Mutineer (Empire Rising Book 7)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Do you think they will try to talk to us?” one of the fleet’s Captains asked.

  “We’ll see,” Hanson replied. “If they want to talk about leaving our system alone I’ll be happy to dialogue. But I don’t think that is going to happen.”

  At the fleet’s current velocity, it would take an hour to close to hypervelocity missile range. If the aliens hadn’t spoken by then, he fully intended to open fire. As long as they were in his system, he was going to treat them as a threat.

  “We’re getting a COM message from the Elder fleet,” one of Defiance’s officers informed him. “It’s text only.”

  Glancing down at a screen on his command chair, Hanson read it.

  You have made your decision, you will now become slaves instead of allies.

  When he looked back up at the main display screen, Hanson saw the alien fleet had begun to move. They were on a direct intercept course for his fleet.

  “We have our response,” Hanson thought to his Captains. “Begin firing.”

  From the ships at the rear of the human fleet, mass driver rounds shot towards the alien fleet. With all the movement in the human fleet, the firing ships didn’t come into view of the alien ships for more than a couple of seconds. Hanson hoped that with all the sensor data his ships were giving off from their ever-changing formation, the aliens wouldn’t detect the mass driver rounds being fired.

  “Hypervelocity missiles,” Hanson thought once the aliens came into range.

  More than five hundred new contacts appeared as hypervelocity missiles were launched towards the aliens. They accelerated up to the speed of light, then, as a Dyson Bubble formed around the missiles, they continued to accelerate, rapidly closing in on the alien ships. Just before they reached their targets, massive heat blooms appeared all around the alien fleet.

  “Hits, multiple hits,” one of Defiance’s officers shouted across the neural link.

  Before getting excited, Hanson waited to see the outcome of his attack. He had timed it so the mass driver rounds would reach their targets just thirty seconds before the hypervelocity missiles. As he had hoped, the aliens had been too focused on his missiles to see the real threat.

  No ships were destroyed, Hanson realized as the sensors updated. Some of his mass driver rounds had clearly hit the alien ships, yet they were all still there. Let’s see how the missiles do, he said to himself, all too aware that if they failed, his options would be severely limited.

  “Several missiles are detonating way too early,” a sensor officer projected to Captain Edwards and Hanson.

  “What?” Edwards queried.

  Not waiting for a reply, Hanson accessed the sensor data directly. As he watched, more than twenty missiles detonated. Just before they detonated the missiles had suddenly undergone rapid deceleration. There was just one thing Hanson could think of that would cause that. The aliens were able to disrupt the Dyson Bubble’s around the missiles.

  “Send new orders to the missiles,” Hanson projected. “Tell them to drop their Dyson Bubbles and attack at sub light speed.”

  Without waiting for an explanation, his subordinates sent the new orders.

  More than two hundred missiles were destroyed in the seconds it took for the missiles to receive the COM message form Defiance. Having slowed, the missiles were now over a minute away from their targets. As they crossed the minute mark, some form of point defense fire reached out to take out the missiles. In return, the missiles jinked and ducked as they tried to evade the fire. Hanson watched, almost gobsmacked, as the hundreds of human missiles were reduced to just twenty.

  Nevertheless, he didn’t give up hope for those twenty reached their targets and exploded. “We got four,” one of Defiance’s sensor officers reported.

  “Just four?” Hanson queried as he struggled to contain his dismay.

  “Yes Admiral,” came the response. “Two alien ships have disappeared off our sensors, another two have stopped accelerating, there are no energy readings coming from them.”

  “How many did we hit?” he followed up.

  “Eight missiles got hits,” the officer replied. “The other seven ships are still accelerating towards us. There is no sign of any damage.”

  “What was different about that one?” Hanson asked.

  “It was hit by one of our mass driver rounds,” another officer projected. “It must have already been damaged.”

  “Target the ships we hit with mass driver rounds,” Hanson thought to his fleet Captains. “Prepare to fire another volley of missiles. Go to rapid fire with the mass drivers as well, maybe we will get lucky.”

  Now the aliens knew about the mass drivers it was unlikely they would be so easily hit by them. Being driven on by momentum alone, a mass driver round couldn’t track its target. It just had to hope the ship didn’t change course. That the alien ships were now making slight random course changes suggested they knew the deficiencies of their opponent’s weapons.

  “I’m detecting a small heat bloom coming from each of the alien ships,” a sensor officer reported before Hanson could give the order to fire.

