Defiant Order

by Donald B McFarlane

  DEFIANT ORDER

  The Earth Saga II

  Donald B McFarlane

  Copyright Donald B McFarlane 2015

  Cover Art by James Gilleard

  www.donaldbmcfarlane.com

  For Mom and Dad

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank the following people for their unwavering support since 1980.

  Nick Beaudrot

  Leo & Milos

  Tom Lindley

  John McFarlane

  Zach North

  Asa Sherrill

  Jim Sells

  Mike Tattersall

  Nathan Pullin

  “The Real Joe Hunt”

  DEFIANT ORDER

  1

  70 Years Ago

  There was hardly any debate among the chief advisors about when the coronation was going to take place; it was just a question of how many systems and worlds Prince Oltranic would visit after he was crowned Emperor. It had been almost a year since the death of his father, but Oltranic had not wanted to rush his ascension to the throne, knowing that many citizens of the Empire were still mourning the late Emperor.

  "I know you have the best intentions, Councilman Yax, but remind me why we need to spend so much on this ceremony." The eldest son and heir to the throne was possibly the most centred of all the royal family. His younger sister was never to be seen in the capital city on the world Jarosis 7, favouring her regional throne of the Etelaninen Periphery on Mechcharga where she spent a considerable amount of time focused on the arts, while his youngest brother was always in the Pohjois Periphery, where he spent the bulk of his time developing the region's mighty military industry and exploring more of the cosmos.

  "My dear Prince," The councilman paused and looked around at the other senior advisors that were nearby. "It has always been the tradition for the Empire to throw a spectacular coronation ceremony for the incoming Emperor or Empress."

  Oltranic smiled and put his hand on the elder statesman's shoulder. "I know." He said with a smile. "I know." Looking away he surveyed the Grand Hall. It was a fabulous room, perhaps the greatest in the Empire, with ceilings stretching over forty metres in some places, and running over two hundred yards in length. It had been designed to be able to hold all the delegates from all the worlds of the Empire and was the venue of the annual Imperial Ball.

  As the group of men and women continued their discussion about the best way to commemorate what was sure to be a spectacular occasion, the lights in the great hall fluctuated briefly, and Oltranic noticed that the Imperial Guards that were stationed nearby were reading their weapons. Just as he was about to raise this observation a sudden explosion outside of the Grand Hall sent those inside ducking for cover.

  Within the room, the light blue flags that represented the Empire fluttered sharply when a nearby door to the hall opened, and in poured a section of Imperial Guards, armed, and in full battle gear.

  "What the!" Exclaimed a frightened looking delegate.

  "Prince!" The senior Guard ran up to Oltranic, his light blue cape flapping behind him.

  "What is happening?" The Prince asked, staring at his reflection in the guards tear-drop shaped reflective face shield.

  "The city is under attack, and Sentinels have been reported heading this way." The Guard replied.

  Yax shook his head. "Sentinels? That technology is banned on this world! Where could they have come from?"

  The Guard looked at Yax, then back to the Prince. "Sir, the Sentinels are all painted red." He said dryly.

  Oltranic looked at the ground, then stood up, and adjusted his uniform. He knew what that colour represented. A primary colour represented each of the three sectors of the Empire. The Core Worlds were represented by white, green represented his sister's realm, and his younger brothers sector was represented by red, while light blue was the colour that represented the Empire. Red Sentinels could mean only one of two things: stolen tech, or a coup. He prayed for the former, but he knew that the latter was an option.

  The Prince looked around the Grand Hall, trying to figure out how to extricate himself from his surroundings. "We need to get to level five of the palace. There is an emergency shuttlecraft in a hangar below the rear deck."

  The guard nodded, then made several gestures to the other guards in the hall, "Follow me, Prince."

  With the Prince and the other delegates sandwiched between the eight guards, the group hurried their way out of the Grand Hall, past the Imperial Throne and out of the room.

  "How many Sentinels were there?" The Prince asked the senior guard.

  "I'm not sure Prince." The guard replied as the group hurried down the narrow passageway. “This seems to be a full-scale attack.”

  Oltranic pulled back his sleeve, exposing a large control panel on the underside of his right forearm. "I'm going to initiate launch protocols for the shuttle. By the time we get to the rear platform, the shuttle will be ready for launch."

  "Understood."

  The Imperial Palace had been built almost eight hundred years earlier and had been renovated several times since then, and while some sections of the palace had maintained their original fixtures, to ensure their preservation, the portion that would lead the group up three flights was one of the oldest in the massive building, and luckily for them, it contained some of the most narrow passageways, which would hinder any pursuit by Sentinels.

  As the group neared the set of stairs that would lead them to the level they required, the lead guard slowed, and brought up his left fist, halting the group. Using internal headset communications, the senior guardsman quickly issued an order to his men.

  "There is an incoming force." He said to the Prince.

  "Ours?"

  "Negative." The guardsman directed the Prince and the delegates to crouch down, while he raised his rifle, and took aim down the corridor.

