Chapter1
Chapter2
Chapter3
Chapter4
Chapter5
Chapter6
Chapter7
Chapter8
Chapter9
Chapter10
Chapter11
Chapter12
Chapter13
Chapter14
Chapter15
Chapter16
Chapter17
Chapter18
Chapter19
Chapter20
Chapter21
Chapter22
Chapter23
Chapter24
Chapter25
Chapter26
Chapter27
Chapter28
Chapter29
Chapter30
Chapter31
Chapter32
Chapter33
Chapter34
Chapter35
Chapter36
Chapter37
Chapter38
Chapter39
Chapter40
Chapter41
Chapter42
Chapter43
Chapter44
Chapter45
Chapter46
Chapter47
Chapter48
Chapter49
Chapter50
Chapter51
Prologue
Legion Headquarters
Roma, Hellenic System
1/3206
“So what have we got today?” Legate Aurelius asked.
He had short cropped hair that framed his strong looking face, which looked like it should be one of the carvings on Easter island. He rubbed a calloused hand over his African features. He was of the original legionnaires from the Hellenic System.
“You know you don’t have to talk out loud,” NIEli said, directly through his optical nerves.
“I don’t have to, but I like talking more ,” Aurelius sighed.
“It’s faster to talk this way,” NIEli said.
“It would be if you hurried up with the report on the latest goings on!” Aurelius, thought-spoke back at the artificial intelligence he’d had attached to his arm since he was eight.
“See so much faster! The EMF carrier Reclaimer has reached Earth with Nerva. It looks like Nivad has plans to copy his ideas for Alpha company to the rest of the carrier - better tech, better training. In other news, it looks like there is a religious group in not only Masoul, but also Fernix, Osdal and Housapel,” NIEli said, as his playful tone fell into the background.
“Okay, and what are the intentions of this religious group?” Aurelius asked out loud, his face pensive.
“Do good by your fellow man, a very communist outlook on everything, sharing and all that,” NIEli said as Aurelius closed his eyes, and rubbed his brow with his right hand.
“So they’re completely against Earth and Her Colonies?” Aurelius asked.
He was pretty sure he knew the answer to his question.
“Pretty much. They’re a religion that thinks there is an almighty God that wants them to share what they have. The scripture comes from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. It’s rather extensive and pretty damn brutal if people don’t do as they say. It seems that they took their techniques from every religious dark period. They also love to show their punishments to their faithful so they don’t go to the authorities,” NIEli surmised.
“Okay, we keep it from our operatives for now. This war will give us the opportunity to pull out more EMF personnel than we have in years. I just wish that it didn’t mean knowing that so many other humans were fighting one another, instead of the much bigger threat the Union has been fighting for the past five hundred years,” Aurelius said, sighing. The EHC had awoken the sleeping beasties. Roma nearly fell because of them fleeing instead of helping them.
The Union and EHC hadn’t come into contact with one another since that incident, at least that the EHC knew of.
“Send a copy of the information to Primus Legate Versanti, another to spymaster Wersho von Schmidt. It seems that Earth and Her Colonies are going to have a war.” Aurelius looked at his own reflection on the view screen. The screen was made to simulate a window out of the office buried under two-kilometers of Roma and Legion headquarters.
The look in his eyes was that of someone who’d seen over a hundred and fifty years of war and death. They were barely holding the line. Every shred of ground they made had to be clawed away from the greater enemy.
He had ex-wives and children that would tell anyone where his soul belonged, and their answer would always be to the Legion.
Chapter 1
Westerly Complex
Earth, Sol system
1/3206
It felt like they had all been looking at Sacremon disappearing into the distance just five months ago, not the twenty-six years that the calendar now said.
“There’s our little red ball,” Tyler said, as they looked down on Earth’s red clouds that moved slowly around the tiny marble that seemed to hang in the darkness of space. The only difference of color from the massive dust clouds were the clear areas where the larger towers resided, or other towers that weren’t covered by massive electrostatic fields and twinkled as the sun’s light caught them. As they orbited Earth, they saw the dim lights of slums and the rail system that spread out from Mega-City.
It was the first time that they had seen Earth from orbit. When they had left, they were thrown into boot camp so fast that they hadn’t even thought about snatching a look back at the planet they had lived on for eighteen years.
Tyler looked over his family, thinking of them. Nothing else would make sense at this point. Jerome, Alexis and Mark had all filled out with their time in the EMF. The looks in their eyes showed their biggest changes. They had seen things that people shouldn’t.
Their battle across Sacremon was brutal, but Tyler would not belittle another fight to say it was any less or more brutal.
Alexis squeezed him gently as if sensing his dark thoughts. He smiled at her, and pulled her closer with his arm which rested around her shoulder.
Somehow they’d come together as boyfriend and girlfriend. He wasn’t going to mess with it.
The last of their merry group was Tyler’s brother, Mark.
They didn’t share a single drop of the same blood, yet they were closer than most brothers that did.
