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  VANGUARD

  Book 10 of The Pike Chronicles

  G.P. Hudson

  © 2018

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  The Pike Chronicles:

  Sol Shall Rise – Book 1 of The Pike Chronicles

  Prevail – Book 2 of The Pike Chronicles

  Ronin – Book 3 of The Pike Chronicles

  Ghost Fleet – Book 4 of The Pike Chronicles

  Interstellar War – Book 5 of The Pike Chronicles

  Vanquish – Book 6 of The Pike Chronicles

  Galactic Empire – Book 7 of The Pike Chronicles

  Armada – Book 8 of The Pike Chronicles

  Galactic War – Book 9 of The Pike Chronicles

  Vanguard – Book 10 of The Pike Chronicles

  Fall of the Terran Empire:

  War Without End – Fall of the Terran Empire Book 1

  The Tortuous Path – Fall of the Terran Empire Book 2

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in the book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form, other than for review purposes, without the permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

  Cover art by Tom Edwards

  Chapter 1

  Jamie followed his target into a Hong Kong brothel, using a personal cloaking device to avoid detection.

  The target’s name was Mark Yen, a high-profile figure in Hong Kong organized crime. He was a 426 in the Hong Kong Triad, sometimes referred to as a ‘Red Pole.’

  The Triad used numbers inspired by the I Ching to designate ranks within the organization. A 426, or Red Pole, was the gang’s military commander, responsible for defensive and offensive operations.

  Tonight, Yen was more interested in personal pleasure, which provided Jamie with the perfect opportunity to carry out the hit. His client, Durril Tai, wanted to send a powerful message.

  The Triad had recently ramped up its activities in the colonies and showed little interest in placating Tai. They had spent years slowly building up their presence in the colonies. All along they paid their dues to Tai for the privilege of operating there. But now they thought their position was strong enough to safely cut off Tai. That was a mistake.

  The Triads were an ancient criminal organization on Earth which had impressively survived the Juttari occupation. They possessed real power in the Sol System and in the colonies. Even after the Juttari nuked Earth, the Triads resurfaced and resumed business as if nothing had happened. They were involved in numerous illicit activities, but mostly they controlled the lucrative red dust drug trade.

  Tai’s Raiders, however, were something different. They were originally miners who worked in some of the most inhospitable places in the colonies. Their corporate bosses were more interested in profits than living conditions and cut costs wherever they could. The result was a brutal environment where injuries and death were commonplace.

  The miners protested by going on strike, but their strikes were put down by armed corporate security. On one moon things got so bad that there was an uprising. The miners overpowered and killed all corporate personnel present, including the management team and their security.

  The miners armed themselves and took all available starships. They then went on their own mission, visiting other mining colonies and killing all management teams there. They seized more ships and offered an open invitation to any and all miners to join their organization. Since most miners lived in intolerable conditions, many agreed. Miners often lived with their families, so they brought them along too.

  Eventually, the corporations acted and sent warships out to deal with the rebellious miners, but by that time they were gone. The corporations searched for them for some time, but all efforts proved unsuccessful. The miners were used to hardship and hid in the unlikeliest locations.

  That happened well over a century ago, long before the Sol gate was reopened. The miners eventually became known as Raiders for their pirating activities. They expanded their operations and grew in power and influence. Eventually, they established a presence throughout the colonies. As always, the corporate rulers were primarily interested in profits and found it far easier to just pay the Raiders off, than to try and root them out.

  Durril Tai was widely considered the smartest and most powerful Raiders leader in history. His reach stretched to every corner of the colonies and through Jamie, he was about to prove that it even reached Earth. Indeed, taking out a high-ranking member of one of Earth’s oldest criminal organizations would send a potent message to all players in the galactic underworld.

  For Jamie, it was all the same. Yen and his organization were involved in a broad spectrum of criminal activity, including extortion, human trafficking, the drug trade, and murder. With that type of history, Jamie had no qualms about taking the job.

  Yen’s bodyguards were positioned throughout the building, ensuring that no one would disturb their boss’s fun. The brothel was still open for business, but Yen had a wing of the building blocked off for his own personal use. Here more armed guards prevented access.

  The Triad’s guards were not much of an obstacle. Using the personal cloak, Jamie slipped by them and followed Yen into one of the rooms. Inside, he watched Yen pour himself a drink and settle into a leather armchair.

  Jamie moved swiftly. He silently circled around behind Yen and deactivated the cloak.

  Before Yen could react, Jamie clasped a hand around his mouth and brandished an energy blade before the mobster’s right eye. “Move or make a sound and you lose the eye. Understand?”

  Yen nodded slowly, careful not to touch the crackling blade’s tip by accident.

  “Someone wants to speak to you,” Jamie said. Through his brain implant, he activated a comm device on his wrist, and a holograph of Durril Tai appeared. Tai had a particular quirk that necessitated him speaking to each person he hired Jamie to kill. Jamie didn’t understand it, nor did he need to.

