Storm Divers (Book 1 of The Fractured Republic Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  The recording ended, and Rachel sat back in her chair. God, she’d never expected it to get this bad. The Republic had really fallen. The RIS was gone. They were on their own.

  “Do you have the code?” Adam asked.

  “I’ll know for sure once I’ve moved the file to an isolated system, but I’m sure I do. You heard her. Only the most loyal RIS operatives could even listen to her. My code is in there.”

  “What’s the plan, then?” he asked.

  Rachel smiled grimly. “We pick up our new friends and get the hell out of here before someone comes looking for us. Then we come back with blood in our eyes. The Republic isn’t dead until we say so.”

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  Turn the page to read the first chapter of Armed Resistance, Book Two of The Fractured Republic Saga.

  Did you enjoy the book? If so, do a guy a solid and leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It only takes a minute to leave a few sentences saying you liked it and that kind of thing helps your favorite authors so much. Thanks for giving me a try and I hope to see you again.

  Titles by Terry Mixon

  You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.

  The Empire of Bones Saga

  Empire of Bones

  Veil of Shadows

  Command Decisions

  Ghosts of Empire

  Paying the Price

  Reconnaissance in Force (January 2017)

  The Humanity Unlimited Saga

  Liberty Station

  Freedom Express

  Tree of Liberty (December 2016)

  The Fractured Republic Saga

  Storm Divers

  Armed Resistance (March 2017)

  The Imperial Marines Saga

  Imperial Marines: Recruit (February 2017)

  The adventure continues in Book Two of The Fractured Republic Saga, coming in March 2017.

  Armed Resistance

  Space was big, but Adam Hale had no difficulty finding the damaged Republican Navy ship Hyperion. The crippled ship’s distress beacon made missing it an impossibility.

  The Janus Corporation’s attack ship had obviously surprised the warship, but based on the amount of debris in the general area, that had not ended very well for them.

  He had no doubt that the Navy ship had its weapons trained on them right now, so he brought Javelin in slowly. He might be a construction worker now, but as ex-Army, he knew better than to startle someone who thought they were cornered.

  No one on the ship really knew what they were doing, now that Janus had staged a coup and taken down the Republican government. Everything in the system was in chaos, and they’d barely escaped Jupiter alive.

  Honestly, he didn’t think even Rachel Price, the canny and resourceful RIS agent, knew how to fight back against something this big. This terrible.

  The Republican Intelligence Service trained their agents well, but no one had anticipated anything like a coup.

  No one except Adam’s older brother, Zane. He’d known something was happening for a while. And he’d had proof that the massacre Adam had been caught up in on Mars wasn’t Adam’s doing. That had been the work of RIS agents working with the Disruptors, terrorists determined to overthrow the government.

  A group secretly funded and guided by Janus Corporation. All part of their grand scheme.

  Zane Hale, also a RIS agent, had known about all of this to some degree. He’d decided to investigate it on his own, and they’d captured him. If only he’d trusted Adam enough to say something. Anything.

  Or leave something for his partner. Price had come looking for Zane on her own. It had taken them days filled with terror and blood to uncover the plot. Days that could have made a difference in stopping the plot.

  And then there was the incredible secret base floating in Jupiter’s atmosphere. He still wasn’t ready to consider the implications of the obviously alien facility. Humans had never found a single trace of anything sentient in the forty years they’d had FTL drives. Of course, with Janus pulling the strings, who knew what the truth was.

  The FTL drives had done a lot of good, too. Small colonies, mines, and construction facilities had sprung up in a lot of nearby systems. Humanity had finally gotten clear of the home system. The initial trickle of people had turned into a flood as the spigots opened.

  Hundreds of millions of people were out there now, and building lives for themselves. Who knew? Maybe a billion or more. No one was counting.

  All of these people looked to the Republic for stability. That was gone now. Janus was in charge, and no one had any idea what their true goals were for the Republic.

  The door to the bridge slid open, and Price walked in. The RIS agent had a tablet in her hand, but her attention went immediately to the screen.

  He really needed to get used to thinking of her by her given name. They’d be working together for the foreseeable future.

  “Are we close?” she asked

  “Relatively speaking. We’re picking up the wreckage of the Janus ship that attacked them. Even without drives, Navy still kicked their asses. They’ll launch a shuttle to check us out before their leader comes over, I think. Jason had cleared the bay, so there’s enough room for them to come aboard now.”

  “How do you think we should play it? We can’t afford to let them seize this ship. We need it to strike back at Janus.”

  He shrugged. “Trust has to start somewhere. We’re not armed with ship-to-ship weapons, so we can’t fight back. Not to mention, if they send a few marines on this inspection team, we don’t have the firepower to resist them.

