Imprint of War

by Phil Huddleston

  Imprint of War

  Birth of RimFed

  Book 2

  Phil Huddleston

  Copyright © 2019 Phil Huddleston

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN eBook: 978-1-7342215-1-0

  ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7342215-2-7

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s creative imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, businesses, locales or persons is coincidental and not intended to infringe on any copyright or trademark.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written consent of the owner or author, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the owner or author is illegal and is punishable by law.

  Cover art created by Christian Kallias

  ChristianKallias.com/art

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Foreword

  Useful Terms

  Dirge

  Nemesis

  Black Ship

  Party of God

  Arizona

  New Geneva

  Privend

  Rome

  Mad Dog

  Maskirovka

  Open Ground

  Deditio

  Epilogue

  EARLY DAYS OF THE RIM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Imprint Trilogy

  Imprint of Blood

  Imprint of War

  Imprint of Defiance (early 2020)

  Other Works

  Courtship (coming mid-2020)

  What do you do when you meet the woman of your dreams...and she meets the android of her dreams?

  Join my email list

  at www.philhuddleston.com

  Follow me on Facebook

  www.facebook.com/PhilHuddlestonAuthor

  DEDICATION

  To Big T and Susie. You showed me the way and told me to get after it. You were right.

  Foreword

  This a book about future history. It is designed to be enjoyed as simply that, without reference to the past. If that is your sole desire, read on. I’d never ask you to do more.

  However, if you enjoy ancient history as much as I do, feel free to keep a reference close at hand (I recommend Wikipedia), to shed light on ancient names, places and historical references, as well as the legends of the Amazon warriors of antiquity – if they were real. Jake Hammett says they are…

  Special thanks to the following people who helped with opinions, criticisms, proofreading, and just general comments like “What the hell were you thinking here?”

  Brandon Brown; Jeff Capehart; Ike Eberstein; Richard Edwards; Melissa Huddleston; Clayton Hunt; Karen Hunt; Rebecca Smethurst; Susan Summers; and many others…

  And to Craig Martelle, David Weber, Ryk Brown, Dennis Taylor, Jay Allan for providing inspiration. Thank you all!

  Useful Terms

  AI – Artificial Intelligence. Can be sentient (conscious) or non-sentient.

  AU – Astronomical Unit, commonly used to specify distances inside a solar system; about 150,000,000 km. The Earth is 1 AU from the Sun.

  Compensator – a device on a starship which reduces the effects of g-force on the inside of the ship, when the ship is under heavy acceleration (accel) or deceleration (decel).

  Corvette – the smallest class of armed warship, or a similar civilian vessel.

  FTL – faster than light.

  G-force (or g) – the force of gravity. When standing on Earth, you experience 1g of weight. If you were experiencing 8g, you would weigh eight times as much.

  Holo – holotank, a 3D display allowing the view of complex situations.

  IFF- identification friend or foe – a code used to separate enemy ships from friendlies.

  KPS – kilometers per second. Escape velocity to leave Earth is roughly 11.19 kps. To travel to the Moon in one minute, you’d need to average 6,407 kps.

  MEMSAI – Military-Grade Enhanced Matched Semi-Sentient Artificial Intelligence. A personal assistant and security device which has a limited ability to read projected thoughts and take action. It cannot read normal thoughts, only those intentionally projected.

  QE Buoy – a small device stationed at a (relatively) fixed location in space, using Quantum Entanglement (QE) to send data to a distant point. Usually used by the military as an early-warning device or to monitor a planet.

  XO - Executive Officer, the second in command of a ship, usually responsible for the day-to-day operation of the ship, leaving the Captain to concentrate on overall strategy.

  Dirge

  AEN Nemesis – was a destroyer of the Aeolian Empire Navy (AEN) named after the ancient Greek god of retribution. Nemesis was laid down on 6 May 2181 at Nyx Shipyards on Aeolis and was launched on 25 March 2182. After additional outfitting, she was commissioned on 27 October 2182, Princess-Captain Hecate Aronte in command.

