RIKA’S MARAUDERS
THE COMPLETE SERIES – BOOKS 1-7
INCLUDES RIKA MECHANIZED & RIKA CRUCIBLE
BY M. D. COOPER
SPECIAL THANKS
Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers
RIKA OUTCAST
Kristina Able
Alastar Wilson
David Wilson
Lisa L. Richman
Scott Reid
Nick Richard
Joseph Spies
RIKA REDEEMED
Scott Reid
David Wilson
Lisa L. Richman
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Alastar Wilson
RIKA TRIUMPHANT
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Alastar Wilson
Lisa L. Richman
Scott Reid
Jim Dean
David Wilson
Marti Panikkar
RIKA COMMANDER
David Wilson
Gene Bryan
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn (CPL Van)
Belxjander Draconis Serechai
Alastar Wilson (PFC Al ‘Whispers’)
Manie Kilian
Lisa Richman (CPL Jenisa)
James Dean (SGT Crunch/LT Carson ‘Bondo’)
Mark Stanga
Steven Blevins
RIKA TRIUMPHANT
Jim Dean
Lisa Richman
David Wilson
Alastar Wilson
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Scot Mantelli
Scott Reid
Marti Panikkar
Gene Bryan
Mikkel Ebjerg Andersen
RIKA UNLEASHED
Jim Dean
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Scott Reid
Alastar Wilson
Gene Bryan
David Wilson
Steven Blevins
RIKA CONQUEROR
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Alastar Wilson
Scott Reid
Gene Bryan
Randy Miller
David Wilson
Slava Merehko
Copyright © 2018-2019 M. D. Cooper
Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018-2019 M. D. Cooper
Version 1.0.0
Cover Art by Andre Dobell & Tek Tan
Editing by Jen McDonnell
Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of M. D. Cooper
All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE AGE OF THE ORION WAR
MAPS AND TECH
RIKA OUTCAST
FOREWORD
CITIZEN A71F
MECHANIZED
DEKAR’S DREGS
A DANCE WITH DENNY
P-COG
KRUEGER’S
AUCTION
THEBES
THE CHASE
NIGHT
THE GENERAL
TRUST
THE ROMANY
RESCUE
FLIGHT
DELIBERATION
RESITUATE
REPORT
THE HIT
FORGIVEN
MARAUDER
CRASH
DROP
RESCUE
MOP UP
BASILISK
RIKA MECHANIZED
HAMMERFALL
OVERWHELMED
CHANGE OF FATE
EVAC
RIKA CRUCIBLE
THE FNM
HOME ON THE RANGE
MEAT THE MECHS
RIKA REDEEMED
FOREWORD
A LOST DAUGHTER FOUND
THE FARM
PRAIRIE
LAYING LOW
RETROSPECT
ORIENT SPACE AND AIR
PERSEPHONE JONES
MOON LANDING
RECOVERY
HOME
MURDERER
DUCKING OUT
A NEW TEAMMATE
STAVROS
DINNER WITH A DICTATOR
CRACKING THE CODE
CATCHING SOME TAIL
AMY
LITTLE THIEF
APPROACHING FATE
HANDOFF
THE CLUB
THE NEW ACT
AFTERMATH
CONVICTION
THE STORM BEFORE
ASSASSINATION
RIKA’S MARAUDERS
RIKA TRIUMPHANT
FOREWORD
UNVEILED
SPACE IN SPACE
COLLABORATION
A TRIP DOWNWORLD
DROPSHIP DOWN
A DEEPER GAME
LAYERED CONCERNS
RECONCILIATION
DROPPING
RECONNECTING
THE MEET
VISIT FROM THE GENERAL
SETTING THE TRAP
DEFENSE OF HAMMERFALL
ATTACK ON ATLANTIS
REVELATIONS
DEPARTURE
BRIEFING
GOODBYE BASILISK
INSERTION
THE FURY LANCE
STEALING STARSHIPS
CAPTAIN RIKA
TANIS RICHARDS
RIKA COMMANDER
FOREWORD
MEANWHILE IN THEBES…
MEETING THE ADMIRAL
INTO THE MAELSTROM
LIBERATING LIBERTY
LAKESIDE
FINDING SILVA
HUDSON
RETURN
AVATAR
POWER
CHALLENGE
UPGRADES
MEETING CHASE
RESPECTS
ORDERS
SEPE
LEGS
INTO THE BREACH
SUSPICION
TIME TO FIGHT
KICKING ASS IN OUTER SPACE
PUPPETS
SURRENDER
VICTORY
RIKA INFILTRATOR
FOREWORD
BARNE AND SILVA
ATTACK FORMATION
ADMIRAL GIDEON
GROUND POUNDERS
MEMPHIS SPACE AND AIR
THE DROP
ON THE WALL
TAKE THE FIGHT
BERSERKER
BRING IT HOME
LAST STAND
CHASING RIKA
CAPTIVE
LOST
ORDERS
AMONG THE MISSING
PULLING UP STAKES
STOWAWAY
PURSUIT
THE JUMP
CHORES
FAMILY
VISITORS
BACON
ACCESS
EPSILON
A CHAT WITH SOFIA
THE PROBLEM
A GAME OF SNARK
DRAGON’S LAIR
UNEXPECTED PASSENGERS
A SURPRISING DIVERSION
JUST VISITING
PIPER
GETTING REAL
AN UNUSUAL EVAC
REUNION
AFTERMATH
RIKA UNLEASHED
FOREWORD
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
RIKA CONQUEROR
FOREWORD
ORDERS
HAL’S HELL
PAYBACK’S A BASTARD
REORIENT
GENEVIA
EKING INTEL
CHANGE OF COURSE
DIVERTING
DEFENDING DEKAR
BLACKJACK
A VIEW OF THE FUTURE
THE RESISTANCE
AN IDEA
