Remnants of Empire Page 2

  Pausing, he looked at the two stung-up pilots, their mouths covered in tape, then moved past them to the controls where Reyn was sat in the pilot’s chair, a big grin on his face.

  “Report.”

  “Ship secure.”

  Bender nodded, then turned back to the two that were dangling upside down. “Release them.”

  The fourth member of Reyn’s team who was also on the bridge moved towards the two pilots, and quickly cut them down, and released their bonds.

  The pilots didn’t speak but backed themselves against the bulkhead on the opposite side of the bridge from the control panel, a startled look on their faces. Moving towards the pair, Bender knelt down and looked them both in the eyes. He could tell that they were scared and had probably never been in the presence of someone like Bender or his team.

  “I am going to ask you a series of questions.” He said slowly, moving his gaze from one of the pilots to the other. “Now.” He put out his hand and placed it on the knee of one of the pilots. “Shall we be friends or enemies?” He had a wry smile on his face.

  The pilots looked at each other, then back to Bender. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, one of the pilots braved to speak.

  “What do you want?”

  “A very sensible question.” He locked his eyes on the pilot who had had the courage to ask. “I want information on the Brotherhood.”

  The pilots looked at each other again. “What do you want to know?” replied the same pilot.

  “Who is in charge? Is there a single leader or a council? How does it work at the top?” Bender pointed up with his finger.

  “There is one who we call Big Brother.” The pilot replied. “He makes almost all the decisions.”

  Bender nodded. “And where can I find, Big Brother?”

  “He operates out of the old Glonovia Prax offices on Fonua’s moon.”

  “But he’s heavily guarded, you’ll never be able to reach him.” Interjected the other pilot who had remained silent thus far.

  “I don’t want to hurt him.” Bender reassured them, “Just speak with him.” Bender stood up and looked down at the pilot who had been the most helpful, and reached out his hand, which the pilot took. Pulling the Fonuian to his feet, Bender held onto the man’s hand and pulled him towards the ship's controls. “Would you do us the pleasure of taking us there?”

  Reyn stood up from the pilot’s seat and helped Bender ease the shaking pilot into the chair.

  “We’re not meant to go to the main complex. Just to the refinery.” The man was starting to tremble.

  “I’m sure that it won’t be too much trouble.” Bender moved around him and looked at the control panel, and spotting the ignition switch for the engines, tapped it lightly, bringing the tired old haulier back to life. “Now. Why don’t you take us to the Glonovia Prax offices, and we’ll worry about everything else?” Bender moved to a position behind the man and put his hands on the pilot’s shoulders, and slowly started to give them a gentle massage.

  Turning his head, he looked at Reyn, who inched closer. “Get Standish ready and the team geared up.”

  Reyn pursed his lips, “What about your armour and weapons?”

  Bender tilted his head slightly, “With you around, I’m sure I won’t need them.” He smiled.

  Reyn nodded, and abruptly turned and walked off the bridge, leaving his team member behind with Bender.

  Walking straight into the lair of the Brotherhood was a calculated risk. They were either heavily guarded at their most sensitive locations or thought that no real threat existed and that the Coalition, the Alliance or the Star Gliders would never attempt a strike on Fonua or its moon. Either way, Bender very much doubted that the forces that they would face would offer much of challenge in dispatching if it came to that. His biggest fear was that things would escalate too quickly, and he would be unable to reach the one person with whom he was tasked with speaking, the Big Brother, and the key to the plot that would make him, and his team, rich.

  When the haulier breached the three hundred-thousand-kilometre mark, the eight members of the strike team switched to a higher level of preparation. It wasn’t something that needed to be spoken, but three hundred K was always considered the last line before action was expected. Bender and Reyn were on the bridge with a member of Reyn’s team, while two of Bender’s team members were in the cargo hold with Reyn’s last member, while Standish remained at the controls of their ship, ready in case an emergency departure was required. While she had never jumped a ship from within another ship, she was under strict orders to do just that in the event the mission was compromised. The results would destabilise the fabric of space around the assault ship, sucking everything within ten metres into subspace, where it would remain for all eternity.

  The mission had been pitched to Bender while he was on leave by Admiral Zalenious himself. The entire scheme that had been hatched on Nadolo Prime was laid out in front of the experienced operator, and he had to admit to the obese admiral that he was impressed. He had known the Admiral since the earliest days of the war when the admiral had been a squadron commander, and had been stranded on Bunga-Bat after a skirmish with Coalition forces and was rescued by Bender’s old team. A level of rapport had been developed, and the two had stayed in touch ever since.

  In the days following the meeting on Nadolo Prime, the plan had been flushed out to a finer degree. It sounded simple enough, create an environment in which the war will be dragged out indefinitely. The key was convincing those in power on Mechcharga that the Coalition was not interested in peace, even though it seemed that they were.

  Zalenious made a quick sale to Bender, wealth, enough to keep him, his family, and his team comfortable forever. Bender knew that conditions on the world his family had been settled on after being evacuated from Sandura 26G were deteriorating, and the rewards from the mission could afford him the chance to move his family to one of the few worlds in the Etelainen that was buy-in only and would guarantee them comfort and safety.

