Commemoration Voyage

By Charles Gray

Just over twenty years ago, Alvin White’s uncle died in battle with the Americans in a doomed attempt by the Korva Empire to take the colony world of New Washington.

Today, Cadet Alvin White and his squad are visiting the world as a part of their first trip away from their academy. But Alvin has another reason to be eager to arrive on New Washington—his mother asked him to carry out the commemoration ceremony for her dead brother. However, Alvin White may soon find out that not everyone is as eager as he is to see the ceremony enacted. Worse, not all the battles on New Washington will remain safely in the past...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Gray
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014

Charles Gray

Charles Gray is a 40 something history student who has likely spent far, far more time looking at the books of Parliament than is healthy for most people.On the other hand, historians argue with dead people and thus always get the last word. He is currently working on a number of science fiction and fantasy books, as well as "Abolition and Social Change" an academic work that will be certain to put many undergraduates to sleep, should they be assigned it in class.

Book preview

Title Page

Dedication

Prologue

Interlude

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

###

Commemoration Voyage

The Mystic Galaxy: Book I

Smashwords Edition

by

Charles E. Gray

Editing Services

by

Brian Henderson

&

Lori Henderson

All rights are ©2014 Charles E. Gray

To Mom and Dad.

It’s not Captain Future, but I hope you

would have liked it.

Prologue

When Terra emerged from the null-zone, it shook the entire galaxy. Since time immemorial, the assumption had been that sorcery was indispensable to any advanced culture and that worlds in the null-zone, if they support life at all, were hosts to howling barbarians, not civilized cultures. For a time, Terran technology allowed the planet’s major nations to advance nearly unopposed. However, they soon found that galactic society was more flexible than they had been given to believe…

Dragon Against the Eagle: the Korva-American War.

University of Dallas Press, 2022.

Fleet Landing Ship Vigil.

I want those skimmers readied now, Milos Sarran snarled over the phone. I don’t care if they are the second wave, unpack them and get them ready. He returned the phone to its cradle, at the last second restraining himself from slamming it down. Turning around to look at the big hanger bay, Milos ran his hand through his close-cropped brown hair. Ground support and troop carrier aircraft were being moved forward, while behind them the sounds of continued work echoed from the ramps leading down to the vehicle hanger bays. A monorail cargo hoist moved forward, applique armor packs readied to be attached to a bulky combat carrier. Behind it, a CAS aircraft was partially opened up, it’s flight crew giving its lift rings a last-minute check.

Problems, cargomaster?

Milos didn’t start. Anyone who spent any time at all on the Vigil learned how quietly the captain could sneak up behind them.

No sir, he said. We have some new cargo-handlers who don’t seem to understand we’re entering a hot zone.

Captain Shalls nodded. The korva topped Milos’ 6’2 frame by at least two feet. Big even for a korva, his scales gleamed under the bay’s lights. His mouth was closed, which was a good sign. Korva did not smile as a sign of amusement.

Excellent. You will be at the pre-emergence briefing, correct? Shalls’ asked as he leafed through a clipboard he held in one taloned hand.

Yes sir, Milos said unsurprised that the captain wanted to make certain he’d be in attendance. After all, cargomasters were part of the reason fleet landing ships existed. I’m just about finished here, he continued, gesturing to the chaotic activity in the hanger bay. First echelon forces can be offloaded the moment we make transition. Second echelon will be ready about five minutes later.

So long? The captain opened his eyes wide in a korva’s expression of amusement.

I don’t think we want everything stuffed into the ready bays, since it might be embarrassing if say…

Our commanders are over optimistic about how secured the zone is? Very good, cargomaster. Shalls nodded again. "After all, being ready can hardly inconvenience us if everything goes right."

Milos saluted the captain as he walked off, no doubt to check in with other departments. Captain Shalls was a good commander and generally did not micromanage his departments, but today was special. Today the Vigil would engage forces of the United States for the first time in its career.

###

Several hours later, Milos sat among the rest of the ship’s officers and attached troop commanders. The Vigil did not have a dedicating briefing room so the officer’s mess had been cleared for the purpose. In front of the room, Captain Shalls and Force Commander Raza were standing together, consulting over last minute changes to their briefing.

They must be really nervous if they’re changing it now, Milos thought. When a ship was transiting the silver lanes, communicating with the outside world was impossible under all but a few conditions, none of which applied to the Vigil.

Milos took the opportunity to covertly survey his fellow officers. The Vigil’s crew was a tight knit community and Milos could see Sharra frowning as she went over her clipboard, no doubt preparing to answer any questions that might be asked about the Vigil’s readiness to engage the enemy. He didn’t worry. Sharra was always frowning before an action but the Vigil’s gunnery officer had never failed. Like Milos, she was a human, or rather, as one could see from her large eyes and luxuriant violet hair, one of the many human derived species that existed in this part of the galaxy, some modified by intelligent beings, others diverging as they became more suited for their homeworlds.

Finally, Captain Shalls nodded to the force commander and raised his hand to still the murmured conversations among the gathered officers.

Fellow officers. Until today, we have not had the privilege of standing against the Americans. Our ship has served the Empire well, but always in other sectors.

Milos nodded. The war with the Americans had pulled forces away from every other border and pirates had quickly taken advantage of that lapse. The Vigil had been part of the thinly spread boarder forces that had been all the Empire could spare. The fact that they had been forced to keep patrolling in secondary theaters had resulted in more than a little grumbling among both the enlisted men and the officers.

And I might state that our service has been exemplary— as witnessed by the fact that we left no pirates behind us when we were deployed to this front.

There was a subdued rumble of laughter at that, even as Captain Shalls exposed his teeth in the expression that only a fool mistook for a human style smile. Most of the seated officers returned that smile. After all, the Vigil had left very few pirates alive to do anything, let along trouble the border. Especially those who dabbled in slave-taking. Milos had helped set up the gallows himself for those.

And it wasn’t bad at all for morale. The grumbling had largely stopped the first time they cleaned up a major pirate band.

"But now we come to the Vigil’s greatest mission. Shalls fell silent for a moment, letting the tension rise. You all know that the conflict has not been going as well as certain of the Emperor’s advisers had claimed it would."

The room fell silent. Granted, the Empire expected honesty of its officers, but openly criticizing the decisions of the Emperor or his advisers could be a good way to find someone’s promotion prospects unexpectedly…stalled.

On the other hand, only a blind man wouldn’t see the truth. The Americans had burst onto the galactic scene with their incredible technology, and the Empire had taken what it could. After all, sorcery was difficult and even accelerated training programs could only do so much. It was one thing to use rituals— Milos did so himself— but quite another to master the sorcery that could be used in battle or the great spells. The Empire benefited from the fact that unlike so many mage ruled nations, it sought out and encouraged talented individuals to obtain mystic training, but even so there were never enough mages to go around. Milos frowned. That could be proven by the fact that the Vigil didn’t have any mages attached to its crew and the landing