Starship Conquistador (Conquest of Stars Book 1) Read online

  Remus told him all the details from the laser attack to the orbital space resort.

  “What do you know about an invisible shield that can deflect laser bolts?” Remus asked.

  “Before hearing your story, I would have denied even the possibility of one,” Jag said.

  “Starfirians have it,” Remus said.

  “Starfirians are far ahead of us,” Jag said.

  “But you know what that means, don’t you?” Remus said, “The assassin was a Nestorian. I would not have necessarily believed the Starfirians because I wouldn’t put it beyond them to lie as to the identity of the killer to avoid embarrassment and diplomatic crises. But a Starfirian hitman would have known about the shield.”

  “I am glad it was one of ours then,” Jag said.

  “So am I. But that means whoever was behind it is here. Maybe even on this planet,” Remus said.

  “We should go to the police,” Jag said.

  “Jag, weren’t you a detective with the Nestor Police Department before joining the Nestorian Republican Guard?” Remus asked.

  “For eleven years I was a detective and a good one too,” Jag said, “I still have many sharp detective friends. That is why we should go to the police.”

  “No, I would like you to investigate this for me, personally and discretely,” Remus said.

  “I will do it, but please tell me why?” Jag asked.

  “Whoever sent the assassin doesn’t know that he died during the attempt,” Remus, “When they realize that I have returned, they won’t know what happened. If I play it calm and pretend my trip was placid they will suspect that their man took the money and disappeared.”

  “Brilliant thinking,” Jag said, “Foolish of me as a detective not to think of it.”

  “You were overwhelmed with the news,” Remus said.

  “Yes, momentarily, now I am thinking clear again,” Jag said, “We need the culprits to remain in the dark and keep their guard down. If you go to the police and it gets in the news then they could go underground or maybe leave the country altogether and escape into deep space.”

  “That is why you must do it,” Remus said, “As vice-chancellor I will give you the authorization codes to access any state databases and as a capitan in the republican guard you already have the jurisdiction to investigate crimes.”

  As they were talking their airship arrived in front of a large, enclosed metallic dome that was the headquarters of battleship command. Jag signaled the code for vice-chancellor and this opened a door near the top of the dome. He flew the airship inside and hovered down to the ground. It was a circular port large enough to accommodate half a dozen similar sized airships. Soldiers stood at the entrance of the single corridor in this section.

  “Where do you intend to start first?” Remus asked.

  “I will need to think this through,” Jag said, “But the first step is to get a list of all the persons who knew about your trip. Get me those authorization codes.”

  “Will do,” Remus said and opened the door. He walked out of the airship and approached the corridor and handed his metallic identification card to the soldiers who saluted him and stood aside. Jag raised his ship in the air and exited the dome.

  Chapter 7: Speech

  “How was the trip?” General Bakus greeted Vice-Chancellor Remus in the central command room.

  “Uneventful,” Remus replied, “listen general, I need to talk to you in private. Do you have a quiet room?”

  “Many,” Bakus said, “But let’s put that off for now?”

  “Why?”

  “You made it back just in time to hear the speech of our good friend Senator Solus Varus. His followers are holding a large protest outside the senate and he is about to go on the podium with the live image being broadcast to all sixty planets of the republic.”

  “What is he going to rant about now?” Remus asked.

  “Your trip. Or rather the purpose of it,” Bakus said, “Didn’t you hear, the news has leaked.”

  “How?” Remus froze on the spot.

  “If I find out who there is going to be my boot stamp on the leaker’s chest,” Bakus said, “But let’s see what the ‘peoples senator’ Mr. Varus has to stay.”

  Remus walked over to Bakus who was looking at the big screen on top of the spherical wall that was beaming a live picture from the vast grounds outside the senate. The podium was set up but empty and Solus wasn’t yet in sight. Remus looked around the command room. It was a large spherical room that could have easily been divided into five floors. Indeed, there were five stages of chairs, tables and computers arranged in a circle in a cake like pattern with each successive floor a larger circle than the one above and the officers descended in rank downward. General Bakus and his innermost circle were on the top and Remus was here with them. The entire wall was covered with assorted displays that flashed alerts, beeps, numbers, images, charts, space maps etc. in different digital lights.

