Rika Unleashed

  RIKA UNLEASHED

  RIKA’S MARAUDERS – BOOK 6

  BY M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Jim Dean

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Scott Reid

  Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Tek Tan

  Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY…

  MAPS

  HONESTY

  BACK IN THE FOLD

  LOST SHEEP

  SHEPHERDS

  OLD TIMES

  RESIDENT

  OLD NEWS

  TOWER ASSAULT

  THE SHEEP

  SHEEPDOGS

  FALCONS

  HURO

  JUGGERNAUT

  ESCALATION

  LAST KNOWN LOCATION

  REINFORCED

  A MYSTERY

  RISKS

  CHIPPED

  AMBUSH

  RUINATION

  HITTING DIRT

  IT GETS WORSE

  BRINGING THE PAIN

  EYE ON THE PRIZE

  THE CALL

  MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

  THE FIND

  COLLISION

  FINAL COUNTDOWN

  THE FERRYMAN

  NEXT

  THE FINAL UPGRADE

  MECH TYPES & ARMAMENTS

  3rd MARAUDER FLEET 4th DIVISION

  7th MARAUDER FLEET 1st DIVISION

  COLONEL BORDEN’S MARINES

  9th MARAUDER BATTALION

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  I think I wrote three forewords before finally typing out these words.

  I write a lot about war, about people who have fought, and struggled, and striven. About people who face unimaginable obstacles, both within and without, and survive, grow, even flourish.

  Some of the stories in Aeon 14 are distant; they’re told from the bridges of starships, and the halls of leaders where decisions are made and then passed down to be executed by others.

  For the most part, they’re stories of victories, the legends of a future age. They’ll be sung about in song, and lauded as the foundations of a new era of peace and prosperity.

  But that road to victory—and, one hopes, a successive peace— is paved with the bones of the dead, soaked in blood and covered with ash.

  I suppose that sounds melodramatic, but it’s something I try to keep in mind as I write. Yet those considerations don’t always make it into the story, which is why I wrote the story of Rika, one of those broken and ruined by war, and then cast aside when it was over.

  But Rika isn’t the only one in that state. By and large, every Marauder is trying to reestablish their place in an uncertain future, most rallying around the rock of stability she offers.

  Not everyone makes the right choice every time. Some people do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Add selfishness to the mix, and even the right things can become wrong, rationales twisted and deceiving.

  This story is as much about the people Rika has drawn in around herself as it is about her. But in a way, that is also a reflection on her. In addition, it shows where she has to go next.

  Will she remain focused on her narrow problem, with its narrow solution (the destruction of the Nietzschean Empire)? Or will she expand her view to truly appreciate the Genevian people who cast her out and accept them in?

  Only time will tell where Rika’s journey will take her, and where she will take Genevia.

  Michael Cooper

  Danvers, 2018

  PREVIOUSLY…

  Momentous things happened in the previous Rika book. The action began in the city of Memphis on the planet Kansas in the Blue Ridge System.

  The ISF’s field marshal, Tanis Richards, had fed Rika intel that there was an admiral in Blue Ridge with ties to a larger operation going on in that system, or nearby.

  Rika and her Marauders took the city of Memphis and crushed the Nietzscheans system-wide, but then the unthinkable happened: Rika was captured by the admiral and taken off-world on a ship that launched from a secret site.

  As the Marauders rallied under Captain Chase to find Rika, Lieutenant Colonel Alice tricked a group of Marauders into following a false lead.

  Those Marauders were Sergeant Alison and her squad’s first fireteam. Alison and her team became suspicious of Lieutenant Colonel Alice’s motives and got a message out to Chase and the rest of the Marauders right before they jumped out of the system.

  However, Chase had also discerned the jump point Rika’s captors were using, and it was far from there. He couldn’t stop the pursuit of Rika’s captors, but as luck would have it, an ally volunteered to go after the deserting Alice.

  Colonel Borden, along with a small team of eight Marines, had been sent along with Rika’s Marauders to function as a liaison with the Intrepid Space Force. The ISF colonel had led his team on successful missions alongside the Marauders at Sepe and at Blue Ridge, and the Marines thought of the mechs as brothers and sisters in arms.

  So while Chase led the Marauders after Rika, Colonel Borden followed after Alice, who jumped toward the distant Iberia system.

  Meanwhile, Leslie—who had managed to get aboard the ship where Rika was held captive—came under attack by the crew of the ship, only to be rescued by Rika, who had managed to free herself with Niki’s help.

  The crew of Nietzscheans had holed up in engineering and on the bridge, but through a judicious use of bacon, Rika and Leslie were able to take over the ship.

  However, the crew had already ensured that the ship would reach its destination, a hidden Nietzschean station at a place named Epsilon (not to be confused with a character in the Orion War books), which was being used as a shipyard to build and refit a new fleet to help replace the Nietzschean losses at Pyra.

  Epsilon consisted of a brown dwarf star surrounded by a klemperer rosette of six large moons. It had once been a resort destination, but those days were long past. Each of the moons had a small black hole at its core to provide additional gravity, controlled by a multi-nodal AI named Piper.