REUNION
DIVISION
HIT AND RUN
CAPETON COMMAND
THE CALL
ESCAPE
A TRIP
PLAN OF ATTACK
INSPECTION
ROCK AND ROLL
A DROP AND A CLIMB
BATTLE FOR GENEVIA
RIKA CONQUEROR
EPILOGUE
AFTERWORD
MECH TYPES AND ARMAMENTS
THE BOOKS OF AEON 14
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
THE AGE OF THE
ORION WAR
Humanity has not had an easy time expanding into the stars.
Though no intelligent extra-terrestrials have ever been found, we struggle enough against ourselves and our creations. War has forever marred our history, and it continues to do so.
Though conflicts such as the Sentience Wars and the wars of the Sol Dissolution took billions of lives, these wars were contained within a single stellar system, and did not spread across the stars. Without faster-than-light travel, it simply would have taken too long and been too costly to make war on neighboring star systems.
The advent of faster-than-light travel removed that constraint. When the FTL Wars broke out in the late fifth millennia, they devastated humanity.
Wave after wave of dark ages washed over human space, and much of the great knowledge of the past was lost.
In the late ninth millennia, a tentative peace has finally emerged. Accords and Alliances have built up a fragile stability that has allowed humanity to crawl back from the brink of complete self-destruction.
Then a ship from the past is found—a ship containing technology long thought lost: the Intrepid.
This one event is the match that lights the powder keg, throwing humanity into the greatest war it has ever seen—a war that spans tens of thousands of star systems across the Orion Arm of the galaxy.
The Orion War
Such a war has many fronts. A conflict spanning hundreds of systems with trillions of deaths is but a skirmish. But to the people fighting those battles, it is not a small event on the edge of space; it is their lives, their families, their very civilizations that are on the line.
The long-running war between the Genevians and the Nietzscheans is one such skirmish. It is here that we find Rika. Her government, desperate to hold back the Nietzscheans, has resorted to barbaric means to achieve victory.
Mechanized humans.
MAPS AND TECH
Visit www.aeon14.com/maps for a list of maps pertaining to the Rika’s Marauders story.
RIKA OUTCAST
RIKA’S MARAUDERS – BOOK 1
FOREWORD
Rika has a special place in my heart. I don’t know why, but she does.
I think that a part of it comes from her original inspiration, which is the character ‘Clara’ in the TV series Killjoys. Clara was a woman who had her right arm replaced by the bad guys at ‘The Factory’. It wasn’t a voluntary mod, and she’s not happy about it, but ultimately she learns how to live with it, and it makes her stronger.
The woman who played Clara in the TV show was very convincing, and I thought, “What would it really be like for someone who has undergone that sort of modification?”
Obviously, for the purposes of a TV series, they can’t afford convincing, full-body cyborg alterations—but my (and your) imagination can.
This brings us to Rika. She was born in the Genevian Commonwealth, an interstellar alliance of star systems that fought a desperate war with the Nietzscheans. Her government did not have enough AIs to continue to create combat mechs, and NSAIs were not effective enough…
So they used humans. Unwilling humans.
Rika was one of those humans.
CITIZEN A71F
STELLAR DATE: 09.22.8939 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Tanner City, Kellas
REGION: Caulter System, Genevian Federation
Rika sat behind the grey plas of the defendant’s table and looked around the courtroom. Its walls and ceiling were a colorless off-white, with over-bright lighting, and hard concrete floors. She hadn’t expected it to be welcoming, but she had thought courtrooms were supposed to look more upscale—another thing the vids lied about.