  Remus could make out the screens which showed images of the thirty plus battleships spread across the Nestorian Republic’s space, but rest of the displays were akin to an alien language. While he was looking behind, he heard claps and shouts and turned around to face the big screen and saw Senator Solus walk over to the podium. The crowd outside of senate went jubilant and he felt a knot in his stomach. These were his own people, people of Nestor, and they had never cheered for him like this. But he knew that his people quietly respected him far more.

  He heard hisses and boos from the officers managing the command room. The officer class had never liked Solus and he was glad to be watching the speech with them.

  “The People of the Nestorian Republic,” Solus began by lifting his hand, “your senator, people’s senator is here to speak today of a grave danger that faces our republic. I have been informed that Vice-Chancellor Remus has just returned from a secret trip to Starfire Empire and he has invoked the protection treaty.”

  The crowd did not react to this announcement. Remus was not surprised because most of them were not born when the treaty was signed and hadn’t lived through the acrimonious debate surrounding its passage in the senate.

  “But don’t let the word ‘protection’ fool you,” Solus said, “The Starfire Empire intimidated our senate into signing this treaty and now they will be sending the Imperial Starfleet into our space. But don’t blame your Senator Remus for this. He was just the messenger, a pigeon of Chancellor Augus whose orders he has to follow.”

  Remus clenched his fist in anger and Bakus laughed derisively, “nerve of Mr. Varus.”

  “The Starfirians have been invited. They are not a Republic, they are an Aristocracy,” Solus said, “They want us to have a king, a king who will serve the interest of the rich, the powerful and the officers. Starfirians must be told to return. We must firmly tell our government to cancel the protection treaty. To cut off ties to an elitist state where a small minority rules. Starfire fleet must not enter our space.”

  The crowd cheered madly and Remus looked at Bakus.

  “Is the news of the battle still a secret?” He asked.

  “No, but our ever an optimist war minister Horus Bors has been telling the people what a victory we won,” Bakus said, “even many senators think that we fought some space bandits. You should have dealt with him before you left. He can give me orders in your absence, you know?”

  “What orders did he give you?” Remus asked.

  “To not demoralize the people by giving a pessimistic portrait of the battle,” Bakus said.

  “I cancel that order right now,” Remus said.

  “A bit too late,” Bakus pointed to the big screen.

  “We just had a battle and our brave soldiers sent the invaders running,” Solus said, “yet our General Bakus won’t call it a victory. His tongue freezes in his mouth and he is left stuttering. He wants more battleships, you know.”

  “That’s enough,” Bakus muttered under his breath.

  “Every officer wants his own battleship an
d we have to pay the taxes for that,” Solus said, “No more tax increase.” The crowd roared in approval.

  “I call on peoples, workers and soldiers to dethrone the elite loving regime of Chancellor Augus,” Solus said then waited as the crowd started throwing items in air, “Now I don’t mean a revolution, I mean protests in the street. The Republican Guard, an officer controlled and officer loving force would love to shoot down peoples. Don’t give them an excuse. I will fight the battle in the senate; you fight it on the streets. All hail the people.”

  “All hail the people,” the crowd shouted and Solus walked down the podium and disappeared in the crowd.

  “All damn Solus Varus,” some junior officer from a stage below said and many repeated after him and booed at the screen loudly.

  “Silence,” Bakus said, “the army is apolitical and we do not support or oppose any particular senator. We follow orders.”

  The room quieted down but Remus saw anger on the faces of many officers and resignation on others.

  “We need to have that private talk now,” Bakus said to Remus. Bakus and Remus exited the stage by climbing down to the floor and they left the command room through a small corridor. Bakus led him to a small office and closed the door from inside.

