Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (108 page)
Read Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage Online
Authors: Chris Hechtl
Vis'kal Veraxin governor of New Haven (Submitted by Matt Malecki)
Deputy Governor Shell: Nightingale star system. Not a fan of Federation
Halced 6: Newly elected James Davey Travis.(Submitted by Matt Malecki)
Antigua terrorists:
Skeletor: Keldor
Kronis 'Trapjaw' Trajawl: cyborg, hates Federation
Circie: -seducer/spy
Odiphus: stink-o: muscle/chemist. Knock out gas
Spikor: Engineer for group
Jitsu: Mongolian martial artist
Blade: sword/blade guy.
Octavia -4 armed genie. Was on a ship. Wanted into the navy but couldn't pass psych exam.
Jarvan -chemist and meth creator -paranoid
Arana and Una -native Americans -foot soldiers
Cat -theif and spy
Horathains:
Captain Fred Tion of the Nelson class HMSS Idiot's Array -KIA
Chief Smiley -chief of the boat -KIA
Captain Ryobi Kerinski Nelson class HMSS Wizard of Winter -KIA
Captain Giovani Lovato: Captain of Caravan class Rhianna. Taken off with crew when ship vampired for fuel, parts, and crew. Depressed on Chico. Killed by Captain Fang and made to look like suicide.
Captain Sharky Fang of Antares class Chico --Black eyes, dark skin. Wore a shark's tooth necklace. Black braided hair. Used his computer and crew to frame Giovani Lovato as Captain of his ship and attempted to blend into the POW's.
Admiral Troy Frost: Rear Admiral and military governor of Nuevo Madrid. Fat pompous.
Commander Desi Moriarty -Admiral Frost's chief of staff
Lieutenant Commander Dutch Lefou
Captain Arnold Post: captain of the Derfflinger BC Massachusetts
Captain Shantell Mueller: Captain of the Derfflinger BC Nevada
Rear Admiral Linneaus Von Berk -Commander, Fourth Fleet. In charge of ships at ET.
Colonel Bericus -Marine in command of ET forces -left on Nuevo Madrid
commander Rick Roshou -admiral's chief of staff
Captain Bordou -Captain of Apache
Doctor Staten Milgram -eugenics and brainwashing psychologist.
Major Eichmann -intelligence officer
Colonel Bericus
Captain Corry -captain of Nelson Arrogant -KIA
Captain Wutzle -captain of tanker 2335 -KIA
Sword of Retribution fleet:
Admiral Cyrano De Gaulte -Old dinosaur. One of the best strategists however. Above politics. Executioner is his flagship
Princess Catherine -ops officer
Berney -chief of staff
LCMDNR Sedrick Lovato -Intel officer
As usual, my blog:
http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/
The Wikia (when we get around to adding to it):
http://federation-datanet.wikia.com/wiki/Federation_AI_Historical_Datanet_Wiki
Government:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_the_United_States
Navy:
Tech:
http://gizmodo.com/a-new-light-based-memory-chip-could-change-the-fundamen-1731307674
http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/14/anti-drone-rifle-shoots-down-uavs-with-radio-waves/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/07/makerarm-3d-printer-kickstarter/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/24/worlds-biggest-3d-printer/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/25/stellarator-fusion-reactor-complete/
http://files.1337upload.net/battlemoon.jpg
Other:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P4YeZ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado
http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/length/lightminute.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingchi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Shaoqi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong#Great_Proletarian_Cultural_Revolutio
n
I have several books planned for 2016 but only 1 in the works at the moment, a series of short story anthologies. Many of the stories mentioned in this book, BattleLines, and J4 (some listed in my
Author's Afterward)
are those stories.
Here is a small sample one one such story mentioned in J4:
El Diablo the Wraith of Protodon
CAST:
Captain Joshua Lyon (Cameo)
Lieutenant Chiang
Private Mook: Brown Neomutt. Chaing's squad.
Private C'kk: Veraxin Chaing's squad. Buddy to R'll.
Private R'll Veraxin. Also medic, Chaing's squad.
Sergeant Erin Blanchard -Platoon sergeant.
Ensign Lexi Myers intelligence officer
Corporal Liota Naysmith -human MP
Private Blake -Neomutt MP
PFC Orange -human, Baker squad.
Alley -navy Corpsman
Protodon was a battered world, one torn by war between the reborn Federation and the Horathian empire. Admiral White and his Naval forces had driven off the marauding pirates but they'd left the job only half finished. The first group of Marines led by the late Captain Gustav had been unable to dislodge the Horathian pirates and their supporters. They had been contemptuously swept aside and reduced to a small number barely holding a fire base near the space port until scratch forces led by Major White Wolf arrived from Kathy's World.