  When he heard the details of the scheme, he was sceptical, but the number that Zalenious put in front of him justified the risk.

  It was classic misdirection. Get a third party to steal a Coalition warship, and then attack the peace conference. Let the blame fall on the Coalition, while it was actually the conspirators pulling strings. That seemed simple enough, but the task of sneaking into Coalition space and stealing a craft capable of destroying at least two diplomatic ships was the problem. Bender couldn’t just take a tiny scout ship. He needed to swipe a frigate at least, and that was no easy task. In fact, Bender was quite confident that it had never been done before.

  A Coalition frigate, even one in the dock, would have dozens of the crew on board. The station itself would have thousands of troops and crew making it a formidable target, and that was without taking into account the defensive capabilities of the base itself, and any warships that were in the system.

  So Bender had to sneak into the heart of the Brotherhood of Fonua, convince them to help him in his mission, naturally incentives were going to be offered, and then slip into the Coalition base that orbited Tango Luna Prime, steal a Coalition warship, and jump back to the Fonua system, and in order to keep the mission as low-key as possible, he would only be allocated the use of just his team, and the small assault ship that was under his personal command.

  The odds were not in his favour, but it was a gamble that he was willing to take. The rest of his team were also up for the challenge. They knew that blind loyalty to Princess Via had gotten them nowhere since the war had begun, and several members of the team were from the Core, and their families were living as refugees in the Etelainen. This one mission was the way that they could change their fortunes for generations to come.

  When the haulier breached the two hundred-thousand-kilometre mark, the first communications from Fonua’s moon chirped onto the radio.

  “497, what are you doing?”

  Bender shook his head
. The miners were not well trained in radio communications techniques, but their sloppiness was something he was counting on.

  The pilot looked up to Bender with a worried look on his face. “What do I say?”

  “Why would you need to go there?” Bender pointed at the approaching moon.

  “Umm.” The pilot looked back to his front, then to the left bulkhead, up to the ceiling, then finally to the right bulkhead. “Maybe to see medical.”

  It sounded like a question to Bender, but the operator knew that it was a statement.

  “Relay the message.”

  “Hey, Jook, is that you?” The pilot radioed to the Glonovia Prax headquarters.

  There was silence for a few seconds until the radio came back. “Turink? Are you piloting that clunker?”

  “Hey! Yeah. Look, my co-pilot isn’t doing so well. I want to get him to the med facilities.” The pilot looked up to Bender and received an approving nod.

  “Of course.” Came the reply. “You still owe me some credits from that last game of Glamrix!” There was a laugh on the other end of the radio.

  “I know. I’ll pay you off once I dock.”

  “Okay. Park that old haulier on dock five.”

  “Will do.” The pilot cut the radio and looked back up to Bender.

  Bender turned and looked at Reyn, “Pull up the schematics of the site.”

  Reyn pulled out a small datapad from his hip belt and flipped it open. He tapped a few keys before a three-dimensional image appeared hovering in the air just above the pad.

  Bender looked over at the picture, and then down to the pilot, “Where are we docking, and where are Big Brother’s offices?”

  The pilot looked at the image and rubbed his chin. “I haven’t been here in six months.” There was still the sound of trepidation in his voice.

  Reyn bent down towards the pilot, his hand moving his blade from its sheath slowly. “You better think carefully, or” he looked over at the copilot who was cowering quietly at the rear of the compartment. “I can ask your friend over there.” Reyn smiled.

  The pilot looked at his colleague, then back to the 3D image. “I guess you can probably find him here.” A finger was extended towards the top level of the facility.

  Reyn stood back upright. “Naturally,” he said, looking at the image. “A pleasant stroll along the promenade, then a single lift to the top deck.” He looked at Bender, “Shouldn’t be too tricky.”

  Bender looked down at the pilot. “Are all the members of the Brotherhood Fonuvian?”

  “Almost all of us. When the war kicked off, most of those from off-system found transports back to their homeworlds.”

  Bender wasn’t too surprised, but now he was faced with another hurdle. “Reyn, have one of your men get the cloaks off the ship.”

  His second nodded and moved away to make the radio call.

  Turning back, Bender looked at the approaching structure that was once the headquarters to one of the most profitable companies in the galaxy. Now it was covered in dust from the moon’s surface and a shell of its former glory. Bender wasn’t sure how many armed personnel would be in the massive structure, possibly hundreds.

  When the haulier was just over ten thousand kilometres from the building, Bender started to marvel at the size of the thing. The entire complex covered hundreds of square metres on the surface and had several subterranean levels. The complex was equally impressive vertically, reaching over five hundred metres from the surface.

  Since Fonua’s moon had no atmosphere, life on the compound must have been tough for the current occupants. The information Bender had been supplied before the mission’s launch had spoken of a facility of unrivalled sophistication and elegant and comfort for the miners and their families, but that was over ten years ago, and a lot has changed since then.

  The pilot, for however nervous he might have been, managed to fly a straight course towards the complex, and from the information being displayed on the pilot’s control panel, they were on a direct course to platform five.

