Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2) Read online

  Nova Romae

  The Adventures of Christopher Slone – Book II

  By Donald Nicklas

  Copyright © 2016 Donald A. Nicklas

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission from the author.

  Cover Art by John Justice – Black Knight Art

  Other Titles in the Adventures of Christopher Slone series:

  Book I - Voyage of the Hayden

  It is the 32nd century and earth is no longer the center of humanity. After the last war on earth, all governments have fallen and known space is ruled by the huge mining corporations that had previously served the needs of earth. The corporations have waged periodic war on each other but there have been no corporate wars for over a century. One of the most powerful of these corporations is Sinclair Corp., headed by Horatio Sinclair. On one of the corporation’s far-flung mining bases a distress signal is received from a yacht registered to Sinclair Corp and carrying Horatio Sinclair’s youngest daughter, Alaya, on her honeymoon cruise to the galactic rim. It falls to Captain Christopher Slone, newly appointed to the helm of the star cruiser SS Hayden, to investigate the distress signal and attempt a rescue if possible. The Hayden and her crew look forward to anything that will break the monotony of guarding a mining colony from sporadic pirate attacks, but nothing could prepare them for what lay ahead. . . .

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 – Nova Romae

  Chapter 2 – Asylum

  Chapter 3 – New Wales

  Chapter 4 – Penllyn Mall

  Chapter 5 - Sly

  Chapter 6 – Rescue

  Chapter 7 - Armada

  Chapter 8 – Phase 1: Liberation Begins

  Chapter 9 – Phase 2: The Battle for New Wales

  Chapter 10 – Phase 3: The Defense of New Wales

  Chapter 11 – The Aftermath

  Epilogue

  Local Space

  Prologue

  The Dragon’s Claw sailed through the energy paths between star systems called slipstreams. These highways of energy were the only way to go faster than light. With the proper sails to catch the energy, and the right ship, one could travel as fast as two light-years per hour. The Dragon’s Claw was a state of the art mining scout ship from one of the most powerful corporations in human space, the Sinclair Corporation. Only the ship and her crew were no longer part of the Sinclair Corporation. They were thought to have died along with the entire crew of the star cruiser SS Hayden on a mission to the Andromeda galaxy. Among the seven survivors traveling aboard the Dragon’s Claw, there was the captain of the ill-fated Hayden, Captain Christopher Slone. He had lost his ship and his crew of 350 souls due to a double cross by the corporation. Also aboard was the youngest daughter of Horatio Sinclair, the owner of the corporation. Since she was the result of an affair between his wife and another man, she was considered expendable. He thought he had sent her and her scouting crew to certain death to cement a business deal. Instead, Alaya Sinclair, her crew and captain Slone, survived. The corporation, however, thought they had perished. Alaya loved the father who raised her and her world was shattered when she realized he thought of her only as a chip in a big business deal. Horatio Sinclair had also committed unspeakable atrocities of which his daughter became aware. Alaya’s biological father was a man named Strabo, the leader of the Nova Romae pirates, in the Matsua Rim arm of the galaxy. The Pirates called themselves the Romani. For the past six months, the Dragon’s Claw has been traveling through Sinclair space to the Matsua Rim. Alaya sent a message capsule ahead and as they penetrated Nova Romae space four pirate ships, which escorted them to the last slipstream to the pirate capital, met them. Three of their escorts left before entering the final slipstream, only the Dreadnought Longinus continued with them to the home planet. The survivors on the Dragon’s Claw now called themselves the Andromeda 7 and they no longer had a home or a rank. They were free agents starting a completely new life. The only unknown was how Strabo would receive the daughter he had never met. . .

  Chapter 1 – Nova Romae

  “We’re about to exit the slipstream,” Paul McMann, the navigator announced. “The Longinus has already exited ahead of us.”

  “Thanks, Paul,” Alaya said. They were all friends and rank didn’t matter, since they were no longer in any navy. “Look sharp everyone and I want to know every detail of the system we enter.”

  “Dropping out of the slipstream now,” the co-pilot, Alan Farnsworth announced. With that, he pressed a button on the pilot’s console, depolarized the sails that were used to capture the energy of the slipstream, and allowed them to ride the energy waves like the sailing ships of old used to ride the winds. When the sails depolarized the pure white light in front of the ship and the uniform blackness behind dissolved into the stars of the galaxy. The ship dropped out of light speed rapidly and the push of another button caused the central frill sail and the aft sail to retract. The ship was now a cylindrically shaped body with a bulbous forward half tapering to a point aft like a teardrop. Engines mounted to the right and left of the hull three quarters of the distance to the rear would normally come to life at this point and power the ship through the system. Unfortunately, after six months of travel, the Dragon’s Claw was almost out of fuel and what was left was for docking maneuvers. Fortunately, the scout ship was small enough to use sails for travel across the system. Each system had star winds of various strengths depending on the size and power of its star and the number of stars in the system. The sails used in systems were more as the classic sails of old ocean vessels and were square and mounted on masts that came out of the central line of the top of the ship. All ships had two masts except dreadnoughts, which had three. The cruisers and dreadnoughts could not use sails alone but they helped maneuver and gave more speed when needed.