  - RimWiki, 2675 Edition

  City of Aronte

  12 March 2185 - 63 Years after Pandora’s Visit

  The shuttle settled slowly to the ground, and with a hissing release of vapor the engines spooled down. On the pad in front of the hatch, an honor guard of Aeolian Marines stood, their brass and braid glittering in the sun. The hatch extended; the Sergeant barked, "Present...arms!" Gracefully, the honor guard's rifles moved to the formal position.

  Standing to one side, Princess-Captain Hecate Andromache Aronte waited. She was a tall, well-muscled woman of twenty-seven, showing none of the dissipation so common among the Aeolian nobility. Her hair was cut short, so that it didn’t show beneath her dress cap. Her uniform, the white formal dress of a serving Fleet officer, was immaculate in the late afternoon sun. The medals on her breast showed she was no desk commander. They included the Star of Aronte, given to officers who have captured or destroyed an enemy ship, and the Blood Mark, from a wound taken in combat.

  In the hatch, eight Marines appeared, shouldering a coffin covered with the flag of the House Aronte. In somber unison, they slow-marched off the shuttle with her father's body. Hecate lifted her hand to her left shoulder in the Naval salute and held it.

  Behind Hecate, shielded from the afternoon sun by a pavilion, stood Hecate's aunt - Hippolyta Lysippe Aronte, Empress of the Aeolian Empire, Protector of the Faith, Guardian of the Relics and Bow, and High Priestess of the Golden Temple. Beside her stood her daughter, Kantilla, the Princess Imperial. On Hippolyta’s other side – and slightly behind – was Hecate's mother, Princess Deinomache, her face like stone. And behind them were arrayed the rest of the Imperial Family. Separated by a barricade and hundreds of Palace Guards, thousands of commoners stood behind, silent except for occasional murmurs.

  Well in front of the pavilion and the lines of bodyguards, Hecate stood alone, facing the coffin that carried the body of her father, Prince Alexander. “I will not cry,” she thought. “I will not cry. He wouldn’t stand for it!” But despite herself, a small tear moved slowly down her cheek. The sun, on such a clear day, burned hot against the fabric of her uniform. Hecate gritted her teeth to stop the tears.

  A muffled sobbing came from the crowd behind the ropes. Slow-marching, the Marine escort carried the coffin to a caisson pulled by four black horses. Gently they laid it down. With a soft command, they stepped back and saluted. The Naval Band began a bagpipe dirge. Hecate marched forward to the coffin and placed her palms flat on the top, bowing her head. And there she stayed, minute after minute. Her lips moved slightly as she said the Prayer for the Dead. Finally, as
the watching crowd stood in silence, she took a step back; and resuming her military bearing, stood rigidly as the caisson was drawn away.

  After many minutes, behind her she heard movement as the Imperial party turned and made their departure, followed by the thousands who turned out to see a dead Prince brought back from space. But still Hecate stayed, fixed in her grief, eyes closed against the sun setting in the East.

  ***

  Three days later, in the sensorium, a half-dozen ranking officers gathered. Hecate sat at the end of the table, waiting impatiently, her fingers tapping. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Maya Aronte leaned forward.

  "Princess-Captain, are you sure you want to go through with this? It will be difficult..."

  Hecate stared at her stonily. "I am ready, Mum. Please proceed."

  Maya sighed. "Very well." She signaled silently via her AI.

  A second later, the room disappeared as the invisible comms embedded in their heads, manifested by a small blue bead glowing on their left temples, created a virtual space around them. All found themselves on the bridge of a small corvette. The scene was viewed from the front right of the bridge, with the Captain directly in view. Prince Alexander, Hecate’s father, sat to the left side of the Captain. In the center of the bridge was a 3D tactical holotank. Officers and crew sat at their stations in a circle around the holo, consoles in front of them. Prominent in the holo was a starship. It was wedge-shaped, with striations down the sides and cross-hatching on the top. A dull matte black, it showed no obvious weapons or sensors. It was running hard, dead away from them.

