An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3)

by Michael Chatfield

  His NIAI was the first to respond. “They were collected up by the people from the Aegean Gardens.”

  Damus felt as though everything that had happened since Julio had rushed into the room had been a blow to his heart and soul.

  He didn’t know what was going to happen in the future but he had a good idea. With Nerva leaving and his speech, it would spur some of the people who had been pushed to the side. Instead of staying in the legion, they might look to go to the Emarl system.

  The legion had attacked a freighter that had brought support helping their people; they had cut off supplies to a legendary group.

  They had fired on the Aegean Gardens that had birthed legion heroes and was the home of many legionnaires and their families.

  If he was at a lower rank, he might be scared by the moving currents. As the man in charge of it all and facing the Maraukians, who were starting to use new tactics, he wasn’t sure how things would go.

  Maybe it is too broken. Maybe we need to rebuild.

  Damus felt a headache coming on. If it couldn’t be saved, he needed to remake it. To do that, without the senate’s approval, would be incredibly difficult.

  If he could leverage the power of the Maraukian war, then it was possible. If he hid it on different planets in different legions, he could clear out the senate’s power piece by piece.

  In a way, he was thankful for the Emarl system. At least they woke him up and they were something that was constant. As long as they kept to their system, he was fine to let them be. With Nerva, he doubted that they would try to be the aggressor against the Union.

  The EHC wasn’t able to move faster-than-light yet, but the senate was able to do all of these things.

  “It won’t be easy, but if it isn’t done then there won’t be a Union left to defend.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  SLS Edilon

  Indalia Orbit, Otarvi System

  3/3556

  Hesra waited in his office while all the reports came in around the Otarvi system. He’d been gathering what intel he could and waiting for orders—or, in fact, anything from Rimateus. From his different contacts, he felt that something was brewing.

  First, the legion frowned on him shooting at the freighter and then, of all things, Nerva himself fled the system on a private freighter. It wasn’t until later that Hesra found out Nerva had sent out an information package as well, revealing what he had done to the mergers, with cutting them off, and nearly leading to the civilians who were retreating to being cut down and making it harder for the people on the Ducharev line to hold their ground.

  Furious still, Hesra didn’t know how to react. He had sent more messages out to Senator Rimateus and his father, asking them to tell him what to do and he was waiting for their response when someone knocked on his office door.

  “I said that I was to not be disturbed!” Hesra yelled as he looked over to the door. He hit a control that allowed him to see through the wall but not allow others to look in.

  Hesra looked over the command center that he controlled the fleet from.

  He felt that something was wrong from the expressions of the people on the command deck and the way they were all looking at his room and the person standing in front of it, who was a captain flanked by two armored legionnaires.

  “Admiral Hesra, it would be best if we had this conversation in private instead of out in the open,” the captain said.

  Hesra’s eyes thinned as he sneered. “You best have a good reason for standing in my doorway. If it isn’t good enough, I’ll have you and your flunkies stuck in the brig!” Hesra yelled.

  He was all-powerful here. Everyone needed to follow his commands. He had become used to the power, using it to advance his own plans.

  The captain’s eyebrow twitched as he brought himself up to his full height. “Admiral Hesra, you have failed the vote of confidence. Due to this, you will be removed from command of this fleet and must return to the legion headquarters for review of your conduct by your peers. I have been placed in temporary command of this fleet to run the day-to-day issues.” The captain’s tone was clipped and professional as Hesra was left in a state of shock and confusion.

  “You are not allowed to leave the ship, and your orders will not be carried out unless confirmed by myself. These two legionnaires are here for your safety. I will leave them here and assume command of the fleet.” Captain Tollin turned around and nodded to the two legionnaires who stepped up next to the door.

  Hesra felt his NIAI alert him to an incoming message and he read it. His face fell. It looked as though Captain Tollin wasn’t just cooking this up; it was official. The entire fleet didn’t believe in him. With the information and his attitude and actions, no matter his position and the people he knew, only those who were from other political powers had voted for him.

  Seventy-three percent had voted against.

  Just as his shock was starting to settle in, a call came in on his main terminal. He didn’t answer it, still in shock.

  “Your father is calling you,” his NIAI told him as the terminal kept on ringing.

  “Accept it.” Hesra pulled himself up straight. His father would have a plan—he always did.

  Hesra saw his father, Tertius Hesra, sitting in his study. He looked like an older and larger version of Hesra. His eyes were dark and calculating. Unlike the flighty and arrogant nature of his son, he had a volcanic attitude that seemed calm and reserved, but also ready to break into an angry tirade within a second.

  “Father—”

  “Shut up.” Tertius bit out the words, the veins on his neck popping out. “I just got the information. You failed the vote of confidence, the first person in two hundred years, and it was seventy-three percent against and twenty-seven for. Losing a vote of confidence is the deathblow for an officer in the legion. Even if you somehow pass the board, which will be filled with people either of the legion or have those who hold grudges against us, you will lose command over anything, become some paper pusher with little power. How is that useful to us? It would be a stain upon the whole trading house and me personally!” Tertius shook his head.

