Miranda's War

by Eric S. Brown

  The black ship touched down, and the monster ran out of it as The Brute came in for a landing nearby. As soon as The Brute was on the ground, Miranda released the straps of her seat and leaped up from it. Miranda headed for her new quarters as fast as she could. During her crew’s stay on Tanatos IV, they had worked to make both ships their home, spreading their belongings between them. There was a large safe mounted inside its walls.

  Miranda hesitated in front of the safe. The old man had insisted she keep what it contained all these years, as a reminder of her beginnings. Typing in the safe’s code on its keypad, Miranda heard the clicking sound of its lock releasing. She tugged on the door of the safe with the enhanced strength her armor gave her, and she stared at the weapon that rested before her. It was the battle axe of Claus Wulf. It was the perfect weapon for the job that lay ahead of her.

  Miranda reached into the safe and drew the mighty axe out of it. The battle axe hummed and vibrated in her hands as her armor synced with it. With a grim smile on her face, Miranda slammed the door shut and left her quarters. She sprinted through the ship to its rear exit and lowered the ramp there. Her armored feet clanged against the metal of the ramp as she ran down it onto the muddy surface of the planet the monster had led her to.

  The air of the planet stank, with the thick, musky smell of decay. The area where the ships had landed looked to be in the center of a vast swamp that stretched in every direction as far as Miranda could see. Several yards from the black ship was a small body of water. She could see the footprints of the monster leading up to its edge. Miranda approached the pool carefully. She couldn’t see its bottom, only blackness below the surface of the water that seemed to go on forever.

  Activating her helmet, Miranda waited for it to extend and encase her head before she jumped into the water. With the weight of her armor, she sank like a rock. Descending into the murky depths, Miranda’s eyes flicked about, searching for any sign of the monster as she clutched Claus Wulf’s battle axe tightly in her armored hands. Spotting a natural tunnel, Miranda walked over and entered it. She followed the bends and turns of the tunnels for what felt like hours until finally reaching its end.

  Miranda came splashing out of the water onto a bank to find herself inside a vast cavern. Upon its wall burned torches that filled it with the flickering light of their fires. The monster stood in the cavern’s center, waiting on her.

  “You followed me home,” the monster, still in the form a beautiful redheaded young woman commented, sounding impressed.

  “Who are you?” Miranda demanded.

  “You know who I am, child, but if my name is really that important…” The girl shrugged. “You may call me Modor.”

  “Your son was a monster,” Miranda said.

  “So am I,” Modor cackled, “but then, aren’t you as well, child? You’ve spent your entire adult life doing nothing but killing. And of late, not just monsters like myself, either. Those were men you slew on Nix V in order to remain free so you could continue to kill.”

  “I’m nothing like you,” Miranda growled, glaring fiercely at the redheaded girl.

  “I’m glad you came here, Miranda,” Modor purred. “It saves me the effort of tracking you down once more. Besides, this was the birthplace of my son. It’s be fitting you die here.”

  “Who says I’ll be the one to die?” Miranda raised her battle axe, sinking into a defensive stance.

  “So young. So full of bravado, like that old man who raised you after you father died,” Modor chuckled, “and so very…foolish!”

  The redheaded girl who called herself Modor extended her hand in the direction of a pile of weapons that lay near one of the cavern’s walls. From it an obsidian-bladed sword flew through the air into her grasp. As soon as the sword was in her hand, Modor charged forward. Miranda sprang to meet her. Metal clanged and sparks flew as the blade of Miranda’s battle axe and Modor’s sword struck each other. The blades locked, monster and warrior straining against each other. Miranda’s armor was pushed to its limits just holding her axe locked against Modor’s sword.

  Alarm warnings flashed all over her tactical display as Miranda held on. Modor grinned as she peered into Miranda’s eyes through the faceplate of her armor. With a grunt, Modor broke their standoff. The force of Modor pulling free sent Miranda sprawling onto the floor of the cavern, and Modor pressed the advantage. Her sword rose above her head in a two-handed grip and came slashing down at Miranda. Its blade cut through the stone of the floor as Miranda rolled out of its path. Miranda lashed out, kicking Modor in the stomach. Modor stumbled, doubling over.

