War Against the White Knights Read online

  War Against the White Knights

  Book5 of The Human Legion

  Copyright © Tim C. Taylor & Ian Whates 2016

  Cover image © The Life Tre-e Project / shutterstock.com

  Square logo image © Algol / shutterstock.com

  Published by Human Legion Publications

  Also available in paperback

  All Rights Reserved

  HumanLegion.com

  * * *

  The authors wish to thank all those who work-shopped, proof read, or otherwise supported the making of this book. In particular, Paul Melhuish for allowing us to raid his vault of filthy Skyfirean vernacular, the Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group, Midland Road Costa Coffee, The Bromham Swan, Bedford Central Library, Hans, Mike and our loyal supporters on humanlegion.com, Donna Bond for a fine job as editor, and Ian Watson for persuading Tim to turn a short story into a bestselling book series.

  * * *

  — PREFACE —

  This, the fifth book in the Annals of the Human Legion, begins in 2602AD in the aftermath of Legion’s hard-fought victory against the New Empire faction in the Second Battle of Khallini. The route to the White Knight homeworld lies open, and the Emperor himself seeks to bind the Human Legion to his Old Empire faction in the Civil War.

  But there were those who sought to use the battle as a cover for murder and infanticide. First comes the reckoning.

  This fifth book is the account of how the Legion fought its way to the gates of the Imperial Citadel, and how the immutable choices they found there threatened to shatter their unity and end the dream of freedom forever.

  This is the War Against the White Knights.

  For those unfamiliar with earlier events, or wishing a refresher, a brief summary has been provided here.

  — PROLOGUE —

  “Summon the next witness!” called the court clerk.

  Chief Petty Officer Coombes was Lance of Freedom’s master-at-arms, and that made him responsible for law and order on the ship. As he rose reluctantly to do the clerk’s bidding, it was obvious that parading witnesses in front of an audience wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he took the post.

  Arun glanced at the defendant in her fenced-off box atop a high platform in the middle of the mess hall which had been transformed into a bustling courtroom. Given his personal connection with the defendants and the targets of their crime, General Arun McEwan knew that transparency was vital. He hadn’t wanted the trial to escalate into a spectacle but knew that was always going to be the risk and wasn’t surprised that it had become one.

  From her high tower, Springer faced the polished stone bench, behind which Arun and the other members of the tribunal sat. She wasn’t looking at them, though. Her eyes, which could glow in such vibrant violet hues when excited, were sullenly cold and staring into the far distance.

  Arun couldn’t even remember the names of the next witnesses. They’d changed the schedule shortly before the trial commenced at 09:00, and by that time Arun’s ability to think beyond the next second had vanished. All he could manage was to hide behind a façade of dignity, and hope Springer would get through this in one piece.

  After Coombes had been gone a few moments even Arun noticed the atmosphere in the courtroom begin to calm and then chill. He tore his glance away from the defendant and onto the witness approaching the stand.

  Arun shot to his feet, his hands pressed down on its polished top ready to leap over.

  The judge grabbed Arun’s wrist. “No you don’t!”

  Arun remained poised for the jump. There was no full-time judiciary, of course. The judge’s role in this trial had fallen to Major Chan. Before joining the Legion after the First Battle of Khallini, the former staff sergeant had practically run his battalion in the name of its Jotun lieutenant colonel. Chan’s voice carried enough authority for Arun to sit down and glare at the witness in silence.

  Breakfast with Xin that morning had been awkward, but this was unbearable. She hadn’t warned him, hadn’t said a thing – presumably because she knew how he’d react.

  Immaculate, and shapely in her colonel’s dress uniform, Colonel Xin Lee walked along the deck. She held her head high and studiously avoided looking in his direction. Xin ascended the witness stand, which was a second high tower, but whereas Springer’s stand faced Arun and the tribunal, Xin’s faced the defendant.

