Military Sci Fi
Published Date: 5/10/2018
A republic under attack. A reluctant soldier. An all-out fight for the galaxy’s soul.
David Cohen prays he’ll live to see the other side of his first deployment. His people thought they had left war behind when they fled Earth centuries ago. Time, though, has not dulled the hatred and intolerance of their erstwhile oppressors. To defend his homeland’s freedom, David abandons his dream of becoming a rabbi for the battlefield… and discovers a side of himself he is not sure he can live with.
David's focus is clear when the bullets are flying. In the long hours after, he must reckon with the toll that blood and blame bring upon his mind. Can he square the tenets of his faith against his responsibility to crew and country? Nothing has prepared him to make decisions that could cause ruin or an end to generations of conflict... except for trust in God, himself, and those who serve under him.
If David Cohen survives it all, who will he be?
Excerpt:
Chapter One
CSV Artemis
Patrol Sector 14A – Terran Coalition /
League of Sol Active Combat Zone
5 February 2544 (Old Earth Calendar)
Corporal David Cohen hefted his work belt and
strapped it around his waist. At a little over six feet tall, David was taller
than most of his crewmates, and in excellent shape at the age of nineteen.
Having finished boot camp only a few months prior, David had been able to keep
his physical condition from his training as he diligently maintained a daily
exercise regimen, despite the challenges of life in the fleet. He was posted to
the CSV Artemis, a small frigate that
specialized in point defense. She was assigned to a task force protecting a
Saratoga class carrier engaged in combat operations against the League of Sol.
David and his compatriots were members of the Coalition Defense Force, one of
the military arms of the Terran Coalition; the other being the CDF Marine
Corps.
David glanced at a clock showing Coalition
Mean Time (CMT), the standard time keeping metric for all CDF ships. It’s time for morning prayers…but there’s no
way I can make it to the chapel and still keep on schedule for our repairs,
David thought to himself. An Orthodox Jew, David was heartsick when he couldn’t
make it to prayers.
Taking a moment before heading to his post,
David stood and prayed quietly. “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May
the Lord shine His countenance for you and be gracious to you. May the Lord
lift up His favor upon you and grant you peace.” The prayer was from a passage
in Numbers from the Torah. I hope,
someday, we can have peace, he thought to himself as he began to walk to
his post.
David had only been assigned to the Artemis for a couple of months and had
already been promoted to corporal. Due to his promotion, he was assigned to
lead a damage control team as a bosun’s mate. While a spaceship did not have
open-air decks like a ship from the wet navies of four hundred years earlier,
the term “bosun” had remained. David’s duty on ship, aside from damage control,
was to stand watch on the bridge as the secondary, or lee, helmsman. These were both traditional jobs for bosun’s mates. In
leading the damage control team, David experienced what it was like to have to
consider the lives of those under his direction for the first time.
Working on a section of passageway that had
experienced total loss of pressure and significant damage to its structural
integrity, David and his crew labored to replace piping and wiring bundles
throughout the damaged walls and ceiling. A young private from New Washington,
Everard Beckett, groused as he pulled another length of burnt cabling out of
the wall. “Corporal, can’t we just patch this stuff on the surface and wait for
an overhaul to make it look pretty?”
David rolled his eyes as he pushed through
another bundle of wire. “Well, while we’re at it, why don’t we just leave the holes
in the side of the ship? I mean, we’ve been disabled four times in the last
three weeks. Wouldn’t want to do it right so the ship is at maximum combat
effectiveness for the next time we fight the League, would we?”
Another member of the team, Private Rachel
Munford, laughed. “And there we go, ladies and gentlemen, another attempt at
cutting corners cut down by our esteemed corporal.”
David snorted. “I don’t know why I bother
with you, Beckett. You’ll be someone else’s problem in a couple of years
anyway.”
“Oh yes, we know you want to get out,
Corporal,” Everard said. “If I had a credit for every time you’ve told us you
wanted to be a rabbi, I could buy one of these boats and go into business for
myself privateering League ships.”
