The Long March (The Exiled Fleet Book 2)

  The Long March

  The Exiled Fleet Book 2

  By

  Richard Fox

  Also by Richard Fox

  The Ember War Saga

  The Ember War

  The Ruins of Anthalas

  Blood of Heroes

  Earth Defiant

  The Gardens of Nibiru

  The Battle of the Void

  The Siege of Earth

  The Crucible

  The Xaros Reckoning

  Terran Armor Corps Series

  Iron Dragoons

  The Ibarra Sanction (Coming Summer 2017!)

  The Exiled Fleet

  Albion Lost

  The Long March

  Their Finest Hour (Coming Fall 2017!)

  Copyright © by Richard Fox

  All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

  ASIN:

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  From the Author

  The Ember War

  Chapter 1

  Alert sirens blared as Commodore Gage’s ship called for battle. The Commodore peered into his holo tank, following the projected course of three pirate cruisers bearing down on the Orion. New icons filled the holo as more of his fleet emerged from slip space, all too far and too slow to reach the Orion before the pirates.

  “Captain Price, give me some good news,” he said to his executive officer seated just below his command dais. She swiped through several screens filled with pulsating red status reports.

  “Forward batteries are at forty percent strength—” she backtracked on a screen and shook her head “—make that thirty-seven percent; gun nine just went off-line with a hydraulics failure. Port shield emitters are about to flip the breakers. They might take one hit before there’s a cascading failure across that flank. Starboard launch bay is still off-line…engines are amber across the board. We can maneuver, at least.”

  “Helm,” Gage raised his voice and pointed to the pale-faced Lieutenant Jellico at the conn, “all ahead flank. Keep our functioning shields toward the enemy and make for the Ajax. She’ll improve our odds in this fight.”

  “Aye aye,” the ensign said.

  Gage watched his ship reorient in the holo tank and felt the deck plates hum beneath his boots as the ship lurched forward. The Orion would reach the other Albion vessel’s weapon range in fifteen minutes, which left Gage’s ship ten very long minutes to deal with the three pirate ships alone.

  He tapped the lead pirate ship, the Carlin, and glanced over sensor readings; she boasted forward lances built in the Reich and Indus shield emitters. The ship’s captain, Loussan, had declared a vendetta against Gage years ago after a skirmish in wild space spoiled a Harlequin raid and sent the pirate away bloodied and empty-handed. Loussan would be eager to strike the Orion first, which explained why his ship was creeping ahead of the other two vessels.

  At the command of any other battleship, Gage could have made short work of the pirate ships, designed for raiding, not going toe to toe with an Albion ship of the line. But the Orion was an older ship, her crew full of sailors fresh from the academies, still recovering from the damaged suffered at the hands of the Daegon mere days before. Against a pirate commander willing to take a few hits…the Orion’s situation was in doubt.

  Gage looked to the bridge doors, where Thorvald—his Genevan bodyguard—stood against the bulkhead, his face hidden beneath the visor of his semi-sentient armor. Gage lowered one hand to the side of his holo tank and signaled the bodyguard over.

  “Prince Aidan may need to abandon ship,” Gage said quietly. “Tell Salis I’ll get this ship as close to the Ajax as possible. The Harlequins may be pirates, but they’ve a code. In all the years we’ve dealt with them, they’ve never fired on an escape pod. I’ll send you off once the battle begins.”

  “My place is here,” Thorvald said, “at your side.”

  “Your place is wherever the hell I tell you it is,” Gage sneered. “Loussan is itching for this fight for one reason and one reason only: me. I am the reason Prince Aidan is in danger right now. I am the only one that Loussan’s looking to kill and I’ll not lose you too, not when the prince needs your protection.”

  “If I must say it, Prince Aidan stands a better chance if I keep you alive. I have full confidence in Salis, even if she is new in her suit,” Thorvald said.

  “Commodore,” the communications lieutenant waved to Gage, one hand on his headset, “picking up several coded transmissions from Sicani to the pirate ships and between the two ships to the Carlin’s flanks.”

  “And?” Gage asked.

  “The Carlin hasn’t answered a single message,” he said. “She’s gone dark.”

  “Enemy ships will enter firing range in two minutes,” Captain Price said. “Priority target on the Carlin or defensive fire?”

  Gage traced a circle around the pirate ships inside his holo tank and tapped a knuckle against an icon to bring up the reading from the communication station. The two ships beside the Carlin pulsed with new transmissions across several different frequencies. The messages were too encrypted for the Orion’s computers to decode, but the ships were broadcasting—that was unmistakable.

  The Commodore drummed fingers against the rim of the holo tank, then crossed his arms.

  “Launch the ready fighters,” Gage said. “All cannons target the Carlin, but hold fire.”

  “I’m sorry,” Price twisted around in her seat and looked up at Gage, “did you say not to open fire? We’ve got range on them for at least three minutes. We let them get closer without so much as poking them in the eye and they’ll—”

  “I am well aware, Captain,” Gage said, “but I think the odds are about to shift.”

  The two ships flanking Loussan’s vessel flashed in the holo tank.

