Court-Martial (Horatio Logan Chronicles Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  Court-Martial

  Horatio Logan Chronicles 2

  Chris Hechtl

  Copyright © 2017 by Chris Hechtl

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book and or portions thereof in any form.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and locations are fictional. Some may be parodies. Some characters are with permission. Any resemblance of some characters and places to others are strictly in the mind of the reader. Grin.

  Cover art by Chris Hechtl 2017. All rights reserved. The models are owned by their respective creators and used under the usage license. Some models were made by Chris Hechtl; others were purchased on Daz3d.com or Renderosity.com.

  Proofread and copy edited by: Wayne Gaskin, Duncan Anderson, Tim Brown, Mike Kotcher, Tom Stoecklein, Derek Hirohata, Carlos d'Empaire, Jory Gray

  Professionally copy edited by Rea Myers.

  Formatted by goodlifeguide.com

  Book List:

  The Founding of the Federation Series:

  First Steps

  To Touch the Stars

  The First A.I. War

  Stepping Stones

  Cornerstone: Tales of the Founding of the Federation 2

  Desperate Defense: Book 1 of the First Terran Interstellar War

  Waking the Sleeping Giant: Book 2 of the First Terran Interstellar War

  The Wandering Engineer Series:

  New Dawn

  Fools Gold

  Destiny's Choice

  Ghost Station

  Plague Planet

  Pirate's Bane

  Ghosts from the Past

  13 Degrees of Separation

  Jethro Goes to War Series:

  Jethro Goes to War

  First to Fight

  No Place Like Home

  Recruiting Drive

  Gods of War

  The Federation Reborn Series:

  Battlelines

  Pirate Rage

  Retribution

  Tales of the Federation Reborn

  The Gathering Storm (forthcoming)

  Horatio Logan Chronicles:

  Enemy of my Enemy

  Court-Martial

  Shelby Logan Chronicles:

  Convoy

  Independent Anthologies and Short Stories:

  Multiverse 1

  Multiverse 2

  The Bootstrap Series:

  Bootstrap Colony

  Second Chances

  Other Series:

  Princess Rescue Inc

  Afraid of the Dark

  Dedication

  I'd like to thank the late Mike Boos for his help, both with map making and with proofreading. You will be missed!

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  ACT I

  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

  ACT II

  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

  ACT III

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Epilogue

  Author's Afterward

  Cast

  JAG Articles and Charges

  Recommended reading order

  Appendix

  Author's Note:

  The following takes place in parallel with Convoy, Gods of War, and The Gathering Storm.

  Introduction

  The United Federation of Sapient Star Systems was founded by several species and became a beacon of civilization for four centuries. Most of the Milky Way Galaxy had been explored in that short time period. One hundred and twenty-one sapient species counted themselves as full-time members. The Federation advanced technology and the evolution of its member species. It was a golden age for sentient life in the galaxy. That was, until they made the mistake of expanding their exploration from the Milky Way to the nearest galaxy.

  The wormhole gate that was meant to open new worlds to Federation explorers quickly became a portal to hell. Xenophobic aliens poured through the gateway, invading Federation space and laying waste to everything they found.

  During the war, Horatio Logan served to the best of his ability. When his last ship, the Washington, was shot up, he was deposited in a life pod outside the Pyrax star system. While he and others like him slept, the Federation burned. Six centuries later his pod was found. It and its contents were sold in a series of unsavory deals. Chief Petty Officer Logan was awoken to a new dark time. He was considered an indentured servant of the Anvil Space Station. He became her chief engineer and labored for nearly a century to keep her population alive. He fell in love, had a child in Shelby Logan, and lost his wife when she and thousands of others were executed.

  Horatio continued to labor as the chief engineer of the space station but was deeply embittered by the situation. He raised his daughter and did his best to teach the people on the station.

  Near the turn of the last century, a stasis pod was found in the outskirts of the Senka star system by a tramp tender, the Io 11, running from pirates. Within the pod was a long-lost Federation admiral, Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons.

  Admiral Irons and his internal A.I. helped the mostly-female crew escape the pirates and then rebuild the ship during their journey. The admiral dealt with his time shock by setting a goal of restoring the Federation and reigniting the light of civilization in the galaxy once more.

  But forces were at work to stop him. The pirates were far more than the simple scourge they had first appeared to be. Horath, their homeworld, declared itself an Empire under the leadership of Emperor Pyotr Ramichov and launched a brutal offensive to take control of the sector, and eventually, the galaxy. The Empire had started on a path of xenophobia and initiated acts of genocide against the populations it conquered.

