Heart of Steel: Book II of the Jonathan Pavel Series

by J. S. Hawn

  “And the Fleet?” Ames asked.

  “Signal from CEF Unity. Task Force and twenty transports inbound. All told, 100,000 Marines and the Army is standing by with an additional 300,000 troops to help in the occupation. That's just the initial wave. In six weeks, both worlds of this system will host half a million of our troops then we can begin landing administrators and civil enforcement units.”

  Ames nodded and turned to the OE-12 commando. Like all members of the Commonwealth military, he had been conscripted at a young age. Service in the Commonwealth military was for life after all. Having been selected for OE-12 training based on desirable physical and genetic characteristics, he would have started training at age 16 completing it four years later when he underwent the final enhancement. OE-12s were genetically and cybernetically modified to be more effective soldiers. The Major’s right eye was a cybernetic implant. His genetically modified muscles bulged and he looked at Ames without any emotion. One of the last procedures they performed on a OE-12 was to rip out the part of the brain that made them human. They felt no fear, no dread, no remorse. Only the desire to serve.

  Ames smiled as he looked back to the still cheering crowds. Galt was one of three systems in the Western reaches of the League that together secured a direct space corridor into Colonial and ETO space. Ames didn't doubt that the Colonials were even now occupying the five systems south of here, leaving a rump of six former League systems free. The most underdeveloped least strategic six. This would secure a direct corridor for the Commonwealth Combines and State Corporations to supply the Colonials with vital war material and industrial goods, while also close the most direct route between the Solarian Republic and the Core Worlds. The Solarians were a mercantile nation, and with this trade lane closed their trade with the Core World would have to flow through the Keplar sector. Now with New Helsinki under siege, the only secure route was through the Taos Dominion an old enemy of the Republic. Ames predicted that the net effect would be a 47% reduction in Solarian revenue, all while fighting a costly war. It would bleed the Solarians and the Colonials, and then when the Commonwealth summoned the political will it could crush both of them easily.

  Ames watched the cheering crowds. Soon they would be screaming as the dropships descended and the round ups began. This world would need to be reorganized and that meant years of occupation and military rule as the population was trained to work for the Collective Good.

  So much work to do. It made Ames smile.

  Matosa System, Solarian Republic

  On board RSNS Triumph, Flagship of the 5th Fleet

  December 8th 844 AE

  “No.” Admiral Hopper said flatly looking up at the young Lieutenant Captain standing before him. The young man’s green eyes flashed with rage, sorrow and disappointment.

  “But sir,” William Trendale said.

  “I said no El-Cap,” Hopper said cutting the young man off. “I cannot authorize a search and rescue operation into what is now enemy occupied space to look for a single light cruiser, which may or may not have survived its encounter with an enemy battle cruiser.”

  “Sir, we just left him there we just...” Will clamped his mouth shut, military discipline causing him not to let loose the torrent that were his true feelings.

  Hopper kept his face straight but the young man's words stung him deeply. Captain Pavel had been a bright and courageous lad. Hopper had first thought as much when Pavel had saved the RSNS Valiant from an on board fire, despite accidentally leading a mutiny at the same time. Hopper had recommended Pavel for promotion even as he clapped him in the brig. Pavel had proven Hopper’s instincts correct with his stand at New Helsinki, and his maneuver against the Colonial battle cruiser had proved it again. He had been a rising star and in Hopper’s opinion destined for great things. That was why Hopper had trusted him to lead the Tso mission. He had hoped that someone of Pavel’s brilliance could accomplish the impossible with the limited resources on hand. He’d been right again, almost. Pavel had successfully evacuated Tso Naval Station and a good chunk of Whyal’s civilian population. He’d also destroyed a battle cruiser, which was no mean feat in itself. It may very well have cost him his life. Hopper wished he could send more ships and men to know for sure, but the truth was the 5th Fleet was barely holding. Reinforcements were arriving every day and the front was stabilizing, but with the collapse of the League the Solarian flank was vulnerable and the Colonials had the offensive momentum. Cylira was under siege as were several other systems with the Army fighting a series of bloody ground battles even as the fleets dodged and maneuvered. Hopper didn't have the resources to spare for one ship, not even one as heroic as the Sound of Fury.