  Hesra wanted to get words out but although he might argue against others, his father had always been the one he listened to and did as he said.

  “From now on, you are no longer my son. You will have no more access to the family or to our assets. For the betterment of the family, you will be cut off,” his father declared, the decision final and complete. With that, he cut the channel.

  Hesra started to reach out to his other contacts but none of them were taking calls, all of them avoided him like a plague.

  Hesra let out a yell, smashing things on his table and kicking a screen near him. He grabbed his chair and slammed it against the desk as the people on the command deck did nothing.

  “I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll kill you all!” Hesra yelled as the legionnaires held onto their weapons with a firmer grip.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  VCF Osdal

  In Transit to Emarl System

  3/3556

  Eighty-nine people now stood in front of the twenty-five members of the Vanguard, looking at one another.

  Three of the people who had become mergers hadn’t been able to hack the last bit of training. They had then gone to look at the other merger groups that had open recruitment. Being mergers already, it was possible for them to work in an area that the mergers were developing.

  These might be one hundred and fourteen people in the Vanguard but they were quickly approaching three hundred mergers.

  The reason was that the other areas didn’t need to have such high mental training for the losses that happened with the legion. They would feel the losses and the people’s last thoughts, and it would hurt, but if they didn’t know them directly, then it wouldn’t be as hard to suffer through.

  With this in mind, the biggest need for the mergers in other areas was to make sure that they had a good moral compass, that they wouldn’
t turn on the other mergers or use the strength and abilities that they had for nefarious means.

  “You have all graduated today. Today, you become official members of the Vanguard. If there was time, we would allow you a week off to go and party, to celebrate the hard-earned victory. Instead, we can offer you three days. In five days, there will be another five thousand people who are just the same as you two months ago, hopefully thinking that they know their path in life is becoming a merger. As you know, only a few people will pass this test and then even less will be able to give up on their life to become a fighter.

  “As we say, once you are a merger, you have already died once, leaving behind your humanity to become the killer that you are today.

  “This is something that we’ve all come to accept.

  “The fact is that none of you would have made it this far if your only motivation was to kill. Each of you has an inner reason for being on this parade square.”

  Mark’s words resonated with them. They had pushed their bodies and minds past their limits. By doing so, they had learned things about themselves that they never thought possible.

  “Sometimes it’s also my job to make you do shitty jobs.” Mark’s smile showed that even with his words, he took a certain amount of joy out of it.

  They didn’t groan but the emotional feedback was clear.

  “We’re people of the Vanguard and mergers. Just knowing how to shoot and run around isn’t enough. Our biggest strength is our ability to talk in real time, to break information down quickly. That is all good, but if we are able to have skills, not just information that we’ve pulled from the net, then we will be stronger overall.” Mark talked over the Vanguard net, information going from him to the others. They all saw his logic, but they didn’t like it. They came here to be fighters—they didn’t want to learn engineering or how the sciences worked, or even how to make a fabber or a rifle from a nanites vat.

  Though these were all things that Mark would make them do from now until they reached Emarl.

  The main reason was that one merger was as effective as a fabber at making different items. Give them a nanite vat, and they could pump out items; strap them into a think tank, and they could push sciences further in a few minutes than it had moved in years.

  On the surface, these were all of the reasons to do all of these different jobs and lend them out to the other merger sectors.

  Mark’s real reason was much simpler: many of these people had been fighting for all of their lives. They hadn’t had the time to take on a normal job, to have time off and do something other than killing other living beings, or training to do so. Troopers fought through Earth, then the EMF. He could give them these few months to just expand their minds and experience something akin to a normal life of someone in the Colonies or someone in the Union.

  It sounded simple, but to some of them it might be the greatest couple of months in their entire lives, where they didn’t have to worry about the next fight, the people around them and their own security—just doing some hard work, then getting time off and hanging out with their friends.

  “Now go on and have fun with your three-day liberty.” With that, Mark ended the simulation and the mergers started to wake up from where they were all linked to computer nodes in an empty container.

  Mark let them run off to the different messes to have a drink or leave for their new accommodation.

  “Just three more groups,” Ava said, reassuring Mark as they walked away from the room and toward the Moby, which had become the center of work for the mergers. There were upgrades going on all over the ship; the Moby was still being overhauled. It was a longer process than before and there were sections opened to space, where people were working on the parts underneath.

  “I know,” Mark said. It felt good to be training people. There was a sense of satisfaction with it, passing on what he knew to the later generation.

  It didn’t take them long until they were inside the Moby. As they walked through the ship, they could see parts of what was happening with the merger sectors.

  There was Yu and his people, all training with the different drop-ships that were in the main bay.

  There were groups talking about different developments—well, not talking but violently hurling ideas through the air, gaining a better understanding of the information that they had been working with all of their lives.

