Exodus - Empires at War 04 - The Long Fall (Exodus Series #4) Read online

  Exodus: Empires at War:

  Book 4:

  The Long Fall

  by

  Doug Dandridge

  Commodore Mei Lei paced the deck of her flag bridge, something she had seen the admirals in the holos do many times. Her force was ten light years forward of the fleet, and to the side, in a position to pick up the enemy before they came within sensor range of the main force. She had the four ships in her squadron, plus a half squadron of light cruisers and a squadron of destroyers. Enough force to find the enemy and get its information back to the fleet, without being destroyed. Or so it was hoped.

  Of course her ship had something that the enemy knew nothing about, or again, so it was hoped. Every ship was equipped with the new subspace radio, which really didn’t help them in hyper, since it wasn’t much better than a transmission through normal space, and something they couldn’t pick up in hyperspace anyway. Jean de Arc, Count Serano and one of the light cruisers were also equipped with a wormhole com, which gave them real time communications with the Flag, routed through the Donut commo center.

  The same two battle cruisers that carried the coms were also equipped with a new weapon. And Mei had orders not to use it unless there was no other choice to ensure her survival. The Fleet hoped to use it at a time when it would have the greatest effect against the enemy. Which didn’t mean they didn’t want to use it. It was a new toy, and the higher ranked children couldn’t wait to play.

  “We’re picking up hyper emissions ahead, ma’am,” said the Task Force Sensor Officer. “Estimate it’s two of their supercruisers. They’re running their grabbers full out.”

  “My assessment is that they are trying to change their trajectory and run away,” said the Force Tactical Officer. “They have to know that we out mass them by a factor of six, and that they don’t have a chance.”

  “Order the light cruisers and destroyers to fall back and to the side,” ordered Mei, her eyes fixed on the holo. “Serano and Jean de Arc will forge ahead. Unless something else comes along I think it’s time to try out the new weapon.”

  The Commodore linked into the Fleet net and got in touch with Admiral Lenkowski.

  “As long as you think you can take them both, go ahead and do it,” said the Fleet Commander. “But only if you make sure they don’t get away. None of our other scouts are picking up anything, so you might just have picked up a hunting pair looking for merchies.”

  “Then I guess this is going to be a really bad day for them, sir,” said Mei, smiling. “We’re boosting for them now.”

  The Commodore watched the tactical plot, then switched her attention back to the holo. The Fleet Commander would be seeing the same thing she was. There were not enough ships equipped with the wormholes to suit the high command, but it still was a great help to command and control. And something they knew the enemy didn’t have.

  “They’re not going to get away, Commodore,” said the Force Tactical Officer. The plot showed the enemy starting to curve away, but the distance was closing as the battle cruisers took a straight line approach. “They’re launching,” said the Tactical Officer, just after icons appeared on the plot, picked up through the hyperdrive emissions of the missiles.

  Soon there were hundreds of missiles on the plot. Each Ca’cadasan supercruiser carried more missiles than two normal Terran hyper VII battle cruisers, their missiles being smaller but more capable than the human variety. Still, they had not fired enough missiles to saturate the defenses of the human ships, though hits were a definite possibility.

  “Open fire,” ordered the Commodore, and the human ships started on the trial run of a new weapon system.

  Each battle cruiser fired two missiles at a time, much less than was normal for the ships that generally carried sixteen tubes. The tubes they did carry were very special, not leading to magazines, but to wormholes. Each wormhole led to an acceleration tube that was two hundred kilometers long, and fed by a magazine containing thousands of weapons. On a signal from the launching battle cruiser the acceleration tubes started to load and fire missiles, one coming through the wormhole each second. In one minute there were two hundred and forty missiles on the way. In three minutes seven hundred and twenty. At a thousand the missiles stopped coming. They staggered their acceleration until they were all on a profile to hit the enemy within seconds of each other, an overwhelming swarm.

  Now the acceleration tubes shifted to a different load, and moments later the first of the hyper capable long range interceptors were being launched. Normally ships only carried relatively few of the missiles, which were about half the size of an offensive weapon. In five minutes there were twelve hundred of the interceptors in space. The wormholes had solved one of the biggest problems with hyper VII warships, not being able to carry much in the way of missile armament.

