Set the Galaxy on Fire: An Aeon 14 Anthology Read online

  SET THE GALAXY

  ON FIRE

  M. D. Cooper

  Copyright © 2016 M. D. Cooper

  Cover Art by M. D. Cooper

  All rights reserved.

  Because the story isn’t finished yet.

  An anthology of short stories set during and following the events of Destiny Lost.

  CONTENTS

  BOLLAM’S WAR

  THE MORNING AFTER

  TO WAR

  THE ADMIRAL’S RETURN

  PREPARATIONS

  DETECTION

  SUBTERFUGE

  PURSUIT

  MANOUVER

  ROOM WITH A VIEW

  SENTIENCE

  A GATHERING

  WALK IN THE WOODS

  A HISTORY LESSON

  THE MISSION

  SET THE GALAXY ON FIRE

  THE HEGEMONY

  AN OLD FRIEND

  THE ORION GUARD

  THE TRANSCEND

  A LATE-NIGHT MEETING

  PREPARATION

  APENDICES

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  THE WORLD OF AEON 14

  For the seasoned science fiction reader there will be little here which they have not seen in another story, be it planetary rings, nano technology, AI, or mind-to-mind communication.

  However, for those who may not know what a HUD is, understand the properties of deuterium, or cannot name the stars within the Sirius system, I encourage you to reference the appendixes at the rear of the book as you read.

  You may also visit www.aeon14.com to read the primer, glossary, and timelines.

  To get the latest news and access to free novellas and short stories, sign up on the Aeon 14 mailing list: www.aeon14.com/signup.

  BOLLAM’S WAR

  THE MORNING AFTER

  STELLAR DATE: 10.29.8927 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: ISS Intrepid, Orbiting Fierra

  REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation

  Joe eased into his chair at the kitchen table and took a long pull of his coffee. Movement outside the window caught his attention and he saw a group of squirrels fighting over nuts fallen from the oak in the backyard; their antics coaxed a laugh from him.

  Above, inside the house, he heard the floors creak as Tanis readied herself for the day ahead. He wished upon her all the time in the world, though he knew that was not to be. This would be the day; they would make their move and leave Bollam’s World for Ascella—and a meeting with the FGT.

  The squeaks and groans moved across the ceiling above him and Tanis emerged on the stairs at the far side of the living room. She looked as young and sharp as the first day he had seen her in the section chief’s office on the Mars Outer Shipyards.

  Something that had impressed him at the time, given she had just been in a firefight.

  She quickly skipped down the steps, her shipsuit crisp, boots polished, and hair pulled back in a ponytail that bounced along behind her. He always found the hairstyle incongruous with how she presented herself, but loved all her little idiosyncrasies and kept his thoughts to himself.

  “Good morning again,” he said with a smile and gestured to the cup of coffee on the table across from him.

  Tanis returned the smile and collapsed into her chair, which groaned in protest.

  “The chairs may be getting a bit old for such abuse,” he said and shifted in his for emphasis. The wooden seat creaked in protest and Tanis inclined her head and shrugged.

  “I’ll add it to my list of things to do.”

  Joe pushed the plate containing pancakes and bacon toward her.

  “You don’t have to do anything. I’m sure we have a bevy of carpenters who would do anything to make a set of chairs for the General.”

  Tanis took a long drink from her cup and frowned. “I know, I know, but I like to do some things for myself—even more, now that I’m The General. It seems that I can’t even get my own coffee anymore.”

  She winked at the last and Joe shrugged.

  “I was up first. You would have done the same.”

  “I would have made the pot. I don’t know that I would have poured you a cup. I don’t know when you’d be down and I wouldn’t have wanted it to get cold.”

  Joe inclined his head and nodded. It was a conversation they had had a thousand times. Sometimes when angry and irrational, other times when laughing and joking, and times like today—when they were both feeling melancholy.

  “So…about not leaving each other ever again,” Joe said, his eyebrow raised and a wry smile on his lips.

  “I know, I know,” Tanis sighed. “I don’t want you to go, but we both know you have to, there’s no one better than you at the helm of the Andromeda.”

  “It’s because Corsia thinks I’m hot,” Joe chuckled and Tanis raised an eyebrow.

  “That silicate hussy…”

  Joe felt a frown crease his brow. “What?”

  Tanis laughed, a sound he was glad to hear. Her laugh had been in short supply over the few days since her return to the Intrepid.

  “It’s something that Angela said to Helen when she tried to scope me out with her nano,” Tanis replied.

  “Now that’s a scene I would have liked to see,” Joe said.

  “You really wouldn’t have. I was a mess.”

  “I’ve seen you messy before,” Joe said, his expression distant. Then he blinked and refocused on her. “What do you think of Sera and Helen, other than the part where you’re pissed off that she won’t tell you all her deep, dark, secrets.”

