Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5 Read online

  They were still an hour or so out from base camp when his plans fell apart. Ellie looked back over her shoulder and paused. She did that a lot, and not because of the location. It was part of her training. His too in a way. Royal bodyguards had to keep their primary in view at all times, and as the body being guarded, he had to make it easy for her to do that. Not a hardship in his case. He loved her. Their private times together were a pleasure.

  Ellie thrust her axe into the snow and raised her goggles onto her forehead. She shielded her eyes against the glare. He smiled before he realised she was studying the horizon not looking at him. He turned to look but saw nothing of interest. Just more snow. It was a pretty view and he was about to say that, but something was wrong. She was coiling the rope and hurrying back towards him. She’d left her axe stuck in the ice as a guide back to the last safe ground she’d tested. That was his Ellie, always thinking.

  “Turn around!” she yelled on the way to him.

  “What, why?”

  She didn’t explain but spun him roughly around to attack his backpack.

  “Hey, go easy!”

  She found what she wanted and stepped in front of him to raise the binos. The Magnatec auto zoom field glasses were one of a pair they’d brought with them. He wanted to grab hers from her pack but didn’t dare disturb her. Something had her seriously rattled.

  “What is it?” he whispered to her stiff back.

  As answer she offered the glasses to him.

  He pushed his goggles up and raised the binos, using the controls to zoom beyond the snowbound Cradle to scan the horizon. He panned them slowly left and right but all he saw was emptiness. He didn’t get it, and said so.

  “Where’s the tether?” Ellie said tightly.

  He lowered the glasses and frowned at her.

  “We should be able to see it from here. High altitude, clear sky. Perfect conditions like you said. Where is it?”

  He raised the binos again. This time he did a methodical search. The Cradle resort was far too close but he used it as his guide. He selected wide angle to get his bearings and found the airport that served the resort. He frowned, noting the lack of activity there. Not too surprising he supposed. It wasn’t as if it served the el. The space elevator had its own port facility for transhipping cargo. There was warehousing and other stuff there for maintenance and refuelling. Still, the lack of any air traffic on the field was a bit odd.

  “The airport is quiet,” he murmured as he searched.

  “The tether?”

  “Still looking.”

  “It should be obvious, your Highness. Is it there or not?”

  “Of course it’s there. I just have to find it. What, you think it evaporated?”

  She didn’t answer and he continued his sweep.

  The Magnatec range of field optics were one of Faragut’s exports to the various Alliance militaries. The Marines wouldn’t be seen dead using anything but Faragut scopes and binos. Ellie was Faragut special forces. She liked to use the best toys available. The binos had more than enough magnifying power to find the blasted tether, only…

  “I can’t find it,” he whispered and lowered the glasses, more perplexed than worried. “Check me. I’m looking south-east of the resort, right?”

  “Yes.”

  He raised the glasses again. The spaceport was over the horizon, and he wouldn’t be able to see it even at high altitude like this. He’d need a comp and uplink to a satellite, but the tether was just short of 50,000km long. It was the largest structure on the planet. Even at this range it should be visible to the naked eye as a black line on the horizon.

  “It’s down,” he said lowering the glasses. “It must be. I can’t find it and what else is there?”

  “Nothing I can think of, your Highness.”

  He handed the glasses back to her but she didn’t bother to use them. She stowed them in his pack and picked up the coil of rope before starting back toward her axe, paying out the line as she went as if nothing had happened.

  “Wouldn’t we have, I don’t know, heard it maybe?” he called. He lost her in the glare from the snow. He pulled his goggles back down. “Ellie? We would have heard it.”

  “I don’t think so. Too far,” she yelled and tugged her axe free.

  The Duchy of Kentmere was the perfect location for the space elevator. It was part of a landmass on the equator with ocean to the west and a relatively low population within the impact zone. If the el ever collapsed, considered impossible but still, the tether would fall from east to west. Losing the tether, the physical connection between the surface and Terminus Station in orbit, would be a disaster. Such a cataclysm would cause it to drag west and splash down in the ocean.

