Starwarden

Starwarden

Almek Manning Book 2

By J.A. Dalley

This book and parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means–electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise–without prior written permission of the author, expect as provided by the United States of America copyright law.

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This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are fictitious and any resemblance to real people and events is purely coincidental. Any non-fictional trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This is a work of J.A. Dalley

http://www.almekmanning.com

Published by James Dalley at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, and Goodreads.

Copyright © 2012 by James Andrew Dalley

Cover Art by Graphicz X Designs

ISBN: 978-0-9858049-1-6

Books in the Almek Manning Series

The Zochtil

Starwarden

Caledonian Cabal*

Book 4*

Book 5*

*Forthcoming

To All My Friends

Who have supported me on my journey

And to the many new friends I’ve made along the way…

PRAISE FOR THE ZOCHTIL

"We have aliens from both sides of the fence. What I mean by this is that we don’t have aliens that are all against us, and we don’t have aliens that are all for us, and in some cases we have aliens that are more or less neutral…

"The characters in this book are very well-formed, you feel an attachment to each one of them, and when one of them fails or is killed you feel the sadness with or for them. In addition to well formed characters the storyline was well written, I found it quite exciting, and I enjoyed the fast-paced action scenes, as well as some of the more average training in day-to-day activities scenes."

~Matt McIntosh

SciFiFX.com

"As a big fan of science fiction I found The Zochtil to be a great story and an enjoyable read. The depth of the characters and the pace of the story keeps the reader engrossed and wanting to know what happens next. Packed with action and plenty of sci-fi elements, J.A. Dalley creates a universe that draws you in and makes you feel as if you are right there with the characters. The Zochtil is the first book in the series and I for one can’t wait to read the next books to come."

~James Freeland

Author of Star Catcher

"I was enthralled by the story … A wonderful story for young and old."

~Ted Guglielmo

Goodreads.com

"I cannot wait to read the next story."

~Justin

Goodreads.com

Part 1

The Academy

Chapter 1

Human History 101

Attention!

All the midshipmen in the room jumped to attention.

About face!

We turned so that we were facing in the direction of the Academy’s flags, which were posted on top of the central hub of the Academy Space Station. Out in the vacuum of space, there were three flags: the Presidential Council flag, the Solar Fleet flag, and the Academy flag.

Follow me in the Pledge of Allegiance!

I pledge allegiance to the Presidential Council and to the ideals of the Republic. Many nations united, under God, for the good of all.

Then we continued on with the special addition specially adopted by the servicemen.

We pledge our lives, our property, and our sacred honor to the protection of the Presidential Council. Duty! Honor! Planet!

Remain standing for the Solar Fleet Anthem, a voice continued over the loudspeaker.

We all joined in as an ensign led us in a powerful rendition of Up Ship! As we sang the anthem, I glanced around the room, looking at the faces of old friends, new friends, and many whom I did not yet know. This was where I belonged. I was in training to be an officer in the Solar Fleet, the second most powerful space navy in the solar system. I wanted to captain a starship one day, but that would be in the distant future. Right now, I was just a midshipman, and captain was six pay grades above me.

At ease, the captain said. "Welcome to the most exciting class here at the Academy. I am Captain Hill, and I teach Human History 101 for plebes.

I’ve been in the military a long time, and I’ve been at the Academy since the Fleet bought it. I know that you’re all thinking that this is a blow-off class, and that you can BS your way through it. You won’t get away with that in my class! History is important. History shows us why we fight. This class will cover from the fourteenth century up through today in three months, so we’re going to have a busy trimester. Are you sailors up for it?

We were all silent.

I asked if you lousy bunch of plebes were up to the challenge?

Sir, yes, sir! we all barked at him, but not in unison.

He smiled and shook his head. "Well, at least I know I’m not dealing with a bunch of marines. Just so I know that you’re all caught up on recent events, I’ll start with a brief summary of modern history.

"When the third world war ended, the United States of America, which then covered all of North America and most of South America, along with the United Kingdom, Russia, and–of course–Australia, united under the flag of the UE, or United Earth. Over the next two decades, the UE covered most of the globe as well as Luna colony. And, at the end of that period, the first commercial space station opened up, Geary Spacedock.

