Rikas Marauders Read online

  RIKA’S MARAUDERS

  THE COMPLETE SERIES – BOOKS 1-7

  INCLUDES RIKA MECHANIZED & RIKA CRUCIBLE

  BY M. D. COOPER

  SPECIAL THANKS

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  RIKA OUTCAST

  Kristina Able

  Alastar Wilson

  David Wilson

  Lisa L. Richman

  Scott Reid

  Nick Richard

  Joseph Spies

  RIKA REDEEMED

  Scott Reid

  David Wilson

  Lisa L. Richman

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Alastar Wilson

  RIKA TRIUMPHANT

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Alastar Wilson

  Lisa L. Richman

  Scott Reid

  Jim Dean

  David Wilson

  Marti Panikkar

  RIKA COMMANDER

  David Wilson

  Gene Bryan

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn (CPL Van)

  Belxjander Draconis Serechai

  Alastar Wilson (PFC Al ‘Whispers’)

  Manie Kilian

  Lisa Richman (CPL Jenisa)

  James Dean (SGT Crunch/LT Carson ‘Bondo’)

  Mark Stanga

  Steven Blevins

  RIKA TRIUMPHANT

  Jim Dean

  Lisa Richman

  David Wilson

  Alastar Wilson

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Scot Mantelli

  Scott Reid

  Marti Panikkar

  Gene Bryan

  Mikkel Ebjerg Andersen

  RIKA UNLEASHED

  Jim Dean

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Scott Reid

  Alastar Wilson

  Gene Bryan

  David Wilson

  Steven Blevins

  RIKA CONQUEROR

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Alastar Wilson

  Scott Reid

  Gene Bryan

  Randy Miller

  David Wilson

  Slava Merehko

  Copyright © 2018-2019 M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018-2019 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Andre Dobell & Tek Tan

  Editing by Jen McDonnell

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

  All rights reserved.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  THE AGE OF THE ORION WAR