  That was the theory.

  In reality the tether’s built in failsafe architecture ensured a controlled collapse. Meaning no drag. No drag was a good thing, fabulous even, but a collapse guaranteed lives lost. There must have been hundreds of passengers aboard the climbers on their way up or down, and anyone at the port would be in danger from debris.

  What of Terminus Station in orbit? The loss of the tether would destabilise its orbit. Would it come down as well? Probably, but maybe there would be time enough for evac. Maybe, and maybe not too. There must be thousands of travellers passing through the station, and thousands more working there. It was a big one.

  The rope jerked him off his feet. “What the hell!”

  “Keep up, your Highness. We need to move fast.”

  He climbed back to his feet and followed her, keeping the slack in the line to a minimum. “Shouldn’t we go back?”

  “That will take days. Base camp is closer and they’ll have comms there.”

  “Point.”

  Ellie wasn’t kidding about moving fast. Nicholas kept up but he was panting by the time the camp came into sight. If she hadn’t needed to test the ice ahead for hidden crevasses or weak points she would’ve made him sprint all the way. He wasn’t her equal in this environment. He was a naval officer not a ground pounder of any stripe. She was special forces and one of the elite royal bodyguards. Few could match her on Faragut.

  “Stop here,” Ellie said and stepped behind him. “Let’s not walk in like green recruits.” She retrieved the binos and knelt in the snow to study the situation.

  Nicholas went to one knee to get his breath back. He could see people moving between the tents. They weren’t being stealthy. All were wearing brightly-coloured gear similar to his and they carried no weapons that he could see.

  “You’re thinking… what? Terrorists took down the el?”

  “Maybe,” Ellie said. “Maybe not.”

  “But?”

  “But I’m not walking in there with you and getting famous.”

  Nicholas smiled. “Famous?”

  “For being the first royal bodyguard to lose her primary on Faragut.”

  He noted the on Faragut part. She wouldn’t be the first to lose a royal. That dubious honour was already taken. His cousin had fallen to an insurrectionist plot on Terminus Station, but it hadn’t been the fault of his bodyguard. His entire detail, five men and one woman, had died to give him a chance. Nicholas didn’t remember much about it. He’d been a child but he remembered the aftermath. His father had gone to war over it.

  “Wouldn’t want that,” he muttered.

  “It looks clear.”

  Nicholas nodded and started to rise, but a hand descended on his shoulder.

  “I said it looks clear,” Ellie stressed. “You’ll wait here for me.”

  He didn’t argue. She wasn’t beyond knocking him unconscious if that’s what it took to complete the mission. He nodded and took charge of her pack when she shrugged out of its straps. She gave him the binos and claimed her pulser from her pack.

  “You wouldn’t have another one in there would you?” he said, a little wistfully. He hadn’t seen the need to add more weight to his pack. It was a climbing trip, dammit. “No I didn’t bring one before you say anything.
”

  “I didn’t ask. Here,” she said and handed him the pulser and two spare mags. She rummaged around in her pack and brought out an even more impressive pulser.

  “Yours is bigger,” he said, trying for whiny to lighten the mood. He sounded worried to his own ears.

  “Your… weapon is big enough, your Highness. I know you know how to use it,” she said with a smirk, and stuffed her spare mags in various pockets. “Keep watch. If I go down wait for night and slip away. Then frag the bastards.”

  He nodded. “Count on it.”

  She moved out confidently, testing her footing with her axe.

  Ellie did everything confidently, and he loved that about her. She hadn’t meant for him to fight. She would expect him to exfil back to the resort not risk himself to take out her killers. If he died to avenge her she would consider it a loss not a win. The only win she cared about was keeping him alive. His cousin’s detail had felt the same about him, he was sure.

  Nicholas watched Ellie approach the camp and promised her he’d survive. No one in camp would if they hurt her. If it took an air-strike called in from the safety of the resort then so be it. He wouldn’t waste her sacrifice on heroics.

