The Centaurus Legacy

By Tom Bielawski

22nd Century lawman, Marshal Heck Thomas, suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law when a criminal mafia mastermind with connections to the government links him to a series of heinous crimes. With the Bureau of Investigation and the Commonwealth Fleet in pursuit, Marshal Thomas must find a way to avoid capture by corrupt officials, clear his name, and prevent the dangerous Centaurus technology from tipping the balance of power forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tom Bielawski
• Release date: Apr 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311166715

Tom Bielawski

A veteran of the US Marines. 2 years in Afghanistan as an International Mentor. A husband, a father of two, and a CF Dad. My hobbies include spending time with my family, trout fishing, fly fishing, bass fishing, camping, fishing, horses, fishing and fishing. Contact me: www.facebook.com/thechroniclesofllars www.tombielawski.com

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T H E C E N T A U R U S

L E G A C Y

by Tom Bielawski

Copyright 2012 Smashwords Edition

T H E C E N T A U R U S

L E G A C Y

by Tom Bielawski

Copyright 2012 Smashwords Edition

A word about Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

I am a CF dad; someone I love needs a cure.

CF is a genetic, inherited, disease that affects the lungs and digestive systems of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States, and 70,000 worldwide. A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick and sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections, and obstructs the pancreas stopping the natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

This disease used to be a death sentence. Now, more and more people with CF are living into their 30's, 40's, and beyond. And that is thanks in large part to organizations like Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and others who have supported and driven the research community with awesome fundraisers, studies, and media attention.

Please support Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Cystic Life, Boomer Esiason Foundation, or any other great organization that is helping to fight this terrible disease.

Thank you,

Tom Bielawski

Prologue

In the 1960’s, treaties regarding colonialism in space were established, preventing nations from claiming new territory for themselves on the Moon, on Mars, and other parts of the solar system. European communism began its decline in the late 1980’s with Poland and culminated in 1991 with the breakup of the Soviet Union. The two largest and most aggressive space programs on Earth faltered. Advances in space travel were few and little importance was placed on human exploration of space, or on exploiting the resources of the solar system around us.

In the early part of the 21st Century, great conflict arose among scientists who were divided over a critical issue. It was difficult to dispute that the Earth’s climate was changing. However, agreement could not be found as to the source of these changes. Many scientists believed humans were the cause, or were at least aggravating the situation; while other scientists believed these current climate changes reflected continuing trends of heating and cooling that had taken place over millions of years. This great debate triggered widespread trends in the private and public sectors alike; going green was becoming a popular money-making jingle with corporations and politicians alike. Heavy attention was brought to the use of one of the Earth’s most valuable natural resources: petroleum. It was, for the most part, agreed that petroleum was a finite resource and sooner or later dependence on this resource would have to be weaned. The discord stemmed from those who believed the weaning must occur sooner, and at all costs, as opposed to those who felt a later and gradual reduction on petroleum dependency was the optimum course to choose, while viable alternatives were being explored at a safer pace.

By the dawn of the 22nd Century, populous countries like China and India caused a massive drain on the Earth’s petroleum resources. Viable alternatives to petroleum energy for transportation had not been found anywhere on Earth. But an interesting discovery was made by an astronomer using an advanced, highly scientific, Earth-orbiting telescope. Exploration of the often overlooked Asteroid Belt revealed several dwarf planets similar in size to Ceres and other large asteroids, which had the potential of yielding large quantities of an element that could be used to create a very efficient fuel cell.

A new space race began, followed by what was called the Energy Rush of the 22nd Century. The great distances of space, and the great lengths of time to travel around the solar system, led to advances in high-speed space travel engines that could run for years on fuel cell technology without interruption. Exploration of space boomed with the discovery of more and more precious metals, gems, and other desirable resources on the Moon, Mars, and in the Asteroid Belt. Massive space stations housing hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of people were built to support those who wanted to make their fortunes in space. Colonies were established in the most hospitable places of the solar system as advances in artificial gravity technology and terraforming made the Moon, Mars, Europa, and Titan more Earthlike. Like the Gold Rush of the 1800’s, fortunes were made and economies thrived.

But a plague threatened to cripple the great successes made by those notable pioneers of the 22nd Century, and that plague was crime.

The international treaties signed in the 1960’s, largely in hopes of averting a nuclear war, had the unintended effect of making space a zone where nations could not ‘claim’ new territory and therefore could not protect their interests with military might. Piracy was on the rise, and shipping routes were under constant threat of hijacking and theft. Crime families took over, or influenced, companies doing business in areas they ‘protected.’ Profits were lost, and companies went out of business.

Economies on Earth began to suffer under rising prices. Unwilling to abandon the ancient treaties, governments chose to commission mercenary outfits and privateers to protect their interests. But the job was too dangerous and the privateers were no match for the well-funded and heavily armed criminals in space.

