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

by Randal Sloan

  At first, the shields held, the alien tech the ship had was indeed quite remarkable in that regard. They all held their breath. The ship was almost at the end of the narrows. If the shields continued to hold, the Governor might be able to turn the tables on them and they could be the ones in trouble. Just as Jarra was about to give the order for an emergency course to take them away, the other ship’s shields faltered. Several torpedoes managed to make it through, causing damage. Then one of them struck a vital area near the fusion generator.

  With a tremendous explosion that rocked their own ship, the Governor’s ship exploded. With a sigh, Jarra remarked, “Guess we won’t need to have that trial now. Sorry, Greg, but he gave us no choice.”

  “I know now his fate was sealed the moment he chose to rebel against the Empire. Don’t worry about it. You heard him, he was no longer my father.” Despite his words, Greg was looking rather pale and Jarra knew he was only putting on a bold face for the rest of them.

  “I heard, but that doesn’t change how you are going to feel about it. With time perhaps you’ll be able to work it out. I promise you also, we’ll assist you any way we can to help you make it through.” Jarra gave him a thoughtful look. “I suspect you and your mother will have quite a conversation when you return. It may well be his bluster about not being your real father has some truth in it. We can even do DNA tests if you want.”

  Jarra’s thoughts turned back to the battle. “Galen, plot us a course back to the battlefield, full speed since we don’t need stealth now. We really need to see how my cousin is doing. I hope they didn’t take too many losses.”

  “It looked to be nearly over as we pulled out of range,” Gabo told her. “I kept a watch on the rear sensors as long as I could. Your cousin had begun to close the pinchers from the other two squadrons and they should have been able to pound the rebels with no chance for them to escape.”

  #

  Even going full speed, it took the Aeres several minutes to return to the area of the battle. As they grew near, they received a message from Prince John, their un-stealthed ship easily visible to the sensors of his ships.

  “It’s over. Only a few of them decided to surrender; the others we had to fight them until their ships were completely disabled. We’re combing the area for survivors from the rebel ships destroyed, but we’re not finding many. Unfortunately, the admiral that was working with them appears to have gotten away, leaving the ship just hours before our attack. I’m hoping we can get enough info from the survivors to at least learn his identity.

  “I know you’ll be pleased to hear we suffered no losses to our ships and surprisingly few casualties, most of those early in the attack. Your strategy worked to perfection, Princess.”

  “I’m glad,” Jarra told him. “The Governor is done for also. We destroyed his ship moments ago. It looks like our ability to launch from hyperspace makes a big difference. In our case, we used our torpedoes.”

  “It definitely made a huge difference. It worked out tremendously well for our missiles too. So well, in fact, I’m thinking about giving you a commission in the Imperial Navy. Call it ‘Grand Admiral’ or something.” Prince John laughed at the look on Jarra’s face. “Except admirals don’t lead from the front like you do, so forget that. Seriously, I’m glad it worked out as well as it did. I suspect we are going to need all our ships before this is over. And at least one more time, I believe we’ll have our secret weapon. We didn’t detect any com drones launching from their fleet, so we believe their allies won’t learn about it until we use it the next time.”

  “Dock and come aboard when you reach our position. I’m quite pleased to see you came out of this in a much better condition than last time. I’m sure both my uncles will be pleased too.”

  Jarra sighed but didn’t answer him. She hoped she’d made the right choice and the provisions for her uncle and aunt had been sufficient. Her fears had been so strong after hearing that the rebels had an inside man, she believed any other approach would only serve to increase the risk and possibly leave the traitor at large. She did know she’d put it in good hands.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A Few Final Details

  When Jarra brought their ship into the landing bay, she was surprised to see a small Marine attack ship had docked ahead of them. She knew what that meant. As they prepared to disembark, Master Sergeant Gibbons and his team of Imperial Marines took their position as the team’s Honor Guard. I should have known they would be here. It’s like they’ve adopted me.

  Greg had been expecting to be sent off to the brig, so he had prepared himself as best he could. When Jarra said to the team, “Let’s go, guys!” he didn’t know what to do.

  When Jarra realized he wasn’t moving, she stopped to look at him for a moment, “Did you not pledge yourself to me?” she finally asked him.

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  “Then until I say otherwise, you’re with me.”

  As Jarra reached the Marines, she stopped to talk with Master Sergeant Gibbons. “That was fast, Master Sergeant. You had to be on your way before the battle was decided.”

  “Yes, My Lady, but I knew you would be victorious. I needed to be here when you arrived.”

  “Have you heard anything on our other endeavor?” Jarra asked him nervously.

  “No, My Lady, but I believe no news is good news, don’t you?”

  Jarra nodded. “I just hope it was the right thing to do. I felt so helpless being so far away, which is why I asked for your help.”

  “Don’t worry. I left it in good hands, and your plan was a good one.”

  “I’m going to call as soon as we reach Prince John’s conference area and we can get a real time connection in place. I expect you to come in with us.”

  “I will be there, My Lady.” He bowed to her, and then led the way, directing his men with hand signals so his charges were protected from all directions.