  Tanis opened her mouth to speak, a harsh look crossing her face, but then she stopped herself and schooled her expression. “Sorry. You were right before. I should respect her privacy—it’s the part where she has a secret that could risk the entire ship that bugs me. When I came on board, the captain knew my history, there were no secrets there.”

  “Fair enough,” Joe said with a nod. “But it is still his call, and he’s opted to take her up on her offer.”

  “Yeah,” Tanis said with a sigh. “I told him to take her up on it as well. She’s never done wrong by me; risked her life for mine. Logic dictates that she will continue to do so—unless she’s truly nefarious.”

  “So, that aside, what do you think of Sera and her AI? It seems like a pretty powerful pairing for this low-tech time we’ve found ourselves in.”

  Tanis leaned back in her chair, taking another drink from her cup before speaking. “You’re right about their abilities. If they had nanocloud tech, I would say their whole package is more advanced than Angela’s and mine. Helen is…weird. She reminds me of how Angela and I work, but I know that is because of other circumstances—ones that I can’t believe would be manifest in someone I just happened to find on the far side of space.”

  “When I asked Priscilla about them, she said there was something unusual about Helen, but wouldn’t say what,” Joe replied.

  “Did she?” Tanis asked. “Well, if she knows, Bob knows, and if he’s not alarmed, then I guess I’m OK with it.”

  Joe rose from the table and cleaned up their plates, leaving them on the counter for an automaton to wash later. Tanis stood and embraced him as he turned.

  “Be careful out there,” she whispered in his ear.

  Joe wrapped Tanis in a deep embrace. “And you stay in the system. No gallivanting around the galaxy.”

  “I won’t go gallivanting anywhere without you, I promise,” Tanis replied.

  They held one another for several minutes before Joe pulled back and gazed into his wife’s eyes.

  “You be careful too. You have precious cargo—and I’m not just talking about the colonists in stas
is.”

  Tanis reached a hand down to her abdomen. “I will, I plan to stay on the Intrepid’s bridge—in theory, the safest place in the fleet.”

  “So long as we win,” Joe said.

  Tanis pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “Of course we’ll win. Haven’t you heard? I’m lucky.”

  TO WAR

  STELLAR DATE: 10.29.8927 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: ISS Intrepid, Orbiting Fierra

  REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation

  Joe stood on the dock, staring up at the Andromeda, mentally preparing himself for the day ahead. He may live on the Intrepid, but over the years, the Andromeda had begun to feel like his ship.

  Corsia asked.

  Joe laughed and walked toward the ship. “You know I’m a one-woman man, Corisa…well, two if you count Angela.”

  Corsia’s laugh echoed in his mind.

  Joe replied with a smile, taking a measure of comfort in the familiar banter with Corsia.

  Joe took a long walk around cruiser, giving it a visual once over. It was far from necessary, as the ship’s XO, Corisa had everything well in hand—she always did—but it was a ritual left over from his days as a fighter pilot. The Andromeda was under his command. Its capabilities and crew were his responsibility, and he took that responsibility seriously.

  He watched the loaders trundle the last of the relativistic missiles loaded aboard the ship, bringing the total loadout to over three-hundred. Tanis wasn’t taking any chances—the Andromeda now held more missiles than the entire ISF fleet had possessed during the battle with the Sirians. She was counting on the Andromeda’s near-invisibility to help seed them throughout the battlefield. Joe accepted the duty given him. He would much rather deliver RM’s, than be on the receiving end of the missiles.

  Satisfied with his review, he took the lift to the gantry that ran to the Andromeda’s central crew hatch. The airlock was wide open and he strode through, onto the ship’s main deck. Everyone he passed was focused on their assigned tasks and duties, moving with a calm efficiency. He knew each member of his crew by name and, as he nodded his greetings, Joe was certain they could be trusted to bring about victory this day.

  The Andromeda had always done the Intrepid Space Force proud; the men, women, and AIs who made up its crew didn’t plan to sully that legacy today—even if there were four hostile navies waiting for them.

  Joe entered the bridge and nodded to Petrov who sat at the helm, reviewing his checklists with Jim, the ship’s chief engineer, standing at his side.

  “Good morning, Captain,” Petrov said in greeting. “Anxious to get out there?”

  Joe nodded. “Good morning Petrov, Jim. Everything on the up and up?”

  Jim cast Joe an appraising look. “We’re just working on mass rebalancing all those missiles we’re taking on. We gotta make sure that when we use them, we pull evenly from the racks. I know you. You’re going to put this ship through its paces and I don’t want something coming loose.”

  Joe raised a hand and chuckled. “I’ll do my best to keep us flying straight. Most of our work will be lurking and sneaking. How’s our outer shell looking?”

  “The trial run we did the other day was a success. When our active dampening is on, and we’re running dark, these guys couldn’t see us if we were right on top of them. I’ve made few more adjustments after seeing what their active scan looks like—I bet we could park on their hulls if we wanted to.”

  Corsia said.

  “Whatever you say, Cor,” Jim replied with a faint smile.

