To The Shores ...
(The Empire’s Corps – Book VI)
Series Listing
Book One: The Empire’s Corps
Book Two: No Worse Enemy
Book Three: When The Bough Breaks
Book Four: Semper Fi
Book Five: The Outcast
Book Six: To The Shores
Christopher G. Nuttall
http://www.chrishanger.net
http://chrishanger.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ChristopherGNuttall
All Comments Welcome!
Cover Blurb
A new mainstream novel of The Empire’s Corps!
Four years after their abandonment by the now-fallen Empire, the Commonwealth of Avalon is expanding into interstellar space and making contact with other successor states. With suspicion high on both sides, the Commonwealth and the enigmatic Wolfbane agree to hold a diplomatic meeting on Lakshmibai, a neutral world.
But Lakshmibai’s government hates off-worlders and, with the fall of the Empire, sees its chance to be rid of the hatred intruders once and for all. While Edward Stalker is besieged in their capital city, Jasmine Yamane must lead an untested army on a race against time to save the diplomats from annihilation.
And if she fails, the Battle of Lakshmibai may be the first shot in a new interstellar war.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader
To The Shores is the sixth book in The Empire’s Corps and is a mainstream novel, following the adventures of the Marines stranded on Avalon when the Empire fell. I’ve done my best to keep it accessible to readers who haven't read previous works, but honesty compels me to admit that long-term readers will probably get more out of the book. In particular, the previous mainstream adventures are The Empire’s Corps, No Worse Enemy and Semper Fi.
Chronologically speaking, To The Shores takes place roughly four years after The Empire’s Corps.
The story of the final days of Old Earth are told in When The Bough Breaks, although the characters on Avalon are only starting to become aware of the end of Empire.
I hope this meets with your approval. Please feel free to post your opinions on my website discussion board or facebook page (links above.) And if you liked the story, please don’t hesitate to write a review.
As always, if you spot any spelling errors and suchlike, drop me a note. I offer cameos!
Thank you for your attention.
Christopher G. Nuttall
Dedication
Ten years ago, I had my first formal introduction to the Marine Corps through Bing West, who chronicled the 1st Marine Division’s advance on Baghdad in The March Up (2003). Since then, he has written several other books, most notably No True Glory, The Strongest Tribe and The Wrong War, all of which looked at modern war and those who fought it.
I write about fictional warriors, fictional defenders of civilisation. Bing West writes about real defenders of civilisation, the men and women who sacrifice their rights, their freedoms and (in some cases) their lives to preserve yours. Without the spirit of grunts, as he correctly points out, America cannot sustain itself.
This book is dedicated to him and the others who tell those stories to the world.
Chapter One
The simplest definition of diplomacy might be the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way. People use diplomacy every day, from negotiating with their partners to trying to convince their boss that they’re worthy of a raise. However, in this article, we are primarily concerned with international diplomacy.
-Professor Leo Caesius. Diplomacy: The Lessons of the Past.
Colonel Edward Stalker, Terran Marine Corps, rose to his feet as Lieutenant Jasmine Yamane entered his office and saluted smartly. Edward returned the salute and then motioned for her to take a seat, which she did, never taking her eyes off him. He studied her back, looking for signs that her ordeal on Corinthian hadn't crippled her permanently. No one became a Marine without an inhuman ability to handle pain and stress, but torture could break even the strongest minds.
She was tall and muscular, her hair grown out slightly in the months she’d been on the beach while the medics and headshrinkers put her back together again. Vanity was not a common Marine failing, but Edward couldn't help noticing that she’d had the scars on her face surgically removed, leaving her looking like a very dangerous predator. She might not be beautiful in the classical sense, certainly not like the holographic stars who had dominated the arena and public viewscreens before the Empire had collapsed, but she was definitely striking. And, he could tell, impatient to return to work.
“I received the final report from the medics yesterday,” he said, without preamble. Marines rarely had time for small talk. “You are cleared to return to duty.”
Jasmine nodded, slowly. Her face seemed unreadable, but Edward picked up the subtle signs of relief that showed just how concerned she’d been, even after passing a series of increasingly difficult tests intended to weed out the unsuitable or the unfit. Like Edward himself, she’d spent years turning herself into a Marine – and losing it might well have crippled her.
“Thank you, sir,” she said, finally.
“However, there are other issues,” Edward admitted. He winced inwardly as her shoulders twitched, slightly. “I cannot return you to 1st Platoon.”
“I understand,” Jasmine said, tonelessly.
Edward felt her pain. Command of a Marine formation was a honour – and Jasmine had commanded 1st Platoon during the covert operation against Admiral Singh. But she’d been taken off duty just after the operation had concluded, forcing him to place command of 1st Platoon into the hands of Blake Coleman, who still held the post. Before the Empire had withdrawn and then collapsed, a Marine officer who returned to duty could be assigned to a different company or spend a few months attached to a headquarters platoon. Neither one was an option on Avalon.
