War on a Thousand Fronts Read online

  WAR ON A

  THOUSAND FRONTS

  THE ORION WAR – BOOK 6

  BY M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  James Dean

  Marti Panikkar

  Timothy Van Oosterwyck Bruyn

  David Wilson

  Steven Blevins

  Scott Reid

  Lisa Richman

  Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Jen McDonnell

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY…

  MAPS

  ORION FRONT

  TANGEL

  RELIEF

  DAMON SILAS

  FAILURE

  TRUTH AND REALITY

  COMING CLEAN

  UNDERSTANDING

  LUNCH AND FATHERS

  THE PRAETOR

  OPTIONS

  A REFLECTIVE WALK

  NEW HORIZONS

  NIETZSCHEA

  INNER EMPIRE

  HUNT FOR ORIS

  COOKOUT

  CORSIA

  STX-B17

  TRENSCH

  THE LMC

  INSPECTION

  DOPPELGANGER

  PARLAY

  VALKRIS

  TANIS & JOE

  LANDING

  CORNERED

  BOLT HOLE

  REMNANTS

  TAKE A MIRACLE

  A MIRACLE

  SERAS

  TRANSITION

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  This has been, without a doubt, one of the most complicated Orion War books to write. Not because my muse has dried up—no, quite the opposite. This book is a single locus of so many events that have been building up over time, storylines that have been breeding in the shadows and now coming into their own.

  Much like New Canaan, this is a book where many different characters get time on the page, from Tanis and Sera all the way to Corsia and many others.

  I also had to take great care to weave this book with the events of Rika Commander, and other books that are only outlined, but not yet written—such as the third Hand’s Assassin book.

  And so, this book has taken me the longest to write of any in over a year, but the end result has been nothing short of fantastic.

  I had several of my own ‘WTF’ moments in this book, as a few of the characters did things that will tweak the direction of future books enough to surprise even me.

  I know, I could just force everything to follow the script, but I like to be surprised by where the story goes as much as you do.

  So even though you read Rika Commander, and think you know what happened to Tanis after the events on Pyra at the end of Attack on Thebes…well, let’s just say you ain’t seen nothing yet.

  My pulse is pounding a bit after writing some of the final scenes and noting some important parts for the next book, ‘Fallen Empire’, and I hope yours is going to be as well, when you get to the end. If so, then I’ve done my job well.

  Michael Cooper

  Danvers, May 2018

  PREVIOUSLY…

  When last we left Tanis, she had just been brought aboard the Carthage, a new I-Class (based on the I2) ship commanded by Joe.

  The battle for the Albany System is still raging around the ship, as the allied fleet assembled to rescue Tanis beats back the massive Nietzschean armada.

  Rika was instrumental in saving Tanis, and if you’d like to see more of their interactions following that daring rescue, you’ll find them in Rika Commander, though we also see some of their conversations from Tanis’s point of view in this book.

  While many of the major players are temporarily clustered together in the Albany System (on the rimward side of the Praesepe Cluster, roughly 550 light years from Sol, and 3000 from New Canaan), others are still widely dispersed.

  Sera is at Khardine, and Krissy is managing her part of the Transcend’s civil war from within the Vela Cluster. Garza and his clones are running about, causing chaos, and Jason Andrews is the governor of New Canaan.

  In addition, Katrina has been freed of the remnant Xavia that was placed within her, and Cary, Saanvi, and Faleena are also aboard the Carthage, meeting their mother after she was brought aboard by Priscilla and Rika….

  KEY CHARACTERS REJOINING US

  Andrea – Sera’s sister who used a back door into Sera’s mind to make Sera try to kill Tanis in the Ascella System.

  Cary – Tanis’s biological daughter. Has a trait where she can deep-Link with other people, creating a temporary merger of minds.

  Corsia – Ship’s AI and captain of the Andromeda.

  Faleena – Tanis’s AI daughter, born of a mind merge between Tanis, Angela, and Joe.

  Garza – General Garza is head of BOGA, Orion’s counterpart to the Hand.

  Greer – Admiral Greer is responsible for the protection of Khardine, the Transcend fleets on the front, and supporting Tanis’s efforts in the Inner Stars.

  Jason Andrews – First Captain of the Intrepid and current governor of New Canaan.

  Justin – Former Director of the Hand. Was imprisoned for the events surrounding the attempted assassination of Tanis.

  Katrina – Former Sirian spy, and one-time governor of the Victoria colony at Kapteyn’s Star—and Warlord of the Midditerra System.

  Krissy – Admiral Krissy is the daughter of Finaeus, and currently in charge of military operations to quell the civil war in the Transcend.

  Mary – Daughter of Flaherty, recently rescued from Airtha along with her son Drew, Leeroy the pilot, and Figgy, a dog they met during the escape.

  Oris – Septhian government official working for Nietzschea who betrayed Tanis and Thebes.

  Priscilla – One of Bob’s two avatars.