  Just as the ship started to slow, Reyn came up to Bender with a sand coloured cloak. “I am not sure how much these will help.” He stated.

  “Hopefully just enough to get us up to Big Brother’s office, and get some privacy. Tell Standish to keep the assault ship warm, jump drives on standby, and be ready to come and collect us if there is a problem.” Bender smiled. “Is that the main hatch?” He pointed to a hatch on the port side of the bridge. The pilot looked at it and nodded. Bender turned to Reyn. “Get the rest of the team up here. Full kit. All weapons on stun.”

  The old haulier continued to slow as it approached its docking point. Operating in a zero-gravity environment enabled the slightest measures to be implemented to keep a large ship like the NX-62497 in place, like the set of little clamps that the ship used to latch onto the structure.

  “What happens after you dock?”

  “There should be an umbilical from the dock, it will pressurise, then that’s it.” The pilot replied.

  “Who is on the other side of the hatch?” Bender asked

  “No-one.” The pilot replied, seconds later the ships collision alarm sounded, and was promptly switched off by the pilot as the ship continued to slow as it got within one hundred metres of the docking port.

  Bender turned away from the pilot to be met with a fully kitted up team of six operators, with all but Reyn wearing their helmets and cloaks on, and ready for action.

  “Reyn on point with our friend here.” Bender patted the pilot on the shoulder. “Diamond formation. We are moving out this hatch, up to the main promenade for this level and a fifty-metre movement to the nearest lift that will transport us to the top level where we should find our prey. Reyn will transmit the map to your helmets,” He signalled Reyn. “and I want a zero body count on this operation. Fast and silent.”

  Bender turned back around and looked out the bridge screen at the dock they were creeping towards. He knew that there was an excellent chance that the main promenade would be swarming with miners and their families. The mission might have to be scrubbed from the second they stepped onto the compound, and to hedge his bets, be radioed Standish, just to make sure they had a speedy exit at their disposal.

  “Standish.”

  “Go.”

  “Status.”

  “As ordered.”

  “Keep this channel open and monitor. Move only if necessary.” Bender looked back towards Reyn who had donned his helmet. “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  “Docking.” Came the report from the pilot.

  Bender looked past Reyn at the co-pilot who had remained silent since the haulier had been boarded. “Stun him.” He pointed at the cowering Fonuvian.

  Reyn spun about quickly, pistol drawn, as the assault members parted way, and fired a single shot at the co-pilots torso. The green beam of energy dashed across the little bridge quickly and gave off a slight hissing sound as it hit its victim.

  The Fonuvian twitched once, then slumped to the floor. Reyn turned back to Bender, holstering his weapon. “Don’t worry, he’s alive.”

  Bender nodded. All the helmets had built-in biometric readers, allowing the operator to instantly tell the difference between living, stunned, and dead organisms. Looking back to the pilot, and then the complex, he could tell that the ship was only seconds from docking. Checking his cloak was secured over his shoulders, he leant forward and looked out at the impressive building that was only ten metres away. It seemed to Bender that each docking port was located at the end of a single tunnel that extended off the side of the structure. He was slightly surprised that a ship of the haulier's size would have fit into such a slot.

  When the ships clamp finally closed down on the docking port, a notice came over the bridge speakers, informing them that the ship was secure and that the umbilical was pressurising.

  “Time to go.” Bender said to the pilot, putting his hand on the Fonuaivans shoulder.

  The thin
pilot, who must have weighed no more than 50 kilogrammes stood to his feet and moved towards the bridge’s hatch. He still had the same worried expression on his face, and Bender could tell that the man was shaking lightly.

  Leaning forward, Bender whispered into the man’s ear. “No one is going to die.”

  The pilot turned and looked Bender in the eyes, then back to the hatch, and moved forward and hit the lock release button, then the hatch release button, and then slowly pulled the hatch open, and to the rear of the compartment, revealing a two-metre-long passageway.

  “Reyn, take us out.” Bender ordered, bringing up the hood of his cloak. Stepping to the side, Bender watched as his second in command moved forward, and gently put his hand on the pilot’s waist and gently guided him towards the open hatch.

  After Reyn and the pilot had walked off the bridge, the three other members of Reyn’s team followed, then Bender, and then the two other members of his team brought up the rear. They left the hatch to the ship open, knowing that they might need to make a speedy return.

  At the end of the umbilical, the team found themselves in a poorly lit corridor that was strewn with rubbish and had a foul stench. A single light in the middle of the hallway was all the illumination that was provided in the twenty-metre-long tunnel that connected to the levels promenade, which still appeared well lit. Moving down the shaft, Bender wasn’t surprised that things had fallen into disrepair. It was happening all over the galaxy, and nowhere was this more evident than in the Core.

  A large part of the mission’s success hinged on what happened from the time they reached the promenade, to their encounter with Big Brother. It was going to be the time when the team was most exposed and at greatest risk of being compromised.

  However, no grim fate was to meet them that day, because when Bender stepped out onto the promenade, there wasn’t a soul in sight. He looked to his front and could see almost all the way across the main level which stretched two hundred yards to the far side, but could see no movement, the same for the areas visible to his left and right along the promenade. Nothing.