Galaxy of War II Read online

  The

  Clarke

  Chronicles

  Galaxy of War II

  Robert Boren

  South Bay Press

  Copyright © 2020 by Robert Boren.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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  The Clarke Chronicles - Galaxy of War II/ Robert Boren. -- 1st ed.

  For Heldin

  A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.

  ― Robert A. Heinlein

  Contents

  Captivity

  Royalty

  Clan Rendezvous

  Eggs

  New Alliance

  Disk Mode

  New Command

  Plague

  Spies

  Alliance

  Probes

  Free Zone

  Hosts

  Retrofit

  Mines

  Venera

  Manslaughter

  About the Author

  Other books by Robert Boren

  { 1 }

  Captivity

  C ivil War exploded into the Central Authority Zone. Prime Minister Aeon laid his cards on the table, dissolving and arresting the legislature and waging a war of terror and conquest on any Central Authority planet that dared resist. His main advantage was resources. Ships, fuel, troops, and control over the infrastructure of the Central Authority Zone which he held as Prime Minister. The Samson Corporation, the Overlords and resistance groups on thousands of planets stand in his way.

  The new alliance between the Overlords and the Samson Corporation happened just in time. The alliance brought more ships to the battle, and the advanced technical know-how of the Samson Corporation removed the flaws and tracking issues plaguing the Overlords’s Razor battleships. A second New Jersey class battleship called the Spitfire was rushed through trials and brought into the fight, with Simone as its captain. There were still big problems for the new alliance. They were vastly outnumbered in ships and troops. The Samson Corporation technology was much better, but the Central Authority was making improvements, and learning from each engagement. Prime Minister Aeon was invading ten worlds per day, hoping to tie the Alliance up putting out fires all over the vast Central Authority Zone, one third of the Universe.

  Ecason, the genius forced to provide the Razor battleship design to the Clan, was being held on the Clan capitol planet C1111-A. He was dragging his feet on cloaking development for the Razor platform. The Clan captured the science vessel Magellan III while it was near Valla Cappos, to use her passengers as hostages, promising to kill one each day until Ecason showed progress on the cloaking capability. The leader of the science expedition, Yale Professor Elizabeth Friedman, was forced to assist.

  ***

  Ecason and Elizabeth had just witnessed the murder of a lower-level scientist of the Magellan III, at the hands of their captor XC22272. He left the room, Elizabeth falling into Ecason’s arms, sobbing.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ecason said. “So sorry. I should’ve killed myself.”

  “No,” she said, backing away from him. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  “We can’t do what they ask,” Ecason said. “They’ll use it to take over the Central Authority Zone. The Free Zone will fall after that. We can’t give them that capability to save the handful of scientists on Magellan III, even if they are dear to us. The billions outweigh the lives of the few.”

  Elizabeth was silent a moment, looking down. “How much do you know about the current state of the Central Authority Zone?”

  Ecason shrugged. “Next to nothing since I’ve been in captivity. I’ve heard a rumor from time to time, mainly from factory techs.”

  “You’ve been in captivity this whole time? Most people thought your ship was destroyed.”

  Ecason sat back down. “I’ve got much to tell you, but you go first.”

  Elizabeth took a deep breath, then started talking.

  “The Central Authority hired scientists for a big University/Government outreach project. Several professors from Yale, along with professors from many other Universities, working on a series of government projects. They were Top Secret, and related in some strange ways.”

  “You were on one of them?”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I led a team that studied Neanderthals.”

  “That’s right, you specialized in that.”

  “I did. Everything seemed fine for a while, and the extra earnings were nice. I kept my job at the University and worked this on the side. Then things began to turn.”

  “Figured that,” Ecason said. “Coffee? Believe it or not, the Clan has really good coffee. Better than ours.”

  “Okay,” Elizabeth said, watching Ecason go to the machine on a table to the left.

  “Go on,” he said, brewing her a cup.

  “The range of study made me suspicious. Originally it was a study of the reasons why we have Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens living together on some planets but not others.”

  Ecason handed her the coffee. “You did work on that years ago.”

  “I did.” She took a sip, her eyes lighting up. “Wow, you aren’t kidding, this is good.”

  “Told you,” Ecason said. “Go on.”

  “A new research director took over and changed everything. We ended up focusing on Neanderthal violence against Homo Sapiens. Clan Homo Sapiens in particular.”

  “Why would the Central Authority care about that?”

  “I thought it was strange, but I went along at first. Then an associate on another part of the team wanted to chat, and he took great pains to make sure we talked in a location the Central Authority couldn’t monitor.”

  “Uh oh.”

