Dauntless: The Pirate War: Dauntless, #1

By JF Collins

Dauntless, the United Confederation of Planets' most powerful space based warship ever built by mankind, is on a training mission when she's abruptly directed to an anomaly out past Mars. An unknown life force appears to be spreading mayhem and annihilation without pause.

When she and her crew investigate, Dauntless finds herself in a horrific life or death battle. Not only her survival is at stake, but the 1,200 spacers, Marines, pilots and support staff's lives are on the line. Dauntless fights with everything she has, reaching over and beyond the simple but life changing concepts of "Duty, Honor, and Selfless Commitment."

"I am Dauntless," however, might not be enough to save Dauntless and all she represents against the overwhelming destruction facing her and her crew. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: JF Collins
• Release date: Sep 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393227212

Book preview

One

Midshipman Alexander Israel Jones forced himself not to tug at the too tight collar of his uniform. Fear pounded in his head and he knew his carefully ironed and pressed uniform was soaked with sweat. Alexander had spent hours last night, hidden in his closet by flashlight long after lights out, shining his shoes and properly edging them. He had not sat once since donning his uniform pants for fear they might crease, thereby drawing the ire of those standing before him in judgment. He knew not to wipe his sweating hands on his uniform pants in case they left a stain.

He stood in front of the examination board which would determine his fate and he was scared beyond his ability to comprehend. A year and a half before, Alexander had faced a similar board when he sought promotion from cadet to midshipman. That particular day had been hell. He’d vomited three times before he’d set foot in front of the board. During his analysis of the naval battle from centuries prior, he thought he might vomit again. He was fortunate to have withstood the twisting in his gut until the meeting was adjourned before he threw up another four times, which at that point was little more than air and bile. His dissertation had been ruthlessly shredded leaving him a quivering bundle of nerves.

It wasn’t merely his analysis which had been taken apart atom by atom but even his source materials which were often contradictory given the inaccurate navigation tools and maps of the time, bad weather, embellishments of the participants and a multitude of other issues. His particular interpretation concerned the use of obsolete airplanes which were a significant contribution to the sinking of a heavily armed and armored ship which was the most technologically advanced battleship of its time.

By focusing on the torpedo runs by what amounted to almost antique airplanes at the time was a significantly but hopeful subtle poke in the eye of current Navy thinking that a technologically advanced ship which was basically an update of the Bismarck designed for space and potential interstellar war would win all engagements she faced. Yes, modern ships of the line sported railguns instead of chemically based propellant guns, FTL drives, advanced sensors, intelligent AI’s and a multitude of extraordinarily advanced systems but they still were vulnerable in a number of ways to light, agile spacecraft who could overwhelm their defensive systems with sheer numbers. Enough hits to vulnerable systems would lead to the utter destruction of any ship in the fleet.

The United Confederation of Planets was constructing a new type of ship—the Dauntless class which had drawn Alexander’s attention. They were battleships and he knew they were vulnerable given his new understandings of how many were outdated upon launch, As he had learned about World War II, their best utilization was called shore bombardment as the airplanes of the time could deliver from aircraft carriers and bomb loads almost as big as the shells fired from battleships at much longer distances. Yes, the aircraft had sometimes suffered horrific losses, but they had the ability to drop their bomb loads at ten times the distance of a battleship’s main guns.

Had Alexander been given the opportunity, he would have proposed the idea for a class of ships he had named the Essex class, which would sport a potential hundreds of fighter and bomber type spacecraft, including a multitude of support spacecraft like shuttles and transports. But as a mere cadet, he did not offer up any opinion which was not directly solicited.

At the end of the day, which had been the most disheartening and terrifying experience in his life since the death of his parents, Alexander had somehow been approved for promotion from cadet to midshipman.

The current Naval Academy wasn’t like the old days of centuries past where you graduated after four years with a commission and a college degree. Now, you were promoted when you and your instructors felt you knew enough to face an examination board—an opportunity which arose ever six months regardless your year of entry. Anyone still at the academy after six years was essentially shifted to the enlisted class to serve out the rest of their term much to their shame.

Requesting an examination board a mere three years into the Naval Academy was considered aggressive but he knew he was at the top of his class academically and physically. The request was ballsy and made him wonder if he was not so smart, given his current interrogation. He knew he was being carefully groomed by his instructors and the training cadre for something greater than himself, but in his current circumstances, he wasn’t so sure.