  Very few of the enemy weapons made it through the interceptors, which were also of a new design, releasing a swath of antimatter plasma that damaged the seeker heads of the Ca’cadasan missiles without necessarily destroying them. Only a score of enemy missiles made it through, and these were easily taken out by the laser missile defenses.

  The Ca’cadasan ships had no such luck with the human weapons, taking only a third of them out before they acquired their targets. In the end it didn’t matter. Two hits, or two hundred, the plasma from the supercruisers quickly dropped out of hyper.

  “Good job, Commodore,” said Lenkowski over the wormhole com. “Maybe a bit of overkill, but we can work on that.”

  “I’ll take overkill any day, sir,” said Mei, smiling. “As long as we aren’t on the receiving end.”

  Dedication

  This novel is dedicated to writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose visions of Mars as it should have been was an inspiration to a young dreamer.

  Contact me at [email protected]

  Follow my Blog at http://dougdandridge.com

  Follow me at @BrotherofCats

  Copyright © 2013 Doug Dandridge

  All rights reserved.

  Please respect the hard work of this author. If you found this book for free on a pirate site, please visit Amazon and buy a copy of your own. I feel that I charge a reasonable price for this work.

  For more information on the Exodus Universe, visit http://dougdandridge.net for maps, sketches and other details of this work.

  Acknowledgements: I would like to thank all of my fans, especially those who sent emails or commented on blogs about how much they enjoyed the first three books of this series. Your kind words gave me the impetus to continue through the not so kind words left in some reviews. And special thanks to Ruth de Jauregui, who helped with the covers on all of the Exodus series. Her changes improved all of the covers.

  Books by Doug Dandridge

  Doug Dandridge’s Author Page at Amazon

  Science Fiction

  The Exodus Series

  Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1

  Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2

  Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3: The Rising Storm.

  The Deep Dark Well Series

  The Deep Dark Well

  To Well and Back

  Deeper and Darker (coming Winter 2014)

  Others

  The Shadows of the Multiverse

  Diamonds in the Sand

  The Scorpion

  Afterlife

  We Are Death, Come for You

  Fantasy

  The Refuge Series

  Refuge: The Arrival: Book 1

  Refuge: The Arrival: Book 2

  Refuge: Book 3: The Legions

  Doppelganger: A Novel o
f Refuge

  Others

  The Hunger

  Daemon

  Aura

  Sign up for my Newsletter at Mailchimp to receive news about upcoming projects, releases and promotions. Also be sure to check out my website, http://dougdandridge.net toward the end of each month for a free short story about Exodus, featuring the backgrounds of characters and the Empire.

  Cast of Characters The Capital

  Emperor Sean Ogden Lee Romanov: Born Year 971 (29 years old). Fifth child and the third son of the late Emperor Augustine Romanov.

  Doctor Jennifer Conway: Physician and Consort of Emperor Sean.

  Grand High Admiral Gabriel Len Lenkowski: Former Chief of Naval Operations.

  Grand High Admiral Sondra McCullom: Chief of Naval Operations.

  Field Marshal Betty Parker: Commandant of the Imperial Marine Corps

  Grand Marshal Mishori Yamakuri: Army Chief of Staff.

  Jakobe McGregor: Director Imperial Investigation Bureau.

  Countess Judy Decker. Sergeant of Arms of the Lords

  Count Hector Romanov Sutter. Third Cousin to the Emperor

  Captain Zhen Yin. Former naval commando and adjutant to Admiral Lenkowski.

  Interim Prime Minister Theo Streeter: Duke of Coventry.

  Prime Minister Countess Haruko Kawasaki.

  Lord Garis: Minister of State.

  Lord T’lisha: Phlistaran Minister of Security.

  Lord Halbrook: Minister of the Exchequer.

  Arhcduke Gregor Stoyanovich: Leader of Lords

  Laura Goolsby: Speaker of Commons.

  Mohamed Ishner: Chief of Scholars.

  Ekaterina Sergiov: Chief of Imperial Intelligence Agency.

  Samantha Ogden Lee. Sean’s cousin and Regent.

  The Fleet

  Commodore Duchess Mei Lei: Hyper VII battle cruiser squadron commander.

  Commander Xavier Jackson: Missing in Action.