  Admiral Irons was dropped off in Pyrax on Anvil station where he met a near-death Horatio Logan. The admiral helped to stabilize the chief and then repaired the equipment in the sickbay to allow him and others to be treated and nursed back to health. While Horatio was recovering, Admiral Irons worked with Shelby Logan and the crew of the Io 11 to make some long overdue repairs to the station's infrastructure.

  When word came of the pirate attack on Agnosta by the yacht the Carib Queen, Admiral Irons marshaled the Logans and others to do something about the threat. Together they salvaged a Federation warship, Firefly. Admiral Irons gave a field commission to Horatio Logan to the r
ank of commander and Shelby Logan a field commission to lieutenant commander.

  With them and others at his back, they worked tirelessly to restore Firefly and along with her other long-forgotten ships. Together they were able to use the salvaged ships to fend off the initial pirate invasion. Admiral Irons then settled in to begin rebuilding the navy. His newly-reformed Federation Navy was on their way to rebuilding the Federation, only for the admiral to be driven out of the system into exile by Pyrax’s cutthroat politics, leaving Commander Horatio Logan in charge of the naval forces in the star system as senior ranking officer.

  While Admiral Irons had several harrowing adventures, he also did his best to send back information and care packages to Pyrax to keep the navy alive. Horatio did everything in his power to not only continue the navy but to do his best to expand it with the limited resources he had available.

  He dispatched forces to build a Marine base on Agnosta and sent ships to reach out to neighboring star systems to establish trade and picket forces. Admiral Irons sent word through freighters of discovery and restoration of the space city Antigua Prime in the star system Antigua. A short time later, a frantic freighter came into Agnosta with a dire warning of an impending attack on that star system. Firefly rode to the rescue and was not only able to get there before the star system fell but to also crush the enemy fleet and save the day.

  Meanwhile, after helping to stave off a Xeno plague on Epsilon Triangula, Admiral Irons took his yacht, the Phoenix, to jump across the middle of the sector into an empty star system with the intent of transiting through it and others to get to an out-of-the-way star nexus called Bek. But when he exited hyperspace low on fuel, he fell right into the hands of the pirates who had been stationed there as a picket force. Unaware of whom they had captured, Irons was able to lead a successful mutiny and not only captured the ship alone but also other ships in the star system.

  Firefly received intelligence of another impeding attack so flew to the rescue of Pyrax. She passed through the star system and arrived in B101a1 where Admiral Irons had taken his small forces into the teeth of an enemy task force far larger than his own. Together they defeated the enemy task force and won the day.

  Once the battle was over, Admiral Irons took stock and split the survivors. Some of the salvaged ships with prize crews and all of the prisoners were dispatched under Firefly's watchful eye to return to Pyrax. The admiral led his remaining battered forces with the newly-captured and rechristened battle cruiser Maine to Antigua.

  The return of Firefly and the ships she had been shepherding caused a renewal of faith in the admiral and the purpose of the navy. She also carried long overdue promotions to the naval forces. Horatio was promoted to captain. He did his best to follow the admiral's plan to expand the navy once more.

  Admiral Irons' force managed to pick their way through the sector to Antigua. There he founded the new capital of the Federation. Once he had a shipyard and the beginnings of ansible communications underway, he took a side trip to a secret research facility he had used to create the Nova bomb and where he had been given his rebuilt body and A.I.

  While there, he woke the sleepers that remained and tripped a Xeno virus. He was also declared president pro temp by the last president of the Federation in a message that transcended time itself.

  He returned from the facility with the group of sleepers, including two additional flag officers. Admiral White, a Neochimp, became their battle fleet commander and took the fight to the enemy in Protodon while Admiral Subert took over Pyrax from Captain Logan and set up shop there. Captain Logan was relegated to running the shipyard itself again, much to his relief.

  Between the two shipyards, the Federation began to build the ships and weapons needed to crush the Horathian pirate threat once and for all. Horatio was tasked to oversee the construction of the fleet in Pyrax. His people started to draw the partially-constructed ships they had been building for the past decade and then plugging in the components that Admiral Irons shipped in from Antigua.

  While they were doing that, pickets were established and reinforced in neighboring star systems. An expedition was planned and mounted to get into the Bek nexus through the rapids with the light cruiser Caroline.

  But the Horathians weren't sitting idle. They had begun expanding their empire, and when word of the admiral and his reborn Federation was picked up by forces en route to Protodon, they moved in with the intent to destroy the upstarts and crush the seed of free civilization once more.

