Faster Than Light: Babel Among the Stars

  *

  Even in Seth’s worst nightmares, he never thought he would wear a Republic military uniform. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the mirror in his room. It looked wrong on him, like it didn’t fit, even though he had it specially tailored.

  The Republic’s formal dress uniform consisted of a form-fitting high-collared red jacket and slacks, a white sash displaying the medals earned by the officer, and black boots that reached nearly to the knee. Seth’s was no different, except he had no pins on his collar to indicate rank, and the only medal on his sash was a civilian service pin. It looked silly, but Commissar Absalom and the members of his squad insisted.

  Just as Seth expected, Absalom didn’t remember anything about their discussion the night before. He greeted Seth as a friend in the morning, and was excited to put the finishing touches on the last day of the biggest project of his life.

  The last three starships in the galaxy were now docked at the Europa Station. One was the I.S.S. Jefferson, a large passenger liner. The second was the I.S.S. Illustrious, a military craft that doubled as a cargo vessel. When it was needed to enforce Republic edicts, it served as a warship. Most of the time, though, it ran ore from various mining stations to Earth. The final ship was the I.S.S. Monitor, a science vessel which explored uninhabitable worlds to find mineral deposits.

  Because it was the smallest of the three craft, the Monitor was scheduled to be the final ship decommissioned. It was the only ship that could fit in the main repair bay, where the cameras were mounted. The Illustrious was crammed into one of the warehouses. The Jefferson was docked at the space port outside of the station. Both of them were scheduled to be disassembled during the festivities leading up to the midnight deadline. Then, the workers would take apart the Monitor in front of the entire world.

  Seth told himself that those three ships were the reason he was wearing a Republic uniform. Even though it felt wrong to him, even though it was a betrayal of everything that he believed in, he was doing this to save one of them.

  He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small laser pistol. Absalom gave it to him after the incident outside of the Mid-Canada zone. It was supposed to be the only weapon he had aboard the Europa Station. It wasn’t. He’d managed to smuggle a ballistic firearm—a small handgun—onto the station a few days prior.

  This was it. This was the moment where he would set everything into motion. Seth closed his eyes. He could still remember everything he saw on the map of the Europa Station. He knew every corridor, every service hallway, and every duct. He could get anywhere on the station, hopefully under the nose of most of the guards. And there were a lot of guards. It felt like the entire Republic Military was mobilized on the station.

  But, at least for right now, Seth looked like one of them.

  Taking a deep breath, Seth raised the laser pistol in the air. Then he slammed it against the wall next to the mirror. With a loud crack the hilt of the gun shattered against the metal surface.

  Seth walked over to his desk on the other side of the room. He put the gun down and looked at the machinery inside. Republic-issue laser pistols were powered by a stable kinetic energy core. When worn in a holster, they could be recharged by movement—walking, running, or vibration.

  All Seth had to do was make a few modifications to the power structure of the pistol. It was a delicate process, but nothing beyond his skill. He rerouted a few of the wires back into the energy core. This caused the core to vibrate on its own, attempting to recharge itself in a feedback loop. Eventually, the heat sinks within the weapon would fail and it would explode.

  That would take approximately two hours. Seth checked the time. It was seven-thirty. The timing wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

  Seth placed the laser pistol back into his jacket. He stood up straight, looked back to the mirror, and smiled. Knowing that he was about to betray the Republic made him feel a lot better about the uniform.