by Saxon Andrew
The Assassin’s Guild
The Last Man Standing
Saxon Andrew
Copyright © 2018 Saxon Andrew
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organisations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
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Contents
Introduction
Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen • Chapter Seventeen • Chapter Eighteen • Chapter Nineteen • Chapter Twenty • Chapter Twenty-One • Chapter Twenty-Two • Chapter Twenty-Three • Chapter Twenty-Four • Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Books by Saxon Andrew
About Saxon Andrew
Introduction
Earth and the Colonies are in a fight to the death against the Brotherhood’s civilization in the Andromeda Galaxy and, to make things worse, an advanced civilization called the Cyrens has threatened to attack the new colonies settled in Andromeda if Earth’s fleets don’t start attacking the Brotherhood’s forces. Earth has managed to remain undetected by the Brotherhood’s fleets but now that was over; Admiral Talent is being forced to initiate attacks against the Brotherhood or run the risk of the new colonies being destroyed.
Earth only has twenty-one Sha Class warships in Andromeda and they are heavily outnumbered by the Brotherhood fleets. The Cyrens have stated they will delay attacking the new colonies until the Brotherhood has been defeated but offer no assurances they won’t attack the colonies once that’s done. If, by some miracle, Earth manages to defeat the Brotherhood then the Cyrens might attack the colonies anyway.
Earth is in the untenable position of having to fight the Brotherhood without defeating them until some means of taking on the Cyrens’ giant warships is discovered. To complicate matters, the alien civilizations attacking the Brotherhood for invading their planets are a clear threat to attack Earth’s warships if they discover humans are flying them. They’ll be lumped in with the Brotherhood and it will be Earth against every civilization in Andromeda. Things couldn’t get much worse...or, could they?”
Chapter One
Admiral Talent put his hands over his face and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. Two of his squadrons had just taken part in a giant space battle between a Brotherhood fleet and a combined fleet of Sinnat and Crayen warships. The Brotherhood’s fleet was outnumbered but that advantage was quickly overcome when the Brotherhood warships launched their small berserker ships. The hundred Brotherhood warships launched two-hundred Berserkers each and the alien attackers were close to being overwhelmed. The leading berserker formations flew into the alien fleet and began crashing into them. The explosions were gigantic when the explosives in the Berserkers went off and fifty Sinnat and Crayen warships were quickly destroyed or damaged. Admiral Meadows and Jee Stevens moved in and laid down a massive barrage of pulse cannon beams ahead of the Berserkers bearing down on the surviving alien warships destroying half of them before they arrived at the alien formations.
The aliens turned and fled from the Brotherhood fleet at maximum speed as Tal’s squadrons turned and ran as the surviving berserkers turned from the alien fleet to pursuit them. The small berserkers were incredibly fast, and the two squadrons fought a running space battle against them for ten hours before the last Berserker was destroyed. Tal ordered the squadrons to scatter and report to the Brazil to replace the missiles and stores used during the fight.
Ka walked over to her husband from her weapons console and put a hand on his shoulder, “Are you all right?”
Tal blew out a breath and lowered his hands, “I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up, Ka. We’re down to fifteen warships and my unit is now being forced to take part in the action. Those Berserkers are like hornets, they won’t give up.”
“Tal, we have no other choice,” Ka responded. “If you hadn’t ordered our three ships in…”
“I know, I know,” Tal interrupted. “We would have lost Rachael and her squadron.” Ka nodded. Tal fell back in his chair, “I’m surprised we haven’t lost more ships over the last six-months. We’ve been really lucky, but we don’t have ships to lose.” Tal took a breath and blew it out, before turning to Katy Montana, “Katy, send the latest recordings to Fleet operations.”
Katy leaned forward fighting her fatigue and nodded. She began speaking into her helmet as Tal turned back to Ka, “We need some time to rest.” Ka nodded and went back to her console. The Brazil was three-hours away and she knew the fleet had come close to being overwhelmed by the Brotherhood’s Berserkers in the last four engagements.
Ka remembered when they first arrived in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Brotherhood wasn’t using the small fast ships; they were handling the alien attacks against the planets they conquered with superior numbers of warships. But the intervention by Tal’s fleet changed that. Now, they were used in every confrontation and the Brotherhood was winning. The Berserker pilots didn’t hesitate to crash their explosive laden vessels into any warship they could catch. The berserkers were just as fast as the Sha Class warships and outrunning them and disappearing from their scanners was not a possibility. Only the evade/attack software prevented the entire fleet from being destroyed. Ka reclined her chair; and they were getting better in their pursuit. She put her head back and fought it but fell asleep at her station. She and Katy were exhausted and, the fight they just participated in was worse than any of the simulations used to train them.
Tal shook his head, this couldn’t go on much longer. Indie turned around and looked at Tal. He nodded toward Ka sleeping on her chair and Tal shook his head, “Let her sleep, Indie.”
Indie nodded and went to Katy. He pulled her out of her chair and hugged her, “Go take a break.” Katy was too tired to protest. She kissed him on the cheek and stumbled off the bridge.
