Defenders of the Rim: Beginnings: A Far Future SciFi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

  #

  Crown Prince John Dansi Von Hasson sighed as he thought about the message he had just received from his uncle, the Emperor. Currently serving on the Imperial Galactic flagship Dauntless, a super-dreadnought and the largest and most powerful ship in the Imperial Navy, John normally would be just another Lieutenant Commander among the several officers of that caliber serving onboard the ship. But the ramifications of what he had just read would soon change that as his time buried in the ranks was about to be shortened.

  John sighed. He knew he still had a lot to learn, but it looked like he would have to learn the rest from the top instead of within the ranks. That wasn’t all bad. He’d already figured out that some things needed to change in the Imperial Navy and this way he could begin the process of trying to fix them. The Empire had grown too complacent with all the years of peace and prosperity and that had spread to the Imperial Navy. They weren’t going to be prepared for what he believed was going to come, so he would have to move fast to get done what he could to prepare them.

  John put in a request to his ship’s commander, not using his Lieutenant Commander credentials, but instead his Imperial seal. That change would tell the captain that his interaction with John was going to be as a subject under the Crown instead of a subordinate requesting an audience. What would make it worse, John was going to have to override the ship’s orders and the captain was not going to be happy about that.

  While he was waiting for a response from Captain Johanson, John sent a message to his Aunt Margarette. With her help, he could start the process of cleaning up the Imperial Navy by removing one of those inefficiencies that needed to be removed — Admiral Jushing Kosak. He just hoped the man’s stupid behavior hadn’t caused them to get the information they needed too late. Hence the urgent message from the Emperor. The only reason John wasn’t demanding more drastic action was that due to pure luck they still had what they needed to know.

  No, they were very fortunate. A contract employee had found the chip lying on the Admiral’s desk on Santiago Station and had decided to take a look, hoping to get a reward. He had quickly realized that he couldn’t read it and had passed it on to a decryption specialist. When the chip had finally been decrypted, he had indeed gotten a reward, just not from the Admiral. The whole affair with the admiral ignoring the information he had been given came out, as well as his treatment of personnel. The other thing that may have saved them was that the normal slow moving bureaucracy of the Imperial government had been bypassed when the Director of Imperial Intelligence on Santiago Station had seen the information. He had immediately realized the importance of the find and thus sent it directly to the Imperial palace.

  John’s com activated, a rather anxious looking Captain Johanson appearing on the other end. “You requested that I speak with you, Your Highness?” John knew the Captain was smart enough to have a pretty good idea what a message with his Crown credentials meant.

  John smiled a sad smile. “Yes, sir. By order of the Emperor, I will be assuming overall command of your ship and the accompanying squadron under my authority as Crown Prince. All shore leaves are hereby cancelled and you have exactly 24 hours to have this ship ready to depart. Have your Com Officer relay those same orders to the rest of the squadron.”

  John gave him a second to digest all that before he continued. “Commander, by ready, I mean a full load-out of all munitions, including capital missiles, and a full stock of supplies for an extended deployment.”

  Captain Johanson stared in shock, but John knew he would accomplish the impossible task his Crown Prince had just given him. He had served under the man long enough to know that.

  “It will be done. If I may ask, Your Highness, where will we be going?”

  John smiled at him. He knew the reaction he would get from him with this. “Rigelus, by way of Gidare 976. Instruct your navigator that we need a minimum time transit both legs, the fastest course he can determine. No allowances for fuel consumption or hyper-attrition to systems.”

  “I will make it so,” Captain Johanson told him, unable to completely hide his feelings about attempting the impossible. Then he gave John a smile of his own. “Respectfully, Your Highness, you are out of uniform, your quarters are entirely inadequate, and your steward seems to be missing. It’s essential that you rectify all three of those at once.”

  It was John’s turn to frown. Unfortunately, the Captain was correct. No longer would he be just another officer among the ranks.

  #

  Governor Gregorio Resault III sat in his extravagantly appointed office on Rigelus Prime. On the surface the report he was reading was quite an obscure document detailing the current year’s results for planetary crops by district. The Governor’s AI pinged him to let him know the latest scan for hidden bots and system intrusions was clear. He made sure he had the best protection he could obtain, so he felt certain he wasn’t being observed. Just in case, he took additional precautions.

  Smiling to himself, he instructed his AI, “Decode the displayed document using only temporary memory. Code key is ‘Ides of March.’ Do not save a copy or otherwise maintain any version of the decoded text. Display only to my internal implant view.”

  He watched as the document refreshed on his implants. Because it was not externally visible, no one else would be able to see the modified report, and with the precautions he’d taken there wouldn’t be any copies for anyone else to see. Anyone watching would think he was viewing the externally displayed report. But he was even more paranoid than that — the decode key was designed to be used only one time. Even if someone managed to obtain the code, the next use would produce a more or less benign report that contained research on certain galactic companies the governor would claim he was interested in following in the Galactic Market.

