OK, so here we go, the first of 2 sneak peaks of Conquest Book II in the Triumvirate Chronicles series. In this segment, we see the actual principle antagonist introduced who only had one small scene in Book I Desperation (ha, I did something a bit unorthodox there, but not unheard of). Hope you enjoy, and please check out my website: www.alexanderdundass.ca I will have this out in advance of Triumvirate, possibly coinciding with Con Bravo.
Lantara, Occupied Territories Member, Hegemony Forward Operations Base
In a populated part of the galaxy
that had once belonged to the Territories a small shuttle whisked through space
on course for the fertile blue green planet dead ahead. From the shuttle’s approach, the terminator
could be seen as a scar dividing night and day, the dark side of the planet
dotted with brightly-lit cities.
“We
are ahead of schedule sir,” said the pilot as he glanced behind his back at the
three passengers. “We will land half an
hour early.” Upon confirmation of a
Supreme Commander warping into the Forward Operations Base on Lanatara, a
shuttle had been sent out to ferry Canes to the planet.
“Very good,” replied Supreme
Commander Canes, pleased with the pilot as he turned and smiled at his
colleagues. “I like surprises,
especially ones like this.” He turned
back to the pilot. “I trust that the Supreme Commander from each
war theatre will be present to meet me?”
“Yes sir, they’ll be awaiting your
arrival, although they were quite surprised that you left your fleet as far out
of the system as you did sir,” commented the pilot. His co-pilot looked over and confirmed a few
numbers.
“Very good, that will be all,” said
Canes, flippantly dismissing him with an idle wave of his hand. Canes and his colleagues had been reassigned
recently and had made it a point to arrive unannounced. The government of the Hegemony was not
pleased with the state of the war in this galaxy and had chosen to send in
Canes and his generals to clean it up.
The pilot turned away from the
legendary passengers he was ferrying to the planet and watched as two squadrons
of fighters approached, and took up escort formations.
“Ahh our escorts! Too bad, it means
they are more ready for our arrival than I wanted,” Canes sighed as he looked
out the porthole at the two squadrons of fighters taking up escort positions. “No matter, the outcome will be the same.”
“Very much so,” replied General
Wolf, who was Canes’ right hand man and trusted second in command. “It must be bad if the Proctoran agreed to
send us here so quickly. To pull us off
the Eridrian conflict… Do you have any
idea what is going on?”
“No, all Top Man would say is that
he was displeased and any review of reports and such left more questions as to
their authenticity,” replied Canes, winking at Wolf with is deep blue eyes. “Typical dolt he is. He also reported Lons and Skardo were dead. I think that is what shook him up the most. One of these days we should just seize power
and do away with him.” Canes looked out
of the window in the shuttle briefly, taking note of the extremely large fleet
and multitude of battle platforms.
“I had forgotten how this galaxy
looked and felt,” commented General Vega, the third man in Canes’ party. “It’s so weird returning here after seven
hundred centuries. It’s hard to believe
we are home, at long last.”
Canes turned to Vega, his other
trusted man. “You’re right on that old
friend. But remember: she is a cold, heartless bitch that turned her
back on us, as did our friends,” replied Canes as the shuttle shook briefly
when it entered the atmosphere of the planet.
“It’s too bad Lons and Skardo aren’t here to meet us. We never did find out what exactly happened
to them in the Lonsation colonies. They
just kinda disappeared and were assumed dead, from what the reports said.” Canes paused, taking another look out the
port hole. “Seems we are about to land. We better prepare ourselves for the ass
kissing we’re going to get.”
Canes faced the front of the
shuttle now, straightening his drab green uniform. When standing, Canes topped two metres tall,
towering over most men. His chiselled
face and mop of jet- black hair, combined with his muscular build had been
known to intimidate many a friend and enemy before.
“We are approaching the main
landing pad now sir,” the pilot informed Canes.
“We’ll be landing in thirty seconds.”
The shuttle glided effortlessly as it approached the landing pad,
slowing with each passing second. With a
small bump, the craft landed on the pad and the boarding ramp lowered.
“Good job gentleman,” complimented
Canes. “I may steal you away permanently
into my fleet.” The three men trod down
the boarding ramp and onto solid ground.
Waiting for them nearby was a petite woman in who appeared to be in her
early forties.
Canes approached the woman,
directing Wolf and Vega to follow. As he
got closer, he could see she presented exactly as one would expect of a Supreme
Commander of the Hegemony fleet: neat, in good shape and her brown hair cropped
short. But her face looked battle
hardened, like she had seen one to many people die in this war.
“What is the meaning of your
unannounced arrival, Supreme Commander Canes?” demanded the female Supreme
Commander angrily.
“You must be Supreme Commander
Holly, and these are my first and second in commands: Generals Wolf and Vega,”
said Canes, pointing out each one and ignoring her angry tone. “I’m sure our reputations precede us.”