  Hopper looked up at young Trendale who seemed to be on the edge of losing his composure.

  “Look son we’ll keep a weather eye open. As you pointed out, there's a good chance they're still alive. If they can, they’ll find a way to get back to us. If they were disabled, the Colonials will pick them up and they can expect to be treated reasonably well. I know it’s not much comfort, but we owe it to them to keep going. You’ll take the Cronus and join the 12th Task Force. If, no when there is a counter attack against the Tso system, I guarantee you will be at the front. It’s the best I can do.”

  Trendale squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again a passive acceptance falling over his face.

  “Understood sir,” Trendale said his sadness infecting his voice.

  Trendale and Hopper exchanged salutes and Trendale turned and strode out, leaving Hopper alone in his office. Hopper lit another cigar and puffed away. He really needed to cut back on these things, but there was too much to do. He’d mourn for young Pavel, and all the other good men with promising careers who had been lost over the last several weeks later. Right now, he had a goddamn war to win.

  Epilogue

  Tso System, In High Orbit of Uffern Colonial Occupied Territory

  On board RSNS Sound of Fury,

  December 11th 844 AE

  Jonathan Pavel opened his eyes then closed them again. God it was so cold.

  “How much longer Mr. Okai?” Jonathan asked.

  Next to the control panel Harold Okai shrugged and through chattering teeth said “Ummm...bout….ten….minutes.”

  “Well hurry the fuck up man,” George said blowing in his hands for warmth.

  For almost two weeks now the Sound of Fury had been drifting silently keeping her life support powered up at only the most minimal levels running off her auxiliary batteries and emergency solar cells. This meant the temperature had hovered at about 36 degrees fahrenheit. The crew had survived using battery powered heat lamps, blankets and huddling together for warmth. The situation was made more uncomfortable by the fact that the ship’s grav plates were fully depolarized leaving everyone floating in zero-g. What was more, in order to conserve power the electric stoves in the galley had been turned off, so they had been surviving off of canned food and k-rations. These were unappetizing to say the least and served cold. So everyone was cold, hungry and smelled. The vibe showers weren't functioning and water was only for drinking. One advantage for the male crew members was everyone, Jonathan included, were sprouting two weeks worth of facial hair that was at least helping to keep them warm.

  “Okay here we go. Pray this works,” Hilper said her face barely visible under the scarf and parka she was wearing.

  She finished inputting the commands and threw the switch. At first nothing happened. Then slowly a hum grew and the lights began to come back on.

  Okai looked at the panel, “Running diagnostics hold on, wait for it wait...for..it.” Okai’s teeth kept chattering till finally he looked up.

  “Sir, confirmed. Both reactors are undamaged and in standby mode.”

  Everyone breathed a visible sigh of relief. The internal power systems had been well and truely fucked by the failure of the retro fit, but it was lucky that they had initiated the retrofit, otherwise Hilper wouldn't have been able to shut down the reactors when she
did, and they would have likely entered uncontrolled melt down. At the very least, the internal systems would all be burnt out. As it was though, the ship’s internal systems had required some serious repairs but were functional. Only one of the overcharge buffers was well and truly wrecked, but Fury could function with the other five. In truth she could function with only one, but redundancy never hurt.

  “Are we set then?” Jonathan asked the Chief Engineer.

  “We’ll need to go through the systems one by one and run full diagnostics, but yes sir with the reactors running we’re in business,” Okai said.

  “And will we have this problem again if we run the systems at full power too long?” Jonathan asked.

  Okai turned to Hilper who shook her head. “If we can bring the systems up one at a time, we can pinpoint the power faults and reroute the system. It will take time though.”