  “Ah, I see you’ve met Jamie,” Tai’s holograph said. “Well then, I’m sure you know who I am. Consider this the first of many messages. Your organization has overreached. That will not be tolerated. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  Unable to speak with Jamie’s hand firmly holding his mouth shut, Yen nodded once again.

  “Good. That’s all I have to say. Carry on.” Tai terminated the connection, and his holograph vanished.

  Without hesitation, Jamie drove the blade through Yen’s eye and into the mobster’s brain. He held Yen firmly as the man squirmed, spasmed, and kicked. Finally, all reflexes ceased.

  Satisfied the man was dead, Jamie removed his blade and let Yen fall to the floor. He reactivated his cloak just as the door opened and several women entered. Screams followed, and Jamie rushed toward the exit.

  Two bodyguards entered just as Jamie reached the doorway. Jamie had no room to maneuver and the first guard bumped into him. Blade still in hand, Jamie gutted the man without hesitation.

  The second guard backed off and shouted a warning into a comm. Cursing to himself, Jamie threw his energy blade at the guard. The blade hit the man in the throat and cut off half his head before lodging itself into the wall behind him.

  Jamie’s augmented senses took over and he heard each foot running to his location. Retrieving a plasma grenade from his belt, he caught the familiar scent of fear and hostility.

  He lobbed the grenade down the hall just as a group of guards appeared. No longer concealed by Jamie’s cloak, the grenade
became visible just before it landed at their feet. Short of a few gasps, the guards had no time to react and a punishing explosion ripped through the corridor, strewing limbs and bodies in all directions.

  He pulled his blade out of the wall and readied his assault rifle. Advancing warily, he listened carefully to the sounds around him. Frightened customers and prostitutes poured out of the place while weapons were loaded and calls for help made. If he moved fast, he might make it to his ship in one piece.

  Jamie surged forward and leaped off a balcony, intending to rush out of the building with the escaping clients. Energy bolts targeted him when he hit the floor leaving him precious little room to maneuver. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

  Glancing down at his arm prompted a curse. His cloak had failed, the guards could see him.

  Jamie returned fire and scrambled for cover. With few options, he produced another plasma grenade and tossed it at the guards blocking the exit. Devastation followed, and amid the confusion, Jamie fired furiously at those who survived the blast.

  In a burst of Chaanisar speed, he raced toward the door, picking off targets as they appeared. Energy bolts chased after him, but the shooters could not adjust their aim fast enough. Even without the cloak, Jamie was a terrifying opponent, physically superior to regular, unaugmented humans in every way.

  Once outside, Jamie kept moving. He had noted the snipers when he first arrived and now fired on their positions, forcing them to keep their heads down. The hilly terrain provided ample cover and the snipers quickly recovered.

  The projectiles whizzed by in front of him, and Jamie changed direction. These were not ordinary henchmen. They anticipated his speed and direction, targeting where he was headed. If he let them, they would adjust their timing and home in on him.

  Jamie turned off the road and ran down the side of the hill. Hong Kong was in the middle of a decade-long building boom. Ever since the Juttari bombardment, people rushed to rebuild this commercial powerhouse of a city. As the Sol System got back on its feet and investment poured in from the colonies, prosperity followed. Repeated military victories added to the optimism further accelerating the commercial frenzy. Land had always been scarce in this port city and buildings sprouted up wherever they could.

  Jamie used the hillside buildings as cover, racing in between them as projectiles scarred the newly built walls. Even as he evaded the snipers, he understood that news of the hit had spread and that the Triad would do everything they could to prevent his departure.

  He could only hope that they didn’t know what he looked like, although he knew that was wishful thinking. The brothel had cameras everywhere. One of them was bound to have captured his image when the cloak failed. The Triad would soon know who he was, and he would add a powerful new enemy to his growing list.

  Emerging onto a busy street, Jamie didn’t slow his pace. He knocked over a food stand and the vendor shouted several choice words at him as he fled. Up ahead, energy bolts crashed into a bystander as new gangsters appeared.

  In contrast, Jamie’s aim was true. Firing back, he blasted a hole into the chest of a gun-toting henchman. The force of the impact hurtled the man back several feet before throwing him to the ground.

  Horrified screams rang out and the crowd scattered. The pandemonium did not distract Jamie, however, and a second energy bolt caught the second opponent in the face. He almost did a complete backflip before hitting the pavement, his face nothing but a charred, smoldering mess.

  A fresh volley of energy bolts chased him. He leaped over vehicles and past food carts and again found himself running through the narrow alleys between buildings. When he encountered a dead end, he entered the building and ran up to one of the higher floors. Breaking through a door, he entered an apartment while a family was sitting down to a meal. They barely had time to stand before Jamie was out onto their balcony and leaping from it to one on an adjoining building.

