Hero's Return, page 29
“We’ll be right there,” Hazard said. Sitting his half-drained glass down, he motioned his friends ahead of him.
Instead of heading for the command chair, Hazard made a beeline for the chief of staff standing at her workstation.
“Talk to me, Mary.”
“At least half the dreadnoughts and all the battleships have powered down their fusion cores.”
“That’s a start,” Dorothy stated, turning to Hazard.
“We will continue in system. Still a lot of time.”
“All those ships conducted full shutdowns, sir,” Tactical reported. “It’ll take them at least ten hours to restart them.”
“And we’re seeing assault shuttles from the surrendered ships headed for the operational ones,” Mary added.
“The Marines have gotten involved,” Hazard said. “Good. That was the core of my plan. I felt sure the Marines weren’t involved in a rebellion against the Crown. All I had to do was let them know what was going on.”
“Still, spacers and Marines are dying on some of those ships,” Kong said. When he saw the look on Hazard’s face, he knew he should not have said that.
“A lot fewer will die than would have if we’d had to attack them, sir,” Dorothy added.
Hazard nodded, some of the guilt fading out of his eyes.
Not for the first time, Gathii Kong noted the change in his friend, his emperor. Oh, sure, the deaths of innocents would have bothered the Hazard he’d known before. But now…
It’s almost paralyzing him. He was so decisive in this plan, but now Hazard’s almost squeamish. If all of them don’t surrender, will he give the order to attack?
Thirty minutes later, the last dreadnought shut down its power plant.
“We’ll continue in-system and take control of those ships,” Hazard informed the bridge team. “Admiral Kong, bring the rest of your non-hyper-missile ships into the system. We’ll need them to staff some of those ships so they can return to Britannia. Till we can sort everything out, all the command teams of those ships are to be detained.”
“Dorothy—” Kong turned to his friend “—can you get that order out?”
“Mary?”
“I’m on it, sirs,” Mary Thompson said.
“And what about the emperor?” Gathii asked.
“Since I know I can trust you to handle things here, Gathii, the emperor wants to go home. He hasn’t seen his wife and son in a long time, and I’ll get to meet my daughter for the first time.”
Not bothering to hide his tears, Hazard headed back to his suite.
“Dorothy, I trust you can handle getting me back to Britannia.”
* * * * *
Epilogue
Crux Star System
Empire of Britannia
Empire Date: Aug 1049
Hazard sat down at the desk and inserted the data chip into the port embedded in the computer terminal. He’d put off watching it for as long as possible, and it was now time to face his demons.
Mike Sondheim’s image appeared on the screen. Much as Hazard had steeled himself, he cringed at the sight of his friend. His friend’s face sported a haphazardly applied, blood-soaked bandage. Some blow to the face had left his left eye swollen shut. Mike’s right one, sunken deep into its socket, stared into the camera.
“If you’re viewing this, Hazard, then I succeeded. You’re alive—and Laddie, that’s all that matters. The second explosion, the one that ripped your chair off its mount, slammed Phil and me into the aft bulkhead. Neither of us was in very good shape, but we managed to get you out of your seat.
“We might have done as much damage to you as the explosion. You were pretty torn up, but we didn’t have a choice. Secondary explosions were going off, and the air was disappearing out of too many holes in the bridge walls. Phil and I dragged you to a pod and got you inside. I sealed and launched the pod as he stuffed you into the cryo chamber. That was his last service to you. I later found him slumped on the deck next to the stasis chamber, dead.
“Just as the pod launched, there was another massive explosion nearby that rocked the pod. Then it stopped. I knew it was well short of exiting the ship. The last explosion damaged most of the controls and, as far as I can tell, the pod’s power system.
“I’m done, Hazard. I know you’re shaking your head no, but I’ve been a Marine long enough to know that. When the explosion threw me against the bulkhead, it tore me up good inside. Same for Phil. Frankly, I don’t know how either of us got you into the pod. Now I’m going to do one last service for you. I’m going to give you a chance to live.
“There’s no telling how long it will take for them to find the pod, and with the power system failing, I won’t take a chance of your cryo chamber failing. So, instead of crawling into one of the other chambers, I took a couple of happy pills, and I’ll go to sleep.”
Hazard’s eyes were awash in tears. He saw his friend look away from the camera. When he turned back, he saw tears in Mike’s eyes.
