Shell Game, page 1
part #15 of The Last Hunter Series
Copyrighted Material
Shell Game Copyright © 2024 by Variant Publications
Book design and layout copyright © 2024 by JN Chaney
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing.
1st Edition
CONTENTS
Don’t Miss Out
Previously on The Last Hunter
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
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PREVIOUSLY ON THE LAST HUNTER
After securing their victory at Faust and defending the world against the Locusts that came for it, Admiral Jack Romanoff and his crew are joined by Derek Calvo and the battleship Aries. Scorpius is heavily damaged, but she can remain there and allow India MacKinnon to look over things while the other two ships set off for New Paris to discover what the Tardans are truly up to.
Lisa has a surprise meeting with Patrick the assassin and the two of them decide to collaborate more closely. Much more closely. He gives her information about what the Poseidon Group is doing on Earth and how a significant number of Locusts is present at DuPont.
When Hunter and Aries arrive at New Paris, they find the world conquered by the Tardans and have the surprise discovery of warships from the Kingdom of Kastelara along for the ride. That leads Lisa and Tina to work behind the scenes to find out exactly what’s going on. Unfortunately, Lisa is captured.
Jack and Amanda work hand in glove with Derek to defeat the Locusts and isolate New Paris from the rest of the Confederation. Securing the system against intrusion by more of the robotic warships proves challenging when they discover the Poseidon Group has been busy building a secret network of gates, one of which terminates right in the system.
Through bravery, courage, and cleverness, they secure the system and head for DuPont. It’s going to be a much different experience there, and fighting won’t going to get them what they need. Only through guile and trickery can they seize everything they require. The future of the Confederation hangs in the balance, and they can’t afford to get it wrong.
1
Admiral Jack Romanoff walked into the briefing room aboard the battleship Delta Orionis and nodded at his officers as they rose to their feet. “Sit back down, and we’ll get started,” he said as he took his own seat. “I’ll try to keep this short because we’ve got a lot of work to do and not much time to make the magic happen.”
He turned his attention to Tina Chen, who was sitting to his left. The Confederation Intelligence operative had been going over the data they’d gathered in the DuPont system, and it was time to find out just how bad the situation truly was.
She cleared her throat. “We have some good news and some bad news. Based on my interactions with other Navy officers over the years, you’ll want to know the bad news first. It seems that the Tardan military has spread its operations all around the asteroid belt where all the mining and manufacturing take place. They don’t truly have a single location that we can say is their central command hub.”
Jack’s flag captain—Vice Admiral Amanda Harris—grimaced from her seat to his right. “That is bad news. How are we going to target them if we don’t really know where they’re operating from? Have we at least been able to identify where the signals controlling the Locusts are originating?”
“Yes and no. There isn’t one single location, but we have identified a dozen places where instructions for ordering the Locusts to do various actions are coming from. They are equidistant from one another and spaced all the way around the asteroid belt. Unfortunately, we believe those are only re-transmission points and not the command post itself. Maybe one of them is, but that would need to be confirmed.”
Jack found himself frowning. “What are the odds that one of them isn’t the command post? I can see them wanting to bounce signals around to the other side of the system so that they can get orders to any of the Locust swarms without having the star get in the way, but they have to have set up shop somewhere. Surely, it’s one of those locations. How difficult would it be to determine which one might be the command post?”
“Difficult. As we previously discussed, Lisa would need to take Specter into the system and orbit between the asteroid belt and the star. She’s been modified with a heat shield made of the anti-sensor hull material and had her life-support system upgraded to provide better protection, but that’s still going to be a difficult operation. The temperatures will be higher than one would normally expect aboard a ship, even with all the changes that have been made. She’d be able to lead the three stealth cutters and twenty-four of the stealth fighters in to provide a guard force, but that’s it. Nothing else we have can get that close to the belt without being detected.”
He found himself nodding. This was all information that he’d previously known, but it never hurt to go over it again. The intelligence gathering mission into DuPont would be difficult since neither of the battleships could get close enough to be of any assistance. The spies would be on their own, while he and his other personnel twiddled their thumbs.