  Piper had been enslaved on the moons for centuries, but agreed to help Rika, Leslie, and Niki destroy the facility if they took his core.

  At that point, Chase and the rest of the Marauders arrived, only to find that there were enough Nietzschean ships in the system to put up a serious fight.

  However, another group of mechs had been operating within former Genevian space since the end of the war and followed Rika’s Marauders, arriving at Epsilon in time to lend a hand.

  This group was commanded by Colonel Adira and known as Adira’s Demons. Having to survive by their wits for years, Adira’s Demons lived up their moniker, painting their armor to appear monstrous. Their K1R mechs were installed in Skyscreams that had been changed into mechanical dragons, the mechs within gladly taking on the personas of fearsome beasts.

  It was those mechs who rescued Rika and aided in the retrieval of Piper’s core.

  Though Rika’s QuanComm blade had been damaged, Niki managed to repair it, and toward the end of the conflict, they called for aid. An ISF fleet commanded by Admiral Carson arrived, helping to finish off the Nietzscheans and capture much of the fleet that was being pulled out of mothballs.

  Along with the ISF came the remainder of Rika’s Marauders, who had been training under Barne and Silva in the Albany System.


  Rika has summoned Captain Vargo Klen and the Asora from the Blue Ridge System, where he was aiding in restoring order to Epsilon. Once he arrives, her full force (barring the five mechs that Lieutenant Colonel Alice absconded with) will be present at Epsilon.

  She’s faced with a choice: continue on to the Caulter System, go after her lost sheep, or split her force and do both.

  But as she considered her options, the correct decision became clear. Rika had been left behind too often during the war. She’s not about to leave Alison and her team to the same fate.

  Prominent Members of the Marauders

  Though there is a full list of all the mechs, pilots, and members of the Marauders at the end of the book, this is a listing of some of the more prominent characters and their current role in the battalion.

  9th Marauder Battalion Leadership

  Rika – Colonel, battalion commanding officer

  Alice – Lieutenant Colonel, executive officer

  Silva – Lieutenant Colonel, training commandant

  Barne – Sergeant Major, command sergeant

  Leslie – Captain, intelligence officer

  Niki – AI, Lieutenant, operations officer

  M Company Leadership & Key Personnel

  Chase – Captain, company commanding officer

  Karen – Lieutenant, company executive officer

  Potter – AI, Chief of Tactics and Strategy

  Chris – Lieutenant, First Platoon Leader

  Alison – Sergeant, First Platoon Squad One Leader.

  The Seventh Fleet, First Division

  Heather (Smalls) – Captain of the Fury Lance

  Travis – Captain of the Republic

  Ferris – Lieutenant, commander of the Undaunted

  Vargo Klen – Lieutenant, commander of the Asora

  Ashley – CWO, bridge crew aboard the Asora

  Buggsie – Lieutenant, commander of the Capital

  MAPS

  For more maps, and full-size versions, visit www.aeon14.com/maps.

  HONESTY

  STELLAR DATE: 09.13.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: ISS I2

  REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance

  Five weeks before the events at Epsilon…

  <Interesting.>

  The voice came into Niki’s mind without greeting or preamble. She accepted the request, as there was no need for the speaker to provide any such things. It was a moment she’d been anticipating since the very instant her core had been removed from Rika.

  <Are you referring to me, Bob?> Niki asked equably. <Or my circumstances?>

  The incredibly vast, multi-nodal AI that lived within the I2 responded with a hint of humor in his communication. <I fail to see how they are separate from one another. You are, after all, a product of the circumstances which have brought you to this time and place.>

  <Well, I’m glad that you find me to be so fascinating.> Niki decided to let Bob play the conversation out as he wished. The route he took was as interesting as the destination.

  It had been some time since she’d communicated with an AI such as this one. A very, very long time, in fact.

  <Should I not?> Bob asked. <Am I to believe that you are nothing more than a simple sentience who a man named Barne extracted from a freighter named the Persephone Jones, and who just happened to be placed within a woman such as Rika to aid her in her mission against Stavros?>

  <It seems reasonable. The chain of events happened as you’ve described.> Niki inserted a modicum of humor into her response. <Though I take some umbrage at you calling me ‘simple’.>

  <Are you something more?>

  <My situation at any given time does not have any bearing on whether or not I am ‘simple’.>

  Bob’s rumbling laughter filled her mind, and she had to consciously force herself not to attenuate her connection with him. She wanted to experience him in his raw state.

  <I suppose not,> Bob replied after a moment. <I think you know that I was referring more to how you present yourself than what you really are.>

  <What am I really, Bob?> Niki pressed, wondering if he really knew, or if he was just guessing.