  “Cannon fire,” said Lieutenant Commander Vashon, the ship’s gunnery officer. “Not directed at us…but across the Carlin’s bow.”

  In the tank, the Carlin edged forward of the other two ships as bolts of energy flashed across the cruiser’s nose.

  “Guns,” Gage raised a hand, “fire on my mark. Target Loussan.” He kept his hand high, watching as the other ships fell back. One struck the rear arc of the Carlin’s aft shields—Gage didn’t need nearly two decades of service in the Albion Navy to know that last shot was a final warning to Loussan. The Carlin adjusted course and speed to match the Orion’s, then edged just beyond the ship’s effective range.

  “Commodore, we’re being hailed,” the communications officer said.

  “Guns, hold fire.” Gage lowered his hand. “Send it to my tank.”

  The holo shifted to Captain Loussan as the pirate removed an ornate helmet and hurled it off camera. Loussan shook out a long mane of blond hair as the helmet ricocheted off bulkheads. He bared his teeth, then brought his visage und
er control with a deep breath. Loussan’s eye twitched as the two captains stared each other down.

  “Gage…I doubt your hull bears plasma burns and half your weapons are off-line through negligence on your part,” the pirate said. “You were in battle. With who? Where?”

  The Commodore stood up straight and clasped his hands behind his back. That the pirate needed to ask these questions made the Harlequin’s sudden amicable posture easier for Gage to understand. Steady ships crewed by brave men and women could win most any battle, but information was a formidable power in its own right.

  “They call themselves the Daegon. We fought them over Siam before withdrawing.”

  “An enemy strong enough to send you running…” Loussan wiped the back of his glove across a scar marring one side of an otherwise handsome face. “Do you know what happened to Albion, or did you scurry off after the first broadside?”

  Anger simmered in Gage’s heart at the insult, but he kept his composure.

  “Some personnel escaped Albion and made it to my fleet. I am well aware of what happened on Albion…are you?” Gage asked.

  Loussan levelled a finger at Gage. “That is the only reason I haven’t blown your ship to pieces and stuck your head on my prow. Against my wishes and the authority my vendetta has over such matters…the Council of Free Sicani hereby offers your ship…parley.”

  “Parley?” Gage raised an eyebrow.

  Loussan glanced down and tapped an unseen screen.

  “But I won’t have you tread upon Sicani soil if I can help it,” Loussan said. “Your ship’s transponder has an encryption you use only for Code Vermillion. Send whatever royal you’ve got hiding in a closet to Derna spaceport. We want someone in authority, not some lowborn sod like you. The Council will send a representative to meet him or her.”

  Thorvald shifted uneasily, then made his way over to the communication station, his sabaton clinking against the deck. The codes alerting other Albion ships that a member of the royal family was aboard were highly encrypted and buried in normal ship-to-ship traffic. That the Harlequins knew Code Vermillion was in effect was a breach in the Genevans’ security plan.

  “I will attend the parley,” Gage said.

  Loussan’s eyes twinkled.

  “If you refuse the terms offered, then you refuse the protections that come with it. Excellent! Carl, ready the weapons and someone find my helmet.” Loussan reached for his console to cut off the transmission.

  “Prince Aidan will not attend because he is five years old,” Gage said. “By Albion law, I am regent and can serve in his stead for all matters.”

  Loussan leaned back. Gage waited as the pirate’s mental wheels turned.

  “These Daegon of yours hit Albion that hard?” Loussan asked. Even though the man was a brigand, a thief, and wanted for crimes across civilized space, Gage could not deny that the pirate was perceptive.

  “I will discuss it with your Council,” Gage said.

  “One shuttle, side arms only,” Loussan said. “The parley lasts until you’ve returned to your ship.” He cut the transmission and the holo tank reverted to a model of the local system.

  Gage let out a sigh.

  “Sir, you can’t be serious,” Price said as she got out of her chair and joined him on the command dais.

  “We have to buy time,” Gage said, “to get the rest of the fleet assembled in a defensive formation and calculate a slip-space jump to…” He tapped a screen and the tank brought up star charts. “…Feygold’s World. From there we can reach Indus space. We have a mutual defense treaty with them—should have a warmer welcome than what we’ve found here.”

  “It could take days before we have a workable jump solution,” Price said. “How long can we stall the pirates? They’ve got a hell of a lot more firepower than just those three cruisers in orbit.”

  “If they come for a fight, the fleet will make them pay dearly for it,” Gage said. “Pirates are raiders, bullies. And it’s not just the Harlequins down there.” He tapped Sicani’s star in the holo and zoomed in on the planet, passing a hand over the ships massed over the North Pole as data fields popped up next to most of the ships. “At least eight different clans, most of whom spend their time fighting each other as much as they do raiding easy targets.”

  Gage held up his hand, fingers spread wide. “They’re like this,” he closed his digits into a fist, “not this.”

  “They could still overwhelm us with sheer numbers,” the XO said.

  “Not without a mauling. I doubt there’s any pirate clan that will volunteer to be the first to charge our guns. Selfless service is rarely profitable,” Gage said. “They want us out of here…and before the Daegon follow us from Siam.”