“Are you daft, Beckett? The League doesn’t
have any merchant ships on this side of the galactic arm for us to privateer,”
Rachel deadpanned. “I’m just glad we’re out of the front lines for a few days
while we get repaired. Being able to relax and actually take a shower is nice.
Sometimes it really is the little things in life.”
“How about less jawing and more pulling
cables so we can still get to the mess while hot food is being served?” David
interjected pointedly.
“Yes, Corporal!” Everard replied, redoubling
his efforts to pull the burnt cable out of its housing.
The next hour, the team worked their way
through the passageway, and with some level of satisfaction, David noted they
were far closer to restoring the cabling to working order. Just as he was going
to order a break for chow in the crew’s mess, the alert klaxon sounded. As the
three of them looked at one another, the commanding officer’s voice suddenly
boomed across the 1MC intercom system. “Attention all hands, this is your commanding
officer.”
David instantly recognized the voice of Major
Benson Pipes.
“Prepare to repel boarders. I say again,
prepare to repel boarders!”
David’s mind immediately leapt to the
procedures to repel hostile boarding parties. “Beckett, Munford, with me,” he
directed.
David instantly noticed a look of fear come
across Everard’s face. “Uh, Corporal, we’re not security. Shouldn’t we fall
back to a protected space?”
In truth, David was terrified, but he was
determined not to show it. “No. We cannot abandon our posts. If nothing else,
we must try to bottle up any hostile boarding team until the ship’s security
contingent can respond. Now fall in!”
Leading his team to the nearest weapons
locker, David entered his access code, unlocking the unit. He quickly passed
out particle beam sidearms to each, followed by battle rifles and several
magazines. Noting there was only one pulse grenade, David took that for
himself.
Just after the small team finished loading
up, a loud thud nearly knocked them from their feet. Steadying himself, David
cursed under his breath. “That must be a League boarding pod,” David said.
Working hard to ignore the panic, he tried to focus on taking one step at a
time, what one of his drill instructors called “solving one problem at a time.”
“Let’s double back one passageway over,”
David commanded. Seeing the look of bafflement in Everard and Rachel’s eyes, he
expounded, “They’ll have to push through that area to get to anything of
importance. We will hold there until the Marines arrive.”
“Or we all get killed,” Everard replied,
doubt in his voice.
Ignoring Everard’s comment, David led them to
a junction between two passageways that seemed like a good defensive position. “Beckett,
take the right,” he said, pointing to the right side of the junction. In his
mind, he tried to convince himself that the League troops incoming were nowhere
near as tough as his drill instructor, and if he survived him, he could survive
anything.
“Munford, take the left,” he commanded.
David crouched down, shielding his body as
much as he could with the bulkhead and pointing the long battle rifle towards
the direction the League troops would appear from. After holding their position
for what seemed like an eternity, a couple of League troops appeared from behind
another bulkhead. David took aim and squeezed the trigger of the rifle, just
like he had been taught in basic training. Nothing happened. The two Leaguers
snapped their own rifles up and sent a volley of shots towards the direction of
the failed fire attempt. Jerking himself back, David cursed again while Everard
and Rachel returned fire at the League soldiers. Quickly checking his weapon,
he realized he hadn’t chambered a round. Aggravated at himself for the rookie
mistake, he worked the gun’s action, chambering a round and adjusting his aim
to return fire with his troops. Between the three of them, the two League
soldiers were both killed in short order.
As the firing came to a stop, David found
himself stunned. He had never fired a weapon with the intent to harm another
human being before, let alone kill one. It took a moment for him to snap
himself out of his realization and hit the communications panel on the wall. “This
is damage control team fifteen, deck five, passageway 3B. We have engaged League
boarding parties and request Marine backup,” David stated robotically into the
speaker.
“They’re coming again, Corporal!” Everard
shouted.
Incoming fire splattered against the
bulkhead, putting clean little holes into the walls.