  Inching forward slowly, the senior guard was followed by two other soldiers, all bunched up tightly, weapons pointing down the hall. As the trio reached the end of the hallway, they crouched and waited.

  The Prince looked down at his wrist computer. The shuttle was prepped for launch and was ready to be raised up to the rear platform. Tapping the guardsman closest to him, he relayed the information.

  "Understood, my Prince."

  Just as the guardsman replied, a small floating orb turned down the corridor and bathed the hallway in red light, and emitted a high pitch screech that was incredibly painful. Clutching his head, the Prince screamed out in pain. Luckily for all the delegates in the hallway, a quick, well-placed shot from one of the guardsmen quickly destroyed the orb.

  As the Prince shook his head, trying to get the ringing sound out, he looked around him and noticed that the other delegates had similar looks of pain and anguish on their faces. Turning his attention back to the closest guard, he asked the obvious question.

  "What was that?"

  Before the guard could respond, a fast moving object shot down the hall and stopped at the end of the corridor, and immediately started firing bright blue energy rounds. The first round fired caught the guard closest to the Prince in the chest, perforating a hole clean through the armour, then the flesh, and out of the other side before hitting and killing two delegates behind the Prince.

  The trio of guards at the end of the corridor was lucky to be out of the machines line of fire and quickly responded with a concentrated burst of fire at the object before it could direct its fire at them.

  As the machine crumpled to the ground, the trio moved out into the adjoining hallway and was immediately met by more weapons fire, forcing them back.

  Looking back at the Prince and the remaining delegates and guards, the senior soldier waved the group towards him, while two other soldiers
poured fire down the adjoining hall.

  "We need to move now." The guard looked at the Prince who was crouching next to him, then back into the corridor. "There is a stairwell five metres to the right down the hall. If we can make that, we should be able to make it up to the flight deck." Without saying a word, the Prince nodded in agreement.

  The guardsman brought his weapons rifle butt up to his shoulder and stood up, arched his back, and rolled his neck. "All guards, use your juicer packs." His suits built in microphone allowed his voice to be heard over the racket of the firing.

  A series of replies could be heard, as each guardsman tapped a small pad on the side of their necks, initiating a series of built-in injection system that flooded the user's body with a concoction of pharmacological substances into the bloodstream. Within seconds, the body regardless of the user's species was enhanced physically and mentally, increasing speed, power and reaction times. The only downside was that the user was guaranteed to be dead within 30 minutes.

  "Cover fire!"

  The two guards already trading shots down the hallway with the attacking force now moved into the hallway and increased their rate fire, allowing a brief lull in the enemy fire for the remainder of the group to follow the senior guard in a dash into the hallway, and towards the stairwell.

  The Prince, right on the heels of the guard didn't dare look towards the incoming fire. The delegate behind him took that risk, just in time to see a bolt of charged particles hitting him in the arm, severing the limb clean. As the delegate dropped to his knees in pain, he looked away from his arm just in time to see the next shot approaching his face.

  When the last of the delegates had dashed into the hall, the four rear soldiers followed, firing a few shots, trying to keep the enemy forces pinned down. The first two guardsmen that had gone into the field of fire were dead on the ground, and in the distance, one of the surviving guards could just make out the fluttering of a red cape. When the rear guard got to the base of the stairs, he pulled a grenade out of his utility pouch, yanked the safety ring off and dropped the explosive, before charging up the stairs behind the rest of the group.

  At the head of the pack, the senior guard was racing up the stairs, clearing each level as quickly as possible. He knew that if this was a full-scale assault, then time was of the essence. Every extra moment it took them to get to the shuttle reduced their chances of escape. Luckily, they hadn't encountered any Sentinels yet since they lacked the firepower to tackle that formidable a force.

  Reaching the fifth level, the guard scanned the adjoining hallway and noted it was evident. Seconds later, the Prince came to the top of the stairs, breathing heavily, and followed by the rest of the delegates.

  Checking his wrist device, the Prince confirmed that the shuttle was ready for launch. "The ship is ready to fly." He informed the senior guard.

  "Understood."

  With the surviving members of the group assembled, they made their way down a short corridor to a large hatch that would lead delegates to the launch platform at the rear of the palace.

  "When we open this hatch, my guards and I will lead out. Prince, follow after." The voice of the senior guardsman was calm. "Once we reach the shuttle, board quickly." He looked at the prince. "I trust you are qualified on that ship?"

  "I am."

  "Excellent. Is the ship jump capable?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. Once the jump drive is warmed up, jump to the Royal Fleet Ship Yards at Fury 161."

  The Prince shook his head slightly. "If I jump the ship inside the atmosphere." He was cut off by the senior guard grabbing his blouse.

  "You will jump once the jump drive is warmed up."

  Without replying, the Prince nodded.

  "Right." The guard looked at the surviving delegates, clear signs of fear and trepidation on their faces. "Move quickly and focus on the ship. If you hesitate, you will die."

  Down the corridor, there were sounds of approaching forces, most likely hostile. "Time to move."