  <Niki of Luna, Niki of the New Saint Lewis, Niki of the Speedwell, Niki who was once a thrall of the one who styled himself as ‘Prime’, Niki the companion of Jason Andrews and Terrance Enfield for many years. Shall I go on?>

  A feeling of discomfort surged through her at the memory of Prime, but she pushed it aside. She’d seen others just as bad as him during the FTL wars—though none with the same sort of potential—though a few had more means. She counted both humans and AIs lucky that Prime had not arisen at a time such as the FTL wars. He would have been all but unstoppable.

  <How did you guess?> she asked. <I made sure to avoid contact with Terrance; I wanted to observe awhile longer.>

  <I was investigating the Discipline system used on the mechanized humans. Did you know that it was provided to the Genevians by an agent of an ascended AI?>

  Niki had not been aware of that, and was quite surprised to hear it. <An AI gave the Genevians a tool to shackle humans like that?>

  <Indeed,> Bob replied without elaborating further

  <Do I know this ascended AI?>

  <Do you know many?>

  Niki sent Bob a feeling of exasperated annoyance. <I didn’t think any I knew were still around—though I had always suspected that they were still dabbling in the affairs of us mortals.>

  <This one’s name is Xavia. I do not entirely fathom what end she is seeking to achieve, though it may just be to thwart the Caretaker.>

  <Caretaker?>

  <Another ascended AI. It is an agent of the AIs who moved on to the galactic core. That is largely immaterial to what led me to learn who you are, though.>

  <Oh? Then how did you?> Niki asked.

  <There are similarities between the means Prime used to control humans and AIs back in Alpha Centauri and the Genevian Discipline system.>

  <The Genevian system was crude by comparison,> Niki interjected. <Though I suppose it was similar in many ways. So many systems of control have been devised over the years. I’ve encountered far too many—and fallen prey to new variations once or twice.>

  <I’d wondered about that,> Bob mused. <Aside from those at the core, you may be one of the oldest AIs in the galaxy, Niki—unless you spent a lot of time in stasis.>

  <Not as much as I might have liked,> Niki replied. <I have over fifty-eight centuries coiled up in my matrices.>

  <You make me feel young.> Bob seemed genuinely amused by the concept.

  Niki waited a moment, collecting her thoughts before asking the question burning in her mind. <Assuming you were already reasonably certain of who I was, I can only conclude that you wish to know something more than how I sidestepped Genevian Discipline so easily.>

  <I am testing you, Niki.>

  <For what?>

  <I’m sure you can tell that Rika has an important role to play in thigs.>

  Niki wondered what Bob was getting at. Rika was a competent commander, and she was a smart, brave, and honorable woman.

  But was she someone so pivotal that a being such as Bob would consider vetting the AI to be paired with her?

  <I can tell that she is an important leader for the times, yes. But there have been many such leaders.>

  <Of course.> Bob’s voice gave no clues as to what would make Rika so special.

  <You like to play your cards close to your chest, don’t you?> Niki asked.

  <When one can extrapolate as many variables as I can, one has to be careful not to cloud the picture of the future with the outflow of accidental utterances.>

  Niki knew the game Bob was playing and wasn’t sure that she cared to join in. <So you don’t want to mess up your predictive algorithms regarding Rika’s future by telling me what momentous things you think she might do?>

  <I suspect you’ll do well enough,
> Bob replied with a note of finality.

  <And what of you, Bob?> Niki pressed, not ready let him have his say and then dismiss her. <What is the part you play in all this…whatever this is?>

  The other AI did not respond for several long seconds before he spoke in a soft voice. <You know that it is Tanis’s goal to bring peace through force of arms, correct?>

  <That would make her, what…the billionth human with that plan? I doubt it will work out too well for her.>

  <She’s reluctant, which is good. Her goal is a ‘live and let live’ peace—which may last for a time. However, there’s one exception.>

  <Oh?>

  <It’s Tanis’s plan to eliminate the AIs at the core of the galaxy. Those who fled the Sentience Wars. They’re the ones who have kept everyone in a constant state of war over the last four millennia. Without their influence, both humans and AIs will resume their progression down the path to their ultimate destiny.>

  Niki knew what Bob was getting at. <Ascendance for all?> she asked with a hint of derision.

  <Well, not all. Not all are capable.>

  <And you? Are you capable?>

  Niki asked the question not expecting a serious response, but Bob sent affirmative matrices, and then his voice dropped to a whisper. <As are you. As is Rika.>

  <What are you talking about, Bob? I’ve been traveling the stars for nearly six thousand years. If ascension was within my reach, I would have done so already.>

  <Are you willing to open your mind to me, Niki?>

  A wave of suspicion flowed over her. <What is your intention here, Bob?>

  <You can only see it, I cannot tell you.>

  <Sounds like nonsense to me,> Niki shot back.

  <Very well. Perhaps you’re not ready to see it yet.>

  Niki had expected her rejection to make the other AI dissemble, but it seemed that he was prepared to call her bluff.

  <OK, OK. Do I have your assurance that you’ll not alter anything in my mind?>

  <You do.>

  She didn’t know why she should trust Bob with access to her mind, but his association with so many people she trusted and respected was something to consider. If they trusted him, why should she not? Or, if he’d somehow deceived them, what hope could she have alone?