Revolution For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 3)
Revolution for Vengeance
Book Three of Dark Vengeance
By Adrian D. Roberts
April 2015 Edition
Cover by Matt Hubel - matt@matthubel.com
Copyright © 2014 Adrian Roberts
The right of Adrian Roberts to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Also by Adrian D. Roberts
Dark Vengeance Trilogy
Reason For Vengeance
Crusade For Vengeance
Revolution For Vengeance
For Willow
I need say nothing more.
Acknowledgements
Thanks again to Graham and Rich for reading my first drafts and critiquing critically. Graham stepped in again into the role of my editor and this book would not be nearly as good without him.
I would also like to give a thanks to the Writing Excuses Podcast, in which Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler, all published successful authors, give advice and talk about their experiences. As well as being amusing it is of immense help to any aspiring writer. I don’t think I could have completed Dark Vengeance without it.
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
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
EPILOGUE
About the Author
PROLOGUE
The heavy oak doors shut behind Grand Admiral Antonio Cestari with barely a whisper. Yet in his head they had the sound of a blast door slamming shut. All the eyes in the room turned to him and, for the first time in decades, he had to concentrate on keeping his expression neutral.
“Welcome, Admiral.” President Klostermair said from the head of the large oak table. The words were there, but with little welcome in her voice. The warmth to him from her childhood was not in evidence today. “Please, have a seat.” There was only a single chair available and he felt all ten pairs of eyes on him.
“Thank you, Madam President,” he replied in a calm voice and walked across the thick, blue carpet to the chair between the Secretary of Defence, Paul Moore and Antonio’s own subordinate, Grand General Cormac Xia, head of Legion Intelligence. The fact that Cormac Xia was there before him was not lost on Antonio.
No one said a word or even met his eye as he sat. Every man and woman in this room, at the top of the Presidential Tower, owed him favours, but none of that mattered today.
“I have called this meeting,” the President began. “To discuss the second massive breach in our security in the last three years. Namely the attack on The Rock, a prison so secret even I did not know its location. Perhaps you can give us a short briefing on that matter, General Xia.”
“Of course, Madam President,” the short man in his impeccable uniform to Antonio’s left said. Another slight on his authority, the President should have asked Antonio, who would then delegate it to the General.
“Nine days ago,” Cormac Xia continued. “The Rock, situated in the Blaze system, was successfully attacked with all prisoners released and removed from the system. The attack was led by a Legion Commando Devil unit. Shadow Company, in Fully Powered Body Armour, were assisted by six hundred unknown men and women in Legion Medium Powered Armour and equipped with Legion weapons.”
“Why are they unknown?” Secretary of Treasury, Tershia Setlock asked in her high singsong voice.
“Although they were wearing Legion equipment, we are not missing any Legion units other than Shadow Company itself.” Antonio grimaced mentally. There was no way Cormac Xia could confirm that yet. It would take a minimum of a hundred and ten days to get that information from the Legions furthest flung Battalions.
“We do know Shadow Company left with a full Forward Operating Base Module. One of those holds enough arms and armour to equip a full Battalion of a thousand infantry soldiers. We presume that is what they used to equip these people.”
“How did they gain access to The Rock?” Secretary of Security, Sunkish Bala asked. “It is my understanding Devil Companies would not have the transports available to them for this kind of assault. The Rock must have had its own defences.”
“Indeed it did. Substantial ones. They were all destroyed in the first moments of the attack by multiple missiles and Pulsar Cannons fired by an unseen ship.”
“Unseen?” Secretary of Justice, Deshi Nault asked.
“Yes, The Rock included the most advanced sensor suites the Legion has at its disposal and yet they could not see this ship. Its stealth capability were far greater than anything we currently have deployed.”
“The Border worlds have something more advanced than us?” Secretary of Exterior, Baptiste Evink exclaimed. “This is worse than we thought.”
“Not precisely, Mr Secretary. We believe the ship is actually a prototype of a design we currently have still on the drawing board named the Spectre, the prototype was built and in the test phase on Furioso. It was thought destroyed, along with numerous other R&D projects, when the station’s anti-matter reactor was forced to overload and detonate. The Spectre is one of many projects awaiting the personnel and facilities to continue. It was, unfortunately, quite low on the list of priorities. As you can imagine, that should be revisited.” The General glanced at Antonio and his meaning was clear. Yet another mistake to lay at the Grand Admiral’s door.
“How could they get their hands on something like that?” Secretary of State Damita Xia asked.
