Reaper's Crossroad Read online

  Reaper's Crossroad

  By Timothy Ellis

  The Hunter Imperium, Book Three

  Copyright © 2019 by Timothy Ellis

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and events are fictional and have no relationship to any real person, place or event. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.

  The author is Australian and the main characters in this book are of Australian origin. In Australia, we colour things slightly differently, so you may notice some of the spelling is different. Please don't be alarmed.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contents

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty One

  Twenty Two

  Twenty Three

  Twenty Four

  Twenty Five

  Twenty Six

  Twenty Seven

  Twenty Eight

  Twenty Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty One

  Thirty Two

  Thirty Three

  Thirty Four

  Thirty Five

  Thirty Six

  Thirty Seven

  Thirty Eight

  Thirty Nine

  Forty

  Forty One

  Forty Two

  Forty Three

  Forty Four

  Forty Five

  Forty Six

  Forty Seven

  Forty Eight

  Forty Nine

  Fifty

  Fifty One

  Fifty Two

  Fifty Three

  Fifty Four

  Fifty Five

  Fifty Six

  Fifty Seven

  Fifty Eight

  Fifty Nine

  Sixty

  Sixty One

  Sixty Two

  Sixty Three

  Sixty Four

  Map

  Acknowledgements

  A Message to my Readers

  Also by Timothy Ellis

  The Hunter Legacy Timeline

  One

  The rift opened into what looked like a war bunker.

  I stepped through, with Tanith and Syrinx behind me, and the rift vanished. All movement in the room stopped.

  "Yes."

  A man standing to one side of a large table with skrying platters on it had spoken. His skin was void black like Tanith's, as was everyone else's in the room, but he wore a gold circlet in his hair, where no-one wore anything on their head at all. Their robes were rich and brightly coloured, with the man's being even more so than anyone else.

  "Yes," he said again.

  I finally managed to get my mouth open.

  "Yes," he said a third time.

  Would you like assistance? Shall we deal with the problem in orbit for you? Would you like to talk after? Three questions I'd had on my mind as I stepped through.

  A group of men on the far side of the room, before another water filled platter, did a synchronized arm pump. The ship showing in the water took a fireball hit a few seconds later. It didn't appear to have any effect.

  I looked around the room. Five more of these groups were doing the same thing. Another four groups were crouched around four more platters, all showing domes above cities. The domes were being continually hit by flashes of light, and the men all looked hard pressed.

  I looked back at the man wearing the circlet.

  "We'll be back shortly," I said.

  "No, you won't. But when you do come back, come to the palace."

  I looked at him for a few moments, and nodded. The rift back to BigMother appeared in front of me, and the three of us stepped through it.

  "Leave the sister behind next time," he said before the rift closed.

  "That was quick," said Amanda.

  "Don't they want our help?" asked Aleesha.

  "Magicians," I muttered.

  Tanith and Syrinx returned to their seats without a word. I sat in mine as well.

  "What about them?" asked Hobbes.

  "They know what you’re going to say before you say it."

  There was a general titter around the bridge. Syrinx rolled her eyes, but I pretended not to see. I looked at the captain hollos on the main console in front of me.

  "Saddle up," I went on. "They're under orbital bombardment, and yes, they want some help. Let me just check which formation is best."

  No-one answered, but I could see them selecting gun options, and hands were going to sticks and sliders.

  Closing my eyes, I opened my mind's eye, and looked towards the planet.

  I'd brought us to one side of the jump point in, on the assumption any threat would be there. Comnavsats quickly showed nothing on the other side as well. So I’d assumed the system was clear, and targeted a small rift to wherever on the planet the ruler was. Wrong!

  Now I looked at the fleet in orbit over the main continent. They were firing down onto each of the major cities, but they'd remained in a formation. Standard twelve ship Keerah fleet, made up of their cruisers and destroyers. I opened my eyes.

  "Line abreast please. BigMother has the middle, dreadnaughts on the end."

  I'd been practicing with rifts. Jen's Chariot had gone back to their own space days ago, to meet up with a second Scimitar Thorn had been building there. He was also building two more for the other frontier system with the Keerah. Both governments were paying us for licenses for the ships, and for Brawler fighters their own shipyards were now building. But Thorn could make the carriers faster, and all signs suggested they'd need them soon. Mine were too busy filling our needs.

  It took only minutes for the line to form, and I opened a rift wide enough for the Wayward Fleet to go through together. Given this was ten ships, it was a huge rift. It opened like a window, no longer using a grey oblong, but just enough of a visible frame for me to know it was big enough. Through it we could all see the enemy fleet, and if they were looking, they should be able to see us. I shifted the orientation slightly on the outward side.

  "Go, and fire."

  Jane had all ships targeted on the closest enemy, with Undaunted given three targets for her missiles.

