Heart of the Nebula
Read Heart of the Nebula Online
Authors: Joe Vasicek
Tags: #romance, #adventure, #artificial intelligence, #space opera, #pirates, #starship, #galactic empire, #science fantasy, #far future, #space colonization
Heart of the Nebula
by Joe Vasicek
Copyright © 2015 Joseph Vasicek.
All rights reserved.
Editing by Josh Leavitt.
Cover art by Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons,
organizations, or events is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
THEY LOST THE WAR, BUT THE PEACE IS STILL
WITHIN THEIR GRASP.
Five years have passed since the Hameji conquered
James McCoy's homeworld, all but enslaving his people. Now, the
occupation threatens to destroy them.
Deep in the heart of the Good Hope nebula, there is
a place where they can start over. But it will take a strong leader
to get them there, and the temptation to trade freedom for security
has never been greater. Even if they manage to escape from the
Hameji, the greatest threat to their future may come from
within.
James once gave everything to save the ones he
loved. This time, his sacrifice could make him a legend.
Part I: The Maverick
Chapter 1
“
Attention
Lone Spear,
this
is
Trident One,
”
came the commander’s gravelly voice over the gunboat’s speakers.
“Divert from your present course and do not, repeat, do
not
engage the incoming
craft.”
“
The hell?” James McCoy
muttered—under his breath, of course. He narrowed his eyes at the
holoscreen and fought the urge to lash out at his commanding
officer.
“
Trident One,
we have unidentified ships converging on the
convoy. Repeat, we have unidentified ships converging on the
convoy. Requesting permission to—”
“
Negative,
Lone Spear,
negative.
Resume escort formation and await further orders.”
James clenched his fists in frustration. Was
the commander blind? Several unknown vessels had departed the
Lagrange settlements of the nearest moon, moving dangerously close
to the supply convoy that he was supposed to protect. On his main
display, eight red dots moved steadily upward along a line that
didn’t quite intersect the bundle of friendly green and blue
vectors, but could easily be made to without warning.
Conditions in the local sector were ripe for
an ambush. When the Hameji had invaded five standard years ago,
they had slagged Karduna’s capital planet and massacred billions of
people. Those who survived now lived in small, isolated settlements
scattered across the system, barely able to defend themselves.
Since the Hameji only cared for conquest and barely deigned to
manage their empire, piracy was rampant. The convoy was on its
own.
“
Uh, Captain, sir?” came a
shaky voice behind him: Ensign Sterling Jones, his new co-pilot.
“Are we going to pull back?”
“
Don’t worry, Sterling. I
heard the commander.” James pulled back on the piloting stick,
making his stomach drop as the gunboat changed course. On the
screen, the green vector that marked their present course bent
slightly upward, not quite conforming to the other vector lines of
the convoy.
“
Right, sir,” said
Sterling.
James couldn’t see
Sterling’s face, since they sat with their backs to each other, but
he could hear the nervousness in the ensign’s voice. As the gunboat
accelerated, the ergonomic chair distributed the increasing gee
forces evenly across James’s body. Unlike most spacecraft,
the
Lone Spear
’s
cockpit was located at the ship’s
center of mass, beneath almost ten tons of heavy armor. Two 30 mm
projectile cannons, six plasma clusterpod launchers, a squadron of
fighter drones, and nearly twenty short-range autolasers added
another two tons to the ship’s mass. Of course, most of the guns
were either nonfunctional or unarmed due to fleet-wide ammunition
constraints, but the gunboat could still handle its own in a
fight.
On the screen, the red dots representing the
unidentified ships crept closer, making James cringe. The convoy
was carrying vital medical supplies and antibiotics to the Colony
from Kardunash IV. Six months ago, another convoy carrying similar
cargo had come under attack, and most of the supplies had been
lost. If this one didn’t make it through, the hospital back home
would be hard pressed to provide even basic medical services. Lives
were on the line here, and not just in the combat zone.
And Commander Maxwell wanted them to stand
down?
“
Sterling, power up the
drones and get them in the chute. I want to be able to launch
fighters the moment this gets ugly.”
“
Are you sure, sir? The
commander—”
“
I know what he said, but
the enemy isn’t going to wait for us to arm ourselves before they
attack. Are you with me?”
“
Yes, Captain.”
“
Good.”
Then stay with me, Sterling.