  “I say we let things play out, and hope they see the logic of our working together for themselves. Lieutenant Nottingham seems like a well-grounded individual.”

  The RIS agent sighed. “It’s risky, but I agree we probably don’t have a choice. I’ve decrypted the data that RIS headquarters sent out. It’s a cross-section of burn before reading stuff that I shouldn’t allow myself to read without locking my head in the safe.

  “I’m talking about out-system agents’ names, safe houses, supply caches, and all sorts of things like that. It’ll definitely help us settle in somewhere once we get the FTL drive installed.”

  “I’ll bet the Navy has something similar. At least I hope so.”

  They watched the screen as the details of the crippled Navy ship became clearer. There was a lot of debris in close around Hyperion: atmosphere, parts of the ship, and probably some of the crew. It seemed as though the ship was mostly intact, but it had taken a pounding.

  “Speaking of trust,” he said. “Do you mind if we move to first names? I think we know one another well enough for that now.”

  She blinked, looking a little surprised. “Yeah. I suppose we should. Especially with your brother around. That could get confusing with two Hales.”

  “We’ll get over the weirdness,” he said.

  A small boat broke away from the warship, and accelerated modestly toward Javelin. A signal came in from it, indicating it was an inspection team. An armed one. It looked as though the other side was just as worried about this going south as Price was. As Rachel was.

  “They’ll be here in about ten minutes,” he said. “We should meet them together. Armed, but don’t get too froggy. Marines in armor could clean our clocks pretty easily.”

  The hatch to the bridge opened as they approached. Adam’s best friend Jason Chang walked in.

  The short Asian man grinned. “There you are. Your brother is asking for you. Well, shouting, really. He’s mad.” His eyes darted over at Rachel. “Mostly at you for using the shocker on him.”

  She grunted. “Good. He’ll get over it. Or not. In any case, he can damn well wait. We’ve got more pressing business. How’s the FTL install going?”

  “G
ood,” Jason said as he turned to walk with them. “Kira has them working hard, and they’ve done this more times than I can imagine. Or that they’ll tell me about, anyway. They’re a pretty secretive bunch.”

  Kira Houston had been the construction supervisor for the Janus shipyards until the coup. The corporation was still the only one that knew how to build FTL drives. That might be explained by the alien station Rachel and he had found orbiting high in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

  Based on the shock she’d exhibited when he told her the story, Kira hadn’t been in the inner circle, and he’d worked with the FTL team for years. They were all good people. Once their new situation sank in, they’d work even harder.

  “Did she give you an ETA?” Rachel asked. “We have no idea how long it will be before Janus comes after us or the Navy ship.”

  Jason shrugged. “It looked pretty far along, but I have no idea. You’ll have to ask them.”

  “I’ll do that, as soon as I meet our guests. But I can tell you one thing. They’d better get a move on, because we don’t have forever. Janus is coming. Count on it.”

  * * * * *

  Rachel waited inside the inner airlock door, considering the irony that the last time she’d been here was when she’d busted in, and stole this ship. She hoped history wasn’t about to repeat itself.

  She took a deep breath when the lock opened, and kept her hand clear of her pistol. She’d swapped the concealed holster for something a bit more obvious in order to make a statement, but if the military boarded Javelin intent on taking her, she couldn’t stop them.

  Two men in armor came through the hatch first. They had short rifles, but they didn’t point them at Adam and herself. A tall man with blonde hair and his right arm in a sling came through next. He had a bandage over his left eye where she’d seen a cut the first time they’d spoken.

  She extended her left hand. “Lieutenant Nottingham. I didn’t expect you to come over and inspect us personally. I’d figure you had more important things to do.”

  Lieutenant Charles Nottingham was the tactical officer of the crippled Republican Navy vessel Hyperion. The senior surviving officer.

  “If you aren’t what you claim, my ship will avenge me,” he said candidly. “And if I’m going to build trust, I think I need to extend a branch first.”

  The officer turned to her companion. “Captain Hale. I took the liberty of looking up your record in our database. I have to say I’m quite impressed, though there seems to have been a few bumps along the way.”

  That was a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that Adam Hale had commanded the team that slaughtered a number of civilians on Mars. Only it turned out they hadn’t.

  Adam took the man’s hand. “If it matters, we have evidence that rogue RIS agents and the Janus Corporation were in league with the Disruptors to make that happen. It was one of the first steps of their destabilization plan.”

  “On any other day, I might be a little suspicious of statements like that. You’ve caught me in a much more receptive mood.”

  He turned back to Rachel. “Which of you is in charge?”

  She smiled wryly. “We’re working as a team. Neither one of us is exactly the submissive type. Think of it as a collective effort. What would you like to see first?”

