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Day 277/2549
Arriving at Zanzibar turned out to be anticlimactic. There was nothing in orbit to suggest that anything secretive was going on. On her orders, the ship kept radio silence while it passed over the main colony location and scanned the surface with opticals. There were no ships on the ground either. She had this sinking feeling that whatever had been going on here was now gone, and that implied that Drake was gone too, but she had to be sure.
Fifteen minutes later, the ship was touching down on the small, bare bones spaceport that undeveloped colonies typically had. The Colony administrators didn’t seem to be surprised to learn that Sparta had fallen and that the SSU was now defenseless. That by itself spoke volumes. Even as part of the SSU, it was unlikely that this colony would be visited frequently, so how would they know about Sparta?
When she stepped down the ship’s ramp, there was a small group of civilians waiting for her. They turned out to be a delegation from the Colony’s governing body, and they looked scared. Remington resisted the impulse to use that fear to intimidate them. After introductions were made and a few pleasantries exchanged, Remington explained to them that her ship was here to accept Zanzibar’s request to return to the fold, as it were. She worded her explanation in such a way that the delegation would appreciate that doing exactly that would be in their best interests. They got the hint. When she accepted their request, on a provisional basis pending approval from Earth, they all relaxed with the realization that there wouldn’t be any punitive actions imposed on the Colony. After a little more chitchat, Remington decided to try her bluff.
“We know about the secret operation that the Rebels conducted here. I’m sure they didn’t give your people any choice in the matter, and it’s clear that they’ve pulled up stakes and left. Apparently they did accomplish their goal.” The sudden silence was striking. None of the dozen delegates said anything, and their demeanors suddenly changed from smiles to frowns and expressions of fear.
Finally, a woman stepped forward. “Yes, they did force us to co-operate. You’re right about that. We had to build living quarters for almost 10,000 people and all kinds of laboratories for their equipment.”
Before Remington could say anything, one of the other delegates said in a loud voice, “Tell her about Drake threatening the CAO.”
The woman nodded. “Yes! That’s right! Back when the research project was still in the setting-up stages, this Commander Drake threatened to come back here and personally kill the Chief Administrative Officer if he felt the war had been lost because of a perceived lack of co-operation on our part.”
My God, Foster was right! He was here. That sounds like something Roland might say to motivate someone. She tried to keep her expression from showing the excitement she was feeling. “And did he?” she asked.
“Ah, nooo, he didn’t, but he wasn’t happy about what was happening in the war. I guess he was too concerned about evacuating the Brain Trust as quickly as possible to bother shooting Malcolm.”
Remington nodded sympathetically, but inside she was shouting a mental eureka. It now all made sense. Zanzibar had become the SSU’s R&D center for the war effort. Keeping those scientists and technicians, and no doubt their families too, out of FED hands would be just the kind of desperate act that Belloc would assign to someone as dedicated as Roland Drake.
“Well, that’s very interesting, and I thank you for the information. It’s clear to me that the people of Zanzibar were never really enthusiastic about joining the Rebellion. I’d like to be able to say in my report to the Federation Council that the colony leadership was completely co-operative. Naturally, we would need to know where Drake and his Brain Trust went.”
The woman frowned and looked around at the others, most of whom nodded. “We don’t know for certain, but some of us heard from a few of the crew that they were evacuating everyone to the colony on Freiland, Commander.”
Freiland? Remington tried to remember any tidbit of information on Freiland that she could but nothing came up. She doubted the ship’s data library would have much on Freiland beyond the obvious astrogational and environmental basics. There was no reason to carry more information than that on hundreds of planets.
“Why move everything there?” she asked.
The woman shrugged. “We never did learn the answer to that, but speculation here is that Freiland supposedly has extensive networks of underground caverns that the Brain Trust could hide in until the coast was clear.”
