Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2)

by Donald Nicklas

  “We have a lot of damage to deal with. Neither cruiser can go anywhere but this one is the least damaged.” Slone then turned to his engineer, Diana Tojo-Gardner, “Diana, see if you can work your way to engineering and assess the damage. I would like the rest of you to head to the bridge and see what is still working. We are on batteries only and will lose all power and life support in a day if we can’t get it going. We will have to cannibalize the other cruiser for parts. We captured her and she’s our prize so take what you need. I assume the destroyer is also totaled so ask Captain Rand, if he survived, if we can use her for parts as well.”

  All acknowledged their roles and moved off to perform them. Slone sat down again and realized in all the commotion that he had sustained a graze wound of the right upper arm. It may need a stitch or two but nothing serious. Slone was proud of how his men under Decanus Marshal handled themselves. A full complement of them must be unstoppable. As he was reviewing the battle in his mind, Arthur Balin came into the hangar bay, along with his advisors and the usual number of sycophants.

  “Captain Christopher, how can I thank you. You saved us all with your skill and daring.”

  “Give your crew some of the credit. For a soft crew used to flying the CEO’s ship, they did an admirable job and many gave their lives to protect you.”

  “Yes, they deserve my thanks, as do you and your men. My marines can’t stop praising their fighting abilities. Tell me, what is your corporate affiliation?”

  “We are part of a democratic federation, and have nothing to do with corporations.”

  Balin gave this some thought. “Then the rumors are true. There is a civilization out here, which we know nothing about. I hope you will tell me about it. I will pay handsomely for an introduction.”

  “Your money has no value to me and it’s not up to me if you meet them. I am just their agent here to report on the asylum issue for the Border Worlds.”

  Balin was taken aback at being spoken to in this manner, but he was smart enough to know that his position meant nothing here. He had to bide his time, if he wanted help from these people. He then looked over at Alaya.

  “Tell me, Captain Christopher, who is this vision of loveliness at your side?” Slone was amused as the displaced, overweight and balding CEO of the Balin Corporation pulled in his gut and stuck out his chest.

  “This is my wife, Captain Olivia Christopher,” Slone stated.

  “A vision of loveliness, yet you look somehow familiar to me.”

  Suddenly Alaya was concerned he may have recognized her as Alaya Sinclair. She had always stayed out of the limelight, but there were state functions with other CEO’s she could not avoid. She honestly did not remember ever meeting Arthur Balin. Her fears were soon dismissed as Balin continued.

  “You remind me of a beautiful woman I once knew in my youth who became my dear first wife, who died much too soon.”

  “I am glad I sparked such a fine memory on this sad day,” Alaya said, diplomatically as she took his extended hand into both of hers. Her stepfather had taught her well.

  Balin then looked over to Slone and said, “Captain, I hope you will stay in command of my cruiser for now, and accomplish what repairs you can.”

  “I will do that, but if Captain Rand from your destroyer survived this, I would recommend him to you as your new captain. He showed great bravery and innovation in all of his actions to save the civilians and help us win the day.”

  “I will do that, let’s hope he survived.”

  Before there was any more conversation, a call came out over the ship’s intercom. “Captain to the bridge,” Slone recognized Tom Gardner’s voice.

  Slone turned to the Decanus, “Decanus Marshal, when you can come to the bridge, in case we have another problem coming our way.”

  Slone and Alaya went to the bridge, after sealing the Draco to prevent anyone entering and seeing Sly. Near the bridge, there were bodies and body parts everywhere from the fight in the corridor. Being careful not to slip on the blood, they arrived to see a damaged bridge with the breach hole in the canopy. Roger had retracted the bridge armor and the force field patch was holding on the hole the marines came through. The wounded Romani troops were still standing guard over the enemy marines, who where disarmed and tied together. Balin marine medics were tending to their wounds, after having first tended to their own and the Romani wounded. The Draco crew staffed the bridge stations and Paul McMann was the first to speak.

  “We detected a dreadnought class vessel entering the system. When their telemetry reached us, the ship’s computer could not identify it.”

