Embers of Rebellion, page 1
Embers of Rebellion
Secession Wars Book 1
D. J. Holmes
https://www.facebook.com/Author.D.J.Holmes
d.j.holmess@hotmail.com
Comments welcome!
Cover illustrated by Tom Edwards:
tomedwardsconcepts@gmail.com
https://tomedwardsdesign.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © D. J. Holmes 2025
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Epilogue
Prologue
Orbital Construction Yard, Jegar, Alpha Centauri, 2235 AD (two thousand five hundred years before the events of Embers of Rebellion).
“General Manager, thank goodness I found you; I’ve been looking all over… ah, what are you doing?”
Timothy Williams cast one eye up towards his secretary and then looked back down at the boot he was sealing to his space suit. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Surely, you’re not going for a spacewalk?” John Davis asked.
“No, I’m just going out for a picnic,” Williams said as he straightened up. “So, what is it?”
“I have some reports you need to sign and some things the CEO wants me to run by you.”
“Well, suit up, and we can talk as we work.”
“As we work? But where are you going?”
Williams sighed. “You didn’t see the completed work report for today?” He pressed on, knowing Davis had. “There was a problem with fitting the first bands of thermite radiation armor. I want to go and see for myself before we decide what to do.”
“See for yourself? But you’ve got hundreds of engineers and workers who could do that for you,” Davis said, confused about what was happening.
“But none of them have my eyes, do they?” Williams pointed out. “I want to see it myself.”
“Ah, well, maybe I’ll just wait here until you get back then,” Davis decided.
Williams shook his head. “I have a dinner date with my wife in one hour. As soon as I’m done here, I’m taking a shuttle to the surface. We either talk now, or you wait until tomorrow.” He then chuckled at the look on Davis’ face. “Come on,” he said as he tossed his secretary a helmet. “You passed your EVA training. I know you did.”
“Yes, sir. But that was over ten years ago.”
“Well then, consider this a refresher course. Besides, don’t you want to see what we’ve spent all this time and effort building?”
“I... ah... I’ve seen all the detailed holo projections. I’m sure it’s just the same as seeing it in real life.”
“Not even close,” Williams said as he shook his head again. “Trust me. Now come on, or I’ll go out without you, and you can explain to the CEO why I haven’t responded to him.”
Davis looked down at the helmet in his hands, then back up at his boss. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“About what? The spacewalk or dumping you in it with the CEO?” Williams asked with a grin.
“Both. You’re serious about both,” Davis said miserably as he stepped into the spacesuit compartment and began looking for a suit that would fit him.
Williams moved towards his friend and helped him put on the suit—he really didn’t want to be late for his date. “Okay then,” he said after checking the seal of Davis’ helmet. Then he slapped his friend on the back. “Let’s get out there and see what we’re working with.”
“Very well,” Davis said reluctantly. “I’ll follow you.”
Williams nodded, then he tapped the control to cycle the air out of the airlock they were in. As soon as all the air was vented, Williams led the way out. As he stepped out, his magnetic boots clamped onto Jegar’s hull. Williams took a couple of steps to make sure they were working, glanced back at Davis to make sure he was out, then he tapped a button on the forearm of his flight suit to close the airlock’s hatch behind him. Only then did he allow himself to look up.
As it always did, the sight that greeted him took his breath away. Jegar itself was impressive enough—though the shipyard was essentially just a large space scaffold. The real beauty came from what was taking shape within the construction yard. Half a kilometer long and shaped like a narrow arrowhead, the ship Williams was overseeing was majestic in his eyes. Though she was no warship, nor even a racing yacht, she was his—and that gave Williams a joy like no other.
She was also a hive of activity, for even though the final shift of the day had clocked off, hundreds of construction bots still zoomed around the large ship as they moved supplies and construction materials to where they would be needed for the next day.
Not for the first time, Williams found himself reminiscing as he took in everything he had built. Jegar had been finished just five years ago. Williams had been the senior engineer in charge of its construction. After that, he had been promoted to General Manager of the construction yard. For the past four years, he had overseen the construction of six freighters and two passenger ships. Together, they were the largest ships ever built in the Alpha Centauri system. However, they had all been built according to Earth schematics.
Now, something very different was close to being completed. The sleek ship that towered over him was an Alpha Centauri-designed and -built freighter. And she would leave Jegar in just three months—assuming he could work out the final kinks that were causing delays. When she was finished, she would be ten percent faster in FTL than the fastest Earth freighters—and still be able to match the cargo space of the current largest intersystem space haulers. Once she was finished, Williams and his superiors hoped Beagle would spark a rush of orders for more freighters from Alpha Centauri, the other colonies, and even Earth itself.