  The officer gestured with his uninjured hand. “Everything. Start wherever you like, and we’ll just do a quick look. If this is a new, unarmed, and non-hostile ship, I’ll know without a full customs inspection.”

  She nodded toward Adam. “He should lead the way. He helped build it, and I don’t know a bulkhead from a fantail.”

  Nottingham grinned. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have the latter. You must sail.”

  “A little. We all have our hobbies.”

  Adam headed down the corridor. “Let’s start at the engine room. You’ll quickly note that we’re still putting everything together.”

  The Navy man frowned. “You seem to be maneuvering just fine. What’s missing?”

  “They’re still installing the FTL drive,” Rachel said.

  Nottingham’s eyes bugged a little. “Are you kidding me? Those things are booby-trapped, and Janus guards them like the Crown Jewels.”

  “Yeah. We kind of hijacked them in the middle of the final build out. Don’t worry. Adam has known these people for years, and they understand what’s happening.”

  The officer shook his head. “I’m sure there’s a good story in that. I’m looking forward to hearing it.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Rachel could hardly imagine how he’d react to the complete story. They’d need to save the part about the alien station in the depths of Jupiter’s atmosphere until they’d gotten comfortable with one another.

  Adam led them aft, and into the engine room. Kira Houston and her team had the cube containing the FTL drive in place, and they seemed to be adjusting the mounting.

  Nottingham floated there, watching with interest. “I didn’t think you could even mess with the housing. You learn something new every day.”

  “I’m not sure I’d try,” Adam said. “These people are experts, and the drive might know if it’s being removed.” He raised his voice. “Kira.”

  The woman turned, spotted them, and floated over. She examined the Navy personnel with interest as she extended her hand. “Kira Houston. I used to be the construction boss for Janus. Now I’m a pirate, I think.”

  “I’ll try not to hold that against you,” the officer said with a boyish grin. “I might be looking for a peg leg and a parrot, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an engine room this spotless.”

  “That’s because I don’t let jerkoffs like Adam Hale get sloppy. Until just a little while ago, he was in charge of finishing these ships out for Janus. He does good work.”

  Rachel cleared her throat. “How’s the FTL drive?”

  The other woman turned to look at her. “It’s going in fine. We’ll have the casing locked down in a few minutes. Then we start calibrating the system, and bringing it online. I’m betting we can release it for use by this time tomorrow.”

  “Can you tell me anything about how they work?” Nottingham asked. “Or about the anti-tampering features? Something took out our FTL and normal drives, but we weren’t messing with them.”

  “From what I know about the anti-tampering protections, they’re only explosive. What you’re describing is an electromagnetic pulse, and that matches up with what Miss Price’s partner passed on about Janus’s plans. They also build the normal space drives, so something in the Navy FTL units might have done it.”

  Nottingham raised an eyebrow at Rachel. “Your partner? I assume I’ll meet him in due time.”

  “He’s tied up at the moment,” she said smoothly. “He’ll make an appearance when it comes time to fully read you into what happened. Right now, we’re just trying to convince you we’re not Janus stooges out to blow you up.”

  “I’m almost convinced. We saw no weapons on approach, and that one ship in the bay isn’t like any fighter I’ve ever seen. What is it?”

  “It’s a dive ship,” Adam said. “It’s designed to go deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere.”

  Understanding dawned on the man’s face. “I thought you looked familiar. I saw one of your videos, I think. Our pilot is a big fan of the sport. Well, that and the brand-new nature of the ship has me convinced.

  “I still want to see the bridge, though. Then you can fill me in on the details of the coup, and Janus’s involvement while we close with Hyperion.”

  “You were in a battle,” Rachel said. “We don’t have any doctors aboard but the medical center is fully stocked, one of our people is an emergency medical tech, and we’re way overstocked on people with engineering skills. If you need folks to help with damage control, we’ve more than got you covered.”

  The officer shook his head. “The people that survived are in good hands, medically speaking. I appreciate the offer, though. I’m sure your construction team will be v
ery useful in salvaging some of the more critical components off Hyperion. Something we’ll have to consider very shortly. I’d rather not have another Janus ship pop out of nowhere and open fire.”

  “Me, either,” Rachel said. “Let’s go to the bridge, and we’ll fill you in on what we know.”

  About Terry

  Terry Mixon is the author of The Empire of Bones Saga, The Humanity Unlimited Saga, The Fractured Republic Saga, and The Imperial Marines Saga. He served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He also worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center for almost two decades, supporting the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects during his tenure there. He lives in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.

  Contents

  Titles By Terry Mixon

  Copyright Notices

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  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

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two