The Black Flag (Crimson Worlds Successors Book 3) Read online

  Darius paused. It was clear he had thought his plan through, and also apparent to Erik he hadn’t decided to do it, not completely. Not yet.

  “My Eagles will maintain order,” Darius continued a moment later. “The companies have all rallied to my service. I will absorb the remnants of the Marines as well. There will be no one who can challenge us. We will be the specter that political manipulators fear, the force that remains strong, so when the next enemy strikes, we will be ready. And woe to those who seek to amass their own power, at the expense of men and women who only want to live their lives. I will set an example of them that few will forget.”

  Erik listened to his son, and he heard the sense in the words, but he felt a coldness there too. People given freedom invariably misused it, and ultimately sold it off, usually for a pittance. But was that a justification for dictatorship? The old Earth governments, the Alliance he’d served for so long, none of them were free, not in any real sense. They’d had entrenched oligarchies, political classes who’d long ago seized all power and excluded any but their chosen colleagues from sharing it. Could his son be any worse? The whole idea disgusted him on some levels. Erik Cain loved nothing more than freedom. But was that just a dream?

  Perhaps there was no other option, none that would work. But to see his son become a dictator, to rule human space by fear? It was horrifying.

  “Darius, do you really want to seize power, to rule over mankind, even as Gavin Stark would have done so many years ago?”

  Darius paused. “No, father, I do not want that. In fact, I detest the idea with every fiber of my being. I do not like people, not the vast majority of them. I do not absolve them of their transgressions, as they themselves do so readily. I want only to see to the welfare of my Eagles, and then to live out my life in quiet seclusion, without the deadening hands of oppressive governments seeking to tell me what to do. But can I have that? Should I go to my retirement estates, tuck my daughter in bed at night, and wait until the next attack from the unknown? Or another manmade cataclysm? For government enforcers to come to my door? Should I wait to see Sarah, your grandchild, dead in some new struggle?”

  Erik didn’t answer. He desperately wanted an argument to make, but he had nothing. Nothing save a growing feeling of despair.

  “Who can protect mankind, Father, from enemies out in the darkness, and from itself? Who but my Eagles, those so many cursed as the incarnation of the devil himself?” A pause. “No, I do not want this, not by any measure, and that is precisely why I must do it. Because those who hated me now see me as a savior. Because I can use the goodwill and also the fear before it fades, to try to change humanity’s folly, to reorder society, to stomp out those who would seek to return to the ways of vile and corrupt politics. And because, unlike most of those who cut their bloody swath through human history, when my work is done, I will step down. I will retain the Eagles, of course, for I am not foolish enough to leave myself defenseless, but I will not…rule, as you put it…humanity for one moment longer than necessary. The moment I can leave them to themselves, I will, even as Jarrod Tyler did. And Roderick Vance. In your study of history, there are two dictators who served their people well.”

  Erik just sat quietly next to his son. He still wasn’t sure Darius would follow through with his plan…and he wasn’t sure if that would be good or bad. There was no argument that disruption and conflict were already brewing. He almost argued further with his son, but something stopped him. It was for Darius now, to decide, to step into the shoes he had filled for so long.

  The direction of mankind’s future was no longer his obligation. He had fought his last war, and he’d hung up his armor. He would spend the rest of his days by this sea, Sarah at his side, his biggest tactical dilemma what kind of presents to buy his granddaughter.

  Darius was brilliant, if hard and cold. And he had Ana now. Erik didn’t know how his son’s mate—the two had never married—would affect him, but she reminded him a lot of Sarah, and he was confident she’d be a good influence, that she would inject calm and wisdom into Darius’s life.

  He had to trust his son, to accept that his own role in fighting for man’s future was finished. He was old, and he’d sorely earned some rest and peace in his last years.

  What the future held for humanity, Darius’s dictatorship, more war, an unlikely turn toward peace…only tomorrow would tell. And for the first time in his life, Erik Cain could accept that.

  The Crimson Worlds Series

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  Marines (Crimson Worlds I)

  The Cost of Victory (Crimson Worlds II)

  A Little Rebellion (Crimson Worlds III)

  The First Imperium (Crimson Worlds IV)

  The Line Must Hold (Crimson Worlds V)

  To Hell’s Heart (Crimson Worlds VI)

  The Shadow Legions (Crimson Worlds VII)

  Even Legends Die (Crimson Worlds VIII)

  The Fall (Crimson Worlds IX)

  Crimson Worlds Successors Trilogy

  MERCS (Successors I)

  The Prisoner of Eldaron (Successors II)

  The Black Flag (Successors III)

  Crimson Worlds Refugees Series

  Into the Darkness (Refugees I)

  Shadows of the Gods (Refugees II)

  Revenge of the Ancients (Refugees III)

  Winds of Vengeance (Refugees IV)

  Storm of Vengeance (Refugees V) – May 2017

  Crimson Worlds Prequels

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  Tombstone (A Crimson Worlds Prequel)

  Bitter Glory (A Crimson Worlds Prequel)

  The Gates of Hell (A Crimson Worlds Prequel)

  Red Team Alpha

  (A New Crimson Worlds Novel)

  Blood on the Stars Series

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  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)

  Flames of Rebellion Series

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  Flames of Rebellion (Book I)

  Rebellion’s Fury (Book II) – Fall 2017

  The Far Stars Series

  Shadow of Empire (Fars Stars I)

  Enemy in the Dark (Far Stars II)

  Funeral Games (Far Stars III)

  Far Stars Legends Series

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  Blackhawk (Far Stars Legends I)

  The Wolf’s Claw (Far Stars Legends II) – Summer 2017

  Portal Wars Trilogy

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  Gehenna Dawn (Portal Worlds I)

  The Ten Thousand (Portal Wars II)

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  Also By Jay Allan

  The Dragon’s Banner (Pendragon Chronicles I)

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  Table of Contents

  Blood on the Stars Series

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  Black Eagles’ Force Structure

  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

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  The Crimson Worlds Series