by R. E. Graham
Kingdom of Sand – Book 2
“Rain of Fire”
Written by: R. E. Graham
Novels in the Revelations SciFi Universe available on Amazon
“Rise of the Inquisitor”
Kingdom of Sand – Book 1
“Judgment Day”
Kingdom of Sand – Book 3
Coming April 2019!
Legal Notice
Revelations: Kingdom of Sand – Rain of Fire
Copyright © 2019 written by R. E. Graham. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, governments, WarMechs, and events portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and as such are his express property.
This book may not be copied or duplicated in whole or in part via any means including electronic forms of duplication such as audio or video recording or transcription. The contents of this book may not be stored in any retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for any use whether public or private, other than brief quotations contained in articles or reviews which fall under the “fair use” exception, without the express prior permission of the author.
First Edition: March 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0-9980312-2-4
ISBN-10: 0-9980312-2-4
This book is dedicated to Jesus Christ, for without Him I wouldn’t even be on this path of being an author in the first place…
Acknowledgments
I want to take a quick moment to thank a couple of people that have specifically helped to make this book you have in your hands possible. Without a doubt, my biggest support has been my fantastic wife, Erin. She has put up with a lot from my creativity in this project and has been more than happy to help in any way she can. She truly is a companion that any man would be incredibly blessed and fortunate to have alongside through life. The next person would be my best friend, Jerry. Even when he has had crazy things going on in his life he still found time to read early drafts, help with online discussions on our Facebook page and more. He is a true friend and has contributed to motivate me to continue when I have been discouraged.
“Son, there isn’t much more important in this life than honoring your spouse. The future you will have with your wife will be one of the best adventures you ever encounter. I know that being with your mother changed me for the better.
- Henry Tarvus speaking to Mikhail the night before his wedding 427 ANE
Chapter 1
Cycle: 434 Month: 3 Day: 11
Corre Republic Space
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Destiny
Location: Largo, aboard the Midnight
The new Lord Onyx stood in awe aboard the bridge of the Midnight. Each of the crew, including Captain Deimos, had their heads lowered and were on one knee. They each slowly raised their heads then stood back up. Mikhail looked around the room but still was having trouble processing the news.
I’m…the lord of Onyx?
“As the new lord,” Deimos began, “we have much to discuss. In the interim, what are your orders?”
Mikhail blinked, and his face was blank. Some of the other pirates on the bridge began to murmur amongst themselves. The tall pirate examined his new leader until Lord Onyx finally snapped out of it. With his mind blank, Mikhail was overwhelmed by the change of events.
I came here to kill Yondo…I didn’t know this would’ve happened…
Not wanting his new lord to look foolish, Deimos took a step forward but spoke loudly. “Please Lord, allow me to show you to your new quarters.”
Get it together Mik!
The Lord blinked again then seemed to pop out of his stupor. “Oh yes. Please…please lead the way.” He holstered his pistol and realized that Yondo was still lying on the floor.
“And um, someone clean this mess up,” he said to the room.
Deimos walked off the bridge with Mikhail close behind. Before they had gotten halfway down the hall, they could hear the bridge erupt in cheers, questions, and even some started arguing.
The newly appointed pirate lord continued to think about what had just happened. He had no idea what it might mean as the weeks and months unfolded. What was clear was the pain he felt in his heart for his wife and son. Not to mention realizing that so many of his crew were lost in the battle against the Inquisitor. The loss felt unbearable, but he focused on the sound of Deimos’ boots as he walked.
After a few minutes of silent walking, the Onyx pirate captain extended his arm toward a sealed door. "This is your new quarters if you choose to remain aboard the Midnight, Lord."
Mikhail took a step forward and kept his voice low. “What is all of this?”
“When you killed Yondo Horsh you became our next lord.”
“I didn’t know that. I just wanted to get revenge for Jaymes.”
Deimos shrugged. “Either way, by you killing him openly you demonstrated that you were fit to lead.”
“Even though I did it kind of cowardly?” Mikhail asked as he thought about how he did the deed.
After the intense fight against the Republic's forces, Mikhail had become consumed with rage at the death of his wife and son. He had brought the severed head of the Lawman to Yondo's feet, and there he shot him in front of everyone. Leading up to that moment, the grieving pirate was only thinking about one thing, killing the previous pirate lord regardless of what happened to him.
“The Five Skulls pride themselves on tradition, but truth be told, Yondo had lost perspective of what it meant to be a member of Onyx,” Deimos said as he looked into his new Lord’s eyes.
The duo noticed the sound of a crewmember approaching and waited to continue the conversation after they were gone.
Mikhail ran his hand through his short hair. “What does that mean exactly?”
“It means that while his death did not come from the most glorious of means, at the end of the rotation, he died by your hands.”
“If no one liked him, why didn’t someone else off him then?”
“Simple, fear. They feared that if they failed it meant certain death.”
