by Jim Rudnick
Duke.
New Duke.
New aliens.
New victims.
New traitorous captain.
New just about everything, he thought as he slipped into bed beside Helena and spooned her.
He dropped an arm over her waist and got comfortable, but as usual, sleep was a long way off.
#####
On Eons, the Master Adept updated the Praix book and smiled as she finished her entry. She had noted that all had gone according to her plans ...
Only an hour before the task force incursion, the Praix had learned that the Issians were going to turn down their offer—their orders—to re-join the Praix.
The captain, who had fired that shot, had received a full mental push from the combined inner circle, and he had rushed out of the Defiant full of hate and had shot the Praix. He would have no idea as to why he had done so.
The Praix captain, she had seen via Bram, had spoken the truth. They were prepared to be somehow absorbed into the RIM Confederacy.
That did worry her somewhat. What little she knew of the Praix was that they accepted defeat poorly—they’d never had a loss at the hands of another race. So, this easy capitulation might be hiding some other backstory she’d not yet learned.
Bram had unknowingly told the duke that the Praix problem needed full Issian help, and she expected that message to come later tomorrow in the morning here on Eons.
Now with dawn only hours away, she left her private study to go out into her general quarters. At the window, she looked out at the blackness beyond the galaxy. At this time of year, Eons lay on the outer side of its orbit around its blue sun; the only real things to see were the few fuzzy dots of distant galaxies.
She looked down but the darkness was thick on the farms beyond the walled city. She couldn’t see the one that was for sale, but she still knew it was down there. Now, she’d noted, there was another too that had a for sale sign on it, and that was a good sign.
“Not as good as having the Praix to manage—on behalf of the RIM for sure, but still ... there were generations to have repayment for, weren’t there?” she said to herself as she looked up at the ringed moon above her. “Perhaps it’s time for the Issians to find their destiny ...”
Epilogue ~
The man who had been Captain Magnusson rolled over on the hard steel bench in his cell, and he tried once again to find sleep as an escape.
That wasn’t going to work, and he had known for a while that it didn’t work.
Last night he’d tossed and turned and had tried to find a way to lie on his steel bed with some degree—any degree—of comfort.
He had found none for hours.
His mind was the problem, he knew.
He’d done something on the Praix ship that he found was so alien to him that it couldn’t be true.
He had crept out of the Defiant, a Colt in his hand that he had taken from a crewman. He had walked up to where Major Stal was facing off against the Praix—who had then taken some steps toward the marine. And he had charged in and shot the Praix.
Luckily, the Praix had lived, but it was touch and go for a few days, he’d learned.
But the shooting itself?
He had no idea why.
He had no idea what for.
In fact, he doubted it had been him.
It was as if it was someone else and it’d been an out-of-body experience.
He lay still with the slow throb of his pulse in his ear as he had his arm tucked under his head. He slid a leg down farther and that didn’t help either. So he got up and did fifty sit-ups and twenty push-ups. He lay down, barely winded, and hoped that this might help him get tired and help him fall off to sleep quicker.
He wanted to know more. He needed to know more. He had tried to get to see the duke to ask for help, but that had been refused. He had tried to get to see his Baroness, but again, he was refused. He had tried to see Bram to see if he knew or could help and was refused.
Instead, he sat in the brig here in the city jail on Neres. He faced court martial in a few weeks, they’d said. And because it was an attempted murder charge, he wouldn’t even get a bail hearing for a week more he’d been told.
He lay there and nursed the thought that it could have been someone else ... but that he knew was not true.
The only thing that he knew was true was that an innocent man was about to be tried ...
BOOK THIRTEEN OF THE RIM CONFEDERACY
Inwards Bound
Prologue ~
Bram tossed on his bunk and thought about the current state of affairs in his life.
He should have perhaps thought about his station as an ex-Adept Officer in the Barony navy.
Also ex-Barony navy too.
Now a plain lieutenant commander in the Duchy navy.
He swept a foot and most of a leg from underneath the covers and sighed.
He was going, he knew to amount to something, but what exactly?
His life so far had been—well until the duke came along at least, pretty uneventful.
He had grown up on Eons, his parents had been Issians but had chosen to be merchants instead of working within the cult, for a reason he’d never gotten. He’d asked, he remembered but that was met with a shake of the head and silence.
He knew that many many Issians, millions in fact on Eons had little to do with the faith—but he had gravitated towards being a faithful member since about grade school. Since he’d seen vids of what it was like to be in the navy as a real live spaceman. Recruiting vids that they were for sure, but at graduation from his high school, he applied and was accepted at the RIM Confederacy Naval Academy, just outside of Dessau.
He’d realized too, that upon graduation, he would most likely be asked to swear to the faith that he would be true to Eons first, and the navy second. That was what was expected by the inner circle—the ones that ran the faith on Eons.
And on the RIM too.
He graduated, and while he was in the middle of the class as he’d excelled at little, he had at least passed and had sworn his to his faith too.
His first posting, was on the RN Marwick as their new Adept Officer under the brand new captain Scott.
Now his friend and mentor at the time he was scary. He’d fought those pirates those long years ago and had done well enough to earn a field promotion from lieutenant to captain, up two whole ranks.
The days of being on the Marwick brought mixed emotions to Bram as he rolled over onto his left side and faced the bulkhead just a half an arm’s length away.
He shied away from other memories and pushed them back, rather than re-live the hurt and pain of death and duty for many. The whole prison riot and his agreeing to resign from the RIM navy and join his captain over in the Barony navy was also something he was not going to re-live either.
He sat up and tucked the extra pillow behind his head and sighed.
No sleep truck had even gone by for him to grab onto and slide into and he kept the thought of Gia away.
He would like to see her and he knew that he could do that but he resisted.
That would be something to hold out for, he thought as he scrunched that extra pillow a bit to ease down a little on the bed.
Gym tomorrow in the early part of the morning, he grinned at himself.
He was getting paunchy and maybe a hundred core crunches would help a bit.
Hurt a bit for sure, he said to himself as he closed his eyes once more…trying to find sleep….
Available in the winter of 2016!
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Dear Reader…
If you've made it this far, you're most likely thinking that this was the best SciFi you've ever read. Or maybe not.
Maybe Tanner Scott wasn't your
cup of tea?
Or you hate the Baroness and her scheming ways?
Or does the Caliph look like an upcoming tyrant?
So I'd like to ask you for a favor? Would you mind taking a few minutes to write a review for me please?
And I'm talking honest too! Nothing makes us writers get better than book reviews!
Your comments help others know what to expect when they're looking for a great SciFi read…
And thanks once again, I'm looking forward to reading your comments!
Jim Rudnick
2016
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Dear Reader…
The RIM Confederacy
A Message to you from the Author
Title
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Epilogue
Title
Prologue
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
Epilogue
Title
Prologue
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
Epilogue
next Book Prologue
Reviews
