Righteous Reign The Series: E-version Boxed Set Edition Read online

  The Righteous Reign Series

  Boxed Set Edition

  by

  Thomas J. MacDonald

  ©Copyright 2018 Thomas MacDonald

  all rights reserved.

  Righteous Reign is purely a work of Fiction. Any resemblance or similarity to persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Contents

  RIGHTEOUS REIGN

  Forward

  Part One

  Chapter 1 Turning Point

  Chapter 2 Old Tom

  Chapter 3 The OESA

  Chapter 4 Rigil

  Chapter 5 The Promotion!

  Chapter 6 Bryant

  Chapter 7 Bryant & Boots

  Chapter 8 Drums of War

  Chapter 9 Expansion!!

  Chapter 10 Justice

  Chapter 11 Mobile Fifth Command!

  Chapter 12 The Spiel?

  Chapter 13 The Fifth RAC Forever

  Chapter 14 On My Way to The Top

  Part Two

  Chapter 15 The Loki Step

  Chapter 16 Clean Up this Mess!

  Chapter 17 The Conspiracy

  Chapter 18 Opened for Business

  Chapter 19 Manipulations

  Chapter 20 A New Beginning

  End

  Righteous Reign II

  Righteous Rule

  Part One

  Chapter 1 The Plan

  Chapter 2 The First Close Encounter

  Chapter 3 The End of the Beginning

  Chapter 4 - Looking Devils in the Eye(s)

  Chapter 5 Flogging a Scheme

  Chapter 6 All Aboard!!

  Chapter 7 Business as Usual

  Chapter 8 The Battle of Lambda Bootes

  Chapter 9 The Battle of Nu Draconis

  Chapter 10 Getting All Our Ducks in a Row

  Chapter 11 The Maestro

  Chapter 12 Tending All the Little Details

  Chapter 13 The Battle of T5-15-45 AOP

  Part Two

  Chapter 14 Spilling the Beans

  Chapter 15 Dotting the I's

  Chapter 16 Crossing the T's

  Chapter 17 All Systems Are Go!

  Chapter 18 And the Beat Goes On

  Chapter 19 Coming Attractions

  Chapter 20 These Eyes

  Chapter 21 Compartments

  Chapter 22 IGB at BP 15-58-98 -3-06

  Chapter 23 Termination

  End

  Righteous Reign Episode 3

  Rampant Rampage

  Part One

  Chapter 1 In The Here and Now

  Chapter 2 Back in the Day

  Chapter 3 On and On

  Chapter 4 And Still More

  Chapter 5 Tough Slugging

  Chapter 6 Enough is Enough

  Chapter 7 What the Hell is Going On

  Chapter 8 When Friends Die

  Chapter 9 Out in the Boon Docks

  Chapter 10 Meanwhile - Back at the Ranch

  Part 2

  Chapter 11 A Little Luck - At Last

  Chapter 12 Very Special Forces

  Chapter 13 Rear Admiral Svjosloki

  Chapter 14 La Résistance

  Chapter 15 First Big Triumph

  Chapter 16 A Big Surprise

  Chapter 17 A Big Risk

  Chapter 18 The Battle of Lambda Boötis

  Chapter 19 Running the Gauntlet

  Chapter 20 Beyond Gamma Boötis

  Chapter 21 44 Boötis

  Chapter 22 Defiance

  Chapter 23 The Road to Sol!