Tal went to Mila and touched her on the shoulder. Mila flinched, and Tal ordered, “Go get some sleep, Captain.”
“But…”
“I’m not going to be issuing any orders, Mila; go get some sleep.” Mila stood, and Tal sat down at her console and took control of the Zak’s Jil. Mila walked off the bridge and Tal turned the ship and headed toward the two-giant support freighters, the Brazil and Africa. He had moved them next to each other two months ago; keeping them a long distance from each other was no longer an option; fatigue will force you to change your plans. The Cyrens had left them alone and the needs of his crews outweighed his fears of the freighters being attacked. He settled in and thought about what he could possibly do to make a bad situation better. He had a sudden thought and yelled over his shoulder, “Rico, Jose, go to your quarters and get some rest!” Rico and Jose didn’t complain, they stood up from their missile consoles and left the bridge. After a few minutes, Indie turned to Tal, “We can’t keep this up, Admiral.”
“I know. But we really don’t have another option, Indie. If we stop attac
king the Brotherhood fleets, the Cyrens may attack the new colonies.”
Indie turned back to the scanning console. They were trapped in a matrix and it was like a recurring nightmare, it wouldn’t go away.
• • •
They finally arrived at the freighters and Tal saw Jan’s squadron holding formation around them. He justified moving them together by keeping some warships with them to defend them if they were attacked. Jan appeared on Tal’s monitor, “I’ve seen the recordings, Tal. You’ve got to allow me to go with you next time.”
Tal took a breath and replied, “We’ll discuss it…later.” Jan saw his fatigue and nodded. Tal stopped the Zak’ Jill out from the freighters and waited for the other nine ships to go to the cradles first. He had entered the fight at the fourth-hour to save Rachael and he knew the crews were in worse shape that his crew.
Indie looked down at his console and said, “Sir, Admiral Montana requests you contact him after you get some rest.” Tal nodded and leaned back in his chair. Just before he fell asleep, he thought, I’m getting too old for this.
• • •
Tal was awakened by Indie and he jerked his head up, “Sir, a cradle is open.”
Tal shook his head and gathered his wits. He flew the ship on to the cradle and asked Indie, “How many missiles did we have remaining?”
Indie took a breath as he stared at his monitor and answered, “Six, Sir.” Tal nodded and went to Ka, still sleeping at her console. He woke her gently and led her away from the bridge. He turned and said over his shoulder, “Indie, leave the ship in the cradle and join Katy.” Indie’s eyes closed slightly, and Tal added, “That’s an order, Captain!” Indie looked around the empty bridge and followed Tal. Indie didn’t like leaving the bridge unmanned, however, if they were attacked, they were too tired to respond. Jan would have to hold off any ships…but thankfully, so far, the freighters had not been discovered by the Brotherhood; worrying about it now was wasted energy.
• • •
A Cyren warship had observed the battle and used his scanners to see the fatigue of the crews in the black warships. One of the senior commanders turned to the ships Controller and sneered, “We should just go and remove the ones that settled on those planets.”
The Controller continued to stare at the display and asked, “What do you think will happen if we do that?”
“We’ll be done with these beings.”
The Controller laughed slightly, “Those beings just destroyed two thousand of the Invader’s small ships.” He turned to the senior commander, “Would you prefer we do that in their place?” The senior commander stared at the Controller and turned left showing his disagreement. “As long as they are reducing the numbers of the Invaders, we will refrain from attacking those planets. If we removed those planets, these beings would leave and stop their attacks; those planets are the only thing holding them here.”
“But we’re going to destroy them anyway.”
The Controller nodded, “But patience is warranted before we do it. We’ll use them as long as possible.” The senior commander turned to the right, showing his agreement. The Controller was wise, there was no need to rush the final outcome.
• • •
Tal slept for ten-hours and woke on his own. Ka was still sleeping; he dressed and left the bedroom quietly. He headed toward the bridge and saw Indie and Katy were taking control of two consoles. Oh, to be that young again. “Good-morning! I hope you got enough sleep!” Tall said to them as he walked to his chair.
“We’ve only just arrived, Sir.” Indie replied. He added, “Sir, Captain Sager wishes to speak with you as soon as possible.”
“Did he say what it’s about?”
“No, Sir. But our store of missiles has not been replaced,” Indie responded.”
“What’s up with that, Indie? What about the other ships involved in the last fight?”
“They’ve also not been resupplied, Sir.”
Tal stood up, “I’m taking a shuttle to the Brazil. You have the ship, Indie.”
“Give me a moment to change, Tal.” Tal turned to the entrance to the bridge and saw Ka stretching. Tal walked to her and they left the bridge together.
“What’s going on, Indie?”
Indie shrugged, “I don’t know, Katy. I can’t believe we’ve used all the missiles.”
“We’ve used quite a few in the last month, Indie.”