  “Which slipstream did it enter from?”

  “The one we used to enter this system.”

  Slone thought for a moment. “If it is a Romani ship, then a Balin ship’s computer would have no recognition codes. I am willing to bet it’s one of ours.”

  Just as Slone finished there was a beep on the communications console and Tom listened to his earpiece. “We are being hailed by the NR Longinus, Captain Lorenzo sends his compliments.”

  Ok put me through. “Captain Lorenzo, my compliments to you as well. You missed all the fun. We could use your help for repairs though. I will send you our battle tapes. Welcome to the system.”

  After several minutes passed the return signal arrived, “Thank you, Captain Slone. Transit time will be 7 hours, see you then.”

  “Tom, tap into the Draco’s computers and send the Longinus a copy of the tapes from our battle and send a message to the civilian ships and the resupply freighter. Tell them the coast is clear the dreadnought that just entered the system is one of ours. Have all the ships return here.” Slone turned to Alaya and said, “If we can’t get the generators going, we may need to crowd into those ships to get out of here.”

  “Captain,” Tom interrupted, “we are being hailed by the Petrov cruiser.”

  “Put it on audio.”

  A familiar voice came over the speakers. “Captain Christopher or whomever is in charge, this is Captain Rand of the BC Orion, come in please.”

  “This is Captain Christopher. Glad you made it through, Captain Rand. Ramming the cruiser was a brilliant maneuver on your part. Arthur Balin is safe as is most of the crew here. What is your condition?”

  “We have some level of control but the Orion is severely damaged. We detected a dreadnought entering the system but could not get any ID on her.”

  “She is one of ours and does not pose a threat. She will join us so we can sort things out here. Have your engineers give me a damage report on that cruiser. We will need to cannibalize her for parts. I claim her as a prize of war.”

  “Aye, Captain. You can have her, nothing but a hunk of usable junk now. She will never again take a slipstream and I fear my destroyer is also space junk.”

  Captain Rand was right on both counts. The Petrov cruiser was trashed as was his ship. Only the Reynolds stood a chance at repairs, if they could take the three ships and come up with one useable vessel. During the seven hours before the Longinus arrived, a lot was accomplished. Captain Rand had 138 Petrov Corp prisoners that needed securing, all that were left of the 250-person crew and her 100 marines. They were confined, under guard, in the mess hall of the enemy ship. Generators and life support still functioned on that vessel. On the Reynolds, there were many bodies and body parts to deal with as well as lakes of blood in the areas where combat took place. All of the wounded prisoners were treated, and those aboard the Reynolds were removed to the Petrov ship. The Reynolds suffered 85 casualties out of a crew of 250 along with 30 of her marines. The Romani lost five troops, three men and two women. Twenty-three of the Orion’s crew of 100 died during the boarding action against the Petrov cruiser. There were too many dead to do more than a quick ceremony. Slone left it to the Balin CEO to say some words over the dead before committing the bodies to space. Most would be pulled into the airless planet containing the early warning station. The Romani dead were not committed to space. When the Longinus got there
, those bodies would be cremated and the ashes placed in urns to be deposited on a mountain on Nova Romae, called the Mountain of Remembrance, where the fallen war dead are honored.

  By the time the Longinus arrived, the Reynolds was starting to look better. There was still no luck in getting off the batteries and they were now half down. Diana Gardner and the chief engineer from the Orion were working hard with their crews to get power restored. Cannon shot had taken out part of the engine room and the air ducts that carried atmosphere throughout the ship were in shambles. The Orion engineers pulled out the ducts from the destroyer and helped fit them to the Reynolds life support while Diane and her crew worked to get the generator going. Finally, they were able to restore power to the ship and begin recharging the batteries. Just as this was happening, the Longinus came alongside the ships. Slone saw it from the bridge as a sleek, black hull with its red lettering on the front. Across the nose of the vessel, just above the gun port, in bold red letters was listed:

