War World: Cyborg Revolt

by John F. Carr

  War World: Cyborg Revolt

  A War World Novel

  Printing History

  Portions of this novel first appeared in WAR WORLD: The Coming of the Eye, edited by Jerry E. Pournelle and John F. Carr published by Baen Books in 1989 and WAR WORLD: Death’s Head Rebellion, edited by Jerry E. Pournelle and John F. Carr, published by Baen Books in 1990.

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright © 2013 by John F. Carr and Donald Hawthorne

  Original Cover Art—Copyright © 2012 by Alan Gutierrez

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the authors.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing 2013

  V 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN: 978-0-937912-51-5

  WAR WORLD VOLUMES CREATED & EDITED BY JOHN F. CARR AND JERRY POURNELLE

  War World I: The Burning Eye

  War World II: Death’s Head Rebellion

  War World III: Sauron Dominion

  War World IV: Invasion!

  CoDominium I: Revolt on War World

  WAR WORLD NOVELS

  Blood Feuds

  Blood Vengeance

  The Battle of Sauron

  The Lidless Eye

  Cyborg Revolt

  WAR WORLD VOLUMES EDITED BY JOHN F. CARR

  War World #1: Discovery!

  War World #2: Takeover

  War World #3: Jihad!

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First, I’d like to give thanks to Jerry Pournelle for allowing me to expand the War World universe. Secondly, I would like to give special thanks to my copyeditors Don McElwain, Larry Hopkins and Victoria Alexander for their invaluable copy editing.

  And a shout-out to Alan Gutierrez who, as always, did a wonderful job on the cover art and map.

  Finally, special thanks to Don Hawthorne, the man who brought the Saurons to life. We all owe you a great debt of gratitude.

  THE SAURONS ARE HERE!

  The battle between the Sauron Coalition of Secession and the First Empire of Man in the twenty-seventh century ended in a war of extermination and the all-out bombardment of the planet Sauron. The only surviving Sauron spaceship, the Fomoria, is commanded by Vessel First Rank Galen Diettinger. Fleeing Imperial pursuit, the Saurons land on Haven, a hardscrabble world of extreme temperatures, hard radiation, deadly flora and fauna and wastelands containing some of the toughest humans in occupied space.

  Born in rebellions and civil war, life on Haven is a constant struggle against the harsh moon’s environment, as well as its other occupants—animal and human—all desperate to carve out their own niche. On this desolate moon, the Sauron Soldiers not only have to fight off the human inhabitants, but face a mutiny in their own ranks, as the Cyborg Super Soldiers make a bid to rule the last surviving colony. The Cyborgs are the ultimate product of Sauron’s millennium-long eugenics program and as such are the end-point in the Race’s military development. To the Super Soldiers it is unthinkable that a mere Soldier—no matter how brilliant—should command the new Sauron Homeworld.

  Meanwhile, Brigadier Gary Cummings, commander of the Haven Volunteers, has lost both his headquarters and military forts. But Brigadier Cummings has fought the Saurons before and knows that the Saurons have no mercy for human norms; this is a war of total domination. The Saurons want to own Haven and use her population as breeding stock for future Soldiers. To fight back, the Brigadier is starting a guerilla campaign in the outback. Castell City and Lermontovgrad have been bombed back to the stone age, but the humans of War World have been tested before…

  The one thing the Saurons hadn’t anticipated was a mutiny in their own ranks leading to a three-cornered war.

  War World is a future military shared-world anthology created by John F. Carr and Jerry Pournelle. The War World series includes seven short story collections and five novels all taking place in Jerry Pournelle’s Co-Dominium and Empire of Man Future History, spanning several thousand years. The primary setting is a barely-habitable moon named Haven, or War World as it later becomes known. Born of rebellion and civil war, Haven, is a world forever at war, each with all—and all against the Saurons.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JOHN F. CARR is the author of over fifteen novels, including five Lord Kalvan novels and the co-author of three War World novels, The Battle of Sauron, The Lidless Eye and Cyborg Revolt. He has edited over thirty anthologies and short story collections. Along with Jerry Pournelle, he edited and wrote the introductions for the Baen Books War World collections. He is currently re-releasing the War World anthologies, under the Pequod imprint, in chronological order with lots of new stories. For more information visit John’s website at www.warworldcentral.com

  DONALD HAWTHORNE has published a number of short stories featuring Galen Diettinger and the Saurons in previous War World anthologies. He is the co-author of The Battle of Sauron, The Lidless Eye and Cyborg Revolt War World novels. His work has also appeared in the There Will Be War series and other anthologies. He is an avid wargamer and former editor of the Avon Hill General.

