Centurion's Rise (44 page)

Praxus snapped the
reins he held to hasten the pace of the two horses pulling his carriage.  He looked longingly at the stone paved road and followed the path a mile ahead to a bridge with stone archways spanning the Rubicon River.  Such fine Roman construction, yet on the other side of the bridge lay a dusty dirt road leading to cold snow covered mountain tops still resisting the spring thaw. 

The symbolism could not have been more transparent.  He was leaving civilization for the rugged world that lay beyond.

“Why are we leaving the comfort and safety of Rome again?” Praxus asked his traveling companion sharing the driving bench of the cart with him.

“Because the divine spirit commands it,” Flavius responded flatly.  “
The spirit guided Gaius Julius Caesar from impoverished obscurity to almost ruling the world.  I trust his intuition will bring us similar fortunes.”

“Rome is the seat of power and influence,” Praxus protested.  “I respectfully submit that if those are the objectives we seek, then we are heading the wrong way.”

“Rome is impregnable at the moment,” a whimsical voice said from the back of the covered wagon.  “The emperor owns everything: gold, land, and armies.  He will not be dislodged in your lifetimes.”

Praxus looked back into the cart and saw a faint reddish orange glow emanating from the keyhole of a locked trunk facing his direction.  “Then
what’s the point of all this? We were doing fine in Rome, let’s turn around and live out our days in comfort.”

“Land and men longing for a leader to guide them reside in the north, with the Goths,” the spirit fired back, accompanied by a blinding light flashing from the trunk.
  “We will establish a kingdom in the north, and then wait for the appropriate timing to return to Rome as conquerors.”

“Many have tried that and failed,” Praxus cautioned.  “The northern territories may have land and people, but what of gold?  It takes money to build a kingdom and raise armies to protect it.”

“Soon gold will not be the only currency,” the spirit replied.

“What could possibly be more valuable than gold?” Praxus insisted.

The divine spirit chuckled softly at the man’s lack of vision.  “Salt.  Every living being requires it to live.  Salt preserves food for travel, and through long winters.  People desire gold, but they need salt, and necessity wins out over desire every time.

Praxus and Flavius exchanged satisfied smiles and then looked straight ahead at the dirt road their horses just stepped onto with glorious anticipation.  The world beyond civilization never looked so promising.  “Thy will be don
e,” Praxus said softly.

END OF BOOK TWO

Help me out:

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the second installment in the story of Hastelloy and his crew.  This series is my first attempt at writing and I would really appreciate your feedback with an honest review on Amazon.com. 

First and foremost, I am always looking to grow and improve as a writer.  It is reassuring to hear what works, as well as receive constructive feedback on what should improve.  Second, starting out as an unknown author is exceedingly difficult, and Amazon reviews go a long way towards making the journey out of anonymity possible.  Please take a few minutes to write an honest review.

Now I hope you will enjoy a sample chapter from book three in the Origins series.

Best regards,

Mark Henrikson

Precious few moments in life compare to the exhilaration of combat; mortal combat.  The thrill of never being so alive one moment with the prospect of not existing the next was intoxicating.  Kuanti embraced it, he craved it and he considered anyone who thought otherwise not a true Alpha.  The only limiting factor to his high was knowing his adversary did not share the same mortal jeopardy.

The Novi and their infernal Nexus device capable of regenerating lives lost in battle was infuriating.  On countless occasions Novi fleets were decimated by brave Alpha warriors and yet the Novi collector ship simply slipped away to safety through a space fold.  Then the lives lost were regenerated, ships recrewed, and the Alpha reengaged in battle like nothing happened.  That was all in the past now though.

Space fold travel had one critical weakness.  If the ship sensors detected a solid object between the craft and its destination, an event horizon could not be formed.  This fatal flaw would be the Novi’s undoing.  The Alpha finally perfected the ability to generate a mass density field large enough to obstruct their escape. 

Today, f
or the first time, a perimeter of Alpha constrainer vessels had surrounded a Novi fleet leaving no easy escape.  Finally his adversary had to face the same specter of death hanging over their shoulder as Kuanti, and that fact sent the primal rush of adrenalin coursing through his body with renewed vigor.

“We’ve got them,” Kuanti exclaimed while looking over Cora’s shoulder as she
strained to replace the last blown power relay feeding the wave blaster systems.  “Their fleet is destroyed, and that collector ship of theirs is damaged and on the run.  It is only a matter of time until we locate them and complete our victory.”

“Yes, but the cost was disastrously high,” Cora responded coolly without looking back from her repair duties.  “Our fleet Commodore was an inbred pup.  He had the advantage of surprise and four to one odds while the Novi
faced the immobilizing fear of dying for the first time in combat.  Even a half witted runt could have carried the day with a fraction of our losses.”

Kuanti let loose a frustrated sigh.  “You have to give the
Novi credit.  Rather than be rendered impotent with fear, they stood tall and held their own today.  They battled through the odds and in what has to be the single bravest act I have ever witnessed; the Novi collector ship flew directly though a constrainer ship causing its destruction and a tiny gap in the constraint field to escape through.”