  NR LONGINUS

  LEG X COH I

  During their rest and relaxation on Nova Romae, Slone and his people were given military and civilian manuals to read to familiarize themselves with the organization of the Nova Romae civilization. He now knew what the symbols meant and he was aware that Decanus Marshal and his troops were part of the infantry from the Longinus. Each system in the Nova Romae federation was required to supply one dreadnought to the Romani navy, to be manned by Romani trained on Nova Romae. The officers of the vessel were assigned by the Romani high command. In addition, each vessel was assigned a cohort of infantry consisting of 600 troops divided into six centuries of 100. These came from the legionary camps set up by the central government. Ten dreadnoughts and their complement of 6000 troops constituted one legion and each legion was assigned a number. The Longinus carried the first cohort of the tenth legion, a legion whose history started over three millennia ago in the Roman Republic of old earth. A shuttle left the Longinus and Slone, Alaya, Arthur Balin, and his entourage left the bridge for the hangar deck. They arrived just as the shuttle came through the force field on its final approach. It put down on the newly cleaned deck and Decanus Marshal was standing at attention with his remaining troops as the hatch opened. The first three troops to exit were unique to the Romani, and Slone could tell from the expressions on the faces of the Balin CEO and his people, they were confused. First came a soldier holding a pole with a cross piece on which there was a red banner with gold letters stating ‘LEG X COH I’, followed by a second soldier carrying a pole ending in a silver open hand with a silver wreath below and what look like circular medallions vertically down the pole. The next soldier was confusing for those who had never encountered the Romani. He had a large curved horn extending from in front of his mouth and curving under his right arm to the back with the flare of the horn projecting over his right shoulder. All were dressed in black battle armor with red capes. The Cornicen blew his horn and Decanus Marshal and his troops snapped to even more attention. Next came twelve men and women dressed in purple robes and carrying the bundles of rods called fasces. They formed a double row of six on either side of the hatch. Next to exit was Captain Lorenzo, dressed as flamboyantly as always, with his colorful coat over purple enhanced combat armor with his rank insignia as a consul of the republic. He told the Decanus and his troops to stand down and get some rest and congratulated them on a job well done. As always, there was the wide brimmed hat with the feather, which he took off as he went over to Alaya and kissed her hand.

  “As lovely as ever, my dear,” Juan said, with all of the charm he could muster. Slone was amused at the fact that he pointedly ignored the Balin CEO. Next, he went and greeted Slone, who gave him his best salute as his superior. Juan saluted back then flashed a big smile. “Well, my friend, I saw the combat data, quite a fight you put up. I would love to meet the captain of that destroyer, if he survived the ramming.”

  “He survived it. He has taken charge of things aboard the Petrov cruiser. She is a prize of war.”

  “A prize for scrap from the looks of her.” Captain Lorenzo now finally turned to the Balin CEO, who seemed to be fuming by this time. “You must be the CEO of the Balin Corp; I am Consul Juan Lorenzo, captain of the dreadnought NR Longinus. I understand you are seeking asylum.”

  “I was expecting to talk with a corporate head, not a mere ship’s captain.”

  Slone admired Juan’s composure at the insult. “It appears you are a CEO without a corporation and you want our help. If I were you, I’d be happy to talk with anyone who can help. Anyway, there are no corporations here”

  That deflated him a bit. “Quite right, I am a man without a country. My people and I formally request asylum. May I ask what to call your people?”

  “We are the Romani. We have time to discuss asylum later, right now we have to sort this mess out.” Captain Lorenzo turned to Slone, “Captain, what are the most pressing needs?”

  Slone was quick to answer, “Life support and engines here, and we’re planning on cannibalizing the other ships for what we need. We have power back but Diana Gardner is still working on life support.”

  “I will send over all the personnel you need.”

  Alaya now chimed in. “My ship will need a missile and two cannon shells replaced as well.”

  Juan flashed a big smile. “How can I deny such a beauty, especially when she wants ammunition? A lady after my own heart.” Captain Lorenzo then left to tend to things. He stayed aboard the Reynolds as his men began to swarm over the three ships, so recently locked in battle.