  "They're still accelerating," said the Captain. "Hail them again."

  "Aye, sir." said the Comm Officer. She touched her screen and spoke.

  "Unknown ship near Ptolema, please talk to us. We will not harm you; we only wish to speak with you. We are a research vessel, not a warship. We only wish to communicate with you."

  They paused, watching. There was no change in aspect. The black ship continued to run.

  The Captain spoke again: "No chance of catching them, Tac?"

  "No, Mum. They are quite a bit faster than us in 3-space. They mean to make the mass limit and sink out."

  "Yes," said Prince Alexander. "But why? Why won't they talk to us?"

  "Sir, I've never seen a ship like that. Nothing in the Empire looks like that," said the Captain. "But we'll never catch her."

  The Tactical Officer suddenly jumped in her seat. "Aspect change! Mum! She's coming about!"

  "What?" asked the Captain. "Why?"

  In the holotank, the black ship ceased acceleration and spun back toward them. As her nose came around to bear, pale blue fire came from a beamer. There was a flash - and the bridge disappeared in fire and screaming.

  Hecate sat frozen. Maya stood up and walked to her. She placed her hand on Hecate's shoulder. "We'll find them, Hecate," she said. "I promise you - we'll find them."

  Hecate looked at her steadily. "No, Admiral," she said. "I'll find them. And then I'll kill them."

  An hour later, in Maya’s office, Hecate slammed her palm against the arm of the chair. "No!"

  "Please, Hecate!" said Maya. "You are a destroyer captain! How could I give you a frigate? Tell me - how?"

  Hecate bared her teeth. "Tell Command exactly what I'm going to do...which is track down the bitches who killed my father and tear them to shreds. But I need a frigate! You saw the size of that...that...Black Ship! It's at least a frigate! If I go out there with a destroyer, I'm hopelessly outgunned!"

  Maya sighed. "It's a good thing we're cousins, dear. I could not tolerate this kind of outburst from just any destroyer captain, you know."

  Hecate shook her head. "Maya, you know I would not take advantage of my position under normal circumstances. Have I ever done that before? In my entire career? You know that I've stuck to the standard officer track. But this is different...this is family! This was my father!"

  Maya shook her head. "Hecate. I want to help. But I can't give you a frigate."

  Hecate rose from her chair. "Then I'll go with a destroyer."

  Maya pointed a finger. "Hecate, don't make me pull rank on you. You can't go without orders. I already have a full task force out at Ptolema looking for this so-called 'Black Ship'. You need to stay here and let them do their job."

  "Maya, I'm going. If you can't cut me orders to go - as much as I would hate it, I would have to ask my mother to help. And she'll ask Auntie..."

  "Oh, Hecate," sighed Maya. "For Stars' sake, let's not get Auntie Empress involved. You know that never ends well. And remember - she hates the Earther myth! She warned your father to give it up, not to go out there looking for ghosts..."

  Hecate grimaced. "Maya, that was his dream...to find some evidence of the ones that went before. Earthers, or whatever the legends say. He died for that dream. And he found something, all right. Some kind of ship we've never seen before. I'm going, with your help or with Auntie's..."

  Maya surrendered, throwing up her hands. "OK, OK already. I'll cut you orders to go help in the search for the...whatever...Black Ship. But...and I mean this...you are limited to six weeks. Back here in six weeks, regardless. Got it?"

  Hecate nodded. "Aye, Aye, Mum."

  "Good," said Maya. "Now...get the hell out of here!"

  Hecate stood to attention and saluted. With a smart turn, she left the office.

  Outside, her Executive Officer, Commander Andrea Iona Satra, waited for her in the hallway. "Well?" she asked, “Did we get a frigate?"

