belt lay another fleet consisting of Nietzschean ships that had been constructed at the shipyards in Genevia and crewed by former GAF personnel.
On the far side of the system, another Marauder fleet waited; Vargo wondered if they were getting a visit from the Niets as well.
He sent out orders to the ships in his fleet, most of which were already in position, protecting the targets he expected the Niets to go after.
Rather than waiting for the enemy to come to them, he ordered his ships to charge the enemy, closing the gap and hammering the Niets, keeping the approaching craft from turning and braking.
<Sir, we have an issue.>
The call came in from the New Paula, a cruiser protecting a large station named Orden. Following in the wake of Scarborough, Orden was a major trade center, and also contained several refineries that processed specialized ores for the Capeton shipyards.
<What is it, Bernie?> Vargo asked the ship’s captain.
<There are riots on the station. Not sure who instigated it, but there’s a group of anti-queeners making trouble. They’ve taken the station defenses offline and are broadcasting surrender to the Niets.>
“Oh for fuck’s sakes,” Vargo muttered. <OK, you stay on close defense, and land a squad of mechs to get those weapons back online. We’ll swing around and give your approaching Ni
ets a little greeting.>
<Thanks, Admiral.>
“Captain,” Vargo groaned softly before reaching out to Captain Buggsie. <Hey, Bugs, looks like we’re all that stands between Orden Station and certain doom. See those Niets heading toward it?>
<Yeah, looks like fifty ships. Why can’t Bernie handle it? He on the head or something?>
<Riots onstation, he’s their defense for now.>
Buggsie sent a laugh over the connection. <Sounds right, he’s good for taking a broadside.>
Vargo had no idea what that meant, but decided not to press for details. <I want you to sweep around to their rear, target the cruisers. We’ll do the same, but hit them from the side. Just keep the pressure on and don’t let them brake. They’re moving at point-zero-one lightspeed—that’ll give them only a minute or so to engage with the station.>
<Unless they lob missiles,> Buggsie countered.
<Well, let’s just hope the mechs get the station defenses back online.>
* * * * *
If Piper had been the type to sing, he would have belted out a joyous tune as he sailed high over Belgium in command of a ship, a vessel of his own, fast, powerful, and carrying hundreds of attack drones.
Staying in geosync over Mount Genevia, his ship—the aptly named Overwatch—kept close watch on the Royal Palace and surrounding terrain. The mountain sat at the head of a long valley. It was a lone peak flanked by two craggy ridgelines, both of which rose higher than Genevia, protecting it from inclement weather.
The mountain for which the alliance was named didn’t rise above the tree line, and the dense forests that lined its slopes were of some concern to Piper, as it was difficult to see what lay beneath them.
Though the mountain was covered in sensors, many had been destroyed by the recent fighting, and a careful enemy could work their way up to the peak without being spotted.
Leslie had both drones and some of the newly minted Genevian regulars patrolling the slopes, but the AI didn’t trust either. Both could be fooled. So he watched like a hawk, waiting for a sign that the Niets were going to take advantage of the opportunity to take out Rika and much of the New Genevian leadership.