  When the senior guard shoved the hatch open, a gust of wind blew dust down the corridor, and the sounds of battle flooded into the ears of those rushing outside.

  The skies above the Imperial Palace was filled with attack ships darting back and forth. Off in the distance, the Prince could tell that the Royal Infirmary was in flames, and taking a quick glance back at the palace, he could tell that flames were coming from the front side of the building.

  The shuttle was 50 yards away from the group, with its rear hatch lowered and facing the party. For a moment, the Prince thought they were going to make it.

  "Sentinels!" Came a scream from one of the delegates.

  Looking to his right, he spotted what he feared most. A massive 15 foot tall Heavy Sentinel, covered in a deep red paint was charging along a ledge on the rear of the palace, two levels above them. Diverting his attention back to the shuttle, the prince focused all his energy on running as fast as he could, hoping his legs would be his salvation.

  As the prince got closer to the shuttle, he saw one of the guards jump onto the top of the hull and start firing over the prince's head and in the direction the that the group was fleeing from. It was clear that the entire city was engulfed in the attack, and just as the prince was within 20 metres of the shuttlecraft, an attack ship flew low over the top of the palace, swooped down towards the rear deck, and launched a solitary missile which streaked towards the shuttle, and slammed into the only means of escape and punched it off its landing pad, sending it tumbling down the rear of the building, only exploding when it hit the gardens below.

  When the missile had passed over his head, the prince dove to the ground and watched his only chance of escape get destroyed. Shaking his head, he rose to his knees and surveyed the damage. Around him were several of the delegates, some moving, others dismembered and dead. He counted only two royal guards on their feet. Their light blue capes flapping in the stiff breeze.

  The prince glanced back at the palace just in time to see the huge Heavy Sentinel jump from a position two levels above the rear platform, while simultaneously firing at the two guardsmen. Knowing that their best chance of combating such an imminent threat was to get close, the guards charged towards where they thought the hulking machine was going to land, firing along the way. The juicer packs allowed the two surviving defenders to cover the 50 yards to where the Heavy Sentinel was going to land in just over three seconds.

  Looking skyward, the prince couldn't begin to count the number of warcraft dashing across the afternoon skies of Jarosis. Looking back towards the Heavy Sentinel, he could only see the occasional flutter of light blue or red as the three combatants moved at incredible speeds, each trying to gain the upper hand.

  Walking towards the edge of the platform he was on; Prince Oltranic looked down towards the gardens several levels below. A battle was raging, pitting a small group of Royal Guards against a vastly superior force of attack soldiers, supported by a mix of mecha.

  Glancing back towards the palace, he noted that one of the guardsmen that were fighting the Heavy Sentinel had been killed, his severed body cut clean in half by an energy beam sword that the giant machine was wielding.

  Still locked in combat with the giant machine was the veteran, senior Royal Guard. When the Heavy Sentinel had completed its jump, the guardsman had performed a combat role to the rear of the giant machine and emptied the rest of his magazine into the back of the hulking machine, with little effect. The second guard that had rushed the hostile machine had stood his ground to the front of the machine when it had landed, firing at point-blank range into the optical sensors on the robots head.

  Luckily for both the guardsmen, the Heavy Sentinel was the slowest of the Sentinel models, which gave the duo a fractional speed advantage with their juicer packs.

  When the machine gathered its senses after its jump, and after being pelted with weapons fire, it attempted to bring its energy rifle to bear on the guard to its front, but the guard, familiar with
the machines primary weapon system, quickly hit the energy cell release button, and dropped the rifles power source out of the weapon, rendering it useless.

  The robot reacted quickly, and violently swung its rifle at the guardsman to its front, walloping the soldier almost enough to shatter his chest armour. As the guard collapsed to his knees, the machine activated its energy blade in its right forearm, and brought it down on the wounded guard, slicing through the organic being.

  The sacrifice made by one guardsman had allowed the senior guard to jump onto the back of the massive machine, and quickly attach a grenade to the rear of the robot’s head, and pushed himself off into an elegant backflip, just in time to see the machine start to turn to confront him as the explosives detonated, vaporizing the monsters head, sending the body crashing to the ground.

  Hitting the ground and going into a roll, the guardsman sprung to his feet, retrieved his rifle, and sprinted off towards the prince, scanning in all directions for threats.

  "My Prince!"

  Oltranic turned to face the guard who came charging up, left hand holding his midsection.

  "Guardsman." he replied as the man who had been protecting him slumped to his feet and collapsed.

  Kneeling down, the Prince rolled the guardsman onto his back. The once pristine uniform was covered in soot and blood. The light blue cape of the Empire tattered and torn. Looking back towards the palace, the prince could see red-clad soldiers coming onto the rear platform, and start approaching them.

  Looking down at the tear-drop shaped face mask that all Imperial Guardsman wore, the Prince noted that the once crisp clear reflection was now cracked and smudged. Moving his fingers along the side of the helmet, the prince hit the release tabs and flipped up the visor to reveal the senior guardsman who had kept him safe this far.