Valkyrie Rising (Warrior's Wings Book Two)

Valkyrie Rising

Copyright © 2011 Evan C. Currie

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Foreword

Welcome back to the universe of the United Solarian Fleet and it’s now ongoing war with the alien Alliance. I’m pretty happy with Valkyrie, as it went from first word to last in 5 weeks and 1 day. Of course editing took another couple weeks, then it kind of sat around for 2 more while I was working on other thing, but hey here it is right?

I’ve tried to put a little bit more of everything into this novel, particularly character development that so many were clamoring for after the first. It’s a living universe, in as much as anything imaginary can be, so you won’t see everything all at once but rather over time. That said, I don’t think that anyone will feel too disappointed with the new insights into our dear Sergeant’s head as well as the inner workings of the USF and this time we even get a peek at things from the alien’s perspective.

I hope everyone enjoys this one, if it passes your muster I’ll set the third and final book in the Hayden conflict as the next on my schedule and try and have it written before summer. That will wrap up the first story arc I want to set in this universe, but I have at least one more full arc in mind, so there’s lots more to see here.

Now, on a non-universe related note: If anyone wants to contact me with questions, try my google+, facebook, or twitter accounts. (You can get them after the novel). Reviews on Amazon are much appreciated, but Amazon’s system of forums leaves a lot of places for me to check and I often miss questions for quite some time when posted there. I answer questions and comments to my social accounts as quickly as possible, often within a few minutes.

Odyssey Fans: I sold the rights of the Odyssey novel and its sequel to Amazon’s 47North imprint, so they control the release dates. Sorry for the change from the original schedule, but it was an unforeseen opportunity and I chose to take advantage of it. The sequel is on schedule for a September release in 2012 according to the presale information on Amazon, so that should be pretty rock solid. Again, I’m sorry for the misleading information in Odyssey One, but that was published before I was offered a place with 47North.

Ok, I think that’s everything. Check with me on my social accounts if I missed something you want to know about, because for now we’re moving on to the novel. It’s my pleasure to present Valkyrie Rising for your enjoyment.

Table of Contents

• Cover
  
• Title
  
• Foreword
  
• Table of Contents
  
• Prologue
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• About the Author
  

Prologue

New Mexico tether car,

Entering Earth’s atmosphere

Sergeant Sorilla Aida looked out over the curvature of the Earth as the black of space began to give way to the faded blue of the sky. The tether car was in the hold of the Earth’s pull now, descending by gravity instead of the push of its electric motors, heading for the New Mexican space port another 20,000 meters below. Her mind wasn’t on the return home, however; she was thinking about the people she’d left behind on Hayden and wondering how they were holding out.

The final action of her tour on that world had taken out the enemy gravity valve and ended, at least for a time, the threat of nuclear retaliation from the alien invaders. What she hadn’t been able to do, however, was eliminate their presence entirely. Some had escaped the destruction of the base, and the detection systems of the supply convoy hadn’t detected any other ships than the last cruiser destroyed in orbit by the Socrates. There was no way for that ship to have picked up the survivors of the base, and Sorilla knew that the aliens had already been moving operations away from the center of Hayden resistance as a result of the guerilla campaign she and the Hayden pathfinders had engaged in.

Being pulled out before the job was done rankled on her, but she also understood the need. The brass wanted observational data, not to mention a total dump of her armor and implant memory, and even her opinions on everything she’d seen. Debrief was scheduled to take months, a process already itching at her spine. For now, she was under orders to take a week and go home. Once debrief was over, it was pretty clear that she was going to be thrown back into the fray.

All the better, in her opinion.

Desks and padwork were for the birds.

“Please ensure all items are secured and fasten your restrains,” a voice chimed in from the speakers. “This car is about to initiate braking procedures. When the brakes engage, microgravity will cease and any loose items may become damaged.”

It repeated itself, but she ignored it. She hadn’t even bothered to undo her straps and float around like the tourists behind her. Sorilla worked in space, and while microgravity was fun, it was old hat. She heard the others in the car cursing softly as they tried to get their straps done up or catch a runaway camera, but none of it was coming in her direction, so she just let her mind drift again.

The aliens weren’t really what she’d expected, to be honest, not after all those months of fighting the hulking Golems and smaller Goblins they sent out to do their grunt work. Inside the base, she’d encountered at least two distinct species, a large, furred, meat shield type, and a smaller, more frail-looking “Roswell Grey” type. She presumed that the Greys were the ones in charge. They seemed to be the technicians, at least, while the other “Cat People” ones seemed like little more than hired muscle working security.

That rankled her more than she wanted to admit, the fact that it had been so easy to clean out that base. She’d fought in all kinds of wars in her day, and even the stupidest third world soldiers were more competent than what she’d seen. They really felt like rent-a-cops protecting an office building, which jived with some of her other experiences on Hayden. The Golems and Goblins weren’t warriors, they weren’t even combat drones, they were overblown bulldozers and forklifts doing construction.