  The Governor’s smile grew bigger as he reviewed the report. The rebel troops on Rigelus were nearly full strength. The troops had been secreted to the South Continent over the last several months, along with a most satisfying supply of arms, some of them heavy weapons. Once the diversions had been launched and his allies in the Galactic Capitol had done their job, the rebel army would do the rest of the work for him on Rigelus.

  The test of the drones had progressed nicely. It appeared the Imperial government was too bureaucratic to respond to them so far, which led him to believe the full strike using the drones would be quite successful. For his own part, Gregorio had done his best to sit on anything that came to light in the District Capitol regarding the drones. He had argued against the test taking place on Rigelus, knowing that the District Capitol represented risk for no gain, but his allies had insisted they needed a real test. He had gone along with them since he knew he would have considerable control over what was reported back to the Empire. Hopefully, the rest of the Empire would remain completely clueless of the whole affair.

  His external allies claimed they would be ready if any of the Imperial Navy out on the Rim survived their first attack and they agreed to provide Rigelus with protection. Gregorio had his own plans there too. His rebel squadron would be freed up at that point and the tentative deals he’d made for more ships would be coming through once his allies understood his position of power.

  If only Grandfather Resault were alive to see it. When Maximus Von Hasson had pulled the Empire together, Gregorio’s grandfather had been one of his staunchest allies, only to find himself pushed out to the Rim as a token gesture of gratitude. He should have been given a proper position close to the Emperor himself. First Governor Gregorio Resault I, the only title the Emperor had given him, had bided his time, slowly building the needed framework and allies to support his rebellion. Unfortunately, health issues had prevented him from completing his strategy, leaving it to his descendants to finish the work.

  Gregorio frowned in disgust. His father had failed in continuing the work begun by his grandfather, which is why he had been forced to intervene against his own father and set up the “accident” that removed him as an obs
tacle. It took a special man to stand against the forces that worked against the Resault family’s ultimate destiny. His father hadn’t had it and neither it appeared, did his son.

  Gregorio prepared an encoded document to send to Gregorio Resault IV along with the instructions on how to view it properly. He would give his son one more chance and if that didn’t work out, he would just have to remove him and start over. Him and his mother; Gregorio made sure to include a thinly veiled threat about the boy’s mother. That should get his attention.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Ship

  Galen hurried across the District Rim Patrol spaceport, his objective apparently on the far end of the shipways. He wanted to beat his ship’s commander there and check it out. One of his friends, a ship maintenance specialist, had caught sight of it coming in for a landing the day before and said it looked like an X11B, the oldest ships the Rim Patrol still had in service. He had kidded Galen about it to no end when he had learned that Galen was going to be assigned to it. The X11Bs were terrible in all aspects, from engine power to armament, and flew like a tank. Most of them were about to fall apart too.

  Galen himself was a ship maintenance specialist like his friend, but he had a second advanced specialty in navigation. He had hoped that meant he would get to use those skills on the new ship. If we ever get it off the ground. Lord, I hope it isn’t an X11B.

  Despite being fresh out of the District Rim Patrol specialist training program, Galen knew what he could bring to his ship; he was quite proud of his marks in his areas of specialization. His other areas of training not so much, although he thought he had done pretty good for someone from his background. Especially in the weapons training; his marksmanship had been enough to get him into the top quartile, unlike what his soon to be shipmate Gabo had done. From what he had been able to find out, poor Gabo had barely been able to hit the target.

  Of course, Galen had an advantage over most of the class. He had quite a lot of experience shooting for game, having traveled with his father the last several years on the family Southern Continent game hunt. Galen had even contributed to the game they killed, helping to add food to his family’s table for the remainder of the year. He was quite proud of that.

  Galen turned the corner and stopped in surprise. Whatever that was, it wasn’t an X11B. It was much more sleek than an X11B, the wings were more subtle, and the weapons clusters were much more substantial. The designation caught his eye. X15AA. Immediately that brought a frown to his face. What the heck was an X15? But what really caught his attention, AA! That meant it was so new that it hadn’t been officially accepted as a ship’s design. Then something else surprised him. X-series ships normally only had a serial number designation but this ship had a name. Aeres!

  Seeing the ship up close was something, but his attention was quickly captured by something even more surprising. Standing in the entranceway to the ship was a very young Lieutenant who was arguing with the AI about letting her in. Galen couldn’t help but notice she was quite a looker. Too bad she was going to be his senior officer.

  “You’re gonna need this,” he told her, walking up to the ship and handing her the ship’s key. With all the technology the Empire had, they still were a little old-fashioned in the security of their ships. They used AI connections, implant-based communications for many things, but when it came to ships, in addition to those, the ship required a physical key.

  “Thanks,” the young lieutenant breathed. “I’d about decided I was going to have to hack the AI to get in.” She grabbed the key from him, quickly placing it in its magnetic slot.

  Galen first smiled at her statement, thinking she was joking, but when she didn’t laugh with him, he suddenly realized she was serious. Was that even possible? But whatever else Galen was thinking vanished from his mind when the door to the ship opened and the two of them stepped aboard.

