Blake's 7: Lucifer

By Untreed Reads

Many legends surround the aftermath of the collapse of The Federation, including the fate of Kerr Avon...

What happened to Avon after the death of Blake and the crew of the Scorpio? Paul Darrow's vivid re-imagining picks up Avon's story at the final moments of the final episode of Blake's 7 and follows him on his fight for survival, this time with no crew and no ship to help him.

The adventure continues years later as Avon, now an old man, finds himself a key player in the game of power politics being played out on a grand scale by The Quartet - four ruthless leaders in an uneasy alliance, who govern the world in place of the Federation. Old enemies resurface and dangerous new ones appear as the time comes for old scores to finally be settled...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Untreed Reads
• Release date: May 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781780473

Book preview

EPILOGUE

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE QUARTET

Head of the Terran Federation, successor to the High Council. Based on the Earth-like planet Iphigenia and its moon, Niobe; and on the Hub, a man-made planetoid orbiting Mars.

Doctor Pandora Ess, former aide to Servalan

Rafael de Horn, ex-military

General Gregor Steiner, ex-military

Professor Claude Witt, an economist

also

Eugene Furneaux, Witt’s lover and protegé

Kafka, Ess’s bodyguard

Servalan, former President of the Terran Federation

THE BASE

Warship assigned to the outer reaches of Terran space in the last years of the Federation: its scout ship, the Icarus; its recovery vessel, the Plough.

Gabriella, the Commandant

Alphonse Dreyfus, her deputy

March Dreyfus, his sister and head of Alpha crew

Shiloh, her second-in-command

Major Joel Cannon

Skarn, a veteran trooper

THE ISLAND PLANET OF Gaius 7

A splinter of Gaius 7, a planet in the Beyond. The island is now drifting through the planetary system of Aegisthus.

Kerr Avon, former freedom fighter/terrorist

Magda, his lover

Cassandra, her mother

EASTERN EARTH

Formerly the People’s Republic of China, now in effective control of Earth and its moon, Hebe.

Li Lim, leader of Eastern Earth forces

Yu Chang, his cousin and deputy

Sun Teng, second-in-command to Li Lim

also

Li Kang

Feng Sun, his second-in-command

Fu Ti

Commander Kwai

SPACECRAFT MIRANDA

Prime space, 20 years earlier

Serge Collon

Miranda, his daughter

Dancer, his son

Reuben

Hector, the pilot

Swan, on-board computer

OTHERS

Rufus Pearl, former owner of the Miranda, warlord of the Beyond, and an elite alien Grey

Rene Genoa, Federation attack cruiser captain

Kurt Genoa, Federation grandee, his father

Lucifer:

A match to light a fire…

A fallen angel…

Satan.

* * *

Let us to’t pell-mell

If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell!

Richard III, Act V Sc iii

William Shakespeare

PROLOGUE

There was a time when the Federation ruled – or at least had control over – the known universe, as well as continually expanding into the unknown. Until, that is, it reached what was known as the Edge of the Beyond.

Whilst ambition is in many cases admirable, it was here that the aspirations of the Federation, tainted with hubris, proved too great. Ignoring the fact that its supply lines were overstretched, it launched an attack upon the disparate warlords who inhabited the Beyond.

Not so disparate, the warlords, forewarned, launched a series of hit-and-run counter attacks that soon had the Federation forces reeling. Unable to sustain their foolhardy adventure, they broke and ran out of the Beyond and through the Edge, with warlords and their voracious followers in hot pursuit.

Nemesis!

Not as ambitious as their defeated opponents, the warlords – there were seven, each commanding at least a thousand men and women, well equipped and possessed of fast, heavily armed, gunships – plundered Federation territory, and showed no mercy to any unfortunates who were wounded or otherwise unable to keep up with their retreating comrades. Then, wisely, they withdrew to where they had come from.

They did not know, nor did they care, that they had dealt a mortal blow. For, within an Earth year, the edifice that had once been a mighty empire crumbled and fell. They, the warlords, went back to their old ways. Feuding and fighting, raping and pillaging… until, that is, any other threat to their way of life should present itself.

And yet, one empire can soon be replaced by another and often is. Opportunists abound and are quick to take advantage of the disadvantages of others. So it would inevitably come to pass that the Federation would be replaced by what would appear to be, in the beginning, a benign dictatorship. But a dictatorship, nonetheless.