  When they arrived once more in the Admiral’s suite where the Prince was in residence, Master Sergeant Gibbons directed his men to join the guards outside and as directed by his Princess, followed her team into the room. Jarra didn’t waste any time, hurrying over to hug her cousin.

  “You had me worried there a moment when you dropped your two ships in front of us as a shield.”

  “We were fine. You, on the other hand, had me worried. Always putting yourself in harm’s way. No way would you have been able to make it through there in one piece, whereas we had the armor and defenses to handle it.”

  Jarra shook her head. “We would have been fine if that super-dreadnought hadn’t picked that exact moment to explode.”

  John could only shake his head too. She knew as well as he did that the ship exploding or something else as bad had been likely to happen. It was a risky move on her part, but he understood perfectly well why she did it. Duty! He was just glad he could get there in time.

  Jarra’s face grew dark. “Have you heard anything from our uncle?” she asked him.

  “No,” her cousin told her. “I read over your encrypted communication, and found myself forced to agree with you. If we had tried to tip our hand, whoever is the traitor would either move up the plan or would slip back into the background to try later, either scenario putting us more at risk for a surprise attack when we weren’t prepared. I still find myself wondering if you’re right about who the traitor is. I find it so hard to believe.”

  Jarra felt the same way, but she had also had more time to think it through. “We were perhaps a little sheltered growing up, cousin. The ones we thought we knew completely, perhaps sometimes we only knew a little of the real person, the part they wanted us to see.”

  “You’re probably right. I just wish it wasn’t our generation that had to face all of this.”

  Jarra shook her head. “We all know these things tend to go in cycles, and our cycle is one of trouble. We’ll just have to deal with it.”

  “Just our luck. Although it appears, so far we’ve been lucky enough to have y
ou leading the way,” John told his cousin.

  John grinned at her as a thought came to him. “As I recall, Maximus came out of their equivalent of the Rim Patrol. We both know he claimed it was luck that put him in the right place at the right time when he pulled the Empire out of the ashes of the old Federation. Maybe we’ll be fated to have you lead us out of this crisis.”

  “No,” Jarra stared at him in horror. “You know me. I don’t want to be the one in the limelight. I just want to do my small part in the service of the Empire.”

  John laughed. “Maximus said the exact same thing, but like you, he never hesitated to do his duty.”

  Shaken more by her cousin’s statements than she wanted to admit, Jarra was glad when they were interrupted by a ping from the technician setting up the real time connection to the Emperor.

  “One minute,” his message told them.

  Jarra motioned to her team and Master Sergeant Gibbons. “We need all of you to come stand in range of the pickup in case you need to answer a question. Especially you, Master Sergeant.”

  They waited as the timer counted down. Finally, the connection came up, showing a very somber Emperor and beside him the Admiral of the Space Navy, who was also looking rather unhappy.

  “Are you ok, Uncle James, Aunt Margarette?” Jarra asked, ever the one to forge ahead.

  The Emperor answered for the two of them. “Yes, although I know I have you to thank for it. I guess you knew it had to be my dear friend and advisor Brutal that betrayed me. We have him in custody now and will have no choice but to try him for treason.”

  “I didn’t know, Uncle, but I suspected he was the one. Very few would have access to the safe room where you and Aunt Margarette would be during the battle out on the Rim. I remembered seeing that Senator Brutal had a set of plans in his office when I visited him last and when I commented on that, he told me he was looking into upgrading the security systems. I thought it odd at the time, because I knew the security to already be topnotch, but when I learned of the planned assassination attempt, it seemed likely what that meant. I very much regret that it was true.”

  “Lord Brutal told me that he had been convinced by the rebels that I was becoming obsessed with my power and that was why I was trying to bring the aliens in. If only he had talked about it with me, I would have tried to put his fears at ease. If anything, I would prefer that I had less power, not more, but this Empire is the only way we have of holding it all together.

  “But enough about my situation here. I heard that the battle there was a success.”

  Prince John had to jump in this time. “An amazing success!” he told his aunt and uncle. “It was all my cousin’s doing. Her strategy of launching the missiles from hyperspace caught the rebels completely by surprise. We wiped out their big ship before they could be ready to defend themselves and the rest were easily defeated.

  “I’ll send you both the details after we debrief. I must warn you. As usual, your niece put herself in harm’s way, but at least this time I was able to protect her.” When the Emperor’s eyebrows rose at that, John went on to explain. “She tried to fly her little ship through the middle of the battle zone to chase down the Governor, who was attempting to escape. I was able to drop two of my super-dreadnoughts in front of her as a shield.”

  “I was the only ship that could catch him,” Jarra tried to explain. “We would have made it through too, if that rebel ship hadn’t exploded so violently.” When neither her uncle nor her aunt showed any signs of sympathy for her position, she went on. “You know it was our duty to try to stop him. He could have caused a lot of trouble if he escaped. I’ll never hesitate to do my duty.”

  “I know, my Little Jarra,” her uncle told her. “We just wish you could find a safer way to do it.”