  Inside was the newest ship Galen had ever seen. Every surface was gleaming and all the equipment he could recognize was the top end; although a lot of it was stuff he’d never seen before. At least he wouldn’t be having to piece together the odd parts to keep this baby working like he would have in an X11B.

  The two looked around their ship like two kids in a candy store, their mouths hanging wide open. Jarra went straight to the commander’s chair. In the case of this ship, that was also the pilot’s station. She started whipping through the displays, her awe growing with each moment. This ship could outrun one of the Empire’s high-end fighters! That was a ship she was quite familiar with.

  Jarra’s thoughts went back to when she had first flown a fighter. At the tender age of fourteen, she had been full of adventure and daring. She was visiting one of the Empire’s carrier class warships with a tour group from the military school she attended. The fighter had been one of the newest upgrades to the top-of-the-line fighter models, a prototype for a planned future line. The new fighter was intended for one of the hotshot pilots in the fighter test group, and so it had been sitting all alone in its bay with no one around.

  Jarra had been bragging about her scores in the fighter simulator they were all using in school and one of the other students had dared her to show them what she could do. Looking back, Jarra realized just how spoiled she had been at the time, still thinking herself beyond reproach. She had stolen the fighter on his dare, hacking into the system and launching it out of the carrier before anyone had realized what was happening. It had wanted a physical key too, but that hadn’t stopped her.

  She still thought back to that day. It was probably the second most defining moment in her development, she knew. That flight had been fun, a lot of fun until four of the squadron’s fighters had finally boxed her in, but she led them on quite a chase. Before then, she thought she knew what flying was like, having flown nearly everything the Empire had in existence in simulators, but some things you just had to experience in the real world. She had been forever hooked from that day on.

  Jarra had been grounded for two weeks after, but it had been worth it. It had been even sweeter when she had overheard some of the fighter pilots talking about her flight and about how it had taken the whole squadron to catch her. Ah, the good old days! I can see that day was the launch point to everything else that got me where I am today, even the fight with my father, but maybe the future’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I know for a fact this ship is going to be a lot of fun to fly.

  Galen had been doing his own candy store shopping. He’d never seen navigation equipment so precise. I believe I could navigate this ship anywhere in the galaxy, even in the hyperspace shoals that everyone avoids. That was something he secretly had dreamed of doing his whole life. He’d tried telling it one time to a girlfriend he thought was serious and she’d laughed at him. That had been the end of that relationship.

  “You think so?” the lieutenant asked him. “I hope not anytime soon, ‘cause I would be the one flying this baby and I’d really like to keep my wings intact.”

  Galen suddenly realized where he was. He must have said that out loud! He came to attention and saluted her. “Galen Sabatino, reporting for duty, ma’am.”

  Smiling, she returned his salute. “At ease, Mr. Sabatino. I intend to keep a very informal ship, so I don’t expect any more of that.” Glancing at a ping from her implants, she went on, “My AI has informed me that our shipmates, all two of them, will be here in less than two minutes, so why don’t you investigate our galley area and see if it’s stocked yet. I would love a coffee if they have it.”

  “Galen, if you will, ma’am.”

  “Ok, Galen, I’m Jarra except in official communications. We’ll talk more as soon as the others are here.

  #

  Gabo Rollins was lucky he’d run into Sara, one of his mates in Rim Patrol training. He was wandering around looking at everything and really had no idea where he was going. But there was so much to see. Plus, he had his implant monitoring his latest experiment in the training lab, even though they’d officially g
raduated. He thought he could get another ten percent out of the system if he tweaked it just right. The experiment was at a critical point, but right now it only required monitoring.

  The son of a professor and a Com technician, Gabo knew that he was a science geek and he was proud of it! He’d barely scored high enough in the physical training aspects of the Patrol to graduate, and his scores in target practice were abysmal. But give him a reasonable scientific theory and the tools to make it work, he was your man. Plus, he had a knack for getting the absolute max out of any system.

  Getting into the Rim Patrol had been quite a thing to his parents and Gabo tried his best to make them proud. He’d pulled it off so far, but he was a little worried about what his posting meant. His father insisted it would work out if Gabo would just give it time. His mother didn’t appear quite so confident, but she was used to the life of a professor at the local University, and the academic types saw things differently than the rest of the galaxy anyway.

  Gabo knew that without the help of others, he was often lost to the real world and that had led to more than one unfortunate incident. Just like when he smoked the lab; he had the best intent in the galaxy, but he wound up creating a disaster. He hoped that whoever he served with wouldn’t bring that incident up. At least Sara should be ok, I think. She has some kind of dark past, if the rumors I’ve heard can be believed.

  Querying his implants, Gabo snapped back to reality once more as he realized their goal was nearly in sight. He guessed he would know soon enough. Hopefully he could get off to a better start this time. Sara seemed nice enough, although a little quiet for a girl. Secretly, he thought, Guess I have a crush on her already, but she seems to have it all together. I wonder what her story really is.