  “Deploying the system sails,” Farnsworth stated. The crew could hear the motors as the masts rolled out and the sails moved up to the mastheads. Once the sails were up, they were polarized to allow the aft side to be charged and the forward side to remain negative. When the charge was applied, the computer determined the location of the star winds and turned the sails to catch them.

  “Alaya, this system is alive with transmissions and electronic emissions,” Roger Umgabe, monitoring electronics announced. “Not even in the largest system I’ve ever been in, have I seen so much activity. This is much more than a mere pirate base. Something much grander is going on here.”

  Just at that moment the communications officer, Tom Gardner, indicated an incoming transmission from the Longinus, which had maintained a parallel course off the Dragon’s Claw’s starboard beam.

  “Welcome to Nova Romae. Please direct your course to the fifth planet from our star. That is the home planet of Nova Romae. You will be directed where to dock when in range of our traffic control. There is a lot of ship traffic in this system so please have someone remain on visual piloting at all times. Electronics can get very confused with all the signals. Captain Lorenzo sends his compliments and looks forward to meeting all of you when the Longinus docks.”

  “Paul, how long to the fifth planet?” Slone asked. The entire crew of the scout vessel was on the small bridge. Their food was running low and their ship had a lot more living space than it did when they started. There was also a ton
of gold in the hold, which they hoped would smooth out any problems; should they develop. After a few calculations, Paul responded to Slone’s question. “Transit time to the fifth planet is 9 hours.”

  “Very well, send our compliments to Captain Lorenzo and inform the Longinus of our transit time. We’ll keep a watch as usual to avoid the ship traffic.”

  Eight hours into transit, they were contacted by traffic control and directed to docking bay 27 of the largest space station any of them had ever seen. They were all well aware by now that this was not a pirate operation as they had always been lead to believe. This was a civilization and Slone began to wonder which corporation controlled it. All his life he had always been told that, all power in the galaxy rests with the great mining corporations. There simply were no earth governments anymore, since the last world war made the home planet uninhabitable for centuries. That was a thousand years ago and now the earth was only a shell of its former self with a billion people living off the tourist trade. All power went to the great mining corporations that used to supply the earth. Now, in the 32nd century, they run the galaxy like warlords and there are no other forms of government. An operation such as exists at Nova Romae cannot be financed without the support of a corporation. Slone began to suspect that the entire pirate story was a sham.

  The Dragon’s Claw furled her sails and retracted her masts as she slid into docking bay 27 and the docking clamps locked her into place. The bay was then sealed and pressurized to allow the crew to disembark and enter the station. As the airlock on the Dragon’s Claw opened and Slone, Alaya and the crew walked out, they were greeted by a squad of soldiers standing at attention. Slone again noted the fact that they were all dressed in the same uniform consisting of black bodysuits that looked like synthetic leather. They were not wearing headgear and to Slone’s surprise, they were not armed. Standard corporate procedure was to meet all strangers armed. This was very strange. One of the ten men in the squad broke ranks and came over to address Alaya. The others remained at attention with a military stance that put corporate military to shame. If all of the pirates were like this, then Slone knew they were a force to be reckoned with.

  The squad leader walked up to Alaya and introduced himself, “I am Decanus William Marshal; do I have the honor of addressing Alaya Sinclair?” Marshal gave a slight bow as he addressed Alaya.

  “I’m Alaya, though I am no longer a Sinclair. This is Captain Christopher Slone, late of the Sinclair navy, my copilot Alan Farnsworth, my navigator Paul McMann, my engineer Diana Tojo-Gardner, my electronics specialist Roger Umgabe and my communications specialist Tom Gardner.” Each member of the crew nodded as Alaya introduced them and each received a slight bow from the Decanus.

  “It is a pleasure to finally meet all of you. The Consul has instructed me to escort you to the Consular hall for a meeting. Please leave your side arms in your ship, as no weapons are allowed on Nova Romae. It is sacred ground.”