“Why didn’t you do it then? You can’t tell me that you feared him. Look at you.”
Deimos’ eyebrow cocked up. “I fear no man. But I have no desire in leading Onyx. I am content in being a ship captain.”
Mikhail paused to again try to wrap his brain around all that was happening. So much was going on all at once that he was feeling extremely overwhelmed. He exhaled and tapped his foot as he thought.
“What if I don’t want to be lord either?”
“That is your choice. May I suggest taking a moment to make your decision in private?” Deimos asked as he motioned to the door. “If any of the crew hear that you are not resolute, you could end up with more than one rival vying for power.”
Mikhail understood what that meant. “Could you send for my people? I wish to speak with them.”
“As you wish, Lord.”
The large man stomped off down the hall as the pirate lord approached the blast door. He stood there for a moment feeling a bit of uncertainty for living in a room of a man he just killed. Then he reconsidered and waved his hand over the door panel.
The door slid into the wall with a whoosh and revealed a room much larger than he anticipated. It was lavished with expensive furniture, art, and sculptures spread about.
“Wow…” he whispered to no one as he tried to take it all in.
He stepped inside, and the door instantly shut behind him. A massive maroon rug with gold highlights covered most of the central area of the room. In the left corner was a small table that appeared like it alone was worth a fortune. It was decorated with gold silverware on top of its green tablecloth. At t
he center of the table was a gold sculpture made to look like some sort of monster holding a hammer in its clawed hand.
To his right was a prestigious looking cabinet that caught his attention. He opened it and found it was entirely filled with a wide variety of alcohols and spirits. Instantly he recognized some of the brands that came from worlds far from the Siimon prefecture.
He shut the cabinet and continued to walk around the room. It was clear to Mikhail that Yondo liked to demonstrate his power and success. For a moment the pirate in him was excited because he could raid the room to sell the goods for his town. But as reality hit the profound feeling of this room was replaced by the pain of the deaths of his loved ones.
A knock on the door interrupted his internal bout. “Come in!” he hollered as he shook himself to be back at the here and now.
The door slid open, and Rhonda was shocked by the sight. "Woah."
Hern and Jax were equally surprised by the luxurious belongings.
“What happened?” Jax asked as he stepped inside.
The door slid shut and the remnants of the Only Hope’s crew were together once again.
“Well…when I went to speak to Yondo I uh…shot him.”
Rhonda and Jax were taken back by the statement. Hern though was impressed.
“Good goin’ Cap. Paid the bastard back!” the gunner said with a grin.
“So, what is all this then?” Rhonda asked as she motioned to the lavish surroundings.
Mikhail cleared his throat. “Apparently I am now lord of Onyx.”
“What?” Hern blurted out as his eyes widened.
Rhonda too didn’t understand. “How can that be?”
"As Deimos was explaining it to me if you challenge a lord in the open and kill them you take their place."
Hern got a strange look in his eye that Mikhail instantly recognized. The gunner saw that the pirate lord was looking at him and he grinned. “I’m not gonna do anythin’ Cap. It’s just an interesting fact is all.”
“This is crazy Mik,” the overrider said as he plopped down in one of the seats at the table.
“It really is. I don’t even know what to think right now,” Mikhail admitted as he leaned up against the archway leading to the bedroom.
"Well, I do!" Rhonda said enthusiastically.
The men in the room were a bit stunned by her energy. She noticed and seized the moment to have everyone hear her out.
“The Republic has done us wrong here. They sent the Lawman to hunt us down, but instead of dealing with us he butchered our entire town. All of our families were killed because of them.”
Mikhail lowered his head in sadness while Jax nodded. “You’re not wrong. They overstepped, and a lot of people got hurt. We knew that was always a risk though.”
“We did, but we never thought it would look like this. Little children died here Jax.”
Images of Coral popped into the pirate lord's mind as he listened. He clenched his left hand into a fist, and his head started to hurt from the anger building inside.
“You have an opportunity here to do something…something big,” Rhonda said to her captain as she gestured to the ship they were standing in.
“I don’t follow,” Mikhail said as he tried to calm himself down.
The woman stepped forward to emphasize her next words. “You have all kinds of power and influence now. You can actually strike a blow at the government that will get their attention. Make them pay for what they did to Largo and our crew.” As she spoke, tears began to build in her eyes.
Hern crossed his arms. “She ain’t wrong Cap. With all that salvage out there, we could do some serious damage.”
Mikhail looked over to Jax. His eyes grew wide when he realized that he was expected to share his own considerations. “Oh, well…I don’t know Cap. We have lost a lot here today.”
Rhonda became furious. The overrider was startled by the look in her face as she spun around at him.
"Would you rather we look the other way at what has happened here, Jax?!"
“No, no, no…I’m not sayin’ that at all,” Jax said as he put his hands up in defense.
