by Chris Hechtl
Gods of War
Jethro 5
Chris Hechtl
Copyright © 2016 by Chris Hechtl
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book and or portions thereof in any form.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and locations are fictional. Some may be parodies. Some characters are with permission. Any resemblance of some characters and places to others are strictly in the mind of the reader. :)
Cover art by Chris Hechtl, 2016.
The models are owned by their respective creators and used under the usage license. Some models were made by Chris Hechtl; others were purchased on Daz3d.com or Renderosity.com.
Proofread and copy edited by: Wayne Gaskin, Duncan Anderson, Mike Boos, Tim Brown, Mike Kotcher, Tom Stoecklein, Thomas Burrows, Poon Yee, Jory Gray
Professionally copy edited by Rea Myers
Formatted by Goodlifeguide.com
Dedication:
I'd like to thank Wayne Gaskin and everyone else who has lent a hand with this book and keeping me honest. Thanks folks!
Book list:
The Founding of the Federation Series:
First Steps
To Touch the Stars
The First A.I. War
Stepping Stones
The Wandering Engineer Series:
New Dawn
Fools Gold
Destiny's Choice
Ghost Station
Plague Planet
Pirate's Bane
Ghosts from the Past
13 Degrees of Separation
Jethro Goes to War Series:
Jethro Goes to War
First to Fight
No Place Like Home
Recruiting Drive
Gods of War
The Federation Reborn Series:
Battlelines
Pirate Rage
Retribution
Tales of the Federation Reborn
Horatio Logan Chronicles:
Enemy of my Enemy
Shelby Logan Chronicles:
Convoy (Working title, forthcoming fall, 2016)
Independent Anthologies and Short Stories:
Multiverse 1
Multiverse 2
The Bootstrap Series:
Bootstrap Colony
Second Chances
Other Series:
Princess Rescue Inc
Afraid of the Dark
A note about the time line:
The following takes place after events in Jethro 4 and during events in Pirate Rage, Retribution, and The Gathering Storm.
Table of Contents
Introduction
ACT I
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
ACT II
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
ACT III
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Epilogue
Author Afterword
Dramatis Personae
Appendix
Timeline of the Engineer Universe
Sneak Peek
Introduction
The United Federation of Sapient Star Systems was founded by several species and became a beacon of civilization for four centuries. Most of the Milky Way Galaxy had been explored in that short time period. One hundred and twenty-one sapient species counted themselves as full-time members. The Federation advanced technology and the evolution of its member species. It was a golden age for sentient life in the galaxy. That was, until they made the mistake of expanding their exploration from the Milky Way to the nearest galaxy.
The wormhole gate that was meant to open new worlds to Federation explorers quickly became a portal to hell. Xenophobic aliens poured through the gateway, invading Federation space, and laying waste to everything they found.
During the war, Warrant Officer Chester Tobias McClintock served as a Marine and a member of the elite and legendary cadre. The black Neocat survived to the end of the battles in the Rho sector and was forced to settle down in Pyrax on the Anvil Space Station.
Tobias fathered kittens that carried his genetic legacy, though most of his life story was lost over time. The Neocat fathered kittens that were jaguars or leopards with the one true carrier of the line, a black panther in each generation. The black Neocats used their cloaking ability to become feared spies and assassins on the station and in the star system. This continued to a period when Admiral Irons awoke from stasis and arrived on the space station.
Near the turn of the last century, a stasis pod was found in the outskirts of the Senka star system by a tramp tender the Io 11 running from pirates. Within the pod was a long-lost Federation admiral, Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons. Admiral Irons and his internal A.I. helped the mostly-female crew escape the pirates and then rebuild the ship during their journey. The admiral dealt with his time shock by setting a goal of restoring the Federation and reigniting the light of civilization in the galaxy once more.
But forces were at work to stop him. The pirates were far more than the simple scourge they had first appeared to be. Horath, their homeworld, had declared itself an Empire under the leadership of Emperor Pyotr Ramichov and launched a brutal offensive to take control of the sector, and eventually, the galaxy. The Empire had started on a path of xenophobia and initiated acts of genocide against the populations it conquered.
When word came of the pirate attack on Agnosta by the yacht the Carib Queen, Admiral Irons marshaled the Logans and others to do something about the threat. Together they salvaged a Federation warship, Firefly. Admiral Irons gave a field commission to Horatio Logan to the rank of commander and Shelby Logan a field commission to Lieutenant Commander.
With them and others at his back, they worked tirelessly to restore Firefly and along with her other long-forgotten ships. Together they were able to use the salvaged ships to fend off the initial pirate invasion.