The tan, one-piece jumpsuit she wore was loose, but still managed to bind in the armpits and groin; Rika shifted on her hard chair in an attempt to get more comfortable. The movement made the chains that connected her wrists to the table jingle, and she felt herself flush. The whole situation was a mistake, just a horrible mistake.
The judge would see that, and in an hour she’d be free and clear.
Rika glanced at the public defender sitting beside her. He was flipping through a virtual stack of pages only visible to him. She had no way of knowing if they pertained to her case, or to one of the many others he was likely tasked with.
He looked sharp in his black court-suit, and the grey wig complimented his heavy brow—beneath which were sharp, blue eyes. His lips were full, just the way she liked them, and Rika imagined what it would feel like to brush hers against them. To press her nose into his cheek and—
Her daydream was interrupted by a voice calling out, “All rise for the Notable Judge Pliskin.”
Rika leapt to her feet, eager to show her respect for the judge, and completely forgot about the chains holding her wrists to the table. The cuffs jerked her arms to a stop and she slipped, slamming her face against the table.
“Stupid girl,” she heard her defender mutter as he bent over to help her to her feet.
Rika’s eyes filled with tears, and she felt a trickle of blood run down her face as she stood and stared at the table, too embarrassed to look up at the judge as he took his seat.
Behind her, a few snickers could be heard from the gallery, and Rika did her best to ignore them, chanting ‘back on the street in an hour’ over and over in her head.
Once the judge settled in his seat, the rest of the court followed suit, and Rika carefully lowered herself back to her hard plas chair. Her defender hadn’t even acknowledged the blood on her face. Rika bent down and tried to wipe it off, but was certain she’d only smeared it around.
“Case number 823.3234.A433,” the court clerk read out. “The commonwealth versus citizen 4C399EB2-76AB-4CB1-AD9D-9F01B69EA71F, who also goes by the name ‘Rika’. The charge is theft of a valuable worth over fifty thousand credits.”
“What?” Rika tried to rise, but her defender placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping her seated.
“Quiet,” he whispered, and glanced at the judge who was giving them a disapproving glare.
<But all I stole was a crate of food,> Rika pleaded with her defender privately over the Link. <It wasn’t even worth five-hundred credits.>
<That’s not what the report says. Says here it was a valuable military-grade scan suite for a patrol ship,> the defender replied. <I’m going to see what I can do, but you’re certainly not getting off for this.>
Rika was stunned by his response. She had opened the crate; it had been filled with food. There had to be some sort of mistake.
“Seems open and shut,” the judge was saying. “You were caught on surveillance stealing the crate, and it was found in your possession. How do you plead, citizen Rika?”
“Plead?” Rika asked, bewildered by the speed at which her fate was being sealed. “I plead innocent of what you’
re accusing me of. I stole a crate of food, there was no scan suite inside.”
“Innocent?” the judge leaned over his high desk. “This is a capital crime, citizen Rika. We are at war with the Nietzscheans, and you have committed a crime against the war effort. The maximum punishment is death. If you plead innocent, this will go to trial and it will be swift—that I can promise you.”
“But…but…” Rika stuttered.
This is impossible! I’m only nineteen; there’s no way my life—miserable though it’s been—can end like this.
“May I have a moment?” her defender asked the judge.
“Very well,” the judge replied.
<Look,> her defender said. <The judge is right. They have you dead to rights on this. Look at the prosecutors; they’re not even paying attention to the case. It’s a zero-effort win for them. Your only hope is to plead guilty. I’ll get the judge to give you a military sentence. You’ll do a few years behind a rifle, and then you’ll be out.>
Rika slumped in her seat. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was a nightmare. All she had tried to do was get some food, and now she faced death or military service? Which, given how the war was going, was probably also a death sentence.
<Well?> her defender asked.
Rika didn’t respond, and after a moment he spoke up. “My client pleads guilty, and begs the court’s mercy. She will gladly accept a military sentence.”
“Will she, now?” the judge asked. “I need your affirmation, citizen Rika.”
The judge’s words sounded to her like they were coming from underwater, all garbled and warbly—but she understood their meaning, and nodded slowly.
“Very well,” the judge replied. “A military sentence of five years is issued. You are to be remanded at once to the Genevian Military Police for processing.”
Rika lowered her face into her hands. She wouldn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to anyone. Not that many people cared what happened to her. None of her so-called friends had shown up to court today.
She didn’t even see the defender approach the judge’s high desk and receive an envelope, as rough hands seized her wrists and disconnected her shackles from the table, and reconnected her wrists behind her back.
“This way,” a gruff voice said, and she felt a shove on her shoulder.
Rika barely paid attention as she was marched down a long corridor lined with holding cells. She was pushed into one, and the door slammed behind her. Barring a mat on the floor, the cell was completely empty. Rika fell to the mat, curled up in a fetal position, and cried herself to sleep.