{"id":483,"date":"2014-03-04T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=483"},"modified":"2014-03-03T20:49:23","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T01:49:23","slug":"thirty-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-four"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dead men tell no tales, but the survivors bear serious grudges.<\/h3>\n

— attributed to Ryland LeSarte, date unknown<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

19 Decem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGrumpy?\u00a0 Adam!\u00a0 Are you still there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like the line went dead,\u201d Winston\u2019s voice said faintly.\u00a0 The young inspector\u2019s eyes were closed, his breathing raspy and shallow.\u00a0 Blood oozed from the gash above his ear, his body limp on the dirt floor of the hollow they\u2019d tumbled into just in time to avoid being crushed by a crashing enemy bomber.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think he heard you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he heard me,\u201d Frederick growled, suppressing the strong urge to fling his commlink as far as his arm could throw it.\u00a0 \u201cI just don\u2019t know if he was able to figure out where we are.\u201d\u00a0 Or if he\u2019s even able to send someone to help us.<\/i><\/p>\n

He\u2019d better send someone.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got the inspector on one side and Brendan on the other.<\/i><\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t dared to move Brendan Cho beyond struggling to drag him clear of the edge of the hollow, and he\u2019d been glad that he\u2019d at least done that.\u00a0 A split second after he\u2019d managed to pull the pilot to safety, the wreckage above them had shifted.<\/p>\n

Cho would have been cut in half if Frederick hadn\u2019t moved him.<\/p>\n

Now the pilot lay within arms\u2019 reach, unconscious and flat on his back, his face dirty, breathing shallow but even.\u00a0 Still, when Frederick had checked his eyes, they\u2019d been rolled up into his skull and the young man\u2019s body was entirely limp.<\/p>\n

Frederick hadn\u2019t seen him coming or what had happened when the bomber hit, but he knew that there had to be more going on beneath Brendan\u2019s uniform than what was immediately visible.<\/p>\n

Damnation, Grumpy, you\u2019d damned well better send someone to find us\u2014and be quick about it.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYou think it\u2019s bad out there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frederick snorted, then groaned.\u00a0 The world spun for a moment, then righted itself again.\u00a0 \u201cI have no doubt,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve never been attacked quite like this before.\u00a0 Whoever\u2019s come means business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re nervous,\u201d Winston said.\u00a0 \u201cWhoever it is, whoever did what they did to the Whispers.\u00a0 They\u2019re worried we\u2019ll figure something out\u2014that I\u2019ll figure something out.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry, Inspector Rose.\u00a0 This is all my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike hell,\u201d Frederick said.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no way that\u2019s true.\u00a0 They probably don\u2019t even realize you\u2019re here.\u201d\u00a0 And once they do, they\u2019ll just chalk your injuries up to collateral damage.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If we live that long, anyway.<\/i><\/p>\n

Frederick shuddered, remembering what had happened on Mimir.<\/p>\n

The attack had come without warning one early morning.\u00a0 It had started with flyovers by unmarked fighters.\u00a0 The first wave of bombers had come next as unknown ships drifted in from out of nowhere, black ships that vanished against the darkness of space.<\/p>\n

No warning.\u00a0 No escape.\u00a0 The cities had been bombed, experimentally at first.\u00a0 A few had been completely destroyed.\u00a0 Others had suffered less damage, but had suffered more in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

Sickness and starvation had come next, since the spaceports had been destroyed, the hospitals bombed into ruin\u2014Mimir had been abandoned by everyone except for its allies, who often found themselves falling victim to the minefield that had been left behind by the mysterious attackers.<\/p>\n

No one had moved.\u00a0 No one cared.\u00a0 The death of the Psychean Guard had begun that day that Mimir was bombed and had ended when Grant Channing and America Farragut had been captured.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s happening all over again,\u201d Frederick whispered.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the same people.\u00a0 It\u2019s same conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Winston asked, eyes cracking open.\u00a0 One eye was bloodshot, ringed by a black eye.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken the brunt of the impact when they\u2019d taken their tumble, when the bomber had come down.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like Mimir,\u201d Frederick said, feeling cold from head to toe.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s exactly<\/i> like Mimir.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d read all of the reports, penned a few of his own based on eyewitness testimony from the survivors.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t been on Mimir when that world had ended, but he knew enough.<\/p>\n

I used to know who killed it.\u00a0 Damnation, I wish I could remember.<\/i><\/p>\n

Frederick Rose was no fool.\u00a0 He knew<\/i> that at one point, he\u2019d unraveled the mystery, and the fact that he\u2019d gotten far too close had nearly killed him.<\/p>\n

And now, walking in my footsteps is going to get Inspector Winston killed.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cGo home once we make it through this,\u201d he said hoarsely to the younger man.\u00a0 \u201cGo home and tell Sephora that she shouldn\u2019t send people out here to get themselves killed.\u00a0 My example should\u2019ve taught her better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing my job,\u201d Winston said, his eyes sliding shut again.\u00a0 \u201cAre you telling me to run from my duty, Inspector Rose?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving, breathing investigators are better than dead symbols,\u201d Frederick said, wincing at the bitterness in his own voice.\u00a0 \u201cYou know that they both begged me not to go?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaci and Seph.\u00a0 They told me not to go to Eldas.\u00a0 Daci said she had a bad feeling about it.\u00a0 Seph said someone had been trying to divert our attention from there.\u00a0 There must have been a reason for it.\u00a0 I should have listened.\u00a0 Instead I went and found out what I needed to find out and they tried to murder me for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Frederick said, feeling the old ache start to rise again, the pain of not knowing, of not being able to remember.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I\u2019ve got no idea what it was that I used to know and forgot.\u00a0 I know I was going to go back to New Earth and break the whole thing wide open.\u00a0 There was going to be hell to pay and I was calling the piper\u2019s tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr I would have, anyway, if I\u2019d made it back in one piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re sure it\u2019s the same people?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modus operandi<\/i> is all the same,\u201d Frederick whispered.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s got to be the same people, the same conspiracy.\u00a0 It\u2019s all too close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe records of your findings were sealed,\u201d Winston said.\u00a0 \u201cYou had to have diplomatic credentials or be a part of the Inspector General\u2019s office to see them.\u00a0 Hard for someone to copycat that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHard, but not impossible.\u201d\u00a0 Frederick shuddered.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same people and it\u2019s happening all over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cE-557 is the new Mimir, not the Whispers.\u00a0 The Whispers was just incidental.\u00a0 This was their target all along.\u00a0 We were their target all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all right,\u201d Brendan Cho rasped from the floor nearby.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll be making them pay just the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dead men tell no tales, but the survivors bear serious grudges. — attributed to Ryland LeSarte, date unknown   19 Decem, 5249 PD \u201cGrumpy?\u00a0 Adam!\u00a0 Are you still there?\u201d \u201cSounds like the line went dead,\u201d Winston\u2019s voice said faintly.\u00a0 The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-7N","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}