Admiral Irons had declared himself military governor of the star system for the duration of the crisis. Once it was over, he settled in to begin rebuilding the Navy. As h
e set up shop in Anvil, he encountered Jet, the adult descendant of Tobias, and briefly, Jet's young son Jethro who was on the cusp of becoming an adult.
Jethro had little knowledge of his ancestor's past, only knowing that he had been a Marine during the Great War. He spent much of his childhood enthralled by the idea of becoming a Marine and would play with the ancient armor his ancestor had left behind. He had started to follow in his father's footsteps of becoming an assassin, but an intervention by the elderly Neolioness Matriarch as well as the arrival of Admiral Irons changed all that.
Jethro was so inspired with the admiral and enthralled at following his boyhood dream that he signed up with the Marines, much to the ire of his sire. Jet was furious over Jethro's impulsive action and cut off contact.
Jethro went through the first Pyrax Marine boot camp and became a leader and member of the fabled F Platoon under Gunny Schultz, a NeoDoberman veteran who had signed up to be a Marine. With what he had learned as a kitten plus the harsh training of the NeoDoberman, Jethro and his platoon excelled in their training.
Meanwhile, forces were conspiring against Admiral Irons. His newly-reformed Federation Navy was on their way to rebuilding the Federation, only for the admiral to be driven out of the system into exile by Pyrax’s cutthroat politics, leaving Commander Horatio Logan in charge of the naval forces in the star system as senior ranking officer.
When Jethro's class graduated, he turned over his family's armor as well as legacy material to the military. In doing so, he learned more about his family history, including his full family name.
His sire Jet made an attempt on Commander Logan's life but was cornered and killed. After a brief interrogation, Jethro was cleared and returned to duty.
While Admiral Irons had several harrowing adventures, he also did his best to send back information and care packages to Pyrax to keep the Navy alive. Commander Logan did everything in his power to not only continue the Navy, but to do his best to expand it with the limited resources he had available.
Jethro went on to serve in several rescues and missions in the star system before he and his squad mates were assigned to be a part of the First Agnosta Marine RECON Expedition. While Captain Pendeckle and others negotiated to build a base on the planet, Jethro and his squad had a baptism of fire against a group of marauding pirates.
Jethro's squad fought well and returned to Pyrax to be decorated. The group started to drift apart as each went their separate ways to follow their desired career paths. Jethro stuck with his grizzly lieutenant and served on Firefly briefly. After an incident, he was transferred off for a time before he returned to the ship to escort the Marine convoy that went to Agnosta to build the base there.
While running recruits through the boot camp on Agnosta, Jethro found out Admiral Irons had sent word through a freighter of the discovery and restoration of the Space City Antigua Prime in the star system Antigua. A short time later, a frantic freighter came into Agnosta with a dire warning of an impending attack on that star system. Jethro, some of his squad mates, and others boarded Firefly. Firefly rode to the rescue and was not only able to get there before the star system fell but to also crush the enemy fleet and save the day.
The Marines boarded Antigua Prime and fought a vicious fight against the pirates there. Jethro fought it in his powered armor for the first time, wakening the nascent A.I. embedded within it and his own genes.
Meanwhile, after helping to stave off a Xeno plague on Epsilon Triangula, Admiral Irons took his yacht, the Phoenix, to blind jump across the middle of the sector into an empty star system with the intent of transiting through it and others to get to an out-of-the-way star nexus called Bek. But when he exited hyperspace low on fuel, he fell right into the hands of the pirates who had been stationed there as a picket force. Unaware of whom they had captured, Irons was able to lead a successful mutiny and not only captured the ship alone but also other ships in the star system.
Firefly received intelligence of another impeding attack during the aftermath of the battle of Antigua. The heavy cruiser took on Jethro and some personnel and then flew to the rescue of Pyrax. She passed through the star system and arrived in B101a1 where Admiral Irons had taken his small forces into the teeth of an enemy task force far larger than his own. Together they defeated the enemy task force and won the day.
Jethro's squad, with their powered armor, were sent in to board the enemy ships and help the scratch Marines Admiral Irons had put together to secure them.
Once the battle was over, Admiral Irons took stock and split the survivors. As the crews labored to make repairs, Admiral Irons visited with Jethro in the armory and fully activated his A.I., Bast.
Firefly escorted some of the salvaged ships with prize crews made up of some of her company as well as the Marines and surviving freed slaves. All of the prisoners were placed in a liner under Jethro's squad's watchful eye during the return to Pyrax. The admiral led his remaining battered forces with the newly-captured and rechristened battle cruiser Maine to Antigua.
