by Jay Allan
MAP
CONTENTS
COVER
TITLE PAGE
MAP
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
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY JAY ALLAN
CREDITS
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
PROLOGUE
Top Secret—Eyes Only
Intelligence Report
Federal Colony Alpha-2
(Informally designated “Haven” by its inhabitants)
Epsilon Eridani II
Summary of Findings
Alpha-2 is the second major colony established by Federal America. It is currently the most populated extraterrestrial world, not only among Federal America’s colonies, but those of any Earth power. Its GCP is nearly twice that of any other colony planet.
Initial colonization began sixty-one years ago with three separate corporate-sponsored expeditions. The colony, privately managed for its first twenty years of existence, was subsequently nationalized along with the entirety of the corporate ownership at the end of the Great Civil War. Colonization has continued since that time under federal settlement directives, including various incentives to encourage resettlement of undesirable terrestrial societal groups.
While a federal governor was assigned shortly after the takeover, the initial colonial constitution was allowed to remain largely in effect until two years ago, when it was terminated as part of a federal effort to minimize resistance to the takeovers of formerly private colonies. Over the past twenty-six months, the federal senate has passed a series of Acts (fourteen, in fact) pertaining to the operation of the colony and the rights and obligations of the colonists.
The senate actions were initiated largely in response to growing unrest and acts of civil disorder. However, all indications show they have failed to curtail such activities and, in fact, have only served to stir additional resistance and resulted in a marked increase in seditious incidents (more on this below).
ASSESSMENT OF PLANETARY WEALTH AND STRATEGIC VALUE
The mining operations established by the initial corporate sponsors have operated under the control of the Federal Resource Bureau since nationalization. The mines themselves have been staffed primarily by convicts offered reduced terms or commutation of death sentences in exchange for service on Alpha-2 and subsequent residency there after release.
Alpha-2 is a world rich in vital resources and a major source of revenue and precious minerals for Federal America, constituting 29 percent of the nation’s total mineral wealth, and over 51 percent of the vital ores obtained from extraterrestrial sources. This makes the planet Federal America’s most valuable colony by a considerable margin, and estimates place the percentage of federal GNP derived directly and indirectly from Alpha-2 at 11.3 percent. As such, the colony is deemed vital to the interests of Federal America, and the maintenance of order there to be a primary national interest.
ANALYSIS OF SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY
As noted, Alpha-2 has exhibited increasing amounts of seditious activity over the past ten years, with a sharp acceleration in the incidence of unrest occurring over the most recent thirty months. Production and revenue have begun to be affected, and the first outright reductions in both categories have manifested in the most recent year. Frontier Command increased the security garrisons by 80 percent one year ago. This action has proven to be inadequate to arrest the accelerating decline in conditions, however.
There has been a subsequent correlation with the growing civil disobedience and the substantial increase in smuggling activity over the past twenty-four Earth months. We believe that the unauthorized goods include large amounts of illegal weaponry, obtained on both the black market and from rival Earth powers. These have, in turn, been delivered to proto-rebel cells that have proliferated around the major population centers.
Efforts to infiltrate and expose rebel groups have been largely unsuccessful, and losses among field operatives assigned to undercover operations have been high.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Prompt remediation of the situation on Alpha-2 is considered of extreme importance if open rebellion is to be prevented. Law and order must be imposed on the populace with considerable force, and seditious individuals must be identified and arrested. We must establish greater federal control on economy activity and the ongoing surveillance program must be strengthened. Specific recommendations include:
1.The immediate suspension of the planetary constitution and the implementation of limited martial law until further notice, to include customary measures such as curfews and the limitation of public assemblies.
2.The immediate appointment of a federal observer with full power to supersede the authority of the planetary governor in all matters involving security and the suppression of revolt.
3.An immediate 200 percent increase in the number of federal troops deployed to Alpha-2, and a transfer of authority from Frontier Command to the federal observer.
4.The institution of a complete planetary blockade and the implementation of substantially harsher penalties for smuggling activities, especially those involving weapons and ordnance. A planetwide supplementary tax on Alpha-2 is proposed to fund the cost of deploying naval squadrons to the system.
5.The immediate implementation of increased intelligence activity, including unrestricted search and surveillance authority by the federal observer and any designated subordinates. The rights against search and seizure previously carried over from the original planetary constitution to be terminated immediately.
6.The federal observer should be given the authority to institute summary judgments and forgo or overrule trials in cases deemed to address security matters.
7.The implementation of a program of censorship, affecting all media outlets, communication systems, and information transit hubs planetwide. Federal observer to be given power to institute a full government takeover of all affected systems at his/her sole discretion.