But then there was the gravity valve.

If any culture issued access to a weapon of mass destruction to glorified security guards and construction workers, Sorilla figured they were a culture that needed to be reeducated on the meaning of the word sanity.

Post haste.

“Please place your tray tables and seats in their upright and closed positions. We will be landing in Spaceport America in twelve minutes. Thank you for traveling Maiden Solar.”

Sorilla snorted softly. 
As if it mattered which I picked. They all lease their cars from the USF.

The sensation of gravity returned with ever-increasing speed as the gradual braking continued to increase until they came to a stop just above ground level at the New Mexico facility, where they waited for the car ahead of them to be shifted to the return tether so they could disembark.

Unlike the colony tethers, Spaceport America was home to a dual band system, permitting continuous transport in both directions. It made the lives of the maintenance crews interesting, Sorilla supposed as the car shuddered into motion again, but that was life.

“Welcome to Spaceport America,” the cheerful voice chimed as the car dropped into the large terminal building. “Please remember to gather up all belongings prior to disembarking, and please don’t leave your seat until the car comes to a complete stop. Thank you again for traveling with Maiden Solar. Have a nice day.”

*****

USF Cheyenne

Outer Sol System

“Admiral.”

Nadine Brookes twisted in free fall, catching her hand on a section of the bulkhead to steady herself as her aide floated through the access hatch and dragged her own body to a halt on the handle it presented.

“What is it, Denise?”

Denise Milan took a second to orient herself relative to her CO, not bothering to salute. While respectful in theory, a zero gravity salute stood roughly even chances of looking completely ridiculous, and there was no one here to see anyway. She then pulled a chip from her pocket and extended it for the admiral to take.

“Orders?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Denise answered, “The collier task force just got back from Hayden a short while ago.”

“I know, what about the military force?” Nadine asked, a question that had been burning in her since she saw the squawk codes of the returning ships. She hoped that they’d remained behind to patrol Hayden.

“Word came down, ma’am,” Denise said, shaking her head sadly.

Nadine winced, “Damn it. All of them?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Nadine rubbed her face, “How did the colliers survive? Did the task force somehow fight the enemy to some sort of mutual destruction?”

“Nearly Ma’am, one enemy cruiser survived. Captain Petronov of the Socrates finished it off in Hayden orbit.”

That surprised her, to be honest. Nadine, like most of the fleet, didn’t have much faith in the converted science ships as weapons of war. “Alexi Petronov? I honestly never thought the man had it in him. He’s civilian science track, all the way.”

There was a certain irony to her saying that, given that she was science track herself, but Nadine Brookes had come up through the military ranks despite her educational career. She’d known Petronov, hell she knew every captain in the fleet, and the man was about as close to a pacifist as you got. Hearing that he’d notched up a kill on the aliens was about the last thing she expected.

“What is the status of the collier ships?”

“They’re being refitted and reloaded.” Denise said, “Crews get some leave, but they’ll be reassigned shortly I expect.”

Nadine nodded, taking the chip and swinging herself into the command station that took up the central area of the flag deck. She pushed the chip into the slot then signed into the system with her biometrics and started to read. When she was done, she leaned back thoughtfully.

“Escort run.”

“Pardon, ma’am?”

“Relief supply to the Ares mining system,” Nadine explained. “New tether, weapons, food, and medical supplies, those sorts of things.”

Denise nodded. It made sense. A lot of the people on Ares had been killed in the initial attack, but it was all relative. Most people living and working planet-side had been well underground, in the mines and other facilities that existed there. Those people were all stuck there. Even with a new tether in place, she doubted that the USN had anywhere near the needed lift to transport that many people at the moment, but Fleet still had to do its best by them.

Still, Taskforce Five was the only mobile division available to the USN at the moment, since One was composed of the ships that would undoubtedly make up the relief column and Four was the newly commissioned “Home Fleet.” Sending Five out on an escort mission seemed a little wasteful, in her opinion. They were a heavy combat force and should be taking the fight to the enemy.

Of course, since the enemy hadn’t been seen since the assault on Hayden, that was proving difficult.

Nadine nodded once, closing the screens before keying into the ship’s internal comm.

“Bridge here, Admiral.”

“Is the captain available?”

“I’ll transfer you.”

“Thank you,” Nadine said before the com closed.

A moment later, the captain’s voice came back. “Roberts here, Admiral.”

“We’ve received orders, Captain. Squadron conference in twenty.”

“Aye, ma’am. I’ll be ready.”

“I know you will. Brookes out,” she said, closing the com. “One down, the rest to go.”

“I’ll start getting the conference set up, then, ma’am.”

“You do that, Denise,” the admiral said, not looking around as she opened a channel to the HMS Hood.

*****

Getting the captains together took a little more than twenty minutes, even using conference signals, but thanks to Denise, they pulled it off. Nadine shortly had her captains briefed and leaning in the right direction when the final orders were cut and the force was ordered to the primary jump point to rendezvous with the Taskforce One supply train.