He tried to keep calm as he looked into the faces of those examining his fate. The board members were all inspecting him like something unpleasant found on the bottom of their shoe. Stoically, he tried to keep his churning emotions from being exposed but wasn’t sure he succeeded given the expressions of disgust and disdain on each of the members’ faces.

Alexander tried to recall why he had chosen his particular topic but was so frazzled he couldn’t remember his name. He knew he’d chosen a relatively safe topic and hoped it would not irritate anyone by going against current naval thinking, strategies, and tactics.

He was six hours into a project required to graduate that could take countless more to finish. His chosen subject was about the "Pursuit of the Goeben and Breslau." It was an obscure battle during World War I which had led to the ending of two admirals’ careers. The major consequences monumentally expanded the war in the Mediterranean Sea bringing in another combatant into the struggle. It could have been argued the battle made the war longer and even more brutal. One of the admirals had outright disobeyed his orders and another didn’t act aggressively enough in following his. Alexander had recast the entire battle and replaced the admirals with more aggressive ones, which gave it a completely different result.

He had picked Admiral Horatio Nelson and Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr. as the replacements. Throughout the various simulations he had ran over the last several months, the battle transpired in many different and unexpected directions. By replacing the two actually sacked admirals with what he felt were better ones, both who had, in their various times, had reinvented naval warfare. A tiny twist to his previous paper was given as Halsey had taken the United States Navy tactics and strategy from battleship against battleship to aircraft carrier ways of fighting wars.

The prying questions left him sweat soaked, quivering from stress and wondering what position he would be posted to if he flunked out. He considered that being demoted to a purser had its advantages as he fielded question after question. Handing out underwear to spacers probably had a lot less stress than captaining a ship of the line. But deep down he knew he could do it. Command. Lead. Inspire.

But he’d stuck to his original conclusions that aggressive, genius leaders would have made a significant difference in the outcome of the battle and change the course of an entire war, thereby saving thousands of lives compared to the small loss of sailors and pilots. He had discovered, after many hours of study and simulations, that genius leaders able to inspire those serving under them would inevitably carry the day. Alexander was a student of history and it had molded him in ways he hadn’t appreciated until now.

Waiting until the next day to hear the results of his oral examination was, the most nerve-wracking thing he’d ever experienced. Already chronically short of sleep given his class load and the enormous amount of time he had put into this project, he couldn’t rest wondering what his fate would be.

Others of his class had suffered similar fates and there had been more than one resignation as a result. To have spent years of struggle in pursuit of their dreams only to be interrogated to the point of tears was too much for some people and they were glad to have to shamefully repeat the last year of schooling or seek a posting in the Navy as an enlisted spacer.

As for Alexander, he had no other place to go except the Naval Academy. He had no siblings and no other living relatives. His proud family line and history ended with him and he had no choice but to forge onward.

Another worrying fact was most of his fellow students were in and out of the conference room in mere hours. Yet by the time the intense interrogation was over, Alexander had endured over eight hours without a break.

When his name was called at the end of the next day he stood in front of the examining board to hear his results. The lowest ranking member of the board was a senior captain, while the highest was a three star vice admiral. Between them, they had enough medals for gallantry in combat to tip Earth in odd directions when they gathered. These heroic men and women held his fate, his very future, in their battle calloused hands.

They asked some preliminary questions, as well as some odd ones. But he felt he fielded them with a forced calmness. Then they stood as one. By rank, with the senior captain starting first, each shook Alexander’s hand and congratulated him on passing. What surprised him was when the three star admiral, a tough looking lady by the name of Chun Shih, who was known to eat rear admirals before breakfast if they’d earned her ire, shook his hand, came to attention, saluted him, and said, On my honor.

Upon hearing her name for the first time, Alexander had wondered if she was related to the Chinese pirate Ching Shih from back when the British controlled China, but he knew enough not to ask. But her stating that particular phrase meant he could pretty much pick his next assignment as long as he acted quickly before her retirement and didn’t screw up before graduation. It meant she would support him, watch out for him, and even put her career on the line for him if he screwed up—no higher honor ever existed. Rumor had it Chun Shih wanted to open a casino and having searched the history books, he had discovered Ching Shih had done the same sort of thing after she had received amnesty from the Chinese government for her pirate past.

Shaking, he had returned the salute. It also meant the officers on the examination committee were of the same mind and he could contact them for advice and the occasional favor. It was heady stuff for a Midshipman who, prior to this meeting, had feared he was going to be a junior dish washer on a warehouse ship outside the orbit of Pluto.