“I won’t ask you to remember me, because I know you will. But promise me you’ll let me go. Don’t blame yourself for my death, or Phil’s. We didn’t do it out of duty. We did it out of love for you. When you see them, tell Hiroko and Edward that I love them, as well. Tell them I did it for them as much as I did it for you.
“Hazard—I never had a family except for the Corps, but for a long time, I’ve considered you a son. And no man could be more proud of a son than I am of you. I love you. Take care of our family.”
The screen went blank, leaving Hazard sobbing in the darkness.
* * *
Britannia Star System
Empire of Britannia
Empire Date: Aug 1049
“Dammit, Michelle, you know how I hate this cloak-and-dagger shit.”
“Your Grace,” Michelle Montaine responded, “really? After all these years? How long have you been in charge of Imperial Intelligence, anyway?”
“Stop sassing me, young lady,” stated Henry King, whom most people on formal occasions referred to as His Grace, Grand Duke Henry. The duke’s grin showed that his response lacked any trace of anger.
“And it’s been fifteen years. Fifteen long years, serving three monarchs. It may be time for me to give it up.”
“And do what? Work is all you know.”
Henry grunted.
“Remind me why I’m doing this?”
“An old source of mine has some information concerning a threat to the Imperial succession.”
Henry was sitting in the kitchen of a safehouse on the outskirts of the capital city. The source, Michelle had been unusually vague about the individual, would only talk to Henry himself. No one else. It sounded fishy to him, but he trusted Michelle.
So here he sat, waiting.
Whoever the source is, they’re thirty minutes late, Henry thought as he glanced at his watch.
“I apologize for being late, Your Grace.”
The voice from behind him snapped Henry out of his musing.
I know that voice; the duke realized, and it can’t be in a kitchen on Britannia.
He turned just in time to see Michelle give Darrel ‘Snake’ Atwater a sisterly kiss on the cheek, then walk out the back door of the kitchen.
“Your protection detail has gotten better. I actually had to work to get in here without being seen.”
“And that’s important because…?”
“It would be better if no one knows I’m in the Empire, let alone on Britannia.”
“And it concerns a threat to the succession?”
“Not a threat so much as a complication,” Snake answered Hazard’s father cryptically. “You see…”
* * *
This is the end of Hero’s Return. Find out how the Empire reacts to the return of their hero emperor. And the dinosaur-like Eesni haven’t gone away. What secrets does Rear Admiral Chuck Anderson find in the damaged alien warship he captured in the Doay System? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Book Five of the Heroes of Britannia, “Hero’s Decisions.”
# # # # #
About Fred Hughes
During my 20 years in the US Navy, I spent long periods of time away from home, most of it on submarines, where I developed a great appreciation for the written word. Naval service also gave me an understanding for organization and processes. Following my first retirement, I spent the next 20 years in manufacturing as a manager until ultimately retiring. I have always had a busy mind, and to relax, I began creating what was to become the Britannia Empire in my head. I am now retired and living with my loving wife, Dundi, in the Dallas area of Texas. Our four children, Danielle, Kyle, Allison, and Holly have been the inspiration for me to put my thoughts into words.
Ultimately, my books are about personalities. I have tried to create characters people care about, and yes, that does mean that characters you get attached to die. Sorry—it cannot be helped; war sucks. The books include numerous space battles, and I tried to make them as realistic as possible. During my research, I discovered that space battles will likely be similar to battles fought during the age of sail. Two sailing ships sail past each other and blaze away at each other for two or three minutes, then spend the next hour getting turned around and headed back toward each other.
Finally, I am new at this and learning as I go. You can find me on Facebook at Fred Hughes Publishing. Drop me a line there, and I will get back to you.
* * * * *
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of Symbiote Wars:
Symbiote Wars
___________________
Chris Kennedy
Available now from Theogony Books
eBook and Paperback
Excerpt from “Symbiote Wars:”
*As you expected, all three ships have shut down their shields and are docking with the refueling station,* Suzie noted.
Johnson looked up from the nuclear missile he was standing over. “How much time do we have before the battlecruiser is tied up?”
*Fifteen minutes or so.*
Johnson’s jaw clenched. “It’s going to be close.”
The Terrans had followed the Cowlee fleet through the bridge back into the Cashtal system and had then shadowed them as they’d headed for the refueling station.
“Where did you learn to do this?” Sutton asked.
“When you’ve been alive as long as I have, you have time to do things. I went through sapper school about twenty years ago.”
“You played with nukes in sapper school? That’s a thing?”