More than that, she was also a symbol of Alpha Centauri’s growing independence from Earth. Williams didn’t pay too much attention to colonial politics, but he knew enough to understand how important his work was. Beagle’s construction would allow his homeworld to trade freely with the other colonies and bypass Earth’s crushing tariffs. Though it was a small thing, it would be one more step towards throwing off the shackles the UN tried to keep on its fledgling colonies.
But we have to finish her first, Williams reminded himself. And you have to survive long enough to see her launched, he added as he remembered his date with his wife. His propensity to overwork had left her waiting for him far too many times in the past; he knew he dare not be late tonight. “Let’s get going,” he said to Davis as he used the HUD of his helmet to select the section of Beagle that he wanted to look at. Then he jumped off Jegar’s hull and engaged his spacesuit’s thrusters.
Behind him, Davis yelped, then called out, “I thought we were walking!”
“We are on a tight schedule,” Williams replied. “Just follow me.” Without waiting to see if Davis did follow, Williams focused on his landing spot. He didn’t want to clatter off Beagle’s hull and be flung out into space. It would be logged as an accident, and his superiors in the company would probably never let him do a spacewalk again.
Just as the HUD on his helmet told him to, Williams reoriented himself so that his feet were pointing towards Beagle. Then his flight suit’s boosters kicked in and arrested his momentum. With a gentle clank, his boots hit Beagle’s hull and then magnetized themselves. Williams looked up and smiled as he watched Davis float down beside him. “You see, it was no problem.” Williams’ smile widened when Davis turned towards him, and he saw just how white his friend’s face was. He slapped Davis on the back. “It’ll be something to tell the wife and kids about when you get home.”
“If you say so, sir,” Davis responded softly.
Stepping around Davis, Williams started to move towards the section of Beagle’s hull where the new armor was meant to be going on. He only made it two steps. A bright flash above him stopped him dead. It was far away and only lasted a couple of seconds, but it wa s unmistakable. “Did you see that—”
Another flash cut Williams off. This time it was closer. Williams easily made out the red and yellow fiery explosion of a thermonuclear blast in space. “We are under attack!” Williams called out. Before Davis could reply, or either of them could do anything more, a surge of explosions began to rush towards Alpha Centauri. They raced in towards a specific point in the planet’s orbitals.
Williams’ eyes swung around to locate the small orbital fort and two patrol frigates that protected the colony. The fort and ships were partially hidden by thousands of small flashes. Their point-defense guns were firing. Yet it seemed to be doing them no good. In just a couple of seconds, the wave of explosions raced right up to the defenders and then slammed into them. Tens of nuclear warheads detonated all around them.
Williams hadn’t built either the fort or the frigates, but he knew enough about them to know they would not survive such an attack. Anger rose up within Williams. Someone had just killed hundreds of his fellow countrymen. In a second, his anger turned to horror, for the explosions didn’t stop.
Hundreds of nuclear-tipped shells had been hurled at the fort. Many overshot their target. In dread, Williams watched as the waves of flashes overwhelmed the fort and ships but then carried on and smashed into Alpha Centauri itself. “No!” he screamed as nuclear detonations erupted in his homeworld’s upper atmosphere. Below one, he could see Alpha Landing, his homeworld’s capital city. It was where he lived. Where his wife and two of his children lived!
In the blink of an eye, the explosive force of the airburst smashed into the city, wrecking it beyond recognition. Then the last shells struck the planet’s surface itself. All across the continents and seas Williams could see, mushroom clouds began to burst their way up into the planet’s atmosphere while circular shockwaves shot from each detonation.
Tears streamed down Williams’ cheeks. Beside him, Davis cried out in anguish and anger. For nearly a minute, both men didn’t move as they watched the complete destruction of their homeworld. Then Williams’ hands tightened into fists. He forced himself to look away from the destruction of everything he loved. His eyes traced back the path of explosions that had rushed in to devastate his homeworld. Though they were small, he could just make out three twinkling shapes. He knew exactly who they were – Earth ships. The UN had come to demand Alpha Centauri bow to their will.
They couldn’t have meant to do that, a voice in the back of Williams’ mind said. It had to be some kind of horrible accident. Williams shook his head. He didn’t care. As he stared up at the approaching warships, he raised a fist up towards them. “I will destroy you. I will destroy you all!” he swore as a rage the likes of which he had never imagined consumed him.
*
Nine years later.
Retribution, Earth.
With ease, Retribution and her two sister ships swatted aside the small Earth ships that came out to meet them. After nine years of campaigning, there was almost nothing left of Earth’s once proud fleet to oppose the invaders. Then, seemingly ignoring the long-range fire hurled at her from Earth’s orbital forts, Retribution moved into a high orbit over humanity’s homeworld.