They had grown up in the slums, and on Tyler’s eighteenth birthday, they joined Earth’s Military Force to get out of the slums and try to make a life for themselves. Instead, they’d been dropped on Sacremon - one of a handful of colony planets that had actually fought the EMF instead of surrendering as soon as their carrier arrived in-system.
Tyler felt Alexis’ comforting heat as she coiled around his arm. His thoughts turned from the battles to the time he had spent away from Earth.
They met nearly sixty years ago for people that didn’t go into cryo-stasis. For them, it had been about three years since they left Earth.
They became close through basic training, and some training Mark had forced on them. Rather close in fact.
Then they woke up above Sacremon - a planet of seven million that supplied other planets with food. The locals didn’t like the Corporations lording over them, and they rebelled. The Corporation requested Earth’s Military Forces, generally called the EMF, and they answered.
Alexis never went to Growing City which was the first city Mark, Jerome and Tyler had assaulted. She went to Processing, her second city, which was an education for her. It was an education for all that survived it.
Jerome was lumped with Mark and Tyler through their time on Sacremon. They became close, as their friends died around them. They too
k losses that hadn’t been seen in seven decades.
None of them were returning the same people. Yet, it was hard to think that Earth had changed in any way.
“Force five will now start boarding shuttles for assigned leave,” said the professionally neutral voice of the carrier’s command center.
“Well, let’s go and see how Earth’s changed,” Mark said.
Tyler felt the seeds in his pocket as they walked through the familiar corridors to the shuttle bays.
No one had personal belongings, but they all grabbed the pistols they bought. They were allowed to use them anywhere they were deployed, including Earth. Their weapons’ attachments were stored with their armor rack. Everything else was stored in their personal lockers, or they would be re-issued when they returned.
They walked between the yellow lines of the shuttle bays, their engines opened as crews worked on them. The massive blast doors that opened up the length of Reclaimer were shut, as shuttles dropped into the lower hangar which allowed shuttles to take off and land without opening the entire shuttle bay.
No one needed the cargo master’s help as they got into their seats, and pulled their harnesses together with satisfying locking noises.
“What do you think Westerly complex is going to be like?” Tyler asked.
He never brought it up before. While they were training under Nerva, they mostly forgot about their destination.
Even after training with Nerva, they looked to improve their skills that they found lacking on Sacremon.
Over time, Mark and Jerome had lost themselves in the world of books and drinks. Thankfully neither allowed the other to think too much. And Tyler had spent a good amount of time with Alexis, who was now firmly in the ‘girlfriend’ category.
“I dunno,” Mark said.
There was a note of uncertainty in his tone.
“No matter what, we’ll have a good time,” Alexis said, daring for anyone to contradict her. Tyler hid his grin, knowing that Jerome and Mark didn’t dare to fight her on that point.
“Right, babe?” she said, with a twinkle in her eyes showing that she had somehow sensed his near-smile.
“Of course, babe,” he said, trying to keep his face straight.
“You are a terrible liar,” Jerome laughed, Mark joining him as the shuttle moved.
“Oh, well it looks like we’re on our way,” Tyler said.
“Thank you for the notice,” Mark said, pressing his lips together in amusement.
Tyler let the jab roll off with a smile. He was happy to see Mark and the others smiling.
The shuttle’s engines powered up as atmosphere was vented.that they were dropped in to Heavy doors could be heard opening, as the engine’s rose to full power and pushed forward.
Tyler pulled out his data slate, using his implants to access the shuttle’s cameras and have a look at Reclaimer.
The ship wasn’t pretty. Her hull showed where meteorites had smashed into her. Sparse and stubby arrays of weaponry poked out of the sides, and the missile tubes had an even more rare appearance.
The ship was a rough two kilometers long, and simple grey. There was no armor or defenses on her. No one had ships capable of leaving atmosphere or attacking long-distance ships, so the EMF didn’t look to armor panels or ways to defend the ship. There simply wasn’t anything to threaten them.
The mass of Reclaimer fell away as he was able to see Resolute station. It was the EMF’s home. The citadel was just the front door. Twelve carriers, including Reclaimer, were docked with the station like some kind of deadly metal flower.
Tyler looked at it in awe. When he was on Earth, he could see the glint of stations orbiting on a clear night. He always wondered which one was Resolute.
The ride passed quickly as they hit atmosphere. The shuttle bucked and shook, but after an actual combat drop, this was nothing.
Jerome could barely keep his eyes open. The shuttles movements lulled him to sleep. Mark sat back in his chair, and looked at the other side of the shuttle with an almost bored expression.
Alexis looked skeptical. Tyler squeezed her hand, and she gave him a small tight smile and a squeeze back as the shuttle’s ride smoothed out.
Tyler stowed his data slate as Mark pulled out his pistol and checked it. He raised his large arms, and checked that his blades were still there with a few movements. Tyler pressed his arms to his sides to do his own check. He didn’t want to alert Alexis.