  MAPS AND TECH

  RIKA OUTCAST

  FOREWORD

  CITIZEN A71F

  MECHANIZED

  DEKAR’S DREGS

  A DANCE WITH DENNY

  P-COG

  KRUEGER’S

  AUCTION

  THEBES

  THE CHASE

  NIGHT

  THE GENERAL

  TRUST

  THE ROMANY

  RESCUE

  FLIGHT

  DELIBERATION

  RESITUATE

  REPORT

  THE HIT

  FORGIVEN

  MARAUDER

  CRASH

  DROP

  RESCUE

  MOP UP

  BASILISK

  RIKA MECHANIZED

  HAMMERFALL

  OVERWHELMED

  CHANGE OF FATE

  EVAC

  RIKA CRUCIBLE

  THE FNM

  HOME ON THE RANGE

  MEAT THE MECHS

  RIKA REDEEMED

  FOREWORD

  A LOST DAUGHTER FOUND

  THE FARM

  PRAIRIE

  LAYING LOW

  RETROSPECT

  ORIENT SPACE AND AIR

  PERSEPHONE JONES

  MOON LANDING

  RECOVERY

  HOME

  MURDERER

  DUCKING OUT

  A NEW TEAMMATE

  STAVROS

  DINNER WITH A DICTATOR

  CRACKING THE CODE

  CATCHING SOME TAIL

  AMY

  LITTLE THIEF

  APPROACHING FATE

  HANDOFF

  THE CLUB

  THE NEW ACT

  AFTERMATH

  CONVICTION

  THE STORM BEFORE

  ASSASSINATION

  RIKA’S MARAUDERS

  RIKA TRIUMPHANT

  FOREWORD

  UNVEILED

  SPACE IN SPACE

  COLLABORATION

  A TRIP DOWNWORLD

  DROPSHIP DOWN

  A DEEPER GAME

  LAYERED CONCERNS

  RECONCILIATION

  DROPPING

  RECONNECTING

  THE MEET

  VISIT FROM THE GENERAL

  SETTING THE TRAP

  DEFENSE OF HAMMERFALL

  ATTACK ON ATLANTIS

  REVELATIONS

  DEPARTURE

  BRIEFING

  GOODBYE BASILISK

  INSERTION

  THE FURY LANCE

  STEALING STARSHIPS

  CAPTAIN RIKA

  TANIS RICHARDS

  RIKA COMMANDER

  FOREWORD

  MEANWHILE IN THEBES…

  MEETING THE ADMIRAL

  INTO THE MAELSTROM

  LIBERATING LIBERTY

  LAKESIDE

  FINDING SILVA

  HUDSON

  RETURN

  AVATAR

  POWER

  CHALLENGE

  UPGRADES

  MEETING CHASE

  RESPECTS

  ORDERS

  SEPE

  LEGS

  INTO THE BREACH

  SUSPICION

  TIME TO FIGHT

  KICKING ASS IN OUTER SPACE

  PUPPETS

  SURRENDER

  VICTORY

  RIKA INFILTRATOR

  FOREWORD

  BARNE AND SILVA

  ATTACK FORMATION

  ADMIRAL GIDEON

  GROUND POUNDERS

  MEMPHIS SPACE AND AIR

  THE DROP

  ON THE WALL

  TAKE THE FIGHT

  BERSERKER

  BRING IT HOME

  LAST STAND

  CHASING RIKA

  CAPTIVE

  LOST

  ORDERS

  AMONG THE MISSING

  PULLING UP STAKES

  STOWAWAY

  PURSUIT

  THE JUMP

  CHORES

  FAMILY

  VISITORS

  BACON

  ACCESS

  EPSILON

  A CHAT WITH SOFIA

  THE PROBLEM

  A GAME OF SNARK

  DRAGON’S LAIR

  UNEXPECTED PASSENGERS

  A SURPRISING DIVERSION

  JUST VISITING

  PIPER

  GETTING REAL

  AN UNUSUAL EVAC

  REUNION

  AFTERMATH

  RIKA UNLEASHED

  FOREWORD

  HONESTY

  BACK IN THE FOLD

  LOST SHEEP

  SHEPHERDS

  OLD TIMES

  RESIDENT

  OLD NEWS

  TOWER ASSAULT

  THE SHEEP

  SHEEPDOGS

  FALCONS

  HURO

  JUGGERNAUT

  ESCALATION

  LAST KNOWN LOCATION

  REINFORCED

  A MYSTERY

  RISKS

  CHIPPED

  AMBUSH

  RUINATION

  HITTING DIRT

  IT GETS WORSE

  BRINGING THE PAIN

  EYE ON THE PRIZE

  THE CALL

  MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
<
br />   THE FIND

  COLLISION

  FINAL COUNTDOWN

  THE FERRYMAN

  NEXT

  THE FINAL UPGRADE

  RIKA CONQUEROR

  FOREWORD

  ORDERS

  HAL’S HELL

  PAYBACK’S A BASTARD

  REORIENT

  GENEVIA

  EKING INTEL

  THE PINNACLE

  CHANGE OF COURSE

  DIVERTING

  DEFENDING DEKAR

  BLACKJACK

  A VIEW OF THE FUTURE

  THE RESISTANCE

  AN IDEA

  REUNION

  DIVISION

  HIT AND RUN

  CAPETON COMMAND

  THE CALL

  ESCAPE

  A TRIP

  PLAN OF ATTACK

  INSPECTION

  ROCK AND ROLL

  A DROP AND A CLIMB

  BATTLE FOR GENEVIA

  RIKA CONQUEROR

  EPILOGUE

  AFTERWORD

  MECH TYPES AND ARMAMENTS

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  THE AGE OF THE

  ORION WAR

  Humanity has not had an easy time expanding into the stars.

  Though no intelligent extra-terrestrials have ever been found, we struggle enough against ourselves and our creations. War has forever marred our history, and it continues to do so.

  Though conflicts such as the Sentience Wars and the wars of the Sol Dissolution took billions of lives, these wars were contained within a single stellar system, and did not spread across the stars. Without faster-than-light travel, it simply would have taken too long and been too costly to make war on neighboring star systems.

  The advent of faster-than-light travel removed that constraint. When the FTL Wars broke out in the late fifth millennia, they devastated humanity.

  Wave after wave of dark ages washed over human space, and much of the great knowledge of the past was lost.

  In the late ninth millennia, a tentative peace has finally emerged. Accords and Alliances have built up a fragile stability that has allowed humanity to crawl back from the brink of complete self-destruction.

  Then a ship from the past is found—a ship containing technology long thought lost: the Intrepid.

  This one event is the match that lights the powder keg, throwing humanity into the greatest war it has ever seen—a war that spans tens of thousands of star systems across the Orion Arm of the galaxy.

  The Orion War

  Such a war has many fronts. A conflict spanning hundreds of systems with trillions of deaths is but a skirmish. But to the people fighting those battles, it is not a small event on the edge of space; it is their lives, their families, their very civilizations that are on the line.

  The long-running war between the Genevians and the Nietzscheans is one such skirmish. It is here that we find Rika. Her government, desperate to hold back the Nietzscheans, has resorted to barbaric means to achieve victory.

  Mechanized humans.

  MAPS AND TECH

  Visit www.aeon14.com/maps for a list of maps pertaining to the Rika’s Marauders story.

  RIKA OUTCAST

  RIKA’S MARAUDERS – BOOK 1

  FOREWORD

  Rika has a special place in my heart. I don’t know why, but she does.

  I think that a part of it comes from her original inspiration, which is the character ‘Clara’ in the TV series Killjoys. Clara was a woman who had her right arm replaced by the bad guys at ‘The Factory’. It wasn’t a voluntary mod, and she’s not happy about it, but ultimately she learns how to live with it, and it makes her stronger.

  The woman who played Clara in the TV show was very convincing, and I thought, “What would it really be like for someone who has undergone that sort of modification?”

  Obviously, for the purposes of a TV series, they can’t afford convincing, full-body cyborg alterations—but my (and your) imagination can.