  “His name was Tryon. He was an expert in battleship design, specifically system software. A new battleship prototype was revealed to his team. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the ship was not a Central Authority design.”

  “How’d he figure that out?” Ecason asked.

  “The machine interface software was written in Curlian. We haven’t used that for more than a hundred years. It’s still used on Clan vessels. The shuttles and freighters we buy from them, for example.”

  Ecason smirked, eyeing her.

  “You did that,” Elizabeth said in a hushed tone.

  “I realized the Razor battleships would be exported to the Central Authority Zone. That’s illegal, so I buried Curlian code in the drive interface software to provide evidence. It takes thousands of techs to keep a fleet of battleships running, so somebody was going to notice. Sounds like that happened quickly. Is that all your friend told you in the meeting?”

  “Yes, basically. A few weeks later, one of Tryon’s more outspoken team members called out the research director on that, in a work cell status meeting. Everybody at that meet
ing disappeared, except for the research director.”

  “Dammit,” Ecason said.

  “It gets worse. Tryon looked into it, and found out that people close to the missing team members also disappeared. Entire families were gone. He also noticed there was no record of the new ship in the SDAC minutes.”

  “So you helped organize a field trip,” Ecason said.

  “Not right away. There was a similar incident having to do with Clan vision enhancement hardware. Members of that work cell asked a few too many questions. They all disappeared also. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’d already been approved for a trip on Magellan III to Valla Cappos, to study interaction of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals there, as it has the best integration between the species we know of.”

  “So you packed the ship full of your friends and took off. Valla Cappos is on the way to the Free Zone.”

  “That is correct. We were captured by Clan battle cruisers while orbiting Valla Cappos.”

  “Why’d you even stop there?”

  “To avoid suspicion,” she said. “The Central Authority doesn’t just hand academics a star cruiser without controls. I had to make progress reports, so we orbited Valla Cappos, pretended to do some study, and sent our progress reports. Shortly after the final set went out, we were surrounded by Clan ships, and escorted through the Free Zone into the Clan Zone. We’ve been here for nearly a month.”

  “Aeon might be in on this, you know. I was always afraid he’d cause problems one day. Knew him well when we were both students. We started out as friends, but he has no moral center. All he cares about is his own power. I distanced myself from him.”

  “Things were moving quickly as we were leaving. I don’t know what’s happened over the last month, but I doubt if it’s good. Aeon and Simone had just declared the Samson Corporation to be outlaw, and there were railgun attacks on their plants.”

  “Simone is siding with Aeon? That doesn’t sound like her.”

  “You know her?”

  Ecason smiled. “She’s an old and dear friend.”

  “Aeon hired her Overlords Party to provide security in the Central Authority Zone. I think it was a ploy to keep enemies close on Aeon’s part, though. The Overlords have been doing well in the last few elections. They’ve got a growing presence in the legislature. They might take over the lower chamber in the next election… if there is a next election.”

  “Is Chairman Vermillion still leading the Samson Corporation?” Ecason asked.

  “He was, but Aeon’s people were smearing him, saying he was colluding with the Clan.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Vermillion either. None of this is making sense.”

  “Do you think the Clan is siding with Aeon, or do you think they’re planning to invade the Central Authority Zone and take it over?”

  Ecason took a sip of coffee, leaning back in his chair. “They’re controlling most of what I hear, but I have seen some news reports. The Clan Zone is on the brink of collapse. That thug who’s been guarding me used to be high in the Clan Command. The job he’s doing now is beneath him. That tells me he can’t trust the bureaucracy. Maybe most of the formal government is gone. He might be working independently. He’s never brought in a superior to talk to me. That’s strange.”

  “There were rumors leaking out about the state of the Clan Zone,” Elizabeth said. “We’ve been hearing it’s so bad that members of the military are deserting. I wasn’t surprised we found Clan ships around Valla Cappos, but I was surprised when they captured us. I figured they were deserters who would just warn us away.”

  “Hmmmm. They knew who was on your vessel. Why else would they have done what they did? They brought you here as leverage. Aeon might be behind this whole thing. I’m sure he’d like a cloaking device if he’s using Razor battleships.”

  Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “I haven’t heard he’s got Razor battleships in service.”

  “There’s nobody else the Clan could sell them to. He might not have revealed them yet. What has he been using?”

  “Centurion Class battleships.”

  “Those are getting a little long on the tooth. They’ve been the mainstay for twenty years.”

  “The Samson Corporation was working on a new battleship called the New Jersey, and some armed freighters as well. The Overlords ordered all those ships to be surrendered before the railgun attacks on their plants. Last I heard they’d all disappeared.”

  Ecason chuckled. “Vermillion isn’t going to give in. He’s another old friend. I knew Alexander Carlson, by the way.”