  Slone did not like the idea of going into the unknown unarmed, but he had no choice. They had come there for a reason and had to comply with their host’s rules. He just hoped they were guests and not prisoners. The guns were all stowed in the cargo hold and the ship left open. Slone had no doubt the Romani could enter it if they wanted, so why not leave it open as a gesture of good faith. The Andromeda 7 fell in with the escort squad and they were taken to a shuttle. The shuttle had windows along the sides and looked like a civilian, rather than a military shuttle. Again, Slone was struck by the activity all around. There were freighters and military vessels but no sign of any protection against attack. Whoever these pirates really were, they feared no one. The fact that even the military in this system travelled unarmed indicated a level of domestic peace unheard of in the corporate sectors of space. Slone had to admit, he was intrigued and he could see by their expressions that the rest of the crew were also both confused and impressed. As the shuttle approached the planet, the view was breathtaking. The planet was lush green and had large oceans. Slone had only seen living worlds on rare instances when his missions took him to some of the inhabited Sinclair systems. However, in all his travels, he had never seen a planet as beautiful as Nova Romae. The oceans and lakes were azure blue and the landmasses were deep green separated by high mountain ranges. As they entered the outer atmosphere, Slone began to see open areas in the green that contained cities and the shuttle seemed to be heading to one of the largest. As the city came into closer view, Slone could see that it was modern in every sense and had high buildings and lower residential areas. As the streets came into view, there were land vehicles and many people walking like ants. The shuttle moved towards one of the highest buildings and came to rest on a rooftop landing pad. The escort troops exited first and formed a cordon that the Andromeda 7 had to walk through. It was obvious that they were being treated like visiting celebrities. At the other side of the landing pad, there stood a solitary figure. He was of medium height and was dressed in loose, colorful clothing of red and gold. He had a mustache and a goatee and wore a wide brimmed hat at an angle. A feather from some exotic bird swept backwards from the hatband. Slone could not help thinking; now this looks like a pirate. Could this be Alaya’s long lost father? As they approached, the stranger flashed an endearing smile and walked rapidly to them.

  In a loud and welcoming voice he said, “Ah, welcome, you must be the Lady Alaya, it is a pleasure to finally meet you.” The stranger extended his hand and when Alaya reached out to shake it, he took her hand gently in his hand, moving it towards his lips and kissing it. Alaya did not know what to make of that, and Slone found himself amused at the old world gesture. “And you must be Captain Slone. I am Captain Juan Lorenzo of the NR Longinus. It has been my pleasure to be your escort to Nova Romae.”

  “Captain Lorenzo, it is truly a pleasure to finally meet you after spending a week in transit with you and your other vessels.” Alaya introduced the rest of the crew to Lorenzo and then they all entered an elevator that took them down several floors to the Consular chamber. When the doors opened, they were faced with a long hallway draped in red and purple. At the end of the hall was a door with six guards on each side carrying bundles of what looked like some kind of rod. The guards were dressed in purple uniforms and did not appear to be armed. There was something familiar about this but Slone could not recall what. He did know it was something he learned as a child.

  The group was led to the door by Lorenzo who then turned and said to them, “The Consul requests a private meeting with Alaya first. We are to wait here until summoned.”

  Slone and Alaya looked at each other and Alaya went with Lorenzo to the door as the nearest guards on either side opened it. Lorenzo stopped and Alaya entered as the doors closed behind her. Lorenzo then returned to Slone and the others. Slone decided to take this time to ask Lorenzo some questions he had been dying to ask. “Captain Lorenzo, while we’re waiting, I’d like to ask you some questions about what I have seen here?”

  “Please call me Juan and I would be glad to answer what I can if it’s not classified.”

  “Call me Chris then. This entire planetary system is much more complex than any pirate base I’ve ever come across. What am I actually seeing here?”

  “Well, Chris, as you rightly guessed, we are not pirates. Others have given the pirate label to us, but at least we can use it to our advantage, since the corporations never actually take pirates as a serious threat. What we are is a non-corporate civilization based on individual freedom and the hope for a better future. This place was founded five hundred years ago, after the first corporate wars. Refugees from those wars wandered into the Matsua Rim looking to escape the violence. Others were forced out of corporate space because they didn’t want to comply with the corporate vision. What they found was a gem of a planet. The leaders of the first exodus, as it came to be called, wanted nothing to do with corporate structure but they wanted a strong government chosen by the people themselves. Since many of them were intellectuals, it fell to this group
to pick how the government would be structured. They decided to take a page from earth history and set up their new home along the lines of the old Roman Republic, with some major differences to allow for three thousand years of technological evolution. To describe the whole to you would take a lifetime, but suffice it to say, so far it has worked for us and now you and your group will have a chance to become part of it.”

  Slone’s mind was going in all directions. Never had he come across any part of human space that was not controlled by a corporation. It is what you were taught was the way of things from childhood on and the corporations wrote the history. As part of the Sinclair military, he was taught that the Matsua Rim pirates are nothing but rabble and should be exterminated whenever they are discovered in Sinclair space. He personally had fought pirates in the Purgatory mining area when stationed there, but those were local pirates in small vessels and no match for the Sinclair navy. Now he found himself among a group called pirates by the corporations, but more powerful than some of the smaller corporations who so easily dismissed them as a nuisance.

  “You’ll forgive me, Juan, if my mind has trouble grasping this. Nothing in my training has ever even hinted at anything but disorganized, pirate rabble in the Matsua Rim. Also, how is it that we didn’t detect your ships until they were on top of us, when you first met us?”

  “That, I’m afraid, is one of the classified areas I can’t divulge to you. If the Consul decides he wants to let you in on the secret, you will be told. Now, any more questions while we wait?”

  “Let me digest what I’ve learned already, unless some of our crew has any?”

  Allen Farnsworth had a question. “How large is your civilization?”

  “Ah, now that I will be proud to answer. We have 385 planetary systems in our federation. Most of them are farther out than Nova Romae, which is actually closer to corporate space, near the Balin Corporation.”