Attack on Thebes: A Military Science Fiction Space Opera Epic (Aeon 14: The Orion War Book 5) Read online

  ATTACK ON THEBES

  THE ORION WAR – BOOK 5

  BY M. D. COOPER

  SPECIAL THANKS

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Reads

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Lisa L. Richman

  Scott Reid

  Jim Dean

  David Wilson

  Marti Panikkar

  Mikkel Anderson

  Belxjander Serechai

  Mannie Killian

  Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Cover Art by Laercio Messias

  Editing by Jen McDonnell

  Version 1.0.1

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered

  trademarks of Michael Cooper.

  All rights reserved.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY IN THE ORION WAR…

  MAPS

  DAUGHTER OF AIRTHA

  THE REMNANT

  FAREWELL TO SCIPIO

  MYRIAD CONCERNS

  AFTERMATH

  A NEW ASSIGNMENT

  JUST DESSERTS

  THE SILSTRAND CLAUSE

  WINOS AND SLEPTONS

  THE LONG NIGHT

  WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS

  SURVEYING VELA

  TO KHARDINE

  THE HUNT

  UNINTENTIONAL BAIT

  PRESIDENT SERA

  NIGHTSHADE

  SEPTHIA

  A BIZARRE MEETING

  THE ROAD HOME

  THEBES

  UNEXPECTED GUESTS

  FALL

  NOT THE WARM WELCOME…

  CRASHED

  THE CAVALRY

  THREE DAYS

  REINFORCEMENTS

  PYRA

  STEALING A RIDE

  MARAUDERS

  GONE TO GROUND

  DARKEST HOUR

  ISF FIRST FLEET

  SAVING HER

  COMING UP

  FALLEN

  THE CARTHAGE

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  I got to write two words in this book that I’ve been waiting to write since 2009. I’m certain you’ll know them when you see them, and I think you’ve been waiting to read them as well.

  Or maybe you haven’t. I’ve been unintentionally over-subtle in the past. It could be that I’ve done so again.

  In many respects, this book is still the continuation of that singular event that occurred on the bridge of the Galadrial when Elena killed Sera’s father. That one thing was the catalyst that set in motion every single catastrophe and dire need that’s come after.

  That’s not to say that everything since the president’s death wasn’t going to happen anyway, but just as the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand set off Earth’s first World War, the death of Jeffery Tomlinson has set off the first Galactic War.

  As I look over my timeline for all the events that have occurred in the Aeon 14 books—and at those which are yet to come—it’s hard to believe that the assassination on the Galadrial’s bridge occurred only six months before the beginning of this book.

  In fact, everything that occurred in the final chapters of Orion Rising, The Scipio Alliance, and the first three books of the Perilous Alliance Series has happened in the half-year span following Sera’s assumption of the Transcend’s presidency.

  It feels almost surreal. But then again, it’s been just over six months since Orion Rising came out, so it’s almost as though we’re living this in real time—those of us who are writing and reading the books as they come out, at least.

  I imagine later readers are bingeing happily on the books, excited to know there is a published resolution down the road.

  I bring this up because this book wraps up some threads from previous stories, and pulls a few new ones loose. It also checks in on a few that are dangling about, so be sure to read the “Previously” section below.

  Another fun thing that I got to do while writing this book, was to refresh myself on some quantum physics, and chat with some of my physicist consultants about how we’re really going to deal with detecting fifth dimensional beings. Suffice to say when the characters talk about branes, wimps, and winos, these are not typos. They’re talkin’ science!

  Parts of this book take place after Collision Course, book 3 of the Perilous Alliance series. That series deals with the fallout of Tanis’s sale of her nanotech to S&H Defensive Armaments way back in Destiny Lost. I felt that it was apropos to have that resolution in this book, to tie that together. However, if you wish to have the full story of the mess that made, and how Sera was working to clean it up during the years Tanis was building the New Canaan colony, then I encourage you to read those stories.

  For those of you who have been reading the Rika books, the title of this book should ring a bell. If you’ve not, you may want to read the first three (starting with Rika Outcast) before you dive into Attack on Thebes. You don’t have to, but you’ll get a bit more flavor as to what is happening in this neck of the woods.

  Lastly, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, I had a great time writing this book, and it was awesome to take Tanis to some new places, both locales, and inside of herself.

  M. D. Cooper

  Danvers, 2018

  PREVIOUSLY IN THE ORION WAR…

  Attack on Thebes begins to gather some threads together from prior books and we encounter some characters that we’ve not seen for a while.

  While The Scipio Alliance focused very closely on Tanis and her daughters, Attack on Thebes broadens the scope once more to give us a view of what’s happening on the larger stage.

  At the tail end of Orion Rising, we saw what happened to Adrienne (one of the former president’s closest advisors) when he returned to Airtha. His son was killed, and he was captured by Sera…but not the Sera who is allied with Tanis.

  Airtha, the AI that was once Sera’s mother, has crafted a second daughter. Not a clone, exactly, but another version of her. This second Sera has many of the same attributes, thoughts, and even memories, but she is fiercely loyal to her mother.