  “I’m sorry, uncle. Next time I’ll try to be more careful. On a positive note, we now know the torpedoes can be quite effective when used at the proper time and in the proper manner.”

  The Emperor just shook his head. He knew his niece quite well. “Ok, John. Take your squadrons back to the District Capitol. Send your debrief to us as soon as you’ve completed it.

  “I strongly suspect we’re not done with this. We still know very little about these aliens. The next time it may be the aliens themselves and from what we’ve seen with the drones and their technology, it’s not going to be easy. On the other hand, your new systems should give us a little bit of an advantage. You should continue to convert your missile launchers to give them all the ability to launch from hyperspace.

  “I’m also concerned that we have more rebels to deal with, especially since we still don’t know for sure about their admiral that got away. As soon as we gather enough intel, I suspect we’ll need to go after them.

  “We’ll talk about our plans for the future after we’ve all had time to look at everything in detail.”

  #

  Sasha was once again aboard the Imperial super-dreadnought Dauntless. Remembering her last experience in the special meditation room, she made her way there. A lot of things had come together for her since she was last there, but she was struggling with something new to her.

  After a few minutes of relaxing and trying to clear her mind, she wasn’t entirely surprised to see her Prince come in, once more wearing his robes. Of course, that didn’t help her with her problem.

  “I thought I might find you here,” he said. “So what do you think of my near sister?”

  Sasha smiled. “She’s like a force of nature, but you’re right, I really like her. I can’t believe it, but she really has accepted me. Together, her team is absolutely unbelievable and it’s a tremendous thing to be a part of.”

  “I’m glad. I had a feeling about how that might work out.” He looked over at her, a slight smile on his lips. “You know, since you’re now reporting to Jarra, you’re no longer in my chain of command. I would consider it a privilege if you would be interested in finding out where our relationship might go.”

  Sasha’s eyes grew big. She had come to realize just how smitten she was with her Prince, which was why she was sitting here now trying to work it out within herself. “But you’re the Crown Prince! How could you be interested in someone like me?”

  John turned to look directly at her. “My dear Sasha, you’re a very special person. Beautiful, brilliant, to me you’re like a bright star. I’ve been drawn to you since I first met you. How could I not be interested in you?”

  He leaned over to give her a kiss. At least one of her questions had been answered. A lot more questions were now flashing through her head, not that she could think for the moment.

  #

  The Imperial squadrons returned proudly to the District Capitol. By the time they arrived, the attack on the rebel armies had been successfully carried out and they were mopping up the final few rebels who refused to surrender. Their surprise had been complete. A few well-placed drones had been able to keep the rebels blocked from access to their heavy weapons hidden in the cave system. The approaching Imperial forces had indeed been able to surround the rebels and although the fighting had been fierce, the rebels really hadn’t stood a chance.

  Crown Prince John, acting for the Emperor, immediately appointed a new Governor to replace the now dead Governor Resault, this time choosing someone they knew to be loyal to the Crown. The provisions Jarra had put in place to protect the AI’s had performed perfectly in both the Rigelus District and South Basil. It seemed just a final few details remained to be resolved.

  Each of the captains of the ships involved in the battle submitted his report of their actions to the Commodore over his squadron and to Prince John. After everyone had time to assimilate the reports, Prince John had the Commodores of each squadron come aboard his ship to complete the debrief.

  Jarra herself had given up on hiding her identity from the Imperial Navy brass, and so she came as the Crown Princess instead of the lowly Lieutenant Jarra Carsean. Since her order in the succession placed her above Prince John
in level of authority, she also wore her coronet for the initial introduction.

  When the three Squadron Commodores entered the debriefing chamber, they each fell to one knee, offering up themselves for the service of the Crown.

  Jarra smiled pleasantly and spoke using her regal voice, “Thank you for your service. Please rise.”

  Jarra left them standing there for a moment as she looked them over. She knew she had a problem with at least one of them and she wasn’t sure what was the best approach to dealing with it. Nevertheless, she was prepared to do whatever it took to resolve the issue. The current situation was too demanding to let those things slide.

  At least the man who was highest ranking among them wouldn’t be an issue. Commodore Simmons, as leader of Crown Prince John’s squadron, stood with a pleasant smile on his face while he faced the Crown Princess. His position directly under the Crown Prince put him above the other two in precedence. It helped that Commodore Simmons knew all too well of the Princess’ exploits and very much respected her. He also knew his Prince felt much the same and loved her as if she were his sister. He had studied the debrief of her earlier action and knew just how advanced she was beyond her tender young age and it would never be a problem to him.

  Commodore Jordense was second in ranking among the Commodores and he was the one Jarra was concerned about. He had gained his appointment as a political move from out on the Rim and even he admitted he had limited abilities as a strategic planner. He was loyal to the Crown and had been glad to serve under the Crown Prince. Unfortunately, he had quite limited exposure to the Crown Princess, and he had a hard time believing the much too young Princess was anything more than a figurehead. Still strong on his mind was the foolish move of hers which had required the Prince to place two of his super-dreadnoughts into danger to protect her. When he was more introspective, the Commodore would admit that he was old school and didn’t think that much of women in the military.