Turning Point
Torrent Headquarters, Terra
"Rebus dock control informed me the Scorpia has been captured and is sitting in their docks," Hari announced as she walked into the lounge where Seda and Critch sat drinking whiskey.
Critch's eye twitched. "And her crew?"
She lowered her face. "Executed. Rumor is they were drifted from a frigate."
"That's a loss to the Campaign," Seda said. "The Scorpia was a good ship and crew."
"The best." Critch took a long drink. The Scorpia was the newest ship in the feared specter fleet—the fleet of pirates turned torrents. He'd overseen the ship's design, and had hired every crewmember back when he was a pirate. He set down his empty glass. "How about we take it back?"
Seda thought for a moment, rubbing his right shoulder where his prosthetic arm connected to his skin. "It feels too soon to make a move for the docks."
"We take the docks, we take Rebus Station. Ausyar will be forced to launch a new offensive or negotiate."
Seda cocked his head. "Corps General Ausyar is not the type to negotiate, and I'm not comfortable forcing him into a corner."
Critch rapped his fingers on the chair's armrest. "We also can't maintain guerrilla tactics. We'll run out of resources and soldiers long before the CUF does."
"I agree with Critch," Hari said. "The only reason we took the warehouse district is because the CUF is under public scrutiny. Citizen support is currently in our favor, but who knows how long that will last, with the Collective propaganda machine skewing all the news. If we can take Rebus Station with minimal loss of innocent lives, then we have a chance at having an honest negotiation with Ausyar or Parliament."
Seda refilled his and Critch's empty glasses, and poured a glass for Hari. "There's a way I can do that, but—" He cursed. "This is going to slash my revenue streams." He looked up at the pair watching him. "There are only two reasons the Collective cares about Terra."
"Your plants provide over ninety percent of the fuel used for interplanetary travel," Hari said.
Critch added, "And we're sitting right smack in between the citizen worlds and their darling garden colony, Darios."
Seda nodded. "I have direct control over one of those things."
Hari's eyes widened. "You're not going to turn the juice plants over to the Collective, are you?"
Seda belted out a laugh. "No. I'm going to blow them all." He then scowled, as if the words had a bad taste in his mouth, and he downed his drink and threw the glass across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into hundreds of tiny shards.
Critch's gaze narrowed. "That'll hurt our fleet as much as it'll hurt the CUF's. Everyone will be running off solar power only within months, if not weeks. That means no more jump capabilities."
Seda shook his head. "The CUF burns through exponentially more juice than all general aviation combined. It'll cripple them before it cripples us—both by losing jump capabilities as well as serving a blow to the economy. I have new plant locations mapped that haven't yet been reviewed by Parliament. I also have the expertise on hand to rebuild a plant. We can have new juice flowing for colonists within two years. The CUF has no such resources, and after the stranglehold the CUF has had on Rebus Station, no Terran would work for the Collective, no matter how well they paid."
"They can force them to work," Hari said. "The Collective has supported indentured servitude for decades. If you take away one of their most precious resources, you may push them over the ledge into legalizing slavery."
"The declaration of independence has been made," Seda said. "If the Collective moves into slavery, the remaining colonies will join a single cause rather than all fight for themselves. It would only strengthen the Fringe Liberation Campaign. The CUF cannot sustain a war spread out over four planets and an asteroid belt, especially without jump speed. It would take them months to move ships among planets, and years to move from one end of the fringe to the other. Entire wars could be fought and won during such time."
"Do it," Critch said. "It levels the scalar battlefield, and the colonists have the upper hand planetside. I don't like the idea of having the Honorless's wings clipped, but we've been at a stalemate, more or less, for the past year. We take a block here and lose a block there. This way, we can push the war to the next front, whatever that becomes."
Seda turned to Hari. "You know I've always depended on your counsel. I want to know you're with me on this."
Her features were tight and her lips thin, but she gave a small nod. "I'm with you. Always."
Seda opened the computer panel on his desk. He looked nauseous as he entered codes into the system. "I knew the plants were always at risk to be taken by the CUF," he said as he continued typing. "Which is why I established safeguards and prepared procedures for all staff."
