Table of Contents
The Halls of Montezuma | (The Empire’s Corps – Book XVIII) | Christopher G. Nuttall
Series Listing
Cover Blurb
Prologue I
Prologue II | Onge (Inconnu), Shortly After the Invasion of Hameau
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
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
The Empire’s Corps Will Return In: | The Prince’s Way | Coming Soon
Afterword
The Halls of Montezuma
(The Empire’s Corps – Book XVIII)
Christopher G. Nuttall
http://www.chrishanger.net
http://chrishanger.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ChristopherGNuttall
Cover By Tan Ho Sim
https://www.artstation.com/alientan
All Comments Welcome!
Series Listing
Book One: The Empire’s Corps
Book Two: No Worse Enemy
Book Three: When The Bough Breaks
Book Four: Semper Fi
Book Five: The Outcast
Book Six: To The Shores
Book Seven: Reality Check
Book Eight: Retreat Hell
Book Nine: The Thin Blue Line
Book Ten: Never Surrender
Book Eleven: First To Fight
Book Twelve: They Shall Not Pass
Book Thirteen: Culture Shock
Book Fourteen: Wolf’s Bane
Book Fifteen: Cry Wolf
Book Sixteen: Favour The Bold
Book Seventeen: Knife Edge
Book Eighteen: The Halls of Montezuma
Cover Blurb
An all-new story of The Empire’s Corps!
Earth has fallen. The Core Worlds have collapsed into chaos. War is breaking out everywhere as planetary governments declare independence, entire sectors slip out of contact and warlords battle for power. The remnants of the once-great Empire are tearing themselves apart. And, in the shadows, the Terran Marine Corps works to save what little they can to preserve civilisation and build a better tomorrow. But now they might have met their match.
The marines have beaten off a desperate attempt by the corporate worlds to recover Hameau, but the war is very far from over. The corprats remain powerful, gathering their strength to resume the offensive, locate the marines and impose their society on the ruins of empire. To stop them, the marines will have to stake everything on a desperate gamble to tear out the heart of the enemy empire and slay the fascist beast in its lair.
But the enemy are equally desperate to win ...
Prologue I
From: The Dying Days: The Death of the Old Order and the Birth of the New. Professor Leo Caesius. Avalon. 206PE.
In hindsight, we should have expected more organised competition.
As we saw in previous volumes, the Terran Marine Corps saw Earthfall coming and took steps to preserve themselves and - hopefully - rebuild the Empire they’d sworn to serve. Small groups of marines were assigned to isolated worlds at the edge of explored space - including Avalon, a story explored in my earlier volumes - with a mandate to protect and preserve what remnants of civilisation they could. Others were withdrawn from more populated - and inevitably doomed - worlds to await the final end. And, when Earthfall finally came - somehow catching us all by surprise despite years of planning and preparations - the corps started liberating and recruiting the trained and experienced workers who would assist the marines to preserve civilisation.
All of this did not take place in a vacuum. Earthfall led to utter chaos, to wave after wave of destruction sweeping across the Core Worlds. Planetary governors seized power, only to be consumed by the chaos as uncounted billions were swept out of work and unemployment benefits came to a sudden end. Imperial Navy officers declared themselves warlords and started building empires of their own, most falling prey to ambitious subordinates or supply shortages within a very short space of time. Old grudges burst into flame, unleashing a cycle of attacks and revenge responses that ended with entire planetary systems burning to ashes. We do not know how many people died in the first few months. It remains beyond calculation.
It was during a recruitment mission, as detailed in the prior volume, that the marines discovered they had a major rival. The Onge Corporation, previously ruled by Grand Senator Stephen Onge (who died during Earthfall), had established a major base on an isolated world, Hameau. This alone would be concerning, but further investigation revealed that Hameau was a corporate paradise, a seemingly-ordered world held in stasis by a combination of extreme surveillance and a cold-blooded willingness to remove and terminate troublemakers before they became a serious threat. It was clear, to the marines, that Hameau represented the future ... as seen by the Onge Family. The upper classes would have considerable freedom, while the lower classes would be trapped within a social system that would keep them from either rising or rebelling. If this wasn’t bad enough, the sociologists believed the long-term result would be utterly disastrous. Hameau would either stagnate to the point it entered a steep decline - not unknown, amongst worlds that refused to permit a degree of social mobility - or eventually be destroyed by a brutal and uncontrollable)uprising.
The marines therefore decided to intervene. Landing troops on the surface - the planetary defences were strong enough to keep the starships from securing the high orbitals and demanding surrender - the marines carried out a brilliant campaign that ended with the capture of the capital city, the effective destruction of the planetary government and them being firmly in control. Everything seemed to have gone their way until the enemy reinforcements arrived, too late to save the world ... but quickly enough, perhaps, to destroy the marines.
