A race against time…
DJ heard the high pitched retorts of the Ŝkorpion gauss gun milliseconds before he was hit.
He felt multiple impacts along his left side but after that, how many he had no idea. The first few that hit him had knocked him down and his whole left side was afire with pain. Even though he felt the wetness of blood along his arm and chest he knew that he had been lucky that the trauma plates built into the liberated SIS uniform had absorbed the majority of the energy from the hailstorm of bullets. The two android bodyguards hadn’t been as lucky as they lay in pieces with just a twitch here and there.
When the gauss gun clicked empty, DJ looked up and gauged the distance to the Admiral. Considering the pain in his left arm, he knew that at least one bone had been shattered. A quick glance also informed him that several rounds had entered and exited through the meaty part of the arm. And since he was having trouble breathing, at least one rib was broken. With those limitations in mind, he knew he couldn’t cover the distance between them before Roger had a chance to reload.
But he had to try. Forcing himself to his knees, DJ began the race against time with the fate of his daughter as the prize.
Novels by A.E. McCullough
Available on Amazon in print or eBook format
The Tales of the Wolf Series
The Coming of the Wolf (Book 1)
Enter the Wolf (Book 2)
Darkness Falls (Book 3)
Coming the spring of 2013
The Last Spartan Series
The Last Spartan: Different Paths
The Last Spartan: DJ’s Mission
The Last Spartan: The Great Hunt
Coming in the fall of 2013
Lost Lands: the Game
A different kind of fantasy novel.
Coming mid 2013
The Last Spartan
DJ’s Mission
A.E. McCullough
Copyright © 2012 by Andrew McCullough
This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Cover Art by Phillip K. Aiken.
First Edition: December 2012
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Dedication
This novel is dedicated to the men and women who choose to become Law Enforcement Officers.
It is an important and mostly thankless job. Many times we are cussed at just for doing our job. Although when some nut walks into an elementary school or a movie theater and starts shooting, we are inevitably asked ‘why weren’t you there to stop it?’
The hard truth is that day in and day out, we cover our assigned beat surrounded by negativity, fear, hatred and loathing. Yes, there are people out there who express their gratitude for our job but they are the exception and not the rule. We LEOs strive to make a difference in the world. Our daily goal is simple, to do our job to the best of our ability, to serve and protect, to go home at the end of our shift and to make sure our partner does the same. Somewhere in all that, we do our best to face down the monsters who would harm the innocents of the world. That is our job…our calling...our mission and I’m proud to serve with each and every one of you.
While trying to find a way to properly express my gratitude to men and women of who choose this line of work, I came upon this quote from Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
As I put the final touches on this novel, the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy – 12/14/2012 – is on the news and still fresh in my mind. The arguments for gun control and banning of violent video games have already begun. I hope that our society will realize that this is more of a ‘mental health’ issue and less a ‘gun control’ issue. There are sick people in the world and we, as a society, need to face that. We cannot have more legislation against guns and expect that to fix the problem. There is an old saying…when you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have guns. Please take a moment and truly think before you act.
A special thanks goes out to Scott, Alex and Venus who were my beta test readers and proof readers. Between these three, this simple tale grew and developed into this novel through their insights and suggestions.
About the Cover Artist
Phillip K. Aiken is a freelance digital artist, illustrator, computer technician and writer. He has worked as a self-taught computer technician for over 7 years and has certifications in computer programming and computer technology. He currently lives in South Carolina and can be contacted at: [email protected]
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I met Phillip when I held a cover contest on the DAZ3D Art Studio forums. Phillip submitted several cover ideas and eventually won the contest. I am thrilled to have him as my cover artist. – A. E. McCullough
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Prologue
Every Friday at noon Galactic Standard Time (GST) the displays of nearly every system hooked to the Core-Net became filled with exciting images of the events which had happened that day from around the Coalition. Of course, interspersed throughout was some of the award winning footage captured by news reporter Jennifer Moody and holo-recorder Ryan Puente during the failed assassination attempt on the President eight months earlier. When the tagline ‘YOUR DAILY NEWS IN A FLASH’ came on the camera panned down and shifted from the studio in New Atlanta to whatever remote site they found themselves in, today it was the ruins of Egypt.
