RITZA ACADEMY
LIEGEDEN, EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
6 APRIL 3150
1730 HOURS
As Jasper walked through the ’Mech bay, he saw that while they weren’t the last ones done, his team was almost the last one to leave. He didn’t envy the cadets that still had one more hydraulic lift to maintain and clean. At least he and his team wouldn’t have to move any more ammo around. Even though he’d been assigned to inventory, he’d jumped in and helped with the movers, too. He tried not to think about the other reason he hurt.
Sergeant Major Vale Auger nodded to Michael Clements. “Dismissed.”
The upperclassman looked tired and dirty, but happy as he left.
Jasper watched him go and gave the sergeant major a quizzical look.
“We’re going to finish the hydraulic lifts tonight. He and his team are off the hook.” The older man sighed. “It’s been a day.” Then he straightened. “Subbing for Goodryke?”
Jasper paused, his brain locking up. He didn’t want to get into the day, and he didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. Especially not Delany. “Uh, something like that.” He offered Vale the noteputer.
The sergeant made a show of looking around as he ignored the offered noteputer. “It’s just you and me, kid.” He beckoned. “C’mon. Let’s talk.”
The two of them went to one of the small offices. The first office belonged to Sir Felix. The second one belonged to the two noncommissioned officers. Sergeant Crusett had already left for the evening. Vale took his normal chair and nodded to the seat across the desk. “Sit.”
Jasper threw himself into the chair, happy to be off his feet. “Am I in trouble?”
Vale rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes. Lots of trouble.” He handed Jasper a filled canteen. “I mean, you’re turning in the inventory, and even though I know I’ll have to double-check it, I know it’ll be good because it’s you. C’mon, kid. This is me, Vale, you’re talking to. Not the sergeant major.”
Jasper nodded and gulped the water. It tasted good. His stomach rumbled. “Sorry, Sergeant Major.”
“We’re behind closed doors.”
Jasper looked over his shoulder. The office door was indeed closed. He relaxed. “Sorry, Vale.”
The two of them had been friends ever since Jasper arrived at the academy and took to sneaking into the ’Mech bay in his free time to just stare at the ’Mechs from some of the catwalks. He’d made the attempt to stay out of the way and unseen. Of course, he’d failed. After the third or fourth time of doing it, Sergeant Major Auger had snuck up on him and asked if he wanted to help. It had begun the easy relationship they’d grown over the years. Though, Jasper never forgot the man was part of the academy and deserved respect.
“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me what I want to know. Hungry?”
Jasper nodded.
Vale handed him a candy bar. “That’ll tide you over until you can get to the mess.”
“What do you want to know?” He dug into the candy bar without hesitation.
“Nice shiner you gave Goodryke. What was that all about?”
Jasper’s heart sank. “You saw that?”
“Sergeant Crusett did.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t stop it because of Giselle.”
“That’s exactly why he didn’t jump in. He knows—we all know—that you cadets are going to be on your own soon enough, and you need to know how to handle your own problems.” Vale leaned forward. “So…?”
Jasper shrugged. “Ethan was being his usual self. Poked me in the chest, called me a stray. I socked him for it. He got me back. The rest jumped in, and Delany took over. She did a good job. Honestly, not to bag on Ethan—even though he deserves it—but I think she did a better job than he would’ve.”
“Lemme see your noteputer.” Vale took it from Jasper and transferred the inventory sheets. He looked it over and compared it to the sheets on his screen.
Nadine’s stomach roiled and grumbled at how fast she’d eaten. She’d tried to make up that hour she’d been given, but the storeroom had been too much of a mess. She and Harper had spent an extra ninety minutes finishing it up. Harper hadn’t said anything except “thank you” after Nadine reported back to her. She got the feeling the Blooded cadet had hoped for something more. In truth, so had she.
That was why she’d bolted her food and ran back to the server room as soon as she could. Maybe Garnet had something for her. It’d been hours.
The blinking light at her shortwave station greeted her. She hit the button as she sat down.
“Tiamat, it’s Garnet. The news is…weird. All main roads into the spaceport have been locked down by Emporia forces. Even friendly chatter is turned away. Only authorized personnel of a certain rank are allowed in. Gonna try the back way now. Over and out.”
Nadine paused the recording and made a couple of notes before she continued. Why would Baron Vogel lock down the spaceport? Her mind raced and grasped for anything. Plague ship, maybe? She shook her head and pressed the play button again.
“Tiamat, it’s Opal. Get back to me quickly. It’s important.”