Which ship would you like to serve on? she asked seeming like she was measuring his sweat soaked body for what he was truly capable of doing. Unsure of his place among the untested future officers of the UCP, Alexander was still terrified.

"Dauntless, ma’am."

It was the newest ship of the line, stuffed with top secret and cutting edge technology. It would be a prime posting for anyone from an apprentice spacer to a junior officer as those ships were the most powerful ever conceived or constructed by humankind. The Dauntless class had massive 40 cm railguns, 13 cm batteries, numerous missile systems, antimatter drives offering almost unlimited power, and the most advanced FTL drives ever built, able to create a drive bubble big enough to take an entire fleet with her into battle.

Alexander knew he and his classmates had drooled and argued over the specifications and closely followed the construction as it progressed. It would be an honor to be a Plankowner on her--present when she was formally commissioned. Dauntless would set the standard by which the rest of her class would be built. There were six ships planned, and their names were Courageous, Indomitable, Defiant, Indefatigable, and Fortitude. Even while construction of Dauntless was still in progress, the hulls of Courageous and Indomitable were already being laid down.

"But you’ve already torn apart the idea of battleships all through your schooling. Dauntless definitely is a battleship. Why the interest in her?"

Alexander decided to go with what his heart told him and said, "Because I want to be part of the best of the best. I know I can make a difference for Dauntless no matter the position I’m placed in."

Chun nodded. You know Captain Smitts is a hard taskmaster, eating at least two ensigns before breakfast and a senior lieutenant as an afternoon snack?

I came to the Naval Academy seeking challenge. And I look forward to embracing anything I’m faced with. Yes, Captain Smitts may be demanding but it’s nothing in comparison to some of the things I’ve overcome.

Like what?

He knew she was aware of exactly what he’d been through. Alexander had scrutinized her career as well as the rest of the examination board members and expected they would have done the same for those whose fates they held in their hands.

Alexander also knew that his records at the Naval Academy were extensive and noted every action, decision, test, and physical accomplishment in terrifying detail. As an example, every cadet had to choose a sport. After much scrutiny and study he picked fencing. It was a great deal less brutal than the other options which suited his self-perceived feelings of physical inadequateness. Despite his careful analysis he discovered he had absolutely no talent for it—no coordination, understanding, or even basic athletic ability. Then while trolling through the library, sore and frustrated, he had discovered a book on sword fighting by General George Patton. It was like a switch was flipped on his brain. The book had so many revelations given his understanding of military history. Even a cursory glance under the defensive techniques section revealed there were no such techniques as everything was offensive. After much thinking and practice on his own time, he went to class and dominated it. It took several disqualifications for him to adapt his study to something within the rules. He was eventually asked to try out for national competitions but had turned it down in order to focus on his studies at the Naval Academy and nothing else.

Alexander had found it sad the accomplishments of such a famous and storied general had disappeared from the education of future officers of the UCP. He’d noted the softening of many formally taught subjects at the Naval Academy leaning towards more correctness in many things they were forced to learn rather than hard history and battle calculus which were much more challenging. The future didn’t hold much hope for those who wondered if the Naval Academy was training warriors or political bureaucrats.

My previous self-directed education was greatly lacking in comparison to my peers, my parents died when I was young, and I had to make my way through the world without very much guidance. I could have chosen the easy way of doing things, but instead have tried to become part of something bigger than myself. I think I’ve found that in the UCP Navy.

You realize her compliment has already been picked?

It was true. The list of those assigned to Dauntless had been posted months ago. Almost every posting down to the lowest apprentice spacer had already been selected and the proper orders generated. If he was lucky, he might be assigned a job scrubbing pots in the galley. But he would be happy doing that knowing he was serving on the newest ship of the line.

I will take any posting available.

You’ve almost impressed me. She continued to size him up as she spoke. "On Dauntless you may be given a chance to make a difference. Don’t make me proud, make the Navy proud. When there is a question about what to do your only choice is to do your duty. It’s quite simple, serve with honor and duty and everything else will follow."

Her words resonated through him. He came to attention and rendered a full salute.

Thank you, ma’am.

She returned his salute and said, Do you know the origin of your name?

Not knowing what she meant, he said, My parents died before I could ever ask them why they were inspired to pick Alexander as a name for me. There were no relatives with that name as far back as I was able to trace.

Long ago, in the orphanage, he had hoped he had been named after Alexander the Great, creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history but he quickly realized it was only the musings of a scared, lonely, and often hungry young man brutalized by his peers and his story probably didn’t have much basis in reality.

Eyeing him, Chun said, Well that will be your first assignment. Find out the origin of your first name. Use that to guide your future actions.

