Legion in Exile, page 1
Copyright © 2022 Evan Currie
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Copyright
Foreword
Prologue
Legion in Exile
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
Foreword
Welcome to book 2 in a planned trilogy (though I may go as far as four books) of the Imperium of Earth. I rather enjoyed writing it, and hope you feel the same reading it.
In part this novel was written live on stream while answering reader questions and generally just having a ball with whatever topic of discussions came up. If you'd like to join us, check out my twitch channel at
https://www.twitch.tv/evancurrie
Otherwise I can be found on FB and Twitter
I welcome questions, especially on stream (I can be slow to respond to social media posts) and just generally chatting if I have the time.
Hope everyone enjoys Legion in Exile, so let's get to it.
Prologue
ISV Vanquish, Approaching Low Orbit, Proxima Centauri B, Nuevo Eurys
Fire rained down from the ships as they approached the world hammered down through the atmosphere, tearing into the crust of the planet below and leaving explosions that could be seen from even the lofty heights of the low orbital range the ships were entering.
“Enemy response is sluggish, Sir.”
“I can see that, Captain,” Sylban Gyver said neutrally.
He wasn’t surprised, really. The Proxima system had been an Earth - held territory until a couple of generations earlier when one of the Free State worlds with Imperial ambitions of their own annexed it. Her Majesty was still young then and had too soft a heart… something that had only grown as she aged, counter to most, he supposed.
She’d not been able to respond effectively, in part because the Nobles refused to commit their military forces to the defense of some dirty offworlder colonists.
They were fools, of course, but it took a while before they realized just what they’d lost from their own pockets, let alone for Holy Terra.
Not so much mined materials and the like, those were generally commonly available even in the massively exploited Sol system, but political influence across the wide range of human influenced worlds was not a resource that could be so easily found.
Scarcer than diamonds by far, and more valuable than a starship’s weight in Gold… or in something with real value, for that matter. Influence was a vague sort of thing, a vagary of the political galaxy, impossible to properly measure, ever changing, and only truly valuable to a tiny fraction of humanity.
In other words, priceless to the sort of people who spent lives rather than money.
To those who didn’t, however, the value was minimal at most. That lead to apathy, men growing bored and sloppy because they didn’t have any real value invested in the game.
“Captain, we’re monitoring several military units retreating into the city.”
Captain Simon Kier grumbled, checking the information quickly before making a decision.
“Establish a targeting solution for the units…”
“Captain.”
Kier turned to glance at his… guest, some irritation vaguely showing as he did.
“Yes… Mister Gyver?”
“Do not fire on civilian targets,” Sylban said coldly.
“They’re offworlder collaborators,” Kier snarled, but kept enough of his calm to maintain a lower tone of voice and not expose his thoughts to the crew.
“Captain, right now we are the saviors of Proxima,” Sylban said casually, unconcerned with the situation or the Captain’s ire. “Pushing out the invaders, reclaiming the world for Holy Terra, and all the rest of it. Let the enemy anger the civilians, let them expend their resources against the resistance of ‘harmless’ civilians. We have neither the time, nor the resources for such foolishness.”
“My instructions were to take this world as quickly as possible…”
“Yes, yes, I am very much aware with the love of shock and awe that exists in certain quarters of the Empire,” Sylban said with wry sarcasm. “And if we were not concerned with holding the world in question, I would happily allow you your head in this. However, while your instructions are to take the world, mine are to ensure that it stays taken.”
He looked the Captain dead in the eyes, no expression beyond a slightly bored curl of his lips.
“So,” He went on, enunciating each word with precision. “Do. Not. Fire. On. The. Civilians.”
Then, just as casually, he smiled as his tone relaxed, “Are we clear?”
Kier stared for a moment before swallowing and giving him a crisp not.
“As crystal… Sir.”
“Mr. Gyver is fine, Captain,” Sylban smiled. “After all, I am merely an observer.”
“Of course…”
If the last two words were spoken through gritted teeth, Sylban was more than happy to ignore it.