  He used the structures the way a lemur might use trees, making steady progress through the bustling city until he neared the lot where he had left his ship. The small craft was registered as a commercial vehicle which allowed him to land it inside a city like this without question. A quick scan of the surrounding area did not spot any threats, so he left the confines of the building and dashed for the vessel.

  Using his brain implant, Jamie interfaced with the ship’s computer, opening the hatch and firing the engines. Once inside the ship took off and raced toward the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Jamie frantically checked for any sign of pursuit or potential threats. He found none but remained alert. On edge.

  As Hong Kong faded beneath the clouds and his ship broke free of Earth’s atmosphere, Jamie leaned back into his seat and tried to relax. Extraterrestrial scrutiny prevented that. He turned his attention toward the billions of panels encircling the sun. The Cenobi were watching… always watching.

  He shrugged off the disturbing sensation and set a course for Sol’s primary space station. If he hurried, he’d have just enough time to dock and wash up.

  Chapter 2

  “The frequency of attacks has been increasing, despite your assurances that you have the insurgency in hand,” General Clark’s holographic image said.

  “I assure you, General, that we are doing everything we can to quell the uprising,” Grand Sovereign Taak said, doing his best to hide his revulsion and not bare his sharp teeth. He never could get used to the ugliness of the hairless, round-toothed humans. How they ever defeated the Kemmar Empire was beyond him. But that was precisely what they did, and Taak had been on the throne ever since.

  Of course, he wasn’t always the Grand Sovereign. Before the Kemmar surrender, he had been the royal advisor. But Grand Sovereign Tsogt had been stubborn, so Taak and a few other officials executed him. In reality, they had no choice. The humans had defeated their forces and had taken a position of orbital dominance over the homeworld. If Tsogt continued to defy the humans, they might have scorched the planet as punishment.

  Either way, Taak had taken the throne after that and had served as leader of the human controlled puppet government ever since. As always, there were those who did not approve. They could not accept that the mighty Kemmar Empire was no more.

  Taak understood how they felt. The Kemmar were a race of warriors who dominated all those around them. But that was the past, and the sooner all Kemmar accepted it, the sooner they could move forward. What else could they do? They had no warships. No armies. The humans had decimated their military infrastructure. The only real hope now was to keep the population in line and win favor with the humans. In that way, they could slowly rebuild and perhaps rise again one day.

  That was a long-term strategy, however. One that the foolish insurgents did not understand.

  “Bullshit,” General Clark said. “It’s been over a decade since the war ended and the insurgency has continued to grow.”

  “General, you know I do not have the necessary resources to completely defeat the rebels.”

  “Defeat them? You can’t even slow them down. You know what? I’m starting to think you’re supporting them.”

  “General, I assure you-”

  “And if I find the tiniest bit of evidence that you are, Taak, it’s your ass. Do you understand me? I’ll have you strung up, and I’ll broadcast the event to your entire fucking population.”

  “General, I really-”

  “Then I’ll send my troops down there to root out the insurgents, and I can guarantee that they won’t be nice about it.”

  Taak imagined biting down on the bulging vein in the general’s neck. He could almost feel the hot blood splashing against his lips. “You have nothing to worry about, General. My interests and the interests of my government are aligned with yours.”

  “Yeah? Then clean up your fucking house, or I’ll do it myself.”

  “Of course, General.”

  Taak spat in disgust when Clark terminated the connection. He hated that he had to take orders from these vile creatu
res. But he couldn’t change reality and had to do the best he could under the circumstances.

  The insurgents had deep roots, however. Once it became clear that they had surrendered, many in the military went underground taking massive stockpiles of weapons with them. They were determined to wage a long-term guerrilla war against the occupation, and the general population was sympathetic to their cause. They had no shortage of recruits and support.

  The penalty for aiding the insurgents was death, but that did nothing to slow their growth. Taak even had the executions broadcast to the general population. Almost daily, the Kemmar watched as ordinary citizens were punished for their crimes. And yet, it didn’t seem to matter. Support for the rebels continued to grow.

  Taak wondered if more extreme measures were necessary. He had already taken the step of sentencing the criminal’s family members to death as well. Perhaps he needed to include their neighbors and friends too. Yes, that might be the answer he was looking for. It was merely a cost-benefit analysis. If the cost of helping the insurgency outweighed any potential benefit, then the aid would stop.

  It was a harsh decision for a harsh reality. The Kemmar race needed to move forward, and it couldn’t do so with all these fanatics holding it back. Once their influence was washed away, real progress could finally be made.

  The more he considered the solution, the more Taak relaxed. He even wondered why he had not come up with it sooner. But he knew the answer to that question. He had been soft on the population. He was a Kemmar after all. But that softness did not do them any favors.

  The sounds of shouting and weapon fire pulled Taak out of his thoughts and he rose to his feet. “What is happening?” Taak said to the captain of his guard.