  Hanson’s eyes began to move around to look at the sensor data. They never reached their destination. Instead, sub atomic particles accelerated to within a percentage of the speed of light struck his flagship. They ripped through its nano carbon armor and obliterated the bridge, killing Hansen instantly. A fraction of a second later, the beam of particles dissected Defiance’s main reactors and the entire ship exploded into one giant fireball. Though spectacular, the flames quickly dissipated in the void of space. In their place, all that was left of Defiance was an expanding ball of debris.

  All across the human fleet similar explosions tore into warships as beams reached out to snuff them out of existence. Not one human ship managed to fire another salvo of hypervelocity missiles.

  Five minutes later, twenty-nine alien ships, each massing less than a fifth of Defiance, accelerated through the debris that had been the once proud human fleet. They were now headed for Earth.

  *

  Hope V, Edge of the Sol system.

  “Get us out of here,” Simmons thought an hour later, then she cut herself off from the ship’s neural network.

  All her life she had been a scientist. She had devoted herself to discovering the mysteries of the universe, so she could help better humanity. The visual feed being displayed on Hope V’s main viewing screen sickened her. After destroying the defense fleet, the Elder invaders had set about destroying every orbital station around Earth. Some of the habitats had housed millions and millions of people. Others had collected solar energy or grown food stuffs essential to the inhabitants of Earth. There would be an energy crisis and famine all across Earth for months, perhaps even years to come. Yet it had only taken the Elders seconds to destroy it all, and it looked like they had no remorse.

  Not wanting the bridge crew of Hope V to see her face nor sense her emotions, Simmons stood and walked towards her personal quarters. Once there, she threw herself onto her bed and buried her head in her pillows. I’m just a scientist, how can I be responsible for humanity’s future?

  Alongside the efforts to build a defense fleet, Earth’s ruling council had set about preparing five Hope ships. Each ship carried humanity’s best and brightest. Simmons was now in charge of Hope V. She was tasked with setting up a small research base. There she was to study the Elders from afar. To learn their secrets and prepare for a day when humanity would be able to break free from their rule. It doesn’t matter how you got here, Simmons told herself. You are here now, you need to make the best of it.

  Getting back on her feet, she looked at herself in the mirror. Someday we will make you pay for this, she promised. The fierce look of determination on her face surprised her. With a thought, she reconnected to Hope V’s neural network. It was time for the rest of the team to sense her mood. The Elders will rue the day they came to Earth.

  Chapter 1

  Two thousand years later.

/>   Sarah sat on the floor in her bedroom playing with her favorite doll, Cali. It was her favorite because the doll looked just like her mother. With one hand she held Cali, while with the other she brushed Cali’s long hair, just as her mother brushed her hair every morning. A loud crack made Sarah jump and tears formed as she turned to see the door into her bedroom banging on its hinges. Her tears never came, for as she saw who was coming through the door a smile spread across her lips.

  “Mama,” she said.

  When Sarah saw the strange look on her mother’s face her tears almost began to flow again. She had never seen her mother look so scary. As her mother reached towards her daughter, Sarah’s smile returned. In one quick motion her mother picked her up and pulled her into a tight hug. She then held Sarah out in front of her. “I love you more than you will ever realize,” she said.

  “I love Mama,” Sarah replied in as clear English she could muster.

  Sarah was confused as her words brought tears to her mother’s face rather than a smile.

  “And I love you too Sarah,” her mother replied through her tears. “You’re not going to understand this now, but someday maybe you will remember. Mama has to go away. You’re my special, special daughter and I love you so much but Mama has to go away. I love you Sarah,” her mother said again as she pulled Sarah into another tight hug.

  After what seemed like an eternity to Sarah her mother held her out in front of her again. Then she turned and handed Sarah to another woman who had come into the room with her. “Take her quick. They are already on their way here. Keep her safe, make sure she knows that I love her. That I am doing this for her.”

  “I will, I promise,” the other woman replied.

  As the strange woman took Sarah into her arms Sarah felt a pang of fear. Something was going on but she didn’t understand. Screwing up her face, she started to cry.

  Seeing the look on her daughter’s face, Sarah’s mother reached out and stroked her cheek one last time. “Don’t be scared Sarah,” she said. “You need to be brave for me.”

  Barely understanding her mother’s words, Sarah tried her hardest not to cry. Instead she focused on watching the world around her move as the strange woman holding her rushed out of her bedroom. As they crossed the threshold Sarah looked back towards her mother. The look of loss on her face burned itself into Sarah’s memory.

  The next few minutes were a blur of rooms and doors as her new guardian rushed her out of her house and onto the street. After pausing for a couple of seconds to look both ways down the street, her guardian took a sharp left and almost jogged away from the house. Bewildered by everything that was going on, Sarah still tried her best not to cry. Just as her mummy wanted.

