Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) Read Free Page B

believe that?”
    “To be honest, yes. As much as I hate to admit it, even I believed it. I don’t know if people really do believe it, or if they just choose to believe it because if it turned out to be true…” She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “The bio-digital plague wiped us out, Jessica. I mean, literally. Everything fell apart. We lived like animals for centuries.”
    “We all did,” Jessica said.
    “So, there is no bio-digital plague here?”
    “Not in over nine hundred years. Not since the original outbreaks.”
    Several thunderous claps shook the windows of the medical center. Jessica moved toward the windows and peered outside, just in time to see four more jump flashes, each followed by more sonic booms a second after appearing.
    “What is it?” Kata asked as she and her porta-cam operator followed Jessica to the window.
    “More jump ships,” Jessica replied, a look of concern on her face. “Boxcars.” She turned to head toward the exit.
    “What are boxcars?”
    “Big-ass cargo ships,” she said as she quickly exited the building, Kata and Karahl close behind. Four more flashes filled the sky over the spaceport a kilometer away. “They shouldn’t be coming back, not fully loaded, at least. Something is wrong.” Jessica grabbed one of the med-techs as he exited the building. “Give me your comm-set, Sergeant.”
    “Yes, sir,” the young sergeant replied without hesitation, pulling off his comm-set and handing it over to Jessica.
    Jessica placed the comm-set on her ear and activated it. “Porto Santo Command, this is Lieutenant Commander Nash. I’m at the medical center. What’s going on? Why are there boxcars returning fully loaded?”
    “ Nash, Porto Santo Command. Lieutenant Fila. Admiral Dumar has ordered the immediate withdrawal of all ground forces from the Tau Ceti system. The boxcars arriving now are from Sorenson and Stennis. ”
    Jessica squinted her eyes in suspicion, puzzled by the events. “Withdrawal? What the hell for?”
    “ No idea, sir. ”
    “What about Kohara?”
    “ They’re next, ” the lieutenant replied, “ just as soon as we can move the air-support from Sorenson and Stennis over to Kohara to cover their withdrawal as well. Things have gotten pretty dicey there. ”
    Jessica sighed. “Copy that. Nash out.”
    “What is it?”
    “We’re withdrawing all ground forces from Tau Ceti,” she replied as she handed the comm-set back to the sergeant.
    “From which world?” Kata wondered.
    “All of them.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know,” Jessica admitted. “Something must have happened. Something big.”
    * * *
    “The main forces from Stennis and Sorenson have already returned to Porto Santo,” EnsignSouza reported from the Aurora’s communications center at the back of the bridge. “Their combat jumpers and troop shuttles are moving to Kohara to assist in their withdrawal.”
    “Why is this the first we’re hearing of this?” Nathan wondered.
    “We just came out of radio blackout, Captain,” Ensign Souza reminded him. “The comm-drone jumped into the middle of the system. We happened to be on the far side of Kohara when it first arrived. We just picked up its rebroadcast a minute ago.”
    “Why are we withdrawing?” Luis wondered.
    “More traffic, Captain,” Ensign Souza interrupted. “The message is for you, directly from Admiral Dumar.”
    “What is it?” Nathan asked.
    Ensign Souza looked at his captain.
    Nathan felt the hesitation in the ensign’s reply, and rotated in his command chair to face aft. “Ensign?”
    “It’s Prince Casimir,” the ensign said. “He’s dead, sir.”
    “Tug’s dead?” Nathan replied in disbelief.
    “Yes, sir. Assassinated. There’s a civil war on Takara.”
    Nathan closed his eyes for a moment, as he fought to maintain his composure. He felt as if everything was coming apart, spinning out of control.
    Luis watched with concern as his captain… his friend , struggled to keep his