  Chapter 24 Lost and Found

  Chapter 25 The Party's Over

  End

  Righteous Reign Episode 4

  Ragged Remnant

  Part One

  Chapter 1 Chomping at the Bit

  Chapter 2 The New Typical

  Chapter 3 Formulating Strategies

  Chapter 4 Another Expansion

  Chapter 5 Admiral Svjosloki

  Chapter 6 ISIE New Tactics

  Chapter 7 A Serious Challenge

  Chapter 8 Pleasant Surprises

  Chapter 9 A Fly on a Wall

  Chapter 10 Analysis

  Chapter 11 New Fronts

  Chapter 12 Shifting Scenes

  Chapter 13 Second Acts

  Chapter 14 Slights of Hand

  Chapter 15 Naabaahii

  Chapter 16 From Intelligence to Action

  Chapter 17 Kil Kos

  Chapter 18 A Big Wet Kiss

  Chapter 19 A Slight Hitch

  Part Two

  Chapter 20 Shock, Evaluation, Judgement

  Chapter 21 Preparations and Practice

  Chapter 22 Kick-Off

  Chapter 23 Preserving the Future

  Chapter 24 82 Eridani

  Chapter 25 15 Sagitta

  Chapter 26 When Pigs Fly

  Chapter 27 Anguish & Recovery

  Chapter 28 Seeking Justice

  Chapter 29 Real Justice

  End

  RIGHTEOUS REIGN

  By

  T. J. MacDonald

  ©Copyright 2016 Thomas MacDonald

  all rights reserved.

  Revised Edition

  Righteous Reign is purely a work of Fiction. Any resemblance or similarity to persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Don't miss the exciting sequels to Righeous Reign by T. J. MacDonald

  Righteous Reign II Righteous Rule

  Righteous Reign Episode 3 Rampant Rampage

  Dedication: To Tanis who put up with so much while I completed this work.

  Forward

  There are four hundred ninety-two billion, four hundred twenty-one million, three hundred eighty-six thousand, seven hundred twenty-eight citizens within the sovereign territories of the democratic government I work for. And, of all those people, I am the one in the best position to access any information; no matter how secret or sensitive. That makes me the best person to tell this story.

  It is the story of George Bryant; probably, the greatest man to live, in my lifetime. It tells of his adventures, successes and love. It also tells the story of his absolute loyalty to his love, his subordinates, his government and his Emperor. It describes his "Royal" wedding; and two others celebrated similarly in a ten-year span.

  George's story is one of leadership. Though a man of deep feelings, strong convictions and impeccable ethics, he is also a tactical genius capable of leading wars waged on a massive scale. He'll do anything to defend the people and institutions he cares about.

  Within his story are several others, including my own - we are interwoven. In one way or another, we all owe George for the success we have achieved on his coattails. And, through it all, are the stories of a conflicted Emperor and the determined, "Old Tom", who helped established this great sovereignty; and became one of its legendary heroes.

  Admiral Kurt Brubacher Inspector General

  Part One

  Chapter 1 Turning Point

  Tuesday July 10, 2255

  "Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects". Lester B. Pearson Canadian Prime Minister

  Life aboard any military vessel is never easy. However, it can be challenging, rewarding, and downright pleasurable, at times. Officers and crew face navigational hurdles, confined spaces, Mother Nature's anger, and unexpected perilous encounters. On the other hand, we get to assist others to be ambassadors, explorers, and pioneers, and to enjoy the camaraderie aboard ship.

  I am just about to engage in my third meeting of the day. It's a training session that follows a two-hour mission debriefing and a staff meeting I chaired earlier in the day. The first involved all the department
heads under my command. The second included my Exec and the other three shift commanders. Meetings like those first two are magnificent opportunities for Junior Officers to extend their experience at command. Someone has to run the ship while we're all occupied. Overall, it's been a very long day. After rising, dressing, and eating, I spent a couple of hours managing administrative chores. Then, I finished my six hours as the bridge watch commander, a boring job considering we're just orbiting Rho Corona Three.

  Circling any planetary body is a sobering experience, changing with your perspective. When you arrive at a system, many planets close to its star are not even visible to you or are little points of light in the distance. As you approach, the worlds grow on your screens and in the viewing windows. When you finally settle into a parking trajectory around a globe, it appears as a colossal monstrosity that diminishes your vessel to a minuscule object. The Shenzhen is just a mosquito on the back of an elephant. And, when it occurs to you that the planet is a tiny speck in the totality of the galaxy you can feel meaningless, for a moment… Until you realize that you're one of the very few species that use this space-scape for a playground.