“I am going to report you to
Proctoran Grebbit for this,” threatened Holly.
“Your approach put us all on battle alert. I had to deploy the fleet away from the
planet to intercept what we thought was an enemy attack force. You did not follow the standard operating
procedures.”
Canes waved her off. “Go ahead, report me to Top Man, he was the
one who sent us here in the first place,” replied Cane nonchalantly, using his
nickname for the Proctoran. “However, I
think he will be far more concerned to know that I arrived here to find a
disgrace. The placement of my fleet was
to test your battle readiness, or lack thereof.
Your ships were way too slow responding; the battle platforms were not
even on alert as we approached.” Canes
paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in, before he continued. “What in the hell kind of operation are you
running here?!” Canes shouted at the top
of his lungs, doing his best to bully around a woman of equal rank. “Don’t slouch, woman, stand at
attention!” Canes stood over her now,
looking down at her, a scowl on his face.
Such a weak, pathetic fool, no backbone, thought Canes.
Holly snapped to and stood at
attention as Canes circled her. “I have
been sent here to take full command from all of your sorry asses. Top Man is not happy with the progress you
have made in this galaxy in recent months.
You are behind in quadrant four where you are presently fighting the
Territories I believe. The biggest
disgrace of all is the number of ships that are around this planet protecting
it from nothing. No one will attack here. Who is responsible for this?”
“Governor Azote sir,” replied Holly
stiffly. “He feels we’re threatened
here.”
“A fool,” spat Wolf. Holly stared into Wolf’s eyes and met the
coldest, greyest gaze she had ever known.
Wolf stood a head shorter than Canes, his own head topped with black,
mid length hair. His musculature made it
quite clear he was no man to be toyed with.
Wolf’s ebony skin made him stand
out from the other two. His gaze showed
no fear as he looked upon Holly, rather it was more of tolerance.
If they only
knew I was the niece of the Proctoran, she though. Holly was going to have a long talk with her
uncle about these men. Hero or no, Canes
could not come in here and push around another Supreme High Commander.
“Yes I agree with you,” said Vega,
grabbing Holly’s chin in his hands. “And
a pretty one too, it would be a shame if she failed to follow orders and
disappeared.” Holly stared forward,
trying not to notice the swirl of colours in Vega’s eyes: blue one moment, red
the next. Unlike Canes and Wolf, Vega
was slightly overweight, with a bit of a gut hanging over his belt line. He looked like he did not exert himself at
all. He had short, brown hair that was
limp, and laid flat against his head, and he smelled like he hadn’t washed in a
thousand years. “I think we need to make an example of her. What do you think boys?”
“Enough Vega, enough,” said Canes
tiredly. “You and Wolf get this fleet battle ready. We have a planet to conquer. I’m sure Holly here will take me to the other
fleet commanders. If anyone gives you
any problems, don’t hesitate to remove them from command permanently. Understood?” Canes asked.
Both men nodded and re-boarded the
shuttle to head up to the battle platforms and prepare the fleet. “Well my dear, shall we proceed? I wouldn’t want to keep the others waiting,”
said Canes after the shuttle lifted off.
Holly nodded and indicated that Canes should follow.
Canes took a minute to look around,
taking in the sight of the stars above him, and pulled in a deep breath of
fresh air. It had been almost five
months since he had been planet side anywhere.
I will definitely have to take time out to enjoy this for a bit when
the business at hand is completed. Even
though Canes had left his home galaxy almost eight months ago and had taken
most of the time crossing the void between both galaxies, there had been an odd
star with planets and one had an atmosphere that allowed him to stretch is legs
for a few hours. His arrival in this
galaxy had been quiet; normally Canes would’ve arrived with guns blazing. But he suspected that he would soon meet
other immortals and wanted it all on his terms.
It had given him lots of time to study his enemy.
Canes proceeded to follow Holly
into the nearby, multi-storey building, which he took to be their headquarters. The building had been erected almost two
hundred years previously, if Canes understood the dating system correctly on
the corner stone he spotted. Upon
receiving this assignment, he had grabbed all the material he could to bring
himself up to date on this galaxy. They
entered into a long hall, which had a soaring ceiling supported by pillars. The floor was composed of an ornate, highly
polished marble. The emblem of the
Territories emblazoned in the centre of the floor, rendered in the finest
marble from each of the original twenty planets of the alliance had to offer. Here there was the shimmering black firestar marble found only on the unspoilt Western continent of Veloxora,
tiny flecks of crystal embedded within that shone like stars under the proper
light. There was also the brick red blood marble of Sholtan, and the cloud marble of Sterling, white, and
pearlescent as a dream, shot through with veins of the purest blue silver,
found only on that planet, and hundreds of times more valuable than ordinary
silver. It was from this noble metal
that the Supreme Councillor’s chain of office was forged.