“Well, no, not nukes, but the principle is the same. Strap the thing that goes boom onto the thing you want blown up, and you’re all set.”
“Great, but I was more wondering about playing with nukes, not blowing things up.”
“Oh.” Johnson smiled. “This is something I’ve never done before, but the concept is straightforward enough.” He looked back down at the missile he was elbows’ deep into. “Now, you might want to let me concentrate while I remove the warhead. Especially since it’s kind of leaky, and I’d like to minimize our exposure to the radiation.”
Sutton’s jaw dropped, and he wanted to ask another question, but decided it was better to let Johnson do his thing.
“You’re watching what I’m doing, right?” Johnson asked softly.
“Yeah.”
“Good, because you’re going to have to disassemble the other one while I build our bombs.”
“I what?”
“Don’t yell,” Johnson said. “You don’t want to startle me.”
“But I—”
“We don’t have enough time. I’m going to need you to take a more active role.”
“But I—”
“Do you want to save Earth or not?”
“Well yeah, but—”
“Suzie, send James the schematics you’re sending me, along with the procedure.”
*Sending,* Suzie replied, her voice soft.
James blinked as the blueprints and procedures appeared in his view. They were weird—he could see them when he focused but they faded when he looked through them. “This is the best heads-up display I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know the goggles could do this.”
“How have you been doing your checklists?”
“Just projecting them into my view and looking at everything else around them.”
Johnson stopped and looked up. “That’s not a good way to do it. You’re going to miss something that way.”
“Well, maybe if my teacher had told me the goggles had a HUD…”
“Sorry. Sometimes I forget you haven’t had ground school, which is where you’d have learned that. My bad.” He shrugged. “Now get that tool kit—” he pointed “—and get to work on the other one.”
* * * * *
Get “Symbiote Wars” here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQVFRJ5R.
Find out more about Chris Kennedy at: https://chriskennedypublishing.com.
* * * * *
The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of Blood and Armor:
Never Again
___________________
Bill Fawcett
Available now from Theogony Books
eBook and Paperback
Excerpt from “Never Again:”
“Good thing we got word when we did,” Jaziri said. They both knew their Humvee was parked just out of sight down the road. The driver’s careful approach had saved them from driving, unsuited and unprepared, into the gun’s field of fire. He looked across the gorge. “They have another one setting up to guard that approach.”
“Important targets,” Nisti Khan replied. Her voice had steadied now that they were in contact with the enemy.
Moving fluidly and aided by the almost silent motors powering the limbs of the suits, the fighters edged around the flat space where the road widened before entering the bridge. They could see enemy sappers on the roadway atop the dam, dropping satchel charges into the water on the reservoir side of the dam. Each charge was suspended from a long cable, and there were dozens of the heavy cases being carried from the three helicopters by streams of Iranian soldiers. Jaziri wasn’t sure they had enough explosives set to destroy the sturdy dam, but he wasn’t about to let them try.
“The range is still pretty long for the third mullah chopper,” Khan noted, eyeing the machine on the far side of the gorge.
“I’ll get closer,” Jaziri said. “When I fire, you take out the two in front of us.”
Khan nodded, and as one of the cylindrical grenades popped out of her shoulder harness, she took it in her hand, ready to throw. Another of the explosive missiles ejected partially, ready for the second shot.
The raiders, probably special forces troops of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, projected an air of professional competence, no doubt honed slightly by the tension of their mission and the knowledge that they were committing sabotage deep inside a foreign country. A few NCOs barked commands here and there, while an officer or two stood beside each chopper, but by and large, the men proceeded as if they were well trained and confident. As the last of the charges were removed from the helicopters, technicians settled down on the bridge and hooked up the cables to a battery-powered detonator.
Jaziri cleared his faceplate to transparency and looked at the young woman beside him. She did the same, meeting his gaze with a frank appraisal of her own. He saw no fear in her expression—instead, she looked back at him with a thrilled, almost eager stir of anticipation. She, too, had been one of the twelve at Mahabad. She’d witnessed the deaths of Timo’s wife and son.
As if reading his thoughts, she whispered, “Never again.”
* * * * *
Get “Never Again” here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1WKVRV3.
Find out more about Bill Fawcett at: https://chriskennedypublishing.com.
* * * * *
The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of The Last Marines:
Gods of War
___________________
William S. Frisbee, Jr.
Available now from Theogony Books
eBook, Audio, and Paperback
