Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit Read online

  The three of them wore civilian clothes; local garments that helped them blend in well enough, and various mutual treaties allowed them to carry their SSKs concealed in their jackets. Though the indigenous people were humanoid like the Confed crewmembers, they were much taller and had two elbow joints in their arms. Enough humanoids from other planets lived or visited Reshing that the Confeds didn't completely jump out of a crowd, but they weren't going to pass for locals, either.

  "Alright," Loren said, taking control of the situation as they strolled down a walkway that was only lightly populated with other pedestrians. He'd been given a lot of material by the admiral, and not all of it was at a clearance level that Cory and Merritt were allowed to see, so he had to brief them personally on some matters. "The first stop on Admiral Bak's scavenger hunt from Hell is the library downtown. We're looking for old records, materials that were intentionally put on paper or transparent parchment."

  "Why would anyone do that?" asked Merritt.

  "Because," Loren continued, "supposedly during the last Priman war, everyone became so distrusting of their technology that extremely sensitive documents were transcribed by hand so no data system would contain them and thus lead to a possible breach. All that old stuff was just a novelty for hundreds of years, and was supposedly lost in several different reorganizations of the place. But the fact was that this planet, and most likely this library, was probably one of the main repositories of information about the final days of the conflict. So the admiral figures even if we don't find anything at first- and let's face it, people have probably been here before us- if we poke around long enough we might get somebody's attention."

  "So, we're hoping people take an interest in us?" Cory asked slowly, looking not entirely thrilled by the prospect.

  "Yes, yes we are," replied Loren with a smile.

  The library was a study in contrasts. The new, modern section which the three entered was all polished stone and reflective glass, modern and trendy, with lots of wide open spaces and natural light. After wandering around for a while, they found the older sections buried far inside the complex, no longer a centerpiece as attention was focused on the modern portions, with their top-of-the-line holographic librarian interfaces and workstations.

  The older portions of the building were much more ornate and decorative, with heavy, dark woods and intricate stonework. It represented the design style of the times, a nostalgia movement that had seen the resurgence of deep craftsmanship and the use of traditional materials. They walked past rows of old fashioned books, large tables with warm light emanating from lamps on their surfaces. Loren counted only two other people they'd seen since they'd left the newer part of the building, which suited him just fine.

  Eventually they entered a large and open space. It was three stories tall, with balconies surrounding the open area on each of the upper two floors. More bookshelves, data pad storage and reading tables were scattered amongst the upper levels. An immense skylight took up most of the ceiling, the semi-opaque windows yellowed with age. It let in a warm, comforting light that immediately put Loren at ease. This was the kind of place he could just sit down and relax and simply forget that there was a war raging across the galaxy.

  "So what do we do," prompted Cory, "just start picking books and data pads off shelves?"

  "I wouldn't advise that," called a voice from among the bookcases. They heard footsteps after that, and soon afterwards a trim human male somewhere late in middle age stepped energetically out into the large open space where Loren and the others were standing. If ever Loren had seen someone live up to the stereotype of library curator, this man fit the bill. He wore a close-trimmed beard, dark slacks with a white long sleeve shirt and matching dark vest. He wore wire rimmed eyeglasses that Loren assumed were an affectation, since virtually everyone could have their vision corrected by simple nanobot treatments. Perhaps he was mildly technophobic, as well, which might explain his residence in the more ancient part of the building. "There are so many topics to choose from, many of which are not available in the newer parts of the building. Could I help you in selecting something?" the man asked.

  Loren, Cory and Merritt were caught mildly off-guard. Loren had assumed they'd just be ignored and could explore on their own, but he decided to wing it.

  "Well," Loren began, "we're in town for a little bit and I love history. Local, galactic, military history as well because let's be honest: the most pivotal times in history usually happen during conflict."

  The librarian nodded patiently, waiting for Loren to offer a request. "So," Loren continued, "I thought I'd stop by and force my friends here to help me look up whatever we could find on the last big Priman war."

  "Just specifically that?" the man asked. "No other interesting times in our planet's history? I've lived here my whole life and can tell you that there was a very interesting independence movement about forty years ago during which we fought with the next system over when they decided we should both unite under one rule."

  "Well," Loren demurred, "current events and all that. I'm just curious how they got beaten back the first time. I'm sure lots of people have looked around over the years, but I'm sure I'll come across something interesting while we're here."

  The librarian studied Loren for a minute, then looked at Cory and Merritt. "And do you two have any specific interests?"

  "My husband has something of a foot fetish," Cory said with a straight face, "so I think we'll just help our friend out and conduct our own research later."

  The librarian turned back to Loren without missing a beat. "I'll go get some of the materials you're probably interested in looking through." He started to leave, and then glanced back at Cory. "And you'll be happy to know that we do have extensive files on your topic as well. You might want to consider spending some time at one of the data terminals while I head downstairs."

