Mercurial: Ace Evans Book 5 (Ace Evans Series), page 13
“We should get some rest,” Nyx said. “It’s been a long day.”
“Can you show me to my berth?” Alex asked.
“Of course,” Nyx said.
They left the chow hall and went back down to the crew quarters. Nyx couldn’t help but relive their kiss as they went down the stairs.
“This ship is built so differently,” Alex said.
“Yeah, no straight lines,” Nyx agreed. “They designed it to be difficult to board and take by force.”
“I can see that,” Alex said. “An enemy might get lost just trying to find the command level.”
“This is you,” Nyx said when they came to an empty berth. It was tiny and only had one narrow bed inside. “I had someone bring you necessities. You’ve got fatigues in your locker, and Sly made sure your private belongings were taken off the Currency. I think they got stored on TROY.
“Good,” Alex said. “So what’s it like being a chief?”
“It’s temporary,” Nyx said. “I’m still your Controller.”
“Can’t you be both?”
“No,” Nyx said. “But that’s okay. I’m right where I want to be.”
“I’d invite you in, but I’m pretty beat,” Alex said.
“That’s okay,” Nyx said. “I’m right across the hall if you need me.”
“Thank you,” Alex said. “I hope I didn’t cross any lines today.”
“Don’t worry,” Nyx said. “Everything is going to be okay. I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Alex stepped into his tiny berth and let the door close. He would have liked to have stayed with Nyx, but it was too early in their relationship to impose himself on her. And he hadn’t been lying when he said he was exhausted. Being on the super yacht had been a strangely tiring experience. Even though the stateroom he’d been given was large, and filled with finest furnishings, he simply couldn’t relax. He had been like trying to sleep in a lion’s den.
The tiny room he’d been assigned on the Drachma barely had enough room for him to walk past his bunk and locker into the tiny head. But he managed, pulling off the Sigma Services fatigues and throwing them in the trash. He took a hot shower in the tiny booth where steam coated his body and helped relax his muscles. When he came out, he could barely keep his eyes open. But before he could sleep, he had to make the narrow bunk with the stiff sheets and dull gray blanket he’d been assigned. He did the work quickly without much thought, then climbed into bed and fell instantly asleep.
On the bridge, Loman Haley was making plans. They would pass through eight space tunnels to reach the Askerria Sector. Loman always thought of the space tunnels like a retro video game, where passing through a passage on the right side of the display screen would make one’s character suddenly appear on the left side. It was a fabulous technology, which made the colonization of the galaxy possible, but that wasn’t what held the VP’s attention at that moment. Instead, he was rereading a message from Colonel Chastain.
Negotiations have failed.
Conflict is imminent.
Please advise.
Colonel Ursula Chastain was not one to mince words. Loman considered her the ideal soldier. She was tough, focused, a woman of few words, and he respected her all the more for it. And yet, he feared she wasn’t up to the task of leading the Ahzco armada in the Askerria Sector. He couldn’t say why, but he felt the need to get to the danger zone as quickly as possible.
Fighting over control of the Askerria Sector was tricky. There were no less than twelve corporate entities in the area, all hoping to wrest control from the others. There would be secret alliances made, betrayals, devastating battles, and untold numbers of lives lost, all to gain occupation of a resource that legally belonged to Lewan Enterprises. At any time, they could bring legal action against whoever was in possession of the Askerria Sector. In most courts, possession was nine-tenths of the law, but Lewan Enterprises had long-standing mineral rights to the area, with their claim filed on a dozen worlds. Even if they couldn’t get the Askerria Sector back, they could tie whoever held control of the system up in court, which would cost billions of credits in legal fees. It made no sense to risk the future of the company on such a shaky investment, and even if the long-term returns were favorable, Loman wasn’t the type of person that would throw away the lives of his CDF personnel for the hope of gaining control of someone else’s property. He wasn’t a pirate, and no matter what the news agencies said about them, Ahzco’s CDF didn’t plunder and pillage. They didn’t steal or strike out against other businesses. He would readily admit to have Infiltrators in rival companies, but they were in place for intelligence only, not theft.
In Loman’s mind, the CDF had a very clear mandate: protect the employees and property of the Ahzco Corporation. And he considered the people that worked in his division to be just as important as those of any other. He would protect them. Not to mention that the warships filled with mechanized battle suits, and their Operators were some of Ahzco’s most valuable assets. Why throw them away in a needless battle that was manufactured by Lynn Faulk?
The last thought was the only one that Loman wasn’t certain of. He was certain she had a hand in it and was certainly involved in it, but he felt it was the kind of thing she would dream up. Have these companies wreck themselves in battle over Askerria’s mineral-rich asteroid fields. If there were twelve major corporations in the sector ready to do battle, it stood to reason that half that number would be destroyed. If not completely, then at least enough to cripple their parent company. That would leave the door wide open for Lynn Faulk, via Sigma Services, to offer to buy out their security divisions. Promises would be made, deals would be struck, and when the dust settled, Faulk would control the largest military organization in the galaxy.
