Lost Galaxy: The Complete Series (Books 1-6) (Complete Series Box Sets), page 48
Maro, Akin, and Phelps returned. They shot scared glances at him while he destroyed the meat and started on the potatoes.
Sweeney rolled in looking serene and windblown. “It’s a beautiful morning out there. I know now why people come out to colonize places like this. I always thought…” He trailed off and his smile evaporated when he saw the rest of the crew. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Bowman won’t tell us,” Akin replied. “You found out who was messing with us, didn’t you, Bowman? You better tell us. We have as much right to know as you do.”
“It was Falkner.” He snarled the words through gritted teeth. Every word stung. “That captured Assailant was transported to Novis on the Hobgoblin.”
“The Hobgoblin?” Sweeney furrowed his brow. “Didn’t you say that was…”
“It’s Falkner’s personal transport vessel. Brigadier Layton told me ZAK and the core processor were the first samples of Pteran technology the Republic ever captured, but that was a lie… or maybe Falkner never told him about the Assailant.”
“Did they test the Assailant?” Phelps asked. “Did they study it the way they studied ZAK?”
“They never studied it. It sat in the lab for a year and half, but it wasn’t a lab then. It was just an empty room. They hid it there and they kept some dead Pterans on ice until they needed them. Then the Hobgoblin transported the whole shooting match to Novis.”
“Why would they do that?” Maro asked. “Why would they drop a captured Assailant and a bunch of dead Pterans on a planet that far into the Long Lane?
“Simple. They did it to make it look like the Pterans set off the explosion.”
“If that’s true…”
Bowman tossed the meat and potatoes into a frying pan and carried everything over to the fire. He cringed when he remembered planning to rescue Falkner from Crystal Towers. That snake must be hiding out somewhere. Duke Falkner was hiding from Bowman. The bastard better hide. Bowman didn’t know what he would do if he ever got his hands on the bastard.
“All of you pack up your stuff. Phelps, you and Akin go out to the Reflex and make sure every repeater we have is loaded and ready for battle.”
Akin and Phelps exchanged glances. “Are we going somewhere? I thought we were supposed to be in hiding.”
“Not anymore. As soon as we have some breakfast, we’re going back out.”
“Will we be coming back?” Maro asked.
“I doubt it.” At that moment, Jusha returned with the water. “Any of you that wants to stay here is welcome to do it. I won’t force any of you to go out against the Republican Guard.”
“The Guard!” Phelps exclaimed. “You want us to go into battle against the Republic Guard? You’re nuts!”
“I know what I saw on that card. Falkner has been screwing with us from day one. It all makes sense now.”
“What makes sense? You haven’t told us anything.”
“He concocted an incident on Novis to frame the Pterans for nearly destroying the whole planet—he and Major General Braden and whoever else is working with them.”
“Are you sure?” Sweeney asked. “That’s one incident.”
“Don’t you get it? He manipulated the tests so he would be able to use ZAK against humans. He could only have done that if he wanted to stage more incidents to make it look like the Pterans were doing things they didn’t.”
“How does that translate to what happened to us?” Phelps asked.
“The Guard on Ludu received an order from an anonymous brigadier to divert and attack us instead of the Pterans. This mystery brigadier diverted the order through an unnamed AI on an uninhabited planet to hide where the order really came from. Does that sound familiar?
No one argued with that.
“Our mystery brigadier told Constable Kirkwood we were armed and dangerous and to shoot to kill. I wouldn’t be surprised if they blame that on the Pterans, too.”
“You still haven’t connected Falkner to us,” Maro pointed out. “Any brigadier could have done that. There are hundreds of brigadiers in the Guard.”
“Don’t you remember how quickly Falkner managed to intervene when we escaped from Alleria that first time? There was no delay between when the Guard moved to intercept us and when Falkner called them off. He had the whole thing planned from the beginning.”
