Remnants of Empire Read online

  Bender tapped his communicator unit. “Reyn, launch a Whisper Drone to recon this entire level.” Bender didn’t need an acknowledgement of the order. He looked down at his uniforms left forearm, and pulled back a small cover to reveal a blank screen, tapping it once, he followed a series of steps until he found the tracker for the Whisper Drone, a robotic surveillance unit that was the size of an eyeball, and would need some time to sweep the entire main level for life signs, but it would do so undetected, and in a manner that would take his forces much longer.

  Knowing when good fortune was upon them, Bender decided that this presented the perfect opportunity to speed up their journey, and he relayed this to Reyn, who quickly doubled their pace to the lifts that would bring them to the top level of the compound, and with luck, to a face-to-face meeting with Big Brother.

  The elevator bank was just as quiet as the rest of the main level, something that the Bender and the rest of his team couldn’t help but notice, and be surprised by. It wasn’t possible that on a facility this big, with thousands of personnel, was suddenly this quiet without good reason.

  Following the pilots lead, the assault team boarded one of the four lifts and hit the button for the top level. The lift was in as poor a state as the rest of the facility they had seen so far. Bender could tell that it was most likely a very modern and plush lift when it was first installed for the corporate staff of Glonovia Prax, but it had been left to decay like the rest of the installation.

  Standing at the rear of the elevator, Bender was just close enough to hear Reyn whisper in the pilot’s ear. “If this goes wrong, you die first.” Bender smiled. Nothing like putting the fear into someone who knew that you were deadly serious.

  They needed to travel twenty levels to reach the top floor, and the elevator moved swiftly and signalled their arrival with a bell tone, the doors slowly opened, revealing a deserted entry area, but with the faint sound of music in the distance.

  “Guard up.” Bender ordered. No point in playing coy now. They were deep in the den of the Brotherhood, might as well protect themselves.

  On hearing the command, all the team members brought their rifles up, save Reyn who was using the pilot as a shield, pistol drawn and over the Fonuvians shoulder, as they moved towards the sound of the music.

  “Hold.” Bender ordered, and the group stopped.

  They had exited the elevator onto an empty lobby with only one possible direction of travel, and it appeared that the music they were hearing was coming from that direction.

  Shaking his head, Bender moved forward to the pilot who was standing motionless next to Reyn. “What is the significance of this day?” He asked in a harsh tone.

  “Umm.” The pilot tilted his head away from Bender and looked at the ceiling.

  Bender grabbed the pilot’s tunic and pulled him closer, and in a hushed, but stern voice gave the man an ultimatum. “Now. Or you die here, and we waste everyone in that room.” Bender pointed to a set of doors twenty yards away from where the sounds of music were coming from.

  The pilot looked at Bender, a look of terror on his face. A look that told Bender that he had been holding something back the entire time and that he knew he had been caught. “It is the anniversary of the Brotherhood.” He said meekly.

  Bender let the thought set in, then looked at Reyn. “Stun him and dump his body somewhere.”

  The pilot opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t get out a word before Reyn had fired off a single shot at close range into his back. The pilot went limp, but his fall was halted by Reyn who caught him by the back of his flight suit.

  Still holding the unconscious pilot, Reyn looked at Bender. “I didn’t get an invitation to this party.” He said.

  Bender couldn’t see Reyn’s face behind his mask, but he knew his second was smiling ear to ear.

  Reyn looked to towards the elevator they had just come from, and then gestured with his free hand for the team members in-between him at it to move, and in one quick motion, brought the limp pilot up, and tossed him ten metres towards the lift. The body hit the ground with a hard thump and almost slid into the open elevator.

  Bender shook his head. “Nice.” Turning his attention back to the door that was to their front he paused to consider their options. He knew from the schematics of the building that there was a large open-plan layout beyond the doors, shaped on a half-moon design, with floor to ceiling windows which would make gun-play tricky. The room was fifty metres deep at its longest point, and about thirty metres wide. It could probably hold a few hundred revellers if they were packing in tight enough, and the addition of spirits could make the situation slightly more dangerous. One wrong move from one of the members of the Brotherhood could lead to a full-blown shoot-out, which was something Bender did not want.

  “Where is the Whisper?” he asked Reyn.

  Reyn looked down at his forearm display. “Several levels below us. No life signs detected yet.”

  “Right. Cloaks down, helmets off.” He ordered. “Sling rifles.”

  Reyn followed his orders, then looked at his boss. “What are you thinking?”

  “I think we go in there, smoothly, make our way to the bar, have a drink, and see how things are going.” He replied.

  Reyn smiled. “Nice. Assuming this party has been going on for a while, maybe we’ll get away with it.”

  Bender looked at his second, then at the other six team members. They were a hodgepodge of different species from the Core and the Etelainen, and they were all wearing Alliance body armour, something that most people would notice quickly, but in a party, spirits flowing, maybe they’d just get by unnoticed. “We need to identify Big Brother, then segregate him from the rest of the party, and then brief him.”