  “How long?” Jonathan asked.

  Okai and Hilper looked at each other then Okai said, “Um... well maybe two weeks possibly three.”

  George groaned but Jonathan nodded. “Okay prioritize life support and make sure we don't freeze or suffocate and then go system by system. Get our lidar and com array up. You can leave them powered up after they’ve been tested right?”

  “Yes sir.” Okai said nodding.

  “Right, get the com suit functioning then move system by system. Once you’ve tested each system power it down. We don't want any EM leaks giving away our position,” Jonathan said.

  Okai nodded, “Yes sir.”

  “Alright then get started, George on me,” Jonathan said demagnetizing his boots and kicking off.

  George followed grumbling something under his breath.

  “Get it out now George, I don't want the XO to be seen complaining especially since we're in for a cold stretch,” Jonathan said.

  “Sir, can't we turn on a little heat?” George asked shivering.

  “Unfortunately no, not until we can assess our situation. We are in a system that last we knew was being overrun by hostile forces. In our current state with no power and very little EM, we look like a dead hulk floating in space. Anyone who starts pinging this field with scanners though will detect it if we have life support powered up. So we stay at Quiet II and we endure. Once the com suit is back online, you tell Heath to keep them on passive and listen. Get an idea of what’s going on in the wider system. Once Okai and Hilper have finished fixing things, then we can decide our next move.”

  George nodded his face sullen. As Jonathan looked at him, he was startled to see a bump appear on his friend’s right shoulder. Frigate poked his head through George's collar and stared at Jonathan with his wide green eyes before retreating back into George's coat.

  George rolled his eyes.

  “To be frank John, the reason I am eager to get power back on is to get this little bastard to quit sleeping in my clothes.”

  Jonathan despite his own physical misery started to laugh, but the laughter died in his throat. The little Gremlin was only clinging to George because Able Spacer Jung had been one of Fury’s 46 crewmen who were killed when the Colonials had scored their only hit. Another 30 were wounded, but all were recovering. In all, Fury lost 76 men to take out a ship manned by close to 1,800. Not a bad trade in the cold calculus of war, but those deaths still pained Jonathan.

  “So John,” George said. “I see the wisdom in putting one foot in front of the other. Get the sensors back up and see what's out there, get the power fixed so we don't blow out another gasket when we push the old girl over the edge, but what beside immediate survival is the long term plan?”

  Jonathan smiled at his old friend, “The plan is George that we get fixed up and we find a way home.”

  George pursed his lips and thought for a moment, “Okay Skipper, best get to work then.”

  The End

  Forthcoming

  Jonathan Pavel will return in The Hard Way Home coming Spring of 2017. Until then please enjoy the other works of J.S. Hawn listed below.

  Other Works by JS Hawn

  All Available on Amazon Kindle

  The Jonathan Pavel Series

  First Command

  Heart of Steel

  The New America

  Riding to Arkansas

  Stand Alone Works

  Two-Thousand Forty Four a Short Story

  Dramatis Persona (Character List)

  RSNS Sound of Fury Officers and Crew

  Executive Officer-Commander George Pai, Solarian Navy Reserve

  Tactical Officer- Lt. Commander Benjamin Elman

  Assistant Tactical- Lt. Alan Sing

  Engineer-Lt. Commander Harold Okai

  Assistant Engineer-Lt. Kendra Hilper

  Electronic Warfare and Communications-Lt. Commander Tai Heath

  Navigator- Lt. Ernest Tang, Solarian Navy Reserve

  Ship's Surgeon- Commander Dr. Christopher Perkins, Solarian Navy Reserve

  Chaplain- Reverend Mary-Beth Hightower (New Anglican Church)

  Marine CO- Alicia Kern

  Quartermaster-Warrant Officer Jung Hu

  Bosun-Master Chief Petty Officer Terrance Knowles

  Ship’s Gremlin-Frigate (Marvin Jung Able Spacer 1st Owner)

