An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3)

by Michael Chatfield

  “To our brothers and sisters,” Mark said finally.

  The others tapped their cups together and then to the table before drinking from their beers.

  Once again, they settled into silence as they were left with the emotions and memories that had been dredged up in just those few minutes. The waves of emotions made their eyes feel raw and pulled on their very chests, making it hard to think of anything else.

  Kumar finally grabbed his glass and threw it against a wall with a yell. The anger growing on his face and felt through their net was a palpable and powerful thing.

  “If that fucking little shit gave us our fucking supplies or backed us up—” Kumar couldn’t even say Hesra’s name or finish his sentence as he leaned on the table, filled with anger but not having anywhere to put it.

  The others in the room had gone silent at his outburst. Even the mess staff looked at one another.

  Mark looked around the bar, as if telling them to continue on, that there was nothing to see.

  Quickly, conversations started to spark up as people let them be.

  Evan caught the eye of the guard who looked as if they didn’t know what to do. Evan indicated that the situation was under control.

  The man relaxed and went back to where he was standing.

  “We know,” Dodger uttered. His voice also carried a heat to it.

  “He won’t escape, nor will Rimateus,” Mark vowed, not trusting his own voice and using the net instead.

  They looked one another in the eyes, without saying anything more. They were all killers. In their eyes, the fates of these two men had already been sealed.

  “Tonight is not about revenge, but instead remembering the people who aren’t with us anymore.” Ava pulled them out of the dark and cold place that they were all spiraling into.

  “Today we stand here, eleven of seventy-four.” Ava’s voice caught but she pushed on as she held her drink high.

  “Sixty-three of the finest people I have ever come to know. Men and women I didn’t know just a few months ago. But today, I engrave their names in my heart, in my soul. Chyna once told me that a soldier is the only occupation that is actively trying to work themselves out of a job. Hoping that later generations will never have to do the same job. Sixty-three paid that price. Their time has ended and they can rest. But we will move on, fighting until there is a day we don’t need to anymore.”

  The room quieted down as the troopers listened in. Anyone who had been in combat knew the truth; they didn’t want others to have to do it. Some would chase the high of fighting, the thrill of facing death again and again. Many, even those who enjoyed the fight, would miss out on that high if it meant that their buddies would be alive and they wouldn’t have to don a set of armor. They wouldn’t cry silently and crumble internally as those people who were closer than family disappeared, their lives, their personalities, how they had acted and live, forgotten.

  That was the scariest thing: wondering whether one day you would forget, whether the memory wouldn’t be as sharp, and they became just a name, just a number—not Reese, who would spend his time on crossword puzzles and send messages back to his nieces and nephews. Who was always there when you needed help to work on your armor or when you wanted to go get a cheeseburger. Jared, who was always there with a smart-ass comment or a grin distorted by the thick wad of chew under his lip. Always hanging with Dodger and dispensing advice you didn’t know whether was true or he was fucking with you.

  Even with his attitude, he would quietly meet with the different members of the Vanguard, talking to them, making sure that they were okay. He was always in for a beer or a one-on-one, or equally in for video games.

  Even as there were times they got into arguments or had issues with one another, or they yelled at you and you yelled at them—it all faded away.

  There was always a scene, a memory, the way they laughed or they smiled that captured the essence of them.

  They might have been warriors and killers, but they were so much more. They were comedians, pranksters, jack of all trades, friends, the guy you’d trust with your deepest secrets and they’d laugh it off to make you feel better.

  Mark closed his eyes as he wondered what they might have been able to do if they had grown up, been free from the fighting.

  Only the movie in the background could be heard.

  Mark raised his glass as well, squeezing Ava’s hand, who knew that if she said anything more, the floodgates would open. “May they smile forever. May we never lose their memories and one day we can stand tall knowing that what we did meant that others like them wouldn’t need to lose their lives in the name of peace, or war or defense.” Mark wasn’t seeing any of those in the room, but flashes of those he had lost over the years, each carved deep into his heart.

  “To the fallen!” Mark’s words rang through the room.

  “May they never be forgotten!” The troopers yelled back, the old tradition ingrained in their bones. Even the retired troopers followed suit as they hit their drinks against the tables and took a deep drink.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Freighter O-41 (Designation Wind Snapper)

  Ark Orbit, Emarl System

  11/3555

  Esamai wore a space suit, with little Tyler contained in his own special sling that could go into vacuum as well. She spent as much time as possible with Tyler, only leaving him behind with a caretaker when she was going into some of the more dangerous areas of the yard.

  She had met with a number of the traders and people from Tricticus. All of the leaders knew of Esamai, the woman who was coordinating the growth of the entire star system while also looking after her son.

  Her passion and knowledge were something that couldn’t be underestimated, despite her young face.