As speculation went, that almost made sense, except for one thing. It appeared that Drake hadn’t made any effort to keep their next destination a secret, which undermined the reasons for leaving in the first place. If the FEDs sent ships to Freiland and searched all known cavern networks, the Brain Trust would be found. Could it be that the delegates were lying to her. She looked at their faces and concluded that they weren’t. They believed what they were telling her, but that didn’t make it true. Drake could easily have spread false information about a bogus destination. A few more questions elicited nothing new. When Remington was satisfied that further talk were pointless, she told the delegates that they were free to head home. She stared at the horizon, deep in thought as to what she should do next, when she sensed that one of the delegates, a young woman, was standing beside her.
“Will you be taking your ship to Freiland now?” she asked.
After a slight hesitation, Remington said, “I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”
The young woman looked embarrassed. “There was a young scientist that I got to know well. He and I...you know. He wanted me to go with him, but I was afraid to leave Zanzibar. It’s the only world I’ve ever known. Now I wish I had said yes.”
Remington sighed, another life ruined by this fucking war. “I know how you feel. I became involved with a man before the war, and we ended up on opposite sides. We met briefly during the war, and he said he’d be waiting for me when it was over. He’s one of the officers of that expedition, and Freiland is the only clue I have to work with now.”
When the young woman said nothing, Remington smiled at her and turned to walk back up the ramp. She stopped when she felt a hand on her left arm holding her back. She looked back at the young woman, who stepped closer and said in a low voice. “Don’t go to Freiland. That’s a false trail. My guy told me they were headed to Vril, just in case I changed my mind, which I have, AND had the opportunity to get there, which I haven’t yet.”
Remington’s mind was awhirl now. She was sure that this woman believed what she was saying, but that also could be a false clue. And yet, the fact that this clue was not widely known lent credence to its legitimacy.
“If what you say is true, then you’re potentially putting your guy in danger if he’s still on Vril when my ship gets there. Why would you tell me this information?” asked Remington.
The young woman lowered her gaze. When she spoke, Remington could barely hear her. “I know I’m being selfish and that I should put the good of the Cause ahead of my own desires, but I don’t care about politics. My hope is that you’ll get there before they leave again, and put a stop to this whole project. Then, when the dust settles, he can come back to me here.”
“What do you mean ‘before they leave again’? They’re not staying on Vril?” asked Remington with some skepticism in her voice.
“Vril is just meant to be a temporary stop where they can gather supplies for the trip to their final destination, and before you ask, I don’t know where that destination is and neither did my guy. I don’t think this Drake person had figured that out yet.”
For some reason that Remington couldn’t understand, she suddenly felt a powerful sense of urgency. A voice inside her was telling her to get to Vril as fast as possible. On a sudden impulse, she put her arms around the young woman and gave her a quick hug, then turned and ran up the ramp. As Trafalgar ascended through Zanzibar’s atmosphere, Remington brought the XO and AO up to speed on the Rebel R&D project and her decision to take the ship to Vril.
This time the XO looked very uncomfortable. “Listen, Skipper, Trevor and I went along with your decision to come here, and you were right. Something was going on, so your decision to come here has been vindicated, but taking the ship to Vril on this hearsay evidence will in my opinion be interpreted as exceeding your authority. We need to take the ship back to rejoin the Fleet.” He stopped when he saw Remington shake her head.
“No. This ship is going to Vril.” She could see from their expressions that they didn’t like that reply at all. The last thing she needed was for the XO to organize a mutiny and relieve her of command before the ship jumped. He had displayed just enough initiative in the past that a mutiny was a real possibility.
“I’ll make both of you a promise. Trafalgar will return to the Fleet from Vril regardless of what we find there, unless both of you agree otherwise. You two can log protests over this trip to Vril. In fact, I want you to do that. That should protect your careers from any repercussions.” A thought suddenly jumped into her head. “I promise one more thing. When we get to Vril, I’ll resign my commission and give you command of Trafalgar with my written recommendation that your field promotion be made permanent. How’s that, XO?” She saw the wheels turning as he contemplated gaining command of Trafalgar by a voluntary transfer of authority as compared to the questionable legalities of leading a mutiny.