The mostly Neo force had been partially trained and equipped. Some were veterans of their own recent liberation of their homeworld, but many had no combat experience. They did their best to secure the capital and nearby area, then expand the fight to the rest of the continent. They drove the enemy to ground before Major Pendeckle's brigade arrived to finish the job.
Once it was clear the Federation was serious about retaking the planet, the remaining abandoned pirates and their supporters retreated from the cities and towns to the mountains and forests for a prolonged guerrilla and terrorist war.
Major Pendeckle's Brigade was far better armed and trained than the scratch forces that had come in before them. But the Brigade had limited resources and a finite number of soldiers. The terrain was to the advantage of enemy, with hills, folds, forests, caves, and hidden rivers. They could and frequently did slip out of a noose and get away all the time.
Still, they were making some small progress here and there. The priorities were the towns and cities of course. Once they were secure they were turned over to the local militia and police forces that were raised for the purpose. The freed up manpower then went into the countryside to run the enemy to ground... or at least drive them further away to allow the locals some semblance of returning to normalcy.
Intelligence officers started to get a handle on the local conditions and the natives, as well as some of the general movements of the enemy forces in each sector. They also started to pick up stories of 'El Diablo', the wraith in the hills north west of Timber town. The area was densely forested with massive trees and a lot of hills and caves, a nightmare for the Marines to dig the enemy out of.
The stories from natives came in and began to pile up. So did a few shell shocked Horathian supporters who practically threw themselves into the arms of the Marines to get away from whatever was hunting them. That got Major Pendeckle and the native leadership wondering what was going on. It also got the locals nervous about having their own monster in their back woods.
It wasn't a pleasant feeling to know something was out there, hunting and killing people. Apparently Timber town was a major logging hub of the west coast so pressure began to mount to do something about it.
Hunters and wood cutters came into town with wild stories. Two hunters claimed that something was hunting them before it had left. Another claimed to have found an enemy camp torn apart, the bodies shredded.
El Diablo
had been written in blood on a tree as well as on a piece of shredded tent.
The pair of hunters had returned to their own camp to find it too had been torn apart. They had picked up what little they could find and then had beat feet out of the area as quickly as they could move.
Since Timber Town was so important, and since the Marines were also on a good will program, the major dispatched a platoon to the area to find out what was going on. He had strict ROE orders not to engage this
El Diablo
, but to identify it and if possible rein the person or persons in. Vigilante justice they didn't want or need when they were attempting to re-establish order.
For two weeks though the platoon was almost completely ineffective.
El Diablo
, if he existed was a ghost. So were any signs of enemy activity in the area.
Since they were looking at a long term mission, a fire base was set up 120 kilometers north of the town along a logging road. The outer wall was formed from the local trees. It seemed a shame to cut down some of the titans of the forest, many measuring over 100 meters tall and nearly 5 meters wide. But the job had to be done to extend their perimeter from the original camp site that had first occupied the flat stretch of ground.
Once the fire base was set up the Marines were sent out in squads to map the area. They had orders to meet and greet the natives and help them so as to win them over to their side. No easy task, since they were caught between the marauding barbarians and the Marines who may not be there a month or so later.
But there was another problem. The few settlements and hobby farms they did find in the area had been hit by the marauders. There were no signs of survivors. There was also no sign of
El Diablo
.
A week after the patrols started Lieutenant Chiang's squad encountered a child in the trail. Aware it might be bait for a trap they hesitated before the point man approached.
Private Mook wasn't much to look at, a Neomutt. He prided himself in being linked to the Devil Dogs of the First A.I. War fame. When he came over to the softly crying toddler he cocked his head and wagged his tail a few times.
That got the attention of the toddler who looked up to him in surprise and wonder. “You lost kid?” Mook asked, kneeling next to the kid. He looked around to make sure the coast was clear. What he saw was a group of other small heat signatures. He raised his nose and sniffed the wet cold air. “You can come out. We're not going to hurt you,” he said.
When no one came out he sat down on his haunches and then pulled an energy bar out of his breast pocket. He didn't like the lack of sound in the forest, it was eerily silent. His eyes kept roving the area as he mechanically opened the energy bar with his hand paws then snapped a piece off. He held it out to the toddler.
The little gaunt boy took it instantly and started to nibble on it. Once he was past the first bite he began to chew and then devour it. The dog looked down at him and snorted. “Easy there kid, don't eat so fast, you're liable to get sick,” he said as he held out another piece with two fingers. The boy took the piece, then seemed to move as if something relaxed in him. In a moment he was curled against the dog's side, looking up at him with blue eyes as he chewed on the energy bar.
“I've got some jerky too,” the dog said. “In my bag. But it's rough, like shoe leather,” he said. “You gotta wash it down but I'm nearly out of water,” he admitted.
He saw the toddler had a small knife but the kid put it away. He looked back to the rest of his squad, unsure what to do just as a rustle of ferns made him freeze. Slowly he turned back to see a group of orphans come out of the bush.