“You’re stretching a little bit, aren’t you?” Phelps asked. “How can you be sure you aren’t reading more into it just because you want to?”
“Do you honestly think I want to think my own brother framed me, threw me in jail, put me on trial for something I didn’t do, and perpetrated atrocities against Republican planets so he could frame the Pterans for something they didn’t do?”
Bowman heard himself yelling. His throat hurt, but the words fell out of him before he could stop them.
He bent over the fire trying to pull himself together. “Think about it. How do you think the Guard made it to our location so fast when we first returned from Pteran space? How could they know we were carrying Pteran technology or that ZAK was on board or that I had these cursed things on?”
He held up his wrists to show the gauntlets. He hated them, but he hated thinking this about Duke Falkner so much more.
“We were in communication with Falkner a few seconds before we crashed. He was the only one who knew we made that transmission and that we were carrying Pteran technology. He was the only one who could have diverted our transmission to Aegus. He was the only one who knew where we were. He had a direct sensor trajectory on our fall. He was the only person who could have scrambled the Guard to our location that fast.” Bowman gulped down stinging bile that burned his throat. “He must have scrambled them before we crashed. That’s the only way they could get to us so fast.”
Another dangerous silence fell over the house. Bowman ached to call those words back, to erase the last few minutes of his life so he never found out who was pulling the strings on him for so long.
Nothing could take it back, though. Nothing could erase his time in the holding cells or his trial before the High Court or the battle on Aegus or the one on Ludu or anything else that happened. Nothing could ever erase those Pteran symbols from his mind. They were permanently imprinted on his memory.
In answer to his thoughts, Onaeki spoke up. “I have detected some anomalies between the Pterans’ history and Republican history, Lieutenant.”
“What are they? Did you find a complete record of the time when Pterans and humans both occupied the Long Lane?”
“I am afraid not, Lieutenant. That record is very incomplete. I am referring to recent history—the last five years, to be specific.”
“What are you talking about?” Phelps asked. “What anomalies?”
“There are fifteen different incidents that the Republic lists as Pteran atrocities against Republican citizens. The Republican records detail Pteran attacks on Republican planets and colonies including many thousands of human deaths. These incidents do not appear in Pteran histories. In fact, the collective shows that Pterans were nowhere in the area at the times listed by the Republic.”
“There you go.” Bowman threw his spoon into the breakfast pan. “That proves it.”
“It proves what, exactly?” Sweeney asked. “How do you know it isn’t the Pterans concocting something that never happened?”
“The Pteran collective has no reason to alter records of attacks on humans,” Onaeki replied. “If the Pteran Fleet attacked and killed those people, our records would show it. We would not cover it up.”
“There are too many strange things happening and they all seem to happen to us,” Bowman went on. “The Hobgoblin transported an inactive Assailant to Novis and planted dead Pterans on it. The Assailant didn’t set off that explosion. The transponder would have shown if it did, which means the Hobgoblin did it instead. They did all that to make it look like the Pterans were the ones who attacked Novis.”
“Do you have any clue what you’re saying?” Phelps croaked. “You’re accusing some of the top Guard brass of…”
She didn’t say what Bowman was accusing the top Guard brass of. Bowman couldn’t think of any laws serious enough to cover this.
Bowman straightened up and faced his friends—his last friends in the world. “Listen. None of you have to leave here. You can stay here and be safe. I won’t hold it against you, but I’m going out there. I’m going after the people who did this. I won’t spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.”
“What will going into battle against the Guard do?” Akin asked. “If you’re right and all these top generals are behind this, they’ll crush us before they let us get anywhere near them.”
“We aren’t going after them. Falkner is gone. I don’t know where he is, but he used his manipulation machine to make himself disappear. We’re going after something a lot more valuable. We’re going to get our friends.”
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Bowman lowered himself into the cellar and opened the window to let the daylight in. He surveyed the dusty shelves and the potato bins.