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
Alpha-2 is crucial colony, and its production and revenues are of considerable importance to Federal America. Additionally, as the single largest and most prominent settled planet, events on Alpha-2 are likely to influence inhabitants on other federal colonies, possibly promoting the spread of seditious and treasonous activity far beyond the Epsilon Eridani system. Clearly, there is significant danger in allowing the instability on Alpha-2 to continue or to spread.
Additionally, there is considerable concern that both the Eurasian Union and the Pacific Hegemony would provide clandestine support to any nascent rebel movement (if they aren’t already), and in the event of measurable success by revolutionary forces, even an open alliance—one that could easily lead to war on Earth.
It is therefore essential to prevent any rebellion
before it occurs and to restore Alpha-2 to compliance with federal regulations and standards, by whatever means necessary.
CHAPTER 1
FREE TRADER VAGABOND
APPROACHING ALPHA-2 COLONY (HAVEN)
EPSILON ERIDANI II
“Captain, I’m picking up a high energy reading. It’s about ninety thousand kilometers ahead, and—”
“Scanners off. Engines full stop.” Sasha Nerov cut off her first officer, snapping out the order in a tone that left no doubt about its urgency. Nerov sat in the less than plush command chair at the center of Vagabond’s cramped control room, her face twisted into a worried grimace. “Shut down the reactor.” She turned and stared at her first officer, her ice blue eyes locked on his in a withering gaze. “Now! Switch to battery power for life support and vital systems.”
Griff Daniels nodded. “Yes, Captain,” he replied nervously as he turned back to his workstation. He leaned forward over the intraship comm and repeated the captain’s commands, nodding quietly to himself as the ship’s engineer acknowledged the instructions. Almost immediately, the near-constant hum of Vagabond’s reactor ceased, leaving an eerie quiet.
Nerov watched her second in command for a few seconds before turning back toward the main viewscreen in front of her. It was a state-of-the-art, high-resolution display, looking a bit out of place surrounded by the dark steel girders and aging conduits. Vagabond was an old ship, dating back to the earliest days of interstellar travel, but Nerov had poured a king’s ransom of smuggling profits into updating her vessel’s key systems, creating a chaotic combination of old and new.
A few more runs as profitable as the last one, and the old girl will be as good as new.
Most of her peers squandered their smuggling gains with an abandon that would have shamed seventeenth century pirates ransacking the brothels and taverns of the Spanish Main, but not Sasha Nerov. Her tastes in recreation tended toward quieter pursuits, and her profits went mostly into her ship—and into well-hidden stashes. Her rainy-day fund.
Right now she was very worried about storm clouds.
Vagabond wasn’t a match for a frontline warship in combat, of course, and it was far from a comfortable vessel for those who lived aboard, but its ECM and scanning suites were top of the line. And its engines were a match even for a federal craft. So while Vagabond couldn’t fight a federal frigate with any hope of victory, she had at least some chance—albeit a small one—of running away from one.
But it was better to just not get caught, and that’s why Nerov had shut down the engines.
“Passive scanners on full,” she said, her eyes fixed on the blank screen. “Tie in the AI and see what it can do with the incoming data.” She knew they were too far out to get much from the passive sensors, but running the active suite was essentially lighting a flare to anyone out there.
If they haven’t picked us up already . . .
Nerov sat straight up in her chair, giving her crew the image of the fearless captain she knew they needed. But inside her stomach was clenched in a knot. She didn’t have anything concrete, but she knew that was a federal frigate out there. She could feel it. And that was bad news. Especially since her cargo hold was full of weapons . . . and especially since those guns and ammunition were illegal and bound for the antigovernment forces on Haven.
“Passive scanners activated, Captain. We have limited readings at this range, but the AI is chewing on it.”
Nerov opened her mouth, but she closed it again without speaking. She wanted to give the order to bolt, to engage the engines at full and run like hell. But she knew that was at best a gamble, and probably a worse one than staying put. Vagabond had maybe a fifty-fifty chance of getting away from a frigate, but that mostly depended on factors out of her control, things like how sharp a captain and crew she was facing. And she had to admit, as much as the federal navy was her adversary, it was a capable outfit, and most of its officers were combat veterans. No, she wouldn’t run. Not yet. Her best bet right now was lying low, making like a hole in space and hoping to go unnoticed.
That, and praying.
“Captain . . .” Daniels turned toward Nerov. The bridge lights were dimmed, part of the energy reduction program to extend the ship’s battery life, but she saw the concern on his face through the dark shadows. “It definitely looks like a federal ship,” he continued. “A frigate, I’d bet. It’s firing at another vessel . . .”
Nerov nodded, but she didn’t reply. She’d been hearing rumors for months now that the federal navy intended to institute a blockade of Haven.
I guess I can upgrade that from rumor status.
She sighed softly. She’d known for a long time that things were bad on the troubled colony world—hell, you generally didn’t need to smuggle weapons onto a world that was stable. But the unrest had been growing for years now, and there were secret groups all over the planet, plotting and scheming. Preparing for rebellion. And the latest increase in federal levies stationed there had only poured gas on a smoldering fire.