The answer to this problem came in the form of an offshoot of the failed United Nations. This offshoot, called the Commonwealth of Space-Faring Nations (CSN), had originally been created as an entity to oversee trade and economics among its member states. But as things in space became desperate, a move was made to form a military arm of the Commonwealth to police space and interdict crime.

The CSN formed a fleet of large spacecraft capable of projecting a forward military force anywhere in the solar system it chose to go. Following the model of former US President Theodore Roosevelt, the CSN chose the approach of speak softly but carry a big stick, when dealing with crime in space. The array of spacecraft was impressive, though not large enough in number to secure the entire solar system. As the Inner System became safer, criminals were forced to move into and beyond the Asteroid Belt.

Seeing a rising similarity between the Old West of the United States and the criminal climate of the solar system, the Commonwealth decided to augment their crime-fighting ability in much the same way the Old West did. A force of marshals was commissioned and each Commonwealth Marshal had the power to commission his own Commonwealth Deputy Marshals, fully licensed and empowered to enforce laws and hunt fugitives.

The year is 2190. And this is the story of one those men.

ONE

Marshal Henrick Thomas and his partner Deputy Marshal Stephen W. Doolin strapped into their chairs aboard their ship, which they affectionately called Sixkiller, one of the Old West’s most feared lawmen.

Nav and weapons systems active, Heck.

Thanks, Dooly. Pilot controls active.

The pair patiently waited as Sixkiller was gently swiveled 180 degrees in their slip aboard the Moon’s Roosevelt Orbital Station, also called ROS. Rotation complete, Sixkiller now faced the end of the runway; a long tunnel that led to open space. Stars glimmered into view and the men prepared for what would be the worst three seconds of their flight.

Hang on…

Heck grunted at the needless comment, he always hated this part. A series of delicate chimes counted down to the dreaded launch procedure. Five, four, three, two, one.

Sixkiller jolted forward, pinning the men into their seats as it hurtled down the tunnel toward the stars beyond. Each man grimaced as the incredible g-force pinned them to their seats before finally escaping ROS’s artificial gravity and shooting out into open space.

Damn!

I know. Every, damn, time, groaned Heck. I swear it’s like being hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer.

The two shook off the pain and disorientation and focused on the task at hand. Heck peered down at the Moon below, its bright green forests and blue seas visible through a blanket of clouds. Freecity, the largest city in New Florida Protectorate, was abuzz with life. Terraforming and artificial gravity plating were a huge business and the Inner System proved to be a very successful testing ground. The Moon and Mars were so successful that terraformers had used their knowledge and devised a way to blast Venus’ cloud cover into space, allowing it to cool to more hospitable temperatures. That was still a work in progress, however.

What’s happening, Dooly? he asked with a sigh.

First National Bank of Moon Colony in the protectorate of New Florida was just knocked over.

Police reports? Heck nimbly rolled Sixkiller as a wayward tour bus wandered off its approved flight path, and cursed under his breath.

"New Florida Police are reporting the Ryevolutzia is responsible. Eye witnesses saw Ryevolutzia cruisers with the old Soviet hammer and sickle emblem fleeing the scene."

That’s a big gang. Who did the job this time?

Yulia Kharkov.

Heck grunted in response. Nothing more needed to be said about her. She was the most notorious, and most wanted, felon in the Ukrainian Mafia, which numbered nearly one thousand.

What about the Bureau? Heck asked, anticipating a turf war.

The usual. Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation waited for the local police to gather all the evidence, security records, and witness statements before swooping in to take over the case.

Heck grunted again. Both he and his partner had been local police for years before being deputized by Heck Thomas into the Commonwealth Marshals Service. The CBI, or the Bureau, was the main law enforcement arm of the Commonwealth and was well known for stealing good cases from local and national police in order to take credit for captures and lobby for funding. Not to mention seizing valuable assets from the criminals that would be better served in the hands of local law enforcement. It was a long tradition that went back to the days of the old FBI.

Some things never change.

True. But that ain’t our problem anymore, Dooly replied with a smile. We got us a warrant!

Heck had a gleam in his eye. Whatever the CBI or local police chose to do with this case mattered little to him now. As long as there was an arrest warrant for Yulia, they could bypass the CBI and go after her themselves.

Dooly, do a full three dimensional point-recognition scan on the suspect imagery and compare it to our known imagery database; I want to be sure.

Right.

When the Commonwealth was formed, the law enforcement community lobbied for the reinstatement of the use of point-recognition along with DNA, finger print and voice and eye scans; all to catalogue every prisoner who was arrested. These were widely used in the days before space colonization, but fell into disuse with no central authority to control and catalogue the data. But fifty years into the Commonwealth’s existence, there was still plenty of data to