A huge, steel-strapped trunk rested in one corner. A thick layer of dust covered it and the hinges looked rusty, but the wooden planks were still intact.
He pried it open and lifted out four Republican Guard uniforms. They were as perfectly preserved as when they first entered the trunk.
He carried them upstairs and unfolded them in front of his friends. “These might not fit very well, but they’re better than nothing. Maro, you’re about Nathan’s size. Akin…” He held up Alden’s uniform. “This might be a little tight, but it will have to do.”
She held it up to her body. “I’m not wearing this.”
“Then you can stay behind.” Bowman handed the third uniform to Phelps.
“What about me?” Sweeney asked. “It won’t look right if you show up with anyone not in a uniform.”
“We’re going to restrain you in the blocks. You’ll look perfect as a prisoner.”
“A prisoner!” he shrieked. “You are NOT putting me in the blocks.”
“You are a prisoner, Sweeney,” Phelps told him. “Have you forgotten so quickly?”
“We can’t roll up with someone not in uniform who isn’t restrained. You’re right about that. We’re pretending to be bailiffs. You can pretend to be a prisoner.”
“We’ll release you as soon as we get clear,” Akin told him.
“Or not,” Phelps teased.
Sweeney glared at her. “How about you ride in the restraints and I pretend to be a bailiff?”
“You can’t pretend to be a bailiff,” Bowman told him. “You’re too short. You would never pass the entrance physical to become a constable.”
Maro laughed and choked trying to stifle it when Sweeney bared his teeth at Maro next. “I think I’ll stay behind.”
“Suit yourself.” Bowman picked up one of the repeaters Phelps brought over from the Reflex. He checked the magazine.
“These things are no good,” she told him. “We don’t have enough ammo for them.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
Bowman went down the hall to his brother Cameron’s bedroom where Maro spent the night last night. He flipped up the mattress to reveal several ammunition feeders hidden under the bed.
He dragged them into the living room and started loading the repeaters. Phelps, Akin, and Maro finished getting into their uniforms. They came over and helped him lock the straps into the magazines.
“Remember what I told you,” Bowman ordered. “No one touches a repeater unless you’re pretending to guard the prisoners. Don’t shoot or even threaten anyone unless an all-out fight breaks out and you have to. Understand?”
Jusha sloped over and picked up a repeater. He turned it over in his hands like he was trying to inspect it.
“Do you know how to use one of those?” Bowman asked.
Jusha snapped open the magazine in answer, checked the firing chamber, and then locked a strap into it with expert precision. “I know how to use it.”
“If you really want to come with us, I have to lock you in the restraints, too. I’m sorry, but you would never convince anyone you’re a constable, either.”
To Bowman’s surprise, Jusha only smiled. “I don’t want to be a constable.”
“That’s good because you never will be one. Are you sure you want to come? You aren’t part of this.”
“I am now. I’m coming.”
“How the hell are we supposed to help out when the shooting starts if we’re strapped into the blocks?” Sweeney asked. “We’ll be sitting ducks.”
“You won’t have to help out because the shooting won’t be starting,” Bowman replied. “We’re going to sail in, get our people out of the holding cell, and sail away with no one the wiser. We aren’t going to fight.”
“Then why are we arming up?”
“The jig will definitely be up when they see Onaeki,” Phelps remarked.
“And ZAK,” Akin added.
Bowman started to order everyone out to the Reflex when the front door crashed open. A shaft of sunlight beamed into the shadowy living room as Alden, Cameron, Maverick, and Nathan burst into the house.
The brothers froze when they saw the friends armed to the teeth, dressed in the brothers’ old uniforms. Then they spotted Jusha and finally ZAK and Onaeki.
In one fluid motion, all four brothers drew their sidearms to aim at the two Pterans. Bowman never got a chance to speak before the whole room erupted in gunfire.