  Miranda flipped herself up from the floor, landing on her feet, battle axe at the ready. Modor, too, had recovered and came at her again. Miranda ducked the blade of Modor’s sword as it swung toward her neck. Instead of using her axe, Miranda tackled Modor, taking them both to the floor, with her on top. Modor’s sword skidded across the floor of the cavern, knocked loose from her hand.

  Snarling, Modor punched the side of Miranda’s helmet with her other hand with such a powerful blow that the metal dented. Jarred by the blow, Miranda was taken off guard as Modor grabbed her and flung her away. Miranda landed with a grunt of pain as she came down on her backside, losing her axe in the process.

  “I’d hoped to give you a slow death, child,” Modor snarled, “but I see now that such thinking was a mistake.”

  Modor came running at Miranda as she snatched up her axe and swung it into Modor’s path. Its flat side smashed into Modor, sending her reeling away. Miranda quickly righted her axe in her hands and got ready for Modor to come at her again.

  “You took everything from me,” Miranda snarled, her grip on the battle axe growing tighter. “Everything.”

  “As you did to me, I did to you,” Modor replied with a snort, glaring at Miranda with eyes that glowed red in the dimness of the torchlight cavern.

  Modor’s flesh rippled and shifted. Her legs merged together as the lower half of her body became something akin to that of a snake. Scales grew over her skin as the nails of her hands grew into long, razored claws. Modor rose up to tower above Miranda, and she looked down at her with contempt and disdain.

  With a hiss, Modor struck at her with bared fangs. Sidestepping, Miranda swung the massive battle axe, and its blade thunked into and through the scales of Modor’s neck. The axe passed through scale, flesh, and bone alike, severing Modor’s head from her shoulders. It rolled across the cavern floor as geysers of black blood spurted from Modor’s headless body.

  Modor smashed to the floor and lay twitching at Miranda’s feet. She took a step back from the monster’s remains as they began to smolder. Tendrils of smoke rose from Modor’s corpse. Erupting into flames, it melted away into nothingness, scorching the floor black as it burned.

  Miranda let out a sigh of mixed relief and disbelief. It was over. Her nightmare had finally come to an end. She moved to check on Modor’s head and found the same had happened to it. The only sign of the monster’s head was a black spot on the floor.

  With Modor dead, Miranda lingered, taking a look around the cavern. There were more than just weapons to be found. There were stacks of bones and piles of valuable gems and metals. She left it all where it lay, wanting no part of it.

  The swim to the surface through the twisting tunnel was a long one. When Miranda reached The Brute, her entire body ached from exertion. Her skin was drenched in sweat under her armor. She entered her quarters aboard the ship, cleaned Claus Wulf’s axe, and returned it to its safe. As she lay the axe inside the safe, Miranda frowned. The monster that had been stalking her was dead, finally and truly so, but there was another monster still waiting for her to slay it. Only it wasn’t a single beast; it was many. Armies of soldiers bent on the destruction of the way of life and freedom her father had held so dear.

  Miranda sat in the pilot seat of The Brute as the Deathbird-class vessel rose from the swamp-like surface of the dead monster’s homeworld. As soon as the ship cleared the atmo
sphere, Miranda set a course for Tanatos IV. Anna would still be there, waiting for her and hoping she came back. Miranda’s career as a monster hunter had come to an end, but that end was merely another beginning. Earth Gov was still out there, and now she was ready to fight the war she had been trying to avoid her whole life.

  The Brute sped up, its engines blazing, as it streaked into Void Space. She was heading home, and Earth Gov had no idea the level of Hell she was bringing with her.

  * * * * *

  Epilogue

  Councilman Decker pounded his fist on the table, shouting, “That’s enough! Order! Order in the room!”