“That is tied into why they attacked The Rock, Madam Secretary. Their former commanding officer, Major Valerie Carter was incarcerated there by Grand Admiral Cestari last year. She was previously believed to have been killed on Furioso. The Major was also the head of the Spectre project.”
The general stopped his briefing and the room was very quiet, all eyes on Antonio. It was a complete set up with every question pre-planned.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Admiral?” President Klostermair asked.
He met her eyes calmly and he was reminded of his last meeting with Carter. For all the power the people in this room held, none frightened him more than that woman strapped securely to a chair. Now she was free, with an undetectable spaceship and joined by her old company. That was something to be truly terrified of, not becoming a scapegoat to these pampered fools. Not one of them had seen combat, they barely knew what a day’s work entailed. He had risen from a lowly midshipman to Legion Commander in Chief, through hard work, sweat and blood. Every man and woman in the Pantheon’s vast military was under his command and they thought they could frighten him?
He leaned forward with his elbows on the table and fingers interlocked in front of him. “The General is correct in everything he said. Major Carter is the most capable and was one of the most loyal soldiers in the Legion. Her family was killed and that began a chain of events no one could foresee. Those events are still continuing. The man behind her family’s deaths is still alive and until he lies dead at her feet, she will not stop. Ever.
“I thought we could eventually bring her back into the fold. After a century on The Rock, she would learn to let go of her pain. That was a mistake as I underestimated the resources of those she was working with. Shadow Company had been kept out of the way for over two years and Carter was captured within two weeks of her appearance on Olympus. There was no evidence of any contact between them prior to her capture. There is much we do not know as we have only been aware of Shadow Company’s betrayal for less than fifty hours.”
“You are not giving the cabinet the full facts,” Paul Moore, Antonio’s civilian superior, accused. “I did not think that you would so, with the President’s permission, I released details of the Prometheus project to the cabinet before this meeting.”
“We suspected you would not be forthcoming with us, Admiral,” Sunkish Bala said. “If you had been,” he waved to the woman on his right. “Then Commandant Tvedt h
ere would have had the entire Pantheon police force hunting this woman from the beginning.”
“It would certainly have made her capture easier,” Pernelle Tvedt agreed.
“A failure of this magnitude cannot go unremarked, Admiral.” Baptiste Evink pointed out. “Perhaps it is time you step down and allow a fresh perspective.” There it was, the real reason for this meeting.
“Indeed,” Damita Xia agreed. “Someone who is experienced with this type of covert fight.”
“Maybe General Xia would be best placed to do that.” Baptiste Evink suggested.
“That would be convenient.” Tershia Setlock accused. “Another cabinet post for the Xia Family.”
“It was not my suggestion,” Damita Xia responded calmly.
“Of course not,” Tershia shot back. “You had your loyal lapdog do it.”
“How dare you!” Baptiste surged to his feet.
“Yes I bloody well dare, we need someone who can think for themselves, not another mouthpiece for Alcander Xia.”
“I am not his mouthpiece.” Damita demanded.
“Right,” Sunkrish Bala said. “You only supported the Gadson bill because it filled the Xia family coffers. We should ask High Admiral Locklear to step in.”
“An old lover of yours, Sunkrish?” Paul Moore questioned nastily. “How stupid do you think we are?”
Antonio looked on in horror as the meeting degenerated swiftly. People who had spent centuries learning to control themselves were shouting at one another. Old grudges and slights were dragged back into the light and flung about. The President sat wide eyed at the far end of the table, looking lost and in shock. The leadership of the Pantheon was falling apart in front of him and there was nothing Antonio could do. They wouldn’t listen to him. All of his credibility was gone.
CRACK!
The sharp sound cut through the shouting and all eyes turned to its source. Secretary of Interior, Petra Soetemeyer had sat silent through it all. Her sharp blue eyes now burned from her end of the table, directly opposite the President. Her hand lay flat on the table in front of her, palm down.
“Are you all quite finished?” the iron-grey-haired old lady said quietly. No one dared to respond. “Sit. Down.” It was not a request and those standing took their seats with sheepish expressions.
“You are all frightened and I can see why,” she began. “You fear you may lose it all and you are right. We are staring into a black hole capable of destroying our wealth, power and Privilege completely.” Those around the table shifted nervously. “While you have played your games, using people’s lives as pieces, with little regard to the consequences, Admiral Cestari and I have been working every single day to ensure it does not all come crashing down.