*****
Nuevo Eurys, Surface
Marine landers dropped from orbit, screaming through the atmosphere fast enough to light the air aflame in their passage, only decelerating at the very last moment to a bone-crushing halt as they dropped below the planetary air defense coverage.
The orbital systems would still be able to target them, of course, but those had been the very first things the Vanquish had eliminated as it entered orbit.
Punishing multi-gee decelerations ended with the bottoms of the carriers opening up and squads of Marines dropping the last few hundred meters with single shot Lenz repulsors, letting them hit the ground without the ground hitting back… too hard.
Terran Marine Master Sgt. Conroy got his squad together from where they’d been spread out over a few square kilometers, cursing every second of it as he tracked down the last private and hauled the hapless idiot back into formation.
“That was a piss poor showing, you sorry lot. I expect better from now on or I’ll have your ass staked out on the cafeteria wall on the way home,” he threatened. “And ain’t none of us wants that to happen, so you better damn well listen.”
“Hoo rah Master Sergeant!”
“Orders are to secure all military assets, either for our own use or just to keep the enemy from using them, so get your ass in gear. There’s a military airfield over the ridge that needs a little TLC. Hump your butts!”
The squad was moving within a few minutes of being gathered back together, with Conroy taking the lead while he kept an eye out for the Lieutenant who’d jumped with them.
Green Nob will be lucky to survive this, Conroy thought, grumbling in his own head as he moved.
By luck or intent, probably luck, the Lieutenant had come down near to their planned route to the airbase, so he wasn’t slowing them up at least. They almost made the ridge before finally catching up to his transponder, and the cursing started up again when Conroy spotted the idiot.
How in the hell did he get tangled up in a fucking tree? This isn’t some damn movie from before the lights went out, Conroy swore mentally. We don’t use bed sheets and rope to slow a fall anymore!
“Private Albin!”
“Yes Master Sgt!”
“Help the Lieutenant down from the… tree, if you would be so kind.”
“Hoo Rah Master Sergeant!”
Conroy sighed as the young Marine ran forward and started climbing the tree. He rubbed his forehead.
“Albin!”
“Master Sergeant?”
“Never mind, as you were.” Conroy shook his head, figuring that if the private didn’t think about just tossing the idiot a knife to cut himself down, well that was what learning experiences were all about.
They got the Lieutenant down and the squad grouped up again, the sounds of fighting echoing in from the distance as the Lieutenant demanded a sitrep.
“Our target is just over the ridge here, Sir,” Conroy nodded in the direction of the airbase, before deciding that it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing to sooth the idiots pride a little. “Good initiative on directing your descent, Sir, you landed much closer than we did.”
“Ah, yes, well thank you, Master Sergeant,” The lieutenant said, managing to only look a little embarrassed.
“In the future, however,
He doubted it, but miracles happened every now and again.
“Right… yes, of course,” The young Noble agreed slowly, losing a little color from his face. “I’ll be sure to do that. I suppose we had best be moving on, now then?”
“Yes sir.” Conroy said, looking back at the group of Marines, eyes skimming their faces briefly to ensure that none of them were smirking at him or, much worse, the Nob. They all had their reactions in check, though, so he just nodded before going on. “Alright, Marines, we have an airfield to take! Move out!”
*****
ISV Vanquish
Sylban watched the reports of the ground fighting with an intensity he rarely exhibited for anyone or anything. He had little care for the ship-to-ship fighting; it was clear that the enemy in orbit had been routed. The minor polity from the Free Peoples had not bothered to put much in the way of defenses in space, given that the Antares Cluster was a long way away and they were clearly suffering from the same stupidity that the Empire had at one point.
The ground fighting, though, was important.
It would give him a much better idea of the sort of resistance they would be facing in the near future.
Thus far, Sylban was favorably relieved by the situation.
The Marines were cutting through the opposition on the ground, at least in the few places that they’d managed to mount something roughly approximating a military resistance. Casualties were minimal, and it seemed like the entire fight would likely be over in a few hours, with most of the remaining resistance being mopped up in a few days.
That would be when things got… troublesome, of course.