  The other team members nodded. Clar chimed in with the one question that was on everyone’s mind. “How to identify him since the only person who knew what he looks like is stunned.” He directed his finger back to the limp pilot that was lying motionless metres away.

  “Remember your reconnaissance training?” Reyn asked. “He’ll be the one who looks influential!”

  Bender shook his head and looked at the team. “Let’s go. Reyn, take the point, and get us to the bar, quietly.”

  Reyn nodded and checked that his helmet was secured to his left hip. Finding a refreshment had never been a problem for Reyn, on any world, in any culture, finding the party was one of his specialities.

  Adopting a casual stance, Reyn started nonchalantly walking towards the large set of doors at the end of the hallway, a bit of a swagger in his step. Confidence was not something he lacked.

  The doors appeared to shimmer to the naked eye as they approached, Bender thought that they were probably the result of some exotic ore or minerals that had been melded together to give them a very glistening appearance. Once Reyn had reached the door, he pressed his ear to the rough material and waited for the rest of the team to stack up behind him.

  Looking back, he caught Bender’s eye and got the nod from the leader he was waiting for. Reyn brought his hand up and gestured that he intended to turn left once he entered the room, and with a final nod, Reyn slowly pushed the left side door open and moved into the large office.

  The minute the door was pushed in, the sound of music came flooding out of the room into the hallway, and as smoothly as possible, Bender and the rest of the team slipped into the chamber after Reyn, who was already a few metres ahead of them, and making his way to the rear of the room which was filled to capacity with a jumbled mass of Fonuvians, and a few other species who must have stayed behind after the war had started.

  Bender tried to move as smoothly as possible without looking like he was stalking his way through the large room. By keeping the curved wall on their left, the team only had to worry about contacts from their right, and with his head on a swivel, he couldn’t help but notice that the team had gone unnoticed for almost 15 metres, and when he finally caught up with Reyn, his point man was pouring himself a cup of punch from a table that was halfway along the wall between the door they had entered, and the giant window that occupied the entire far side of the room.

  Bender stopped at the table along with the rest of the team, and picked up a cup and the ladle from the punch bowl, and poured himself a small amount of the orange liquid, and brought the cup to his lips.

  “Any thoughts?” He asked, continuing to scan the crowd as the music continued to thump loudly. There must have been over a hundred miners in the room, but they hadn’t seemed to make much notice of Bender’s team.

  “Yeah. This punch is delicious.” Reyn commented, looking at the orange liquid that was floating in his cup.

  Bender looked at his second and rephrased his question. “On how we might be able to find Big Brother?”

  “Oh.” Reyn lowered his cup and gave the room a quick once over, and locked eyes on a miner that was making his way to the drinks table where they were standing. “I’ve got an idea.”

  When the miner stopped at the table, he had to balance himself, and it was evident to Bender that the man was intoxicated, and perhaps because of that, Reyn moved up next to the man and put his hand on the man’s back which was covered in a dirty utility suit.

  “Hello, friend,” Reyn said with a broad smile on his face. “do you know where I can find Big Brother?”

  The miner turned and looked at Reyn and blinked a few times. “I don’t recognise you.” The miner moved closer and looked Reyn in the eyes. “You’re not from Fonua.” The miner stepped back and then looked Reyn up and down, trying to get a handle on the individual who was standing to his front. “And what’s with the fancy armour?”

  Reyn smiled and pulled the miner in closer. “Health and safety.” He turned and looked at Bender and gave him a reassuring wink, before turning his attention back to the miner. “Big Brother?”

  The miner blinked a few more times, and shook his head, almost if trying to sober himself up, and looked over towards the huge window and pointed with a shaky hand. “She should be near her desk.” The miner dropped his arm and attempted to take another sip from his cup before he realised that it was empty. He looked down at the cup despondently, then up Reyn. “Did you want something?”

  Reyn just smiled and picked up the ladle, and expertly poured the miner another cup of the punch. “Enjoy.” He put the spoon down, and looked at Bender, “How do you want to play this?”

  Bender looked around the room. They still hadn’t aroused any unwanted attention, but he knew that could change at any moment. “Continue hugging the wall. Once we make it to the window, move towards the centre of the room.” Bender was having to talk quite loudly over the pounding music that was still blaring out of several speakers positioned around the chamber. “These idiots are not a threat individually, but there are a lot of them, so let’s take it smoothly.”

  Reyn nodded and started off again along the wall towards the window. It was much like the rest of the compound that they had previously moved through. The walls were dirty, and in several places, it was clear that pictures and artwork that had once adorned them had been removed or had fallen to the ground where they had proceeded to gather dust over the last ten years.

  Glonovia Prax had its headquarters on Doxis, and once the war had kicked off, and Fonua had been laid to waste, it quickly abandoned its Core holdings and made it back to the Pohjois with anything of value, but apparently it did not consider its personnel to be one of them which was why so many had been left behind to form the Brotherhood.

  The closer the team got to the window, the more on edge Bender was getting. It didn’t help that the area that they were moving through was getting progressively more crowded, and the team was now having to physically move the miners that they were passing to advance. It seemed like it was only a matter of time until one of them noticed that seven soldiers from the Alliance were in their midst and for trouble to start.

