Fall of Icarus

assignment is important. I’ve been around for a while and I’ve never heard of the High Council contacting someone directly about a mission. If they gave you this assignment, it’s for a reason. Don’t take it so lightly.”

Looking over her shoulder once again, she saw a couple of the teammates laughing as they shared prior war stories. A level of camaraderie had already begun between the members, though she was still not included. Instead of spending time with them, like she should have been, she had let herself get distracted by Adam’s arrival.

“We should go rejoin the others,” Adam offered.

“Believe it or not, I’m glad you’re here,” she said as they began walking back to the rest of the team. “It’s just nice to have both you and Penchant here.”

“I’m glad I’m here too,” Adam admitted. “Somehow, the thought of invading Earth scared the hell out of me.”

The rest of the team settled down as Keryn and Adam rejoined them. They had pulled chairs together to better talk, and they now separated them so that everyone could see Keryn as she spoke. Though they still wore a skeptical look, the teammates still looked significantly more relaxed around one another.

“I guess we’re going to be a team of seven after all,” Keryn offered as Adam found a seat.

“So what’s the plan, ma’am?” Keeling asked.

Keryn smiled. “Alright, you can drop the ma’am now. Our plan is simple. Out there, on a backwater little planet called Pteraxis, there is an Oterian smuggler. Not only did he make one of the most spectacular discoveries in recent science when he found the chemical that was used to destroy the Vindicator, he turned around and sold this wonderful new technology to the Terrans. Our mission is to find this bastard and make him tell us where this new weapon came from.”

“And what if he will not tell us?” Cerise said condescendingly.

Keryn reached behind her and unclipped a pouch from her belt. “Well, I was given six of these little cases to make sure he would tell us.” Opening the top of the pouch, she reached in and pulled out a glistening scalpel. Her gaze fell on the scalpel, which she spun lazily in her hand. When she spoke, her voice took on a distant edge, as though fantasizing about the scalpel’s many uses. “Apparently, they’re going to teach us how to use these to the best effect.”

“You know,” Keeling said, “I think I’m going to like this job after all.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The briefing room filled quickly with the primary staff of the Revolution. Yen had already assumed his seat near the front of the room, the one traditionally reserved for the Squadron Commander. His assumption of the role had come as a surprise to most, since Keryn had only taken the job a couple months before. Everything about her departure remained veiled in secrecy, with rumors abounding about possible injury or mental illness. Yen didn’t bother correcting them. Sometimes, it was good to have secrets. Secrets held their own power and power was what ensured Yen not getting removed from the job of Squadron Commander any time soon.

But Keryn’s mission wasn’t the only secret Yen had. Yen was eager to see the other secret he knew come to light during this meeting. The expressions of his peers and supervisors would be priceless indeed.

To Yen’s left, Iana had claimed the seat reserved for the Squadron’s second in command. Though Yen had a number of veteran pilots under his command following the last conflict, Iana was not only battle-hardened but someone he could trust. Yen knew the importance of having someone in whom you could confide when need be, and Iana had already proven herself trustworthy.

The room was filled with a multitude of conversations. Many of the leadership positions throughout the ship were now held by people Yen didn’t know. With so many wounded or killed during the last conflict, many Officers and Warrants had been cross-leveled from other vessels in the Fleet to fill voids in the chain of command. Yen didn’t want to be anti-social, but he found little to talk about with the new personnel. Much like he and Iana sitting side by side, many old acquaintances gravitated to one another.

Closing his eyes, Yen folded his hands in front of his face and drowned out the dull roar of people talking over one another. Beneath his feet, Yen could feel the gentle vibrations of the massive engines propelling the Revolution forward. Inhibitors suppressed the pressure of flying at speeds beyond that of light; pressures that would crush a person’s body were the inhibitors inactive. Even at such great speeds, it would be weeks longer before the Fleet even approached its target.

The entire Fleet had departed the Farimas Space Station a few days before, with the Revolution in the lead as its flagship. Over thirty Alliance Cruisers had joined the Revolution, comprising most of the Alliance’s military might. If the assault on Earth were to be successful, it would require the entire might of the Alliance, save the few vessels left behind to protect key infrastructure throughout Alliance occupied space.

More than the might of the Fleet, however, was the timing of their assault. The remaining Terran Fleet, a force larger even than the Alliance Fleet, was on a mission elsewhere in known space, pursuing a false lead released through Alliance spies on Earth. The Terrans would never return in time to stop the assault on Earth, even if they detect the Alliance Fleet. Moreover, the Terrans had no reason to suspect a secret weapon like the warp technology. The Fleet had no intention of getting close enough to Earth to be openly detected by the Empire. By the time the Terrans realized something was amiss, the Squadron would be appearing behind their defenses. At least, that was how it was supposed to work. In theory.

Theory didn’t make Yen very comfortable with the plan. He had watched the successful presentation of the warp technology in the auditorium and was awed, just as everyone else had been. The possibilities for such a technology were virtually boundless. Except that every time Yen pondered the use of wormholes and event horizons, he remembered mutilated and dismembered animals, staring back at him from their jars of preserving chemicals. Those thoughts had ridden a hidden current of fear through the scientist’s mind before he initiated the presentation. It was the stench of fear dominating his thoughts that made Yen uneasy. If the creator of the technology was fearful of its possible results, could Yen truly put himself and his men in danger by using the warp technology?

As Yen mulled over the troubling thoughts in his mind, Captain Hodge entered the room and took her place at the head table. Across from Yen, Eminent Merric took a seat on the Captain’s right. The left side of his face was still slightly swollen and red from his assault in the Frozen Nebula. To Yen’s surprise, Merric had never made an official claim of assault against him. Though Yen kept awaiting the day security would come and place him in handcuffs while he worked, that day had yet to arrive. In a lot of ways, that made him even more nervous. Yen had certain expectations of people. When you stole, you were reprimanded. When you assaulted a senior officer, they filed a complaint and you were arrested. It was when people stopped being predictable that Yen began to worry. Though he would give anything to know what plots Merric was hatching, he didn’t dare try to scan him. Merric would expect Yen to use his powers, and that might be the trigger he was waiting for to have Yen arrested. For now, Yen would have to be content wondering.

“We’re already on our way to Earth,” Captain Hodge said, officially calling the meeting to order. “But before we get there, there are far too many things that need to be accomplished. When we departed the Farimas Space Station, you were all told my expectations for each of your sections. I’d like to take this chance to go around the room and get a status update. Just give everyone a brief synopsis of what you’ve managed to accomplish and what still needs to be completed.”

Yen’s task had been daunting compared to some of the others. He only found out about his reassignment to Squadron Commander the day before the Revolution departed the space station. Since that time, he had to familiarize himself not just with the rebuilt ships in the Squadron but with the pilots themselves. Yen had no doubt that most rumors about Keryn’s sudden departure as Commander had stemmed from his own Squadron, since they were most vocal about the surprising change.

As Captain Hodge went around the room, addressing different officers, many of the new faces were introduced, though many of their names were forgotten as quickly as they were told. On occasion, Yen would look up to see how far around the table they had come, if only to gauge the time he had left before his own brief. He began paying attention as they reached a Warrant seated on the far side of Iana. Knowing that Iana wouldn’t brief,