  Rachel – Captain of the I2. Former captain of the Enterprise.

  Rika – Colonel Rika is the leader of a battalion of mechs sent on a mission to destabilize key elements of the Nietzschean Empire. Rika was also instrumental in rescuing Tanis on Pyra.

  Saanvi – Tanis’s adopted daughter, found in a derelict ship that entered the New Canaan System.

  Sera of Airtha – A copy of Sera made by Airtha, containing all of Sera’s desired traits and memories. President of the Airthan faction of the Transcend.

  MAPS

  For more maps, visit www.aeon14.com/maps.

  ORION FRONT

  STELLAR DATE: 08.21.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: TSS Tharsis, Cerden System

  REGION: 10LY from OFA border, Transcend Interstellar Alliance

  Marcel slumped in his chair, watching the Orion Guard ships break off from the engagement, shifting onto a vector to slingshot around the nearby gas giant.

  The TSF had won the day, but just barely.

  All around the Tharsis lay the wreckage of both Transcend and Orion ships; hulls venting atmosphere, many glowing brightly from reactor meltdowns. It was a mess—except for a slowly expanding bubble of empty space to starboard, the result of a ship that had lost bottle containment and suffered an antimatter explosion.

  “Sir,” Ensign Lavalle on comms turned to address Marcel.

  Marcel nodded for the woman to continue, though he could tell from the expression on the ensign’s face that he would not like the news.

  “I’ve just gotten word from the Pursuit. Admiral Jorgen died in the explosion aboard their ship. His entire staff was killed, as well.”

  Marcel drew
in a long breath. Jorgen had replaced Admiral Heath, and had only been in command of the battlegroup for six months. At this rate, they’d have captains running the fleet.

  Shit…that’s what Lavalle is hedging around.

  “Colonel Vala?” he asked Ensign Lavalle, begging the stars for good news.

  Lavalle shook her head. “Sorry, sir. Vala’s ship was holed, its CIC was lost.”

  Marcel sucked in a sharp breath, then forced himself to expel it slowly. While the two Seras were battling over the Transcend’s presidency thousands of light years away, the fleets on the Orion Fronts were being worn down to nubs.

  Here on the Spinward Front, it was the worst—what with their proximity to New Sol. Though he’d heard that it wasn’t much better on the Anti-Spinward Front. Both fleets were at less than half their original strength.

  The fact that they’d won the battle today was a miracle, only possible because of intel that Admiral Jorgen had picked up. Without foreknowledge of the enemy’s attack, there would have only been a patrol garrison protecting the Cerden System when the Orion Guard arrived.

  “Sir?” Lavalle asked. “What are your orders?”

  Marcel straightened in his seat. “So, I’m senior, then, am I?” he asked.

  Lavalle nodded, and Marcel couldn’t help but notice that half the eyes on the bridge were on him.

  “OK, people,” he said, summoning his last reserve of energy. “This is still an active battlespace. Half those damaged OG ships could still fire on us. Attend to your work.”

  The bridge crew turned back to their consoles, at least appearing to be focused on their tasks.

  “Lavalle, send orders for Major Uda’s group to set up a picket on the far side of the battlespace; there’s a chance those Oggies could come around the planet and blast past us on their way out. I want them to seed mines just in case. Get Mendel’s Marines to find a good hull and secure it. That’ll be our prison ship. All other groups, begin S&R operations.”

  “S&R on Oggies, too?” Lavalle asked.

  Marcel nodded slowly. For as much as he’d liked Admiral Jorgen, he disagreed with the late Admiral’s no-rescue policy on Oggies—which even went so far as to destroy any disabled ships and ignore escape pods.

  Marcel didn’t want to slowly freeze to death in space, or drift in stasis till the SC batts on the pod ran dry. If he didn’t want to die that way, it was not a fate he’d deliver on anyone else. He didn’t care how much he hated the enemy.

  “Yes, Lavalle. Obviously lower priority, but we’re not going to leave them to die—so long as they come peaceably. No TSF blood will be spilled saving them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Lavalle replied smartly.

  Marcel couldn’t tell if she approved or disapproved of his orders, but decided that so long as the ensign followed them, it would have to do for now.

  Not that he was all that worried about Lavalle. She was a good woman, followed orders and was efficient and conscientious about her work.

  But she was also a barometer for the rest of the crew, and if she was hiding her thoughts on the matter, it was a telling indicator.

  he reached out to the ship’s primary AI.

  Farrah replied without hesitation.

  Marcel wanted to argue with Farrah, to tell her that the TSF wouldn’t abandon a system after they’d just successfully defended it—but he knew she was right.

  The 917th Fleet had once numbered over fifty thousand ships, spread across five hundred light years of the border with the Orion Freedom Alliance. Now their numbers were fewer than ten thousand, and the five other fleets that patrolled the border weren’t in much better shape.

  With reserves—of which there were few—the three thousand light year border with the Oggies was now guarded by fewer than fifty thousand ships all told.