"After three decades of peace, the United Earth Navy had built three starships. Those ships were the UES Explorer, the USS Independence, and the UES Mayflower. As you all know, the first two exploded when they tried to pass the speed of light. Then Lieutenant Randy Kelven pitched in. He invented the Kelven drive, which allowed the UES Mayflower to successfully achieve hyper-light speed.

"However, this was not a joyous occasion. When the Mayflower reached the border of our system, it was stopped in its tracks by the Draconian Empire.

The Draconians are, for lack of a better description, half-dragon. These creatures look like they came straight out of a medieval fantasy, except that they have ships that are thousands of years ahead of ours.

Not thousands, I heard the voice of Midshipman Richard Winters in my head, via cranial implant. I had only met Richard three months ago, but we had become instant friends. Well, not quite instant. He tried to kill me, and then we became friends. He had spent a year in R&D while he was on a special internship program with the Solar Marine Corps. However, he had decided that the Corps wasn’t for him, because he wanted to be the chief engineer of a starship. Richard was a genius and was probably the best scientist since Lieutenant Kelven. The Draconians are only three hundred years ahead of us.

Shut up! I shouted at him over the implant. There were only about fifteen or twenty people in the Solar Fleet who had received cranial implants, which were invented by the Canids. The Canids are a dog-like species who were brought to the brink of extinction by the Draconians. The Canids have only one ship left, the Zochtil, but their databases are packed full of Canid, Draconian, Passerine, and Garm technology, along with a few gigabytes of human tech that they deemed interesting.

Just make sure you don’t let a comment like that slip out on accident, Jenny said to him. Jenny was my best friend in the whole system, and I thought of her as my older sister. She had kept me alive while we roamed the bombed-out streets of London, which the United Monarchy of Europe had turned into a massive detention facility.

She was worried about a slip like that, because only a very few people were aware of any alien species other than the Draconians.

Shut up all of you! I’m trying to listen. Jade said. Jade was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was also funny, smart, athletic, and the best navigator in the Fleet. It was for the last reason I hadn’t pursued a romantic relationship with her. I needed a good navigator more than I needed a girlfriend. I hoped that one day something might come of our friendship, but I wanted to command a starship, and I wanted the best navigator in the Fleet at the conn.

Like you’re paying attention, I said.

Hush, Almek, Nicole hissed. Nicole was the most brilliant strategist of my squad. She would probably make admiral before any of us, and she might even become Sky Marshal someday.

"After the Mayflower Incident, Captain Hill continued, oblivious to the heated argument going on between some of his students. United Earth sent out the largest fleet they could muster, which obviously wasn’t large enough. The main problem with this fleet was that all of the ships were sub-light ships. Their goal was the Draconian blockade, but a battle broke out at the asteroid belt amongst the ships. This fleet consisted of ships from the US, the UK, and Australia. At the asteroid field, the Australians broke off and headed back to earth. The US ships started firing on them in a panic, and the first space battle since WWIII erupted among allies that day. When the battle was over, the shattered, and much smaller fleet, slowly trudged onward to the blockade. Captain Bartholomew Kitt, who is now the Sky Marshal, held this small flotilla together. Those ships gathered as much information about the blockade as possible without drawing the Draconians into battle.

"The Sky Marshal then turned the flotilla around, returning in time to find earth in the midst of a world-wide Civil War that ended up splitting United Earth apart. The Presidential Council and the United Monarchy of Europe agreed to a cease-fire almost ten years ago, but–as you know–things have been tense ever since then.

"At the same time as the signing of the cease-fire, a young businessman, Jack Dalton, launched a new company, Dalton Space Industries. A year later, Dalton Spaceways was built, which–as he likes to style it–became the largest mall in the Solar System. It took him just one more year to build the first colony station, Plymouth Station. Two years after that, he started construction of the not-yet-completed second ring of Dalton Spaceways. After another two years, DSI completed Island One, the largest colony station that has been built. And, just last week, DSI announced that construction of a third colony station, Island Two, will begin shortly. This new colony station will be a mining colony in the asteroid belt.

"After the Civil War, the PC also started building stations and colonizing planets. The PC’s first move was to buy Geary Spacedock, which was quickly going downhill after the creation of Dalton Spaceways, and we converted Geary Spacedock into the Academy. The PC colonized Ganymede three years ago, and we currently have teams terraforming Venus.