  She stood next to Moretti. The two of them looked at the freighter that Moretti had picked a few months ago. It had been heavily upgraded but there didn’t seem to be any differences from the outside.

  “It’s going to be a long trip to the Hellenic system,” Esamai said.

  “Thirteen months or so,” Moretti said. Some of the crew would be sleeping in their cryopods as they moved toward the system. Moretti would need to be awake, managing his information networks and talking to his different people to keep everyone in the loop knowing what was happening in Earth and Her Colonies as well as the Roma Union.

  The two of them stood there, knowing that it would be years until they saw each other again.

  Esamai hadn’t known Moretti all that much before he jumped onto the Yard before it left Sol system. Since then he had been like a brother-in-law, helping out where he could, trying to take some of the stress off her shoulders, and looking after Tyler at different times.

  “Look after yourself,” Esamai said.

  “I will.” Moretti then looked to little Tyler. With that, he walked toward the umbilical that attached the ship to the Yard.

  It didn’t take him long to board the freighter.

  Esamai watched as the air lock sealed behind him and the different magnetic docking clamps released along the length of the ship.

  Thrusters fired as the ship pushed out from the Yard.

  It moved away on its engines. It wasn’t long until Esamai couldn’t see the ship anymore.

  She had a thoughtful look on her face, thinking of all the freighters that were moving through space right now, linking up with the long-range freighters that they had sent out years ago, or meeting up with the EMFCs that were asleep, laying outside or between different systems.

  The scope of what was happening across known space—sometimes she needed a minute to just take it all in.

  “I just hope that they all come back safe,” Esamai said softly.

  Tyler started moving in his sling. It seemed that he was grumpy again or he needed something.

  Esamai hurried back inside the Yard. She had plenty more to do. The Yard wasn’t going to run itself!

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  VCF Osda
l

  In Transit to Emarl System

  11/3555

  The troopers were standing, row upon row, looking at the eleven people in front.

  Over the last three months, there had been a total of thirteen thousand troopers who had signed up for selection training that one needed to undergo before they could be mergers.

  To facilitate this, they had been broken down into groups and the mergers had been making simulation systems for them all. For the sake of resources and time, they had modified banks of cryopods so that they could train two thousand of them at one time.

  They had also redesigned the simulation systems so that they directly interfaced with the user’s brain, allowing them to act at the speed of thought, increasing how fast they perceived time when they were inside the simulation.

  No one spoke as they were inside the freighter’s different pods. All of them wore sealed armor, looking at the eleven people who didn’t wear their armor. In fact, all of them were standing in the vacuum without any issue.

  No other biological creature could do this.

  Each of the troopers knew their training staff. They were heroes and idols. They might have been from another military before; now they were just part of the Vanguard.

  Mark stepped forward and looked over them all. They stood straighter seeing him. He had created the Victor Corporation; he was one of the most decorated and revered troopers from the Harmony War and the first merger.

  He led the Vanguard from the front and he held the deep respect of every man and woman in that freighter.

  Seeing your hero stepping out in front of you, it was hard for many people to take in at once.

  Mark didn’t open his mouth, instead using his NIAI to link to their helmets so that they could all hear him.

  “Becoming a merger is one of the hardest things that you have ever experienced. You will need to push beyond your limits before you will even get the opportunity to become a merger.

  “If you decide to become a merger, you will no longer be human. You will be a creation bred from the memories and reactions you have right now.

  “The person you are right now will no longer exist. You will be something different, if you have children it will be through your stored genetic information, you will be unable to forget the loss of your best friend. You will live with your demons every waking moment and when you go to sleep. Once you take that step, there is no going back.”

  The troopers all stood there, some gritting their teeth in determination or gripping their fists tighter.

  The mergers had impressed on everyone going through this that there was no turning back.

  Seeing that none of them looked to have any quit left in them, Mark acknowledged their guts. Not many of them would make it to become mergers and some might even leave when getting to that last step.

  Mark had trained and taught many people over the ages. He no longer felt nervous, excited, or anxious about it; it was just another thing. He simply promised that he would push them as hard as possible. The better and harder the training was, the higher the possibility of surviving when it was the real thing.

  “Very well. Everyone move to the modified cryopods. Your selection starts now.” Sarah sent them all a message with information detailing which cryopod was theirs.

  The different groups filed off and headed into the spine of the freighter to enter the simulation as soon as possible.

  Mark looked to the other mergers. He didn’t need to ask or say anything. He could feel their emotions as they saw these troopers moving off.

  Some of them would become their new brothers and sisters in the Vanguard. Even if they passed training, the possibility of them dying in battle was also high.

  They would be some of the best trained and fighting capable people, but the fact remained that in war there was no guarantee that you would survive.

  The sixty-three mergers who hadn’t made it back from their mission attested to this fact.

  Gaining the mergers’ acceptance would be hard.

  “Let’s see if they’re any good,” Mark said to the mergers through the communication net.