  “Your room?” Remus asked looking around at an empty room with few papers and pens on the table.

  “No, one of many quiet rooms for privacy,” Bakus said, “Vice-Chancellor, what did the Regional Star Commander say?”

  “Promised help but has to go through the formalities of analyzing and verifying our data,” Remus said and then over the next fifteen minutes told him the events of his trip and the contents of his conversations. Bakus scratched his chin and thought silently for a few minutes after Remus had finished.

  “What forces here do not want Starfire Fleet’s presence?” Remus asked.

  “The ‘peoples senator’ Solus Varus,” Bakus said, “you heard him loud and clear.”

  “Except he is not part of the government and wouldn’t have had knowledge of my secret trip,”

  “That is true,” Bakus said, “there are others, more quiet, but more dangerous. There were rumblings in the army that this war had provided a great opportunity to build up a large number of battleships and become a space power unto ourselves. They resent relying on outside help.”

  “Battleships take money and resources and we don’t have a lot of them,” Remus said, “the republic is in huge debt and Solus and his followers won’t allow a single tax to be raised.”

  “If we could catch the people behind your assassin then the opponents of Starfire protection would have eggs on their face,” Bakus said, “That will buy us time.”

  “I have appointed my capitan Jag Manus to flush them out,” Remus said.

  “One man?”

  “He was a former detective.”

  “Do you need army’s help?”

  “No,” Remus said, “There are only three individuals I trust completely: Chancellor Augus, you general and capitan Jag.”

  “I agree,” Bakus said, “Let’s keep this news under wraps till we know who was behind it and then we will pound on them.”

  Chapter 8 – Commission

  Vice-Commodore Raptor Warwyk neatly combed his hair in the mirror. Usually, he didn’t bother but today he would take no chances. He put on his red hat and straightened out the hard visor and saluted himself. He carefully examined his clothes to ensure that everything was in order. He was wearing a rose red shirt with silver epaulets, gold buttons, and medallions and insignia on both sides of his chest. His shirt was tucked into the large, wide black belt with a symbol of the composite bow over the belt buckle. His neatly pressed black pants went under the shirt and he was wearing polished black combat boots.

  He looked at the clock above and still had ten minutes before his friend and fellow officer Colonel Tollvyk would pick him up. Raptor stepped out of the bathroom and looked at the furlough card. Not that it meant a lot since he had signed it himself. He laughed at the thought.

  Raptor Warwyk was a thirty-five year old man with sufficiently rugged, masculine good looks, with a broad forehead, big eyes, noticeable eyebrows and a chiseled jaw. He liked to keep his hair short but had let them grow a bit this time. He was the Vice-Commodore of the Starship Victory of the Sixth Frontier Fleet that was currently assigned to the orbit of Planet Bravo and his rank made him the second-in-command.

  The bell to his hotel room rang and he opened the door to Colonel Tollvyk. Tollvyk was thirty-three years old, had a square shaped face, an easy smile and a strand full of hair that came over his forehead.

  “Ready?” Col. Tollvyk asked.

  “Let’s do this,” VC Raptor said, “I am excited, even a bit nervous.”

  “Womenfolk can do that to men,” Tollvyk laughed and Raptor walked with him and jumped in the small two-person airship that the Colonel had rented. He too was dressed in his army uniform and was wearing sunglasses.

  “Do you know this tavern, Broken Bones?” Raptor asked.

  “First time for me too,” Tollvyk said as he lifted the airship to two-hundred fifty feet air-lane reserved for the army personnel and punched the coordinates in his navigation system. The airship took off in that direction. “Do you know this girl?” he asked.

  “Little bit, doesn’t Myra know her?” Raptor asked.

  “She just became friends with her a month ago,” Tollvyk said. Myra was his fiancé. “But you attended the Academy of Space Warfare with her?”