  There was nothing sporting about this. The Keerah were attacking civilian targets. They were being held off by magic shields and fireballs, but this only had one ending without our intervention. The shields would fail, and the cities die.

  Normally I’d have told the Keerah to stand down or be destroyed, but it hadn't worked well in the past, and since the mages below were so hard pressed, the Keerah didn’t get a warning this time.

  As a line, we moved through. Twelve ships were blown apart over the course of five seconds. The rift closed behind us. Salvage droids deployed from all ships, and we sat there, letting Jane co-ordinate them, with the first priority being making sure nothing big entered the atmosphere.

  A voice channel opened from the planet.

  "Leave the debris. We can deal with it ourselves. You need to be somewhere else in a hurry."

  The channel closed abruptly.

  "What did he mean?" asked BA.

  I pulled out the navmap so I could see everywhere we h
ad comnavsats.

  "Oh," finished up BA.

  Two

  With Keerah fleets on their way across the Crossroad system, I'd been thinking about how to greet them.

  But Tanith had convinced me we needed to visit his people in a hurry instead. And he had only second hand knowledge, having received a message from one of Thorn's seers.

  I'd been mindful of the Keerah build up outside Thorn's two frontier systems as well, the Ralnor on their way to visit Karn again, with the Trixone having kept their word to me, having waited the full two weeks before returning to Solidario, now completely evacuated, and with the rift removed. Keeping tabs on our enemy's movements was becoming a full time job.

  My concerns over the last couple of weeks seemed to have materialized. The Keerah, having totally failed with their first attempts to invade our space, seemed to be coordinating their attacks now.

  I had only moments now to think in, and made some hasty decisions. Concentrating hard, I opened two rifts.

  "Wayward Two will go through the rift on the right," I ordered. "You'll be under Admiral Jen's orders, and be ready to fire on targets as soon as you're there. Line astern, and go now."

  "Follow me through," ordered O'Neil, and John Wayne immediately turned for the rift.

  He was followed by Greer and Relentless, Miriam and Katana, Gillan and Defiant, and Renaud and Undaunted. This left me with Sato and Dauntless, George and Scimitar, Eric and Claymore, and Jane's Unassailable. Wayward One had more fighters, but Wayward Two had significantly more missile launchers.

  I turned BigMother towards the left rift, and powered through. The others followed a few seconds apart. The rifts closed after the last ship through each, and we came to stop in a line across the top of the jump point, needing a few more seconds to swivel to point down at the jump in lane. This maneuver having been practiced a couple of times in the last week, made no orders necessary.

  Fighters began launching immediately, taking up squadron formations in the gaps between the ships.

  Around each jump point were arrayed local defensive fleets. Each one included two more Scimitars, although only Jen's ship had fighters as yet. They were already in position, but I doubted they'd be very effective, as the pilots were still all rookies. Nor did the carriers yet have their assault frigates.

  My new ones did. Identical copies of my General Custer, Scimitar had the brand new General Slim, Katana had General Patton, and Claymore had General Montgomery, the names all selected by their captains, who'd gone according to their origins. George was Australian sector, Miriam was American, and Eric had started out British.

  BigMother now carried three marine teams under Amanda and Aleesha, Scimitar also had three under Brigadier General O'Neill and his wife Sam's team six, while Claymore and Katana were carrying two SAS teams each. All four carriers made up the remainder of six teams with combat droids. It spread the teams out, but gave us flexibility if we needed it.

  I listened to Jane issuing targeting instructions. Not only we received them, but every ship in the defense fleets did as well. The local admiral hadn't been happy when he'd been informed days before, but the politicians at both ends of this space had been very determined. And he hadn't wanted to lose his job. Jane had been introduced as a one star Admiral in charge of fleet co-ordination, and all ships told to follow her instructions to the letter.

  The Keerah were once again demonstrating they were warriors. While they had no way of knowing what had gone wrong the last times they'd attacked us, they'd obviously come to a few conclusions. They now had a full fleet boxed up in a way all twelve ships could jump at once. And the second fleet were only five seconds instead of ten behind. Likewise the third fleet.

  Now I understood being told to get here. Both frontier systems were getting identical attacks, and without us, the defenders would have been overrun.

  "One. Fire."

  Jane was issuing audio commands this time, mainly because the timing was critical, and most of the ships here had no other way of getting the orders. Fixing this was on my list, but diplomacy came first.

  Nineteen human sized cruisers fired everything they had, guns and missiles, at six of the destroyers coming through. The rest of us augmented their firepower with missiles, and the fighters all fired torpedoes.

  The first fleet was shattered half a second after jumping, but the debris was large. A second launching of our missiles a second later made sure nothing was left capable of firing, and large debris became small debris, only seconds before the next fleet jumped. But the defending fleet was essentially out of this fight already, their guns recharging, and missile launchers reloading. With the exception of the two Scimitars.