“Damn,” he said blinking as he held out another piece of energy bar to the first waif. “Looks like you brought friends kid,” he said.
The kids looked sullenly at him. They were a mix of species, some looked Terran but of mixed race, some were girls, some were boys. They tended to range in age between 3 and 15 or so he estimated. There were no adults.
There were a small handful of non-humanoid children as well, including 2 tiny elves sitting on the shoulder of a girl, a Naga child half hidden and hissing at them, and 3 Veraxin children near their second molt. They clicked their mandibles, eye stalks locked on his wrapper. “Uh, a little help here?” the brown Neomutt said suggestively over his shoulder, broadcasting the request as well.
“I'm Lieutenant Chaing, Federation Marines,” the lieutenant said, stepping up. The group seemed to frown collectively, tension mounting. “We're here to help. We're here to find the pirates and bring them to justice,” he explained. “You kids look like you've been through a lot.”
“Tell me about it,” Mook muttered as a kid came over expectantly to him. A small hand touched his head. He felt the hand stroke his furry cheek. He took off his helmet and showed it to the kid. “Not your size I'm afraid,” he teased gently. “C'kk?” he asked, looking back.
“Got it,” the Veraxin said, coming up with his larger bag. He was already opening it to hand out some of his extra rations to the kids. The sight of a Veraxin with them, one who was armed and obviously generous seemed to relax the kids once more.
“You aren't like the others,” a voice drifted in the wind.
“No. No we're Marines. We're from the Federation. We've retaken this solar system and we're working to clean up the pirates,” the lieutenant said, pulling his own MRE stash out to break it up. He looked around and then heaved a sigh. “We make camp here,” he said. “I guess.”
“Is that wise sir? This could be a trap,” C'kk asked over their implant channel.
“No choice. Tell the rest of the squad to hand over their rations and then spread out in perimeter. We'll see if there is a reasonably flat area nearby off the trail. If not, this will have to do.”
“Yes sir.”
“How many are there?” the lieutenant asked.
“Twenty,” a voice said, coming up behind him. He turned to see an apparition behind him. He didn't know how the hell the kid had appeared in the center of his squad. It spooked him a little but he held off pointing his weapon at him. The boy seemed to straighten under what was apparently some sort of cloak or trench coat.
He had long shaggy hair and a floppy hat. He also wore wraparound sunglasses. As he stood the kids all seemed to come to attention. “Twenty here, plus our four legged friends,” the male said. It had to be a male from the timber of his voice the Lieutenant concluded.
“And you are?”
“Call me... Red,” the young man said, seemingly amused by that. He kept his head down so his hat hid his features. From what little the lieutenant had seen of him he had milk white skin and gaunt features.
“Well Red, we can help. Are there any adults or...”
“We're it,” the young man said as a group of canines came out of the bush behind the kids. They had packs strapped to their backs. Sled dogs, the lieutenant noted, looking at them over. Six of them, all well trained. 4 were husky wolves of some sort, another was some sort of border collie mix, and the pitbull with the torn ears was obviously the omega of the group.
He heard a soft yowl and turned to see a boy holding a pair of cougar cubs also with torn ears, and another boy holding a lynx cub. His eyes roved to a little girl holding a blond teddy bear with a matted red bow around it's neck. From the look it was actually a stuffed toy.
“Well then,” he said straightening his shoulders. “You've survived for how long on your own?”
“We are resourceful. We hunt, we know where the food is,” Red said. Immediately the lieutenant tagged his proffered name as a false one. The kids were cautious.
They had every right to be he reminded himself. They stank. They had obviously been through hell based on their gaunt looks and ragged clothes.
“Okay, here's the deal. We can't stay here forever obviously. I'm guessing your parents aren't around?”
“Around? No. Not anymore,” Red snorted.
“Okay,” the lieutenant said, ignoring the sarcasm. “We have enough supplies for the night. We'll make camp here, if that is okay with you.” When the young man didn't say anything he nodded. “Okay, then glad that part's settled. Once dawn breaks we'll escort you to our base camp. From there...”
“We will only go if we are together. We are a family,” Red growled. There were a few answering growls from the pack of kids, all in support of his bald statement.
“Kid, I'll do what I can...”
“I want your word. Once we are out we stay together. As a unit,” the boy said.
“I... fine,” the lieutenant said, throwing caution to the wind. “Okay. You have my word as a Marine officer that we will not break you up. Okay?”
“It's a start,” the boy said.
“Small things is where trust is built from,” the lieutenant murmured, reminding himself of one of the things Ensign Myers had said when briefing them about earning the local's trust. The boy looked at him and then away.
The lieutenant turned back to see his people as well as the kids making camp. He whistled softly in appreciation.
^<(>^<)>^