  Hecate shook her head. "No. But we got orders to go look. That will have to do."

  Andrea grinned, a fierce and wolfish grin. "Good. Let's go kill somebody."

  Hecate laughed, a hard thing to do so soon after her father's funeral, but if there was one thing she loved, it was Andrea Iona's bloodthirsty sense of humor. "Yes, Andrea. Let's go kill somebody. But first we have to find them!"

  620 Light Years Coreward from Earth

  Past the Pipe Nebula - Planet Danek

  Fleet Admiral Brunt stood on the Flag Bridge of the Bat Empire Navy battleship BEN Warmonger, looking through his viewer at the destroyed city of Kedan on the planet below. Little was left; the skeleton of an occasional building jutting crookedly into the sky, with here and there a stone wall that had survived the onslaught. Roiling destruction covered the landscape – the city was little but fire, smoke, ashes. He grinned, his bat-like ears perking up at the sight. "By the Stars, I live for this," he thought.

  Brunt was a typical upper-caste Bat. About two meters tall, he was lean and wiry, with light brown skin and dark gray fur - fur so short as to be almost invisible, as befitted a noble. His uniform was gray with red piping on the collar and sleeves, and stripes down the trouser legs. His cape was blood-red - worn only by officers who had conquered a planet and colonized it with new Bats. In one hand, he held a baton, used frequently to strike slaves and subordinate officers. In the other hand, he held a cup of a'kaff, the stiff, bitter drink almost every BEN officer drank constantly.

  "Sir," called his Chief of Staff, Captain Orantel, "All but one of the escaping ships have been destroyed. One of them got away, though."

  Brunt turned and looked across the bridge at him. "No matter. No planet to come back to. No place to go. Won't survive a week out there." He grinned even wider. "Let them go!" He laughed.

  His staff laughed with him. As soon as the fires and smoke died down, they would call for the colony ships. Then a myriad of young Bats would be building their dwellings on the planet below, living off the frozen, stacked corpses of the former inhabitants. Even now, gangs of slaves roamed the planet, collecting bodies and preparing them for refrigeration and storage. The young Bats brought in by the colony ships could live for two years on those stored bodies, giving them ample time to establish their colony.

  Brunt turned back to the viewer. It took them two days, but finally they had broken through the defenses of the Daneki. And then, once the defenses collapsed, they had spent
another week tracking down and killing all the remaining inhabitants of the planet. Except for a few starships that ran at the last minute, none were left. And even those starships were pursued and destroyed. Except one. Brunt grunted. "No matter," he thought. "They'll die in the Pipe!"

  ***

  Far away, the small Daneki corvette Matador plummeted toward the Pipe Nebula, running cold and silent. Two dozen creatures huddled inside, short of food, air and water, praying to their Creator. Their star system had been only 50 light years from the Pipe Nebula, so they called themselves the Daneki - which in their language, meant 'People by the Smoke'. But their location near the nebula was not enough to escape the expanding empire of the Bats.

  An officer sat splay-legged on the floor of the corvette, giving up his seat to a pregnant female. His uniform, once gray, was covered with soot and ash. One of his arms was in a sling; his three-fingered hand was matted with dried blood. Not much different from a human in appearance, with mostly the same things in the same places, he was five and a half feet tall under normal circumstances. But now he looked like a folded wet rag. Gazing wearily around the ship at the others, he sighed. Getting to his feet, he went up the passageway to the cockpit and entered, sitting on a small jumpseat behind the pilots.

  "Are we safe?" he asked.

  "Aye, sir," replied the Pilot. "We lost 'em."

  The officer - a Captain - hung his head for a moment, folding his hands in front of him. Then he looked up. "Where are we headed?"

  "Right now, just straight away from them, deeper into the Rim. But we need to make a decision on a destination."

  "What are our reserves?" asked the Captain.