He breathed deeply, tapped a final button, and then leaned back. "Every active plant listed on Parliament's register of fuel operations will self-destruct in ninety minutes. All staff employed as of today will be credited five years' salary in their bank accounts. That will hopefully be enough to encourage them to work for me again after we're free from the Collective."
Critch walked over to the bar and grabbed a new glass and filled it. He handed it to Seda. "Now, we wait."
* * *
Two hours later, every juice plant on Terra melted. Critch had expected massive explosions, but evidently Seda had taken more environmentally-friendly measures to disable the plants without firework shows.
Seda made no news announcement, instead waiting to see how Ausyar and Parliament responded. He had sent out a company-wide communication, which stated the plants were being demolished to prevent hostile takeover. Critch liked to think Seda's employees would've done the same thing had they been in his shoes.
The trio waited another two hours before anything happened.
Seda's comm channel lit up. "Corbin, what do you have?"
"There's been no change to the CUF formation. There are two warships, four frigates, and twelve destroyers, all in standard orbital formation. But it looks like every gunship and transport that was on Terra's surface is launching, and they're not wasting their time returning to the fleet."
"Expand your scans to include two quadrants out from Terra's orbit. Keep a close eye on every CUF ship out there, and let me know the moment you see one change course even a tenth of a degree," Seda said and disconnected the comm.
Hari's wrist comm chimed, and she read a message. She looked up, startled. "The CUF is evacuating Rebus Station. They've relinquished control of the docks and are in the process of departing. My contact says colonists are cheering in the streets, and Dock Control is launching CUF ships as soon as they are boarded. They expect to have the docks cleared within an hour." She grabbed her chest. "Seda, you did it. We've reclaimed Rebus Station!"
Critch grumbled. "Damn. I was itching for a fight."
"You may get one yet." Seda steepled his fingers as he eyed Critch and Hari, the high-tech artificial limb nearly identical to his left hand. "I won't be comfortable until Ausyar and his fleet are at least a million clicks from Terra's orbit."
Critch pushed to his feet.
"Where are you headed?" Seda asked.
"There'll be chaos on the streets, now the CUF is gone. I'm going to lead a team in to help secure the docks. We'll move in the morning. If Ausyar hasn't blown Rebus Station to bits by then, we should be in the clear."
"Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll find a couple of droms who didn't make it off-world," Seda said with sarcasm.
"Maybe," Critch replied without a hint of sarcasm.
* * *
It was in the early morning, an hour before the sun came up, when Critch took four teams with him to secure the docks. They drove through town in four gray trucks, where colonists still partied in the streets. They had to weave through the crowds and passed-out drunks. Bottles crunched under the tires. Partyers held up drinks and cheered at the vehicles when they saw who was inside. The crowd began to chant, "Fender, Fender!" over and over again, as if Critch were some kind of legend. One woman bared her chest, which brought on more cheers.
"Do we have to stop for the infamous Drake Fender to sign autographs?" Birk asked with a sly grin.
"Keep driving," Critch growled. He gave a lazy wave in acknowledgement of the cheers.
He was surprised to see there'd been no riots, though he knew they would come. Rebus Station was currently in a state of anarchy, which meant lawlessness, which meant there would be those who'd have no qualms about taking advantage of their neighbors if it served their selfish needs.
He suspected Seda and he would have to expend torrent resources keeping the colony safe until Rebus Station could reorganize its own police force. All that assumed the Collective was truly turning control of the colony back to the colonists. Critch had his doubts.
By the time they reached the docks, night gave way to morning dawn. It'd taken them longer to arrive than Critch had planned, though he supposed they weren't on a schedule for this mission. Critch keyed his team on his wrist comm. "This goes down how we planned. Maddox, your team has the commercial docks. Nat, your team's on the cargo docks. Alex, your team's on the general aviation docks. My team's taking the Collective docks. Report back in one hour. Time check is 0547."
Double-clicks came back from each team lead in acknowledgement of the plan, and the trucks pulled away in a starburst pattern as each team headed to its docks.