  ALAN GUTIERREZ, one of science fiction’s finest artists, created the cover art for War World: Cyborg Revolt. Alan also provided the artwork for the interior Sauron system maps. Visit his website at alan@alangutierrez.com

  CoDominium Chronology

  1969

  Neil Armstrong sets foot on Earth’s moon.

  1990-2000

  Series of treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union creates the CoDominium. Military research and development outlawed.

  1995

  Nationalist movements intensify.

  1996

  French Foreign Legion forms the basic element of the CoDominium Armed Services.

  2004

  Alderson Drive perfected at Cal Tech.

  2010-2100

  CoDominium Intelligence Services engage in serious effort to suppress all research into technologies with military applications. They are aided by zero-growth organizations.

  2010

  Habitable planets discovered in other star systems. Commercial exploitation of new worlds begins.

  2020

  First interstellar colonies are founded. The CoDominium Space Navy and Marines are created, absorbing the original CoDominium Armed Services.

  2020

  Great Exodus period of colonization begins. First colonists are dissidents, malcontents and voluntary adventurers.

  2028

  Creation of the Humanity League. Sponsored by the A.C.L.U., Sierra Club and Zero Population groups.

  2030

  Sergei Lermontov born in Moscow.

  2032

  Captain Jed Byers of the CDSS Ranger discovers a planetary-sized moon of a gas giant and names it Haven.

  2038

  Sauron is discovered by Avery Landyn, a survey pilot for 3M; world is rich in radioactive and heavy metals.

  2040

  CoDominium Population Control under the aegis of the Bureau of Relocation and Bureau of Corrections begins mass out-system shipments of involuntary colonists.

  2040

  Colonization of Sparta and Saint Ekaterina.

  2042

  Initial attempts by 3M at colonizing Sauron fail due to deadly native fauna and the difficulty of establishing viable agriculture. 3M sells Sauron to wealthy English Separatists from Quebec and former South African expatriates living in Canada and Australia.

  2043

  John Christian Falkenberg III is born in Rome.

  206
0

  Nationalistic revival movements continue.

  2098

  Saurons evict the CoDominium Viceroy and declare their independence. They begin to build their own space navy.

  2103

  Great Patriotic Wars. End of the CoDominium. Exodus of the Fleet.

  2110

  Coronation of Lysander I of Sparta. Fleet swears loyalty to the Spartan Throne. Marriage of dynasties produces union between Sparta and St. Ekaterina.

  2111

  Formation Wars begin.

  2250

  Leonidas I proclaims Empire of Man.

  2250-2600

  Empire of Man enforces interstellar peace.

  2253

  Haven is contacted by the Empire. It is well-organized and self-suffcient by this time, and agrees to join the Empire without coercion.

  2258

  The “Land Gators” (77th Division of Imperial Marines) is commissioned on Haven, with Major General Colin Hamilton commanding. It functions as a police garrison and as a reserve unit for the 12th Army.

  2432

  First Cyborg is created on Sauron. Using the results of the century-old soldier breeding program, Sauron’s scientists use gene-splicing to augment the soldiers. Chemical and biological alterations during gestation are then used to create the “perfect soldiers,” who will later be known as the “Sauron supermen” or “death’s-heads.”

  2594

  Emperor David II dies with no heir. This begins a gradually escalating series of struggles and violent revolts. These “succession wars” are the prelude to the Secession Wars.

  2598

  In the Imperial Parliament, a “Coalition of Secession” forms and begins to demand the right to withdraw from the Empire. This coalition is primarily led by Sauron. A series of skirmishes involving secessionist planets take place, but the Empire does not suspect the extent of the threat.

  2603

  Secession Wars begin. Growth of Sauron supermen. St. Ekaterina nearly destroyed.

  2609

  Gary Cummings is promoted to Colonel and put in charge of the Seventy-seventh Imperial Division’s Second Regiment.

  2611

  Raymond Hamilton joins the Imperial Navy and spaces out of the Haven System.

  2618

  The Third Imperial Fleet is destroyed off Tabletop.

  2623

  Seventy-seventh Imperial Marine Division (“Land Gators”) is withdrawn from Haven along with all Imperial officials. Colonel Gary Cummings retires from the Imperial Marines and is appointed Brigadier-General of the Haven Volunteers.

  2624

  A pirate ship, posing as a tramp freighter, attacks Castell City.

  2626

  The Black Hand, a small fleet of corsairs, sacks Haven and destroys most of the System’s near-earth satellites and relay stations.

  2627

  Haveners begin to realize that the Empire will not be returning.