  The leaders of the largest colonies that had united in the war against Earth Gov shared the table with Councilman Decker, but they weren’t alone in the massive meeting room. The meeting was open to many of the colonies’ highest-ranking citizens, alongside the commanders of their militias.

  Chaos had broken out as the leaders of the colonies argued over how best to go on the offensive against Earth Gov. Everyone was on edge. Earth Gov continued to win most of the battles fought along the fringes, taking or destroying the majority of colonies they went after. The fringe colonies lacked the manpower and ships to do much more than hold their own at the best of times, and even then, only through their united effort.

  “Quiet!” Councilman Decker’s voice echoed through the large room again, and finally those in the audience began to take their seats once more. He looked around the table at the expressions of the other colony leaders. Despair and frowns were all he saw. Hope was dying, and he knew it.

  “Well…” Director Graham challenged him. “We’re all waiting to hear this plan of yours. You do have one, don’t you? I assume that’s why you called us all here.”

  “I never said I had a plan, Graham.” Councilman Decker sighed. As the leader of the Holland Colony, the others were all looking to him for direction. Holland was the largest and most powerful of the fringe worlds.

  “He might not,” a voice from the crowd around the table rang out, “but I do.”

  Everyone in the large room turned in their seats to look at the woman who had stood up. She wore a brown cowboy-style duster, high boots as black as midnight, and a wide-brimmed hat that was tipped down to conceal her face.

  “And just who the frag are you?” Director Graham snorted.

  The woman flicked up the rim of her hat so her face could be seen. Excited muttering broke out throughout the room as those gathered realized who she was.

  “My name is Miranda,” the woman said, “and if you’re looking to take the fight to Earth Gov, I can tell you exactly how to do that.”

  # # # # #

  Author Bio

  Eric S. Brown is the author of numerous book series, including the Bigfoot War series, the Kaiju Apocalypse series (with Jason Cordova), the Crypto-Squad series (with Jason Brannon), the Homeworld series (With Tony Faville and Jason Cordova), the Jack Bunny Bam series, and the A Pack of Wolves series. Some of his stand-alone books include War of the Worlds plus Blood Guts and Zombies, Casper Alamo (with Jason Brannon), Sasquatch Island, Day of the Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Crashed, World War of the Dead, Last Stand in a Dead Land, Sasquatch Lake, Kaiju Armageddon, Megalodon, Megalodon Apocalypse, Kraken, Alien Battalion, The Last Fleet, and From the Snow They Came.

  His short fiction has been published hundreds of times, in the small press and beyond, including markets like the Onward Drake and Black Tide Rising anthologies from Baen Books, the Grantville Gazette, the SNAFU Military Horror anthology series, and Walmart World magazine.

  He has done the novelizations for such films as Boggy Creek: The Legend is True (Studio 3 Entertainment) and The Bloody Rage of Bigfoot (Great Lake films). The first book of his Bigfoot War series was adapted into a feature film by Origin, released in 2014. Werewolf Massacre at Hell’s Gate was the second of his books to be adapted into film in 2015.

  Major Japanese publisher Takeshobo recently bought the reprint rights to his Kaiju Apocalypse series (with Jason Cordova) and the mass-market Japanese language version was released in late 2017. Ring of Fire Press will be releasing a collected edition of his Monster Society stories (set in the New York Times Best-selling world of Eric Flint’s 1632 series) later this year. In addition to his fiction, Eric also writes an award-winning comic book news column entitled “Comics in a Flash.”

  Eric lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children, where he continues to write tales of the hungry dead, blazing guns, and the things that lurk in the woods.

  * * * * *

  The following is an

  Excerpt from Book One of In Revolution Born:

  The Mutineer’s Daughter

  ___________________

  Chris Kennedy & Thomas A. Mays

  Now Available from Theogony Books

  eBook, Paperback, and Audio

  Excerpt from “The Mutineer’s Daughter:”

  Kenny dozed at his console again.

  There he sat—as brazen as ever—strapped down, suited up, jacked in…and completely checked out. One might make allowances for an overworked man falling asleep during a dull routine, watching gauges that didn’t move or indicators that rarely indicated anything of consequence, perhaps even during a quiet moment during their ship’s long, long deployment.

