Revolution: The Ship Series // Book Two

  Praise for Revolution

  Aubin has done it again! Revolution: The Ship Series Book Two is a darker and deeper sequel to Landfall filled with heart, humor, and page-turning adventure. Aubin takes us into the hidden workings of The Ship and the restless strata of civilians ripe for rebellion. Revolution continues the thrilling ride of The Ship series with new threats, new allies, and surprises around every corner.

  - Owen Egerton, author of Everyone Says That at the End of the World

  If you purchased this book without a cover it would be pretty surprising. You’re missing a cool cover! Go out and buy a copy that actually has a cover.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2015 Jerry Aubin

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 Jerry Aubin

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  For any information, please contact zax@theshipseries.com.

  The main text of this book was set in Georgia.

  The chapter title text was set in Avenir.

  Lekanyane Publishing

  Austin // Amsterdam // Cape Town // Sydney // Christchurch

  ISBN 978-0-9970708-3-5 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-0-9970708-2-8 (ebk)

  For K, P, W, and Q.

  What the hell were you thinking, Zax?

  Just protecting the Ship one pipe full of sewage at a time.

  They get all the benefit and we bear all the cost.

  Ouch!

  You eat it.

  Why the apple?

  Hello, Zax.

  Pretty effective, if I do say so myself.

  We know they are out there somewhere.

  You can help them.

  I agree with Aleron.

  Give me the blaster!

  We have to deliver a message.

  Why did you do that?

  With all due respect, sir, we shouldn’t split up.

  Where are we?

  It was delicious, sir.

  You can thank Captain Clueless over there.

  We can pretend all of that silliness never happened.

  We can’t let you have all the fun today.

  I know where one is.

  He will be awake in thirty mins.

  Why are you nice to me?

  Permission to speak freely, sir?

  Peace is at hand.

  I know exactly what I'm doing.

  I'll carry the boy.

  Everyone take a deep breath.

  You need to look at the big picture.

  I need you out of that suit, Corporal.

  The fate of the Ship is in your hands right now.

  Don’t let her get away!

  Will you actually shoot this time?

  Show your hands!

  Look who we have here.

  There’s nothing you can do, Zax!

  She's in for the surprise of her life.

  What have you done?

  Please open the hatch.

  I'm making good on that promise.

  Not this all over again...

  CHAPTER ONE

  What the hell were you thinking, Zax?

  An explosion flared on his viewscreen when Zax shattered the enemy spacecraft with a burst of blue ion pulses. Three more dull-gray alien orbs, each bristling with plasma cannons, maneuvered behind him and prepared to fire. He attempted to escape by accelerating his fighter straight into the heart of the expanding blast. Flying through the remnants of your opposition wasn’t a recommended evasive maneuver given the likelihood of damaging your own craft, but it was the best of the bad options Zax had left for himself.

  The fighter screens tinged orange from the burning wreckage of the enemy, and a sharp crack signaled that Zax’s fighter had collided with something sizeable enough to ruin his day. Damage alarms wailed and flashed as the fighter refused to respond to his commands.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Zax? You were supposed to back off and wait until Red 23 could provide cover, but instead you dove in and engaged this group all on your own. If you managed to hit that debris from a slightly different angle, we’d be part of that explosion right now!”

  Kalare was not always a fan of his piloting choices, but she seemed especially pissed today. Zax often wondered whether she regretted her choice to fly with him as his Weapons System Operator. He was grateful to share the fighter with his only friend, but he sometimes fantasized about having a WSO who just shut up and let him fly however he saw fit.

  “Point taken, Kalare. How bad’s the damage?”

  “There’s a load of problems, but the biggest is secondary weapons control got totally fried. Give me another couple secs, and I will get primary weps back online and flight control stable—for now.”

  A different alert squawked and pulled his attention back to the threat board. Red 23 finally caught up with them but immediately came under heavy fire from the same aliens Zax managed to dodge. His disabled craft’s uncontrolled inertia carried him away from the battle, so Zax was unable to do anything but watch in grim silence as the enemy overwhelmed his wingman with a rain of fiery plasma. An alien shot found its target, and Zax averted his attention from the viewscreen so he wouldn’t witness the smooth silver needle of Red 23’s fighter rupture into a million fragments.

  A piercing tone cycled on and off and provided Zax with a moment of relief. The noise signaled that the pilot and WSO of Red 23 had not died when their fighter was destroyed. The armored Core which protected the biological matrix containing their minds had instead been ejected successfully. The Ship would deploy a Search and Rescue craft to collect the Core and their consciousnesses would be returned to their waiting bodies onboard the Ship. Zax called the Commander, Air Group using her call sign.

  “Cobra—Red 23 is gone, but I’ve got pings showing their Core ejected successfully. We going to get any more help out here? They’re relatively slow and reasonably stupid, but these aliens outnumber us by at least a hundred to one and we’re getting chewed up pretty bad.”

  “You’re damn right about how we need more help, Z. Your wingman’s Core is floating uselessly and your fighter is practically toast as well—all because you couldn’t manage to follow my orders and stay with him. Head back to the Ship immediately before you take any more damage and I need two SAR birds out here to collect two Cores.”