“The time has finally come,” Admiral Williams said as the three battleships he had built came into range with their cannons. “Lieutenant Davis, take over the tactical console. Then open fire with all our weapons. Use the nuclear warheads.”
“Admiral, are you sure? We could hit Earth by accident,” Captain Gonzales—Retribution’s captain—asked.
Williams spared Gonzales the briefest of glances. Gonzales was from Capricorn. Like the other thirteen colonies, Capricorn had rallied together to resist Earth’s aggression and avenge Alpha Centauri, but he didn’t understand—not really. “I know what I’m doing, Captain.” Williams then gestured to his Chief of Staff. “Take over, Davis.”
“With pleasure, Admiral,” Davis responded as he stood and moved over to the tactical console, sitting in the second seat beside Retribution’s tactical officer. He then began to tap furiously as he input the firing solutions for the fleet of warships Williams commanded.
Around Retribution, her sister ships, and their fifteen smaller escort ships, nuclear explosions kept detonating. No one paid any attention to them, however. They were still so far from Earth that even small evasive maneuvers could throw off the aim of the ballistic weapons. It was an entirely different matter for Earth’s defenders, however. The positions of the twenty forts and six small ships in orbit around Humanity’s homeworld were fixed. They couldn’t run or dodge.
“Ready, Admiral,” Davis said as he looked up from the tactical console.
When their eyes met, a shared anger and determination flowed between them. It had been nine years since they had both watched helplessly as their homeworld and families were devastated. For nine years, they had built and fought their way here. Now was the moment of their revenge. “Do it,” Williams ordered with a nod.
With the touch of a button, Davis ordered the fleet to open fire. One hundred and thirty-four railguns flung their shells into space at ninety percent of their maximum velocity. Six minutes later, they fired another salvo at ninety-two percent of their maximum velocity. Four more volleys followed. All were timed to reach Earth’s orbit at the same time.
As soon as they were all launched, Retribution’s bridge grew quiet. Everyone knew what was about to happen. Williams had handpicked his officers himself. They had all suffered loss at Alpha Centauri or in the fighting at the other colonies. They might not all agree with what Williams intended, but they did not question him.
For forty-five minutes, Earth’s defenders continued in vain to try and hit Williams’ fleet with their long-range shells. Without the shrapnel shells he had personally developed, though, they stood no chance of hitting the colonial fleet at such ranges. Then, the wave of over eight hundred thermonuclear warhead shells struck Earth’s orbitals.
In the blink of an eye, the UN forts and ships were obliterated. As Williams intended though, it didn’t end there. Inevitably, the shells that overshot their targets began to strike Earth’s atmosphere. Williams’ fingernails bit so hard into his palms that they drew blood as he watched the destruction of his humanities’ homeworld. The rage that had first erupted within him nine years ago boiled as hot now as then. This is what you get, he thought towards the UN lackeys and those who had elected them. This is what you get for trying to control us. This is what you get for thinking you own us!
Immediately after the nuclear attack on Alpha Centauri that had killed two-thirds of the colony’s population and turned the world into a nuclear wasteland, the UN officials who ruled over Earth had issued an apology. Williams had not believed it for one second. For over a century, the UN had sought to control Humanity’s fourteen colonies with ever-increasing rules and legislation. They thought they had the God-given right to rule over whomever they chose. Well, now they know better, Williams whispered between clenched teeth. Now they know the colonies will not be ruled!
Despite the rage that ruled him, and the satisfaction that filled him at seeing his enemy destroyed, a single tear ran down Williams’ cheek. Partly, it was for all the innocents who he knew were dying—innocents that he had decided long ago needed to die to bring freedom to the colonies. Mostly, however, it was because of the memories that he couldn’t keep at bay. As mushroom clouds shot up into Earth’s atmosphere, Williams didn’t see Earth but his beloved Alpha Centauri and the death of his own family. You are avenged, he thought towards his wife and two sons. It is over.
“All enemy forts and ships are destroyed, Admiral,” Davis reported once the explosions stopped. “We detected one hundred and sixty-seven detonations in Earth’s atmosphere and on the surface... What do you want us to do now?”
“Now we head home,” Williams said as he hardened his voice. “And we build something new. Something that will put an end to the horrors of war once and for all.”
“What about Earth?” Gonzales asked, horror filling his voice. “There are billions of people still alive down there. They will need our help.”
“They are the ones who started this. Now they can live with the consequences of their actions,” Williams said harshly. He softened his tone all the same. “Earth is the past. The colonies are our future. Set course for Capricorn.”
