Ericksen smiled. “I’m escorting a contractor, Private.”
As the technician began to speak, Fuller brought his hand down on the man’s neck in a martial arts move, delivering a stunning blow. He quickly put the young man in a chokehold and squeezed until he stopped moving; it was over in a matter of seconds.
“He’s out cold,” Fuller said as Ericksen walked behind a console and got to work.
After keying in the proper commands and inserting the data drive containing the precious information the resistance had been able to gather, she was ready to execute. “Here goes nothing,” she commented with something approaching a smile, then brought her hand down and pressed the enter key.
All hell broke loose; alarm klaxons wailed, and a red light outside of the security door blinked. “Whiskey tango foxtrot, Major? Did you do it wrong?” Fuller asked while drawing his sidearm and racking the action.
“They must have changed the security protocols,” Ericksen said, her voice high-pitched and full of fear.
Fuller turned around and walked over to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her. “Look, get it together, Major. You’ve got one job here: send that transmission. We clear on that?”
Ericksen nodded her head despite her hands shaking in terror. “Yes.” I was a supply officer, not a combatant.
“Now, you got picked because you had the right clearance, and you know how to use these things, right?”
Ericksen nodded hesitantly.
“Look, I’m a grunt. I’m going to stop the men coming here to prevent us from doing our task. You are going to finish this no matter what. Okay?” Fuller said to her in what she could tell was his attempt at being soothing.
“I’ll do my best,” Ericksen finally said, forcing herself to think about the problem and not the fear.
“Okay,” Fuller said, releasing his hold on her shoulders and turning back toward the door. “You stay put. I’m going to deal with the first wave, which ought to be a couple of rent-a-cop contractors that your dog could handle without breaking a sweat.”
Something about Fuller’s easy-going attitude, even in the face of what appeared to be certain death, disarmed Ericksen’s fear. I bet we’d be friends if we’d met before this. He seems like a decent guy. There was a trio of reports that sounded to her like a standard-issue sidearm. As she continued to input commands into the computer system, Fuller walked back into the room carrying a couple of rifles and a handful of magazines.
“Somebody got the rent-a-cops battle rifles. They should have invested in better armor,” he said with a cocky grin. “The next round, on the other hand, will be a bit more difficult. The base’s rapid reaction force should take a couple of minutes to get here, but they’ll know what they’re doing.”
Ericksen looked up from her attempts to access the communication network. “Is anyone else coming to help us?”
Fuller shook his head. “I was supposed to have three more operators with me, but our prime minister’s finest arrested them two days ago.”
“Do you think they knew we were planning this?” Ericksen asked hesitantly.
“I doubt it. Otherwise, there would have been an army here. No, they got lucky… but I’ll tell you this. It’ll take a lot more than Fitzroy’s goons to get my guys to talk. They’d die first. Now, how is it coming?”
“I’m getting there. There’s a new security protocol for using the transmitter. I’ve got to remember how to do real work,” Ericksen said with a forced grin.
“Keep pushing. I’ll deal with the hostiles,” Fuller said as he stepped back out into the corridor that lay beyond the security door, battle rifle up and at the ready.
As Ericksen worked, there were bursts of gunfire, jolting her from her task, but after the first couple of interruptions, she realized that from somewhere deep inside, nerves of steel had taken over. Breaking past the first lockout, she glanced up as Fuller thrust the door open. He quickly stepped through, then turned around long enough to fire a long burst that felled the soldier pursuing him.
“Well, that was fun,” he said, panting and quickly reloading his rifle. “Good news… they’re down four shooters. Bad news… they’ve got eight more out there. How close are you?”
“I’ll be ready to open a channel momentarily.”
“Okay, I’ll hold them off as long as I can. Are you armed?”
Ericksen nodded, reaching behind and drawing the sidearm she had in a holster in the small of her back. “Standard issue 10mm sidearm. I shoot marksman every year,” she said with pride.
“Yeah, you’ll get a chance to try that out against real people that shoot back. Not as easy as it looks.”
The door swinging open interrupted the back and forth; a soldier in full combat gear loomed in the entryway, but Fuller was quick. Before Ericksen could even send the command to her hand to raise the sidearm she held, he had shot the man three times in center mass. The soldier crumpled to the floor in a heap, but there were more beyond. He stepped to one side, braced the battle rifle to his shoulder, and leaned out, firing short bursts that killed several more of the advancing team.
Ericksen screamed as bullets slapped the wall behind her and one grazed her shoulder. Trying to drown out the battle, she focused on sending the last command to the system that would initiate a communications link with the Coalition Defense Force ship in orbit above.
****
David was in the middle of reviewing an engineering readiness report on the bridge of the Lion of Judah, when Taylor interrupted his thoughts. “Conn, communications. I’m receiving a transmission from the surface, sir. It appears to be from a member of the Monrovian National Guard. It’s garbled, but definitely directed at us.”