Aye, aye, ma’am.

She offered him her hand to shake. He knew never to touch a superior officer without their express permission. Centuries ago, such an act meant an instant death sentence.

He shook her cool and firm grasp.

Good luck, she said. When she turned and made her departure, Alexander was left with fearful thoughts, not of dying, but of somehow failing his responsibilities.

Two

In what was now her proudest moment, Amy Park signed her formal application to attend UCP Naval Academy with a flourish. She handed the document to her councilor and said, I guess that’s it.

With a glance, he verified that everything was filled out, properly notarized, and documented. Uru Kerala had been her mentor, councilor, and friend from the day she had entered the prestigious military academy three years ago. Kerala had done the same for a multitude of students throughout the years he’d worked at the academy, but for some reason he had gone over and beyond for Amy. Others had said it was because he could sense she was destined for great things, but who knew how true that actually was.

Her life had been one of rigorous training since she took her first steps. Martial arts, music, history, science, mathematics, ballet, sports, and numerous other subjects some of which were obscure and not understandable to an adolescent mind, pain, suffering and much learning along with a lot of bruises, tears, and heart-rending fear.

No matter, with seconds of penmanship Amy had fulfilled her dream, and after much thinking, wondering, and appreciation for the sacrifices of her family, her dream. She knew she was destined for the stars and a command track to lead men and women into battle. There would be much pain, suffering, and many trials, but even she knew there were far greater things in play than she could ever imagine. However, she would play her part to the best of her ability, no matter the circumstances.

She stood and said, Will there be anything else, sir?

He nodded. In three weeks, you will know your fate. How do you feel about it?

As best as I can, sir. What else am I supposed to do?

Nothing. Pray if you believe in such things. But otherwise, your chances are as about as good as they can possibly be.

Only one in a thousand applicants to the UCP Naval Academy was accepted so his words of encouragement meant little in the grand odds she faced. She had done her best and was excited for a chance to fulfill her dreams.

And even if she was admitted she still had a year of schooling left before she could graduate. The only problem was her parents. They had basically shoved her towards the UCP Space Force. Her father had served in that particular branch and upon the end of his service was able to parlay his knowledge and contacts into a high paying job as a military contractor. So, in their minds, the only acceptable service for her was in the UCP Space Force so she could take over his business after he retired. With his contacts she had already been offered a spot at their academy.

But her long held desire was to serve on board a ship of the line traveling amongst the stars. The Navy and Marines had their pilots which relegated the UCP Space Force pilots to merely patrolling from bases scattered on moons and asteroids as there were no spacecraft suitable for fighting in atmosphere and also space.

She also knew her odds of becoming a pilot of something more than a cargo hauler or shuttle were even narrower than winning an appointment to the Naval Academy as there were fewer than a thousand fighters—in quotes because they didn’t do much fighting just merely pushed space and air around while burning fuel in a service of over a half million. So she would most likely be relegated to a job full of drudgery and boredom despite graduating as an officer from the UCP Space Force Academy. Her goal wasn’t a future with her father’s business, but the chance to make a difference despite it being a time of relative peace.

Throughout her years of schooling, Amy had taken various tests and, despite her martial arts training, knew her reaction time wasn’t good enough to qualify as a combat shuttle pilot, much less be at the controls of an extremely high performance Garuda fighter.

Did you sign your application? her best friend, Gayle Hamburg was waiting in the hallway outside Kerala’s office.

Amy nodded.

She knew if she received an appointment to the Naval Academy, she would be disowned by her parents. The scorn of her mother, who had raised her with the intent of becoming a Space Force officer, would be almost unbearable.

Now all I have to do is break the news to my parents, Amy said.

You probably have a couple of weeks, Gayle said.

With as connected as her father was in the defense industry, it was probably a foregone conclusion he already knew that she had turned down the application for the UCP Space Force and applied instead for the Naval Academy.

He was out of town on business and wouldn’t return for two days, at which time there would probably be some very interesting dinner conversation …

Alexander fingered the single bar of an Ensign on his shoulder boards. He was now officially an officer! Yes, while technically a midshipman was an officer, it was a thinly veiled construction to add more stress to their lives. The bar on his shoulder was the culmination of a long held fantasy of his and brought memories of countless hours spent watching 3-D programs on military spacecraft ranging from fighters to battleships.

During the chaotic months following his parents’ deaths, imagining a life among the academy helped to keep him sane. Their bodies were barely cold when he vowed to do whatever it took academically to be able to apply to the UCP Naval Academy, with the hope of someday having the opportunity to command a ship of the line.