  The earlier debriefing concerned a mission that started out six days ago resembling a Captain's ghastliest nightmare. We'd been intercepted by a communications drone from Rho Corona Borealis, a system a little over eleven light years from 14 Hercules, which we'd been patrolling. The communiqué stressed that the Encalle tribe had turned a political disagreement into an out and out civil war, employing terrorist tactics to achieve an advantage. The Encalle political view is grounded in ancient religious beliefs. Rho Corona Three had a rich tribal heritage but had long since become a technological, space-faring planet. The planetary Government expressed their utter fear that they were about to lose control and illustrated some of the barbarism that was being inflicted on the population.

  Nine generations ago, the Empire I serve ratified a Constitution guaranteeing its citizens liberal rights. The one notable absence is the right to religious freedom. That Constitution included the means for new colonies to gain admittance to the Empire. Once in the group, it forbade separation from it. Enshrined in the document is also a clause dealing with treason and the use of terrorism as a means of waging war against the Empire. The punishment for treachery is as specified in supporting legislation. However, civil disobedience, civil war, and other seditious acts shown to be terrorist in nature are dealt with by sterilizing the affected planet of its infection. OESA regulations specify how a ship's Captain is to fulfill his obligations under the Constitution.

  As Master of the ESS Shenzhen, I would first have to corroborate there was a legitimate threat. Then, I would need to document that the danger was terrorist in nature. This step in itself requires the deployment of a sizeable intelligence operation to the planet, to gather accurate, real-time, objective, information. Once this phase meets the specifications outlined in OESA guidelines, I am required to obtain Flag Level approval, and totally eradicate the offenders. I have to admit that this is the one responsibility I have that actually terrifies me. The only buffer for me is that such a decision must be supported by a Flag or General Officer of Level eight or greater. But, for all intents and purposes, we are a blunt object wielded to defend and protect the constitution of the Empire.

  In this case, I was very fortunate, in that preliminary information indicated this was a very extensive uprising. Thousands of Encalle had snatched vast swaths of territory and were deploying terrorist networks throughout the planet. Though the Shenzhen is capable of bombarding the offenders into submission, it requires land forces to ensure successful completion of this type of mission. Such an expansive operation could require more than five thousand ground troops. And, that’s not to mention the intelligence body I would need to land first, to acquire the level of detailed information I need to meet the requirements to gain approval. This means the deployment of a full Fleet to the scene since the Shenzhen only carries fifty Marines and a Fleet possesses a division of over eight thousand and all their command structures.

  The Shenzhen is part of Ninth Theatre Command which is attached to Fifth Mobile RAC Command. Fifth Mobile directs over twenty percent of all OESA forces. The Ninth and Tenth Theatre Commands each with eight fleets are within Fifth Mobile's jurisdiction. In addition, those Theatre operations each have twelve Frigates unattached to any Fleet. The Shenzhen is one of those independent units. So when I have to seek help, I send a communication to my boss Admiral Stephen Nichols, Commander of Theatre Nine. Communications’ drones were used to take digital messages to their recipient, until 2249. But now, a relay assembly uses a Casimir Emitter to open a wormhole and transmit and receive messages through it on laser beams. I copy Admiral George Bryant at Fifth Mobile. Nearly three hours later, I receive notice from Nichols that the Virgo Fleet has been dispatched, from its current patrol at 69 Virgo by Theatre Five Command, which is the permanent regional headquarters. I surrendered all my intelligence reports and handed over command of the operation to Vice Admiral Shagotha, when she arrived in command of the Virgo Fleet, three and a half days later.

  I don't have all the particulars because I was not in charge of the overall operation but I can tell you that three different regions totaling more than four hundred and fifty square kilometers were rendered temporarily unusable and uninhabitable by bombardment from orbit by the Virgo Fleet and the Shenzhen. I watched the “Gods Rods” we dropped - tracing smoky trails as they streaked through the atmosphere with minimal reduction in their acceleration rate, because of their incredibly sleek shape. They never burn up due to the heat resistant tungsten that jackets the entire six-ton exhausted Uranium body. Exhausted Uranium is pure processed uranium ore where the concentration of fissile material has been depleted by processing to less than two-one-thousands of a percentage point, by mass – far less than background radiation on most planets. Only in the last half century have we been able to reach that level of refinement.

