Please read forgivingly (and if you have the time corrections are welcomed).
It
was long miles and when the only noise from the forest had been the
quiet of nature for so long that Se-se dared to allow an exhausted
Charlie to slow to a trot and finally a walk giving Se-se a chance to
think. Only after hearing no shooting for even longer did she dare to
take stock.
For
a start the ships that appeared earlier in the day she knew were not
scheduled. That was why a lot of the colonists had headed into town
to find out what was going on just like her Uncle had, they were
expected to converge there if ever anything unexpected occurred. They
had to work together because there were so few of them. The shooting
had been multiple weapons, not just the odd ones, so there had been a
major battle going on. This meant an off world invasion, but who
would want a small agricultural world in an uncontested part of
space? It made no sense to Se-se, there was no logic to attacking her
home, or at least no logic she could see. They had no money and there
were so few precious minerals they were unlikely to be targeted by
pirates, it was not as if they were in a strategic location either
and with the number of regular military training exercises held in
their forests they were so rarely undefended. This was one of the
first times in months there was not a Naval transport in orbit. Was
that too much of a coincidence? But it still did not explain why.
Then
there was Uncle Joe, Se-se knew he could look after himself, he was
ex-military it was how he and Tam had met, and he was well liked by
the other colonists, but he had come back to the farm alone dying of
his wounds. She let the tears roll down her cheeks as she thought it
all through. Her Uncle had been so concerned about her, that people
were coming for her and Aunt Tam had reacted in just the same way.
They had both automatically considered her safety first and only,
there had been no thought to the other colonists. Perhaps it was
instinctive to protect your own, but surely the fact everyone was
being attacked meant there was no special reason to protect any one
person and certainly not her.
She
was so tempted to turn round, to stand by her Aunt and face whoever
had appeared, but her Uncle and Aunt set great store by following
orders, something Castleman drummed into all the children as well.
She would go to the camping spot, but she did not have to like it and
she would not like all that time alone not knowing what was going on.
Chapter
2
Se-se
was setting up camp when the early morning reports arrived in the
Imperial Palace halls at the heart of the Empire of a disturbance on
one of the outer colonies. There had been no contact for two days,
which by itself was nothing to worry about and only a routine
observation. They would have to be out of contact for at least two
weeks before anyone would worry, it was no use jumping every time a
transmitter broke down.
It
should have been nothing to worry about but as a routine, as with all
discrepancies regarding the colony worlds, it was added to the list
of items that were told in the daily reports to the Emperor and
Empress as they sat on their thrones at the start of the day. They
liked to be told all the things that were going on in their Empire
and whether important or inconsequential they took an interest.
“If
we tell His Majesty this in the daily briefing we'll be sent to the
Berrow Tower.” Sir Sanji was one of the Emperor's chief advisors
and he routinely scanned through the reports first thing in the
morning so he knew what his Emperor would want from him before he was
asked. His prepared attitude kept him ahead of the game but now it
was keeping him out of the feared Tower prison historically reserved
for traitors and heretics.
“Flu
isn't a reason to lose your head, we'll send out a contagion team and
make sure it's got the best Doctors on it, the Emperor won't get too
stressed about it.” General Jameson had only seen the first few
lines of text. He had had a late night and was still nursing the
morning tea that was his breakfast in this unexpected early meeting.
“There's
already a vaccine on the way but that's not the problem, the problem
is it's happened at exactly the same time as Jacob 6 has gone out of
contact.”
“What?”
Jameson was fully awake in an instant.
“It's
being put down to a broken transmitter at the moment but the chances
of that are quite slim.”
The
other man at the table sat forward, his expression sombre.
“Especially when we don't have anyone on exercise there at
present.”
Jameson
grabbed the small communication pad on his belt. “I want a priority
link to Colonel Castleman, Jacob 6, right now.” he ordered.
“I've
already tried.” Sanji shook his head. “They couldn't make a
connection.”
“Could
it be a coincidence? You know what these colonies are like, they'll
strip a transmitter for parts if they need them for a harvest.” the
other General tried for a slim chance, he did not want a crisis like
that.
“Castleman
would never let it happen. A breakdown maybe, but at the same time as
a contagion outbreak on Abress? Are we sure it's flu?” As much as
Jameson hated to ask the question it was important. Even as he asked
he did not take his eyes off his communication pad and the flashing
timer on the screen.
“That's
the intelligence we have, it's being double checked but I won't have
an answer for several hours.”
“We
need a retrieval team sent out.” Jameson stopped himself swearing
as his pad blinked up a message telling him the connection had
failed. “Send them all out.”
“All
of them?” General Boyse was all for not taking chances but he did
not want an over reaction when they still did not know if there
really was a problem. “But the others are-”
“If
we don't react now and we lose one of them because of it I'll never
be able to look the Emperor in the eye again. We have to act.”
“It
will take the retrieval team a week to get to Jacob 6.” If Jameson
was serious about it Boyse would go with it and let the more senior
General take responsibility.
“A
week?”
“We're
completely unprepared and there is no one in that sector with the
clearance to act as an impromptu retriever.”
“There
has to be someone closer.” Jameson growled in his frustration. They
had to get to the people on those planets as soon as humanly possible
or suffer the very personal wrath of the Emperor. “I can't believe
we've been suckered into being this unprepared, it's ridiculous.”
Sanji
looked down at his datapad. He at least had been prepared but he was
not going to admit to it. “There are some Marines on Jacob 8.”
“Ordinary
marines? Can we trust them with something this important?” Boyse
was not convinced it was a good idea.
“Can
we afford not to?” Jameson was torn between getting the job done as
quickly as possible and potentially compromising the highest security
retrieval of them all. Only a handful of people knew which planets
held their highest level VIPs and it had be kept that way. “Who's
the OC?”
Sanji
consulted his pad again. “The officer in charge is one Captain
Chase.”
“Chase?”
the name gained a frown. “Why do I recognise that?” Jameson was
rapidly back on his pad and going through the personnel records. He
should not have been able to access the records of the Marine Corps
but anyone who had had anything to do with the Imperial Guards for
any reason was kept in their own records and the name had to have
caught his attention for some reason.
Sanji
kept quiet. He knew the reason the name was familiar and it was
precisely why he had hinted to the right person very quietly that
while no one was on Jacob 6 training in the jungles of the other
habitable planet in the system would be a perfect place for some
marines to go on exercise. Being the Emperor's senior advisor was
about more than just telling him what was happening, it was about
knowing what was going to happen and dealing with it before the
Emperor had to know. He may have missed that the VIPs were going to
be placed at risk and that was a major failing, but he had not left
them completely defenceless.
“Ah,”
Jameson sat back. He had just got the answer, finding the personnel
file almost immediately and it made him feel much better. “Send
those marines. Get them planet side and do it immediately. And pray
it's a false alarm.”
FraidyKat Runs - for mysteries
FraidyKat Runs - for mysteries
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