“Well, that’s a bit peculiar,” David said toward Aibek, who nodded his large Saurian head. “Lieutenant, put it through to my viewer.”
The flat-paneled monitor above David’s chair snapped on, the picture showing a blonde woman holding a sidearm in a classic shooter’s stance. “This is Major Jacqueline Ericksen calling the CDF ship in orbit, come in!”
“Major, this is Colonel David Cohen, CSV Lion of Judah. How can we be of assistance?”
Shouts, screams, and gunfire sounded in the background of the transmission as Ericksen looked down into the camera. “Colonel, I don’t have a lot of time. I’m transmitting you a message that contains evidence of what’s happening on Monrovia. The important part is you can’t believe what the government tells you.”
“I don’t follow, Major. What’s going on?”
“Some time ago, the government decided on a plan that was approved by a planet-wide referendum to join the League of Sol. As I’m sure you know, the League requires that all citizens pledge allegiance only to the government and to renounce any belief in a higher power. Those of us that wouldn’t comply have been systematically rounded up and imprisoned.”
As David began to form the words to reply, a burst of gunfire was heard through the commlink. A male voice shouted, “I can’t hold them back much longer!”
“There’s not much time left, Colonel. We need the Terran Coalition’s help. Our resistance movement formed too late and has been largely ineffective. They’ve rounded up everyone: Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim… hell, they arrested agnostics for a while if they wouldn’t pledge loyalty. It’s all in the data file. They’re supposedly reeducating those that they rounded up, but any who refuse to give in will be executed. Please, Colonel, save us. The Terran Coalition is our last hope.”
“Major, if you’ll give me your position, I can get a shuttle of Marines down there in fifteen minutes,” David said, his face a mask of anger. Not on my watch.
“It’s no use, Colonel. We’re in the middle of one of the most heavily protected military installations on the planet. This was a one-way trip. We’ve just got to hold out for another…” Ericksen’s voice cut off as a series of shouts, and an explosion occurred off camera; gunshots rang out from close to the microphone, which David assumed was her s
idearm yet again. A second later, he heard a woman’s scream, followed by a final gunshot. Moments later, the feed cut off.
“Did that just happen?” David asked, staring at Taylor. “Can we confirm the transmission was legitimate?”
“Well, sir, it came from a military installation on Monrovia. I can’t confirm the veracity of the information, of course.”
“It looked real to me, sir,” Aibek said with what looked like a concerned look for a Saurian on his face, at least in David’s brief knowledge of Saurian expressions.
“Did we get the information transmission she was talking about?” David asked.
“It was cut off mid-transmission, sir. I’ll try to put it back together.”
“You do that, Lieutenant. XO, assemble the senior staff, including Doctor Hayworth and Major Merriweather, in the conference room in thirty minutes. I want to discuss our options.”
“Sir, should we contact the government and ask them what’s going on?” Aibek asked.
“No, not until we’ve had a chance to review what Lieutenant Taylor puts together and discuss the situation among ourselves.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get everyone together.”
“Thank you, XO,” David said, closing his eyes for a moment before standing. “XO has the conn,” David walked off the bridge, pulling his cover off as he passed the threshold to the passageway beyond. There’s no way in God’s green universe I’m going to allow a planet to round up and execute millions of innocents; we pledged a long time ago that it would never happen again. Whatever it takes, we will stop this, so help me God.
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Also Available from Daniel Gibbs
Battlegroup Z
Book 1 - Weapons Free
Book 2 - Hostile Spike
Book 3 - Sol Strike
Book 4 - Bandits Engaged
Book 5 - Iron Hand
Echoes of War
Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight
Book 2 - Strong and Courageous
Book 3 - So Fight I
Book 4 - Gates of Hell
Book 5 - Keep the Faith
Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet
Book 7 - Finish the Fight
Breach of Faith
(With Gary T. Stevens)
Book 1 - Breach of Peace
Book 2 - Breach of Faith
Book 3 - Breach of Duty
Book 4 - Breach of Trust
Deception Fleet
(With Steve Rzasa)
Book 1 - Victory’s Wake
Book 2 - Cold Conflict
Book 3 - Hazards Near
Acknowledgments
To Dad - thanks for all the many hours of great stories from your time in the Navy. They were a wonderful source of ideas!
Dave - thank you for the mentorship, advice and when needed, directness in helping me improve my writing and this book in particular.
To all those who have helped make a dream that started twenty years ago a reality; thank you for your help, support and encouragement—you know who you are.
I would be remiss if I did not thank the servicemembers of the US military that I have had the honor of working alongside for many years. Thank you for ensuring a society in which I can write the novel I choose to, the way I choose to. Above all, thank you for your service.