  Each projectile struck with a force of between fifteen and twenty kilotons of TNT, generating a shockwave and mushroom cloud like a small nuclear weapon. And, each had incredible penetrating capacity bestowed on them by their kinetic force and needle-like characteristics. In less than a year, life would begin to return to these substantial craters, some big enough to form small lakes. The rods left little or no residual radiation.

  Nearly twenty-five thousand enemy combatants were exterminated in those showers of death. All offensive medium and heavy enemy hardware in the three principle locations and seven remote regions were destroyed. As these battles progressed, ground intelligence attached to planetary forces and embedded OESA security detachments around the planet pinpointed terrorist network cells. These groups began to move to inflict retribution throughout the civilian population. Some “Spears of Fear” were fired on those targets. The Spears are discharged at high velocity from the muzzles of railguns, and are like scaled-down versions of the Rods but, with fins. That is because they are a “Smart Weapon” with a control system that can direct them through a gaseous environment to a target, with nearly pinpoint accuracy.

  Virgo's Marine Division Command dispatched almost its entire force to the surface. Regiments from each Brigade were assigned zones to clear. Regimental Commands distributed their Battalions to still more remote locations casting a net that was drawn in, to entrap the Encalle.

  Some Marines faced maniacal opponents brandishing guns, machetes, hatchets, axes, shovels, clubs, and any other weapon they could acquire. These were bloody vicious battles resulting in the loss of many enemy combatants but few from our combined Marine forces. OESA Marines wear full body armor hard to penetrate with anything but armor piercing ammunition. Among these enemy packs were two nearly decimated light-armored and heavy-armored battalions, along with two artillery ones.

  As control was regained, tens of thousands of arrests of those even remotely suspicious were executed, to sift out the actual terrorists. Covert intelligence operations were dangerous
and painstaking, and fighting was fierce and deadly. Nearly twelve hundred were actually imprisoned and close to four hundred terrorists killed in these satellite operations.

  Four hundred Marines were detached from the Fleet on temporary six-month assignment to fortify the planetary intelligence and security force once the overall assault was declared complete. Their job would be to aid in rooting out any remnants of the terrorist organization. These fanatics were like cancer. Just a few remaining terrorists could metastasize into a mass that would have to be excised again. No one wanted to come back and repeat the whole operation.

  On our side of the equation, the combined Fleet lost twenty people initially, with injuries of various severity to another thirty-five over the three days of ground operations. On the Shenzhen, we suffered one dead Marine and two injured ones.

  My debriefing meeting earlier had been to acquire all the details necessary to complete my wind-up report to the Admiral. We remained behind as Vice Admiral Shagotha returned her Fleet to its original patrol area headquartered at 69 Virgo thirty-six-and-a-quarter light-years from here.

  I took a shuttle and its crew to the surface, the day after Shagotha’s departure. We skipped from site to site examining and inspecting the devastation. It was incredible to see the regions that endured air assaults. There was not the usual visual carnage and destruction. In fact, there was nothing where concentrations of buildings and people had been. Each was just a giant earthen pit. Some of the more abysmal ones in lowlands were already filling with water from the ground table and streams they intersected. Where close fighting had occurred, there was the predictable destruction. Dead bodies punctuated rubble fallen from partially destroyed buildings. Damaged structures showed signs of both heavy artillery and fighter-craft missile hits. Crumpled twisted masses of steel and exotic alloys were the remnants of once-powerful tanks, personnel carriers, and artillery guns. Smoke lingered from smoldering embers, and the smell of burning flesh and decomposing corpses filled the air with a sickeningly sweet odor.

  …………………………………………………………………………