  When Sera captured Adrienne, his son died in the attack, but his daughter, Kara, got away. Kara ended up being rescued by what is quite possibly the most unlikely person: Katrina.

  If you have not read the Warlord books, then the last time you saw Katrina was five thousand years ago on the Victoria colony at Kapteyn’s Star. However, Katrina had some of her own adventures, and has also made her way to the 90th century.

  In this book you’ll see more of how that came to pass, and what Katrina and Kara’s part to play in this is.

  Though the events in Collision Course drew Tanis and the I2 out of Scipio, this book will start back with Empress Diana and Petra before moving forward to the Silstrand System to deal with the nanotech-related mess there.

  Still lying ahead is the retribution Tanis craves for the Trisilieds after they attacked Carthage and killed so many. However, Tanis is now on the hunt for the Caretaker, the mysterious ascended being that left a piece of itself inside Nance, and was also controlling events in Silstrand and beyond…

  KEY CHARACTERS REJOINING US

  Abby – Wife of Earnest, and former chief engineer aboard the Intrepid.

  Andrea – Sera’s sister who used a back door into Sera’s mind to make Sera try to kill Tanis in the Ascella System.

  Adrienne – Transend Secretary of State, and close confidant of the former president, Jeffrey Tomlinson.

  Car
y – Tanis’s biological daughter. Has a trait where she can deep-Link with other people, creating a temporary merger of minds.

  Corsia – Ship’s AI and captain of the Andromeda.

  Diana – Empress of the Scipian Empire.

  Faleena – Tanis’s AI daughter, born of a mind merge between Tanis, Angela, and Joe.

  Justin – Former Director of the Hand. Was imprisoned for the events surrounding the attempted assassination of Tanis.

  Katrina – Former Sirian spy, wife of Markus, and eventual governor of the Victoria colony at Kapteyn’s Star—and Warlord of the Midditerra System.

  Kara – Daughter of Adrienne, heavily modded with four arms and wings.

  Nadine – A Hand agent who had been assigned to assassinate Peter Rhoads and is now aboard the I2.

  Nance – Former member of Sabrina’s crew, now a member of the ISF.

  Petra – Regional Director of the Hand’s operations in Scipio and nearby territories. Now the Transcend’s Ambassador to Scipio.

  Priscilla – One of Bob’s two avatars.

  Rachel – Captain of the I2. Formerly captain of the Enterprise.

  Saanvi – Tanis’s adopted daughter, found in a derelict ship that entered the New Canaan System.

  Sera of Airtha – A copy of Sera made by Airtha, containing all of Sera’s desired traits and memories. President of the Airthan faction of the Transcend.

  Smithers – S&H employee Tanis licensed her nanotech to on the PetSil Mining Platform during her first visit to Silstrand.

  Terry – Director of the Security Operations Center on the I2. A member of Tanis’s original SOC team.

  Troy – Ship’s AI aboard the Excelsior. Was on the mission to secure fuel for the Intrepid in Estrella de la Muerte and sacrificed himself to save the Intrepid in the Battle for Victoria.

  MAPS

  For more maps, visit www.aeon14.com/maps.

  DAUGHTER OF AIRTHA

  STELLAR DATE: 08.14.8948 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Airtha Capitol Complex

  REGION: Airtha, Huygens System, Transcend Interstellar Alliance

  Sera watched Adrienne enter her office, the space so recently occupied by her father, from where the formerly great President Jeffery Tomlinson ineptly ran his great empire.

  Adrienne knew he was defeated, knew that Sera controlled him utterly, but still he strode in as though he was the master of all he saw.

  She turned away from him, looking out the window at the sweeping arch of Airtha, wrapped around the gleaming white dwarf star. Once, this star-encircling ring had been her mother’s body. A prison her father had forced on Justina after she returned from the galaxy’s core.

  He even stripped her of a name, simply calling her ‘Airtha’, as though she were just an NSAI whose purpose was nothing more than the management of the structure in which it was installed.

  But his efforts to both control his former wife and keep her close had been thwarted.

  Mother had ascended.

  Airtha was no longer an ‘AI’, a neural network of physical components constructed out of non-organics. Now she was something more. A being of light that existed in more than the few paltry dimensions that made up the corner of space-time that creatures like Adrienne crawled through.

  Granted, Sera also existed in the same narrow sliver of existence, but her mother had given her a glimpse of what lay beyond, the power that existed at her fingertips.

  Her mother had gifted her with that vision, and with a piece of herself. Not a shard, but a sliver of self that an AI like Bob might carve off, or like Helen had been.

  What she had now was full representation of her mother. Like a thinking memory. She would never be separated from her mother again.

  “Surveying your domain?” Adrienne asked as he reached her side. “What little of the Transcend you’ve managed to claim.”

  “She’s claimed no more than I,” Sera shot back, annoyed that Adrienne would open with a critical remark such at that.

  Adrienne shrugged. “Perhaps. She has Vela, snatched it out from under you. Admiral Krissy is a formidable opponent on her own.”