  Zax held his frustration in check and replied, “Aye-aye, CAG.” He considered complaining to Kalare about the commander’s directive but abstained knowing she’d likely use it as yet another opportunity to admonish him about his questionable piloting choices. Kalare restored flight control a short time later, and Zax turned his craft back towards the Ship.

  It took 190 secs for Zax to weave his way through the clusters of enemy spacecraft and reach the leading edge where they had been thinned out and were no longer a threat. He was still a tremendous distance away from the Ship, but his augmented viewscreen allowed him to make out the craggy outlines of its massive rocky base as well as the twinkling lights from the millions of viewports which adorned the structures along its upper half. The CAG had ordered him to return, but she hadn’t been explicit about how fast he needed to get there. Zax reduced his speed to five percent. If he wasn’t allowed to fight, he might as well hang around and observe what he was missing.

  “Kalare—can you please give me an expanded threat board?”

  “Sure thing, Zax. Are you upset about being pulled from the battle? I bet you’re upset about being pulled from the bat
tle. If you were looking at the same damage readouts I’m seeing, you’d totally agree with the CAG. Besides, now we can watch what all of the other fighters are doing and learn from them. I always think it can be super useful to watch the more experienced pilots and WSOs to see how they handle situations in the middle of an engagement. Like Red 12 there. Did you see how she destroyed those four alien craft in front of her? After she did it, she inverted herself 180 degrees and avoided their debris field altogether. She could do that because her wingman was right there with her and had kept her six clear of any trailing aliens. I think that was a pretty smooth move. Don’t you agree that was a smooth move?”

  Zax was thrilled that he and Kalare were communicating at the speed of thought over their fighter’s neural network. It meant any monologues would flash by in an instant as compared to how long it would take if she was physically speaking to him. He probably should be more sensitive to Kalare's feedback since they’d both be dead if their fighter was ever annihilated to the point its Core was destroyed. The odds of that happening were slim, though, so her passive-aggressive critique of his piloting rankled. He decided to let it pass and silence filled the virtual space between them rather than the sarcastic reply he had on the tip of his virtual tongue.

  The threat board would look like a random maelstrom of activity to most people, but Zax had always possessed a preternatural ability to tease patterns out of chaos. After a short period of intense focus, he recognized a new threat emerging. Six of the enemy spacecraft maintained a tight formation and allowed an unending stream of their fellow pilots to sacrifice themselves as a moving shield against the Ship’s fighters. The sheer number of identical fighters made it impossible for the humans in the middle of it all to pay attention to any one alien craft versus another. Since Zax watched the big picture from afar, he recognized the subtle shifting of the enemy movements which protected the six fighters and allowed them to approach the edge of the battle zone closest to the Ship.

  The six alien craft moved together until they appeared as a single fighter on the threat board and accelerated en masse towards the Ship. At the same instant, all of the remaining alien craft stopped battling the human fighters around them, swiveled in the direction of the Ship, and unleashed a continuous barrage from their plasma cannons. The aliens were far enough from the Ship that even such concentrated fire wouldn’t do serious damage to the vessel, but the rain of plasma bolts destroyed all of its defenders which were in the formation’s path.

  “Kalare—did you see what just happened there? We’ve got to stop that group of fighters speeding towards the Ship!”

  Zax vectored his fighter towards the aliens and pushed its acceleration close to the maximum. The Ship’s fighters were designed for situations just like this one. A human pilot would never survive the staggering g-forces generated during such high-speed maneuvers. With their bodies back on board the Ship, all Zax and Kalare experienced was a sensation of movement carefully calibrated to provide their minds with a “feel” for what was physically happening with their fighter.

  The human defensive force destroyed aliens at an even faster pace since they were no longer shooting back, but there were still so many enemy spacecraft providing cover with their plasma cannons that the resultant wall of fire was nearly impenetrable. Zax pointed his fighter towards the shower of plasma bolts without a moment’s hesitation.

  It required every bit of Zax’s skill to thread his fighter through a series of gaps in the aliens’ covering fire, but he successfully made his way until the six-craft formation was within secs of weapons range. Five alien fighters had attached themselves to one craft in the middle to form a single unit. Kalare was preparing a full spread of ion blasts targeted at the center of the formation when an alien plasma round connected with their fighter. Zax had almost dodged it like so many before, but he misjudged its trajectory by the smallest fraction and suffered a glancing blow. Once again, alarms flashed and wailed within his fighter.

  “Zax—we’ve lost primary weapons control! We can’t shoot at them so there isn’t anything we can do. Get out of here!”

  “We’ve got to do something—no one else can stop them before they get within range of the Ship! We’ve got to ram them!”

  The potential consequence of that action hung in the silence between the two of them for what felt like an eternity although it was only millisecs. Zax addressed it directly.

  “We’ve always been told how well-armored our Cores are. I guess this is a chance to put it to the test. If ours gets destroyed and we die, at least the Crew will send our bodies into space together. We’ll float forever with each other for company.”

  Kalare was silent for a long moment before she replied.

  “OK. You’re right. Do it.”

