Last Stand

by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  — Camadin Station Two —

  Last Stand

  by

  Jeffrey M. Fortney

  Published by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  Copyright 2017 Jeffrey M. Fortney

  1st Edition License Notes:

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this e-book with others, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this e-book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover art by Sean C. Fortney

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Prelude

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Thank You!

  Glossary

  Other Novels by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  Acknowledgments

  As always, I need to thank my wife, Julie, for her love, encouragement, devotion, inspiration, and continued support while I worked on this new novel. My thanks go out to our children and grandchildren, as well, for bringing so much joy to our lives.

  Jimmie Badgett and his late wife, Charlotte, were the inspirations for the characters of James and Charlotte Rivers in the first Camadin Station novel, Death Haunts the Stars. That novel set the stage for this one…and hopefully more to come!

  And thank you to Bradley McLelland, my friend, co-worker, and an author in his own right! You inspired quite a character and what a character he is!

  Dedication

  To all the veterans who have placed themselves between those they love and our enemies, whether in “peace” or in war. Your sacrifices should never be forgotten!

  Prelude

  The Fourth World War ended on September 23rd, 2034. Historians had finally agreed that the Cold War of the latter half of the 20th Century qualified as World War III, fought on a smaller scale stretched over decades in a series of so-called 'police actions'. The fact that someone could end up just as dead from a 'police action' as from a war never seemed to enter the collective minds of those at the old United Nations.

  World War IV was a classic example of Fourth-Generation Warfare, characterized by a blurring of the lines between politics, war, civilians, and combatants. That conflict also lasted for decades, involved military and civilians, and was a clash between cultures and ideologies, between Western Civilization and a political/religious throwback of the 7th Century. Fortunately, nuclear, biological, and chemicals weapons were used only in a few limited exchanges and the cost in human lives, while horrifically tragic, was measured only in the millions, not billions.

  After the war, Humankind began to rebuild civilization rapidly...only to experience the mini-eruption of the Yellowstone Super-Volcano in 2035. The damage done to large parts of the United States and Canada was extensive. The damage to the world's economies was even worse. But Humankind refused to die out and reconstruction began once more.

  Realizing that keeping all of Humankind on one world was to risk the possible extinction of the entire species, a new space race and subsequent technological leap forward occurred. First, Humans created permanent settlements on the Moon, then Mars, and, finally, with new propulsion systems, they moved out into deep space, eventually colonizing worlds in other star systems.

  Hundreds of vessels were launched from the Sol System towards far distance ‘shores’ orbiting other stars in our galaxy. For more than a century and half, these colony vessels plied the spaceways, carrying Humankind to new worlds. One such vessel was the Terran Colonial Vessel Conestoga. In 2219, it was her job to transport colonists, their livestock, equipment, and supplies to the planet Camadin, many light years from Earth.

  That trip had proven deadly to some aboard the Connie as her crew called the great ship. Only the leadership of Captain James Rivers and Security Chief Commander (CDR) McLelland Bradley, and the bravery of their crew brought the mission to a successful conclusion. The surviving colonists and cargo reached Camadin and the crew of the Conestoga delivered the core components of Camadin’s new spaceport and defense platform, Camadin Station. Each subsequent vessel arriving from Earth brought additional components and Camadin, rapidly reaching sustained technological operational capability, added to the station’s construction.

  Once the station became fully operational, a new commanding officer arrived. This officer was familiar with the station and Camadin; for the new commander was Commodore (CDRE) James B. Rivers, formerly of the Conestoga. Also assigned to Camadin Station was the commodore’s wife, Dr. Charlotte Hanson Rivers, and his friend CDR “Mac” Bradley. Dr. Rivers served as the station’s new Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and CDR Bradley served as the station’s new Security Chief and Commander of the System Defense Force.

  Camadin Station soon became the hub for interstellar travel and exploration for the sector. The Terran Federation, composed of dozens of colonies spread out through a significant portion of the Galactic Arm, sought new worlds to colonize and to find other races amongst the stars with which to interact. In peace, they hoped.

  But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…

  Chapter 1

  Ship's Log

  Terran Federation Scout Vessel Sir Francis Drake

  Earthdate: 09 September 2228

  Commander John Nabahe, Commanding

  Three more weeks! Three more weeks and we will finish our assignment then we can head for home! Everyone is growing eager to see their families and friends again. We’ve traveled far from the Terran sphere of influence with little or nothing to show for it. Simply put, it’s been a boring assignment. It’s almost time for us to head home!

  The attack came as a surprise, more than 100 light years from the nearest Terran colony and over 150 light years from the homeworld, Earth. A lone scout ship with a crew of just 76 in the vastness of interstellar space encountered a single massive vessel of unknown origin.

  Commander John Nabahe, captain of the Terran Federation Scout Ship Sir Francis Drake, raced to the bridge of his vessel. “Report!” he called out to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Frederika Lange, First Officer of the Drake, as he approached the command console.