  They spent a week in the 257C system, with message pods entering and leaving daily to update both Nova Romae and the Border Worlds. The Border Worlds ambassador came aboard from the supply freighter which also off loaded food and drink to the civilian ships. By the beginning of the second week, the Reynolds was repaired enough to take the slipstream and she was scheduled to refit at a Border Worlds shipyard. Since Arthur Balin had little money, he donated the cruiser to the Border Worlds in return for refitting the destroyer for his use. The Orion had taken a lot of front-end damage from her ram into the Petrov Cruiser hangar bay, but she was still intact. Both ships would soon be leaving for the shipyard. Slone and his crew stayed aboard the Reynolds, sleeping aboard the Draco at night and in off hours. On the morning of the first day of a new week, a message arrived from the Longinus requesting Arthur Balin, Decanus Marshal and the crew of the Draco to come over for a meeting. Slone hoped that translated into a mission, since he and his crew were getting tired of sitting around and acting as technicians. They would all shuttle across to the Longinus on the Draco. When CEO Balin wanted to take his entire entourage across with him, it gave Slone more pleasure than expected to tell him he was allowed only two additional passengers. Not to insult his other Sycophants, he decided to go alone. They all entered the Draco and covered the short distance to the Longinus in a few minutes. The dreadnought was huge, even as dreadnoughts go. This was actually the Andromeda 7’s first time going aboard a Nova Romae dreadnought. Since all military ships remain at dock in the Nova Romae system, there was no reason to go aboard any other ships. Decanus Marshal came without his troops. The remaining four troopers spent their time doing guard duty on the Reynolds and were to remain there. The Longinus did not bring any replacements with her. The hangar deck of the dreadnought was huge, much larger than Sinclair dreadnoughts. It was also immaculate. Slone could never quite get used to the spit and polish of the Nova Romae military, but he had to admit, it looked good. Arthur Balin was also impressed as was the Draco crew. Alaya was piloting and the deck crew directed her to set the ship down in a vacant space. They all exited the Draco through the cargo hatch. Sly had remained on the bridge and away from the cargo hold. They were met by an honor guard and the flamboyant Captain Lorenzo. The captain led them to a large conference room just forward of the hangar. As they passed through the hangar, the infantry cohort was practicing maneuvers in another part of the hangar deck and the discipline
was evident even to the civilian CEO.

  “I wish we had troops like those, we could have driven the Petrov Corp invasion away.”

  They entered the conference room and Slone saw Captain Rand already sitting at the table with some of his officers. Slone greeted him with great respect and again thanked him for ramming the Petrov Cruiser. Slone had no doubt his quick action saved the day. The week had been so busy; this was the first chance Slone had to meet up with him. Slone’s crew had been in constant touch as Captain Rand took care of things on the enemy cruiser and saw to his destroyer. Slone and Rand were about the same age, and he knew instinctively they could be good friends. When all were seated around the table, Juan Lorenzo entered as a consul of Nova Romae, preceded by his twelve fasces bearers, which Slone learned are called Lictors. Slone also noted that the fasces now had axes protruding from them. He was not sure what this meant.

  “Lady,” Juan smiled at Alaya, “and gentlemen. I have been in contact with both the Nova Romae Senate and the Border Worlds. Our protectorate, the Border Worlds has formally granted temporary asylum to the refugees from Balin space.”

  Arthur Balin was about to raise a question, when Consul Lorenzo raised his had to stop him.

  “It is the wish of the senate that CEO Arthur Balin come to the senate chambers on Nova Romae and report on what happened within his corporate space. The Senate has also taken great offense at the Petrov Corporation’s violation of our protectorate’s space. This is considered by the senate to be an act of war, and a state of war now exists between Nova Romae and the Petrov Corporation. As the first act of that war, it is our intention to take back the space formerly held by the Balin Corporation. In return for this action, it is the desire of the senate that the Balin Corporation become a protectorate of Nova Romae.” Juan then looked directly at Arthur Balin and awaited an answer.