  Solarian Government and Military High Command

  Government

  Premier of the Republic-Tomas Banjour

  Minister of Foreign Affairs-Enoch Tao

  Minister of Defense-Jian Orbuckle

  Minister of Public Safety-Atherton Gao

  Premier’s Chief of Staff-Benjamin Rutledge

  Director of Office of Military Intelligence-Loretta Cain

  Ambassador to the Free Worlds League-Traq Din

  Solarian Navy

  Admiral of the Fleet-Marcus Ho

  1st Admiral of the Fleet and Chief of Fleet Operations-Admiral Douglas Whitaker (POV)

  Commander Fifth Fleet-Vice Admiral Harry Hopper

  Commander Third Fleet-Vice Admiral Chou Meyers

  Solarian Marine Corps

  Commandant of the Marine Corps-Marika Enido

  Office of Military Intelligence (OMI)

  Director of the Office of Military Intelligence-General Loretta Cain

  Special Branch-Colonel ‘Lawrence’ Garrett

  Freeport Station Chief-Major Claudia Min

  Solarian Army

  Marshal of the Armies-Field Marshal Bernard Chung

  Army Chief of Staff-General Lorilie Khan

  Colonial Government and High Command

  Elector-Girard Dufrane

  Ruling Triumvirate

  Minister of the Interior-Ellen Funto

  Minister of Defense-Louis Dupont

  First Among Equals of the Consulship-Simon Kisane

  Ceti Commonwealth

  First-Chairman of the Commonwealth Politburo-Conrad Ragiv

  Ames

  Additional Information

  AE Calendar System

  Following the successful founding of mankind's first extrasolar colonies, a movement began among various segments of society to adopt a new calendar system. The old Anno Domini system seemed antiquated in the face of humanities’ migration to the stars. No doubt, many of the original ‘rationalist’ groups who sought to abolish the old system also wanted to cut mankind's ties with the supposed ignorance, and intolerance of religion associated with the old calendar. This way of thinking, ultimately prevailed in 2536 AD when following the signing of the Solar Unity Treaty, the Solar System was unified under the United Nations Transolar Authority. This was the first of several governments to lay successive claim to mankind's birth world, to commemorate the glorious unification of mankind’s birth world for the first time in its history. The UNTSA committee of Timekeeping Standardization and Calendar Synchronization announced a new calendar beginning in the Year 1961 with New Year’s Day being April 12th. The reasoning for this is the commemoration of the flight of Vostok-1 and Yuri Gagarin the first man in history to leave Earth's atmosphere. The New Calendar would be called After We
Left Earth, although it was later shortened to After Earth or AE. Attempts to rename the months also ultimately failed, but the new dating system stuck and spread throughout mankind's far-flung colonies. Ironically, for those who sought to remove religious connotation, the calendar system actually gave rise to a new one. The Stellanauta church, which grew in popularity among Spacers and Colonists, announced in 460 AE that it had canonized Gagarin and fifty other of mankind's early astronauts as Saints. The Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and various other religious sects soon followed. As of the 8th century AE, Yuri Gagarin, a man known in life as a devout atheist, is widely considered the first saint of mankind’s new era. Evidence, some say, that history truly has a bizarre sense of humor.

  Language

  Language in the 8th Century A.E. is a by-product of the continuous evolution of the spoken and written word. Just as numerous tongues arose on Earth as a by-product of population migration, so has mankind's diaspora to the stars created new languages and preserved several old ones. Many of these tongues would be both familiar and completely alien to 21st century ears as they generally consist of a merging of vocabulary, alphabets, and grammatical rules. Commerce and communication has produced several widely spoken standardized tongues. This includes, Old English, Chinglish, Chundi, Afroench, Spanglish, Spanlish, Guesa, Eurpolies, Slagich, and Arish. It should be noted that although individual dialects will differ, these languages are considered lingua franca among the nations of the 8th century, and serve as a common tongue for commerce, and diplomacy.