Uneven, p.1
Uneven, page 1
Uneven
By Timothy Ellis
Unbound Mercs, Book Six.
Copyright © 2024 by Timothy Ellis
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and events are fictional and have no relationship to any real person, place or event. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.
The author is Australian and the main characters in this universe are of Australian origin. In Australia, we colour things slightly differently, so you may notice some of the spelling is different. Please don't be alarmed.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty One
Twenty Two
Twenty Three
Twenty Four
Twenty Five
Twenty Six
Twenty Seven
Twenty Eight
Twenty Nine
Thirty
Thirty One
Thirty Two
Thirty Three
Thirty Four
Thirty Five
Thirty Six
Thirty Seven
Thirty Eight
Thirty Nine
Forty
Forty One
Forty Two
Forty Three
Forty Four
Forty Five
Forty Six
Forty Seven
Forty Eight
Acknowledgements
A Message to my Readers
Also by Timothy Ellis
Read the universe in this order
The Hunter Imperium Timeline
The Hunter Imperium Universe Series in the order written:
One
Matriarch Gitte appeared in the mess as breakfast was finishing up.
Unseen was back at Karn, and yesterday had been an easy one for everyone. I’ve no idea what happened after I left Ralnor, but whatever negotiations had happened with the Imperator and Knight Marshal, the local admiral got five fleets back only hours later, one of them replacing the hastily formed one at the military base we’d defended for them.
He’d also gained a division of troops back, and they’d not only replaced the temporary troops on the base, but were augmenting his forces in a lot of now considered vulnerable places throughout his sector.
For us, the mission was over, we’d been paid, dropped the admiral and his staff off at the sector capital, and we’d jumped back to Karn late in the afternoon. Bonko and Major Knott had simply docked their ships at the trading station, we’d docked our ferry there, and the crews had eaten out in style. We’d also been paid for six recreated Ralnor destroyers Karn had purchased, and distributed the shares. Everyone had expressed surprise at how much they’d been paid.
For me and the shareholders, today was going to be about addressing the future. The aftermath of the last mission was going to take time to sort out, and that included what we did with a lot of ships now parked in the Karn system we’d either killed and they’d been recreated, or captured. The crews were getting the day off, and everyone was happy about that as well.
Except now I saw how Gitte looked. She had a haunted look I hadn’t seen on anyone for a long time, and it was obvious she’d had no sleep at all.
“Can I have your attention, please,” she said, and the room stopped and paid attention as if compelled to. “I have some bad news for some of you.”
She paused, and her eyes went to Angie and some of the Terran pilots.
“There was a military coup on Terra overnight.”
I think everyone was shocked, but our Terran pilots were especially.
“The government was overthrown, and the senior military officer now rules the system.”
Silence. No movement. Not even from the mice.
“A seer saw it coming, so those who purchased the Terran splinter colony near Haven were able to escape. That included all the Hunters with the exception of Lia, the Smiths, Pecks, and other families who were the original core of Terran society, and all of the mages. They evacuated their island before the troops arrived, and removed the rift behind them. Lia was lured to a meeting with the military before it kicked off.”
She paused for a breath, and still no-one moved.
“The planet Celeste has announced its independence from Terra, and joined the Imperium. There is now a fleet of Maniac class dreadnaughts at the jump point to Terra, in case the Terran military attempt to take the planet by force.”
“That’s insane,” muttered Carol.
I had to wonder why the jump point was still there.
“That word has been used a lot over the last few hours. However, that’s not the bad news. The families of every person who joined the League or any mercenary company were put under house arrest by troops. The rifts you had to your homes were removed, along with the Celeste rift, in order that no Terran troops could come for any of you.”
“What’s being done about that?” grated Angie, in a tone I’d never heard from her before.
“Nothing at this time. Each of your homes now has a null magic field over it, preventing us moving your families to safety. Other people who had been openly opposing the Keerah War were arrested, and they and their families are also beyond our reach. The League of Worlds leaders will be meeting in a few hours to decide on what our response should be. But the reality is, there’s not much we can do.”
For a mage of her power to say that, was nothing short of incredible.
“Do you know if our families are safe?” asked Viv.
“We’re being told they are. But that’s the real bad news. Terra is demanding all of you return for trial on the charge of treason. Should any of you fail to return, your families will be charged instead, found guilty, and executed. You have a day to return. Space Commodore Westbrook has told all League pilots all of this already, and there will be a meeting on Karn’s trading station at two this afternoon for everyone affected.”
“Is the League going to do nothing?” asked Julia.