Finally, I believe it fitting to thank God for giving me the ability to write this novel and bring this story to life.
Breach of Faith - Book 1 - Breach of Peace
Breach of Peace by Daniel Gibbs and Gary T. Stevens
Copyright © 2019-2021 by Daniel Gibbs
Visit Daniel Gibbs website at www.danielgibbsauthor.com
Cover by Jeff Brown Graphics—www.jeffbrowngraphics.com
Additional Illustrations by Joel Steudler—www.joelsteudler.com
3D Art by Benoit Leonard
This book is a work of fiction, the characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For permissions please contact [email protected].
Get Two free & Exclusive Daniel Gibbs Books
FREE BOOK: Read the story of Levi Cohen and his heroic fight at the first battle of Canaan in Echoes of War: Stand Firm.
FREE BOOK: Join Captain James Henry as he tries to survive in the independent worlds after being cashiered out of the Coalition Defense Force. Can a broken man rebuild his life? Find out in A Simple Mission.
Both available FREE, along with exclusive updates and information about upcoming projects, only at
www.danielgibbsauthor.com/standfirm.
Also Available from Daniel Gibbs
Battlegroup Z
Book 1 - Weapons Free
Book 2 - Hostile Spike
Book 3 - Sol Strike
Book 4 - Bandits Engaged
Book 5 - Iron Hand
Echoes of War
Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight
Book 2 - Strong and Courageous
Book 3 - So Fight I
Book 4 - Gates of Hell
Book 5 - Keep the Faith
Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet
Book 7 - Finish the Fight
Breach of Faith
(With Gary T. Stevens)
Book 1 - Breach of Peace
Book 2 - Breach of Faith
Book 3 - Breach of Duty
Book 4 - Breach of Trust
Deception Fleet
(With Steve Rzasa)
Book 1 - Victory’s Wake
Book 2 - Cold Conflict
Book 3 - Hazards Near
Prologue
LS Marat
Unclaimed System, Neutral Space
3 August 2460
The sheer scope of space can drive a thinking being mad. It is fundamentally a void, an airless vacuum of emptiness save for the occasional specks of gases known as stars, many orbited by insignificant microscopic grains of matter—planets, moons, planetoids, asteroids—forged eons before in the furnaces of the very first stars. Even the time frames are vast, defying mortal comprehension. A planet, from its inception, will orbit a star an uncountable number of times before said star reaches the end of its fuel reserves.
It is exhilarating, humbling, terrifying. It makes a person feel like an insignificant microbe in a vast ocean. The very fact of this existence could hollow one out and breed the deepest fatalism, an inescapable nihilism.
Fortunately, for men like Admiral Alec Hartford, there were ways to cope with the soul-blasting emptiness.
Hartford was a severe man not given to frivolities. Every act, every breath, had to be justified for the cause, for the purpose that had united much of mankind and would, in due time, he was satisfied, encompass their wayward cousins in the Sagittarius Arm.
Decades and thousands of light-years ago, Hartford sat in a room in the community school as an adolescent, learning about the galaxy and humanity's destiny. Under the benevolent leadership of the League of Sol, humanity and any socially compatible species it encountered would inherit the stars
. The socially superior model of the League would be brought to those cultures and societies who did not yet enjoy the unity of purpose that had governed the core of mankind since the rise of the World Society in the first century of the Enlightened Era, the century known to the unenlightened as the twenty-first century of the common or Christian era. There would be no more hunger or suffering. No longer would superstition and fear rule. A galaxy united was the goal of the Society and Hartford's sole purpose.
To gain Paradise… there were no means, no cost, that would be shirked.
The vidscreen in Hartford's stateroom shifted at the press of a key. A vessel appeared, a gray-hulled thing designed for function and not aesthetics. The boxy shape was fitting, as it was nothing more than a box, a container for goods strapped to a plasma drive and an environmental system to sustain the handful of crew who drove it through the void. Solid beams of pale light gripped the vessel, the recognizable component for the streams of gravitons holding the ship in formation with another. "Another vessel," murmured Hartford. His voice betrayed him to be New Anglian, his accent from Southeastern England but with a slight drawl. "Another step."
A tone sounded from his desk. Another tap of a key, and the brown-bearded, pale countenance of Captain Nikos Zervakos appeared on the vidscreen. "Admiral." Zervakos was Earth-born, from the hills of Boeotia in Greece. The paleness of his skin suggested that he had not experienced unfiltered sunlight in decades. "Our Marines have successfully subdued the crew of the vessel. The capture is complete."
"Very good, Captain Zervakos. Your judgment proved superb. The risk paid off."
Coalition Defense Force Boxed Set: First to Fight Page 58