  Maybe he had that in common with his father. King Richard had gone to war to avenge the death of one of his family. Thousands had died before the end. He vowed he would do no less for Ellie.

  * * *

  3 ~ Rage Against The Dying

  The Cradle, Duchy of Kentmere, Faragut.

  Nicholas watched through the binos as Ellie entered the camp, and prayed her paranoia was just training. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about. The loss of the tether could be the start of another insurrection, and who was the only available representative of the evil-doing Windsor dynasty to kill up here? Why, HRH Nicholas Windsor himself of course.

  He scowled.

  His ego urged him to follow and protect her, but Ellie would probably shoot him herself if he tried that. Her skills and her place in the Royal Guard were the only things she took pride in. She wasn’t like other aristocrats on Faragut. Her family name wasn’t everything to her as it was to most of their friends. Honour meant more. The oaths she’d sworn held real meaning, as they should to all of the ruling class, but rarely did.

  He tensed when she strolled straight into the camp without a care. He immediately lost her among the tents. Minutes passed before she reappeared. She stood in the open and gestured come ahead. If there’d been someone with her, he might have hesitated, but just then her right hand patted the air as if calming a stray dog. It meant ease down, safety on, or any number of other things that meant don’t kill anyone.

  He tucked his gun and the binos away, hefted both packs, and went to join her.

  People in colourful high-altitude gear similar to his, emerged from the camp to greet him. They obviously recognised him. One stepped forward to take the packs, and Nicholas nodded his thanks before joining Ellie.

  “Your Highness, this is Dave Westerman. He’s senior guide for the expedition,” Ellie said.

  Westerman offered his hand and Nicholas shook it.

  “It’s an honour to meet you, Your Highness. I was looking forward to the climb, but under the circumstances,” he broke off with a shrug.

  “Circumstances?” Nicholas said, looking to Ellie for his answer.

  “Unclear at the moment, Your Highness. The tether is down. Dave’s people are trying to reach someone at the airport. No answer yet.”

  Westerman nodded. “It’s really crazy over there. Lots of chatter, but none of it makes sense. I’m trying to arrange for a shuttle to pick us up. If we don’t get an answer before morning I’ll lead you down the way you came up. The south-eastern trek is the safest route. I’ll have you back at the hotel safe and sound in a few days, Your Highness.”

  Nicholas nodded. “Do we have net access up here?”

  Ellie shook her head. “That was the second thing I asked about, and that’s really bad news.”

  “Why?”

  “Because my wristcomp should have access anywhere on the planet and it doesn’t right now.”

  Nicholas pulled off his gloves and pushed his sleeve up to reveal his own wristcomp. He tried a few commands, but fared no better. That was more than a little worrying; it was terrifying. Ellie’s wristcomp was military grade like his, but although hers had been issued by the Palace and had special permissions, it didn’t have full access to all levels of the system like his. As heir to the throne he shouldn’t ever be locked out of Faragut’s net. It meant the system had crashed, or someone had managed to take out the satellites. He couldn’t waste time up a mountain waiting to learn which it was.

  “I need to contact someone at the palace,” he said.

  Westerman led the way to the comms tent and then hurried off to supervise the rest of their group. Everyone was packing in anticipation of evacuation by air. Nicholas held the tent flap for Ellie and followed her inside.

  “I’ll take over,” Ellie said to the comms operator. “You need to get your gear ready.”

  The man’s eyes widened at the sight of Nicholas entering behind her. He nodded and fled.

  “That face of yours comes in handy sometimes.”

  “I’m attached to it,” Nicholas said dryly.

  “So am I, Your Highness.” She removed her coat and found the port she needed in the back of the comm. Without a hardwired connection to her wristcomp she wouldn’t be able to use the encrypted guard channel. “I hope someone’s listening.”

  “So do I.”

  “White-Knight, White-Knight, this is Shepherd-2 over,” Ellie said.