  But Fire Control Tech Third Class Ken Burnside was doing it—yet again—while the ship stood at General Quarters, in an unfriendly star system, while other parts of the fleet engaged the forces of the Terran Union.

  Chief Warrant Officer Grade 2 (Combat Systems) Benjamin “Benno” Sanchez shook his helmeted head and narrowed his eyes at the sailor strapped in to his right. He had spoken to the young weapons engineer a number of times before, through countless drills and mock skirmishes, but the youthful idiot never retained the lesson for long.

  “Benno, Bosso,” Kenny would plead, “you shouldn’t yell at me. You should have me teach others my wisdom!”

  Benno would invariably frown and give his unflattering opinion of Kenny’s wisdom.

  “Get it, ya?” Kenny would reply. “I’m a math guy. Probability, right Warrant? The Puller’s just a little ship, on the edge of the formation. We scan, we snipe, we mop up, we patrol. We don’t go in the middle, tube’s blazing, ya? We no tussle with the big Terrans, ya? No damage! No battle! So, something goes wrong, back-ups kick in, buzzer goes off, we mark for fix later. And when’s the only time you or the officers don’t let a man walk ‘round and don’t ask for this, don’t ask for that? When’s the only time a man can catch up on the z’s, eh? One and the same time! So I doze. Buzzer goes off, I wake, make a note, doze again till I can work, ya? Such wisdom!”

  Benno usually lectured him about complacency. He asked what would happen if they were hit, if the shot was hot enough, deep enough, destructive enough to burn through the backup of the backup of the backup. What if they did have to face the Great Test, to rise and work and save the Puller themselves?

  Kenny would always smile, relieved. “Well, then I be dead, ya? No more maintenance either way. Good enough reason to doze right there!”

  Benno could have reported him any number of times, but he never had. Putting it on paper and sending it above them was a two-edged sword. It would solve Kenny’s sleepy disdain for order, of that Benno had no doubt, but he also knew he would lose Kenny’s trust and the vigorous drive the young ALS plebeian applied to every other task. Plus, it would signal to the officers above that Benno couldn’t handle a minor discipline problem on his own. And it would indicate to the ranks below that Benno was no longer one of their own—when he had gone from Chief to Chief Warrant Officer, he had changed his ties, forever.

  So Benno growled, but he let it slide, content only he would know about Kenny’s acts of passive rebellion. No one else would ever know why the young tech kept getting extra punishment duties. Besides, it wasn’t as if Kenny was actually wrong, in the fullness of things.

  Then, before Benno could check his own side of the console to verify whe
ther things were indeed alright, his internal debate was blown away by the unforgiving, indiscriminate lance of an x-ray laser blast.

  The single beam struck the Puller a glancing blow, centered on a space just beneath the outer hull and aimed outboard. Armor plate, radiation shielding, piping, wireways, conduit, decking, internal honeycombed structure, atmosphere, and people all ionized and ablated into a dense, mixed plasma. This plasma exploded outward, crushing the spaces surrounding the hit and dealing further physical and thermal damage. Combat Systems Maintenance Central, or CSMC, lay deep within the Puller’s battle hull—three spaces inward from where the x-ray laser struck—but that meant little next to the awesome destructive power of a Dauphine capital-class xaser warhead.

  The forward and port bulkheads in front of them flashed white hot with near-instantaneous thermal energy transfer and peeled away, blown out by the twin shocks of the outward-expanding plasma and the snapping counterforce of explosive decompression. The double blast battered Benno in his seat and threw him against his straps to the left. As the bulkheads vanished, their departure also carried away the CSMC monitoring console the two watch standers shared with them into the black, along with Kenny’s seat, and Ken Burnside, himself.

  The young engineer disappeared in an instant, lost without ever waking. Benno stared, dumbfounded, at the blank spot where he had been, and of all the possible panicked thoughts that could have come to him, only one rose to the forefront: