Sten’s luck seems to have deserted him. Having been assigned a tacdivision in the Fringe Worlds, he soon discovers that the Imperial Officers are more interested in having fun than honing their fighting skills. The enemy Tahn couldn’t have picked a better time or place to launch their long-planned attack against the Empire. Sten and his men are outgunned and outmanned—but Sten isn’t going to give up without a fight.
*****
*****
STEN #4
FLEET OF THE
DAMNED
By Allan Cole & Chris Bunch
CHAPTER
ONE
THE THAN BATTLE cruiser arced past the dying sun. The final course
was set, and in a few hours the ship would settle on the gray-white surface of
Fundy—the major planetary body in the Erebus System.
Erebus would seem to be the last place that any being would want
to go. Its sun was so near extinction that it cast only a feeble pale yellow
light to its few heavily cratered satellites. The minerals left on those barren
bodies would barely have supported a single miner. Erebus was a place to give
one dreams of death.
Lady Atago listened impatiently to the radio chatter between her
crew and the main port com center on Fundy. The voices on the other end seemed
lazy, uncaring, without discipline—a marked contrast to the crisp string of
words coming from her own crew. It grated her Tahn sensibilities.
The situation on Fundy had been neglected too long.
Lady Atago was a tall woman, towering over many of her officers.
At casual glance some might think that she was exotically beautiful—long,
flowing dark hair, wide black eyes, and sensuous lips. Her body was slender,
but there was a hint of lushness to it. At the moment it was particularly well
set off in her dress uniform: a dark green cloak, red tunic, and green
form-fitting trousers.
At second glance all thoughts of beauty would vanish as a chill
crept up the spine. This was Tahn royalty. A nod of her head could determine
any one of many fates—all of them unpleasant.
As her ship punched into landing orbit, she glanced over at her
captain, who was monitoring the actions of the crew.
"Soon, my lady."
"I'll require one squad," she said.
Her head turned away, dismissing the captain. Lady Atago was
thinking of those undisciplined fools awaiting her on Fundy.
The big ship settled to the ice about half a kilometer from the
port center. The engines cut off, and the ship was instantly enveloped in gray
as sleet slanted in from a stiff wind.
Most of the surface of Fundy was ice and black rock. It was an
unlikely place for any enterprise, much less the purpose it was being put to by
its present occupants.
The Tahn were preparing for war against the Emperor, and the
Erebus System was the cornerstone of their plan. In great secrecy, Erebus had
been converted into a system-wide warship factory.
So distant and so undesirable was Erebus that there was little
likelihood that the Eternal Emperor would discover their full-out effort to arm
themselves until it was too late. Thousands of ships were being built, or
converted, or refitted.
When Lady Atago's battle cruiser entered the system, she could
partially see those efforts. Small, powerful tugs were towing hundreds of
kilometer-long strings of the shells that would be turned into fighting ships
and then transported to ground for final refitting. Huge factories had been
hastily constructed on each of the planets, and the night skies had an eerie
glow from the furnaces.
The Tahn had drafted every available laborer down to the barely
skilled. The poor quality of their work force was one of the several reasons
the Tahn had chosen to concentrate so much of their manufacturing on planets
rather than in space. Deep space required highly trained workers, and that was
something that the massive arming had stretched to the near impossible. Also,
deep-space factories required an enormous investment, and the Tahn could
already hear the coins clicking out of their treasury vaults.
They wanted as many ships as possible, as cheaply as possible. Any
malfunctions, no matter how life-threatening, would be the problem of the
individual crews.
The Tahn were a warrior race with stamped steel spears.
Lady Atago paused at the foot of the ramp, surrounded by a
heavily armed squad of her best troops. This was her personal bodyguard, chosen
not only for military skills and absolute loyalty but for size as well. Each
member of the squad dwarfed even Lady Atago. The troops shuffled in the sudden,
intense cold, but Atago just stood there, not even bothering to pull her thermo
cloak about her.
She looked in disgust at the distant port center. Why had they
landed her so far away? The incompetent fools. Still, it didn't surprise her.
Lady Atago began walking determinedly through the snow; the squad
followed her, their harness creaking and their boots crunching through the icy
surface. Big gravsleds groaned past, hauling parts and supplies. On some of
them, men and women clung to the sides, catching tenuous rides back and forth
from their shifts at the factories that ringed the port with smoke and towering
flames.
The Lady Atago turned her head neither left nor right to observe
the strange scene. She just stalked on until they reached the center.