Of course, before that could happen, the people of the fallen empire needed to be appeased. Promises of health, wealth and happiness had to be made and those who made them needed to be plausible, likeable and masters – or mistresses – of duplicity, and there has never been a time when one or two such beings failed to make themselves available.

But the appeasement of the people, the mob crying out for blood, had to come first. Charismatic men and women with hitherto untapped ambition – that word again – and a sense of how their fellow beings could be manipulated by the strength of their will, came to the fore. They very quickly imposed themselves and formed committees and private armies.

Coming together, these committees and armies sought out their former leaders on Earth and, having captured those who had not had the foresight to flee their wrath, placed them on trial, convicted and executed them.

The executions were not a pretty sight. The male convicts were castrated and eviscerated before being bludgeoned to death by selected ‘deserving’ members of the public, whilst a baying crowd looked on. Females, if deemed attractive enough, were branded with hot irons and sold to the brothels that served the hoi polloi. The unattractive were publicly beheaded.

Four leaders emerged from apparent chaos. Present and future enemies would refer to them as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Excepting that one was a woman and they rarely rode horses, the description would prove to be apt. They were clever. Of the three men, two of them were ex-military, the third a renowned economist. The woman was an unsavoury character called Doctor Ess. Although no-one knew in which field she held her doctorate, and she wasn’t letting on; suffice it to say she would prove to be the real power behind the future – leaner and meaner than the Federation – Empire.

Gregor Steiner and Rafael de Horn, the former army men, secured the fragile loyalty of what was left of the military by means of lavish gifts, promotions, payment in gold instead of devalued credits, and other incentives that were hard to resist. In addition, they created an elite force called the Iron Guards, these being carefully selected, physically fit men and women, ruthless in their allegiance to their founders. Also, a new police force was formed from those who had been observed to be at the forefront of the vengeful mob.

Meanwhile, Doctor Ess, in company with the economist Professor Claude Witt, created her own power base by exercising control over all financial matters and forming her own personal guard.

It took a while, but the Quartet, as they were officially described, restored order out of the chaos of what was a shrinking but volatile Earth population. They then turned their attention toward the heavens with a view to salvaging what was left of the ravaged former empire.

All too well aware that the fickle peoples of former-Federation Earth could turn upon them, they moved quickly. They needed a long-term plan that would allow them to settle on a new planet which could become the heart of their new Empire. From where they could exercise greater control of Earth. Always assuming they would not decide to abandon it.

Earth’s moon had been settled for a century. Massive domes housed life-sustaining machinery, as well as artificially cultivated agricultural land, greenhouses for tending edible crops, vineyards and luxurious accommodation. Water was obtained from deep drilled wells. Each dome resembled a huge glass cage protecting pleasant, open-planned townships and villages. Hebe, the moon, was an ideal relocation for the rich and infamous.

It was to here, then, that some who managed to escape the clutches of those who would humiliate and ultimately destroy them had fled. As few as two thousand Federation grandees boosted the population. Itself no more than half a million, they were easily accommodated. Provided they were wealthy and influential.

To their former close comrades (nearly forty thousand were executed) and those lesser mortals (seven million of whom lost their lives) they gave no thought. A world awash with blood was no longer their concern.

But the bloody Earth did, for the time being at least, concern the Quartet. Temporarily calmed, it was inevitable that racial, religious and other wars would flare up, as they had throughout many centuries. Hebe, therefore, could be a useful reacquisition.

However, as General Steiner – a sixty-year-old sadist who had turned his coat as soon as he saw the writing on the wall for the Federation – pointed out, the populace of Hebe, protected by nuclear-resistant domes, could also fight back.

It would be necessary to look at other areas of the once-upon-a-time Federation hegemony. These included a man-made planetoid orbiting Mars known as the Hub; Mars itself; part of the surface of Uranus and its tumbling moon Miranda; some smaller conquered planets – principal among which was Earth-like Iphigenia; and, far, far away, a huge, domed warship known as the Base.

All but the inhabitants of the Base had been, or were about to be, contacted by the Quartet and none seemed unwilling to accept the change of management, as it were. It was as if, to them, the Federation had merely taken a new direction.