  Springer had always claimed that Xin had a heart as dark as a singularity, but he’d never wanted to believe that. From the earliest days of his infatuation with her, he had convinced himself that she was nothing like the woman Springer perceived, that she was special. And of late that was precisely what he had found, seeing a completely different side to her. Yet now, seeing her take the witness stand, Springer’s judgement and all the doubts it had inspired came back to him.

  “I protest,” Arun heard himself say. He knew that in speaking out he risked looking foolish and undermining his own authority, but he had to. He didn’t want to hear what Xin had to say. He didn’t want Springer to be right about her.

  “Noted,” growled Chan. “But you were given the revised schedule, so sit down!”

  Arun clenched his jaw tightly and watched Xin as she swore the sacred oath of honor, of fealty to the Legion and the ideal of freedom for which it stood.

  Lieutenant Vogel was handling duties as interrogator. He circled the witness stand at deck level before beginning. “Impulsive. Protective. Revengeful. These are all words previous character witnesses have used to describe the defendant. Do you concur?”

  “Yes I do. Springer’s all those things. One moment she seems normal, and the next her violet eyes light up and she gets excitable. I don’t mean that little thrill of excitement we’ll get them time to time. I mean she’s a frakking maniac.” Every word was a dagger to Arun’s heart.

  “Colonel!” growled Chan. “You will treat this court with respect.”

  Xin shrugged. “Sorry. Springer’s excitable, yes. It’s where she gets her name. Thing is, she gets her wires crossed. Blames the wrong people. She’s a terrible judge of character. Yeah, those are all those bad things that don’t help her case and they’re all true, but the thing is… Springer’s got a strong sense of justice. In a galaxy where brutal pragmatism often dictates actions, right and wrong remain paramount to this individual.”

  “Can you give examples?” asked Vogel. “Details?”

  “Details? Just one is all you need. Back in the Second Battle of Khallini my unit was wiped out. I was surrounded, done for. My life is no more valuable than any one of the tens of thousands who died that day. But at that moment I was important. We had to respond with all speed to the enemy sneak attack, and I was the only field commander in place to do so. When Springer’s friends and comrades were killed around her, she sought me out and single-handedly shot dead the half-squad of enemy Marines who were surrounding me.”

  Arun watched helplessly as Xin rose to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at Springer. What the hell is she going to say now?

  “Without this woman’s actions that day, I would have died, and the enemy sneak attack would have captured Lance of Freedom – this ship where we are assembled today – and her hangar filled with vital X-Boats.” Xin started jabbing a finger at Springer, who didn’t seem to register that this witness was even there. “Let no one in this court be in doubt. Every one of us here would be dead if not for that woman.”

  Xin sat down.

  Everyone in the audience got to their feet. The overhead rumbled with the uproar, but Major Chan swiftly brought the chamber to order. He gestured for Xin to continue her testimony.

  “Springer had been boiling with anger at me and at General McEwan over there.”r />
  She spared Arun a glance for the first time, able to do so now that she had revealed her true intent, he suspected. To do so any earlier would have meant facing his disapproval, hurt, anger… and perhaps even his hatred. She must have known that. As it was, Arun wasn’t sure if he felt proud of her or angry that she hadn’t warned him… Perhaps a little of both.

  “When the moment came to choose right from wrong,” Xin continued, “Springer chose right. Furthermore, it is my belief than she would do so every time that choice is placed before her.”

  “Colonel Lee,” said interrogator Vogel, “you are more than a character witness. The attempted murder was of your children.”

  Springer gave a start, her face becoming animated for the first time since the proceedings started. She stared at Arun. “What does he mean, attempted murder?”

  Arun felt a surge of hope. He had almost given up on reaching her: she’d seemed so closed to him, to everybody, retreating into her own private hell. “Springer, listen to me, because this is so important. We’ve been through all this. It’s all right to feel guilty, I understand why you would, but everything’s all right. Furn never hurt anyone. He tried to, but even he can be outwitted. It was Pedro’s idea. The embryos weren’t on Lance of Freedom at all. Pedro moved them. Even I don’t know where they are now, but he assures me they are safe. Furn attacked decoys.”