But a blockade? She had an idea of what it cost to station a naval squadron in the system, and if the federals had committed that kind of funding, they were serious about tightening their control. That meant this was a major escalation by the federals, one guaranteed to push the Havenites to the brink of open war. That wasn’t just a guess on her part either—she was acquainted with enough of the independence leaders to know they would not take this lying down.
It didn’t change the fact that she had bills to pay, though.
“Well, it looks like our jobs just got harder, boys.” She glanced around at the three members of her bridge crew as she spoke, trying to sound as calm as she could for their benefit. Her people were experienced, so at least they had that going for them. But this was a very different situation than they’d been dealing with for the last two years. Before today, they had been cleaning up, shipping weapons to the rebels on Haven and making obscene profits doing it.
The situation had been nearly perfect. The Eurasian Union and Federal America’s other rivals, anxious for any opportunity to shove a thorn in their adversary’s side, had been more than willing to sell her cutting edge ordnance for a pittance. And she’d had little trouble slipping past the federal customs patrols to deliver those cargoes to her rebel clients, who paid exorbitant prices for her smuggled goods. She’d almost felt guilty about charging so much.
Almost.
It had been a milk run, the easiest money she and her people had ever made. But she suspected things had just become far more problematic. Slipping past a revenue cutter or two was child’s play for a smuggler as capable as Nerov, but fencing with federal navy frigates was a different game, a far more dangerous one. And she didn’t relish the thought of losing Vagabond and spending the next ten years in a federal penal colony for smuggling.
That is, if they weren’t just blown out of space.
“Captain . . .”
The instant she heard Daniels, she knew something was wrong.
“I think the other ship is Wasp . . .”
Nerov felt a chill run down her spine. Wasp was another smuggler, and her captain was Sergei Brinker, Nerov’s old first officer, gone out on his own six months before.
Sergei . . .
She turned back toward Daniels. “I want that confirmed, Griff.”
“I’m as sure as I can be, Captain. At least without an active scanner pulse.”
“Very well.” Nerov spoke softly, a touch of emotion slipping through her cold veneer. “Maintain status.”
Daniels hesitated. “Ah . . . yes, Captain,” he finally said. Then he added, “Wasp doesn’t have a chance, does it? Not unless . . .”
“Unless what? Unless we go barging in there and fire on a federal frigate?” Her voice had more edge than she’d intended. She just hated the idea of watching someone she knew, someone she cared about, get arrested by the federals. But her first responsibility was to her own ship and crew. And Wasp and Vagabond together were
still no match for a federal frigate, at least not without an element of surprise they wouldn’t have.
Nerov was glaring at her exec, but he didn’t respond. Not that she expected him to—what could he possibly say? He just nodded slowly and turned back to his workstation.
Nerov fidgeted nervously in her chair. She knew Daniels hadn’t deserved to be the target of her angst. It’s just that she was worried about Brinker and his people. Wasp’s captain was a free spirit, a man who despised rules and authority. She couldn’t imagine what ten years in a federal prison camp would do to him. Every fiber in her being was pushing her to intervene, to throw Vagabond into the ≠encounter and fight it out. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Her crew came first, and she couldn’t toss away their lives on a fool’s errand. No, she couldn’t help Wasp. All she could do was watch and hope the smuggler managed to escape. Somehow.
Come on, Sergei. Make a run for it. You can make it . . .
But she didn’t really believe it.
“Maintain pursuit, Lieutenant. All batteries lock on target.” Captain Gregory Jacobs spoke coldly, precisely. He stared out over Condor’s bridge, watching his veteran crew working with the precision he had taught them. Condor was a celebrated vessel, one of the navy’s best. She had served with distinction in the last war, and her crew had received over a dozen citations for bravery and exemplary conduct in the face of the enemy.
And now we’re police, chasing smugglers around one of our own colonies . . .
It was a bitter pill to swallow, an assignment Jacobs found distasteful and beneath the dignity of this ship. But orders were orders, and Jacobs and his people were creatures of duty. They didn’t have to like their new posting, but they would obey commands to the last, every one of them.
And Jacobs himself would throw anyone who didn’t out of the airlock.
“Yes, Captain. The vessel is attempting to flee, but we are maintaining contact.” Lieutenant Merrill snapped out his report with precision, and with only the slightest twinge of the sullen dissatisfaction that had clung to most of the crew’s words since they’d arrived in the Epsilon Eridani system. Merrill was a long service veteran, and he’d served under Jacobs since before the war. He was as rigidly career navy as his captain, meaning he would perform without question, and yet was able to let his tone convey all the displeasure he could without being insubordinate. “Weapons are charged and ready, Captain . . . and locked on.”