  When Mark had merged for the first time, he had no idea what was going on. Now, he was the first in a brand-new race. One that was leading a revolution in all manner of different sectors.

  They might not be human anymore, but they still had desires and pursuits and things they wanted to do.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Senator Rimateus’s Estate

  Roma, Hellenic System

  4/3556

  Rimateus heard the comms call come in from Hesra, but he’d ignored it. Rimateus wasn’t sure what he wanted to do first: strangle the stupid admiral or wait to see what else the man could possibly do to bring himself down all the more. At this moment in time, it was easier to set up the admiral for all the wrongdoings against Mark and Nerva. He would try as best he could to let him take the fall despite it being himself doing all the pushing.

  “There is a call coming in from Tertius Hesra.”

  Rimateus perked up with his NIAI’s words.

  Rimateus knew that Hesra had been looking for more merchants to move Alcubierre drives to the people in the EHC. Then they could directly attack the Emarl system with the corporation’s forces.

  They had parts already on their way but it wouldn’t be enough. They needed a larger merchant to make it happen. If he could use the father, then it might be possible to have his new plan come into fruition.

  “Accept,” Rimateus said. The holographic projector in his office turned on, with Tertius Hesra appearing in front of Senator Rimateus.

  “Hello merchant head, Hesra.” Rimateus smiled.

  “I want revenge—what do you need?” Tertius’s usual tact was gone. Seeing his son shamed in such a way, he wanted to fight back against the people who had rubbed his son’s and his own name in the dirt.

  Rimateus knew that hitting the Emarl system wouldn’t be enough; they needed to do something now to pull Tertius over to them.

  Rimateus quickly thought through his options. If he let this opportunity go, then he wouldn’t be able to even try.

  “I have a plan to directly hurt them but I will need your help.” Tertius made to talk but Rimateus talked over him. “Though I know that slow revenge is nothing compared to what is available right now. There is a woman still on Earth—her name is Dominguez. She is in charge of some gang. I have made a few contacts on Earth and they will be happy to show their abilities,” Rimateus said.

  Tertius looked interested as Rimateus continued.

  “Dominguez is someone who has served with the EMF and is one of the closest people to Mark and Jerome Victor, as well as their leader Ortiz. She is an integral part of the Victor Corporation and someone that they view as a sister.”

  A vicious look crossed Tertius’s eyes with those words. To hit the Victor Corporation in a way that would not only disrupt their operations but bring them the most amount of pain possible—Tertius was deeply interested. He wanted these people to hurt for what they had done to his son and his own reputation.

  “I’m listening. What else do you need?” Tertius asked.

  Rimateus showed a smile as he looked at Tertius. I might have lost an admiral but I gained his father. Rimateus could just see the fall of the Emarl system in his mind.

  “I know some aspiring merchants who are looking for some Alcubierre drives, if you would have any you would be willing to pass on to them?” Rimateus asked.

  “I wouldn’t say no to a friend,” Tertius said. His words made it clear that if Rimateus carried out his plan, then he would help him.

  “I guarantee nothing but I will send word to our friends on Earth this very hour,” Rimateus promised.<
br />
  “Very well. I will have a look into assisting our new friends. Which system?”

  “Luyten seems rather nice this time of year,” Rimateus said.

  Tertius nodded. The two of them shared a look. They didn’t trust each other, but they needed each other to meet their needs. If this plan succeeded, they’d both benefit from it.

  Chapter Fifty

  Brass Jackals Base of Operations

  Earth, Sol System

  4/3556

  Voras Jakab sat with his back to the wall, overlooking his small dominion through the misted red windows of his office. He knew he waited on a serious call to arms, and an offer that he, of course, wouldn’t refuse.

  Movement between his land and the Westerly Three Crew had doubled. This annoyed him. They were plotting and doing much more than they’d originally asked for access for.

  It was time he had a meeting with Dominguez to work out better payments. Without their safe passage, the shipments heading her way would be attacked, delayed—or worse, never get through at all.

  Yan Dres stepped inside without knocking, a regular occurrence for his second-in-command, and one he often berated the boy for.

  “What’s the problem this time?” Voras asked, not even looking to the boy.

  “Spotted an extra big load heading out this way toward the Westerly Complex,” he said. “Thought you might want to step in and see what the hell it is this time they’re dragging through.”

  Voras pushed himself up. “Thank you. Yes, I think that’s a very good idea. Gather the others. We need to stop this convoy and then meet with the Westerly Three.”

  Yan’s eyes lit up. But the thought of confronting the Westerly Three Crew wasn’t something they’d do without backing of some of the other smaller gangs.

  That’s when a call came in. Voras glanced to his tablet device. Only a few had that number, and it wasn’t going to be just a personal call. “Come back in twenty,” he said to Yan. “See what you can do in getting the Faceless Ones and the Pistol Monkeys together. We’ll meet with them before dark. We can discuss what the plan might be against the W3C.”