  Miraculously, they reached the window, and Bender paused to look out at Fonua that was looming over the grey moon. The planet had once been one of the greatest gems in the crown of the Empire, but the war had changed all of that. Bender couldn’t see the damage from where he was, but he knew it was there nonetheless. A planet once populated with over a billion souls had been destroyed in an Alliance raid during the early days of the conflict. They didn’t want the Coalition to gain access to the vast mineral and ore deposits on the planet’s surface, so they bombarded the world from orbit, killing hundreds of millions. It was one of the greatest slaughters of the war.

  Looking down, Bender could see the moon’s surface, but not the dock where the haulier was resting, with Standish and their assault craft. This was the perfect time for a communications check, he thought to himself, bringing his communicator online, he contacted the ship and got an all clear report. After Reyn, Standish was probably the most trustworthy member of his team. She had never let him down and was the best small craft pilot in the 5th Fleet, which is how she ended up on his team.

  Cutting the comms channel, Bender looked to his right, along the window, and towards the centre of the room. He couldn’t see more than ten metres due to all the bodies that were in his way, but he felt confident that he was on the right track. Finding Big Brother seemed like a foregone conclusion, the tricky part would be having a meaningful discussion with her who it turned out wasn’t a him.

  Reyn continued moving again, taking point and slowly moving among the mass of bodies that had gathered in the large office. Bender noticed that the cloaks they were wearing were a useful addition to their ensemble since they were so dirty from countless missions that they helped the team blend in with the miners, who were almost all wearing their work fatigues.

  After inching forward for several metres, Reyn suddenly stopped and froze. Not wanting to risk using their comms channels, Bender moved past two of the assault team members and walked up behind Reyn, and glanced over his shoulder.

  Looking past his second, he could see a large table occupying a space almost centred on the window, with a large number of miners standing around it, and a single female Fonuvian standing in the middle of the group wearing a simple black jumpsuit with a shaved head that was covered on one side by a large burn mark, and a large medallion around her neck.

  “How do you want to do this?” Reyn asked.

  Bender looked around the room, then back to the female. “Have the team cover me while I go speak to her.” Bender said, and moved around Reyn and started inching towards the woman, who was surrounded by a densely packed throng of onlookers. He knew that this was far from the best time to try and introduce himself, knowing it could lead to a full-on attack from the miners who probably didn’t look too favourably on Alliance forces after what was done to their home-world years ago, but his orders compelled him to move swiftly.

  The closer he moved to the lady in black, the more he had to gently nudge those standing around her out of his way, and he was trying to do so in a manner that didn’t agitate anyone enough to look him in the eye and realize that he wasn’t from the same planet or system they were, and pounce on him.

  When Bender got to within five metres of the woman, he noticed that she had a pistol on her hip, as did several of those standing around her, some of whom looked to be wearing homemade body armour. Clearly, this was an individual worth protecting, furthering Reyn’s belief that this person was indeed the target they were looking for.

  As naturally as possible, Bender crossed his arms, and tapped his comms unit twice, allowing Standish to eavesdrop on all chatter that Bender and the assault team transmitted. If anything kicked off, Bender wouldn’t have to tell her to get ready to dust off, she’d hear it.

  Stopping, Bender turned and looked for Reyn and the other five assaulters who were fanning around the table where the woman was located, trying to look as casual as possible. Reyn was standing in between the desk and the window, gazing out towards the stars.

  Considering the pounding music that was still ringing throughout the room, and the spirits that were flowing, Bender wasn’t overly surprised that he had managed to make it this far undetected, but now that his quarry was just metres away, he was most on edge.

  Standing slightly out of the woman’s line of sight, Bender waited for his time to move and considered his options. He didn’t know how the security detail would react if he approached the woman, even if he were a miner there might have been strict policies on getting too close to Big Brother. He also knew that keeping the miners oblivious to his presence was also crucial to achieving his goals.

  After several moments pondering his options, he decided on the direct approach. “Reyn, Clar. I want you to get in a position behind the security detail. I’m going for a head-to-head engagement.” Bender cut the channel and quickly checked that his two operatives were moving to their positions. The four other members of the team formed a second layer around Reyn and Clar, just in case things went wrong.

  Stepping off from his position, Bender took two steps towards the female before he caught her eyes, which were silver in colour and grew large in terror when she realised what Bender represented.

  Sensing her fear, Bender quickly moved right up to her front and whispered in her ear. “I do not want to hurt you, or any of your people.” He said sharply, then stood back and looked at the security guards who had a panicked look on their faces. Some had their hands moving towards their weapons, others looking unsure of what to do.

  Bringing up his empty hands, Bender took a step back and shook his head at the guards. It helped that Reyn and Clar were standing directly behind them, ready to engage in ultra-violence at the slightest provocation.

  The woman spun around, and spotted the rest of Bender’s team, and then looked back at the individual who had approached her. She didn’t speak, but shifted her gaze to the miners that were standing around her, many of whom appeared completely oblivious to what had just happened, and were continuing to drink and chat among themselves.