The Genesis Fleet - Vanguard E-Book

Jack Campbell

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Earth is no longer the centre of the universe. After the invention of the faster-than-light jump drive, humanity is rapidly establishing new colonies. But the vast distances of space also mean that the old order of protection offered by Earth has ceased to exist. When the colony of Glenlyon is attacked, its up to Robert Geary, a young former junior fleet officer, and Mele Darcy, a former enlisted Marine, to face down warships and armored soldiers - or die trying.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Also by Jack Campbell and Available from Titan Books

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Acknowledgments

ALSO BY JACK CAMPBELL AND AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS

THE GENESIS FLEET

VANGUARD

ASCENDANT (MAY 2018)

LIBERATOR (MAY 2019)

THE LOST FLEET SERIES:

THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS

THE LOST FLEET: FEARLESS

THE LOST FLEET: COURAGEOUS

THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT

THE LOST FLEET: RELENTLESS

THE LOST FLEET: VICTORIOUS

BEYOND THE FRONTIER: DREADNAUGHT

BEYOND THE FRONTIER: INVINCIBLE

BEYOND THE FRONTIER: GUARDIAN

BEYOND THE FRONTIER: STEADFAST

BEYOND THE FRONTIER: LEVIATHAN

THE LOST STARS SERIES:

THE LOST STARS: TARNISHED KNIGHT

THE LOST STARS: PERILOUS SHIELD

THE LOST STARS: IMPERFECT SWORD

THE LOST STARS: SHATTERED SPEAR

STARK’S WAR SERIES (AS JOHN G. HEMRY):

STARK’S WAR

STARK’S COMMAND

STARK’S CRUSADE

JAG IN SPACE SERIES (AS JOHN G. HEMRY):

A JUST DETERMINATION

BURDEN OF PROOF

RULE OF EVIDENCE

AGAINST ALL ENEMIES

JACK CAMPBELL

TITAN BOOKS

The Genesis Fleet: Vanguard

Print edition ISBN: 9781785650406E-book edition ISBN: 9781785650413

Published by Titan BooksA division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

First edition: May 20172 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

The right of John G. Hemry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. Copyright © 2017 by John G. Hemry writing as Jack Campbell.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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To Colonel Gary S. Baker, USAF. Veteran of Vietnam and the Cold War, B-47 Navigator/Bombardier, AC-47 “Puff the Magic Dragon” pilot/advisor to the VNAF, and midwife for the C-5 (including being pilot #5 to qualify for midair refueling, and command of C-5 56th Military Airlift Squadron at Altus AFB).

For S., as always.

1

There was something about breathing the air of a new world, something about knowing that the oxygen you inhaled had never before sustained any human being. It felt crisp and new and strange and exciting. Not like Earth, which he had visited once, where every molecule had cycled through countless generations of humanity, where the same old stories had played out endless times on land trod by untold numbers of people. Here, this spot, right there, had never before felt the weight of a person’s foot. There, where trees with strange leaves and odd shapes marked where the grassland changed to forest, no person’s eyes had ever before rested. Compared to this world, even the planets in the Alfar Star System felt like what they were now called, an Old Colony.

The sun overhead wasn’t quite the right size for someone familiar with the sun that warmed the planets orbiting Alfar and looked a little too orange, but it was at the right distance from this world so that the heat it gave off allowed a person to walk about in shirtsleeves at this latitude and this time of the planet’s year. The air had that fresh relish to it and could be breathed by humans. The green of the plants felt a little too blue, but that was all right.

A flock of small, birdlike creatures rose into the air with a thunder of wings and high-pitched, warbling cries. Like every habitable world that humanity had discovered so far, this one held an array of native life but nothing that could be considered sentient. If other intelligent species existed in the galaxy, they were still somewhere out there, beyond the current boundaries of human exploration.

Robert Geary knelt and touched the grass, grinning. Behind him, he could hear the rumble of machinery coming off the landing shuttles that had brought the devices down from orbit. Soon enough, those machines would begin constructing the first buildings of a city. Not an old city, with memories of generations of people and buildings, but also something new, not burdened with history but still awaiting history’s first imprint.

A new world. A new beginning.

Unlike Alfar, the Old Colony he had come from. In human terms, a new place that had become Old in a few generations. Where “how we do things here” had fossilized rapidly into a society where no one was supposed to rock the boat because the rules set forth by the first colonists were the best and only imaginable ways to do things.

And if you could imagine other ways? If you wanted to try something different? Or, worse, change the way things were? Who do you think you are?

I think I am Robert Geary; therefore I am not going to put up with this when I can go somewhere new with other people who want to be able to breathe. Somewhere we can make our own rules.

“Rob Geary?”

The call from his comm unit jarred Rob from his reverie. He frowned at the worried tone of it. Why would the president of the colony’s governing council be calling him? “Here. Is something wrong?”

“A ship arrived at the jump point from Scatha five hours ago. They sent a message as soon as they showed up, which we have now received.”

“And?”

“They say this star system is under their ‘protection,’ and we owe them what they call residency and defense fees.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Rob said. “I thought we were granted full ownership here by the Interstellar Rights Authority.”

“We were, and we intend on telling them that. But what if they don’t listen?”

“Why are you asking me? I’m not on the governing council.”

“Because that new arrival is a warship. And the warship is heading toward this world.”

He gazed upward, where the blue of the daylight sky drowned out sight of the countless stars. Somewhere up there was . . . what? A warship belonging to some other recent colony? A private corporation wanting to sell security services in a new part of space? A pirate, absurd as that seemed? “What does the council expect me to do about it?”

“We need advice, Rob. Advice from someone who knows something about this kind of thing. And in this colony, that’s you.”

Rob Geary touched the place on his collar where he had once worn the insignia of a junior officer in the small fleet of Alfar Star System. He had thought he had put that part of his life aside forever.

But maybe not. Whether whoever controlled that other ship called themselves pirates or privateers or security professionals or part of whatever fleet Scatha had, they were playing a very ancient game. It looked like humanity had brought some old, bad habits along with it to new stars and new worlds. And as someone who had chafed at not being able to make changes, to make a difference, Rob wasn’t in a very good position to refuse to help when asked.