There was no hope of negotiation. The new arrivals rapidly landed troops themselves, trying to destroy the marines on the ground while skirmishing with starships throughout the local system. The marines, unable to retreat and unwilling to surrender, continued the fight, aided by elements of the local population that didn’t want a return to the days of corporate control (or had compromised themselves to the point they couldn’t hope for mercy from their former allies). The fighting continued for weeks, with severe effects on the local population and infrastructure, until the marines lured the enemy forces into a trap and smashed them in a single, decisive blow.
However, it was not the end of the war. How could it be? The Onge were now aware of the Marine Corps, just as the Corps was aware of the Onge. With - still -
little hope of a peaceful settlement, the two factions girded themselves to continue the war ...
... All too aware that whoever won would determine the fate of the galaxy.
Prologue II
Onge (Inconnu), Shortly After the Invasion of Hameau
“Invasion fleets do not come out of nowhere,” Director Thaddeus Onge said. He clasped his hands behind his back as he stared out the window overlooking the gardens of paradise itself. “Where did this one come from?”
He turned, keeping his face carefully blank. The original reports had been unbelievable. Hameau had been safe. Should have been safe. The only force that could have challenged the planet’s defences was the Imperial Navy; and the Navy was a fracturing ruin, torn apart by admirals and generals who’d declared themselves warlords and set out to snatch as much military power as they could. Thaddeus had been confident, as the reports continued to flow in from what remained of the Core Worlds, that it was just a matter of time before the last embers of empire faded and died. There’d be room for a whole new order when the dust settled, he’d been assured. This time, the right people would be in charge.
His eyes drifted across the table. The right people hadn’t been in charge for generations. The Grand Senate had been dominated by a hereditary aristocracy that had lost track of what was important centuries ago. They’d been too stupid and inbred to know the truth, that he who paid the piper called the tune. They’d lashed out at giant corporations, all the while sucking up to them for donations. Bribes, in truth, except they lacked the fundamental trait of the honest politician. They didn’t stay bought. Thaddeus’s family had worked its way into the elite for decades, only to discover the empire was already a rotting corpse. They hadn’t needed long to start planning for the future.
Thaddeus looked at Vice Director Hayden James McManus, Director of Corporate Security. “I ask again,” he said. “Where did this invasion fleet come from?”
“The preliminary reports indicate the fleet belongs to the Marine Corps,” McManus said. He sounded as if he didn’t believe his own words. “The naval records we obtained suggest the fleet does not exist.”
“Officially, this planet does not exist,” Thaddeus said, waving a hand towards the window and the gardens beyond. “Not as a corporate headquarters and haven for a new order, certainly. The marines probably have as much experience as we do in keeping things off the books.”
He sighed, inwardly. The corporation had spent decades building the planet into a citadel, all the while doing everything in their power to ensure the Grand Senate and the Imperial Navy never had the faintest idea it existed. The looters would start levying taxes the moment they worked out something was up, he’d been warned. They couldn’t let the bastards know what was happening until it was too late to object. They’d known Earthfall was coming ...
... Yet, it had taken them by surprise.
“And they invaded the planet,” Thaddeus said. “Why?”
“We don’t know,” McManus said. “But they must have had a sniff of our activities.”
“More than just a sniff, if they’re launching a full-scale planetary invasion,” Vice Director Maryanne Mayan said, sardonically. “The cost alone must be immense.”
“Yes,” McManus agreed. He looked at Thaddeus. “If we predicted Earthfall, sir, they must have predicted it too. They must have had their own plan to take advantage of the crisis.”
“It isn’t a crisis,” Thaddeus corrected, mildly. “It’s the new reality.”
He let out a breath. The corporation had laid its plans carefully, yet they’d been overtaken by the sheer violence of events. Grand Senator Onge, Thaddeus’s father and mentor, had never made it off Earth. Rumour insisted he’d tried to seize power, only to be killed by ... by someone, depending who was telling the story. The Solar System was a burned-out ruin, hundreds of worlds had fallen into civil war or outright anarchy ... the scale of the disaster was beyond human imagination. Thaddeus knew the plan. He’d grown up knowing the plan. He knew he had to collect useful people, bring them to his small cluster of worlds and wait. He had a nasty feeling the plan had gone spectacularly wrong.
The Corps was always loyal to the Emperor before the Grand Senate, he thought. The corporation had subverted thousands of army and navy officers, but not a single active-duty marine. What the hell are they doing?
“Our plan was always to shape the new reality,” Maryanne pointed out. “Doubtless, the marines have the same idea.”