  Nicholas held his breath but there was no reply. The guard channel was never left unmonitored, but he didn’t know if the local relay satellite was up or not. They might not have the range without it.

  “White-Knight, White-Knight, this is Shepherd-2, over.”

  “It could be a satellite malfunction. Just a stupid glitch.”

  Ellie looked at him. “And the tether?”

  He had no answer.

  “White-Knight, White-Knight, this is Shepherd-2, over.”

  “Shepherd-2, White-Knight,” a voice replied. He sounded grim as death. “Phoenix. I say again Phoenix. Authenticate Lima-Alpha-Six-Foxtrot-Echo-November—”

  “God no,” Ellie hissed, shock choking her words.

  Nicholas paled. “It’s a mistake. Tell them it’s a bloody mistake! I want to talk to someone at the palace. Tell them!”

  She shook her head knowing it would do no good. “Break-break. White-Knight, Shepherd-2. I do not copy.”

  “Shepherd-2, White-Knight. Phoenix is confirmed. I say again Phoenix. Authenticate Lima-Alpha-Six-Foxtrot-Echo-November-Niner-Niner, over.”

  This time Ellie entered the code-string into her wristcomp, and read back the result. “Code is Sunflower. I say again, Sunflower.”

  “Affirmative. How many souls?”

  Ellie hesitated, and looked to Nicholas for an answer.

  He knew what she was thinking. Her duty was to him alone. Westerman and the others would make it back on foot in a few days if a storm-front didn’t move in. If his life had been at stake she wouldn’t hesitate to ditch them, but it wasn’t.

  Not yet.

  “All of us. None left behind,” he said firmly.

  He didn’t know how many had already died today, or how many would die in the days to come, but he wouldn’t help that number grow.

  Ellie nodded. “Fifteen, I say again one-five for evac.”

  “Copy fifteen. Coordinates follow,” White-Knight said and reeled off a string of numbers. “White-Knight clear.”

  Ellie punched in the coordinates and frowned at something her wristcomp displayed. She shook her head, punched in something else, and nodded in satisfaction. She saved the route.

  “Roger. Shepherd-2 out,” Ellie said, unplugging the patch cable and letting it retract into her wristcomp. She selected a random channel on the comms to disguise the settings she�
��d used. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

  Nicholas flinched. “He’s not dead.”

  Ellie remained silent.

  He spun on his heel and left the tent unwilling to confront her surety.

  Nicholas spent the time before departure thinking about his father, and watching the other climbers getting ready. Ellie didn’t emerge from the comms tent; she probably wanted to listen for news. He couldn’t believe this was happening. When they’d left the palace a few days ago everything was fine. The security briefing that morning had been routine. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He wasn’t ready to be king; not that it mattered now. Ready or not, phoenix meant he was the king.

  “The king is dead, long live the king,” he said bitterly.

  How could it happen? Had an assassin penetrated the palace? How and why? The capital had been safe even at the height of the Separatist War. How could security fail so disastrously, and why now? His upcoming wedding was the biggest change on the horizon. Could that unwanted event have caused this? He couldn’t see how.

  He frowned as he considered plots and reasons. Another noble house’s ambitions could’ve been threatened by his betrothal to Lady Charlotte; their marriage would close that avenue to the throne for another generation or two. It might be enough to cause some unrest, but the security services would have detected anything like that. And they hadn’t.

  His mind buzzed with unanswered questions.

  Ellie joined him when the time came to move out. She helped him with his pack and he did the same for her, but both of them wore their weapons in holsters now. Neither of them knew what dangers they might face, but they would be ready.

  Before leaving, Westerman ordered most of the equipment stowed in the tents for protection against the weather. They didn’t need it on the descent. Base-camp was a semi-permanent feature of Mount Cho’s south-eastern trek. It was a popular staging area. Nothing would be wasted. Nicholas wondered if he’d ever come back to use any of it. Probably not. He’d be a prisoner for the rest of his life. Once crowned he’d never be allowed to go anywhere without a heavy security presence.