The Psychopomp

By Alana Bleness

The year is 2205.

Colonel Worthy is a respected commander in the armed forces of the Terran Federation. The use of genetically engineered Strategists, once controversial, is now commonplace. Victory over any insurgency is assured.

And then the unthinkable happens: defeat.

Branded a traitor and a scapegoat for the infallible Strategists, Worthy must search for the one place she can find answers: the lost ship Psychopomp.

As it turns out, serving a superpower has its own set of risks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alana Bleness
• Release date: Nov 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005013332

Alana Bleness

A. Bleness is a native of Planet Earth and a resident of East Tennessee. She enjoys gardening, watching movies, and getting involved in projects that require waaaaayy to much research. She is currently working on a science fiction novel, to be released in 2023.

Book preview

The Psychopomp

by A. Bleness

Copyright 2020 A. Bleness

Smashwords Edition

Other titles by A. Bleness:

Ave: The Battle of Agincourt

To Brigadier General Thomas V Draude

Special thanks to my copyeditor, Esther Wairimu Kiburi, for catching my punctuation errors and making sure the dialogue didn’t sound like an American caricature of British dialect.

And thanks to Fyo, Lisa, and everyone else on Tumblr for your feedback and encouragement. I couldn’t do it without you guys!

Psychopomp (noun): a guide of souls to the place of the dead. -Oxford English Dictionary

It was just another proxy war out in the Disputed Colonies––Epsilon Eridani this time, the settlement on the moon Ottsland. Insurgents allied with the Interstellar Union had established a base in the polar region, threatening the Terran Federation’s interests. In the halls of the Terran legislature, politicians cried for action, and so the fleet was dispatched with immediate effect.

Colonel Emelia Worthy’s job was simple. After the initial bombing fulfilled its purpose, and the threat was subdued, her team was tasked to train an indigenous military force to ensure Ottsland’s continued liberty. In other words: provide phase rifles, teach them how to shoot, and ensure that the generation now applying to Sandhurst would have an enemy in the next war. No one with any experience pretended things were different. In the short term, it would keep the insurgency at bay; the rest was the politicians’ problem.

Intelligence probes showed a substantial force––well-equipped by rebel standards, but nothing a Terran carrier group couldn’t deal with. The Strategists aboard the HMS Psychopomp had predicted a straightforward and timely action, and they were never wrong. So, when the first reconnaissance planes suddenly stopped transmitting, a technical problem was announced as the immediate culprit.

Well, route the transmissions through the telecom satellites! Admiral Hicks-Perry huffed. The communications officer on the bridge of the Resolute input the data, tapping on the console as it processed.

Perhaps you should have postponed your golf plans, sir. Colonel Worthy stared at the telemetry hologram as it updated in real-time. She was on the bridge at the Admiral’s invitation, a courtesy extended to the commander of the ground force.

Rubbish! Every campaign has a minor glitch or two. We’ll be back on Earth before the weekend.

The hologram displayed telecom satellites, but not the markers of the reconnaissance craft. This might be more than a glitch.

Oh, for God’s sake, this isn’t the 2010’s. We haven’t had an unforeseen eventuality since-

Sir,–– the communications officer interrupted––Telecom passwords have been changed.

Wha- Hicks-Perry sputtered. When were they changed?

The officer scanned his data. Less than ten minutes after our arrival.

Worthy turned her gaze back to the telemetry. First disappearing reconnaissance planes, now this. Even if they knew when we were to arrive, the satellites are controlled by the allied government…

They’ve got someone inside Ottsland City, she muttered.

What?

Either the insurgents have seized satellite ops, or they’ve got someone working on the inside. Sir, I must advise we move the carrier group to a higher orbit.

Admiral Hicks-Perry blinked. It wasn’t Worthy’s place to advise; she was a military officer, not a Strategist. He swallowed and turned back to the communications officer.

"Send a dispatch to the Psychopomp. Inform them we’ve lost communication with our reconnaissance planes and Ottsland telecom. Request a re-evaluation."

The theory behind the Strategic Corps was proposed in 2178, during the Kuiper-Earth War. A rudimentary task force had been in effect by the end of the war, just in time for the final engagements––in the ensuing decades, it saw extensive service. Despite its success, early recruiting rates were so low, the program nearly ceased to exist. The first Strategists were drawn from the service academies––top-ranking cadets, paralyzed by accident or illness, longing to serve in any way they still could. But there were only so many of them, and selecting the ideal candidates from the general populace proved difficult as those with the necessary faculties were unlikely to consent to the removal of their motor functions. Advocates turned to a genetic method designed for colonists, making selections based on intellect and ruthlessness rather than hardiness. Some careful manipulations at birth took care of the physical requirements. Rigorous education in the military arts followed.

Imagine, proponents had said. The mind of a brilliant general, totally dedicated to war! The perfect servant of the state––a machine for creating victories!

Imagine, detractors had said. The mind of a brilliant sociopath after they find out they’re nothing but a machine.

And then, a ten-year-old girl produced by the program orchestrated the victory at 42 Draconis b. That was the year Emelia Worthy graduated from Sandhurst, and the debate had already been settled. The Strategic Corps was there to stay.

Staring at the telemetry, Colonel Worthy wished the Strategic Corps would hurry up with their assessment.

Don’t be impatient. Commander Singh stepped up next to her. They’ll let us know what we need to do.

"And in the meantime,