His family had no military background or history so his all-consuming interest in history, with an emphasis on military history, was without precedence. While many students with similar interests focused on a specific conflict or period of time, Alexander found himself continually being drawn to naval battles, no matter their time and place in history. It didn’t matter if it was battles involving Phoenicians, the pitched battles during the Chaos, or even the space pirate attacks.

As an astute student of history, Alexander had learned early on that humankind had come a long way after the Chaos, during which civilization had almost been destroyed. During an attempt to develop new weapons systems, a multitude of scientific discoveries brought the fighting to a conclusion.

Those weapons made any conflict completely unimaginable and insane although there were those who tried, resulting in the destruction of much of Europe and parts of Africa. These conflicts were brutally quashed by overwhelming force, including orbital based kinetic strikes, but in some cases required intense ground combat.

After the Chaos, the United Nations tried to become a more powerful organization by way of controlling resources and keeping the lid on any potential conflicts. But given their history and ingrained bureaucracies, they could barely run their organization, much less control Earth’s resources, economies, and governments. Again, conflict loomed in the near future but it was saved by the discovery of practical fusion technology which freed Earth from potential wars engaged over energy resources. Alexander’s studies of history had revealed almost all armed conflicts in human history were over resources and a twenty meter by twenty meter box could power an entire city, making such wars even more of a waste.

Fusion allowed humans to break free of their home planet’s boundaries and establish a high ground in space. When kinetic orbital weapons utilizing only gravity as their power source could utterly destroy anything they hit, ground conflicts were reduced to simpler and less complex squabbles over territorial lines.

Mankind had fled Earth as quickly as they could to populate the planets and moons of the Sol System and establish their own societies. It was not long before space warfare was developed. With it came the potential destruction of humankind on a much larger scale.

In response, the United Confederation of Planets was formed based on some of the tenements of the old United Nations. For the first time in Earth’s history, a system wide government was established and the world’s militaries were melded together to smash offending governments, people and conflicts into the mold required by the UCP leaders in an effort to keep an uneasy peace of sorts.

Then came a period of significant scientific discoveries, with the first being antimatter power systems. While antimatter makes a fearsome weapon with a mere 10 kilograms of it generating almost 430 megatons of explosive force, a more appropriate use is to generate huge amounts of power. Antimatter research led to powerful systems able to propel spacecraft to significant percentages of light speed.

But humankind was still bound to the Sol System given that the stars were too far out of their reach. Massive amounts of money and resources were devoted to finding a way to travel faster than the speed of light. At the end of that very challenging tunnel, the Alcubierre Drive was developed. It was named after the pre-chaos Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre, who postulated a spacecraft could be constructed to traverse distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel. The Alcubierre Drive shifted the very space around a spacecraft, causing it to arrive at its destination faster than if it had traveled the speed of light, without breaking any of the constraining laws of physics.

Melding together the massive amounts of energy from antimatter power plants with the Alcubierre Drive allowed humans to escape their home solar system. Huge colony ships were constructed to spread to the stars, and once they were successfully completed they took millions of the elite all throughout the known galaxy.

Keeping watch over such a large empire spread across dozens of light years was nightmarish and difficult but the UCP did their best with the aid of the Navy, Marines and their cutting edge weapons systems.

Despite exploring hundreds of systems and settling on dozens of them, humanity had found no other life more complex than plants, insects, and simple non-sentient animals. DNA was universal but only on Earth did it seem to have developed into intelligent life.

The shuttle pilot came over the intercom and said, "We’re five minutes from docking with Dauntless. Please look at your display for a view of her."

Alexander flipped on his display and saw Dauntless for the first time. She was a massive structure of radar abating angled composite steel and ceramic brimming with sensors, weapons, ammunition magazines, engines, and living quarters that seemed almost an afterthought. She might take hits, but any kinetic orbital rounds not deflected by the angled armor still had multiple layers to defeat before penetrating the armored citadel, which protected the most important parts of the ship including weapons control systems, the engineering spaces, and magazines. In theory Dauntless would still be able to effectively fight even if her bow was knocked off and much of her interior spaces were voided to space.

She was built to take punishment, dish it out, and go back for more until the battle was complete. Dauntless was ugly to peacenik politicians because she looked exactly like she was designed and built—a massive weapons platform which could smash opposing ships to pieces and batter planets until their crusts cracked.