  "Two," said Jane. "Fire."

  Three Scimitar titan turrets fired at the cruisers in the middle of the formation, while the battleship turrets and fixed guns fired at destroyers. BigMother divided fire between three destroyers, and the second local Scimitar divided between two destroyers, while Dauntless fired her complete broadside of battleship guns at two more, and Unassailable fired at the last destroyer. The fighters fired torpedoes a half second later.

  The second Keerah fleet also vanished into small debris a half second after jumping.

  Jane looked over at me, her face not showing anything, but I could tell she hated doing this as much as I did. Five seconds between fleets jumping was two seconds too long. The titan turrets were recharged in three, with everything else waiting for them.

  The last fleet had two battleships and two cruisers. It made no difference. Just changed the targeting. The defending fleet even managed to get missiles launched again, but we had more than enough firepower to repeat things for the third time.

  I sighed, looking at the debris field. I had to wonder about the Keerah mentality. Humans had once fought by making lines and advancing on the enemy regardless of the fire coming back. The Keerah appeared to be doing the same thing.

  "Salvage droids?" asked Jane.

  "Yes, but let's do something different this time."

  "What?" asked BA.

  "Make large balls of debris, and throw them back through the jump point."

  "You want me to aim at the station?" asked Jane.

  I paused. The navmap showed another fleet around the station, so in theory, they should be able to save it.

  "Do it."

  "Confirmed."

  Salvage droids launched from all the ships which had them, and began to clean up. On the navmap, I could see the same thing happening at the other jump point.

  "Jane, my compliments to the local admiral, they did well, but his ships fire too slow. He needs to put a requisition in for upgrades from our repair droids. Someone hasn’t been doing their job right, if they expected to defend this jump point with very outdated ships."

  "They'd have lost everything if we hadn't been here, wouldn’t they?"

  Amanda looked concerned.

  "That was the idea of putting the battleships in the final fleet. Even had they managed to kill the first two fleets, the battleships were supposed to take their fleet out as they recharged. They had no way of knowing about the Scimitars, but taking out the battleships would still have allowed the final cruisers and destroyers to kill all of them, including the carriers."

  I sighed again.

  "Are we staying here?" asked Annabelle. "Or going home for the next battle?"

  Three

  We went home.

  First we stopped in to collect Wayward Two. I already knew things had gone there almost the same, although if anything, the debris was smaller because of the number of missiles used.

  I made the same point about ships needing upgrades in a hurry to Jen, and just to emphasize it, in case she didn’t have any real pull, with the admiral who'd been forced to follow her lead. He didn’t believe they were that bad. I cut the channel, and sent a recommendation to Prime Minister Shanto he be replaced, and just how urgently their ships needed upgrading.

  By the time we were docked with Redoubt, sh
e'd replied, having put Jen formally in charge again, and having added fleet upgrades to the trading table. Council leader Tranallo also responded shortly after, requesting our aid to upgrade their fleet. They'd both had a firsthand look at just how effective their fleets were against the Keerah without Thorn keeping them at bay, and self-preservation tends to be a powerful motivator.

  Thorn himself hadn't responded to anyone's attempts to contact him, and I can't say I was surprised. They'd relied on him for so long, and neglected their military as a result. A wake up call was what they needed.

  Once all the ships were docked with Redoubt, I had Syrinx open rifts from bridges to both of the unmanned titans. George and Eric joined us on Trident, and the others went to Valkyrie. Before anyone was seated, Jeeves slapped a cat mat down on the console for Angel. She took her place as we all took ours.

  Somewhat to my surprise, when the captain hollos popped up, it was Miriam in the captain's chair, not O'Neil. As before, I deferred to Susan Bentley on Hammer, who'd been patiently waiting for hours now for her turn at bat.

  The Keerah had sent five fleets this time, all of them with two battleships in the middle, and all in the same box formation we'd just defeated. But even so, they were seriously outgunned, and had no idea they were. Orion was hanging well above the jump point now, her fighters pointing at the down jump lane, but Hallington looked like he expected not to be needed at all. I didn’t expect to need him either.

  One hundred and ninety two titan turrets verses sixty ships coming twelve at a time, wasn’t really a contest. Each of them received overkill, and half a second after jumping, turned into dust.

  I was beginning to feel sick. But the list of options was short at this point, and the others were more unacceptable than just pulverizing the attackers.

  An hour later and back on BigMother, the Wayward fleet was at the Karn jump point. The Ralnor were an hour away on the other side, and this time they had three battle fleets. It didn’t look like they'd learnt any lessons about jumping in more ships at a time though, but that could change before they jumped.

  I looked around the bridge, and then across the captain hollos. Jane shrugged, Amanda and Aleesha gave me identical 'what can you do' looks, and no-one looked happy.