  With grievous losses, Admiral White's Second Fleet fought them off and forced the remaining Horathian warships to retreat.

  As the battle for Protodon raged, Admiral Irons ordered Firefly to go to Epsilon Triangula to find out what was going on there. She was ambushed by a pirate task force led by Admiral von Berk, who then retreated when fresh Federation reinforcements started to flow into the star system. The Federation fleet did its best to stop them, but the enemy used captured and brainwashed victims to pilot their ships to get around the blockades.

  Word spread by courier vessel to the Horathian capital. A force was dispatched under Admiral De Gaulte, one of the Horathian Battle Fleet’s leading strategists. He, alongside his OPS officer, Commander Catherine Ramichov, the eldest princess of the realm, marshaled a fleet to oppose the reborn Federation in order to snuff it out before it became more of a threat.

  Admiral White's reinforced Second Fleet moved in to block Admiral von Berk, but before they could engage, the battle cruisers they'd fought earlier reappeared in the star system. The battle cruisers fought a delaying action, allowing von Berk to escape.

  As the fleet expanded, Admiral Irons pushed to promote officers to fill in the new gaps. Horatio Logan found himself promoted to commodore rank.

  A battered and humbled Firefly returned to Pyrax shortly before Caroline's triumphant return.

  When Caroline did return, she brought back delegates from both Bek and Nuevo. Some of the delegates were from the respective star system governments, but many were officers.

  With the proof that they could get to Bek and Nuevo and that both star systems were still occupied under their belt, the Federation went full steam ahead. Horatio Logan, with his promotion to commodore, knew his time was up in Pyrax but was shocked to realize change was to go to Bek with some of the Bekian officers in order to facilitate their update program and bring them up to speed with the outer Federation.

  However, Horatio found the task easier said than done. Just getting there had its inherent risks with the rapids. Once they were through the rapids, they exited into a Sargasso star system where dozens of starships had chanced the rapids, only to fail upon exit, trapping them and any survivors for a slow death.

  Caroline took her somber crew and passengers on to Bek, where they were met with consternation by the local government, navy and population at their unexpected return. During their absence, a battle of internal politics within the navy had broken out. Admiral Childress, a human, had risen out of retirement to force his way back to power. He used the distraction of Caroline's return to cement his grip on power within the navy. He used Admiral Irons’ orders to wrestle control of the navy from the local government as an excuse to gather still more power under his grip.

  Commodore Logan and the team of officers that had been sent with him to help were unaware of the political situation initially. Their counterparts in the form of Admiral Zekowitz did not warn them. However, Commodore Logan was used to such things due to his time in service prior to the outbreak of the Xeno war long ago. He quickly recognized some of the problems when he and the others were shuffled off to teaching and dead-end positions instead of the positions they had expected to be in.

  Once Caroline departed, they were left alone to try to navigate the twisted logic and bureaucracy of the Bekian Navy. Even Admiral Zekowitz did his best to keep apart from them as to maintain his own career safety.

  Alone, Commodore Logan and some of the other officers waged a quiet war to upgrade the Bek
ian Navy despite Admiral Childress and others. Pressure began to mount to see more progress, which added to resentment from the Bekian naval command. Finally, enough pressure forced them to allow the commodore to do a paper study on a Bekian starship.

  The commodore chose to build a factory ship, the Ilmarinen. He managed to avoid some of the pitfalls that Admiral Childress threw at him to get the ship beyond the dead-end design study and into actual construction. The commodore used the equipment Caroline had delivered to help him upgrade to instead build and outfit the starship.

  When Ilmarinen was completed, they were dispatched to the Sargasso star system of B-102c in order to build a small space station there and salvage what ships they could. Admiral Childress expected the ship and her crew to fail in their mission and thus be rid of them. If they failed and returned he would have ample reason to crush the commodore's career once and for all.

  Horatio had other motives. While they were building the Ilmarinen a ship carrying ansibles for Bek and Nuevo stopped in the empty star system. Her precious cargo had been badly battered in the transition of the rapids so they deposited the ansible platform in the empty star system.

  Ilmarinen found the ansible there, to the crew's consternation. They entered into discussions with the Federation while Horatio ordered his people to begin salvaging ships to build the Harbor Station, much to the captain's surprise.

  As the unconventional station took shape, the crew were forged into a new unit. They salvaged just enough materials to salvage several ships and sent them back to Bek with skeleton crews, drawing down their own limited manpower during the process. They also sent a ship to Nuevo to gather support for the station when it became clear that Admiral Childress had no intention of sending back any of the ships they had recovered.