  Captain the Duke Maurice von Rittersdorf: Squadron Commander hyper VII destroyer squadron.

  Ensign Lasardo: Rittersdorf’s tactical officer.

  Commander Bryce Suttler: Commander HIMS Seastag (Stealth Attack 421). One of new generation of wormhole sink stealth attacks. Born Year 955 (45 years old).

  Lieutenant SG Walter Ngovic. Tactical Vice Admiral Sheila Mtwambe: the head of the Silent Service, as they were called, at least for Sector IV.

  Grand Fleet Admiral Duke Taelis Mgonda: Admiral in command of Hyper VII battle force.

  Flag Captain, Marcus Streeter: Mgonda’s Flag Captain.

  Vice Admiral Mara Montgomery. Commander, Hyper VII Scout Force, Battle Fleet.

  Captain Josia Greenefield. Montgomery’s Flag Captain.

  Lt. Commander Jane Wyman: commander of Q-ship Inixius.

  Captain Walt Frazier: Marine Force Commander of Q-ship Inixius.

  Admiral Thomas Thompson: The commander of the First Battleforce of the Home Fleet.

  Admiral Chuntao Chan: Director of Fleet R & D.

  Commodore Natasha Romanov: Commander of NTR Light Cruiser Orleans.

  Captain Stella English: Commander light cruiser HIMS Lancanshire.

  The Donut

  Doctor Lucille Yu, PhD: Assistant Chief Scientist and Engineer of the Donut Project. Born Year 928 (72 years old).

  Jimmy Chung: IIA Agent in Charge, Donut.

  Imperial Army

  Cornelius Walborski: Ex-Militia Private and holder of the Imperial Medal of Heroism, currently in training with the Imperial Army.

  Brigadier General Samuel Baggett: Brigade Commander,

  Sergeant Major Terry Zacharias: Senior NCO in Baggett’s Brigade.

  Brigadier General Walther Jodel, The Preacher: Army Ranger Brigade Commander.

  Major General Bertrum Maxwell: CO 384th Heavy Infantry Division.

  Brigadier General Gloria Parker: 384th Heavy Infantry Division.

  Brigadier General Tanda M’kata: 384th Heavy Infantry Division.

  Brigadier General Timothy Slovonovich: 384th Heavy Infantry Division.

  Colonel Patrik Johansson: Brigade Assistant Commander.

  Lt. Colonel Dagni Thorwaldsdottir: Commander of Baggett’s Second Battalion.

  Lt. Colonel Wanda McTavish: Commander of Baggett’s Second Battalion.

  Captain Corilla Kone: Baggett’s Adjutant.

  Major General Lanbardran: Phlistaran commander of the One Ninety-fifth Heavy Infantry Division.

  Ca’cadasans Great Admiral Miierrowanasa M’tinisasitow: Ca’cadasan conquest fleet commander. Born 2843 AD (1,418 years old).

  Elysium

  Archduke Horatio Alexanderopolis: His Imperial Majesty’s Ambassador to the Court of the Elysium Empire. Born Year 821 (179 years old).

  High Lord Grarakakak, Brakakak: High Lord of Elysium Empire.

  Others Ahmadhi-ghasta Mallakan: Grand High Bishop of Lasharan Jakarja Lashana (Church of the Gods Vengeful). Born Year 915 (85 years old).

  Grand Admiral Lissana Mallakan: the Grand High Bishop’s cousin and Commander of the Lasharan Military.

  Chief Petty Officer First Jana Gorbachev: Prisoner of the Ca’cadasans.

  Klorasof: Survivor of the Ancients.

  Timeline

  2151 AD: Hiro Yamamoto discovers subspace portal generator. Opens subspace dimension to transport of human colonists.

  2160 AD: Alpha Centauri B4 colony established.

  2173 AD: Tau Ceti III colony established.

  2208 AD: Humanity has spread to eight inhabitable systems within 20 light years of Sol.

  2250 AD: 12 million humans living outside of the solar system.

  2254 AD: First contact with Ca’cadasans on Epsilon Iridani V. Human colony destroyed without warning or trace. Incoming ship discovers colony destroyed and runs back to human space with news.