“It was our hubris that started this. None of you want to say it here, but you all read Bala’s briefing document. You all know what happened to Major Carter’s family and who she is. You know how we came to be here. Blaming Admiral Cestari is a panicked reaction and the wrong one. He is the best man for the job and he has my full support.”
Antonio was as shocked as the rest of them, after decades of mutual animosity between Soetemeyer and himself, he never expected her support. Not like this, even with their recent reconciliation.
“That maybe so,” All eyes snapped to the other end of the table and President Klostermair. “But it is my decision and not yours.”
“If you decide to remove him, you must remove me as well.” The ultimatum was delivered without any emotion and had all the more impact for it. The two women stared at one another across the table, the air thick with tension. No one wanted to get into the middle of this power play.
After agonising minutes it was the President who looked away first and Soetemeyer gave the slightest of nods. The President looked to Antonio and he could see the defeat deep in her eyes.
“It is my decision that you are to stay with our full support, Admiral.”
“Thank you, Madam President,” Antonio replied with a small seated bow.
***
“How did it go, Admiral?” Admiral Standring asked.
“About as bad as it could be, Wioletta,” Antonio answered as he walked into his office at the top of the Legion Navy Tower. “But also quite surprising. They tried to unseat me of course and I will need to have a discussion with General Xia on the matter of loyalty.”
“You convinced the President you are still the best person for the job?”
“Not exactly, Soetemeyer forced the President into supporting me.”
“Good.” Antonio looked closely at his Chief of Staff as he sat behind his desk and saw only determination. Cormac Xia may want to stab him in the back, but Wioletta Standring was ready to stand by him in full. He nodded to her and she smiled slightly in response.
“Do we have any idea who was working with Shadow Company yet and where that freighter went?”
“Nothing new I am afraid,” she admitted with a sigh, though Antonio really hadn’t expected any. Unless a courier suddenly arrived with momentous news, it would take months to hear back from all twenty-five of the Pantheon’s main systems. Such was the way when your only method of communication was starships moving between systems.
“With Shadow Company now in play,” Wioletta continued. “Do we pre-empt any announcement of Carter’s survival or stay quiet?”
“I don’t know,” Antonio swung his chair around to look out over the vista of Zeus. The sun was low in the sky and the light reflected off the tall towers. Beyond them he could see the surrounding Ghettos of the Manuals. They were already dark, too low for the light to reach. It was like a brooding, dark mass encompassing a beacon of light.
“Carter, I understand,” he said quietly. “She wanted vengeance for her family and her loyal company will support her, but what of the others? There were over a thousand people on that assault and they released twenty thousand prisoners. All removed on a single freighter, using mainly commercial shuttles. Who are they and what do they want?”
“It has to be the Rebellion.”
“It is the only thing that makes any sense, Wioletta. Yet I cannot see Carter joining them. These are the very people she and Shadow Company have fought against all their lives. How could they now be working together?”
“If it is the Rebellion, we will be hearing from them soon.”
“Then that is what we do. We wait. If the Rebellion claim responsibility for The Rock, we turn Carter into a pariah with Furioso. If not, we stay quiet.”
“I don’t like being on the defensive like this, Admiral.”
“Nor do I and lightning blast it! That’s all we’ve been since this entire mess began. At least if Carter is not working with the Rebellion, we know exactly where she is going to go eventually.”
“Yes, we do.”
CHAPTER ONE
“Ease her in, Rush,” Valerie said. “Just as we practised with the Pony.”
“I got it, Carter.” Valerie could hear the strain in his voice, the five kilometre long freighter ahead growing closer in the screen.
“How are we doing with the escorts, Hanna?”
“I’m working, Guv,” Hanna responded brusquely from the co-pilot’s seat. “It’s Angel.”
Valerie smiled. “Alright, Angel. Any sign those cruisers can see us?”
“Nothing,” Hanna shook her head. “Not a peep. Everyone is moving towards the hyper-limit with no deviations. The Spectre’s stealth is holding up, they have no idea we’re here.”
Valerie stood behind Rush and Hanna’s seats studying the tactical display over Hanna’s shoulder. The convoy of a dozen freighters was making its steady progress towards the system’s hyper-limit. The planet Alexandria was far behind and the three escorting Legion Navy light cruisers hung on the fringes of the convoy. A counter on the edge of the display showed they had sixty-two minutes until they reached the hyper-limit and the convoy would jump to Atlantis.
“Looking good, Rush,” Valerie patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve got this, time for me to join the Crew.”