The Sleeping and The Dead, page 1
part #4 of The Awakening Series
THE
SLEEPING
AND
THE DEAD
Asura Press books by Paul B. Spence
The Awakening Series
The Remnant
The Fallen
The Madness Engine
The Sleeping and the Dead
The Endless Realms
Project Brimstone
THE
SLEEPING
AND
THE DEAD
BOOK FOUR OF THE AWAKENING
Paul B. Spence
Asura Press
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD
An Asura Press Book
PRINTING HISTORY
Kindle Edition / 2019
Copyright © 2019 by Paul B. Spence
Cover Art by: Jereme J. Peabody
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
ISBN: 978-1-929928-34-7
www.paulbspence.com
author@paulbspence.com
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher received has any payment for this “stripped” book.
For Bagheera, of course.
… oftentimes to win us to our harm,
the instruments of darkness tell us truths,
win us with honest trifles,
to betray us in deepest consequence.
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Chapter One
Faintly glowing clouds of hydrogen, torn from the fabric of stressed spacetime, were the first sign the Wolf Empire had of what was to come. The CSS Acheron burst into realspace with neutron particle-beam cannon blazing, antimatter-armed missiles already locked on to targets flashed away from the battle cruiser at hundreds of gravities. The system of Gamma Laporis, and in particular the planet Nastrond, had been surveyed by advance scouts, and the Acheron was upon the enemy ships before they could do more than register that a ship had exited from hyperspace impossibly close to the planet. Captain Jin Rai had decided to rely on the Acheron's heavier armor and powerful primary beams. At close range, even its defensive lasers could damage Empire ships, and they were. The ship’s machine intelligence, Siobhan, was prioritizing targets for the gunnery crews to brutal effect.
No ultimatums had been sent to the Empire, no declaration of war. The Sentient Concord considered it pointless. The Empire had launched an unprovoked attack against Dawn, the central world of the Concord, using a gravitic implosive device and killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. It was difficult to get an accurate count of the dead, because the hospitals were crowded over capacity around the planet, and many people had been vaporized or drawn into the singularity.
In the minds of the Admiralty of the Concord, there was no need to announce the intent of the Fleet. Let their missiles be their words. The Empire would learn. So would the other governments of the local cluster, human or otherwise. The Concord would no longer accept the death of its people. It would no longer be content to passively defend its territory. This retaliatory attack on the Empire would serve as a demonstration to anyone who wanted to do harm to the populace of the Concord: do so and be destroyed.
Milliseconds after the Acheron arrived, dozens of other ships exited hyperspace, some of them as large as the Acheron and one even larger. The dreadnought CSS Dawn's Hope was three kilometers long, a starship made for war. The first of its kind, it had been designed by the Concord machine intelligences, from data gleaned from the Battle of Dawn, to be the ultimate starship killer. The ship carried a two-kilometer-long neutron particle-beam cannon with an aperture measured in meters. Nothing material could stand in the path of that beam. Enemy starships hit by the beam were sliced apart; most simply exploded.
No quarter was offered or given.
The bulk of the Empire fleet in the Gamma Laporis system was disabled or destroyed in the first few minutes of the battle. Then the next wave of Concord ships transited in: a dozen kilometer-long transports carrying thousands of marines each, and dozens of smaller corvette-class ships that darted toward the two other inhabited planets, using their primary beams to destroy ground defenses in preparation for the planetary assault. Most of the marines aboard those transports were Rhyrhan, and Commander Hrothgar Tebrey shuddered at the thought of fighting the imposing aliens. Rhyrhans hated anyone who used weapons of mass destruction against civilians, as the Empire had done to the Concord, and they were very good at war. Tebrey almost felt sorry for the enemy. Almost.
The Sentient Concord wasn't just planning to teach the Wolf Empire a lesson; they were determined to destroy the Empire forever. The Fleet was here to crush the military of the Empire, to conquer their planets, and to administer them under martial law until such a time as they could be brought into the Concord as free planets. After that day, there would no longer be a Wolf Empire. As long as everything went according to plan, of course. Tebrey knew that wasn't very likely.
All across the local cluster of stars, other battles were taking place. In the other twenty-one systems the Empire claimed, Concord ships were destroying the Empire's capability to wage war. The plan was to conquer the Empire in a single day, or at least to remove their ability to ever again be a threat. Tebrey hated the war – not that he'd been able to think of anything better. No one would have listened even if he had.
"Very impressive," Daeren Drake said as he stood watching the battle on the bridge of the Acheron. "Beautiful, even."
"It's a fucking waste," Commander Hrothgar Tebrey replied.
"Then they should not have attacked a force they knew to be superior."