Opal was Amma Vengalil, the youngest daughter in House Vengalil. She wasn’t slated for the academy, and that made her a valuable asset. While she was prone to the dramatics of her age, she was still an extremely intelligent twelve-year-old, and worth listening to. Nadine made a note and unpaused the messages again.
The final message made her blood run cold.
“Tiamat, it’s Copper. You asked me to keep an eye on things here and let you know if anything’s weird. Well, it’s weird. Weird and scary. New Exeter has a 21:00 hours curfew ordered by House Vogel. A curfew. That usually means one thing: invasion. But if it’s an invasion, it’s the quietest one I’ve ever heard of, and your lord is involved.”
Nadine shook her head. “No. Baron Vogel wouldn’t be a willing part of an invasion. I don’t care what anyone thinks.”
She shifted the frequency to the House Vogel channel. “Franc, this is Tiamat, over.”
Franc, Major Jean Leconte, was one of the oldest house guards on the Vogel estate. Although he was retired, everyone still used his rank. The major had taught her almost everything she knew about shortwave radio and helped her get started with her equipment. At first, it’d been a game. Then, as Nadine had used it to play spymaster, he’d encouraged her to report to him. Somewhere along the line, the game had become real. Franc was, and wasn’t, a source for her information gathering. Sometimes, he would feed her information. Sometimes he wouldn’t. More importantly, He was a sounding board. She needed that now.
“Franc, this is Tiamat. Are you there? Over.”
“I’m here, Tiamat. What do you need?”
“Where are the lord and lady?” She paused. “Is everything all right?”
“They, like every other MechWarrior I know of, are at the spaceport. As for whether everything is all right, I don’t know. I don’t think so. Silence is not golden. But we’re working on it.”
Nadine didn’t like that answer. “I’ve got eyes moving. They say the spaceport is locked down by Emporia troops. One contact says New Exeter is under curfew and…” She paused, not sure what else to say.
Franc cut through. “Cease all investigations now. Do you understand?”
“What?”
“I repeat, cease all investigations. Recall your treasures. Do it now. For their sakes and ours.”
“You know what’s going on, don’t you?”
“Do you understand what I’ve told you? Answer me.”
Nadine took a breath in surprise. It’d been years since Jean raised a voice to her. Either he was angry or frightened…or both. “I understand.”
“Good. Sit tight at the academy. Do what you’re supposed to. We are working on things. Don’t do anything until you hear from me again. Over and out.”
The sound of the cut connection felt like a slap to the face. She sat there for several long minutes, wrestling with what to do now. Her stomach threatened to expel its contents. Her mind whirled with the implications of Jean’s words and fear. She looked down at her notes. She couldn’t contact Garnet. The woman would get back to her when she had something new.
Opal…she was prone to dramatics, but her message had been short and to the point. Nadine couldn’t let the girl hang like that. She couldn’t, and she wouldn’t. Squaring her shoulders, Nadine turned the channel back to the common frequency.
“Opal, this is Tiamat. Are you there? Over.”
“So…you know what’s going on?” Jasper asked after about five minutes of silence. He hated silence when he was sitting with someone. It always felt like he needed to be talking. Or that he and the other person should be talking with each other.
Vale didn’t look up. He continued to compare numbers between the two spreadsheets. “Going on?”
“Why all the busywork? You can’t tell me that this isn’t busywork. The last time the entire academy had to clean was when the duke came to visit, and no one wanted the academy cadets to do something stupid.”
“The academy had to be cleaned for the duke’s visit. I wouldn’t call that ‘busywork.’ Especially since it was needed.”
“Vale, I’m not stupid. We all saw what happened at the family dinner last night.”
The older man gave Jasper his full attention.
Jasper didn’t back down. “Everyone was on edge. Old Baron Frosig got drunk and shouted about wanting to know what was in the sky above us.” He paused. Vale didn’t say anything. Jasper pressed on. “You know what I noticed? Every cadre member that got called away was a MechWarrior. Interesting, that.”
“Interesting. What do you think it means?”
“I think it means something bad because of the way everyone refuses to answer the question. Including you.”
Vale took a breath and let it out in a slow exhale. “Sometimes people can’t answer a question because they don’t know the answer. That’s just the way it is.”
“Really.” Jasper’s disbelief showed in the flatness of his voice. “We’re behind closed doors.”
“I deserved that.” The sergeant major grimaced. “You’re growing up fast. Look, we don’t know a lot. That’s the truth. The cadre was called to the capital because of some funny business on the sensors. That’s it. The higher-ups are nervous because we’re a border planet. I suspect this is just a test.”