Beyond the immediate victory, Sylban couldn’t yet predict the true resistance they’d face. Nuevo Eurys had been an Imperial Colony until a little less than a Century earlier, when the Free Peoples moved in and took over with effectively no resistance offered.
That would have an impact on the locals, and some of them would likely welcome the Empire back… but he didn’t know, yet, just how many that would be.
The Marquis and Lord Jaol predicted a majority of the Eurysians would welcome them as liberators. Sylban doubted it, particularly with idiots like Captain Kier in charge. All it would take to destroy any favorable feelings toward the Empire would be a few… accidents in which civilians got caught in the fighting.
If and when that happened, the timer would begin on the Empire’s control of this world. Be it a decade, or a century, local resistance would make holding the planet unfavorably costly.
Assuming Jaol and the Marquis don’t choose to wipe the slate clean and move new colonists in.
They’d do the second anyway, of course - that was the point of the operation. However, if they decided to genocide the planet, well there would be repercussions. No one was certain how the Orions would take something like that, but the Free Peoples would be up in arms. They could sell this as reclaiming stolen territory that one of their own had taken in violation of the Free People’s ethics, but only if the occupation was reasonably bloodless.
At first, Sylban reminded himself with grim amusement.
Once their accepted it and their attention was shifted, well who really cared what one polity did within their own borders?
Human beings were simple little things in some ways, and out of sight equaled out of mind to far too many.
*****
Nuevo Eurys, Surface
“Heavy resistance, Master Sergeant… Lieutenant,” Corporal Reilly reported from where he was listening in to reports from other squads and receiving the overview from above.
“Nothing effective, though,” Conroy grunted as he looked over the fighting from his position, relying more on his own eye and the enhancements of his armor than reports from on high.
“Of course, it’s not effective,” Lieutenant Pierce said haughtily. “These freebooters have no sense of loyalty or real fighting spirit. We’ll easily take them.”
“Of course, Sir,” Conroy agreed automatically.
Honestly, he didn’t even disagree with the sentiment privately, though he did think that the Lieutenant was being overly confident and sweeping with his generalizations there. The Free Peoples were dangerous fighters by all accounts, they just tended to fight amongst themselves more than with anyone else.
Taking Nuevo Eurys was something that most of the Free Peoples had disagreed with vociferously back when it happened. Conroy didn’t give two shits about politics, but he knew enough to know that this world had been little more than a minor feather in the cap of a rather minor Free People’s alliance. They’d never cared enough to put much into defending it, especially after the Empire hadn’t done more than a token effort to reclaim it back in the day.
Everything here was left over from that, a century old and mostly in need of serious maintenance.
They’d find things a fair bit harder to deal with if they tried it on an actual Free People’s world, though Conroy suspected that they’d still be able to take them.
The only real question then would become, could the Empire take them all? Because the Free Peoples did not take kindly to outsiders butting into their little internal politics and games.
That was way over his pay grade, however.
“Corporal Hardy.”
“Yes, Master Sergeant?”
“I see an interceptor rolling out of a hangar down yonder,” Conroy said with a tip of his head. “Ground that boy, would you?”
“You’ve got it.”
The guided rocket hissed a moment later as the Corporal tagged the target and unsafed the launcher. Rapidly accelerating to hypersonic, the rocket flashed out of the hill and down into the plains beyond where the airfield was, performing a ‘hop up’ maneuver at the last moment before it dived down into the air craft and exploded twenty meters above.
The shrapnel ripped the airframe to shreds just as the craft was starting to take off, and something important must have been hit as it listed to one side almost immediately before crunching back to the ground and exploding.
“Target down, Master Sergeant.”
“Atta boy.” Conroy said, glancing over to Pierce, “Sir? Orders?”
“What? Oh, right. Well, let’s secure that field.”
“Yes. You heard him Marines. Move out!”
*****
ISV Vanquish
“Ground deployments report most objectives have been completed, Captain.”
Kier nodded, “As expected. Have the administrative deployment prepared. As soon as the ground objectives are fully in our grasp, I want our own logistics down and getting to work.”