Ryan panned his camera across the ruins of the Great Pyramids of Giza. He knew from his lessons back in school that there were once three magnificent stone pyramids built by slave labor over five millennia ago. However, only one of the massive structures remained intact and a major portion of its top had been blown off during the war with the Unified Islamic Nations at the turn of the century while the other two had been completely destroyed leaving only piles of rocks. Nevertheless the lone pyramid made the perfect background for today’s story.
Bringing his camera around, Ryan focused it on his beautiful partner. He often wondered how strange that being in the right place at the right time had taken a part-time job and turned it into a wonderful career. With a shrug he chalked it up to good karma and flicked his hand to signal his partner. Showtime.
Jennifer Moody, the dark haired reporter who had become a network darling overni
ght, fidgeted with her hair as Ryan panned his camera across the desolate landscape. Even after eight months of globe hopping and countless interviews she always felt slightly nervous right before she went on camera. Even she had to admit that Ryan had picked a perfect location for today’s segment. She held her breath as the camera was trained on her and he gave her the signal. Flashing the audience a beautiful smile, she began.
“Good afternoon everyone, I’m Jennifer Moody and I’m here at the ruins of the Great Pyramids of Giza with my favorite holo-recorder Ryan Puente…”
Ryan’s hand briefly popped onto the screen as he waved from behind the camera. They had done it during their first report together after the failed Presidential assassination and it had quickly become their trademark.
“…and welcome to your daily news in a flash.”
Jennifer turned away from the camera and looked across the sea of sand. Ryan followed her lead.
“And why are we here in the ruins of Egypt? Well it just so happens that the refugees of the Unified Islamic Nations play a part in today’s story. As many of you know, after the war the majority of the survivors from the countries which made up the U.I.N. had to evacuate these regions due to the high levels of radiation which covered the countryside. Most left Earth to live among the stars and they became the driving force for the colonization of Jupiter and Saturn. As a matter of fact, one half of the members of the Jupiter Defense League and one of every three working for Titan Avionics can trace their heritage back to these lands. Why is that important?”
Jennifer paused. She knew that Ryan was shunting video-feed from the network archives to the transmission.
“Some of you may remember that Titan Avionics builds the Raptor, a military grade starfighter currently used by the JDL and the Confederacy. Interestingly enough, the Raptor was originally designed and built for a Coalition Fleet contract but the military chose the Avionics Strategic International Dragon over the Raptor to become the standard Fleet starfighter. Titan Avionics was left to peddle their starfighter to the colonists to use for a local defense force. Of course, when certain systems seceded from the Coalition and formed the Confederacy, the CSA immediately had access to an extremely agile starfighter that could rival the Dragon. During the war there were allegations that high ranking Titan Avionics executives had collaborated with enemies of the Coalition and a congressional investigation was called. Eventually Titan Avionics was cleared of any wrong doing and all charges were dropped. Still one has to wonder how the Confederates always had the latest versions of the Raptors. Hmm….”
She waved her hand as if to dismiss the subject.
“That’s a question best left for another day. This reporter has learned, through very reliable sources, that Titan Avionics has been granted the contract for the next generation warship. Now, I’m not talking about another starfighter here, I mean the biggest nastiest starship ever created by man. How do I know?”
Jennifer flashed her award winning smile and leaned forward ever so slightly; just enough to highlight her ample cleavage.
“Well, I could say it was female intuition but it isn’t just that. The project name for the ship is ‘Dreadnaught’ which when broken down to its root words means ‘Without Fear.’ Now, I’m no military scientist but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that you don’t go naming a small cruiser or even an advanced battleship,” she paused and made the quotation mark symbol with her hands, “Without Fear. Logically, this name would be reserved for something massive.”
Jennifer stepped back and shifted her head to the left to highlight her favorite profile.
“We have also learned that this ship was rushed into production mere days after the failed Presidential assassination attempt. This brings several questions to mind. Is this a sign that the truce with the Confederacy is coming to an end? Has the administration learned more information concerning the assassination attempt which they aren’t sharing? And why would such a lucrative contract go to a company that clearly has connections, currently unsubstantiated, to the Confederacy? Inquiries to the Fleet have gone unanswered. However, we have been granted an interview with retired Fleet Admiral and Titan Avionics Chief Executive Roger Thomas.”