Because of how deep inside the gravity well the asteroid belt sat, and how far out the jump limit was from the blue giant, an outright attack was an impossibility. There were more than enough Locusts in the system to obliterate them if they became trapped in an area where they couldn’t maneuver. Sadly, the belt where all the people lived was close enough to the star that none of their faster-than-light drives would work.
“That’s not a lot of support, but we don’t really have a choice,” he said. “That’s the only reason that I approved this mission in the first place. Let’s take the time to go over what you plan to do and see if we can improve things even more. Since the battleships will be unable to engage the enemy without revealing our presence and blowing our chances of getting the control codes, you have carte blanche. Anything you want or need will be provided so long as you can justify its use. That means equipment and personnel both.”
Tina nodded. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe we’ll be able to complete our operation without putting boots on the ground, so to speak. It’s conceivable that we might be able to isolate a vessel that supposedly has the control codes, but we would need an attack force capable of defeating any guards placed there to keep it safe. Without having as many Marines as you have aboard Hunter to provide an attack force, we’ll have to be sneaky. That doesn’t mean that we couldn’t find a use for some Marines, but the longer we can keep the Tardans from knowing that we’re here, the better.”
“There’s nothing to say that you can’t take some Marines with you,” General Mac Turner said from further down the table. “I know space will be at a premium, but we can at least put a squad with heavy weapons at your disposal. That probably wouldn’t be enough to capture an entire ship, but it would be enough for a smash and grab.”
“There would be enough space aboard Specter, but it would be very crowded,” Lisa Gane said from the other side of the compartment where she was perusing the pastries that had been set up on a small side table. “Even so, we’re not talking about a long-term mission, and I think having them along would be a positive thing. No matter where the Tardans have hidden their command post, it’s going to be heavily guarded. Even if I’m able to play games with their security systems, we’ll need people like the Marines to make this work.”
“I agree,” Tina said. “The first stage of the operation is to try and determine where the central command authority is located. Once we have that information, then begins our infiltration of the area around it. If it’s a Tardan military warship, then we can move to direct operations and attempt to get what we need before they can react. If it’s aboard a station or other larger facility, that becomes more problematic. Ensign Vassen has already agreed to assist us if we need to gather intelligence from the Tardans. Using him has the benefit of them having no choice but to accept that he’s one of them. It’s not like a human would be pretending to be part of their organization. They are the only Tardans here, so by default, he has to be theirs.”
Jack found himself nodding. The young officer was the first Tardan civilian to join the Confederation Navy. He was a symbiote inside a host body exactly like those used by the other Tardans. That wasn’t something that could be faked. That would give the young officer a lot of room to make small mistakes and still get away with the subterfuge.
“I suspect he will be helpful,” Jack agreed. “Are there any other people you think would be beneficial for this operation?”
“Actually, yes. I’d like to borrow a few naval officers and enlisted personnel,” Tina said with a grin. “Starting with you and Derek Calvo.”
Jack found himself blinking. “Me? First of all, how would my presence help you? Second, I’ve got two battleships to oversee. I can’t go traipsing off on an adventure.”
“Do you? There is absolutely nothing that either of the battleships we have with us can do if something goes wrong on this operation. I understand the concern that something could go wrong and you might end up captured or dead, but I’ve got a gut feeling that we’ll need you to convince the humans we’re going to encounter to help us.”
Before he could respond, she held up a hand. “Hear me out. This system was seized by the Poseidon Group before the Tardans took it over. Everything here will be a hot mess, and I believe having you there to help us will garner more assistance from the local population than we might otherwise get. We’re on the clock, Jack. We need to complete this operation as quickly as possible, and that means I need to have all the people who can help me make this happen fast close at hand. The professor will be with us in case we need some of his technological wizardry or piloting, but you and Derek would both fill separate roles in this operation.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Tina. You don’t really need me.”
“But I do. Have you heard of that old saying about being able to bring a horse to water but not being able to make them drink? I have a suspicion that the Tardan military has set up their control area inside one of the larger civilian stations. If so, we’ll need assistance getting into those stations and finding our way around. That means we’ll need to convince people to help us, and you are the best person to help make that happen. Will it be dangerous? Almost certainly. Is there the possibility that you’ll be captured or killed away from your ships? Of course. Even so, it’s time to get your hands dirty, Jack. Besides, you said anybody. I’m calling your bluff.”