  “Yes,” Raptor said, “One of the few girls there. I remember her as drop dead gorgeous and I was in love with her, but never got a chance to talk to her except during training exercises.”

  “Now you do,” Tollvyk said. Myra worked as a civilian in the procurement department of the Regional Star Command and she was helping Capitan Alvina Lytar – who was the supply & equipment officer of Starship Valor – with restocking up on supplies for her spaceship’s voyage out to the frontier when they had become good friends. Myra had casually mentioned her to Tollvyk and Raptor when she was visiting their Starship in the orbit and a flood of memories had overwhelmed Raptor. He had asked Tollvyk to help him meet Alvina.

  “What did Myra tell her?” Raptor asked.

  “Nothing, I told her nothing either,” Tollvyk said, “She is just bringing Alvina to meet her fiancé. As per our plan you have just tagged along as you were on the surface coincidentally. Alvina doesn’t know that you will be coming and it will be a ‘chance’ encounter for her.”

  “I owe you one, Toll,” Raptor replied, “very much.”

  “Not just yet, she may not be as attractive to you now as when you had a crush on her,” Tollvyk said, “thank me when you win her over.”

  Their airship’s navigation system beeped an alert that they were close to the destination and Tollvyk lowered their airship to an altitude of a hundred feet. He saw the tavern’s sign Broken Bones in large, red letters on top of a building. He flew over to the airpad and parked their ship and handed the keypad to the valet.

  They walked over to the entrance door where two soldiers stood with their laser guns checking the furlough cards of the soldiers. This tavern was open to the general public but was owned by the Army and very popular with soldiers and officers.

  VC Raptor and Col. Tollvyk walked towards the soldiers. The soldiers saw their insignia and clicked their boots and saluted them. They dare not card the high ranking officers and waived them in.

  “What table?” Raptor asked.

  “Table number 59, but nevermind I see Myra,” Tollvyk pointed to Myra sitting down by herself at a corner table and both of them walked over. Tollvyk gently kissed her on the cheek and Raptor waved at her.

  “Vice-Commodore Raptor, glad you joined us, you will keep Toll from getting drunk,” Myra said to him.

  “Just call me Raptor, madam,” he said, “thanks for inviting me.”

  “We have an overnight furlough, if I won’t get drunk tonight, then when will I g
et drunk, on the bridge of Victory?” Tollvyk said and they all laughed.

  “Where is the Robo Server?” Raptor asked.

  “Very busy tonight,” Myra said, “But I have ordered drinks and appetizers.”

  “And where is that new friend of yours…what’s her name?” Tollvyk pretended not to know.

  “Capitan Alvina Lytar, she couldn’t come tonight,” Myra said. Raptor was trying to look for the robo server, the robot that brought drinks and food, and was pretending not to pay attention to their conversation but his heart sank and his stomach fell when he heard the news.

  Tollvyk felt bad for his friend too and inquired further, “Why? Is their spaceship departing for the frontier earlier than scheduled?”

  “No,” Myra said, “She got called into the headquarters of the fleet command. Many other officers from different Starships have been called in. They are being transferred out.”

  “Oh…” Tollvyk didn’t know what to say. Raptor turned around to look at them, he was feeling really bad now but he forced a smile. If Alvina was transferred out to another province then he would not get another chance to meet her. After the Academy he had forced her out of his mind and as a junior officer he did not have the authorization to search for the assignments of the other officers. Starfire Empire had a multitude of fleets and bases flung out across thousands of light-years of space and the chance that she would have been assigned to the same province as him was remote. Yet, that is what had happened and he had not known it all these years and now to come so close…

  His thoughts were interrupted when both his and Tollvyk’s emergency receivers started giving out an uninterrupted shrill noise at the same time. Customers at the nearby tables looked at them and both of them yanked out a small metallic phone-like device and turned off the alarm.

  “What the hell?” Tollvyk said, “Red Star Alert?”

  “Same here,” Raptor said and started decryption.