  ***

  Chen’s days had been filled with reports and information briefs.

  Charles and his engineering crew were pushing harder than ever before and they seemed to have lit a fire under Chen’s engineering crew’s asses.

  They had planned out a number of upgrades for the Moby to bring it up to date, but they would have taken years to complete if not for Gomez, Maxine, and Charles all being mergers now.

  Charles, Maxine, and Gomez, who had been working with nanites vats for decades, were like wizards, able to create items faster than even fabbers. As their minds increased their control, they had shared the information with the other mergers, allowing them to all increase the speed at which they could build things with the nanites’ vats.

  Charles had even taken it a step further. He programmed the nanites himself and had them moving through different systems in the Moby, breaking down the old components and building new ones.

  This greatly increased the speed that systems were upgraded. The engineers, who would have been wasted to remove the old components and put in the new ones, were freed to make more parts and plans with the merger trio.

  Chen lent his hand where he could. He was added into their conversations many times, or at least given an information folder that updated him on what they wanted to do and wanted him to okay it if possible.

  Before, he wouldn’t have known what he was signing, but now with his ability to integrate information into his memories seamlessly he was able to at least understand the concepts behind the different changes they wanted to make.

  There had also been a number of items that he had denied due to them being a waste of manpower.

  Sure, it was nice upgrading everything and it would lead to a big jump upward in combat capability. The fact was that there were a number of upgrades which were convenient but they weren’t of an immediate need.

  Weapons, armor, engines, Alcubierre drive, and merger delivery systems: these were the key areas that Chen agreed to different upgrades.

  At times, there were things like an upgrade that could increase the power output from the fusion reactors. Chen agreed to these kinds of requests as well if they didn’t take up too much time and resources.

  When he wasn’t dealing with Charles and the engineers of the Moby, he was talking with Admiral Hall.

  Right now, the Moby was the only combat capable ship under the Victor Corporation.

  Sure, the freighters had weapons systems on them. Although they could put up a fight, their armor wasn’t all that strong and at the base of it all, they were freighters with military upgrades built in. They didn’t have the power or armor to deal with a stand-up fight.

  Admiral Hall had passed over ship development to Chen. With his merging capabilities and knowledge of different ships, it was possible for him to quickly design a ship.

  He was going for modular design. Using the fabbers, they could each make sections that could be brought together like a puzzle to make a ship, much faster than moving section by section to create it.

  Although it sounded like a dream to make so many ships so fast, the fact of the matter was that with the increased production speed, Chen had to make sure that everything was right before they started.

  He had also been given a second part to his task, one that he had only learned about a few days ago. He not only needed to design new ships, but he had to decide whether it was worth upgrading twenty-five EMFCs or choose to scrap them.

  He remembered what Admiral Hall had told him when giving him the information packet on the twenty-five different Earth Military Force carriers.

  “While I can’t guarantee this, it is highly likely that those twenty-five ships will join us in the Emarl system. If they do, then we need a plan for them. They’ll be rigged up with Alcubierre drives or being pulled out by freighters. We need to decide if we break them down or put
them to work.” Admiral Hall watched Chen for his reaction.

  He was left in a bit of shock. Each carrier would hold some one hundred thousand troopers and seventy thousand support personnel. That was nearly two hundred thousand people, all of them with prior training. Chen was worried about what might happen with the Union and EHC looking at the Emarl system.

  Although the EHC were less of a threat, choosing to fight among one another, he knew that it would be only a matter of time until they gained Alcubierre drives.

  If their military was removed from around them, he didn’t know how they’d react.

  It also highlighted to him how the fragile EHC would start to crumble.

  With no more military personnel to restore order in the Colonies and with the Victor Corporation offering new trade routes through the EHC and even ferrying people back to Emarl, Chen didn’t doubt that Emarl would see massive changes and the EHC might not survive the coming storm.

  Chen was still looking over the carriers but first he had a meeting with Admiral Hall. It looked as though he had finished the design on the four main ship designs.

  He knocked on Admiral Hall’s office door.

  “Come in!” Admiral Hall said. The door opened to reveal the admiral at his desk. His hands moved through the 3-D interface as he used his NIAI and the interface to increase the speed that he could do tasks.

  They might be on a freighter hurtling through space toward their base, but Admiral Hall was still at the center of it all, passing orders to the different forces that were across dozens of star systems, checking on reports, and working with the Yard to organize their projects.

  Captain Chen snapped out a salute as he came to attention in front of the admiral.

  Hall cancelled the screen and returned the salute.

  Chen felt awkward whenever he saluted. It took some time to train himself to not hold his fist over his heart instead of the EMF salute that everyone else was using.

  He had joined the legion as a wide-eyed teenager wanting to make his mark and become a famous ship captain in the space legion. He had achieved his goals, but he was more infamous than famous at the end of it all.