“Return fire!” David shouted, leaning back
out and opening fire with short bursts from the battle rifle. Two more League
troopers were hit, but this time, numerous other Leaguers followed them and
charged towards David and his troops. I’ve
only got one pulse grenade, David thought to himself as he pulled it out
and hefted it in his hand. They’ll
overrun us if I don’t use it, so I better make it count.
“PULSE
OUT!” David shouted, pulling the pin from the grenade before tossing it down
the passageway. He waited for the telltale explosion with his hands over his
ears and squeezing his eyes closed, hoping the other two did the same as they
had been trained. With the bang of the explosion, David jerked himself back
into the line of fire and unloaded on the League soldiers caught in the open.
Firing short bursts, they killed eight more Leaguers before they ran out of
ammunition and had to pull back to reload.
In the lull of the combat, they all exchanged
glances. David’s hand shook, making it difficult for him to reload his weapon.
“I didn’t sign up for the Marines,” Rachel
said. David couldn’t tell if she was being serious or trying to lighten the
situation.
“I don’t think any of us did,” he replied,
trying to focus on something, anything, to calm his nerves. “They’re going to
hit us again any second now.” He peered towards the next bulkhead, looking for
a sign that they were coming.
“We’re out of grenades, Corporal. We’ve got
to pull back,” Everard fretted.
“No. We hold until the Marines arrive,” David
barked.
“Why? We’re not equipped for this! We’re a
damage control team, for crying out loud!” Everard exclaimed, near hysterics.
“Because if they get by us, they have the run
of deck five. I’m not interested in being a League POW for the rest of my life.
Now focus on the task at hand, Private. That’s an order!” David shouted back.
“Yes, Corporal,” Everard ground out, finally
getting his rifle reloaded.
For all the calm David portrayed, his mind
was anything but. He knew they likely wouldn’t survive another push, and he was
on the verge of ordering them to fall back, when the communications panel went
off. “Damage control team fifteen, this is Sergeant Morrison. Are you still
with us?”
David slapped the control to enable the
microphone. “Yes, Sergeant. Not sure for how long.”
“Hold your position. We’ll be there in five
minutes.”
“Understood, Sergeant. Out,” David said,
stepping back from the panel and looking at the two of them. “Now we hold.”
Everard and Rachel both nodded. Seconds
later, the League troops surged forward, firing down the passageway on David
and his team. David, Everard, and Rachel returned fire, causing the League
troops to pause their advance. When a League Marine flashed into view, David’s
heart sank. He knew that League Marines had power armor and would be very
difficult to disable or kill. “Power armor! Aim for the upper body and head!”
David shouted.
Rachel leaned out and sprayed the League
Marine’s center mass area with bullets from her battle rifle. As it clicked
dry, return energy weapons fire from the Leaguer ripped into her arm, throwing
her to the ground, screaming in pain. David leaned out and opened fire, trying
to distract the power-armored soldier. Momentarily successful, he quickly
scurried back behind the protective bulkhead as energy weapons fire found him.
“Beckett, pull back with Private Munford,”
David stated over the din of battle, reloading his rifle as he spoke and
realizing he was on his last magazine.
“They’ll overrun you, David,” Rachel said,
trying to stem the flow of blood from her arm.
“I’ll be all right. You need medical
attention,” David stated with a decided level of understatement, firing a burst
of rounds down the passageway blindly as he spoke. “Now GO!”
Not needing further encouragement, Everard
grabbed Rachel’s good arm and dragged her out of the passageway and out of the
line of fire. To cover their escape, David leaned back out and emptied his
rifle into the Leaguers. It almost worked; Everard had almost gotten them to
safety when a stray energy beam caught him in his chest. He fell to the ground
in a heap as Rachel screamed at the top of her lungs in horror. As panic took
over, Rachel found the ability to flee, scrambling a couple more feet before
landing behind the next bulkhead. Rachel’s sobs echoed in David’s head,
momentarily distracting him as he felt for his sidearm, knowing he was out of
bullets for the rifle. With the practiced muscle memory of his training taking
over, he slipped the energy pulse pistol into his hand and brought it up,
turning the energy setting to maximum and pointing it toward the open bulkhead.
