Broken Worlds (Book 3): Civil War by Jasper T. Scott

Author:Jasper T. Scott [Scott, Jasper T.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Anthem Press
Published: 2018-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Drake, and welcome to Tarsus,” Executor Resonda said, while holding her hand out in greeting.

Darius took the android’s hand with a tight smile and a shallow nod.

She went on, “The Union owes you and your fleet a great debt. Reports are just now reaching us of the devastation in Cygnian space. It’s hard to believe, but certainly welcome news. The Cygnians’ tyranny is finally coming to an end.”

“Yes...” Darius trailed off, while making a show of looking around the Executor’s palace. They were standing in the throne room, a vast hall with gleaming marble columns and floors, flanked on both sides by massive windows that afforded panoramic views of Tarsus City. Gleaming glass towers stabbed the violet sky. Streams of air traffic flowed in orderly lines between those spires. None of the buildings were collapsed or otherwise tarnished by the war.

“Your world seems remarkably unscathed,” Darius said, looking back to Resonda. He remembered noting the same thing on the trip down from orbit. Instead of ruins, he’d seen vertiginous cities, orderly urban parks and lakes, along with pristine forests of blue and red trees, none of them turned to charred skeletons by the flaming ruins of crashing starships.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Resonda agreed, smiling tightly back at him.

Darius had seen plenty of devastation on the other planets the fleet had visited over the past two months. Unlike Tarsus, none of those worlds had been governed by androids. Androids were the Cygnians’ appointed governors, or Executors as they were called, and they were unfailingly loyal to their programming and their Cygnian masters. Darius had met one exception to that rule—an android named Gatticus, whose memory and associated loyalties had been damaged beyond repair.

Darius absently wondered what had happened to Gatticus. Tanik had jettisoned him from the Deliverance before the civil war had begun. It was a pity. That android had helped Darius and his daughter survive after they’d awoken from cryo. He would have liked to reward the android by giving him a position in his new government.

A prickle of warning raised the hairs on the back of Darius’s neck. He could sense the Cygnians who’d been hiding along the ceiling now creeping into position above his head. This planet was crawling with them. The Tarsians had obviously made some kind of deal in order to stay out of the war.

Darius nodded to Resonda. “Excuse me for a moment.” Using his ESC to activate the comm piece he wore in his ear, Darius said, “Commander, you may commence launching our troops.”

“Yes, sir,” came Dyara’s reply.

“What?” Resonda blinked at him. “You assured us that you came in peace! We have no warships. We mean you no harm!”

Darius stabbed his index finger at her like a sword. “And you assured me that Tarsus was not under Cygnian control.” Darius gestured to the ceiling and pulled the lurking Cygnians down. They shrieked and wailed, struggling to right themselves and land on their feet before they hit the floor.

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