  Web munched absently at the meal in front of him, lost in thought and trying his best to tune out the ship around him. The days onboard had dragged, and if this was what being a super-secret SAR operative was like then the brochures had completely lied to him. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Halley since their brief lunch at the station where she arrived onboard. He had nodded to her a couple times in the corridors and she had bumped into him in a lift once, but their cover required them to act as strangers. That was all kinds of not-fun to Web.

  So now, they were finally on the way, a day and a half out of their last port and due in the Callidor system within the next twenty-four hours. The Solar Venturer had completed its most recent port visit, swapping out over half their cargo pods and running at virtually max tonnage to satisfy the requests of the Primans in control of the blockaded Callidor system. Even though the company was hauling the items dictated by the Primans, the prices were good and margins were high, and even with the time the company would lose during all the extra inspections and impound procedures, it was still worth it.

  Web felt a subtle surge as the ship made a course correction in hyperspace. Even with the most powerful computers intelligent beings were allowed to use, calculating course changes while operating well beyond the speed of light was a tricky matter, and adjustments were limited to a handful of degrees on any axis while in hyper. It took a real mechanical nut to feel the change, and Web figured Loren was the only other person he knew that would have noticed.

  He pushed around the cooling remnants of his lunch, unconsciously sorting them by degree of likelihood that he would finish the various food items on the worn metal serving tray. The food was actually better than he'd expected, and he was about to take one last bite of a stewed steak when the ship lurched and his stomach dropped down to the decking. A wave of nausea flashed through him as the ship shuddered and screeched, emitting a tortured wail right through its keel.

  Web shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, grabbing onto the edges of the table and willing the disorientation away. He heard several crew in the mess hall throw up their just-eaten meal, and as the nau
sea passed a new uneasy feeling took hold. The only reason for the ship's behavior was an uncommanded, involuntary reversion to realspace. That meant either the engines had suffered a catastrophic failure or the Venturer had been purposely pulled out of hyper. The engines were in great shape; he'd hacked into the ship's diagnostics and could verify that himself. That only left one thing.

  He got up and staggered over to the small pair of viewports in the forward bulkhead. Web craned his neck, twisting his head around and pressing his face to the transparent armor of the viewport in order to scan local space.

  And, finally, the culprit came into view. It was not one ship, but three that he could see. Two smaller, corvette sized ships accompanying a huge cargo ship much like the Solar Venturer. There were no hull markings, no running lights. What Web did notice, though, were the single barrel military-grade laser batteries that each of the corvettes sported a pair of. And they were all training on the Venturer.

  "Oh hell," he muttered as he rested his forehead against the viewport. "Can't anything just go easy for me?"

  Loren, Merritt and Cory had spent hours poring over all the old records the librarian had brought to them. He'd disappear for a half hour at a time, then arrive with another armload of books, manuscripts, data pads, and access links to the more modern archives the library had to offer. Getting through it was slow going and tedious, the simple volume of data making it hard to know what was important and what was irrelevant.

  The librarian returned with only a few data pads this time. "Sorry to say," he began, "but I'm running out of places to look." He set the pads down in front of Loren, who looked up wearily. He leaned back and rubbed his eyes, then scrubbed his face with his hands.

  "That's good, right?" Loren asked. "You dug up everything that's left. Thank you."

  The librarian simply nodded. He made as if to turn, then seemed to change his mind. "Would you mind if I sat down for a minute?" he asked politely.

  "We're boring company," Loren said with a fatigued grin, "but stay as long as you'd like." He gestured to the several open seats on the opposite side of the table from where he was sitting, and the librarian chose one and sat down.

  "I never introduced myself, which is quite rude," the librarian began with a dour face. "My name is Elir, and I've worked here for almost twenty years. We don't get many people doing Priman research around here, even with the war on."

  Loren marked his place in the book of star charts he was studying and put his hands on the table. "I'm Loren, this is Cory and Merritt," he said as he pointed to his fellow officers.

  "If you're not from Reshing, might I ask where you are from?"

  "I'm from Toral, Cory's from Lavarra, and Merritt..." Loren drifted off as he tried to describe Merritt's early life mining asteroids with his parent's company. "Well, he's from deep space."

  Elir just looked at Merritt quizzically.

  "I sprung forth," Merritt began theatrically, "fully clothed and grown from the cold heart of a dead star and immediately began to exact my vengeance upon the universe." Elir continued to stare at Merritt, who finally just shrugged. "My parents owned a mobile asteroid mining complex."

  "Ah," said Elir as he nodded, as if that explained everything, and stood up. "If you're all set for a while, I'll take my leave and see to my other chores. I'll check in a bit later, and if you need me you can always find me by heading to the large common area where we first met."

  "I think we're growing on him," said Cory optimistically.

  CHAPTER 5

  "I have new directives from the Primans," said Enric Shae neutrally as he sat down in front of Senator Zek Dennix's desk. The Senator groaned softly, then leaned back in his chair and waved for Shae to continue as his chair made seemingly the same anguished sound. Perhaps in sympathy to his plight? Not even my chair is on my side anymore, the senator thought sourly.

