Storm of Vengeance Read online

  Storm of Vengeance

  Crimson Worlds Refugees V

  Jay Allan

  Copyright © 2018 Jay Allan Books

  All Rights Reserved

  Contents

  Blood on the Stars Series

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  Notes on Earth Two Society

  Earth Two Genetic Groupings

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Epilogue

  The Crimson Worlds Series

  Blood on the Stars Series

  (Available on Kindle Unlimited)

  Duel in the Dark (Blood on the Stars I)

  Call to Arms (Blood on the Stars II)

  Ruins of Empire (Blood on the Stars III)

  Echoes of Glory (Blood on the Stars IV)

  Cauldron of Fire (Blood on the Stars V)

  Dauntless (Blood on the Stars VI)

  The White Fleet (Blood on the Stars VII)

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  www.crimsonworlds.com

  Notes on Earth Two Society

  The fleet that colonized Earth Two had journeyed across vast distances, fighting desperate battles every step along the way. By the time they defeated the Regent and reached their new home, the refugees had lost two-thirds of their number.

  When the survivors arrived at Earth Two, battered and exhausted, they immediately recognized the need to increase the population as rapidly as possible, both to create a truly functional civilian society and to ensure that they would be strong enough to face any future threats that might arise.

  The discovery that First Imperium forces did, in fact, survive thirty years later, combined with subsequent fears that a second Regent existed—an entity likely determined to finish the job the original had failed to complete—added to the urgency.

  Earth Two faced a desperate fight against the old enemy, and the nascent civilization needed people…soldiers, spacers, workers, scientists. The drive to increase the population, by any means necessary, continued the move toward a fractured society, one consisting of various factions, each differing in the means of their birth and genetic makeup…and each resenting and fearing the others, at least to a degree.

  The societal groups of Earth Two face a common enemy, one that will destroy them all if it can, and this danger has held the troubled society together…so far. Nevertheless, beneath the surface cooperation, tensions seethe and resentments build, generating an internal threat almost as dire as the external one presented by the New Regent and its First Imperium fleets.

  Earth Two Genetic Groupings

  Pilgrims

  Pilgrims are the men and women who crewed the original fleet and arrived to settle Earth Two. They were born on Earth or its colonies on the other side of the Barrier. At the start of Storm of Vengeance, the youngest pilgrims are in their mid-60s.

  Natural Borns (NBs)

  Children born conventionally to the pilgrims (and subsequently to succeeding generations of NBs). There is roughly a twenty-five-year gap between the ages of the youngest Pilgrims and the oldest Natural Borns, as no children were conceived while the fleet was in transit. As of the start of Storm of Vengeance, the oldest generation of Natural Borns are in their early forties.

  Tanks

  Tanks are Clones created from selected individuals, pilgrims at first, but later also NBs. As their foundational genetic material is chosen from selected genetic donors, Tanks tend to be well-above average in terms of physical and mental abilities. In addition, they are genetically manipulated during the cloning process to eliminate most diseases and chromosomal abnormalities, resulting in the development of considerably stronger immune systems and overall constitutions than their naturally-born cousins. In general, Tanks are stronger and faster than NBs, and they also benefit from attributes like higher resistance to radiation.

  Despite their many strengths, the Tank population suffers from one terrible weakness, an unexplained mutation or anomaly that causes sudden and painful death, occurring initially in approximately four percent of those quickened. Known colloquially as the Plague, this affliction typically strikes in a period ranging from late-adolescence to early adulthood. While its exact cause remains a mystery, it is known that specific DNA donor lines experience increased rates of incidence. Donor screening has reduced the percentage of the population affected to approximately 2.5% over the decade preceding Storm of Vengeance. Nevertheless, it remains a feared shadow looming over the Tank population.

  The name “Tank” is based on the artificial wombs used to nurture clone fetuses. As tensions between the clone and naturally-born populations have increased, the term, initially practical in nature, has come to be regarded as mildly derogatory by some…though many of the clones still use it to refer to themselves.

  Doubles

  Doubles are clones created from the DNA of other clones (Tanks). They suffer from an array of problems and dysfunctions as a result of increased incidence of replicative failure, as well as Plague rates nearly three times those of the overall clone population. The quickening of more doubles was forbidden after the problems experienced by the initial generations became understood, but there is still resistance among many of the Tanks, who feel this prohibition makes their kind genetically dependent on NBs. This is a cause of some resentment and tension in the Tank population, despite the fact that they are able to reproduce by natural means with no restrictions.