As long as they could eat, drink and occasionally be merry, most viewed the new situation with indifference and few suspected that a new reign of terror was about to subsume them.

After all, if the Quartet could, as it seemed it had, settle matters on Earth and satisfy – or appear to satisfy – an individual’s needs elsewhere, it would be all to the good. Anyway, what alternative was there?

Thus it was, as it has always been, that the apathy of the many suckled the tyranny of the few.

PART ONE

Now

CHAPTER ONE

There was no disputing the fact that she was beautiful. Even men of alternate sexual tastes found her – almost – irresistible and, as she wandered the seemingly endless corridors of the largest warship built by man, she drew admiring, though somewhat fearful, glances. Gabriella was, after all, the commandant of the Base and, as such, held the power of life and death over her subordinates. A power she could exercise upon a mere whim. She had lots of whims.

Accompanied by her second-in-command, and not so secret lover, Alphonse Dreyfus, she entered the Base’s technical heart – the domain of one of the few men resistant to her charms. Major Joel Cannon was twice her age and a veteran of too many failed, dismal sexual encounters to become easily beguiled. Further, he understood the ruthless ambition that seethed beneath her lovely exterior.

‘Good morning, Major Cannon,’ she said, a sweet smile playing on her ripe lips.

‘Is it?’ replied Cannon, not looking at her.

The smile disappeared. ‘It is on Earth.’

‘Well, it might be morning there, but it’s anything but good.’ Cannon indicated one of three massive screens upon which played a silent montage of scenes of extreme violence and bloodshed which included footage of cruel executions.

Dreyfus intervened. ‘Get to the point, Cannon,’ he hissed. ‘Gabriella and I are not here on a social call.’

She silenced him with the wave of a delicate hand. ‘Why are we here?’ she enquired. The smile had returned.

‘Icarus is down.’

‘Impossible!’ Dreyfus said.

‘Nothing is impossible,’ growled Cannon. He placed a cheroot in his mouth and took his time lighting it.

‘What happened?’ Gabriella asked, unflustered.

‘Icarus encountered an unusually large asteroid shower and, in taking evasive action, entered the atmosphere of an island planet that shouldn’t have been there. Gravity did the rest. As of now, our only functioning reconnaissance craft is lying half in, half out of a lake.’

‘How did this island planet get there?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘Humour me.’

Cannon blew a cloud of smoke and cleared his throat. Dreyfus coughed theatrically.

‘An island planet is what we call a sliver of a planet that has separated from the original. There are various causes, the most likely being that two planets almost collided, thereby creating atmospheric conditions resulting in earthquakes, tsunamis, violent storms… Well, a piece of the planet fell away and drifted into Icarus’s altered flight path. The asteroid shower confused the on-board computer and the pilot couldn’t be warned in time.’

Dreyfus sighed.

Gabriella eased the cheroot from Cannon’s hand, took a long drag, blew a smoke ring and bestowed another of her seemingly benign smiles as she handed it back. ‘What’s to do about it?’ she said.

Cannon shrugged. ‘We’ll have to send the Plough after it.’

‘Why can’t the crew try for lift-off?’ Dreyfus asked.

‘The only things they could try would be to light their rocket boosters or reverse-fire their missiles. As they are half submerged, both could be tricky. I notice the welfare of the crew is assumed, rather than being your first concern.’

Dreyfus scowled.

‘All right,’ Gabriella patted her elegant, blonde coiffure, ‘send the Plough.’

It was Cannon’s turn to smile. ‘It’s on its way.’

‘If you didn’t care to await my permission, there must be another reason why you have summoned us here,’ Gabriella said coolly.

‘I thought you’d never ask!’ Cannon’s smile seemed fixed in place. ‘I’ve identified the original planet from which the island subtracted itself.’ He touched a switch and another screen showed the outline of an apparently verdant planet, half the size of Earth’s moon. ‘It’s called Gaius 7. Renegade Federation troops, bandits and others used it as a dumping ground. It was there that they set aside captured, high-profile terrorists in the hope and expectation of reward or ransom. As the Federation gradually abandoned the territory, those hopes have been dashed and there are no expectations.’

‘Are you saying that terrorists may be alive on this island planet?’ Dreyfus seemed agitated.

‘It seems a reasonable supposition.’