  “You did? You must have been young.”

  “I was. He was my hero. Still is, frankly. He’s probably turning in his grave over the state of things now.”

  “What were you going to tell me about?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I’ll tell you, but let’s set up an experiment before XC22272 comes in to check on us. He likes to micro-manage, and it’s deadly to your friends.”

  She nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

  They got to work.

  ***

  Captain Trey Clarke sat in his chair on the bridge, Skip and Sondra working at their stations.

  Nolan came in. “We should be almost to Simone’s ships.”

  “Yep, almost there.”

  “Are we taking them with us to Amberis?”

  Captain Clarke shook his head. “I’d feel more comfortable if we found a nearby system, at least for now.”

  “The Bbnodner system isn’t far away. Four minute jump, and there’s nothing to attract anyone there. No resources.”

  “What level is the habitable planet?” Skip asked.

  “It’s a level 13,” Nolan said. “Large world. Wouldn’t want to walk around for long. The gravity would be tough.”

  “Wouldn’t be bad with strength enhancement,” Sondra said.

  “There are some dangerous beasties at that level,” Nolan said. “Not as bad as level 12, but close.”

  “Jurassic versus Cretaceous,” Sondra said. “Strength enhancement would take care of them too.”

  “We aren’t going to the surface,” Captain Clarke said.

  There was a rogue on that planet.

  “You sure about that?” Nolan asked.

  Junior’s right. It was a very early rogue. Long before Earth was aware of the Central Authority.

  “Why would an advanced human want to be a rogue on a planet with no other humans?” Sondra asked.

  It’s available in the history records. That planet was rich in two things humans needed back at the time.

  Rare earth minerals and gold, both of which we can create synthetically today.

  “That must have been way back there, then,” Skip said.

  Nolan nodded, looking at his monitor. “Earth was a level 9 at the time, and there were only two hundred and twelve space-aware planets in the Central Authority Zone. Calling that operator a rogue isn’t quite correct. It was before the law against mining on nursery planets. They didn’t stop because it became illegal, either. The operation got shut down when it no longer paid off financially.”

  “Well, we might as well go there, then.” Captain Clarke said. “Butch, get with Silver on this please.”

  Done. Simone agrees it’s prudent to stay away from our fuel source for now, just in case. She was going to bring it up herself.

  “I think we’re fine,” Nolan said, “but can’t be too careful. I just sent the coordinates to Skip.”

  “Proceed with the jump,” Captain Clarke said, the dizziness hitting all of them for a moment.

  “Off we go,” Sondra said.

  Private. The Chairman wants to chat in his office. Just you.

  Captain Clarke got up. “Sondra, you have the ship. I’ve got a meeting. See you guys later.”

  He left, heading for the transit station, getting to the chairman’s suite in just under ten minutes, Vermillion motioning him into his office.

/>   “Whiskey?” he asked.

  “You talked me into it,” Captain Clarke said, sitting on a chair in front of the desk. Vermillion took out two crystal glasses and a bottle.

  “Here you go,” Vermillion said, sliding a half-full glass to the captain. They both took a sip.

  “Top shelf stuff, as usual,” Captain Clarke said.

  “We jumped. Not going to Amberis, are we?”

  “Nope, I still don’t trust the Overlords fleet enough to park them right next to our only fuel supply. Might be some bugs we haven’t found yet.”

  Vermillion nodded. “Good. I was going to suggest that, but didn’t have to. Nice to have you in place, Trey. How do you like working with Simone?”

  “She’s excellent, and she’s got good crews as well. I’ve gotten good reports from Cyrus, Nolan, and JJ.”

  “JJ isn’t getting jealous?” Vermillion asked.

  Captain Clarke eyed him. “No, why should she?”

  “How do you feel around her? Simone, that is.”

  Captain Clarke sipped some more whiskey, then leaned back in his chair. “What are you getting at?”

  “You’re a close match is all. Genetically.”

  Captain Clarke burst out laughing. “That thought hasn’t crossed my mind. She’s too old, for one thing.”

  Private. There’s something there. Be careful.

  Quiet.

  Sorry Trey.

  “Butch?” Vermillion asked, pouring himself more whiskey, reaching to fill Captain Clarke’s glass again.

  “Yeah, don’t need the flack right now.”

  “He’s noticed something between you and Simone.”

  “Not exactly. He said there was something there, and that I should be careful. This isn’t something to worry about.”

  Vermillion nodded. “All right, I’ll drop it. Wanted to see your reaction, and it was as I hoped. That wasn’t why I called you in here. We both know Aeon can bleed us dry with his strategy of attacking ten new planets per day.”