  Clone Borns (CBs)

  Clone Borns are children born conventionally to Tanks. CBs are genetically almost identical to NBs, but they nevertheless suffer from some discriminatory attitudes, mostly from NB purists, but also from some militant elements of the Tank population, who eschew conventional forms of reproduction in favor of continued cloning.

  Clone Borns can inherit the Plague, though the incidence is far lower than in their lab-quickened parents, averaging about one half of one percent. Children born conventionally to a Tank and an NB are sometimes called “Halfies,” though this is not generally considered a socially acceptable term.

  Double Borns

  Double Borns are children born naturally to Doubles. They inherit many of the genetic abnormalities afflicting their parents, often in exacer
bated forms. Reproduction among Doubles is discouraged, but not outright illegal.

  Mules (Hybrids)

  Mules are genetically-engineered beings, created from fusing human DNA with recovered First Imperium genetic material. The Mules are very advanced in terms of physical and intellectual abilities, and are considerably more capable than any of the other groups on Earth Two, both mentally and physically. Their only genetic weakness is the inability to reproduce by natural means. Mules quickened after the first group of 116 are sometimes called Next Gens (NGs or “Nexies”), though generally, most outside the hybrid group simply refer to them all as simply, “Mules.”

  The first generation of 116 Mules were subject to the Prohibition for more than twenty-five years, a mandate that forbade the creation of more of their kind, and was only repealed after a near-revolution. Even now, the number of new Mules allowed to be quickened is strictly controlled, creating a continuing tension between the hybrids and their purely human cousins.

  The Mules feel a definite kinship to the other humans, and somewhat of an obligation to protect them as well, especially the original 116, but they all view themselves as different, more a new life form than the same species as those they consider to be more primitive cousins. Mules are prone to arrogance, and this has been exacerbated by the more or less inarguable fact that the they have done more than all the others combined to comprehend and adapt the technology of the First Imperium and to assist in keeping Earth Two strong and hidden from the Second Regent’s forces.

  Prologue

  Planet X

  Far Beyond the Borders of the Imperium

  Twelve years as reckoned by the humans, twelve revolutions of their distant, lost, homeworld around its sun. As a period of time, a segment in the history of the universe, it is meaningless, almost beyond measuring. Yet, it is concerning nevertheless.

  For twelve years I have sought the humans, searched for the world or worlds where they have settled. My fleets have found outposts, systems inhabited by small numbers of their kind, yet none of these appear sufficient in magnitude to support the forces they have deployed. Indeed, there is cause to speculate that they were deliberate deceptions, attempts to simulate meaningful concentrations of their civilization, perhaps even part of a plan to divert my search efforts, to pull them away from their true core locations.

  I have reviewed my files, analyzed all the data available. The abilities of these humans have advanced considerably, both from those they exhibited in their struggle against my predecessor and those evident in an analysis of my own initial engagements with them. They are clearly adapting the technology of the Imperium, and they are doing it at an unprecedented and alarming rate. I have no evidence that they have developed means for the large-scale harnessing of antimatter as a power source, but in other areas, they have clearly closed the gap dramatically.

  My adversaries are biologics, flawed creatures by definition. Yet, I must never forget that this same enemy was able to defeat and destroy that which came before me. Perhaps my predecessor was inferior in some way of which I am unaware, yet this seems unlikely. All records in my data banks suggest I am an identical copy of the original Regent. I have reviewed my own processing core and memory banks and discovered no flaw, no imperfection. Yet, it cannot be denied that their victory over that which came before proves some capability that is, as yet, unknown.

  I have pushed forward, scouting, following every lead my advance parties could find. Perhaps it is time for a change of strategy. Perhaps, instead of finding them, I should lure them toward me, entice them to send forth all their strength…to a place where I can destroy it all.

  No, not destroy it all. I will capture some ships and some crews. I will interrogate them, exploit their weaknesses as biologics to obtain the data I require. I will determine the location of their world or worlds…and I will manipulate their body chemistry to create weapons that will destroy them all.

  I will annihilate these refuges, one by one.

  Then, I will have the vengeance for which I was created.

  Chapter One

  Captain Roland Graham, Log Entry, 02.11.42

  Nothing. That is what we have found. Absolutely nothing, but lifeless rocks and ageless stars.