Stepping to the left where the lone pyramid was once again behind her, she gave the audience a big smile. “So, we will be traveling to Saturn to get some answers. Until then remember… K.C.C.O. This is Jennifer and Ryan, signing off.”
Chapter 1
In a remote region of space within the Milky Way Galaxy there is a red dwarf star known as Wolf 359. Technically there is nothing really unique about that star system, no habitable planets, no spectacular gas giants and only minimal mining resources but as they say in real estate, location…location…location.
Being the closest star to Sol, at only 7.8 light years, it became known as the crossroads of intergalactic travel during the Terran Civil War. The Coalition originally just anchored several large supply ships in the area and a floating stardock. Eventually since so much traffic flowed through the area, they built Starbase Sigma using the theory known as the O’Neill colony. The starbase was over five kilometers in length with two counter-rotating cylinders which would provide artificial gravity via centrifugal force. It wasn’t completed until the height of the war and became a highly contested commodity that actually switched hands several times.
With the Truce of 2202, Starbase Sigma was abandoned. And neither side had plans to renovate it due to its dilapidated condition and the amount of space debris in the immediate area. However within two years, a Terran entrepreneur had totally rebuilt and renovated it and became known as Haven. Now after eight years, Haven had become the busiest starport in the Milky Way with over a quarter million permanent residents. And since it was unaffiliated with any government, it drew outcasts from every society and race. It truly was a haven for those without a planet.
As the civilian transport docked in Haven, the small robot rolled off the gangplank and looked around. Immediately it began the automatic process of interfacing with the space station’s central computer and correlating all relevant data to its mission. The boxy android was completely out of its comfort zone but had a mission to complete. Its mistress had directed it to find someone and not to return until its mission was complete. Its positronic brain wasn’t the largest or fastest in the universe but it reasoned that without a forwarding address, the only way to find its target was to visit its last known location and communicate with the resident A.I.
A.I. or Artificial Intelligence has always been a worry to some humans. There were abundant stories of computers and androids going berserk and attacking civilians. But as a matter of public record, it has never happened…at least not on its own accord. Whenever an incident occurred over the last century, it had been found that someone had intentionally reprogrammed or overridden all safety controls.
The ‘Three Laws’ of robotics were originally introduced by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in 1942. Even though they were set down just as part of a story, early designers of robots and androids found that they were indeed wonderful guidelines for artificial intelligence. The Three Laws are: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
On the surface the ‘Three Laws’ are relatively simple but as one really contemplates the elegance of them they discover that they grant a perfect circle of protection. However, only the earliest designs for service ‘bots and androids followed the ironclad principles set down by the ‘Three Laws,’ more advanced androids had certain morality codes written into their software.
UR-L8, the errant android’s designation, considered all this and more as it slowly rolled through the busy starport. It weaved through the mass of humanity that rushed to and from the busy spacep
ort. It was currently number twelve in a queue to communicate with Haven’s A.I… designation Datum.
Finally it heard a slight chime in its internal sensors followed by a soft, female voice. “How may I be of assistance today?”
UR-L8 realized that it must be programmed to use only vocal communications with non-station androids. Steering itself out of the thoroughfare, the small android continued to scan faces and compare those that passed by with its internal data. “This unit is looking for someone.”
“That is very vague. I cannot assist in your endeavor without proper information,” responded Datum.
UR-L8 shunted the images stored in its memory banks to Haven’s A.I. “My mistress has tasked this unit with locating this individual and transmitting a message of upmost importance. Can you assist this unit?
Datum was not the most advanced A.I. in the Terran sector nor was she the oldest either. Originally built and installed by the Coalition forces when Haven was known as Starbase Sigma to the Coalition and ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ to the Confederacy, she had served both masters during the war. Of course, she had also been blown up and repaired dozens of times during those years. In the intervening decade since the truce was signed and the space station sold to a private investor, Haven had become the busiest privately owned stardock in the Terran sector. To keep up with the times, the central computer had been updated and modified an untold number of times. However, since she was intergraded into every system of the space station, she had also developed certain quirks in her personality, one of them being a slight independent streak. Datum considered the request from the wayward android and weighed it against its prime directives. Seeing nothing against aiding the small android in its parameters, she accessed her own version of facial recognition and quickly located the target.
The Last Spartan 2: DJ's Mission Page 1