Tebrey eyed his father bitterly. Drake was wearing armor not unlike Tebrey's own, although thinner and no doubt infinitely more durable. Drake wasn't wearing a helmet, but Tebrey knew that could change in an instant. He'd seen Drake's helmet unfold over his head once; it had been disconcerting to watch. With better technology, they might have been able to prevent some of the carnage in the coming battle. No matter how superior Concord technology was to that of the Empire, a high number of Concord crews and marines were going to die in the next few hours.
"Those are good soldiers dying out there," Tebrey said. "On both sides."
"The universes are full of good soldiers," Drake said dismissively. "Good commanders are a much rarer commodity. This battle was planned and executed flawlessly. You have good commanders. You will need them in the wars to come."
"It helps that the Concord has better technology than the Empire," Tebrey said. "But it could be better." It irritated Tebrey that his father had access to technology far advanced of even the Concord's but wouldn’t share it, technology so advanced as to seem like magic most of the time.
"Yes, it certainly could," Drake replied with an irritating smile.
"Commander?" said Captain Jin Rai. "We're in position for your strike team to proceed." Jin Rai had been an Earth Federation captain before joining the Sentient Concord at the Battle of Dawn. He'd saved the Arcadia from destruction when he'd changed sides. It had been a moral choice for him, and not an easy one, but now that he had joined the Concord, his commitment was unwavering. Not that the Concord planned to test his loyalty against the Federation Fleet any time soon.
"Thank you, Captain. We'll be out of your hair shortly." Tebrey switched over to the strike team's private channel. "Sergeant Pt'kar?"
"Yes, commander?"
"We're go for assault. Have the team standing by. Drake and I will be there momentarily."
"Acknowledged."
He turned to Drake. "Ready?"
Vertigo swept over Tebrey, and he stumbled as he appeared in the taskforce staging area.
"A little warning next time!" he demanded. He was sure he was never going get used to traveling in such a manner.
"I thought you said you were ready," Drake replied.
"I was asking you if you were! Oh, never mind."
Drake just smirked. Arguing with Drake was like shaking a fist in defiance at a stellar flare. It might make you feel better for a moment, but it wasn’t going to have any lasting effect whatsoever. No lasting effect that wasn't harmful to you, anyway.
Pt'kar had assembled the strike team as ordered. There were pitifully few members of the Archangel Strike Force left alive: the massive Rhyrhan sergeant, Tebrey's companion Hunter, Geoffrey Meeks, Tebrey's brother Ragnar, three human marine privates who had survived Theta attacks and thought they'd be up to trying their luck again, and a Slith commando with an unpronounceable name that Tebrey thought sounded close to Nancy. His teams' battles with the Theta entities had resulted in terrible losses... on both sides. There were a few other members on other ships, but these here were the most experienced.
Another person waited in the bay, someone Tebrey hadn't expected to see.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her over a private channel.
"You need everyone you can get," Commander Tonya Harris replied defensively.
Tebrey thought about that. His relationship with Commander Harris was complicated. He was attracted to her, and thought it might be reciprocated, except that the commander w as sleeping with his wife and hated his guts. Ana would never forgive him if something happened to Tonya, but Tonya was never going to respect him if he kept her grounded. The only thing he knew for certain that Tonya hated more than him was the Theta entities. She was a skilled and tough soldier, and a good strike team commander.
Tebrey sighed. "Very well, commander."
"And don't say– What?"
"Fall in."
"You're not going to argue?"
"No, you're right. I do need everyone with experience that I can get. I should have asked you to join us. You’re one of the best Theta-hunters I know."
She nodded stiffly and joined the others. He could sense her confusion and mixed feelings. His compliment disturbed her, violating her image of him.
Tebrey wished that she would get over whatever it was she had against him. She was a good officer, and a good soldier, but she let her personal dislike for him get in the way all too often. Is it just her love for Ana? Haven't I been understanding enough?
She feels intimidated by you, Hunter replied mentally. She is a damn fine soldier, but she will never be as strong or as fast as you are. She’s only human, you know. That doesn't make her happy.
It doesn't make me happy, either. Not being entirely human, I mean.
I try not to let the human part get in the way, Hunter thought.
Easy for you to say, fur-ball.
"So what's the plan, commander?" Tonya asked.
"We're going for a direct insertion into the enemy base. Maximum aggression. The goal is to find this woman." He projected an image of his mother he'd gotten from the information Ragnar has provided. "Intel suggests that the base will be crawling with Thetas. Nastrond is an Empire penal world. The atmosphere is breathable – for short periods, anyway, but try not to if you can help it. Too much argon and carbon dioxide. Drake, Ragnar, Hunter and I will make up Alpha team. Commander Harris will lead Bravo team with the remainder of our personnel."
"Shouldn't Geoffrey be with our group?" asked Drake.
Tebrey shook his head. "Mr. Meeks has the ability to dampen psionic activity around him. Since the members of Alpha team rely on psionic attacks, it doesn't seem like a good idea to have him with us, unless you can think of a reason why he should be."