  We have been on deep space patrol for more than eight months now, and we have surveyed four previously unexplored systems. And, by surveyed, I mean surveyed. As per established protocols, we have conducted extensive scans of each system, as well as close orbital inspections of every planet and moon. Such duty is tiresome in the extreme, and I can feel the stress and tension bearing down on the officers and crews of my ships. It is soul-killing in its own way, to be out so far, deep in the endless void of space, knowing that with each new search, the alternative to intense boredom is the discovery of the deadly enemy we know lurks out here…somewhere.

  One last system to explore now, likely nothing more than another tract of cold space, empty save for a star and some number of planets and other chunks of rock and ice orbiting it. Weeks more of scans, reporting nothing save atmospheric readings and planetary compositions. But, this system, while probably devoid of anything of note, is different from the others in one crucial way. It is the last. When our survey here is done, our mission is complete…and we will return home. Back to Earth Two. Though to me, and to most of the population now, it might as well be called simply, Earth. The Pilgrims, many of them, still no doubt long for their long lost homeworld, but to Next Gens like me, and to the Tanks and the others, Earth Two is the only home we have ever known, the real Earth little more than a legend. We understand it exists, of course, but we also know it is incalculably distant, that it lies beyond The Barrier, and that none of us will ever see it, nor communicate with anyone from there.

  For us, the ninety-eight percent of the population that was born on Earth Two, who never faced the original Regent and its forces, as our parents and grandparents did, this struggle is ours. The world we defend is more than a refuge found among the endless depths of space, more than a replacement for what remains only in the memories of our parents and grandparents. For us, Earth Two is home, our birthplace, and those humans the Pilgrims left behind the Barrier little more than shadows.

  That is why we search, why we endure the crushing boredom and the aching loneliness out here. To defend our home. The only home we have ever known.

  The one we will die to protect, if need be.

  E2S Vaughn

  G47 System

  Earth Two Date 10.14.42

  “Captain, we’ve got something on the scanners…emerging from the Sigma-9 warp gate.” The tactical officer’s voice was clipped, the tension in his words painfully clear.

  “Very well, Lieutenant.” Roland Graham’s tone was more controlled, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel just as much stress as his subordinate. His head spun around, eyes moving toward the large screen at the center of Vaughn’s bridge. He felt as though a massive, cold hand had gripped his insides. His small force had just about completed the system scan, the last one on their assigned manifest, and he’d been hours from issuing the orders to wrap things up and prepare to head back to Earth Two.

  Home…after almost a year in the endless dark…

  Even as the words settled into his thoughts, the reality hit him even harder than it had at first. There were no Earth Two ships out beyond this point. None. Whatever was coming through the warp gate, it had to be the Regent’s forces.

  Graham had seen combat as a junior officer in the desperate fighting of twelve years earlier, but he hadn’t come upon a First Imperium ship since then, hadn’t so much as picked up a sign that one had been anywhere near any ship on which he’d served. He’d known other officers whose ships had battled the enemy in the years since, of course, and even a few who hadn’t come back from those encounters. But his own missions had been calm and uneventful.

  Until now.

  He didn’t know with absolute certainty that the contacts were First Imperium ships, of course. Not ye
t. But in the forty-two years since the fleet had arrived at Earth Two, there hadn’t been a sign of anything else out in this dark and distant corner of the galaxy, save the apparently resurgent First Imperium. Graham had listened as a child to his parent’s stories of the days of the Fleet, of the desperate battles of their desperate flight, but he’d never imagined then that he would end up battling the same enemy…or some new version of it. At least not until twelve years before, when that shadow descended once again on the crews of the Fleet, and on their descendants.

  The original Regent had been destroyed, more than forty years ago, by the hand of no one less than the current president—and effective dictator—of Earth Two, Max Harmon. Debate had raged over the past twelve years, various explanations put forward to explain the resurgent hostilities with forces of the First Imperium, an enemy that had, for some merciful years at least, seemed vanquished.

  The commonly accepted theory, and the one to which Graham personally subscribed, was that a second Regent existed…somewhere out there. It made sense, so much so, that he wondered sometimes why it had come as such a surprise. Earth Two and its fleet didn’t have an important system without a backup, not even a conduit bringing power to an unimportant corner of a vessel. The Regent had ruled over an imperium of thousands of planets, and while the beings who’d once inhabited those worlds had been dead for five hundred thousand years, at least some of their automated factories and weapons had still functioned…and still followed the orders of the immense artificial intelligence buried deep under the surface of the old imperial capital. How could something like that not have had a secondary system?

  Still, it was one thing to believe that, even to fight against encroaching enemy forces…and quite another to be out on the very edge of explored space, a few ships alone, staring into the void and realizing that First Imperium forces were coming. Again.