Gabriella looked thoughtful for a moment, then brightened. ‘But the Federation has been less than active in the area for years. It’s only after the debacle that was the attempted invasion of the Beyond that we’ve been obliged to return to this space. Which means –’ she paused for effect, ‘any surviving terrorists are likely to be geriatrics and hardly dangerous.’

Cannon looked aggrieved. ‘I fought in this area when I was much younger, before the Federation hierarchy decided, in its wisdom, that there were juicier pickings elsewhere. Would you describe me as a geriatric and hardly dangerous?’

Gabriella placed a comforting arm on his shoulder. ‘Not at all. You may be old, but the fact that you are dangerous is the reason you hold your position here,’ she said enticingly.

Dreyfus didn’t like Gabriella’s flirtatiousness with the older man. ‘We’d better send a crew of troopers just in case,’ he suggested.

Cannon recovered his composure. ‘I took the liberty of assigning Alpha crew to the Plough,’ he said quietly.

Dreyfus tensed.

Gabriella laughed out loud.

The Plough was an old-type recovery vessel, equipped with cranes and other means of extracting fallen spacecraft from the difficult situations in which they found themselves. Shaped like an aircraft carrier from the distant past, it carried sufficient armaments to deter would-be aggressors and, on this occasion, played host to two jet heliplanes. The heliplanes were armed with machine guns and hellfire rockets.

Alpha crew’s members were armed with Five7 handguns, rapid-fire pump-action shotguns, a sniper rifle and phosphorus grenades. The crew’s leader was a tight-lipped, strict disciplinarian who, it had not gone unnoticed, revelled in violent contact. Her name was March Dreyfus. She was Alphonse Dreyfus’s sister and Cannon didn’t like her.

*

The island planet was not an unpleasant place, as Icarus’s wary crew of three had already discovered. The on-board computer had indicated that the air was warm and breathable and that what looked like sunlight was, indeed, the light of distant suns reflecting off dying stars. So they cautiously explored the area close by the stricken spacecraft. As the rear was floating in water of unknown depth, it was necessary for them to exit through the forward cockpit and drop onto a sandy beach fringed by palm trees. Beyond these trees was open marshland, dissected by banks of solid earth. It was clear that rice and other crops were being cultivated.

Aware that there was a possibility any inhabitants might be hostile, the pilot decided that discretion was the better part of valour and returned to the relative safety of the spacecraft with his crew. There the three men waited patiently for the Plough to arrive, nervous fingers on the triggers of their handguns.

Suddenly, there emerged from the palm-tree fringe that they had so recently explored an extraordinary sight. A naked man covered in tattoos. He began to perform a series of dances and gymnastics that showed remarkable skill and agility. The pilot and the others were fascinated.

After a few minutes, their entertaining visitor pirouetted to a halt and remained as still as a statue. Then, he executed a perfect bow and melted away into the trees.

The pilot opened the cockpit hatch and gazed out. Which was when the crossbow bolt, to which was attached a phosphorus grenade, struck him in the face. He fell backwards and the grenade ignited. Whilst the pilot died instantly, the two remaining Icarus crew members took all of a minute to suffocate and burn.

The naked entertainer reappeared, accompanied by a handsome, middle-aged woman. She was fully dressed and held a crossbow by her side. The dancer cautiously approached the stricken spacecraft, sniffing the air as he did so.

Whilst wisps of smoke escaped the cockpit, the fire that had killed the pilot’s comrades had gone out as quickly as it had flared up.

‘He was right,’ whispered the dancer.

The woman sighed. ‘Did you expect him to be wrong? And why are you whispering? The dead can’t hear you.’

‘How do you know they can’t?’

‘Well, when I die and if I find out they can, I’ll try to let you know.’

The dancer drew closer to Icarus’s cockpit, still sniffing.

There was the trumpeting sound of a distant horn. They turned towards it.

‘Time to go,’ said the woman.

‘But we only just got here.’

‘Stay if you want to.’ The woman walked away and merged into the palm trees.

The dancer gazed up at what was now a metallic sky. After a moment, and a final glance at Icarus, he shrugged and followed her. There was absolute silence. It was as if heaven – or hell, depending on your point of view – was holding its breath.

*

That silence was broken by the scream of a jet engine shutting down, followed by the thud of rotor