On the other side, the UME has colonized Mars, and–based on our images–the colony on Mars is huge. Two years ago, the UME built their colony on Titan. And that is how things stand.

A midshipman raised his hand. What about the recent attack by the UME against one of our convoys to Ganymede?

"The recent hostilities, Hill emphasized the politically correct term, have been overlooked as an accident, and the cease-fire remains in place."

The cease-fire won’t last for long, I stated.

And why do you say that, Midshipman Manning? Captain Hill asked.

"Humans are expanding. We need more room. Wars are caused by two things: population pressure and government greed. Sure, we can keep terraforming more planets, but there are earth-like planets out there in the rest of the galaxy that we can colonize with little or no terraforming. We need to expand. The population pressure will eventually bring us to war with the UME, and then with the Draconians. It is only a matter of time."

Population pressure? he said. Would you care to back that up?

Sure, I said, now getting a little anxious. The Sky Marshal had explained this to me three days earlier, while we were on the Zochtil.

Good, I want a five-thousand word report on it by our next class.

I gasped and was about to object when Jenny’s voice came through the implant. Almek, just say sir, yes, sir.

Sir, yes, sir! I said, though it was hard. I had spent about half a decade on the streets of London Proper as the leader of a gang of teenagers. I was more accustomed to leading than to taking orders.

So, Almek, the captain continued. Do you suggest that we just bomb the daylights out of the UME?

No, sir, I said. We send down the Solar Marine Corps, the STARs, and Dalton Space Force’s Blue Squadron. We take Europe, Titan, and Mars. Game over, we win.

It isn’t that simple, Hill said. Would anyone like to explain why?

Nicole raised her hand.

Yes, Midshipman Taylor.

It would be that simple if we had a big enough Marine Corps, but it’s not that big. However, we could…

That is enough speculation for one day, Hill said. This is a history class.

Sir, another midshipman asked. Why don’t we just attack the blockade?

Taylor, Hill said. Would you like to answer that one?

Yes, sir,

Don’t slip up, Isaac Jones hissed. Remember, we’re just dumb midshipmen. Isaac had been the recruit commander of my division at Boot Camp. We had started out hating each other, but for our final test we were paired up as captain and commander. You have to learn to like your exec or else you can’t run a ship. So I learned to like Isaac.

Shut up! Nicole replied. We could probably beat the Draconian blockade if we sent most of our ships. However, as only about half of those ships are capable of sustained K-flight, the Fleet would spend most of its time traveling at a fraction of c. This would allow the UME to have free reign of Earth and the Presidential Council’s colonies. We cannot fight the Draconians until the UME has been crushed.

Well put, Captain Hill said.

Captain Hill moved on to discuss the syllabus, and I let my brain wander. I pulled up the files on the shuttle I would be conning for my next class. It was a SAP: Shuttle All-Purpose. Its acceleration was dismal, but I hadn’t ever conned anything before, so it would be fun.

The bell rang, and every midshipman in the room jumped up and rushed out of the room.

Don’t forget the essay, Midshipman Manning.

I won’t, sir, I said, as I passed him on my way out.

My squad and I all headed down to the docking bay for the SAPs. Well, most of my squad. Jade had passed the SAP quals before we got to the Academy. She had gone through a special simulation at Boot Camp so that she could have a head start. Armistead and Palmer were in the Academy’s flight school program, and their coursework was all accelerated so they could spend half of their time in zero-g flight training.

Welcome to Basic Conning, the chief petty officer said. I am Chief Petty Officer Stanford. I will be instructing you on how to conn everything from an escape pod to a SAP.

I looked around at the class. Even though three of my squad weren’t there, my squad still had a big presence. We made up almost half of the class.

Today, we won’t actually leave the docking bay. There was a collective groan from the class. A few of you have done some research and found out about the different types of escape pods, but most of you haven’t, so that is what we will discuss today.

After basic conning, my squad split up, and I went to my Calculus class.

The Academy wasn’t just a school. It was the second largest station in orbit, and it was the largest Solar Fleet military base. Only the first ring and the central hub were used for the Academy. The second and third rings housed the Fleet Base, which was packed full of thousands of fighters and bombers, hundreds of SAPs, and about ten cruisers at any one time. The outer ring of the station was commercial. It wasn’t anything like Dalton Spaceways, but it was