Canes and Holly traversed the
length of this beautiful floor, lit from overhead by a golden dome high above,
their boots echoing throughout, coming at last to a tall, ornate wooden door.
Canes paused a moment to look back
at the ornate floor of the Great Hall, and said, “Azote should have had his
clowns rip that seal out already. This
planet will never be part of the Territories again. Have it removed immediately.” He turned his head back to the door.
The guards posted outside stood at
attention, only opening the door when Holly indicated they should do so. Canes peered into the room and spotted a
large table where the other commanders sat, discussing current issues. They looked up immediately when Canes cleared
his throat and entered the room. He
could feel fear rolling off of them even at this distance.
“Glad to see you are all here,”
said Canes expansively, walking to the head of the table. He took a seat and put his feet up on the
table, and decided to play the name game.
“So let’s see, who do we have here?
No, wait! Let me guess! You are Supreme Commander Propoose,”
pointing to the young, athletic man on the left with black hair. Canes turned to the greying, ancient looking
man on the right. “You must be Supreme Commander Troxan,”
Canes spoke his name in a heavy serious voice.
Next he stared down to the other end of the table at a young red haired
woman. “And you my pretty little waif
must be Supreme Commander Caxlan.”.
“So you know our names, who in the hell
are you?” spat Caxlan, ignoring Holly’s signals. “And just where precisely do you get
off on barging in here like you own the place?”
Canes just smiled back at her as
Caxlan’s comm unit signalled, knowing exactly what it was about.
Caxlan answered it. “Yes what is it? I am very busy right now,” she replied,
shooting daggers at Canes with her eyes.
She listened briefly. “What do
you mean a General Wolf and General Vega are up there taking over command? Who in the hell are they? You are not to do anything they say,
and that is an order!”
Before she knew it, Canes stood
over her, grabbing the comm unit away from her.
She had not even noticed him get
up. “Belay that order! Listen here, you will do as
Wolf and Vega instruct you, and this is under my authority. This is Supreme Commander Canes speaking,” he
barked into the communicator before turning it off.
“Now let’s talk, shall we?” Canes
said calmly, sitting back down at the table, watching as everyone but Holly
recover from his revelation. “Quite
honestly, Caxlan, Troxan, you have nothing to worry about. Your part of the invasion is going well,
except that your ships are here in orbit and not out invading. How in the hell do you expect to actually win
this war with everyone sitting here on their asses? No need to answer, you know it as well as I
do. What I want to know is what in the
hell is going on, Propoose? Do you think
it is acceptable that you have hardly made any advances since you were given
your command? What are your
reasons? In fact, the past five months
you’ve had your ass handed to you on a platter.
And given your advantage over Veloxora with part of its fleet missing
you still failed to achieve the target.”
Propoose paled and gulped, before
answering Canes question. He knew of
Canes reputation of killing people for what he deemed as failure. Propoose spoke haltingly, “Their present
commander, a Fleets Admiral Hawthorne is top calibre, as is his second in
command, Lieutenant Fleets Admiral Savage.
We are fighting a war on two fronts now with the Territories, and heavy
losses are occurring at the galactic rim.
I need better commanders Canes, I can’t be everywhere.”
Canes peered at Propoose as if he
might be a new species of incredibly stupid insect that he was planning to pin
to a board in some kid’s bug collection.
“Wrong answer. Your underlings
are only as good as their commanding officer,” replied Canes coldly. “It is your fault that there are two fronts
with these morons. You blew any chance
of winning against them with the loss at Dubrilla and allowing them to attack
you at Sigma Six. No matter, I’m here to
replace you on that front. Your services
are no longer required.” Canes pulled
his pistol from his belt and shot Propoose in the chest. Propoose barely registered alarm before he
died, his smoking corpse making a loud thud as it hit the floor. The other three commanders jumped up and rushed
to Propoose. Canes smashed his hand into
the table and yelled, “Sit down! You
will not disgrace yourself by grovelling around that sorry corpse.” Canes could read outrage on the other commanders’
faces, but ignored it. “Defy me and you
will end up like him. Take his death as
a lesson that you need to make sure you’re doing your job and what you were
sent here to do.” Caxlan, Holly and
Troxan went back to their seats, glaring at Canes in anger.
“Now let’s get down to business, shall we?” Canes
asked pleasantly, looking around the table.
“I so hate failures. The only
sure way to deal with one is to eliminate it from the gene pool. That way he can’t pass his faulty thinking
onto the troops.” Canes paused
dramatically. “I have studied the star
maps of this galaxy and the political groups known to us on my way here. I intend to attack Veloxora and defeat this
Hawthorne. Savage I will deal with
later.”
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| Yup Canes means business!! |