  “Sir, the vessel just appeared off our starboard bow. It’s rectangular in shape, measuring over 2,000 feet long, more than 300 feet across, and about the same in height. They appear to have some sort of faster than light propulsion with incredible inertial dampening capabilities…” replied Lange as she rose from the captain’s chair. “They have not attempted to scan us or to communicate with us, Captain. We have gone to Yellow Alert as a precaution but have made no overt signs of aggression, passive scans and visual observations only. Standard hailing messages have been sent on all frequencies with no response, sir!”

  Nabahe scanned the monitors on the console before his command chair as he sat down. “Damn…that’s a big mother out there!” he said to Lange. “Navigator, prepare an evasive escape course to get us as far away from that beast as fast as possible. Pilot, be prepared to implement evasive action and then jump to FTL on my order!”

  Lieutenants Alexandre Charpentier and Roberta Bocanegra, the Drake’s navigator and pilot, respon
ded “Yessir!” in unison even as their fingers played across their respective consoles. Charpentier calculated the course and locked it into the navigation computer. Bocanegra tied the course to the ship’s FTL drive controls. The new, more powerful Johanson FTL Drive system was capable of spooling up in a matter of seconds, a vast improvement over earlier systems that required hours to program and power up.

  “Standing by for your order, sir!” LT Bocanegra said to the captain.

  Commander Nabahe leaned forward in his seat and said, “Okay then, let’s try to make contact one more time. Communications, wide band broadcast please.” He waited until the communications officer signaled him to begin. “Attention vessel off our starboard bow, this is Commander John Nabahe of the Terran Federation Scout Ship Sir Francis Drake. We send peaceful greetings to you on behalf of the Terran Federation. Please respond.”

  Nabahe looked to his comm officer for any sign that the alien vessel was trying to respond. The communications officer scanned the wide band of channels carefully then turned to the captain and shook his head.

  The Drake’s captain signaled to re-open the comm once more. “Alien vessel, this is Commander John Nabahe of the Terran Federation Scout Ship Sir Francis Drake. We would like to communicate with you in peace. Please respond.” Nabahe signaled the comm officer to cut the microphone then turned to his helm officers and said, “Standby!” They nodded their understanding.

  Suddenly, a high pitched screech filled the bridge and the rest of the scout ship. “Intense scanning beam from the alien vessel, captain!” shouted Lange over the sound. “Sir! They’re powering up weapons! Our shields are coming up; weapons going hot!”

  “Get us out of here…now!” Nabahe shouted to his helm officers. Bocanegra pressed the appropriate buttons on her console and power surged in the Drake’s FTL coils. But before the ship could make the jump, sheering beams of sun hot plasma sliced through space and struck the Drake’s shields.

  The Drake was designed to be a scout vessel. Small, fast, lightly armed and armored. Her mission was to find new worlds, see which ones might be suitable for colonization, send her report back to Earth, then move on to the next star system. The Drake’s shields were not designed to fight a battle with a superior foe…which is exactly what Nabahe and his crew faced.

  “Red alert! Comms, get a Mayday out…quick! All data on the enemy vessel and our location…” shouted Nabahe over the noise of the plasma beams striking the shields. The communications officer’s fingers flew across his console. Before he could report success, the shields protecting the bridge failed. A white hot plasma beam sliced through the Drake’s hull and the bridge crew and their stations were vaporized.

  In the last decade, the Terran Federation had invested enormous amounts of money and effort into improving the FTL drives, communications, shields, and weapons systems for their fleet. The expansion of the federation deeper and deeper into space required a faster means to get to the frontier regions, to communicate with those far flung locations in a timely manner, and for the fleet of ships to defend themselves, if need be.

  Thus far, Humankind had met few extra-solar races in its time in deep space. And, of those few races, only a couple of those races had proven to be hostile. After a number of hostile encounters, the humans learned quickly to be prepared to protect themselves. Weapons and shields were vital, but so was communications. Two things had helped speed up interstellar communications in the last ten years. The first was quantum communications and the other was the QC relay buoy.

  Professor Gregori Rastikov of the Moscovian Interstellar Research Institute had long theorized that quantum physics could provide a means to communicate further and faster. He and his team had worked for more than two decades on such a system before finally perfecting it! Messages could be sent from one relay buoy to another, where the signals could then be boosted and relayed to another buoy or buoys in the communications network.

  Part of the Terran Federation Defense Fleet’s mission was to expand the communications network within the Terran sphere of influence (TSOI). To date, they had successfully deployed hundreds of the devices through Federation space. Scout vessels, such as the Sir Francis Drake, carried a number of the QC buoys to be deployed as they explored beyond the TSOI. Approximately every 20 light years, a buoy would be deployed and activated, ensuring a line of communication would remain open between the scout and Terra.