“Coming down on the Citadel. We thank you for travelling Reclaimer shuttle services, and hope you have a good leave,” the pilot said. His tone wasn’t as fake as Tyler thought it might be.
The shuttle’s engines billowed as it came to a halt. There was a bouncing sensation, as legs took the shuttle’s weight. The cargo master checked the airlock as people unhooked their harnesses.
The cargo master declared the airlock’s seal good, and the shuttle disgorged anxious and bored people in a rush.
Mark let out a small hiss of a laugh.
“Back once again,” he said, as he looked at the same room that they came up the day they became troopers, and were loaded on shuttles for Reclaimer.
Now veterans filled the room instead of boots, all moving with purpose towards the lifts that shot downward.
They got to the nearest lift, waiting a few minutes for it to fill before it shot down. They got off on a different floor than the one they entered so long ago.
People walked up to a desk, putting the identification chip in their wrists on the receiver. They waited a few moments before boxes were shoved out towards them. The boxes contained the belongings that they stored.
.
Mark and Tyler donned their dusters, the large coats feeling odd on their wider shoulders. They actually filled them, rather than disappearing into them.
Jerome and Alexis just grabbed their scarves and breathers.
“I see why people bring their helmets down now,” Tyler said, putting on the ill-fitting mask and goggles. They didn’t fit the best, but if they worked for eighteen years, they would work for a few months.
“Let’s go see how westerly is doing,” Mark said, pushing onwards. Jerome walked with him as Tyler and Alexis followed.
It didn’t look like it changed at all in Mega-City. The buildings were still pristine, traffic still moved at a frantic pace overhead, and the train was pouring off people who just reached their sign-up date.
Tyler looked at them with new eyes, the same kind of eyes that he was subjected to when he started as part of the EMF. He wasn’t trying to be mean. He was trying to figure out if they were going to be an asset or liability – if it was worth having them beside him in a fire-fight, or get as far away from them as possible and be ready to take their position.
They got to the train. They didn’t have to wait long before there was a train going out to the rest of Earth.
They found a secluded corner of the train. No one looked to approach them. Most of them had an almost reverent look in their eyes as they turned to their friends, talked behind their hands, and tried to hide their pointing while failing badly.
“So what are we going to do with the ten mil if your gang isn’t around?” Jerome said with a heavy voice. Tyler felt shock at the suddenness of Jerome’s words, and confusion about why the hell he was talking about ten mil. He looked to Mark in alarm.
Mark’s back tensed with Jerome’s words, but didn’t put him in his place as he would have done with the majority of others.
“Then we’re going to have to go with just setting up the JV corporation, and then layer everything so far back that they don’t realize we’re in the EMF,” Mark said as his shoulders relaxed, hoping that any possible crisis was averted.
“What the hell is this ten mil about?” Tyler asked.
“You didn’t tell him yet?”
“I was going to, but stuff came up and there were too many ears about,” Mark said, opening his hands and shrugging in apology.
“What your brother didn’t
tell you is that we got ten million for saving that CEO’s life. Your brother is a decent trader and liar. Pullo and Gupta got 2.5 million credits, as did we, with them not here anymore,” Jerome paused, his jaw working to cut back emotions before he continued. “Your brother and I now have five million apiece. I’ve thrown my lot in with his, and we’re going to see if we can’t set up something on Earth for us to retire to. If any of us survive the EMF, then we get a part of the business,” Jerome said, as Tyler looked between him and his brother with shock.
He couldn’t wrap his head around the amount of money that they were talking about. They all made nearly a hundred thousand credits on their tour. That kind of money was enough for families to live decent lives for at least a decade. With ten million, they could buy a whole damned sector.
“What business are you talking about?” Alexis asked, recovering faster than Tyler.
“Hauling, specifically hauling through Sol, but Mark here wants to get into long-distance hauling, and it makes sense when looking at how we’re going to be gone for so long. Having a bunch of independents working for us, and bringing in coin, is better than having a bunch of contracts all the time and no one there to sign off on them for some mysterious reason,” Jerome assented.
“Plus, those independents are going to get the best damned rate that they can find,” Mark said, slapping his knee to emphasize the point.
“Yeah, but their ability to take a little extra off the top is a bit high in my opinion,” Jerome said. The two of them were starting an ongoing argument.
“You have ten million credits?” Mark asked.
“And some change. We made the fund with Gupta and Pullo, so all their savings defaulted into the account when they died - including incoming pay,” Jerome said.
“Well that is a hell of a lot of money to start up a just-in-case fund,” Tyler said.
“What about the seeds then? Why did you get those?” Alexis asked.
Mark looked to Tyler who went red.
“I guess you were going to find out anyway, but they’re insurance. We give those to the gardens, and we get them backing us. They’re more powerful than any gang, and if they think about going against us, then we threaten to tell the corporations where the seeds and information came from,’’ Mark said.
Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) Page 1