Read Online Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) by Terry Mixon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Terry Mixon
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have and came up empty. No mention of an Admiral Jared Mertz.
“That’s not really surprising, though. Fleet databases are fairly segmented. We only knew the officers and ships assigned to this sector and the surrounding ones. The admiral obviously came from further away. Perhaps even the core worlds.”
Olivia considered what that might mean. “They’ve had a long time to clean up the mess on Harrison’s World. Why wait a decade? To see if there are any rebels still hiding here?”
William smiled. “I’d think you, of all people, would be happy to have the time to consolidate your rule. The orbital strikes mostly destroyed the existing political structure. I’m not sure I’d have expected a resistance leader to end up in charge back then.”
“The irony isn’t lost on me,” she assured him. “We financed the restoration of Invincible and were only weeks away from striking at the system lord.” She said the last with all the bitterness she felt toward their AI masters. They’d taken so much from humanity. And from her personally.
Her fiancé, Fleet Captain Brian Drake, had almost certainly died when the AI realized the humans of Harrison’s World were planning a revolt. His death had almost destroyed her. It probably would have, if she hadn’t been running for her life and helping rescue people from the devastation.
The Lord had struck at them without mercy, killing tens of millions. Then it had crushed their necks under its boot. The slightest hesitation to obey brought wholesale death. It could’ve sent probes down to take control of the implants in their heads, but it hadn’t seemed interested in that level of domination.
Most of the nobles didn’t realize the AI could take direct control of their bodies through their implants. The code in them was perverted. They thought of the lower orders as their slaves, but that was the worst kind of deception. The AIs that had crushed the Terran Empire could make them dance any time they chose to do so.
She knew this because Harrison’s World had a loosely knit community of resistance members. They kept memories of what the Empire had once been alive. Maybe it was closer to a religion. They certainly felt a reverence for what they’d lost that was close to worship.
They’d thought a superdreadnought and a few secrets from the Grant Research Facility would be enough to subdue the AI. They’d been horribly wrong.
It had spies on the ground, though seemingly not in the resistance itself. It had gotten wind of the coup, or at least enough information to believe that humans were a threat to its rule.
Most of her allies on the ruling council would be horrified to know the truth about her. If they even suspected her role in the aborted coup, they’d speedily see her executed.
“Are you even listening to me?” William asked.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and focused. “Sorry. I let my mind wander. What did you say?”
He gave her an exasperated, but resigned look. “I said that we’ve gone over the data we stole from Lady King’s network. Leaving aside her profound incompetence as a negotiator, we’ve analyzed the video she recorded of the initial meeting.
“Admiral Mertz is definitely on a Holyfield class superdreadnought. The same kind of ship as Invincible . The flag bridge layout is unmistakable. With his support ships, he’s too strong a nut to crack, even if we managed to slip some people out to Invincible and finish bringing it online. His trained crew and support vessels would slaughter us. Whatever plan you formulate needs to be subtle.”
She nodded. “I’ll give it my best. I told Abigail that I was going up to negotiate in person. I’ll bring back as much data as I can. Is there anything else?”
“One more thing. We looked at the meeting with the Fleet landing party. Something odd came out of it. Look at this.”
He sent her a video snippet through his implants. It showed a woman in powered armor standing up to
“That’s not really surprising, though. Fleet databases are fairly segmented. We only knew the officers and ships assigned to this sector and the surrounding ones. The admiral obviously came from further away. Perhaps even the core worlds.”
Olivia considered what that might mean. “They’ve had a long time to clean up the mess on Harrison’s World. Why wait a decade? To see if there are any rebels still hiding here?”
William smiled. “I’d think you, of all people, would be happy to have the time to consolidate your rule. The orbital strikes mostly destroyed the existing political structure. I’m not sure I’d have expected a resistance leader to end up in charge back then.”
“The irony isn’t lost on me,” she assured him. “We financed the restoration of Invincible and were only weeks away from striking at the system lord.” She said the last with all the bitterness she felt toward their AI masters. They’d taken so much from humanity. And from her personally.
Her fiancé, Fleet Captain Brian Drake, had almost certainly died when the AI realized the humans of Harrison’s World were planning a revolt. His death had almost destroyed her. It probably would have, if she hadn’t been running for her life and helping rescue people from the devastation.
The Lord had struck at them without mercy, killing tens of millions. Then it had crushed their necks under its boot. The slightest hesitation to obey brought wholesale death. It could’ve sent probes down to take control of the implants in their heads, but it hadn’t seemed interested in that level of domination.
Most of the nobles didn’t realize the AI could take direct control of their bodies through their implants. The code in them was perverted. They thought of the lower orders as their slaves, but that was the worst kind of deception. The AIs that had crushed the Terran Empire could make them dance any time they chose to do so.
She knew this because Harrison’s World had a loosely knit community of resistance members. They kept memories of what the Empire had once been alive. Maybe it was closer to a religion. They certainly felt a reverence for what they’d lost that was close to worship.
They’d thought a superdreadnought and a few secrets from the Grant Research Facility would be enough to subdue the AI. They’d been horribly wrong.
It had spies on the ground, though seemingly not in the resistance itself. It had gotten wind of the coup, or at least enough information to believe that humans were a threat to its rule.
Most of her allies on the ruling council would be horrified to know the truth about her. If they even suspected her role in the aborted coup, they’d speedily see her executed.
“Are you even listening to me?” William asked.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and focused. “Sorry. I let my mind wander. What did you say?”
He gave her an exasperated, but resigned look. “I said that we’ve gone over the data we stole from Lady King’s network. Leaving aside her profound incompetence as a negotiator, we’ve analyzed the video she recorded of the initial meeting.
“Admiral Mertz is definitely on a Holyfield class superdreadnought. The same kind of ship as Invincible . The flag bridge layout is unmistakable. With his support ships, he’s too strong a nut to crack, even if we managed to slip some people out to Invincible and finish bringing it online. His trained crew and support vessels would slaughter us. Whatever plan you formulate needs to be subtle.”
She nodded. “I’ll give it my best. I told Abigail that I was going up to negotiate in person. I’ll bring back as much data as I can. Is there anything else?”
“One more thing. We looked at the meeting with the Fleet landing party. Something odd came out of it. Look at this.”
He sent her a video snippet through his implants. It showed a woman in powered armor standing up to
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