“Okay, Skipper. One last trip. I hope you know what you’re doing. You may end up being stuck on Vril for a long, long time, you know.”
“I know,” she said as she looked at the AO. “How about you, Trevor?”
He just smiled and shrugged. “Hey, I’m just a lowly Astrogation Officer. If the XO is okay with this, who am I to object?”
Day 332/2549
Remington watched the main display show what the ship’s opticals were recording as Trafaglar descended through Vril’s atmosphere for a landing near the largest urban center on the planet. As the ship broke through the cloud cover, her heart sank. There were no ships on the ground, and with no ships in orbit, it was clear to her that she got here too late. She turned to the XO who was standing nearby.
“There’s nothing here. If they were here, they’ve already gone somewhere else.” The XO’s expression started to look worried. Remington held up her hand. “Don’t be concerned that I’m going to want to take the ship somewhere else, XO. I intend keeping my word. When we land, I’ll turn command over to you, log my resignation and leave the ship with my gear, which is already packed. At that point, you decide what this ship does next.”
An hour later, she was standing close to a group of local officials in front of the spaceport admin building. Everyone was watching as Trafalgar lifted off and quickly accelerated back into space. She watched until it had penetrated the cloud cover, and then she looked around. She had her gear, which didn’t amount to much, and she was wearing one of the few civilian outfits she had with her. An older man with short white hair came over to her. She already knew that he was the Colony’s CAO. He smiled at her.
“Well, Commander ah, Ms. Remington, welcome to Vril. I confess that I’m curious about why you decided to end your military career here on the edge of nowhere, so to speak.”
Remington decided she might as well tell him the truth. As she spoke, his expression changed from polite interest to sympathy and finally to surprise.
“Your long lost love is a man named Drake? Would that be Roland Drake?” he asked. She nodded. She hadn’t mentioned Drake’s first name. Before she could ask him whether Roland had been here, he said, “Have I got a surprise for you.”
Day 144/2550
Drake stood at the top of the ramp and looked out at the crowd standing not far from his ship. He was glad that he had made the decision to personally oversee the return convoy to pick up the locals who would be emigrating to the new colony. It would be his last chance to command a fleet of ships before settling down to his new administrative duties as Acting Chief of Space Operations for the new Republic of Excalibur. As he started to walk down the ramp, he noticed that everyone in the crowd was grinning but otherwise completely silent. He would have expected shouts of greeting at least. The crowd parted, and a woman stepped through. Drake didn’t recognize her at first, but as soon as he did, he began to run down the ramp. She ran to him, and when they threw their arms around each other and kissed, the crowd erupted with cheers.
Later that evening, after the parties and celebrations were over, the two of them were standing out on the balcony of the best suite at the best hotel in the city, compliments of the Management. It would take a few days to get everyone and everything loaded aboard the 12 freighters that were now sitting on and around the spaceport. They were both naked and had a blanket wrapped around them to ward off the chill from the cool night breeze. She had just finished telling him about Majestic’s prediction, Trojan’s plans for Empire and his black-uniformed fanatics.
“I wonder if he’ll pull it off,” she said.
“Make himself Emperor? With Majestic in his corner, I think the odds are that he will. What I’d like to know is whether he can build an Empire that’s stable enough to last after he’s gone.”
After a short pause, she said, “The jump drive breakthrough is a tremendous achievement, but it’ll take more than that for Excalibur to be able to liberate the SSU.”
“Yes, I know, but we have plenty of time now. You and I may not see the day when we come back in strength and take on the Empire, but our children might.”
She stood on her toes so that she could whisper into his ear. “Or we could return in peace and make nice with the Empire and the Emperor.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings.”
This is the End of Rumors of Honor.
Author’s Comments:
The System States Rebellion series concludes in Rumors of Salvation which is available now. If you enjoyed this novel, I ask that you take a minute to post a review. Fans of military SF will also enjoy my Synchronicity War series and the first book is free.
Long Live Space Opera!
Dietmar Arthur Wehr