  The Drake’s mayday message was sent via QC and relayed to the Headquarters of the Terran Federation Defense Fleet back on Earth. Included in the message was all of the most recent log entries AND the data on the alien vessel that attacked the small scout vessel. Within hours of receiving the information, the Fleet Admiralty had strategists, tacticians, scientists, engineers, and many others analyzing the data from the Drake’s encounter with the hostile alien vessel.

  A week later, a fleet of TFDF vessels, labeled Task Force Drake, left the Sol System outbound to the Drake’s last known position. The TFDF Admiralty was confident in their choice of commanding officer and fleet composition. Admiral Umeko Shimizu’s record was impeccable. She was an outstanding strategist who expected, and got, the very best out of her personnel and ships. The fleet consisted of a star carrier, two cruisers, two destroyers, two frigates, and six scouts. Shimizu’s flagship, the Terran Federation Carrier Kenshin, was home to six squadrons of Stinger Space Fighters.

  Several weeks later, Task Force Drake was still about ten light years from the final coordinates sent by Captain Nabahe when long range sensors detected something in the star system where the Sir Francis Drake had deployed its last QC relay buoy. Shimizu sent one of the fleet’s scout ships into the system. The ship jumped away and returned a short time later. The commander of the scout ship reported the presence of another, larger fleet of vessels.

  Admiral Shimizu ordered her ships to Red Alert and had her fleet enter the outer edge of the star system. Upon entering the vast cloud of debris commonly orbiting at the outer regions of a star system, the Terran ships dispersed. Three squadrons of Stinger were launched from the Kenshin, putting 75 of the space fighters on alert to defend the fleet. Two more Stinger squadrons were on ready alert, prepared to launch if needed. The remaining squadron of fighters was held in reserve aboard the carrier. Finally, the Terrans launched several small spy drones towards the star rotating at the bottom of the system’s gravity well.

  The drones sent back their data. Parked in space near the relay buoy was a fleet of 19 vessels of various types and sizes. The drones scanned the vessels for the energy signatures that would provide data on each ship’s power, weapons, and communications systems, then transmitted the data on discrete frequencies back to the Terran fleet.

  Shimizu and her senior officers analyzed the data with great care. The vessels were obviously of alien design yet bore no resemblance to the Drake’s massive rectangular attacker. The vessels appeared to have a number of different configurations, drive systems, and power systems; as if they had been designed and built on several different worlds. The spy drone reports showed no evidence of high energy weapons or extensive shields.

  Admiral Shimizu played one of her famous hunches and signaled her comm officer to open a wide hailing band. “This is Admiral Umeko Shimizu of the Terran Federation Defense Fleet. You are entering the Terran Federation Sphere of Influence. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions.” She repeated her message twice more before the answering static gave way to semi-coherent transmissions.

  “Help us!”

  “Zzzz…crackle…zzzzz….”

  “Save us!”

  “Sscccrrr…zzzzz…scccrrreeeellll…”

  “Sanctuary, please!”

  “Help…frrommm…Azairi…”

  “Protect us from the Azairi!”

  The speakers on Shimizu’s bridge were inundated with the voices of over a dozen scared and pleading beings and other unintelligible sounds coming from the vessels near the buoy. “One at a time, please,” Shimizu said. “Ou
r ship’s communications system is attempting to translate for all of you at the same time and we’re only getting parts of your messages. Who is in charge of your fleet?” She waited a moment then repeated her message.

  “Ssss…Admiral Ssshimizu…thisss isss…Commander…Tal’r of the Hotucal vessel, Vrosh,” responded on voice hesitantly. “I requessst a video…link with your…ssship, please.” Shimizu paused for a moment then nodded to her comm officer who pressed the appropriate controls. A moment later, the image of a short, stocky saurian-type being appeared on one of the large monitors to the right of the bridge’s primary monitor. At the same time, an image of Admiral Shimizu was broadcast to the alien ships.

  “Commander Tal’r,” said Shimizu, “how may my ships assist you and yours?”

  The saurian raised his head slightly and the crest of feathers running from his forehead across the top of his head to the nap of his neck fanned out. “We are…the sssurvivorsss…of many worldsss, Admiral. We flee…the Azairi…the takersss of worldsss…and resourcesss. We ssseek…to traverse your…ssspace in peace.”

  Admiral Shimizu crossed her arms then raised one hand to rest her chin on its fingers. “Who are the Azairi, Commander; and why are you fleeing them?”

  Tal’r crest feathers settled back upon his head. “We are the sssurvivorss…of fifteen worldsss. The Azairi…invaded…captured…and enslaved our worlds! The Azairi…are plundersss. They attack weaker…worldsss...kill millionsss…enslave millionsss more…take our planetsss…and our resourcesss.”

  Tal’r sent a video showing a fleet of Azairi vessels moving into orbit around a watery world with few land masses. The denizens of that world sent ships of their own out to repel their attackers only to have their defensive forces wiped out in a matter of minutes. The scene shifted to the far side of the planet where one ship could be seen making it safely into space before jumping in FTL speed.