It was a good plan, one that took foresight and a lot of capital. If her plan succeeded, she not only stood to remake every credit she spent buying mechanized battle suits from the losers of the Askerria struggle, who would hire her to protect their assets. But it would also give her the resources to conquer other corporate defense forces starting with the weakest. She would gobble them up one by one. Many would surrender without a fight once the odds were calculated. It was a military coup disguised in the auspices of a business deal. If an independent military organization outnumbered Ahzco’s security force ten to one, then offered to buy them out instead of fighting, Loman was certain the board would give in. His division would be gutted, the best and brightest transferred, the rest fired. Faulk would buy all of Ahzco’s military assets, offer those that lost their jobs new ones, and land a contract protecting Ahzco’s personnel and property for the next century. But with less competition, Sigma Services could do the job at a fraction of the cost.
Worst yet, once the biggest private militaries were subdued, no one could stop Lynn Faulk from occupying every habitable world in the galaxy and calling herself empress. It was a threat that still loomed over them. And fighting for the Askerria Sector would only weaken Ahzco’s security division and make them an easy target for Sigma Services. But Loman had something that Faulk didn’t.
He sat back in his command chair and looked at the space surrounding the Drachma via the display screens. He could see in every direction in real time. The screens wrapped all the way around the circular bridge. It was an older design, most of the more current battleships used holographic plots, but Loman liked the older vessels. The Drachma felt more real somehow, even though the screens were video feeds, not actual windows. It was a reminder that not everything was as it appeared.
Ahzco appeared to be just another corporation, one among many, but that was an illusion. Ahzco had mechanized battle suits, but so did most of the other large companies. What made them different, however, were the people inside them. Some companies utilized drones, which could be made smaller and usually cheaper than an MBS, but they weren’t nearly as effective as having a person in control. A person who was in the fray, with their life on the line, fought more effectively than any remotely controlled device. And while there were other companies with MBS that could match Ahzco in armor, propulsion, and weapons, none could match Ahzco’s implanted neural control chips. It gave Loman’s Operators an edge over their competitors. The battle suits became a true extension of the Operator, like a second skin. And that didn’t take into account that every one of Ahzco’s MBS Operators worked hand in hand with a Controller who gave the person in the battle suit a completely different perspective. They were both in the fray, and at a distance. It was the best military in the galaxy, and Loman didn’t think that simply because it was his. Being VP of security for Ahzco put Loman in the position to study everything his competitors were doing. And he had no doubt that Ahzco was the strongest military division of any private defense force. Yet if half the armada Loman had sent to the Askerria Sector was destroyed, they would be vulnerable to Lynn Faulk’s plans.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Jones said. “Why don’t you get some rest?”
“I should,” Loman said.
He stood up from the command chair, looking once more at the plot which showed their ETA to the Askerria Sector. Thirty-four hours of travel time remained. There was enough time to sleep twice before they reached the disputed sector.
“If word comes in from Colonel Chastain, wake me immediately,” Loman said.
“Aye, Commander,” Lieutenant Jones said.
“Very good, Lieutenant. You have the con.”
“I have the con. Thank you, sir,” Jones said.
Loman walked off the bridge and looked at his hands. They were trembling slightly. He felt sick to his stomach and fear was creeping into his mind. It felt like he was walking into a trap, but he couldn’t see it. He desperately wanted a drink, but he hadn’t had a drop since setting out for the Skandia system. It seemed like another lifetime. He decided to make his way down to his cabin. It was twice the size of Alex’s, but still much smaller than anything Loman was used to. Being an executive had made him soft, he thought, as he lay down on his narrow bed. It was stiff, with a thin mattress, and he recalled with longing his bed in the apartment on Arcadia. The berth was almost identical to every other cabin on board, except his had a desk with locking drawers. Inside one was his flask. It seemed to call to him. He rolled over, turning his back on the desk and the liquor, and more importantly, the voices in his head. He deactivated the lights and lay in the darkness, doing his best to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Alex slept for twelve hours. When he woke up, he ate breakfast with his friends, then started running simulations. Cronus Team was back to full strength, and the trio might be called upon to help protect the Drachma. Nyx loaded the simulations, which focused on the trio getting close to enemy ships.
No one spoke of Alex’s ability to control other vessels using his INC, and none of the other Controllers aside from Cronus Team even paid attention to what the Titan group was doing. After a full day of simulations, they ate dinner, then settled into a small recreation space. Unlike the other vessels, the Drachma’s games and movies were all much older—true vintage materials. Some of the crew enjoyed the old entertainment, but most just used the spaces to hang out and talk.
Sly, Sands, Ash, and Nyx all brought along their stash of junk food. Alex had nothing to contribute, and he refused to eat the food his friends offered him. It just didn’t seem right somehow, and truth be told, he had just spent several days on a yacht with the freshest food and everything he could want. Going a few days without sweets or snacks didn’t seem like too much of a sacrifice.