Alden fired at the Pterans and the noise signaled the other three brothers to open up, too. Lead smashed into the opposite wall and Onaeki ducked in front of ZAK. Onaeki raised her gauntlets and lasers belched at the brothers.
Bowman dove for Alden and almost got cut in half by his brothers’ repeaters. “Stop! Hold your fire!”
Akin swiveled in front of ZAK and Onaeki. She leveled her repeater and she, Phelps, Sweeney, and Maro all unloaded on the brothers. The room echoed with dozens of shots on both sides.
Nathan and Cameron dove behind the kitchen counter. Phelps and Maro got behind the couch and traded shots with Alden and Maverick who still stood by the door. Sweeney hunkered behind the armchair.
Onaeki didn’t budge. She rotated her gauntlets from one side to the other spurting lasers at the furniture. She would have cut Alden and Maverick in half if she hadn’t been trying to avoid hitting Bowman.
Bowman sprang from Alden one last time and got between his oldest brother and Onaeki. The whole battle hinged on those two.
Bowman grabbed Alden’s arm and knocked the sidearm away. Alden’s elbow hit Maverick and distracted both men.
Alden rounded on Bowman. Bowman resolutely pinned the sidearm down. “Hold your fire!” he roared into his brother’s face. “These are my friends! Hold your fire!”
Alden’s features hardened for a second and then his arm went slack. He stopped struggling to free himself from Bowman’s hold.
Bowman redoubled his efforts. “Don’t shoot! Hold your fire!”
His order finally made it through to his other three brothers. Bowman held out his hand to his crew. “Put down your weapons! Don’t shoot!”
The room went deathly still, but no one put down their weapons. The Reflex crew held the brothers at gunpoint while the four brothers pointed their sidearms at the crew, especially Onaeki, who aimed her gauntlets back at them.
Bowman forced himself in front of Alden’s weapon. “She’s with me. Don’t shoot!” He grabbed ZAK and Onaeki and shoved them toward the door, but he had to push them past his brothers to get them there. “They’re with me, boys. They’re on our side.”
None of his brothers relaxed. They pointed their sidearms in the Pterans’ face, but at least they didn’t shoot or try to stop them from leaving the house.
“We were just leaving.” Bowman waved to his crew and propelled the two Pterans outside. “Get out of here, all of you.”
Akin picked up her feeder in one beefy hand. She shouldered her repeater and advanced on the four brothers with such a ferocious glare that none of them tried to stop her, either.
Alden and Maverick stepped aside to let her through. With ZAK and Onaeki out of sight, the brothers lowered their weapons to let Phelps, Maro, and Sweeney leave, too.
The brothers shrank away from Jusha and, at last, Bowman remained alone with his brothers.
“What the hell are you doing with those things, Jack?” Alden demanded. “How dare you bring them into our house after what we went through in the Guard?”
“I know, I know. I never meant for you to know they were here.”
“So you were going to hide them from us? You took advantage of our hospitality and brought them in here behind our backs.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Bowman began. “I was going to tell you, but you left us alone here. I thought we would leave before you came back.”
“You’re damn lucky we were the ones who came back first,” Cameron interjected. “What if one of our wives or children walked in and saw them in our house? Those things could have attacked…”
“They wouldn’t have attacked. They’re helping us…”
“Help us!” Alden snapped. “You have as much reason to hate the Pterans as we do.”
“I know that.” Bowman didn’t tell them he had more reason to hate the Pterans. None of his brothers knew about his experience in Pteran space. He didn’t want them to know.
“I’m disappointed in you, Jack,” Alden went on. “I thought you were more responsible than that.”
Bowman stiffened. “Well, maybe you’ll see how responsible I am when I finish what I started.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nathan asked.
“Nothing. We’re leaving now. We won’t intrude on your hospitality anymore. Have a nice life.”
Bowman shoved between his brothers and strode out into the sunshine. He didn’t need his own family questioning his decisions. He put up with too much heinous shit in the last two months. He was all done playing games.