David knew he was about to die. Any moment
now, the power-armored League soldier would crash into the passageway junction,
and even if David could kill him, there would be another one, and another
one…until one of them finally ended his life. Resigned to that fact, David
considered that he had never wanted to kill another human being. Yet here he
was, having taken God only knew how many lives in the last fifteen minutes, and
having witnessed the death of one of those under his command.
Interrupting his thoughts, the power-armored
League soldier who had been their target burst through the bulkhead. David
fired his already raised sidearm; the energy beam immediately connected with
the Leaguer’s chest. The power armor held for a moment as the Leaguer tried to
bring his own weapon around to shoot David. Just as he did, the energy beam
broke through the armor and shot out of the Leaguer’s back. Little blood
sprayed out of the wound due to the cauterizing effects of the particle beam.
He let go of the trigger, and the power-armored soldier collapsed to the
ground. David paused, the kill shocking him. He barely registered the curses
and shouts from the remaining League troops. He pointed his sidearm at the
bulkhead opening and waited for the end.
From behind him, David heard shouts and saw
weapons fire pour down the passageway. Wondering for a moment if the enemy had
flanked him, he realized from the sound of the weapon reports that it was
friendly – the Marines had arrived! A group of six heavily-armed Marines
thundered into the passageway junction. “Report, Corporal!” the lead Marine,
Sergeant Morrison, yelled as the they filed into position.
David could not say a word. He lowered his
weapon, hands still shaking. Morrison came over and shook David’s shoulder. “Corporal!”
The shaken shoulder snapped David out of his
trance. “We have wounded. Privates Beckett and Munford.” He pointed toward
Everard’s fallen body and the bulkhead Rachel hid behind.
The sergeant spoke into his communicator. “I
need a corpsman on deck five, passageway 3B. ASAP. We have wounded down here!”
Looking into the distance, Morrison’s eyes widened as he looked back to David
with surprise. “Damn, Corporal, you want to transfer to the Marines? There’s
got to be thirty dead Leaguers out there.”
While the Marines were clearly impressed,
David sat numb. He dropped the sidearm to the floor and tried to stand. He only
made it about halfway up before his legs collapsed under him, leaving him in a
pile on the floor.
“Hey there, take it easy,” Morrison reasoned.
“You’re going into shock, son. Just stay put. Help will be here soon. You have
done all that you need to do.”
David nodded at Morrison without trying to
reply. Taking in the death and destruction around him, David stared at the dead
bodies of the Leaguers and back at his hands several times. What did I do? he thought. I…killed them. The commandment Thou shalt not kill roared into David’s
mind with the punishing tone of an angry teacher. Looking over at Everard’s
body, David focused on a Jewish prayer for the dead. Speaking in Hebrew, he
whispered to himself, “God, filled with mercy, dwelling in the heavens heights,
bring proper rest beneath the wings of Your Angels, amid the ranks of the holy
and the pure, illuminating like the brilliance of the skies the souls of our
beloved and our blameless who went to their eternal place of rest.”
David looked up to see a corpsman running
into the passageway carrying a medical bag. The man knelt next to David. “Corporal,
are you okay?” he asked.
“Privates Beckett and Munford need medical
assistance before me,” David mumbled.
The corpsman nodded and stood to treat the
others. Rachel was tended to first. After examining Everard, he turned toward
David. “I’m sorry, Corporal, but Private Beckett didn’t make it.”
Only after Everard’s body was removed to the
ship’s morgue would David allow himself to be taken to the medical bay.
About the Author
Ever since watching Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back at the age of five, with his father, Daniel has loved science fiction. Reading hundreds of sci-fi novels, during his teenage years, Daniel came up with the EOTP (Echoes of the Past) universe. Twenty years later, its finally becoming a reality!
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