  2256 AD: Human colony at Altair V attacked and destroyed.

  2257 AD: United Solar System Fleet established to fight alien threat.

  2260 AD: Battle of Tau Ceti, humans meet Ca’cadasans with a five to one advantage in mass and are handily defeated.

  2261 AD: Construction started on the six Exodus ships to allow some of humanity to make it to safety outside of human space.

  2264 AD: Ca’cadasans, having destroyed all of humanity’s colonies, attack the solar system in force. Five completed Exodus ships attempt to leave the system under heavy escort. Two are destroyed before they can make it into subspace. Two enter subspace with pursuit, while Exodus III makes a clean breakaway into subspace.

  2264 - 3260 AD: The Long Voyage. With several fueling stops and explorations, Exodus III travels along the galactic rim and toward the core, traversing 9,760 light years from Sol.

  3261 AD: Supersystem discovered, along with remains of ancient civilization that had once owned it. First human colony founded on Jewel. Year 1 of New Human Empire.

  3268 AD (Year 8): Humans make contact with traveling merchant ship from Elysium Empire. Discover thriving civilizations that sprung from the ancient civilization that used to inhabit the Supersystem.

  3361 AD (Year 100): Population 2,000,000+. Establishment of the Fleet.

  3460 AD (Year 199): Beginning of Terraforming projects around super system.

  3573 to 3579 AD (Year 312 to 318): First Gardasian War, human victory.

  3589 to 3592 AD (Year 328 to 331): Second Gardasian War, human victory, Gardasian race absorbed into human empire.

  3619 to 3621 AD (Year 358 to 361): First Markanan War, human victory.

  3669 to 3676 AD (Year 408 to 415): Second Markanan War, human victory, Markanans absorbed into human empire.

  3696 to 3698 AD (Year 435 to 437): Kiniman War, Kiniman race absorbed into the human empire.

  3724 to 3733 AD (Year 463 to 472): First Crakastan War, human victory.

  3744 to 3762 AD (Year 483 to 501): First Lasharan War, human victory.

  3772 to 3784 AD (Year 511 to 523): Second Lasharan War, human victory.

  3797 to 3801 AD (Year 536 to 540): First Margravi War, human victo
ry.

  3803 to 3808 AD (Year 542 to 547): War of Revolt, Imperial Victory, 150 million humans leave Empire to found Republic of Mankind.

  3809 to 3814 AD (Year 548 to 553): Civil War, Constance the Great triumphs over Cassius the Terrible (II).

  3815 AD (Year 554): New Constitution establishes Constitutional Monarchy. (Bill of Freedoms added in Year 607).

  3841 to 3846 AD (Year 585 to 590). Machine Revolt. Human built autonomous robots rebel against humanity. Billions die before revolt stopped, Man in the Loop Law enacted.

  3848 to 3853 AD (Year 587 to 592). Second Crakastan War, human victory.

  3873 to 3876 AD (Year 612 to 615): Third Cracastan War, human victory.

  3892 to 3897 AD (Year 631 to 635): Second Margravi War, human victory, ends with alliance of Margravi and Klashak with human empire.

  3913 to 3936 AD (Year 652 to 673): First Galactic War (against Lashar, Crakasta and Fenri).

  3984 AD (Year 723): Donut Project approved and construction planning begins.

  3984 to 4000 AD (Year 723 to 739): Elysium War, marginal human victory.

  4007 to 4008 AD (Year 746 to 747): War of Man, humanity (Imperium) against humanity (Republic). Political pressures bring an end to short, sharp war.

  4009 to 4114 AD (Year 748 to 853): The Century of Peace. Empire involved in no extra empire or border hostilities.

  4065 AD (Year 804): Dissidents from New Terra Republic found the Grand Duchy of New Moscow.

  4114 to 4131 AD (Year 853 to 870): Second Galactic War, Elysium, Lashar and Fenri against Empire, New Terra and Margrave/Klashak, human victory.

  4167 to 4180 AD (Year 906 to 921): Third Galactic War, humanity's victory.

  4206 to 4216 AD (Year 945 to 955): Klang Consortium attacks New Moscow. Empire of Terra and Republic of New Terra come in on New Moscow’s side.

  4256 AD (Year 985): Donut Generates first working wormhole gate.