  Sera nodded. “Mother regrets not directing more resources toward Krissy’s destruction after the debacle at the Grey Wolf Star. But it was not expected that Finaeus would return and connect Krissy to New Canaan.”

  “I thought the great Airtha was all-knowing?” Adrienne sneered.

  “Do I need to kill more of your children to remind you who is in command here?” Sera asked. “You seem to forget your place with startling regularity.”

  Adrienne drew himself up to his full height. “My place is beside President Tomlinson. I should never have left it.”

  “You are beside President Tomlinson,” Sera replied, giving the man a sidelong look of annoyance.

  “I’m beside a shadow of Sera Tomlinson. A puppet created by Airtha. How does it feel to be a puppet, False Sera? Do you have strings?” He waved a hand over her head, a mocking smile on his face.

  Sera growled and spun, her hand slamming into Adrienne’s throat. Her other hand planting on his forehead, a tendril of nano flowing out of it and connecting to his nerves, lighting them afire.

  “Is this false?” she hissed. “Don’t think that you can trick me into killing you. I can cause you unending pain without ever doing that.”

  Adrienne was gasping for air, and she kicked his legs out from under him and let go, dropping the man to the floor.

  “You’re pathetic, Adrienne.”

  “And you’re unhinged. Unstable,” he rasped. “One of these times, you’ll do it. You’ll kill me, and I’ll be free of this prison you’ve put my mind in.”

  Sera shrugged. “Perhaps I will. After I’m convinced that you’ve revealed all your children to me.”

  The building’s NSAI alerted Sera that her guest had arrived, and she turned from the gasping man to greet the newcomer as he approached.

  “Ah, General Garza, so glad you arrived safely.”

  THE REMNANT

  STELLAR DATE: 08.15.8948 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Gamma VIII base

  REGION: Outer Asteroid Belt, New Canaan System

  Cary watched Earnest’s eyes grow wide as she walked into his lab in the Gamma VIII base. She still cradled the remnant within her hands, the glowing ball that held the thing that had been inside Nance for so long.

  She was accompanied by her father, Saanvi, and two med techs who stood behind the stasis pod that held Nance.

  Saanvi had wanted to wake Nance, or to at least try, but their father had insisted that she be put into stasis. His argument was that they didn’t know what the thing had done to her. She could be fine, or she could have a trigger nestled within her mind.

  There could even be more of the remnant still in her—though Cary didn’t think that was the case. She couldn’t feel any more of it, at least.

  “So that’s it…a piece of an ascended being,” Earnest whispered and gestured toward a table half covered in equipment, standing in the center of the room. “Bring it over here, I want to scan it to see if you need to keep holding it.”

  “I think she's managed to encapsulate it with magnetically charged membranes,” Saanvi offered.

  Earnest nodded while not removing his eyes from the sphere in Cary’s hands. “Perhaps, perhaps. But if it is a brane, it’s a black brane—an M5 at least.” He glanced up at Saanvi. “It’d have to be, since this is not a three-dimensional being—though the brane certainly isn’t black, is it?”

  “All I know is that it hurts my eyes to look at it,” Cary said as she leaned on the table. “Though it’s funny…it didn’t when Saanvi, Faleena, and I were…conjoined.”

  Faleena added.

  “I feel left out,” Saanvi said with a mock pout. “It always just looked like…well, not noise, just a thousand mobius strips, or something.”

  Earnest slid a porous metal plate under Car
y’s outstretched hands, and then swung another device over top.

  “Spread your hands out a bit more, Cary, so that there’s a gap below them.”

  Cary complied, looking nervously at the device above her hands. “What is that? It looks a bit like a—”

  “A gamma-ray gun,” Earnest completed for her. “Don’t worry, its low power, and very focused. The metal foam below your hands will absorb any residual radiation from the gammas, as well as imaging a 3D representation of the object. It might tell us a bit more about what we're dealing with here.”

  “What if the brane splits open…? Or whatever they do when they fail.” Saanvi had stepped up beside Cary as she spoke and was peering into the orb.

  Earnest paused. “Hmm…that could be a problem. Unlikely, but certainly not desirable.”

  “I’ll second that,” Joe added. “How do we know it’s safe to do this at all? Perhaps you should work on containing it first.”

  “It is contained, Dad,” Saanvi said. “Now we need to sort out how to detect them…and contain them without Cary.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions, Saanvi.” Earnest stroked his chin as he stared at the orb. “For all we know, this is a defensive measure it took to avoid whatever you were going do to it.”

  “What we were going to do to it?” Cary asked.

  Earnest nodded, his eyes still fixed on the orb. “Yes, what were you going to do it?”

  Faleena’s tone was sour, and a bit spiteful.

  Saanvi pressed a hand to her forehead and nodded slowly “I recall a similar sentiment.”

  “That’s what I was going to do,” Cary said. “But then I stopped because I knew that we needed it alive—or whatever. There are probably more of these infesting New Canaan.”

  Earnest looked up at Cary and Saanvi. “So I’m to assume that you’re no longer deep-Linked?”

  “Yeah, it didn’t seem to be required anymore—the thing stopped fighting, and it’s difficult to remain Linked like that for long.”