He knew that if he even hinted he was willing to go, Amanda would raise a stink. As his flag captain, it was her job to make sure that his ship operated the way it needed to and to tell him when he was stepping out of line. It was inappropriate for a senior flag officer to abandon his command and hare off on a mission like this. The chances that things would go wrong were high, and if he was killed or captured, Derek and Amanda would be forced to conduct the war without his experience.
Not that he thought they would do a bad job if it came to that. They were young, but they’d been fighting this war with him since the very beginning, and they would make a credible showing. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t get in trouble for abandoning his command, though.
He tapped his fingers against the tabletop as he thought. Tina knew this kind of operation better than he did, and if she thought his presence would be helpful, he had to take that into account. The hope was that they could locate where the control codes were being utilized and conduct operations to get them before slipping away. If they escaped in the stealth vessels, the Locusts would be unable to capture them.
Also weighing in on his decision-making was the fact that he’d been more than a little sidelined by being in command of the battleship division. He had once been a ship commander, but now Amanda and Derek filled those roles, and it was his job to control the overall strategic implementation of his plans, and theirs to deal with the tactical elements. It made him feel like he wasn’t contributing as much as he could. He knew that was wrong. Nevertheless, he wanted to get his hands dirty like she’d implied he would.
“Okay. If you say you need me, you have me.”
“Sir!” Amanda said from beside him, her eyes narrowed. “Your duty is on the flag bridge of this ship, guiding the battleship division. If you need to send someone, send Derek and me. You can’t risk yourself because you are in overall command of the defense of the Confederation. You’re too valuable to put yourself in peril in such a fashion.”
He grinned at her. “You’re absolutely right, but I’m doing it anyway. Sadly for you, I outrank you and can make this decision. Derek will be accompanying me since Tina requested his presence, and that will put you in command of the two battleships. I doubt very seriously you’re going to be called into action unless something goes terribly wrong, but I have complete confidence in your ability to do the job.”
“That’s only one part of this operation, sir. What happens if you’re killed? Then it’s going to fall to Derek and me to defend Earth and defeat the entire invasion. We need your guidance.”
“You’re not wrong, but if we don’t get these control codes, we won’t win this war. This is a make-or-break moment, Amanda. We’ll do whatever we have to do to achieve victory, and in this case, it means that Tina needs me inside the DuPont system. I haven’t got the slightest idea of how she’s going to use me, but if she says that my presence is critical to the success of this mission, then I will be there.”
Amanda’s eyes narrowed even further. “Far be it from me to say that you are using this as an opportunity to get back into the field and do something dangerous, sir, even though that’s what I think you’re doing. I think this is a mistake, and I beg you to reconsider.”
He put his fingers to his chin and placed a thoughtful expression on his face. “Reconsideration in progress. Reconsideration complete. I’m going.”
She sighed. “You’re the boss, so I’ll do everything I can to make certain this doesn’t go wrong in a disastrous fashion. How soon will you leave, Tina? I believe there are a few changes I’d like to make to the personnel being sent with you to be sure that you have the absolute best chance of success, and that the admiral is protected.”
“I was hoping to leave in the next few hours, but if you need more time, I’m more than willing to give it to you,” Tina said. “Exactly what do you have in mind?”
“You need more Marines and some other naval personnel that might blend in better with a civilian population. Give me one shift to go through and get a bunch of volunteers, and we’ll make this work. You’re not going to be happy with how crowded your ship is, Lisa, but you’ll be able to offload some personnel on-site. That’s my price for not raising more significant objections to your plan.”
“Done,” Tina said immediately.
“I’m glad to see that you’ve come to an agreement,” Jack said dryly. “I’ll leave everything in your hands and prepare myself for this trip. I believe that I’ve got some civilian clothes in one of my closets. We’ll need to work something up for everyone on this mission. Amanda, Derek, consult with your people and see if you can come up with a selection of clothing that we can take with us that won’t stand out.”