  It was late at night, as were most all of their more clandestine planning sessions. Even though the capitol city never really slept, there were times long after darkness fell, when all of Dennix's office staff was gone and the lights were turned down, when it felt more appropriate to be discussing things of this nature.

  "The Primans want an engagement between the loyal Confed forces and the Secessionists," Shae continued. He placed a small data cube on the polished and empty surface of the huge desk. Dennix just kept looking at Shae, who continued. "They know that despite the animosity between the two sides of the civil war-"

  "It's not a civil war!" Dennix interrupted forcefully. "It's a policy dispute, and don't you forget to call it that when the press asks." Though Dennix still held sway over most of the media outlets, there was the occasional journalist who'd manage to sneak into a presser and start asking awkward questions before they could be removed.

  "Of course," Shae continued easily, "the policy dispute. They are a bit upset that there have been no major developments. They expected disarray, fighting and the associated loss of personnel and equipment which would aid in their goals, which, incidentally, aids in your goal of staying in power." Shae reached forward and plucked the data cube from the desk's surface. "On here is our latest directive, sent from the Commander's staff personally. It was in one of the usual places where I receive my dead-drops from them."

  "Assume I'll watch it later and give me the first page of the brief," commanded Dennix, growing more annoyed by the day at the amount of authority Enric Shae seemed to think he had and the apparent validity those thoughts were given by their Priman handlers.

  "There's a Secessionist outpost relatively close to Talaran space, where both sides of Confed and the Talaran's borders all converge. They want that outpost destroyed in order to reduce the possibility of supply line raids from forces using that location as a staging area." Shae paused for a second, as if the next bit actually had some sort of effect on him instead of his usual cold and emotionless demeanor. "They want a decisive engagement, Senator. They want us to engage the Secessionists, and only one side of this is expected to come out the back end of the fight."

  Dennix just glowered even more, something Shae hadn't thought possible. "We knew they were just eating this up; Confed breaking apart under those traitors who don't want to follow the rules of their legitimate government," Dennix said darkly. "But I expected that this dispute alone was enough to suit their purpose; keep Confed distracted from Priman matters, and eventually we'd sort it out ourselves. Then the Primans come back, we settle the war for good, I stay in charge of what we have left, and everybody moves on with their lives. People should be dancing in the streets that the Primans would leave us alone to be independent under my committee, but instead a sizable chunk of Confed turned their backs on us."

  Dennix looked up at Shae, finally regaining a little bit of spark after the venting.

  "So, what's supposed to make this engagement any different than the rest? The navies always try their best to stay away from each other."

  Shae shifted in his seat again, something still clawing at him in a way that made Dennix nervous.

  "They want me to go with our naval forces," Enric began, "as an observer, a guarantee that they can't just return and say conditions weren't favorable for a fight. Your official representative, to make sure your orders get carried out."

  Loren, Merritt and Cory spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the library until they were informed by Elir that the building was closing. By the time the trio returned to Avenger, Captain Elco had already left for the surface and a small formal dinner with some of the Reshing government's diplomats, to be followed by a personal briefing on everything Confed was willing to share on the Priman invasion and efforts to stop them.

  They'd returned the next day to find Elir waiting for them, piles of materials sorted into categories for them to start working on. Though they'd discovered a great many interesting facts, none of them were truly mind-shattering or information that they didn't already know in some form. Still, it gave them a few new insights and Loren felt the time h
ad been well spent.

  After saying their goodbyes, they'd returned to Avenger and Captain Elco had ordered the ship off to its next stop on their itinerary.

  Far out in the Reshing system, a small force of three Priman ships waited, powered to their lowest reactor settings and simply watching, waiting. While Captain Vol would have loved to bring a task force of a dozen ships, the Priman operational plan didn't include war in this particular part of the galaxy yet, and so they were keeping their forces small in order to try and stay off the grid until the time was right; no need to bring anyone into the fight against them early.

  They saw Avenger break orbit and head off on the vector of the next system on their list. An hour later, after playing by the rules and slowly clearing all traffic lanes and gravity wells, the Confed ship dashed into hyperspace.

  Aboard the Priman cruiser Vigilance, a new-build vessel with integrated torpedo tubes, Captain Vol smiled at Representative Ravine. "It appears our intel is accurate, Representative," he said darkly.

  Ravine smiled in return. "I believe it's time to put your plan into action then."

  Captain Vol turned to his navigator. "Set course for the Carada Monarchy." He shifted in his chair to talk to Ravine. "We'll let them land on the Kingdom's capital planet, and when they leave we'll be on their exit vector. That will give us maximum time to get our own work done; we'll have much less risk of the local forces blundering into us if we engage when Avenger is leaving the system."

  "I look forward to it."

  "All hands, to your stations," Web heard the captain's voice over the ship's intercom. "We've been pulled out of hyper by pirates who are maneuvering to board. Stand by ship's weapons."