Indie raised his left shoulder, “I know, but that’s a rather large freighter. Something is going on. If the Brazil was running low, we would have been sent to the Africa; that didn’t happen. We’ll wait and see what Captain Sager has to say to the Admiral.” Katy nodded and went to Indie’s lap. He quickly looked around the bridge and Katy pulled his face back to her, “Hey, we’re not equipped to fight and we’re off duty; relax! Indie released a heavy sigh and put his arms around her.
• • •
Tal flew the shuttle into a shuttle tube and it pressurized instantly as the port closed behind the shuttle. They stepped out into the Brazil’s giant landing bay and saw hundreds of sailors moving around at various tasks. Tal turned toward the exit and saw Jab and Ryshana walking across the bay toward them. Tal and Ka smiled as Ryshana ran up and hugged Ka, “We’ve been worried about you.”
Jab saluted Tal and he returned it, “I hate you’re leaving us on the freighter, Admiral.”
“Jab, you’ve not been trained on how to use the Zak’s Jil’s consoles and it doesn’t make sense to put either of you in danger. I’m planning to grant your request and allow you to resign from the military and go to Earth at the next opportunity to collect your pay and live a normal life.”
“I thought you needed us to be your resident experts on the Brotherhood?” Jab replied.
“I’ve learned entirely too much about the Brotherhood over the last few months, Jab. You and Ryshana should go and enjoy your wealth and get away from the danger here.”
“I think I’ve shown I can operate a weapon’s console, Tal!” Ryshana replied. “And Jab knows how to pilot a ship; we’re not as useless as you think!”
Tal lowered his chin and shook his head slightly, “I appreciate that, Ryshana, but we don’t have a ship for you to join us.”
“We can relieve the crew, Tal,” Jab interjected.
“I thought you didn’t want any part of being in the military, Jab.”
Jab shrugged, “That was then, this is now. I’ve seen what your sailors are going through, and this fight is now ours.”
Tal put a hand on his shoulder, “Jab, take Ryshana to Earth and live a peaceful life; both of you have earned the right.”
“So, have you, Tal!” Ryshana interrupted. “Are you going back?!”
Tal chuckled, “I’m in the service; I forced Jab to join and I’ve felt bad about doing that since I made the decision.”
They arrived at the landing bay’s exit and Jab said, “We’ll talk about this later.” Tal nodded and walked through the port.
“They’ve come a long way, haven’t they?” Ka asked.
Tal nodded, “I do not want them out here where they can be killed.” Tal looked at Ka, “You know it’s just a matter of time until we can no longer attack the Brotherhood.” Ka nodded. “When that happens, the Cyrens will take out the freighters and I don’t want them on board when they attack.”
“I understand, Tal. You’re doing the right thing.”
A sailor standing beside a small three-wheeled cart came to attention and said, “Sir, I’ve been sent by Captain Sager to take you to the elevators. He’s waiting for you in his office.”
Tal returned his salute and held Ka’s hand as he assisted her into the cart. He slid in beside her and the sailor turned the cart and moved quickly up the freighter’s long central passageway.
• • •
A lieutenant was waiting on them as they exited the elevators, “Please follow me,” He requested. Tal and Ka followed him to Sager’s office. The Lieutenant opened the office door and
announced, “Admiral and Commodore Talent are here, Sir.”
“Send them in.”
The lieutenant stepped aside and held the door and Tal and Ka entered the office. Sager was at attention and Tal waved a hand, “At ease, Darrel. What’s going on with not replenishing our missile stores?”
Sager sat down, as Tal and Ka took a seat in front of his desk. “Sir, Fleet Admiral Montana has ordered that your ships not have their weapon stores replaced.”
Tal’s eyes narrowed as Ka immediately asked, “Why would he do that?”
“He ordered me to contact him immediately when you arrived, Sir.” Sager flipped a switch on his console and turned around to the large wall-monitor behind him. Tal and Ka saw Duncan appear on it a few moments later.
“What’s going on, Duncan?” Tal inquired.
“It’s good to see you’re still alive, Tal. I know you’ve had no choice but to start taking part in combat operations and that concerns me, along with the Chancellor and President of the Colonies. After much discussion and attending numerous meetings with our scientists and sociologists, we’ve determined that we have no option but to change the strategy we’ve been following to date.”
“The Cyrens are making you do that, aren’t they?” Tal asked.
Duncan nodded, “You’re down to fifteen warships and the sociologists believe that if your ship count is reduced to single digits, they will go ahead and attack the new colonies in Andromeda.”
Ka smiled, “The return on the Cyren’s investment won’t be worth the return of waiting to do it.”
Duncan chuckled, “Something like that, Ka. The sociologists firmly believe that they are going to attack anyway, no matter how the outcome of the war with the Brotherhood turns out.”
“I believe that as well, Duncan,” Tal added.
“Well, that being the case, we can’t continue the same tactics. Your fleet was sent to gather information on the Brotherhood and remain hidden; that mission is over. The Brotherhood knows you’re there and you collected all the data of any importance. You and your surviving ships are ordered to return to Earth.”