Traditionally, few Marine ranks were permanent – and an unsuitable officer could be reassigned without denting his pride or setting a bad example. But Blake Coleman seemed to have matured since his shaky start and there were no grounds to deprive him of his new post, even though he’d replaced his former commander and teammate. Besides, he did have another post in mind for Jasmine.
“Tell me,” he said, falling into the informality that Marines adopted for private discussions, “where do you see your career going?”
Jasmine blinked in surprise – and Edward smiled, amused at her expression. It did sound like a silly question, particularly with so few Marines within the Commonwealth. Jasmine couldn't replace Edward himself – the company’s CO – or take command of one of the five remaining full-strength platoons. Her career, on the face of it, had nowhere to go.
“I honestly don't know,” she said, carefully. “I could return to the ranks ...”
“You could,” Edward agreed. Even among Marines, it would be impolite for her to suggest that she might take his place. If the Empire had still been in existence, she might well have been a Captain by now. But the Empire was gone. “I had something else in mind.”
He met her eyes. “Have you been following the diplomatic updates?”
Jasmine nodded. “The Wolfbane Sector?”
“Yes,” Edward said, simply. “Governor Brown may pose a significant threat to the Commonwealth.”
The thought made him scowl. Four years ago, there had been the Empire ... and no significant independent states worthy of the name. Everyone had known that even a nominally independent star system wouldn't stand a chance if the Imperial Navy came knocking one day. Now, there was the Commonwealth and a handful
of other successor states taking shape among the stars. One of them had already posed a major threat to the Commonwealth. Another might be far harder to take down before it was too late.
Little was known of Governor Brown. According to the files, he’d been third or fourth in line to the sector governorship of the Wolfbane Sector, a man so unremarkable that the famously-complete files gathered by the Imperial Civil Service said very little about him. Edward could only imagine what might have happened to boost him into a position of power; civil war, a coup, perhaps even the mass desertion of his superiors. It wouldn't be the only time that high-ranking officials had fled the chaos looming along the Rim for the bright lights of Earth, if Earth was still intact. Some of the rumours that had reached them through the Trade Federation – another successor state – had been horrifying.
Edward tapped a control and a holographic star chart shimmered into existence. “We have no way of knowing just how powerful the Wolfbane Sector is,” he admitted. “In theory, he should have five squadrons of battleships and several hundred smaller craft under his command, but we don’t know how many of them are still there – and in working order. We do know that we want to establish diplomatic relationships and eventually determine a practical border.”
Jasmine frowned, one finger stroking her chin as she studied the chart. “You don’t intend to try to convince him to join us?”
“We don’t know enough about him to even guess at how successful such a ploy would be,” Edward said. It was galling to admit that his long-term objective, the restoration of humanity’s unity without the cracks in the Empire that had eventually torn it apart, might be in jeopardy, but he couldn't avoid considering the possibility. “For the moment, we merely want to establish relations and trading links.”
He pointed to one of the stars, situated roughly midway between Avalon and Wolfbane. “We’ve been talking to his representatives through the good offices of the Trade Federation,” he continued. “Eventually, the Governor agreed to a conference between our representatives and his here, on Lakshmibai. We will be sending an Ambassador with authority to negotiate on the issues that concern us, as will he.”
“That should be interesting,” Jasmine said. “Why there?”
“Lakshmibai has nothing that anyone wants, us included,” Edward said. “The planet is neutral by default. According to the files, there was little contact between it and the Empire, apart from a half-hearted attempt to intervene in the planet’s civil war. Brown ... seems to feel that it is a suitable place for two interstellar powers to hold talks.”
He shrugged. “I would prefer to send a mission to Wolfbane, but that suggestion was rejected,” he added. “To be fair, we rejected their suggestion of sending a mission to Avalon too.”
“Because they might be trying to spy on us,” Jasmine agreed. “And they have the same worries about us.”
“They would be right,” Edward said, wryly. He switched off the hologram and leaned back in his chair. “After a great deal of argument in the Council, it has been decided that we cannot afford to refuse his offer of talks. Accordingly, a mission will be setting out to Lakshmibai. That mission will be headed by me.”
Jasmine scowled. “Sir,” she said slowly, “with all due respect, it might be a trap.”
“It might be,” Edward agreed, unemotionally. It was equally galling to realise that he might be irreplaceable on Avalon, even though he was a mere Colonel. “But the mission needs ambassadors of considerable authority. Professor Caesius will make up the other half of the ambassadorial team.”
He smiled at Jasmine’s expression. No one would have expected the professor and her to have become friends, but they had. And Jasmine was also a close friend of both of the professor’s daughters. Having relationships outside the Corps was good for his Marines, even if civilians did have the strangest ideas of what the Marines did for a living.