James picked up the comm
transmitter. “
Trident One,
this is
Lone
Spear.
Have the incoming craft hailed us
yet?”
No response.
“
Trident One,
this is
Lone
Spear
.
Do you
copy?”
“
We copy,
Lone Spear,”
said the
commander. “Stand down as ordered.”
“
Uh,
Trident One,
don’t you think we
should position ourselves between the incoming craft and the
convoy? If those marks deviate just a couple of degrees from their
present vector, they—”
“
Negative, Lieutenant. I
will
not
be
responsible for an unprovoked attack on civilian craft.”
If those are
civvies,
James thought angrily,
why won’t they hail us?
“
Sterling, how are we
looking?”
“
Good, sir. Shields and
gravitics are both online. I’m having a little trouble with the
drones, though—the quick release clamps on the second chute appear
to be stuck.”
James nodded. “Better readjust the balance,
then. Just do your best.”
“
Yes, sir.”
The red line on the sector map began to bend
in their direction. An alarm on the display began to blink.
“
Uh, Captain, it looks
like—”
“
I see it. Hang
on.”
The unidentified craft had altered their
vectors and were now heading straight for the convoy. At the rate
they were accelerating, they would be within attack range in just a
few minutes—exactly as James had feared.
“
Trident One,
this is
Lone
Spear.
Unidentified craft have altered
course and are heading on an attack vector. Do we have permission
to engage?”
No response.
“
Trident One,
do you copy? This is
Lone
Spear,
requesting permission
to—”
“
Lone Spear,
this is
Trident
One.
Hold your current course, but do not
move to intercept.”
James bit his lip and clenched his fist in
frustration. His orders didn’t make sense—the unidentified ships
were closing in on them too fast. By the time the commander figured
out what the hell he was doing, the engagement would be as good
over, and half the convoy would probably be lost.
Not this time,
James told himself.
Not
on my watch.
“
Sterling,” he said, “start
cycling power to the RPV shields and gravitic dampers. We’re going
in hard and fast.”
“
Uh, yes, sir.”
Ignoring the hesitation in
his copilot’s voice, James toggled the battle arrays and nosed
the
Lone Spear
toward the enemy. With his left hand, he ramped up the
thrusters to full throttle. A terrible, gut-wrenching sensation
grabbed his stomach as the engines roared to life.
“
Sterling, the
dampers!”
“
Right, sorry!”
The pressure eased somewhat as the gravitic
dampers absorbed the worst of the sudden acceleration. On the main
sector screen, the green line representing their course bent until
it coincided almost perfectly with the red lines, like a wire
fitting into conduit. They were moving out to intercept the
incoming pirates alone. ETA was fifty seconds.
“
Sterling, are the shields
up?”
“
Yes, sir.”
“
Good. Map out the targets
and relay the data to the combat AI. Get ready to launch
drones.”
“
But Captain, at our
current rate of acceleration, I can’t calculate the release
vectors!”
“
Then prepare to launch
them manually on my mark,” said James. “Don’t worry—you’re doing
fine.”
The intercom crackled with
Maxwell’s voice. “
Lone Spear,
this is
Trident
One.
Stand down! Repeat, stand
down!”
I can’t do that, Commander.
“
Lone Spear,
do you copy? Stand—”
“
Captain, we have incoming
fire!” Sterling shouted. Sure enough, an alarm sounded in the
cramped cockpit.
“
I see it. Hang
on!”
On the main screen, a
steady stream of small projectile fire arced towards them along the
enemy’s vector.
I hope none of those shots
slips past us to hit the convoy,
James
thought.
“
Five seconds to impact,”
said Sterling. “Three, two, one—”
A high-pitched squeal sounded from deep
within the walls of the gunboat as the RPV shield vaporized the
incoming projectiles.
“
Shields down thirty
percent,” said Sterling, his voice rising. “Forty—no, fifty and
climbing!”
“
Engage our reserves, and
make sure the shields hold,” said James, firing the last of the
thrusters. “Engine burn at full throttle.”
“
But Captain, we’re on a
collision course!”
“
I know,” said James,
gripping the piloting stick with clammy hands. His stomach churned
as the gee forces rose noticeably, despite of the gravitic dampers.
The ETA on his display dropped to fifteen seconds—hopefully, that
would be enough to keep the shields from blowing up in their faces
before they made contact with the enemy.