“There is nothing we can do right now.” I felt my mouth twitch. “To put troops on the ground is an act of war. To send ships into Terra now is an act of war. And no-one wants a war between humans again. The League leaders will discuss this, and then all Terrans in the League will discuss this, and we’ll see what the consensus is.”
“Consensus?” exclaimed Harvey. “That’s easy. No, we’re not going back. No, they are not putting our families on trial. No, they don’t get away with this. If they want a war, then as far as I’m concerned, war has been declared. All we need to decide is how to prosecute it.”
“Damned right,” said Carol.
“There is nothing the League can do right now,” repeated Gitte.
‘Nothing the League can do’ echoed through my brain for a few moments.
“Where are the Terran mages?” I asked. “Why can’t they do anything?”
“They’re all on Celeste at the moment. They’ve had a long night, along with all the others forced to evacuate. So have a lot of my mages as well, who were called on to help them move. A plan was made, but actually doing it proved more difficult than expected.”
“Has anyone pointed out to the Terran military how easily a rift can be removed?”
“Not yet. That’s perhaps the only bargaining card we have. But it will need a vote by League leaders to play that. We have time though.”
“You’d think they’d know that possibility existed,” said Elsa. “They have carriers tens of thousands of lightyears from the nearest friendly system. Remove that rift, and they’d be stranded.”
“It’s been suggested. And it is something that can be done if they refuse to negotiate. For now though, that’s a hard option that requires discussion.”
My mouth twitched again. It really wasn’t. I saw faces start to look at me, and most of them were not Terran. I thought about what needed to be done.
“It really doesn’t,” said Pete. “All it needs is political will.”
“And that will be determined this morning.”
“That fills me with hope,” said Brook, sounding more sarcastic than I’d ever heard from her before.
“Hope is irrelevant,” someone said, and I saw everyone look at me suddenly.
I was looking at Pete, who had his fists clenched. Angie had lost all the colour in her face. Harvey was furious. Viv seemed to have no idea her fist was banging her leg. The other Terrans all looked shocked, and afraid, and angry.
I sighed, and looked again at Gitte. She had a resigned expression on her face.
“How hard did you try?” I asked her, trying not to sound disrespectful.
“Really hard. I’m exhausted. All of the mages I called on are exhausted. The Celeste mages are exhausted. Grand Mage Bud is exhausted. Mage King Haynes is exhausted. Whatever magic they put in place to nullify magic cannot be breached. According to Bud, it’s been used before, so we suspect some rogue mage from here took the secret there, and sold out to the Terran military. For now, there is no magic solution to this problem.”
“Do they know they declared war?”
“The new Terran leaders? I doubt it. They think they covered all the bases, and they know the League doesn’t want a war with them.”
“That wasn’t the war I was talking about.”
“What war are you talking about?”
I rose, with everyone in the room watching me, and headed for the door.
When I reached it, I turned and looked back.
No-one had moved. They were all still watching me.
“SADDLE UP!” I bellowed.
Two
The ferry was the only ship we had not docked with Unseen.
As I made my way to the bridge, I thought about anything else which needed doing, and came up empty. There was movement noise coming from behind me now, but I ignored it, and stalked onto the bridge, going right up beside Nell, who had command at the moment. She removed the screen she’d been watching the events in the mess on.
“Do we have anyone off the ship?” I asked her.
“No. I just checked. You want the ferry back?”
“Yes. Move us closer to the station so it takes less time to do that.”
“On it.”
“Trip, find out from Uchawi if we can get another Camel or Cobra in the next few minutes. We should have been due for the delivery of both of them by now.”
“We can have both in about five minutes.”
“Not a second longer. I want a position we can jump to over Terra, where we won’t be detected, ready to use. Tell me when those ships are on board.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Yeah. There’s a war with our name on it, and we don’t want to be late. I’ll be in my office. Have the shareholders…”
“We’re all standing behind you,” said Darren.
I looked, and they were, along with Gitte. A moment later, Westbrook was standing there as well.
“My office, please.”
I stalked that way without checking if anyone followed me, went straight to my conference table, and sat. The others sat silently as well, but the two Karn residents remained standing.
“Join us, please,” I said to them.
They looked at each other, and then sat, but apart from the rest of us. I looked at the shareholders one by one.
“Anyone opposed?”
“To what exactly?” asked Doug.
“To going to Terra, and getting every single family member of our Terran friends out of there. And then all the rest of them under detention as well.”
“That’s an act of war,” said Tom.
“War has already been declared. If they didn’t want it to become a shooting one, then they shouldn’t have started it the way they did.”