Critch had chosen the Collective docks since they posed the most risk. If Ausyar had left squads, they would most likely be found here. Dock Control had reported an all-clear, but Critch had to see for himself that the CUF had cleared out.
The Collective docks were three rows of parallel docks. Birk drove them slowly down the first row. It was entirely empty. Not a single ship remained. "So far, so good," Birk said, and he picked up speed.
"Sure you don't want us to walk the docks?" James asked from the back seat.
Critch turned around. "Not this time. Today's just a quick pass through to make sure they didn't leave any nasty surprises behind. We'll be back after the fleet leaves orbit."
The second row was empty except for two small cargo haulers. When he saw the Faulk Industries logo on the hulls, he suspected they'd been seized by the CUF and abandoned when the Ausyar cleared out his ground forces. The CUF had no need for civilian ships in their armada, but they often seized colonist ships and sold them on auction to citizens. Critch had lost two pirate ships to the CUF in his earlier days before he'd learned how to better avoid detection.
"Seda will like having those back," Critch said, and Birk continued on.
When they drove down the third row of docks, Critch felt a weight lift off his chest. In one of the last docking bays stood his missing specter.
Birk pointed. "Hey, that's the Scorpia."
Critch nodded. It was good to see her, though he preferred to see her crew with her. He turned to Birk. "She's yours if you want her."
Birk's jaw dropped. "Mine? But—"
"But nothing. You've been on my team for ten years now. It's time you had your own ship. Then you don't have to sneak your girlfriend onto my ship anymore."
Birk stuttered for a couple of seconds before he gulped and said, "Thanks. This is the first time anyone's ever given me something."
Critch scowled. "Aw, damn it. You're not going to cry on me now, are you?"
"No," he replied quickly, but his voice was shaky.
The six other team members started cracking jokes from the back seat.
"Quit messing with me guys," Birk said, "or else I won't ask any of you losers to be on the Scorpia's crew."
"Are you going to rename it Pinky?" Laughs erupted.
Birk held up his pinky finger, which was missing the top inch. "Hey, it was a serious injury."
That really got them going.
Critch enjoyed the camaraderie. These people were his family, and he looked forward to the day the CUF stopped trying to kill them. Not like he expected that to ever happen.
He motioned to the tower that stood in the center of all the docks. "Let's head to the Rebus Station Dock Control tower and check in with them."
The jokes continued as Birk approached the front of the tower without slowing down. Critch braced himself against the dash. He'd worked alongside Birk for enough years that he could practically read the younger man's mind. Birk applied the brakes hard, and all six men in the back seats rammed into the ones in front of them. Jokes turned into groans and curses.
Critch shook his head, though humor tugged at his lips. He stepped out of the truck and headed for the tower. His wrist comm chimed, and he saw a message from Seda. "Orbital formation is reconfiguring. The Unity is powering up. Get out of Rebus Station now!"
He looked up to see massive phase cannon blasts raining fire down from the sky. Critch's eyes grew wide as he stared at the sky, expecting to be disintegrated in the next instant. But the blasts didn't hit near the docks. Instead, they hit many miles away, far from Rebus Station. Critch's blood ran cold. He ran around the truck to see for himself.
Where a mountain had once stood proudly on the horizon, there was nothing but flat land.
Broken Mountain was gone.
Critch fell to his knees.
Hundreds of innocent refugees would've been eating breakfast in the mountain's caves. Fires hotter than the circles of hell would've poured through the tunnels like an insatiable dragon. Most would've died instantly. Most.
The men, women, and children inside never stood a chance.
There was no strategic advantage gained by Ausyar bombing a refugee camp. If anything, Ausyar would lose citizen support for the action. The corps general had bombed Broken Mountain purely out of an emotional need for retaliation.
The cold chills coursing through Critch's body enveloped his heart in hard ice. He pressed a hand on the ground to push himself to his feet. He remembered the threat he'd made to the drom when they'd reclaimed the warehouse district. Ausyar fought without honor. Critch had no problem doing the same.