  2637

  Sauron-supported Secessionist armada and Claimant fleets fight Imperials to a draw at the Battle of Makassar.

  2640

  Secession Wars continue. Dark Ages in many systems. The Battle of Sauron ends the Sauron threat and all Cyborgs on Sauron are exterminated.

  CONTENTS

  Also by John F. Carr and Jerry Pournelle

  Acknowledgements

  The Saurons are Here!

  About the Author

  CoDominium Chronology

  Part One: A Better Kind of War

  Preface

  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

  Part Two: Death’s-Head Rebellion

  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

  Part One

  A BETTER KIND OF WAR

  PREFACE

  From the diary of Albert Hamilton, Baron of Greensward:

  One problem with keeping a diary, that I hadn’t realized when I started it. You have to live through every bad thing three times: once when it happens, once when you write it down and once when you read it back before starting the next entry.

  Haven hasn’t been a garden spot since well before the Imperials pulled out, but bad things didn’t come in quite such large bunches before the Saurons. Today we had a review of the supply situation. It looks as if our luck is about to run out.

  Specifcally, it looks as if we may have to start turning refugees away related to people who have already sworn allegiance to us. Not immediate family, but sisters and cousins and aunts—and some of our liegemen do reckon them up in dozens.

  If we take them all in, we’ll be horribly vulnerable to any loss of crops or food storage—and the Saurons have been known to ask for tribute in foodstuffs. If we start turning away refugees to whom our liegemen have obligations, what will they think of their obligations to us?

  Damned if I know.

  John had one proposal. He suggested that we take in the older people, the children and the casualties, if the able-bodied will join the resistance.

  I asked him if he expected Gary Cummings to feed, clothe and arm them, or were they going to fight Saurons barehanded, naked and starving? John flushed and replied that we could spare basic clothing, rations and equipment. I said doing that would deplete our supplies as fast as taking the people in, and probably cost us our weapons.

  With everybody who was there and Mattie so close to term, I couldn’t face a confrontation with my grandson. However, there’s no doubt about it. John wants to go baldheaded for the Saurons, even if that means bringing down Whitehall.

  I want to save Whitehall, even though its survival probably won’t make a difference. The Saurons have already done so much damage to Haven that we’ll still need help to rebuild, even if every last one of those genetically-engineered monsters dropped dead tomorrow!

  I don’t like it, but I can live with it. John can’t live with it. If we have a public confrontation, I may not be able to live with him.

  Brigadier Cummings won’t take him in against my wishes, but there are other resistance leaders not so scrupulous. If John leaves—no, I won’t write that down.

  I also won’t quarrel with John. Part of the strength of House Hamilton has come from the barons and their heirs always getting along, even if one or both had a few quirks. That tradition is older than the Saurons, and it will still rule Whitehall when the Saurons are dust.

  Maybe it will even help turn them into that dust….

  Chapter One

  I

  Cyborg Rank Köln stepped forward onto a strip of naked stone which jutted out from below the walls of the Citadel. There, in this lonely, windswept, frigid place, he was suspended between two worlds. Behind and above him were the sweeping spires of the castle whose towers soared above the valley floor, in graceful arches which belied their strength, but spoke eloquently of their purpose: Nothing moved between the valley and the steppe lands beyond without the approval of those who held this fortress. Below stretched the debris-littered northeast expanse of the valley the natives called the Shangri-La. The scattered fragments
of the Fomoria still glowed with enough residual heat to be visible to the infra-red range of his genetically augmented vision. The pall of irradiated smoke above the Shangri-La Valley remained stubbornly anchored to the wreckage even against the wind; the final mark of the great ship’s passing. The cattle had struck a blow—futile, of course, but impressive nevertheless.

  From even higher than the towers overhead, the sonic boom of First Rank Diettinger’s shuttle had fallen on Köln’s Cyborg ears to a faint sigh. Standing there on the brink of that precipice, at the terminator line separating the shadow of the mountains behind him from the sunlit valley before, Köln felt as divided as he looked. He was filled with a sense of impending conflict and yet, typically Sauron, even this was clearly divided into two clear choices. Either turn back and re-enter the ranks of the society which must now be built. Or take a single, brief step out into that abyss that began ten centimeters from his boots and ended more than a thousand meters below. Cyborg Rank Köln sighed again, dispiritedly.

  Alas, I would probably survive such a fall no worse than crippled. Köln’s jaw clenched at the thought of such an injury, for surely it was now beyond the capability of such meager resources as the Saurons had brought to Haven to repair him. And then he would truly be a slave of the Breedmasters, who would be only too happy to have at their disposal—literally—a Cyborg whose only value would be his seed.