“Then what are you sayin’?” the woman demanded. She pointed back at the pirate lord. “We fought tooth and nail to provide for our people because the Republic abandoned us. He has been given an amazing chance to do more than we ever could have wished for.”
“That’s true Rhonda, but what could we possibly do to affect the government? We would have to kill other innocent people.” Mikhail shook his head as he thought. “I…we have all lost so much.”
"My sister died here Mik!" Rhonda's emotions got the better of her, and she began to cry. "She…she was only seventeen. She hadn't hurt anybody. Why did she have to die?"
As the female rifleman covered her face while she wept, the men looked away unsure of what to do.
“Look, Rhonda…” Mikhail started to say as he again remembered his son’s cute little face. He thought of how scared he must have been when the ship he was on crashed.
Then the memory of seeing Leesa’s lifeless body being hoisted up in the air by the Inquisitor’s WarMech drew up all sorts of fury.
“She’s right,” he finally said.
Jax and Hern looked at him while Rhonda wiped her eyes. More and more makeup from around her eyes smeared on her face with each attempt.
“The Republic had no right to kill everyone in Largo. I don’t know what we can do to get back at them, but I know that given enough time we can come up with somethin’.”
The other three nodded in agreement.
“What do we do in the short term?” Jax asked as he stood back up.
“Jax, I want you to oversee repairs. We aren’t going to be able to keep the ships here on Destiny. The Republic is gonna come check on what happened to the Lawman. Get together with whoever the main tech is on the Midnight and come up with a plan.”
“Yessir,” the overrider said emphatically.
“Hern, I want you to help gather as much salvage as we possibly can. I want every single mech and weapon we can fix brought with us. Jax will help you after he gets things together.”
The gunner nodded excitedly for finally getting some clear direction. "Aye, aye."
“Rhonda, you and I are going to speak with Deimos. We need to get a grasp on the rest of the fleet and know what we are dealin’ with.”
“Yessir,” she said as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I’m ready.”
“We have a lot of work to do here before we need to be off world. Once we get off then we will have to time grieve all of those we have lost,” Mikhail said as he looked at what was left of his crew.
Hern was confused. “Where are we goin’?”
“I don’t know yet, but we can’t stay here. Like I said, the Republic ain’t gonna be far off checkin’ up on the Inquisitor. We don’t want to be here when they do.”
The pirate lord knew that he needed to address the loss of the town and the rest of their crew. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Before we leave, I want us to bury those that we lost…it’s the least we could do.”
Each of them nodded in solidarity. Jax and Hern left to tend to their tasks. Rhonda looked back at the pirate lord as the door slid shut.
Mikhail took a deep breath as he felt a heavy weight resting on his shoulders. “Let’s go talk to Deimos.”
Chapter 2
Cycle: 434 Month: 3 Day: 11
Corre Republic Space
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Destiny
Location: Largo, aboard the Midnight
Mikhail and Rhonda found Deimos on the bridge as he was reviewing datapads. He noticed the two approaching him and stood up straight. “Lord on deck!” he shouted to get the bridge crew’s attention.
Each of the personnel in the room stood up tall.
The pirate lord surveyed the room and made sure to make eye contact with most of them. Everything in his body urged him to find someplace he
could be alone and weep over his family’s deaths. The burden made him feel like garbage, but he knew that they were only going to have so much time before they needed to leave Destiny behind. Instead, he mentally balled up his emotions and pushed them away for now.
“Deimos, I want to introduce you to Rhonda Thrice. She will be my personal assistant going forward.”
The large man bowed his head toward the woman. “Welcome aboard Ms. Thrice.”
“Rhonda will do just fine,” she replied coolly.
“I want to be caught up on all urgent matters that you’re working on,” Mikhail said as he crossed his arms.
Deimos looked around and took a step forward. “Forgive me lord, but are you sure you are ready to return to duty?”
The pirate lord didn’t miss a beat. “We have limited time before the Republic will be investigating what happened here. There will be time to process the events of today later on. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I want to be involved.”
“As you wish,” the large man said as he stepped back. He handed his lord one of the datapads and began to brief him of the events. “There are seven functional ships out of the fleet that made the trip to Destiny. The Midnight, Kilroy, Gally, Blue Sun, Fini, Silver Tongue, and the Deadlift. All are pretty banged up though.”
Mikhail made sure to listen to the report while he scanned over the tablet. It had an interactive file that was acting as a database of the condition of equipment in the pirate fleet.
“We currently only have two of our WarMechs operational, but we believe we will be able to get more up and running within a rotation or two.”
“Our priority right now needs to be getting’ the ships patched up for space and salvage,” Mikhail said as he looked up from the datapad to make eye contact with the Onyx captain.
Deimos nodded. “Agreed. I have several teams that have been sent to strip whatever is valuable from the Republic Carinas. We will probably find more than we can transport effectively.”