  Joe said to Corsia with a laugh.

  Corsia’s mental avatar smiled.

  Joe replied.

 

  Joe asked.

 

  Joe said with a chuckle.

  He remembered when he first met Corisa back in the Sol System. It was upon her arrival at the Cho, for delivery to the Intrepid. The memory amused him now—he had questioned Tanis on the need for such a ship, with more than defensive weapons. While he Andromeda had not been—at least not back then—built entirely for combat, she was not like the other in-system transports that they were taking on.

  Tanis had just laughed and told him that he was naïve if he thought that a colony in the millions wouldn’t need a ship with some military capabilities.

  After he learned of the picotech, the procurement of the Andromeda had made a lot more sense.

  Jim, he met much later—not until after Tanis had defeated the Sirian cruiser in Kapteyn’s System. At the time, he was just a civilian engineer, but Joe had forced him into the military academy in Kapteyn’s System, and the man was now an ISF Master Chief.

  Jim responded, bringing Joe back to the present.

  “All looks well,” the chief engineer said and glanced back at Joe. “Keep us safe out there.”

  “Always,” Joe replied before the holoprojection of Jim winked out.

  Jim said over the Link from his station in engineering.

  Joe ran through his own checklists, while the rest of the bridge crew filtered in, each of them early and looking a bit anxious.

  The first to arrive were Trevor and Tori, two men, who, while not brothers by birth, had become as inseparable as twins. Trevor managed scan, and Tori worked weapons and tactics. They knew the Andromeda as well as Corsia. Their AI’s, Gwen and Aaron, were excellent compliments who managed comm, and backed Corisa up with general ship management when under fire.

  Last to arrive, though still ten minutes early for her shift, was Ylonda.

  Ylonda appeared to be a slender woman in her twenties, but as an AI who chose to wear a human-like body, she was anything but what she appeared. Her AI mind was born of many parents, the norm for their species, but most notably from Corsia and Jim.

  Normally Joe wouldn’t allow children to serve with their parents, but Ylonda had proven herself to be nothing but professional and her behavior, thus far, had been above reproach—he also felt like what was normal was less and less relevant every day.

  He greeted each member of the bridge crew as they entered and set about their work. In the efficient manner he had come to expect, their tasks and duties, required for departure, were done well ahead of the allotted times.

  Corsia observed.

  “Of course we are,” Joe replied. “Ylonda, inform docking control that we’re ready to hit the bricks.”

  Ylonda cast him the briefest of curious looks before replying. “Hit the bricks, yes sir.”

  Joe gave a soft chuckle and Corsia chided him.

  Joe replied.

  Corsia asked.

 

  “Permission to undock received,” Ylonda supplied verbally while sending the departure parameters to Petrov’s console.

  “Here we go,” Joe said with a smile, as the ship gently lifted from its cradle and drifted down the lane toward the ES shield at the end of the bay.

  The Andromeda slipped silently into the darkness, and, with the smallest amount of thrust possible, moved toward its position between the Intrepid and the pirate fleet, which lay beyond Fierra’s south pole.

  They hadn’t been underway for e
ven a minute before Trevor spoke up.

  “Looks like one of the new Arc-6’s is having a problem,” he said and threw his console’s scan data on the bridge’s main holo tank.

  Joe looked up the squadron and saw that it was the Black Death, part of the wing normally stationed aboard the Andromeda, though operating under Fleetcom’s direct control for this engagement. Concern filled his mind—he knew each of those pilots personally.

  “Who is it,” he asked.

  “Cary,” Ylonda supplied. “Fleetcom is directing us to move in under stealth and be prepared to assist.”

  Joe didn’t know if he was happy that it wasn’t Jessica, or worried that his friend would now put herself at risk trying to save one of her fellow pilots.

  “Do it,” Joe directed and felt the ship shift under him as it moved toward Fierra’s south pole.

  Trevor updated the holo with scan data pulled from the fighter squadron and he discerned the squadron commander’s plan. Rock was going to have his ships shield Cary’s fighter and push straight through the pirate fleet. It was a risky play, but given Cary’s trajectory, there were few other options.

  Joe felt a pang of regret as he watched the Excelsior Nova boost hard into position beyond the pirate ships, ready to catch the disabled Arc-6 fighter. That should have been Troy in the Excelsior down there; and while he liked Nuwen, the ship’s AI pilot, he had always held a warm place in his heart for Troy and all the time he and Tanis had spent on the heavy lifter.

  “Those pirates aren’t going to just sit there,” Joe said. “Let’s do a flyby and drop off a few of our presents for them.”

  “How many are you thinking?” Tori asked.

  “My analysis shows that eighteen is enough to disable most of their shields. Why don’t you add four more for good measure.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Tori replied and bent to his task.

  Joe knew that the estimation of how many missiles were required, was at best, an educated guess based on the data Sabrina and Helen had provided. However, he did know that the 89th century was unprepared for the type of warhead that the Andromeda carried.