  Marcel pushed his palms into his eyes and drew in a deep breath. A hundred thousand stars defended by a smattering of ships. And if the Oggies kept pressing like this, they’d punch through the defenders before long.

  Stars, they may already have, he thought. We really have no way to tell; we’re not even patrolling half the systems anymore.

  The thought of his fleet failing so utterly at their mission made him want to scream.

  We need more ships!

  Marcel didn’t have the latest information on the fleet strengths elsewhere in the Transcend, but he knew for a fact that the civil war taking place around Airtha, Vela, and Khardine was occupying more than half the space force.

  At least no TSF ships were involved in the strange crusade that Field Marshal Richards was undertaking in the Inner Stars. She seemed to be funding that herself, with minimal use of Transcend resources—bar the jump gates she was chewing up. Marcel had overheard Jorgen complaining more than once that getting new gates over the last year had been well-nigh impossible.

  Marcel was about to compose an update to send to Admiral Greer at Khardine when he remembered that the only QuanComm blades in the fleet had been destroyed in the battle.

  “Fuck!” he swore, while slamming a fist into his chair’s armrest.

  Several eyes on the bridge turned in his direction, but when they saw the rage plainly evident on his face, they turned away.

  “Farrah,” he growled. “Dispatch a courier drone to Fortress Gibraltar. Have them send our status to Khardine, and ask command what they advise.”

  Farrah replied.

  “If they can’t tell we need reinforcements—” Marcel stopped himself before he said something he’d regret later. “Yes, Farrah, put in a request for everything. Stars knows we need it. Once we’ve done S&R here, we’ll advise the remaining civilians to evacuate, and then get the hell out of this system.”

 

  The orders given, Marcel fell silent, watching the fleet’s progress as they took in friendly escape pods, and corralled enemy ones.

  It will take days to clean up this mess. Days in which the enemy could regroup and strike again. He had no illusions about how that engagement would go.

  TANGEL

  STELLAR DATE: 08.28.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: A1 Docking Bay, ISS Carthage

  REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance

  Cary felt her skin tingle as her mother’s hand brushed against her cheek. The range of emotions surging through her threatened to overwhelm—joy, relief, elation—but they all gave way to confusion when Tanis spoke.

  “Faleena, my dear, you’re so beautiful.”

  A feeling of surprise emanated from Faleena that matched Cary’s own.

  Faleena asked.

  Tanis’s eyes appeared to refocus, and she rested a hand on Cary’s shoulder. “Cary, you are truly something unexpected. More amazing than I’d remembered.”

  Angela added.

  Faleena asked Cary.

 

  “What happened down there?” Saanvi asked, as Tanis pulled both girls into an embrace.

  A rueful laugh escaped their mother’s lips. “Stars, what didn’t happen down there.”

  Angela said, and Tanis glanced at Priscilla. “But you did something to stop it…you used…”

  Priscilla held up her hands and shook her head. “I just did what Bob told me to do. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to bring you back up here. Rika could barely hold onto you as it was; if it wasn’t for the fact that her skeletal structure was so dense, you would have slipped through her.”

  “Pardon?” Cary asked, glancing at Priscilla before locking eyes with her mother. “ ‘Slipped through’?”

&nb
sp; Tanis chuckled. “I guess I hadn’t quite figured out how to stay anchored in the three dimensional world. Not that it matters now, Angela and I seem to have reverted to our old selves.”

  “I’m surprised that happened,” Priscilla said. “Bob didn’t think anchoring you would cause your mind to split apart again, though he said it was a risk.”

  A curious look came over Tanis’s face, and Cary wondered how separate her mother and Angela really were.

  Faleena whispered quietly into Cary’s mind, apparently on the same train of thought.

  Cary considered Faleena’s words for a moment, then reached out to her sisters to form Trine and took a step back to observe their mother.

  Trine drew in a sharp breath in each of her bodies as she gazed upon Tanis’s form.

  At first glance, it appeared as though her mother’s body contained a remnant, but as she looked closer, Trine saw that it was more than a remnant. A fifth dimensional being suffused their mother’s body—she could see it rooted deeply in both Tanis and Angela.

  Trine said, realizing she could see Angela in the remnant-like figure that occupied her mother’s body.

  “You’ve become quite proficient at that, girls,” Tanis said as she looked from Cary to Saanvi and back. “Not that I’m surprised. To do what you’ve done with extracting the remnants is no simple thing.”

  Trine split apart, and Saanvi whispered. “Mom, what’s going to happen to you?”

  Tanis reached out and took Saanvi’s hand. “I’m going to fully ascend at some point. Though what Priscilla did has made it possible for Angela and I to operate as separate beings for a while longer.”

  Faleena asked.

  Tanis nodded, a smile quirking the corner of her lips. “So long as I don’t end up in any dire circumstances, a few years I suspect.”

  Cary bit her lip before asking, “And then you’ll just turn into some being made of light?”