Cora allowed an angry growl to resonate deep in her throat at Kuanti’s
praise for the enemy.  “Lucky for us Captain Goron is in command now.  He is the only reason we are even still alive to pursue that Novi collector ship.  All the other captains went after those Onager vessels like they were females in heat to try and claim all the glory for themselves.  Goron was the only one to use his head.  He sensed the trap and pulled us away before those Novi ships self destructed.  Otherwise we would be among the billions of atoms floating in space rather than making final repairs to win the day, and possibly the war.”

“Yes, Captain Goron is a worthy leader, strong and smart,” Kuanti admired
, but quickly changed the topic away from his better.  “Stellar cartography limited the number of systems they could have escaped towards down to three, and we have already thoroughly searched two of them.  I tell you Cora, this is it.  These next few minutes will be a turning point in our history and it is a privilege to be a part of it.”

Cora gave one last grunt and had her effort rewarded with a click of the power lead snapping into place and the soft hum of power flowing fre
ely to the ship’s weapon system once more.  “Now we have them,” she said with finality in her words as she stood up to face Kuanti, but found nothing but empty air behind her when she completed the turn.  Her mate was off to report the good news and claim the credit.

“Wave blasters are back on line and fully powered,” Kuanti reported to his ‘superior’ with a familiar rush of adrenaline adding a hard edge to his words.  Combat was upon him once more, even if it was just the pursuit of a limping and unarmed Novi collector class ship.

“Excellent,” the chief engineer barked and then moved his relatively petite frame to a communications console mounted on the nearest wall.  Elohim was a very capable engineer, but reporting to such an unimposing individual pulled at Kuanti’s ambitious instinct.  If only he had the courage to challenge his leader he could be the one giving orders in engineering.

“Captain,” Elohim said into the intercom.  “Weapons systems are now online.”

“All of them?” came a curt reply.

An exacerbated sneer crossed Elohim’s snout as he gently shook his head.  “No.  The fusion torpedo launchers are still offline and need more time to . . .”

“You’ve had almost an hour and only accomplished half of your orders.  This is too important for your incompetent excuses,” Captain Goron interrupted.  “You are to oversee the repairs personally to get them back on line.”

The Captain did not even wait for an acknowledgement before cutting off the conversation.  Elohim looked at Kuanti with resignation in his eyes.  “Even working miracles is not good enough for that man.”

“That’s why he is in charge,” Kuanti offered.

“That and he stands a head taller than the rest of us,” Elohim said on his way toward the main corridor.  “You are in charge while I am in the torpedo room working another miracle for our dear leader.  Can you handle that?”

“Of course,” Kuanti responded with a bravado he knew deep down was only for show.

As he watched Elohim round the corner and vanish from view he felt a set of warm paws caress his shoulders from behind.  He glanced to the side and found Cora hovering over his left shoulder.  “Your first taste of leadership, he should not have done that.”

“No he shouldn’t have,” Kuanti said while forcing a confident smirk to cross his lips for her benefit.  The woman’s ambition knew no bounds.  If she were a male he had no doubt she could rule the entire galaxy.  Kuanti shrugged off her grasp and was about to address his subordinates looking on when the world around them erupted.

A powerful blast made the floor buck beneath them and sent everyone to the deck.  A sudden surge of air rushing in from the exit corridor drew Kuanti’s attention.  He looked up in time to see an explosive fireball billowing toward the engineering chamber.  An instant before the flesh of
every occupant in the room was consumed by the inferno, a solid metal bulkhead slammed shut over the doorway.

An instant latter Kuanti heard a deafening groan of metal sheering away from metal and then a sense of weightlessness overtook him.  He floated several inches above the deck plating before emergency systems kicked in to reestablish gravity and environmental support.  He landed painfully on his knees and paws but shrugged off the pain to stand and take command of the situation.

“What the blazes just happened?” Kuanti demanded of no one in particular.

A junior officer, who’s name Kuanti was too flustered to remember at the moment, ran a damage assessment protocol on his console.  A set of silent heartbeats passed and then Kuanti watched the young man’s perky ears go limp.  “A fusion torpedo from the Novi vessel struck mid-ship and tore us in half.”

“How is that even possible?” Kuanti asked in open mouthed awe, but realized the answer was unimportant.  The question was not how, but rather what now?

“Where is the rest of the ship?” Kuanti managed to ask.  “Was it destroyed?”

“No, it is floating toward the third planet along with the Novi ship which was incapacitated by our weapons fire before the torpedo hit.”

“What about us, where are we headed?” Kuanti insisted.

“Nowhere,” the young man answered with the ominous resignation to fate of a death row inmate.  “We eventually might collide with a hunk of rock when we drift into the asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planets a few hundred years from now.”

Kuanti stood motionless in the middle of the engineering room with thirty crewmen looking to him for guidance.  He was at a complete loss for words.  The situation appeared hopeless. 

After what felt like a silent eternity, Cora finally paced over to him and wrapped her reassuring paws around his shoulders.  “You are in charge, Leader.  How should we proceed?”

He swallowed hard and considered running from the situation screaming like a newborn pup, but then a familiar and welcome sensation lifted his
spirits.  He was scared to death and yet he had never felt so alive in his entire life. 

A true Alpha embraced fear.  Fear of death, and now the fear of responsibility.  Kuanti slowly looked around the room and finally said with remarkable confidence, “Here is what we are going to do. . .”