  “You mean… I’m not a murderer?” Springer stared at him, as if struggling to believe her own words.

  “No, you’re not,” said Xin, “and I’ll tell you something else. You’re not a Marine either. I don’t know what you are. A hero, yes, but no longer one of us.”

  Xin half-turned to Arun and smiled.

  Arun knew that smile was meant for him. His heart melted. He was a teenager once again, captivated by the glamor cast by this woman he used to dream about.

  Xin had lied for him. She’d told Arun the truth of what happened at the Second Battle of Khallini, that Springer had come looking to murder her, only to discover she was caught in the same web of destiny that constantly tried to entrap Arun.

  Xin had lied under oath because she loved him… and then stuck a barbed judgement into Springer to take her out of the picture. Arun might be the commander-in-chief, albeit only with Admiral Indiya’s political support, but Xin was the senior Marine commander, and hero of the Second Battle of Khallini. If she said Springer wasn’t fit to be a Marine, it would be next to impossible for him to contradict her.

  Arun hated Xin. He adored her.

  Some things would never change.

  ——

  The two defendants stood side by side in the stand, awaiting their sentencing, surrounded by a sea of expectant faces that represented only a tiny proportion of those looking on from afar. The entire Legion would be watching this, Arun knew.

  As a pair they looked ridiculous. Springer’s black fatigues bulged with strength and vitality, despite disfiguring scars down one side and the prosthetic leg that was out of sight but never out of Springer’s mind. Furn barely came up to her chest. Always thin, he had shrunken in on himself since his arrest. He felt betrayed too. Springer had turned him in.

  As a man, Arun couldn’t care less what Furn felt. The pathetic ship rat had tried to murder his children in the name of the twisted love he felt for Springer.

  As a commander, Arun thought this was a hellish waste. Here were two of his most valuable military assets. Wasted on some stupid impulse.

  How could the Legion balance justice with the need to continue utilizing these assets? Only by ugly compromise. Judge Chan would pronounce sentence in a moment, but would he follow Arun’s suggestion? All Arun could do now was hope.

  But before Chan pronounced sentence, Arun would have the chance to speak, and he intended to use the opportunity to set the tone, to encourage magnanimity and, hopefully, make the Legion more receptive to mercy.

  Arun stood and felt the attention of many tens of thousands press upon him.

  “The events of today cap of the first phase of the Human Legion story,” he said. “Storms have buffeted our very existence. But we have weathered them and prevailed, and now we are ready to expand our Human Empire.

  “Tomorrow ‘K’ Fleet sets off on a campaign of conquest. ‘A’ Fleet and ‘L’ Fleets will follow within months. Our destination is the White Knight homeworld. Our objective, freedom. Not the freedom of outcasts beyond the law, but a solid, dependable and, above all, legal freedom. We proceed at the request of the White Knight Emperor besieged in its citadel, but we advance on our own terms. And when the Emperor emerges from his decades of long siege, it shall be to prostrate itself before the boots of a human army.”

  Arun groaned inwardly. He’d vulleyed up again over the Emperor’s gender. Arun thought of the White Knight as an ‘it’, but the Emperor referred to itself as a ‘he’. Naturally, Pedro was fascinated by Arun’s continued gender confusion.

  The awkward passage was over. Now.

  He punched the air. “Freedom can be won!”

  Cheers rang out through the room. This was what the crowd wanted. They echoed Arun vigorously.

  Freedom can be won!

  Freedom can be won!

  Arun waited for the cheers to subside before thrusting both fists into the air and issuing a new battle cry.

  “Freedom shall be won!”

  The crowd was evidently taken by surprise, but after a split second pause, they erupted into even fiercer cheers and chanting.