  Zax triggered his fighter’s emergency acceleration. It would deplete his fuel within secs, but it was sufficient to reach the alien formation. The enemy fighters loomed larger and larger as Zax closed the gap from behind. The formation attempted to evade at the last moment, but he had anticipated their response and matched their vector change instantaneously.

  There was a blinding light from the explosion. The physical sensations of the violent impact were not transferred to Zax’s mind, so he experienced the destruction visually as a slow motion rending of the spacecraft into a constellation of debris. A sensation of weightlessness signaled that the fighter’s Core had been successfully ejected and was floating freely in space as the lifeboat for his and Kalare’s minds.

  “We did it!”

  Zax exulted in their success for a fraction of a sec. Then a secondary explosion breached the Core and expelled the fragile biological matrix which contained his and Kalare’s minds into the unforgiving vacuum of space.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Just protecting the Ship one pipe full

  of sewage at a time.

  “Wow, Zax!” Kalare gasped for breath. Sweat had formed on her brow and slicked the jet-black hair which framed her face. The gold flecks in her blue eyes shimmered even in the dull glow of the mess hall lighting. “What a ride! That was awesome!”

  Zax grinned from ear to ear. He had worked on the simulator for months and was thrilled to see its physical effect on Kalare. His own heartrate was maxed out and he was panting as well, so it was clear their nervous systems were fully engaged. This had been the last hurdle in his programming efforts, and he appeared to have cleared it with room to spare.

  Zax gazed around. The cavernous mess hall had emptied out substantially. The two of them were so immersed in the simulation they appeared to have missed most of the breakfast period. He appreciated how strange they must have looked sitting there, breathing hard with their eyes closed to focus on the simulation shared across their neural Plugs, but ultimately he couldn’t care less. Kalare continued.

  “It’s just about as good as the ones we use in the Pilot Academy! Oops! I’m sorry, Zax—I did it again. I hate how I keep talking about my training. It must be so hard for you to hear.”

  “It’s OK. It really doesn’t bother me that much.”

  Zax was being only partially truthful. He didn’t mind hearing all of Kalare’s stories about the ins and outs of pilot training. They helped him stay focused on finding a path that would get his career out of the toilet and back on track. What bothered him immensely, however, was the look she gave him every—single—time she realized she was in the middle of another one. He didn’t need her pity and once again attempted to dispel any reason for her to think otherwise.

  “Working in Waste Systems could be a lot worse. The woman I report to doesn’t care what I do all day as long as the machines keep running and I stay out of her hair. The civilians do most of the real work, so I usually spend my shifts volunteering for whatever extra credit assignments I can find to rebuild my Leaderboard ranking. I even manage to find time to work on stuff that interests me—like this sim.

  “And I really don’t mind hearing about the Pilot Academy. I don’t think I would have worrie
d as much about the physical effects of my simulator if I hadn’t seen the look on your face whenever you talked about any of the training exercises you’ve been through.”

  “I’ll say it again then, your simulation is as good as the ones in the Pilot Academy!” Kalare paused for a sec to close her eyes and check her Plug. “Hey—it’s getting late and I should get going. What’s on your schedule today?”

  “Oh you know—nothing much. Just protecting the Ship one pipe full of sewage at a time. How about you?”

  Kalare rewarded Zax with one of her big, beaming smiles in response to his joke. “I actually don’t know. I’ve got a shift in Flight Ops in a few mins, but the Boss said something about the two of us going on a field trip. I have no idea what that might mean.”

  Zax couldn’t prevent himself from wincing ever so slightly. He didn’t mind hearing about Kalare’s pilot training, but mentions of the Flight Boss were something else entirely. It still felt like only yesterday that his decision to defy the second most powerful officer on board and attempt to expose the man’s actions had sent Zax’s career into a near-death spiral.

  Kalare picked up on Zax’s discomfort. “I’m sorry about bringing up the Boss, Zax, but you’ve just got to get over it already.”

  “Get over it? Get over it? You had ‘gotten over’ Flight and wanted to join the Marines. Do you remember that? But somehow a year later you’ve become more focused on your career than you ever were before. I wanted the Boss’s mentorship more than anything back when you were rolling dice to pick your next assignment. Knowing I did the right thing doesn’t make it any easier to pretend I’m not hurt when I see my friend enjoying a prime spot that could have also been mine.” Zax paused for a sec. “Wow—it’s hard to believe it’s been a year already. I suppose time flies after you kill your career.”

  The compassion in Kalare’s eyes was plain to see even as her voice revealed plenty of frustration. “I’m sorry, Zax, but you can’t honestly believe I would still have anything to do with the Boss if I thought there was any truth to your accusations. Don’t you remember how we decided I would accept his mentorship so I could stick close to him and see what I could learn about his role in Mikedo’s death? Isn’t it reasonable that I’ve determined you were wrong and he had nothing to do with it after all? Yes—I care about becoming a pilot more now that I’ve had a taste of it, but you seem to be suggesting that I’m disagreeing with your beliefs about the Boss purely out of self-interest. That hurts too. I’m sorry you trashed your career chasing your suspicions, but at some point you have to be willing to accept they were wrong.”