  Thorvald’s helm shifted down from his face and head and slid onto his shoulders.

  “If you go to Sicani, they will try to kill you,” the Genevan said. “Loussan’s vendetta is well-known. You cannot trust this offer of theirs to keep you safe.”

  “There is…some risk,” Gage said.

  “‘Some’?” Price almost hissed the word. “Do you remember the stories they told at the Academy about Captain Douglas? She led a punitive expedition against the Gorgon clan at the turn of the last century and wiped out all but maybe a dozen of them. The survivors declared a vendetta, then waited decades before she retired and went on holiday out of Albion space and—”

  “And the last Gorgon shot her at the spaceport.” Gage nodded. “The Intelligence Ministry reminded me of all this when Loussan’s vendetta went out through wild space. For what it’s worth, they also told me that there’s no part of the pirate’s code that isn’t open to reinterpretation…to some degree.”

  “You think they’ll let you—an Albion naval officer—just waltz in and out?” Price asked.

  “This isn’t about me,” Gage said. “This is about the fleet. Prince Aidan…home. We need to reach Indus and rally the core worlds to free Albion. Captain Price, you will take command in the event I don’t return. You’ll have the time to calculate a slip-space jump out of here—that’s the least I can accomplish. My intent is clear?”

  Price shook her head. “This is practically suicide.”

  “I’ll travel alone and—”

  “No,” Thorvald growled. “I will be at your side. That is my duty.”

  Gage looked at the bodyguard and frowned. “Doubt there’s any way I could stop you from coming. But if you’ll be with me, then…get Tolan up here. I have a mission for our spy.”

  Chapter 2

  Tiberian strode through the burnt-out remains of Ludlow as Daegon soldiers led away prisoners, all with their arms bound behind their bodies and pain clamps on the side of their necks. Another Daegon walked two steps behind him, wearing simple armor and carrying no weapon.

  The smell of smoke, dead bodies, and spilt blood permeated the air. Tiberian felt almost at home. He spotted a perimeter of honor guard, the onyx lines down their left sides and Tiberian’s House crest on their chest. They surrounded a bombed two-story building, one corner collapsed and crumbled into the street.

  Tiberian walked toward the guard captain, his pace failing to slow as the captain stepped out of his way.

  “Where is Eubulus?” Tiberian asked.

  “The Count is interrogating prisoners.” The captain made no effort to slow Tiberian as he made his way past the guards. “I am not to disturb him.”

  “‘Interrogation,’” Tiberian huffed. “Such comedy.” The bottom floor of the building had collapsed into the basement, so he slid down the bricks and chunks of wall with grace and into the parking garage beneath.

  Finding Eubulus wasn’t hard. He simply had to follow the screams.

  Tiberian dropped down a level, his cape fluttering behind him as he fell and landed next to the bloody corpse of an Albion officer. The unarmed Daegon accompanying him stumbled slightly on his landing and stomped into a puddle of blood.

  Eubulus had his back to them. The warrior, massive even by Daegon standard
s, held an Albian by the throat in each hand, both gasping for air and beating meekly at Eubulus’ arms. The one in his left hand passed out and Eubulus snapped his neck with a twist of his wrist. He tossed the body aside and let the still-living Albian fall to the ground where he struggled to breathe.

  “He wins again,” Eubulus said. “Another!”

  A pair of soldiers dragged a man in the tatters of an Albion army uniform into the room and forced him to the floor facedown. One soldier put a boot to the back of his neck.

  Looking over his shoulder to Tiberian, Eubulus said, “You wish to play, brother? I find these have excellent fighting spirit, but they lack fortitude. They were at peace too long before we came.”

  “I am here on Baroness Asaria’s writ.” Tiberian touched his slate-gray necklace. “I’ve no time for games.”

  “Ever the stickler…shame you let the last of the royals escape.” Eubulus turned around and cracked his knuckles. His bloodshot eyes and wide jaw made him look like some ancient barbarian raider of myth, not one of the Daegon’s premier commanders.

  “The Albians still fight you in the streets,” Tiberian said. “Both our writs stand unfulfilled.”

  “This was the last of their military.” Eubulus shrugged. “My writ is almost complete. If there are a few that insist on fighting, they will fall to the garrison and the inquisitors soon enough.”

  “I’ve come for your 2nd battle group. I need the ships to hunt down the last Albion fleet and bring their Crown Prince back to the Baroness. Such is her desire,” Tiberian said.

  “The whole of the 2nd? How many ships slipped away from you?”

  “Chasing them down with just enough to win will squander more resources than using overwhelming force. I’ve come to ask you face-to-face out of respect. Do not drag this out.”

  Eubulus waved the soldiers off the pinned soldier and the Daegon picked the man up by the scruff of his neck.

  “The Albians escaped into ungoverned space. How will you catch them?” Eubulus asked.

  “They left a number of their own behind on Siam. I sent them to the racks and received usable information, not a distraction like this.” Tiberian sneered at the dead strewn around the room. “They’ll try to flee to Indus territory, and the only way is through the Kigeli Nebula.”