  Arun took his seat and Major Chan quietened the room with a downward wave of his outstretched hands. He cleared his throat. “Leading Spacer Furnace-Shield and Marine Phaedra Tremayne have played their vital roles in the history of the Human Legion, but it is clear to this tribunal that they cannot be trusted to serve in any of the two fleets.”

  The court was silent now, the tension electrifying.

  “In the case of Leading Spacer Furnace-Shield, this tribunal finds you guilty of multiple counts of attempted infanticide, a crime so heinous that you cannot be permitted to live among your own race. You shall be cast out of human society for the remainder of your life. You will remain a spacer in the Human Legion Navy and will carry out whatever duties the service sees fit to assign you from a deep-sea station built to house you in isolation. You will work with Littoranes and other aquatic members of the Legion, but of Homo sapiens and derivative species you are forbidden to come closer than one hundred meters. Forever.”

  Furn offered no reaction, his face locked into a scowl of resentment.

  “Marine Phaedra Tremayne,” began the judge. Arun’s heart fluttered. “In light of your previous good service, you will be discharged with honor, and reassigned a new role, that of deputy ambassador serving under Ambassador Sandure.”

  The audience emitted low-level grumbles. Arun’s acute hearing picked out a few whispers of, “Shame!’”

  “Silence!” bellowed Chan. “I have not finished pronouncing the defendant’s sentence.”

  The audience quietened to an uneasy calm.

  “It is my judgement, Tremayne, that you have confused culpability with guilt. Nonetheless it is our view that Spacer Furnace-Shield would not have attempted to murder your rival’s children if he didn’t feel he had your tacit approval. You should have been aware of this. You should never have allowed this situation to develop, but it did. This tribunal finds you guilty of conspiracy to commit multiple counts of infanticide.”

  Arun couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t in the script.

  “Your punishment is a harsh one,” continued Chan, “but is intended to send a message. It is not enough for Legion personnel to blindly ignore the actions of their comrades, any more than it is acceptable to commit atrocities and excuse ourselves by saying we were only following orders. The Legion must be better than that. We are all in this endeavor together and we are responsible for all of our actions collectively. Phaedra Tremayne, you are deemed unfit to be a mother. All rights and privileges with regard to your embryos are herewi
th denied you. If you ever see them again in their current state or having been born, it will not be in the capacity of a parent. Master-at-arms, take them away!”

  Arun tried, but he couldn’t look at the defendants as they were marched away by Chief Petty Officer Coombes. He’d come into this trial desperate for a way to spare Springer her life. The offences were committed during the Second Battle of Khallini, and the clamor to punish anyone doing wrong under cover of the battle had been overwhelming. Only Xin’s testimony had saved Springer from a firing squad.

  Finally, Arun managed to flick a glance Springer’s way. Given the slump he saw in her shoulders, maybe execution would have been more merciful.

  Get a grip of yourself! Arun cursed his weakness. In a few days, Springer would see things more evenly. She would find distractions, new courses to channel her considerable energies. She would bounce back. She always did eventually. That’s where you got your name, he told himself, but he wasn’t convinced it would hold true this time. Xin was, though.

  Dammit! Xin was right. She always was. Arun was pining for a long-lost friendship. He sighed. He and Springer… that had been over years ago. Didn’t mean he no longer cared but he’d moved on. Arun knew his future lay with someone else, just as Springer had always said it would.

  Xin commed him privately, her timing preternaturally accurate, as always.

  “Look, Arun, I’m here if you need me, but I’m guessing you’d prefer to be left alone. I’m going down to Khallini-4 to inspect the zero-point batteries. I’ll be gone two to three days. You’ll be okay?”

  “I guess,” he said, not really believing it. “Xin…”

  When he didn’t finish, Xin prompted gently: “What is it?”

  Arun bit his lip. “Thank you.”

  —— PART I ——

  COUNTERSTRIKE

  — CHAPTER 01 —