“So we’re what, fourteen hours from the Askerria Sector?” Ash asked Nyx.
“Just enough time for a full night’s sleep before we have to gear up,” Sly said.
“I wish I were going with you,” Sansabar said.
She was quiet most of the time, and rarely complained about anything. Alex would have welcomed her to Cronus Team, but she wasn’t qualified in the Titan battle suit. Instead, she had taken a lead role in Alpha Company, who would act as rescue medics in their modified Patroller MBS, just in case the Drachma was attacked and her hull breached.
“What you’re doing on board is important,” Nyx said.
“But I’d rather be in the action,” Sand said.
“You’ll get your chance,” Ash said. “From what I hear, the fighting in Askerria is probably crazy.”
“You think?” Alex asked.
He understood the situation but wasn’t really familiar with the importance of the Askerria Sector.
“I looked it up,” Ash said. “Lewan Enterprises paid over a trillion to secure the mineral rights and that was decades ago.”
“Over a trillion?” Sly said. “How do these people keep up with so much money?”
“Beats me,” Ash continued. “But from their yearly earnings, they earn close to a trillion every year in rare mineral sales alone.”
“Hard-vac mining is dangerous and expensive,” Nyx pointed out.
“True,” Alex said. “But I’d be surprised if they spend more than three or four billion creds a year on mining operations.”
“That’s a huge profit,” Ash said. “Somewhere in the neighborhood of eight hundred billion credits a year. Not to mention the money they save on whatever minerals they need for their other operations.”
“So why would Lewan Enterprises pull out?” Sansabar asked. “It doesn’t make sense for anyone to walk away with that much money on the table.”
“Maybe they picked the place clean?” Sly suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Ash said. “The last annual report was just over a year ago, and it was just as high as the others. If the resources were dwindling, it would show in their profits.”
“Maybe they got a better offer?” Nyx said.
“A better offer than hundreds of billions of credits a year?” Ash said. “Is that even possible?”
“I guess it would depend on what the person or group making the offer was capable of,” Alex said.
“Like someone who could guarantee that they get their rights back once a certain group of wealthy individuals was in power?” Nyx suggested. “Along with a few other lucrative contracts around the galaxy.”
Sly shook his head ruefully. “Man, I can’t believe how close a group of four people came to seizing control of the galaxy.”
“Some people say there have been shadow groups of the ultrawealthy in control all through history,” Sansabar said. “Secretly pulling the strings to manipulate entire planets and systems.”
“Do you believe that?” Sly asked.
“I didn’t until recently,” Sansabar said. “Not until I saw it happening right in front of me.”
Alex looked into her dark eyes. Sansabar was tough and athletic, but also had an exotic quality that made her seem mysterious. If she kept talking about conspiracy theories, she could make believers out of the entire group.
“No one is controlling me,” Ash said.
“Except your superior officers,” Nyx said.
“No offense, Nyx,” Ash replied. “But that doesn’t really count. You’re a sergeant, not a chief.”
“None taken,” Nyx said, holding up her hands to show that she was sincere. “I wasn’t talking about me. But you have to admit that if Colonel Chastain orders you into battle, you really have no choice but to comply.”
“There’s always a choice,” Ash said. “And that’s what I mean. We get orders. People make laws. But ultimately, I have the choice. It’s called free will, and no one can take that from us no matter how rich and powerful they are.”
“Unless you’re captured,” Alex said.
The rest of the group turned to him. His recent experience gave weight to what he was saying.
“I didn’t get tortured, but the threat was there,” he said.
“But you made the decisions, right?” Ash pointed out. “You resisted. You didn’t do what that rich bitch told you to do.”
“I did what I had to do,” Alex said. “But it was clear that Lynn Faulk knew my weaknesses. She let me know right up-front that she had people watching my family. You threaten them, you can make me do anything.”
“Okay, I get that,” Ash said.
“And what about the media?” Sly said. “They got the whole galaxy thinking we’re just a bunch of mindless killers.”
“He’s got a point,” Sand said.
“There’s control,” Nyx said. “And then there’s manipulation.”
“Just two of the strings that some people can pull to make others do what they want them to do,” Alex said. “Sometimes it’s less important what you say than how you look and how loudly you say it.”
“I know that’s right,” Sly said.
“What if when we get to the Askerria Sector our ships are under attack?” Nyx said. “And what if VP Haley orders you to destroy one of the rival corporation vessels? Would you do it?”
“If our people were being threatened, I would,” Alex said. “That’s what we’re paid to do. We’re fighters, after all.”
“You know it,” Sansabar said.
“What if it’s a Zen Tech ship?” Sly said. “What if Jai’s on board?”
Alex balked. He hadn’t thought of that. He liked Jai almost from the moment he met her on Skandia Seven. She was tough, no-nonsense, and capable. But she fought for Zen Tech, and if he had to fight them, she might be his enemy.”
“I guess I would,” Alex said. “But I wouldn’t want to.”