  Suddenly, from overhead loud vibrations assaulted Sarah’s ears. Instinctively, she reached her little hands up to cover them but they had no effect. Staring into the sky Sarah saw what she thought was causing her pain. Two large ships were descending towards her house. Both of them had flashing lights that lit up the area.

  Both ships disappeared as her guardian turned a corner. Almost immediately she ground to a halt and Sarah struggled in her arms to turn around to see what was happening.

  “Halt,” a soldier in some strange looking black armor called as he raised his rifle towards Sarah and her guardian. “Who are you?” the soldier asked. “Where are you going?”

  “My name is Melissa Walters,” Sarah’s guardian replied. “I’m taking my daughter home. I don’t know what those landing shuttles are doing but I didn’t want her to get caught up in whatever is happening.”

  “Let me see your ID,” the soldier replied.

  As he approached, Melissa moved Sarah so she could hold her with one hand and extend her other towards the soldier. With a small device that the soldier pulled out of one of his pockets he scanned the identity chip in Melissa’s wrist.

  “You check out,” he replied a few moments later. “We are not interested in you or your child.”

  “Then I can go home?” Melissa asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” the soldier answered. “We have strict orders, no one is to leave the block. Everyone is to gather at the Founders Square. You’re going to come with us.”

  “But my daughter,” Melissa complained. “She needs to get home. Founders Square is no place for a baby.”

  “You should have thought of that before taking her out at this time in the evening. You knew the risks,” the soldier replied.

  Sarah didn’t know what was going on but as her guardian turned around and walked slowly back towards her house, she began to cry. She was cold and she could sense her guardian’s fear. Something was wrong. As they approached the house she saw one of the shuttles had landed in the rear garden. The other one still hovered directly overhead.

  Momentarily, her tears stopped as she thought her guardian was taking her back to her mother. Yet as they walked past the house she squirmed in her guardian’s arms and reached out back towards her house as she began to cry again. “Mama, Mama,” she said through her tears.

  Quickly, her guardian reached up with her hand and put it over Sarah’s mouth. “Shush, shush, little one,” her guardian whispered. “Now is not the time for crying, remember what your Mama said. You have to be brave for her.” Not really understanding, Sarah tried her best not to cry. It was hard, every step took her further away from her mother.

  For five minutes the soldier marched Melissa and Sarah down the street they were on. Every time he came across another person the soldier stopped them and, after checking their identity, forced them to join an ever-growing crowd of people being herded towards Founders Square.

  When they got to the square, Sarah was amazed at how many people she saw all around her. Not being able to count past ten she couldn’t comprehend the numbers. Melissa guessed there were already over three hundred people. Every minute more groups appeared, being shepherded along by soldiers with rifles.

  For over half an hour Sarah looked around the square at the people as Melissa held her. More than once she began to cry again as fear and the cold made her miserable. As the piercing vibrations from earlier reappeared her tears dried up and she tried to put her hands over her ears. Moments later a shuttle came into view overhead. It circled the square a couple of times before coming to land beside a large platform. When the rear ramp of the shuttle descended a group of people and one strange looking creature came out. They immediately made their way onto the platform. As Sarah struggled in Melissa’s arms to turn around to better see what was happening, she saw that one of the people had a hood over their face.

  When they got to the center of the platform one man stepped forward and turned to face the crowd. Despite the murmurings and whispers coming from the hundreds of gathered people, Sarah heard his voice with crystal clarity. As soon as he opened his mouth she stopped squirming. There was something familiar about him. His voice sounded harsh, yet it soothed Sarah’s fears.

  “This woman has committed treason against the Overlord. She has spurned the peace, the great technologies and the protection the Elders have given us all. For her crimes, she must face death,” the voice said.

  Sarah didn’t understand half of his words yet she felt comforted. Not sure why, she struggled to see the man’s face to see who he was. It was no good though, as hard as she tried, she couldn’t seem to get a clear view. For some reason, his face seemed like a blur no matter how directly she looked at him.

  Having finished whatever he was saying, the man strode towards the person whose head was covered in a hood. With a quick movement, he yanked the hood off her head.

  “Mama,” Sarah said as soon as she recognized the woman. She squirmed in Melissa’s arms as she tried to go to her mother.

  Stepping back, the man reached down to his side and lifted a strange looking device that Sarah had never seen before. Pointing it at her Mama he nodded towards her. Ever so slightly, Sarah’s mama nodded back.

  “You don’t need to see this,” Melissa said as she
raised her hand to cover Sarah’s eyes. She was too slow. As the man pulled the trigger, a projectile shot out of his pistol and struck Sarah’s mama in the head. The force of the impact threw Sarah’s mama to the ground, but not before blood splattered out into the air.