"No particular reason. I wasn't aware Geoffrey had manifested any psi talents. I suppose his talents would be an asset to the other team."
"I'm not real good at it yet," Geoffrey said quietly.
"Nevertheless, your abilities work against Thetas, so you're in the other team. You'll be their only real defense against entropic attack, so I suggest you get better at it quickly. Commander Harris, Bravo team's primary mandate is to find the woman, alive, and get her back to this ship. Sergeant Pt'kar has a pressure suit for her. Drake has provided us with her coordinates. A shuttle will be standing by for retrieval when you're ready. Do you understand?"
"Of course, commander." Tonya looked around. "Is there a shuttle prepped for launch? Are we all going down in the same shuttle?"
He could tell she didn’t think much of that idea. Strike teams were most vulnerable during insertion, when the shuttle was first entering the atmosphere and couldn't evade. Tebrey grinned inside his helmet at the reaction he was about to invoke. "No, commander. Drake will be taking us down the fast way. Any other questions?"
"Fast way?"
"Just trust me, commander."
She was confused, but changed the subject. "Just one more question. Who's the woman, and why is she so important?"
"The woman may be responsible for creating the Madness Engine and who knows what other horrors. She is a xenobiologist, formerly of the Earth Federation, now working for the Empire on what we think is Theta research. We’ve been tasked with capturing her and her research. Her name is Dr. Amanda Tebrey."
"Wait, are you saying…?"
"Yes, commander, she's my mother. The Concord wants her alive, and so do I. I'm trusting you to make sure she stays that way, okay?"
"No pressure, then," Tonya said over the private channel. "Why the hell didn't I know about this?"
"You weren't supposed to be on this mission, remember, commander?"
"Lucky me."
"Harris, I would take it as a personal favor if you'd make sure she gets here alive."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that. I'll do my damnedest. Don't space me if she buys a farm, okay?"
"I won't hold it against you, but I can't say how my father would react."
"Is it too late to back out?" Tonya asked. Tebrey could tell she wasn't serious.
"Just don't fuck up," he replied. "Bring yourself back, too."
"I didn't know you cared."
"Ana would be sad if you died, and I care about her."
"Right. Let's get going, then."
"We're ready," he told Drake.
Chapter Two
Lyra Rhys-Griffith wished she had stayed in Medical a little longer, back in Tebrey's universe, but there had been much she needed to do back on Aurora. The Sentient Concord's war of retribution against the Wolf Empire may be entirely justified, but that war wasn't something she wanted to experience. She'd seen the effects of war in that universe. It was to be avoided. She didn't understand how sane people could be compelled to use nuclear weapons upon each other. Entire worlds were going up in flames. It was horrible.
The scars from her ordeal fighting the Fallen Firsters on Dawn were mostly healed. The physical scars, anyway. Her bones ached where they had been broken, and she needed a cane to walk. Leander assured her that this would pass in time, but it was a painful reminder of what she had been through. Lyra had grown accustomed to winning, when it came to the Dark Ones. Lyra's near death at their hands shook her.
Of course, there were worse things than death.
Lyra had been wounded fighting the Dark Ones before, although never as badly. Most of the Dark Ones she and the other Aurorans faced were no match for the power of the Mo'Ceri world engine that granted the Circle its power. In fact, most Dark Ones were destroyed easily by the mysterious soul-fire that each of them could manifest. After meeting Tebrey, Lyra was no longer certain the soul-fire was the product of the world engine, as she had always thought. Tebrey and Hunter both could manifest the fire, even though they were not part of the Circle. It was something to investigate... when she found the time.
Lyra had faced down Fallen First before. However, she had never before fought Dark Ones who had access to such advanced technologies. Most of the Dark Ones used nothing but their innate powers, wherever those came from. That was another one of those things that had always bothered Lyra. She knew that the ancient Fallen Mo'Ceri they fought sometimes used the power of their world engine, but where did the power of the other Dark Ones come from, the Dark Ones from places that had no Aurora? No one she asked seemed to know, or if they did, they wouldn't talk about it.
She suspected that David, of all people, must have some idea of what it was, and where the powers came from. The trouble was, David essentially refused to talk about his past. The darkness was too fresh in his mind for him to feel comfortable even thinking about it. The guilt he felt for the many millennia he had spread terror, pain, and suffering weighed heavily upon him, for David himself was one of the First who had Fallen, and obviously, he'd come back even from there.
David had never shown evidence that he had access to any advanced technology. Lyra knew that didn't necessarily mean that he didn't have it, though. The Auroran Circle had never been ones to use advanced technology if they could do without. That was probably the influence of the Mo'Ceri, for the towns and villages of Aurora were built upon the ruins of the old Mo'Ceri civilization, a civilization to technologically rival any others they had encountered, until they met the Fallen First. That had been before the first of the Mo'Ceri had Fallen and war had devastated the surface of Aurora.