“Do you have a plan?” asked Brook.
“Not yet. I need your approval to start on it.”
“What will this do to our status in the League?” asked Nyle.
“Not relevant,” said Angie. “If they censure us and it comes to that, we can move anywhere. Celeste would base us, and we can work in Ralnor or Keerah space if we have to.”
“Let’s not get bogged down on possible consequences,” I said. “The League is the League, not Terra, not America or Britain. I’m going in. Are you with me?”
“YES,” they all said together, I think not meaning to.
I looked at Gitte. Westbrook had a strange expression on his face.
“We’ll need whatever rift mages you can send us.”
“What for?”
“I want to put a squad of not-crocs or cats just outside every single null zone on that planet, so they can go in and find whatever device is causing it, and destroy it or move it. If they can’t, then they neutralize any troops there, and bring the families and anyone else detained out.”
“Lufaflufs too,” added Pete.
“So you need to know where the null zones are?”
“Yes. How many will define how many troops go in, but we do them all at the same time.”
“Our last three ships are aboard,” said Trip, popping up in the middle of the table.
“Three ships?” asked Darren.
“The ferry, a second Camel, and a third Cobra.”
“I’ll take the Camel,” said Brook, startling all of us. “Angie, you better take the new Cobra.”
No-one asked ‘are you sure?’ of her. We could see the resolve on her face. Angie nodded, but didn’t say anything. Oddly, a Camel might solve Brook’s shielding issues. Maybe.
“When do you want to do this?” asked Gitte.
“Now,” I said.
“That limits what mages are available. Mostly it limits the range of the rift mages who can help without rest first.”
“Or we need a supply of jump squares and jump buttons,” said Westbrook. “I think I can supply you some buttons. Going in is harder though. I’m not aware of a ship with jump squares we can get the use of.”
He looked at his girlfriend. She looked really exhausted.
“I guess some jump squares can be arranged. All I need is somewhere to put them.”
“We planned for that,” said Pete, smiling. “I can show you where to put them.”
“Where do we get jump buttons from?” I asked Westbrook.
“I happen to know a group of very pissed off pilots who have them, and coincidently, a company of just as pissed off marines who have them as well.”
“How fast can you get them here?”
“Very fast. But that isn’t the main problem. The moment anyone lands on the planet, the Terran military will hit that place hard.”
“Not if they’re distracted.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” asked Darren.
“Of course she is,” said Brook. “Why do think I want the new Camel?”
“You’re serious?” asked Westbrook.
“Spell it out for me,” said Doug.
“We’re going to piss off whatever the Terran military has in orbit,” I said, “and piss them off so badly, that they won’t even notice what’s going on down on the planet.”
“I know a couple of mages who do concealment shields really well too,” said Gitte. “The more we can hide of what’s going on down there, the better.”
“We need a fig leaf,” said Darren.
That got him some strange looks, but I knew what he meant. We needed some authority behind us, otherwise we’d just be pirates.
“I’ll organize that,” said Westbrook. “If the Celeste government, and technically I’m now a Celeste citizen so I can ask, hires your company to retrieve their wrongly detained people, it makes what you do legitimate.”
“That will work.”
I’m not sure that was what Darren had in mind, but it would work. I think he’d been thinking about another group of Terrans, but they were all too close to the Imperium these days to be seen as objective.
“We don’t have enough non-human troops,” said Trip. “Uchawi used the magicsat in the Terran system to plot the null zones, since it can no longer see small places all over the planet. Mostly they’re the size of a house or building. One seems to be a military compound, and another is a prison. We’d be putting no more than a pair of soldiers in each location. With the last two especially, that won’t be enough.”
“Can I be of assistance?” asked a voice from the doorway.
Everyone turned in that direction, where a larger than normal not-croc was standing there.
“General Crocatoa,” he said. “How many troops do you need?”
Three
“Let’s settle something first,” I said.
They all looked back at me.
“Are we going in or not? Anyone who’s not needs to say so now.”
I looked at each of the shareholders one by one. Each of them gave me a nod. I turned back to the not-croc general, and waved him over.
“How are you here?” I asked him.
Why was obvious. The how was important.
“I had a message from Major Sentinel. He said there was the possibility of you needing more troops for an emergency. I came at once. I suspect I broke some station speed laws with the trolley I used, but alas, we had no direct rift to you, so I had to get to the Karn shipyard. Again, how can I help?”
“Pete, you, the general and the major work out with Trip how many targets we have, and how many troops we need to hit them effectively. Then check with Space Commodore Westbrook about integrating his marines into the teams, preferably with them not looking human.”
