The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (e novels to read online TXT) 📗

very thing the Unification Guard has never done in a thousand years, Admiral. We surrender.”

“No. Not that.”

“If they were unwilling to show us mercy, they would have fired. We talk. We buy time. We live to fight another day.”

She pounded the dais. “Cudfrucker! Fine. Col. Johansson, open external comms.”

*

Aldo Cabrise knew the configuration he wanted, but convincing Salvation’s Admiral Kane proved difficult. Kane did not want to commit three of their four armed Scramjets to a single target, choosing instead to dispatch two to the planet’s surface to engage the invaders.

Aldo expressed the delicate nature of his operation.

“You want to win this thing, Kane? Wrap it in a bow to make it last forever? You need their command staff. I’ll get them for you. Just bring your girl along for show. It will work.”

Aldo stood next to Sgt. Dax as their Scramjet emerged portside of the Praxis stern. After eight trips through Slope, he handled the experience with more steel. Plus, his stomach was empty.

“And now?” Dax said.

“Patience, young lady. This should not take long. Hmmph. Speaking of long, I’ve been wondering about you immortals. Will you look the same forever? Or will you grow older? I’d hate to spend an eternity being in a body like mine.”

“We don’t ask questions like that. Immortality is not guaranteed.”

“Really? I thought that was the whole point.”

“If they fire on us, old man, and blow up the ship, does it matter?”

“Not to worry. Praxis has no offensive weapons.”

Sgt. Dax rolled her eyes. “They told me you were a fleet admiral.”

“I was. Orbiting Hiebimini, no less.”

“You mean Aeterna. Tell me, do you think of us as terrorists?”

“By definition, you are.”

“But who is attacking our home right at this moment?”

Aldo chuckled. “Eh. Young people.”

Dax threw out a holowindow.

“They’ve opened an external commlink.”

“Excellent. Can we achieve visual?”

“Coming through now.”

Aldo took one gander at the command bridge and was not nearly as shocked as the people gawking at him.

“Cabrise?”

Forsythe and Poussard spoke in unison.

“Well, how about this?” Aldo said. “They sent a Supreme. I asked for one of you lot thirty-eight years ago when this planet fell. Hmmph. I should have known this wasn’t your idea, Forsythe. You have a nugget of morality. You wouldn’t have stranded forty-three people in that mountain unless she told you otherwise.”

“Cabrise,” Poussard said. “I don’t know how you pulled this off. But you have betrayed fifty years of service in the Guard. You will die for this.”

“Actually, Supreme Admiral, I had forty-nine and a half years, a few of which I enjoyed. Let’s chase the bottom line, shall we? You opened a comm to surrender. Your next tactic is to buy time. Nope.”

He turned to Sgt. Dax. “Ready?” She nodded. “If you have anyone in the landing bay, I suggest you evacuate. In sixty seconds, it’s going to be reconfigured.”

He crossed his arms and waited. Poussard resisted, but even she wasn’t a fool. She ordered the evacuation.

After a minute, Aldo turned to Dax.

“Fire. Single slew.”

A hole opened along the portside underbelly, where shuttles and Scramjets used to land. Debris jettisoned into space.

“So much for the Anchor,” Aldo told Poussard. “The Scramjet to your starboard has a lock on life support and antigrav. I don’t want to go there, Admiral.”

“What do you want, Cabrise?”

“First, I accept your surrender. Second, I think we should talk. There’s a big beautiful liner waiting off your bow. From the diagnostics I’m seeing, you shouldn’t need more than six or seven escape pods. Oh, and leave your weapons behind. Remember, you surrendered.”

“I never said anything of the sort.”

“That’s OK, Poussard. It’s understood.”

“Why, Cabrise? Why work for these monsters?”

Aldo shared a smile with Sgt. Dax.

“Poussard, I’m not working for them. I’m doing it to save that planet. We didn’t deserve it the first time we destroyed it. I’ll be cudfrucked if the Chancellory gets a second go-round. That planet is a miracle. It’s a paradise. Nope. Not anymore. This time, the Admiralty is going to listen to Aldo Cabrise.”

He told Dax to cut the connection.

“So much for my fifty-year medal of service.”

71

B ODIES LITTERED THE CITY, none wearing black armor. Most were Guard soldiers who penetrated the lines but never had much of a chance. Others, mangled and burned, fell from the sky along with their decimated attack ships. Parts burned, metal twisted in flaming heaps, and liquid Carbedyne created a noxious stench. However, the city’s brontinium structures held firm, barely scarred.

Michael came across two soldiers alive and groaning, their bodies held together by Guard synthetics but little more. He wore the same uniform until a few hours ago. Took an oath. Killed for the Chancellory. If these soldiers asked why, would he say it was all for love? Would they believe him? Would he believe it himself? Michael didn’t hate them, but they were suffering, so he put them down.

Five blocks toward his destination, Michael ran into carnage of a different kind. Residents of JaRa lay dead, their bodies riddled by flash pegs. They seemed familiar, despite the deep wounds. He walked around, took a closer look.

Of course. They were the hybrids who assisted Rayna on stage, who cut an incision into each of her baby daughters.

“What happened here?”

He remembered when they left the stage, they carried the babies away wrapped in cloths. The invasion started soon thereafter. Perhaps they ran afoul of the Guard?

“Oh, shit.”

He looked up the side street facing north. One soldier in Guard red and gray was slumped over. A tiny huddled mass lay at his feet.

No. Let it be. You’re going after James. Don’t lose focus.

Yet instinct drove him forward. There was more here than a grotesque distraction.

Up close, he saw the