Jasper frowned. “But what about that DropShip report?”
It was Vale’s turn to frown. “What DropShip report?”
Jasper thought Vale was playing dumb, but as he searched his friend’s face, he realized the man didn’t know. “Oh. Well, last night, while we were at dinner…” He paused, not wanting to give away Nadine’s spy ring or the amount of information she could gather at a moment’s notice. “I, we, House Vogel’s Sponsored cadets, overheard the nobles talking about an untrustworthy DropShip crew reporting that one of the merchant JumpShips wasn’t what it was saying it was. That that was what everyone’s upset about. The DropShip crew’s report and the fact they didn’t know if they could trust it or not.”
Vale was silent for a long time. Then he shook his head. “I hadn’t heard anything about that. But untrustworthy spacers are untrustworthy for a reason. Why would they say such a thing?”
“I don’t know, but why would they lie?”
“I only know what you’ve told me, and that isn’t very much. However, I’ll look into it.”
“We can help. Nadine—”
Vale cut him off with a wave of the hand. “No. You already have a job. Your job is to be an academy cadet and work as hard as you can to become the best damn MechWarrior out there. You cadets are Emporia’s most precious resource. Your job, your place, your focus is here at the academy. Nowhere else.”
“But…”
“But nothing, Cadet Roux. Let the adults handle it. They know what’s going on.”
Clearly they—and you—don’t, Jasper thought but didn’t say. He stared at Vale across the desk and felt the barrier rise between adult and teenager, academy personnel and cadet. Right now, the sergeant major was not his friend.
“You should get some dinner. Eat well. You don’t know when your next meal will be or where it’ll come from. Dismissed.”
Jasper stood without another word. His sudden anger and worry blotted out all sense of decorum.
“Jasper…”
He paused at the doorway.
“You and your team did a good job today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Jasper knew it was an apology that couldn’t be voiced, but he wasn’t ready to accept it. “Thank you, Sergeant Major Auger.” He closed the door behind him with a deliberate click and headed off to the mess hall.
“Opal, this is Tiamat. Are you there? Over.” Nadine waited.
Amma and her family lived on one of the estates on the outskirts. Beyond the beautiful house they lived in and the number of families they supported, there wasn’t much to separate the Vengalil family from farmers. Despite the distance from New Exeter, the Vengalil estate was one of the main hubs of noble society. They were a rich house. Somehow, they were as up-to-date on fashion and gossip from Robinson and New Avalon as a border planet could get. Nadine suspected family members sent regular letters. While the information might be weeks or months out of date, they still got the information.
“Opal, this is Tiamat. I’m here. What’s up?”
“Tiamat? There’s no time.” The girl’s voice was hushed, scared. “They’re here at the estate. I don’t know who they are, but Mom and Dad are gone, and the nannies hid us. I don’t know for how long. I had to sneak back to my room. We need help.”
Silence descended. Nadine realized a couple of things: Amma was terrified. She’d forgotten radio protocol. She was probably too scared to shift to a more private channel. Whatever was happening probably needed to be known to whomever was listening anyway. “Who’s there, Opal? How can we help?”
“Soldiers in powered armor. There are three of them. At first they just stood there in front of the house. Then after Dad went out to talk to them, one of them tore down a couple of trees and cut a car in half. After that, I don’t know. The nannies hid us. But I know they took Mom and Dad away. And we can’t call anyone.”
“Away where?”
“I don’t know!”
This last was all but wailed. The cry of a child who’d lost the only security she’d known. Nadine recognized it because she’d made the same cry about seven years ago. “Okay. Okay. Stay calm. Can you tell me where the soldiers are now and what they look like?”
“They’re like ancient samurai, but bigger. They’re at least three meters tall, and one of them jumped over the shed like it was a dollhouse. The suit’s only got one arm, the other is a huge gun, longer than an adult is tall. The arm has this blade that can shoot out. It cut through the car like it was rice paper. I know one is in the front and one is in the back. I don’t know where the third one is.”
Commandos? Nadine wondered. What the hell are commandos doing on Emporia? The answer was a slap to the face.
What’s above us in the sky? old Baron Frosig had asked. Now she knew, and hell was starting all over again.
“Okay. You need to get yourself safe. Listen to your nannies. I’ll move this information up the line.”
“Okay. Thank you, Tiamat. Over and out.”
Nadine listened to that twelve-year-old girl be as brave as she could, and hoped to high heaven it wasn’t the last time she heard Amma’s voice. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she had to do something.