Thaddeus couldn’t disagree. There was no hope of putting the empire back together. The networks of interstellar trade that had once bound thousands of stars into a single entity were smashed beyond repair. The supply chain was a joke, money was worthless ... outside a handful of worlds that had managed to maintain a certain independence from the empire itself. The marines weren’t fools. They wouldn’t have attacked and invaded an entire planet for nothing. No, they had to have their own plans for the post-empire universe. Thaddeus wondered, grimly, what those plans might be. He couldn’t imagine them being compatible with his own.
“There’s no point in disputing the facts,” he said. His father had delighted in pointing out that the Grand Senate had often disputed the facts, right up until the moment they could dispute them no longer. “We have to take action. Fast. General?”
“I’m already putting together a response,” General Jim Gilbert said. He was corporate royalty, but he’d served in a dozen engagements in the army before returning to the corporation and, eventually, taking control of its military. “Many of our ships are on recruitment, but we have a small task force that should be able to drive the marines away from the planet and land troops. If we get there in time, we should be able to reinforce the defences and crush the invaders. If not, we can boot the invaders off the planet the hard way.”
“Doing immense damage to the planet’s industry and population,” Vice Director Vincent Adamson said. The Director of Human Resources didn’t look pleased. “They’re not going to thank us for turning the entire planet into a battleground.”
“With all due respect, sir, the entire planet is already a battleground,” Gilbert countered, bluntly. He’d always been plain-spoken, something that had kept him out of the very highest levels. “We have a choice between retaking the planet, whatever the cost, or abandoning it to the enemy. And it won’t take them long to realise they’ve merely stumbled on the tip of the iceberg.”
Thaddeus nodded. Hameau was a major investment, and one they’d worked hard to conceal, but it was hardly the only one. The marines would find references to Onge in the planetary datafiles ... if, of course, they hadn’t already deduced its existence. And then ... Thaddeus shook his head. He couldn’t allow the marines, of all people, to determine the future of the human race. Their idealism would lead, inevitably, to the wrong people taking power once again, dooming the post-empire universe to yet another series of crashes and disasters. No, they had to be stopped. They were committed. They’d been committed from the moment the marines had first landed on Hameau.
And they don’t know what sort of hornet’s nest they’ve stumbled into, he told himself, firmly. It was impossible to believe the marines knew the truth, if only because they would have invaded Onge rather than Hameau. We have a chance to smash them before they recover from the shock.
He looked at Gilbert. “Are we safe here?”
“It’s impossible to be sure, sir,” Gilbert said. “But our defences are formidable. We’ve been bringing newer and better weapons online since Earthfall, when we no longer needed to hide anything from prying eyes. We’ve also sent out courier boats, recalling the remaining starships from their missions. And, with your permission, I’ll call out the militia as well.”
“Which will be expensive,” Adamson said.
“And the militia may not be entirely trustworthy,” Maryanne added.
Thaddeus nodded, sourly. One couldn’t give the common man any power, at least not until he proved himself ... and all political powe
r, at base, came out of the barrel of a gun. Too many planets had been ruined by politicians who pandered to the masses, or cowered in front of mobs, for him to be sanguine about calling out the militia. Even if they were trustworthy, even if they could be kept under control, it would be taking experienced men away from their jobs. The economy would tumble.
“We have no choice,” he said. Hameau had been intended as a military incubator. That plan, like so many others, had crashed and burnt in the wake of the invasion. “We have to move, now, to regain control of events.”
“And quickly,” Gilbert said. “The Corps trains its people to maintain a high operational tempo at all times.”
Adamson scowled. “And in plain English ...?”
“They move fast, trying to keep the enemy off balance long enough for them to come out ahead.” Gilbert smiled, humourlessly. “We’re the enemy, in case you were wondering.”
“They picked this fight,” Thaddeus said, before an argument could start. “And we’re going to end it.”
“Yes, sir,” Gilbert said. “The task force should be ready to depart within the week.”
Thaddeus nodded. If they were lucky, it was not already too late ...
Chapter One
What went so terribly wrong, when it came to interstellar capitalism and the eventual - inevitable - slide into anarchy?
- Professor Leo Caesius, The Rise and Fall of Interstellar Capitalism
“Aren’t we done with this fucking planet?”
Captain Haydn Steel hid his amusement at the subvocalised comment as he inched his way through the industrial complex, making sure to keep himself out of sight. The district had been battered by repeated bouts of fighting, from the thunder runs that had put the marines in charge of Haverford to the corprat invasion that had driven the marines back out again and the local insurgency that had torn the city apart until the fighting finally came to an end. The latest government had, thankfully, managed to evacuate the refugees to a makeshift camp outside the city, in hopes of bringing the district back to life. Haydn had to give them points for trying, if nothing else. They were showing more initiative than the average planetary government.
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