  This brings us to Rika. She was born in the Genevian Commonwealth, an interstellar alliance of star systems that fought a desperate war with the Nietzscheans. Her government did not have enough AIs to continue to create combat mechs, and NSAIs were not effective enough…

  So they used humans. Unwilling humans.

  Rika was one of those humans.

  CITIZEN A71F

  STELLAR DATE: 09.22.8939 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Tanner City, Kellas

  REGION: Caulter System, Genevian Federation

  Rika sat behind the grey plas of the defendant’s table and looked around the courtroom. Its walls and ceiling were a colorless off-white, with over-bright lighting, and hard concrete floors. She hadn’t expected it to be welcoming, but she had thought courtrooms were supposed to look more upscale—another thing the vids lied about.

  The tan, one-piece jumpsuit she wore was loose, but still managed to bind in the armpits and groin; Rika shifted on her hard chair in an attempt to get more comfortable. The movement made the chains that connected her wrists to the table jingle, and she felt herself flush. The whole situation was a mistake, just a horrible mistake.

  The judge would see that, and in an hour she’d be free and clear.

  Rika glanced at the public defender sitting beside her. He was flipping through a virtual stack of pages only visible to him. She had no way of knowing if they pertained to her case, or to one of the many others he was likely tasked with.

  He looked sharp in his black court-suit, and the grey wig complimented his heavy brow—beneath which were sharp, blue eyes. His lips were full, just the way she liked them, and Rika imagined what it would feel like to brush hers against them. To press her nose into his cheek and—

  Her daydream was interrupted by a voice calling out, “All rise for the Notable Judge Pliskin.”

  Rika leapt to her feet, eager to show her respect for the judge, and completely forgot about the chains holding her wrists to the table. The cuffs jerked her arms to a stop and she slipped, slamming her face against the table.

  “Stupid girl,” she heard her defender mutter as he bent over to help her to her feet.

  Rika’s eyes filled with tears, and she felt a trickle of blood run down her face as she stood and stared at the table, too embarrassed to look up at the judge as he took his seat.

  Behind her, a few snickers could be heard from the gallery, and Rika did her best to ignore them, chanting ‘back on the street in an hour’ over and over in her head.

  Once the judge settled in his seat, the rest of the court followed suit, and Rika carefully lowered herself back to her hard plas chair. Her defender hadn’t even acknowledged the blood on her face. Rika bent down and tried to wipe it off, but was certain she’d only smeared it around.

  “Case number 823.3234.A433,” the court clerk read out. “The commonwealth versus citizen 4C399EB2-76AB-4CB1-AD9D-9F01B69EA71F, who also goes by the name ‘Rika’. The charge is theft of a valuable worth over fifty thousand credits.”

  “What?” Rika tried to rise, but her defender placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping her seated.

  “Quiet,” he whispered, and glanced at the judge who was giving them a disapproving glare.

  Rika pleaded with her defender privately over the Link.

  the defender replied.

  Rika was stunned by his response. She had opened the crate; it had been filled with food. There had to be some sort of mistake.

  “Seems open and shut,” the judge was saying. “You were caught on surveillance stealing the crate, and it was found in your possession. How do you plead, citizen Rika?”

  “Plead?” Rika asked, bewildered by the speed at which her fate was being sealed. “I plead innocent of what you’
re accusing me of. I stole a crate of food, there was no scan suite inside.”

  “Innocent?” the judge leaned over his high desk. “This is a capital crime, citizen Rika. We are at war with the Nietzscheans, and you have committed a crime against the war effort. The maximum punishment is death. If you plead innocent, this will go to trial and it will be swift—that I can promise you.”

  “But…but…” Rika stuttered.

  This is impossible! I’m only nineteen; there’s no way my life—miserable though it’s been—can end like this.

  “May I have a moment?” her defender asked the judge.

  “Very well,” the judge replied.

  her defender said.

  Rika slumped in her seat. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was a nightmare. All she had tried to do was get some food, and now she faced death or military service? Which, given how the war was going, was probably also a death sentence.

  her defender asked.

  Rika didn’t respond, and after a moment he spoke up. “My client pleads guilty, and begs the court’s mercy. She will gladly accept a military sentence.”

  “Will she, now?” the judge asked. “I need your affirmation, citizen Rika.”

  The judge’s words sounded to her like they were coming from underwater, all garbled and warbly—but she understood their meaning, and nodded slowly.

  “Very well,” the judge replied. “A military sentence of five years is issued. You are to be remanded at once to the Genevian Military Police for processing.”

  Rika lowered her face into her hands. She wouldn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to anyone. Not that many people cared what happened to her. None of her so-called friends had shown up to court today.

  She didn’t even see the defender approach the judge’s high desk and receive an envelope, as rough hands seized her wrists and disconnected her shackles from the table, and reconnected her wrists behind her back.

  “This way,” a gruff voice said, and she felt a shove on her shoulder.

  Rika barely paid attention as she was marched down a long corridor lined with holding cells. She was pushed into one, and the door slammed behind her. Barring a mat on the floor, the cell was completely empty. Rika fell to the mat, curled up in a fetal position, and cried herself to sleep.