“There will be a substantial security element embarked on the transport,” he continued, putting that thought aside for the moment. “I believe that this is a good opportunity to carry out a deployment of the 1st Commonwealth Expeditionary Force, now that we have finally put most of its order of battle together. You will be given the brevet rank of Brigadier and take command of the force.”
Jasmine stared at him, no longer able to try to hide her surprise. It was a colossal jump in rank and responsibility – and it would have been unthinkable before the fall of the Empire, where an officer required years of seasoning or extensive political connections to rise so high. Even in the Marine Corps, it could be decades before an officer had a chance at divisional command. But Avalon had a shortage of experienced officers, particularly ones who had served on multiple worlds. Jasmine was among the handful of relatively experienced officers under his command.
There were other considerations, he knew. The Commonwealth’s constitution limited the deployable forces available to the central government. In theory, the Marines should be able to provide reinforcements if they were needed at short notice – it had been one of their roles in the Empire – but there simply weren't enough Marines to handle the task. Instead, they had to put together a light force from Avalon, which had its own problems. Few Knights of Avalon had any experience operating at the end of a shoestring logistics chain.
And then there are the political faultlines between the former Civil Guardsmen and the Crackers, he thought. And the reluctance of Avalon’s Knights to serve off-world ...
He pushed the thought aside and smiled at her. “Hopefully, this will be nothing more than a full-scale exercise,” he informed her. “An exercise conducted under extremely realistic conditions. However, just in case we do run into trouble ...”
“It would be well to have a large force accompanying us,” Jasmine finished. “What is the situation on the planet’s surface?”
“Good question,” Edward said. “Unfortunately, the last update in the files from Lakshmibai is over seven years old. At the time, there was a large Imperial Army garrison and supply dump on the planet’s surface. Now ... we don’t know.”
“It's unlikely that the garrison is still there,” Jasmine said, thoughtfully. “And the weapons in the supply dump might have been taken by one of the factions on the planet’s surface.”
Edward nodded, concealing his annoyance. If the files were to be believed – and he knew through experience that the Imperial Army’s manifests were sometimes nothing more than elaborate works of fiction – there was enough war material on Lakshmibai’s surface to outfit several full-sized divisions of troops. He would have given his right arm for such a supply dump during the war against the Crackers on Avalon; now, however, it wouldn't be so useful for the Commonwealth. One of the major differences between the Marine Corps and the Imperial Army was that the former’s weapons and vehicles were lightened to make them more deployable, while the latter could take months or years to build up the logistics base for operations. Hauling supplies from Lakshmibai to Avalon – or anywhere else in the Commonwealth – might be more trouble than it was worth.
“It is unlikely,” he agreed. “And it’s even more unlikely that there was anything in the supply dumps that would make a difference now. But I’d still like to know what happened to the planet, if only to add to the files.”
He shrugged. “Assuming all goes to plan, you will have several months to run exercises on the planet’s surface while I and the professor take part in the discussions,” he informed her. “If not ... we may have to improvise.”
Jasmine didn't look daunted, he was pleased to see. But then, she’d never had to command such a large force on exercise, let alone in actual combat. She didn’t really know what she was getting into, any more than Edward had truly realised it when he’d been offered command of the company.
Sink or swim, he reminded himself.
“You’ll assume command of the assembling force tomorrow,” he concluded. “Do you have any specific requests or requirements you wish to raise?”
Jasmine hesita
ted, then nodded. “I would like to request that Joe Buckley be assigned to my command,” she said. “He ... is running out of patience on the training grounds.”
Edward smiled, rather dryly. The Marine Corps had a proud tradition of rotating training officers through combat units on a regular basis, a tradition that the Knights had copied ... but there were still considerable shortages of experienced training officers. It required officers and sergeants who could come across as sadistic brutes, while carefully not becoming monsters who abused their trainees or pushed them too far. Joe Buckley had been doing an excellent job, ever since his marriage, but Edward could understand his wish to return to active duty.
“I dare say that he can be spared,” he said, after a moment’s thought. “I’ll have a word with Howell and have him attached to your command. He’ll have to deal with his wife on his own, though.”
“I think Lila will understand,” Jasmine said. “She did know what she was marrying.”
Edward wasn't so sure. Military wives might be able to deploy with their husbands – or they might be left behind, to make do as best as they could while their partner did his duty in another star system. The military wasn't kind to married soldiers; it wasn't unknown for a soldier to return home, only to discover that his wife had left him for another man. Even the Marine Corps had problems handling married Marines. The stresses of never knowing when one’s husband might be called away – or die in the line of duty – placed colossal stress on even the strongest marriages.
“Let us hope so,” he said, neutrally. Had Lila and Joe Buckley been separated for more than a week since they’d married? It was unlikely; Buckley was currently based at Castle Rock, where there was more than enough room for married couples. As a training officer, he was entitled to quarters suitable for both himself and his wife. “You should tell him that the whole deployment will take at least four months.”
The Empire's Corps: Book 06 - To The Shores... Page 1