Dauntless had multiple defensive systems all with redundant backups. Her dozen primary batteries of multiple rail guns on the top and bottom of the ship could fire broadsides of hardened projectiles each aimed at a different target. Other, smaller batteries of rail guns could tailor the ship’s response to threats and even provide defense against attacking fighters and missiles. Chaff, flare, and missile launchers added more depth to the lethal mix.

Twenty fighter/bombers rested in hardened hangars in Dauntless’ hull, each capable of carrying anti-missile and anti-ship missiles to defend the battlegroup and shoot down attacking fighters and bombers.

In other words, Dauntless was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and now that he was close enough to see her for himself, he was madly in love with her. He felt down to his very soul that he would die for her without question.

The shuttle bumped and banged around as it landed in the shuttle bay. From the position and his study of the ship’s layout, he knew they were in the port aft shuttle bay which was the larger of the two on Dauntless. While the shuttle could have docked with Dauntless on any of her docking collars, it was much easier to unload personnel and equipment in an aired up shuttle bay.

He’d studied his fellow travelers during the many hour transfer to Dauntless and noted he was the highest ranking person on board except for the pilots. The rest of the passengers were mostly enlisted with clumps of Marines. Alexander knew Dauntless carried two complete companies of Marines, continuing with the tradition of working closely with Navy, serving wherever they were needed, including helping maintain and feed the various railguns, security, and damage control. And as per tradition going back to ocean based navies, one of the 13 cm batteries on Dauntless was staffed solely by Marines.

He knew to never annoy any of the Marines. By tradition, they were the Captain’s provosts and an order from even a lowly private was the same as if it had come directly from Captain Smitts himself. Naturally there were extremely harsh punishments for those abusing their power, but it was still best not to get in their way.

Then there was the puzzle wrapped in a mysterious enigma: Captain John Jacob Smitts. From the history books, it was difficult to determine what the history book facts were about the man and what the propaganda was regarding his career, education, and life. Careful reading of numerous sources revealed he was a graduate of the Naval Academy, combat veteran in several of the brutal conflicts the UCP had been involved in on Earth, and having a volatile quick-to-anger personality used like a rapier to drive his spacers, Marines, officers, and pilots over and beyond their limits, sometimes to their proudly heralded deaths.

One of oft repeated stories was when he served as a gunnery officer on the UCP Warrior and placed exceedingly accurate kinetic orbital strikes against a terrorist group holed up in a city, utterly destroying them without even breaking any nearby windows. Alexander knew it wasn’t physically possible to accomplish such a feat. In his multitude of physics classes he had learned that gravity was a bitch and the projectiles kicked out of low orbit accelerating at 9.8 m/s ² would hit at Mach 10 and probably shatter windows to dust for miles around the impact site.

Dealing with Captain Smitts was going to be a significant challenge among numerous others as he realized his academic life and physical training probably had no real relevance when dealing with the situations he would encounter aboard Dauntless. Yes, he knew how to don a vac suit in less than a minute, but to do it under combat conditions in an unaired space while under fire, in the dark, and without the help of gravity was something very much beyond even his wildest expectations.

The pilot came over the intercom again and said, Please prepare to disembark.

Alexander and the rest of the passengers stood, gathering their belongings, which for him was a ship bag containing some clothing and several books. Through his personal data terminal, he may have had access to almost everything ever published but for him, he still enjoyed the sensation of physically handling his reading materials. Besides, not every book had been transcribed into electronic form and Alexander delighted in tracking them down and purchasing them.

Those books had kept him company during the long boring stretches in the three weeks it took to travel to the asteroid field manufacturing facility where Dauntless and other war and commercial ships were constructed from nickel, iron, and other metals from metal rich asteroids.

Yes, humanity might be able to travel to the stars, but there was no fast, easy way of traveling around the Sol System. Even the Alcubierre Drive was impractical as it couldn’t form a drive bubble a certain distance from any significant gravitational source like a planet, moon, or sun.

He motioned the Marines to go before him and they acknowledged as they passed by nodding, apparently appreciating his knowledge of how things worked on a ship of the line. Unlike their uniforms, his was bare of any medals or awards, but at this point in his career it was acceptable.

After climbing down the stairs, he saluted the UCP flag and asked a Marine, dressed in brand new Battle Armor, Permission to come aboard?

He noted that the Marine had a small name tag simply saying Irish, and blood stripes running down the legs of his armor. This Marine had been in combat! None of the Marines on the shuttle had blood stripes so he was probably a rarity among even the storied Marines.

Permission granted. Your orders, please?

With a shaking