The return of Firefly and the ships she had been shepherding caused a renewal of faith in the admiral and the purpose of the Navy. She also carried long overdue promotions to the naval forces. Commander Logan was promoted to Captain JG. He did his best to follow the admiral's plan to expand the Navy once more.
Once in Pyrax, Jethro put in to have his name formally changed to Jethro McClintock. He also saw the majority of his remaining squad mates go their separate ways. During this time, he was still adapting to Bast. There was a bit of teething issues with the A.I. that they had to endure. A slip of the tongue to the reporter April O'Neill put a mark on the Neocat's head. He was lured into a trap, and friends were killed. With Bast's help, he survived the trap and turned the tables on the ambushers.
After he recovered, he performed his duties in Antigua for a time before ONI reported renewed interest in his whereabouts. The Neocat was transferred to Agnosta once more.
Admiral Irons' force managed to pick their way through the sector to Antigua. There he founded a new capital of the Federation. Once he had a shipyard and the beginnings of ansible communications underway, he took a side trip to a secret research facility he had used to create the nova bomb and where he had been given his rebuilt body and A.I.
While there, he woke the sleepers that remained and tripped a Xeno virus. He was also declared president pro temp by the last president of the Federation in a message that transcended time itself.
He returned from the facility with the group of sleepers, including two additional flag officers. Admiral White, a Neochimp, became their battle fleet commander and took the fight to the enemy in Protodon while Admiral Subert took over Pyrax from Captain Logan and set up shop there. Captain Logan was relegated to running the shipyard itself again, much to his relief.
Between the two shipyards, the Federation began to build the ships and weapons needed to crush the Horathian pirate threat once and for all. Captain Logan was tasked to oversee the construction of the fleet in Pyrax. His people started to draw the partially constructed ships they had been building for the past decade and then plugging in the components that Admiral Irons shipped in from Antigua.
Jethro was tapped to go on a recruiting drive to be a moving target hopefully one step ahead of the assassins who had marked him for death. He was sent to Kathy's World in a convoy destined to aid the planet as well as Protodon. The convoy ran into marauding pirates in the Kathy's World star system. The escorts were outgunned so Jethro enacted a desperate Hail Mary plan to use his armor to board one of the ships and wreak havoc from within. It worked; he did enough damage to get the pirates to break action and withdraw. The convoy settled into orbit of the moon and the Neocat traveled to the ground. There he met Major White Wolf, the elderly white Neowolf president of the planet, as well as Ranger Shanti, a Neosnow leopard. He worked with her and after a tumultuous and brief courtship, they became mates.
Their time together was brief since Major White Wolf pulled toget
her Jethro's recruits as well as planetary militia groups to go to Protodon to help secure and liberate the planet and its population after the initial Marine force sent there was devastated. The scratch force from Kathy's World did their best to train while en route but were limited on their gear and implants. Jethro used his armor to help open the door and establish a renewed beachhead and relieve the beleaguered and trapped Marines on the planet.
Once the Marines firmly had a beachhead, they expanded their perimeter. The Pirates switched from a conventional war to insurgent tactics, however. Jethro made contact with some of the locals, including a group of Neocats who he took under his wing. Jethro's brother-in-law was one of the casualties in the conflict. The Marines and both planet militias finally managed to run the enemy down and destroy a large group of them in an old mine. Jethro got behind enemy lines with his armor and wreaked havoc.
While they were doing that, pickets were established and reinforced in neighboring star systems. An expedition was planned and mounted to get into the Bek nexus through the rapids with the light cruiser Caroline.
But the Horathians weren't sitting idle. They had begun expanding their empire, and when word of the admiral and his reborn Federation was picked up by forces en route to Protodon, they moved in with the intent to destroy the upstarts and crush the seed of free civilization once more. With grievous losses, Admiral White's Second Fleet fought them off and forced the remaining Horathian warships to retreat.
The Marines were relieved by the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Pendeckle's First Brigade. Jethro was decorated with the military's highest honor for his actions in Kathy's World. He and Major White Wolf returned their dead and blooded but war weary troops to Kathy's World. There Jethro found he was a new father. Shanti was embittered over her younger brother's death for a time before she came to terms with it.
Jethro's time with them was unfortunately brief. He was ordered to ship out a short time later. Major White Wolf would accompany him as he rode herd on his crop of recruits and took them to Agnosta for formal training.
Act I
Chapter 1
Weeks of travel, sitting on his ass, working out in the ship's cramped smelly gym, and otherwise feeling sorry for himself for leaving his new family all for this, Master Sergeant Jethro McClintock thought, as he shouldered his duffel and followed the line of debarking passengers out through the transport tube.