A sentry barked from a guard booth just outside the main door. She
ignored him, brushing past as her squad snapped up their weapons to end any
further inquiry. Their boot-heels clicked loudly as they marched down the long
hallway leading to the admin center.
As they turned a corner, a squat man came half running toward
them, hastily arranging his tunic. Lady Atago stopped when she saw that he was
wearing the uniform of an admiral. The man's face was sweating and flushed as
he reached them.
"Lady Atago," he blurted. "I'm so sorry. I didn't
realize you were arriving so soon, and—"
"Admiral Dien?" she said, stopping him in midgobble.
"Yes, my lady?"
"I will require your office," she said, and she walked
on, Dien stumbling after her.
The Lady Atago sat in silence as she scanned the computer
records. Two of her squad stood at the door, weapons ready. The others had
placed themselves strategically about the overlush offices of the admiral.
When she had first entered the office she had given it one quick
glance. A slight curl of a lip showed what she thought of it: very un-Tahn-like.
As she scrolled through records, Dien muttered on in an endless
stream of half explanations.
"There… there… you can see. The storm. We lost production for
a day.
"And that item! We had to blast new landing strips to handle
the freighters. The pressure was enormous, my lady. The sky was black with
them. And we had insufficient facil—"
He stopped abruptly as she palmed a switch and the computer screen
went blank. She stared at it for a long, long time. Finally, she rose to her
feet and turned to face the man.
"Admiral Dien," she intoned. "In the name of Lord
Fehrle and the Tahn High Council, I relieve you of your command."
A painter or a physicist would have been in awe at the shade of
white the man's face became. As she started out of the room, one of her squad
members came forward.
"Wait, my lady. Please," Dien implored.
She half turned back, one perfect eyebrow lifting slightly.
"Yes?"
"Would you at least allow me… Uh, may I keep my sidearm?"
She thought for a moment. "Honor?"
"Yes, my lady. Honor."
There was another long wait. Then, finally, she replied. "No.
I think not."
The Lady Atago exited, the door closing quietly behind her.
NEXT: STEN #5 - REVENGE OF THE DAMNED
*****
ALL THREE STEN OMNIBUS EDITIONS NOW ON TAP
The entire 8-novel landmark science fiction series is now being presented in three three giant omnibus editions from Orbit Books. The First - BATTLECRY - features the first three books in the series: Sten #1; Sten #2 -The Wolf Worlds; and Sten #3, The Court Of A Thousand Suns. Next: JUGGERNAUT, which features Sten #4, Fleet Of The Damned; Sten #5, Revenge Of The Damned; and Sten #6, The Return Of The Emperor. Finally, there's DEATHMATCH, which contains Sten #6, Vortex; and Sten #7, End Of Empire. Click on the highlighted titles to buy the books. Plus, if you are a resident of The United Kingdom, you can download Kindle versions of the Omnibus editions. Which is one clot of a deal!
Here's the Kindle link for BATTLECRY
Here's the Kindle link for JUGGERNAUT
Here's the Kindle link for DEATHMATCH
*****
HERE ARE ALL EIGHT AMERICAN EDITIONS OF STEN
YOU CAN BUY THE TRADE PAPERBACKS, E-BOOKS AND AUDIO BOOKS BY CLICKING ON THE STEN PAGE!
*****
THE STEN COOKBOOK & KILGOUR JOKEBOOK
THE STEN COOKBOOK & KILGOUR JOKEBOOK
Two new companion editions to the international best-selling Sten series. In the first, learn the Emperor's most closely held cooking secrets. In the other, Sten unleashes his shaggy-dog joke cracking sidekick, Alex Kilgour. Both available as trade paperbacks or in all major e-book flavors. Click here to tickle your funny bone or sizzle your palate.
*****
*****
IT'S A BOOK!
THE COMPLETE HOLLYWOOD MISADVENTURES!
*****
TALES OF THE BLUE MEANIE
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| Venice Boardwalk Circa 1969 |
In the depths of the Sixties and The Days Of Rage, a young newsman, accompanied by his pregnant wife and orphaned teenage brother, creates a Paradise of sorts in a sprawling Venice Beach community of apartments, populated by students, artists, budding scientists and engineers lifeguards, poets, bikers with a few junkies thrown in for good measure. The inhabitants come to call the place “Pepperland,” after the Beatles movie, “Yellow Submarine.” Threatening this paradise is "The Blue Meanie," a crazy giant of a man so frightening that he eventually even scares himself. Here's where to buy the book.
*****
Diaspar Magazine - the best SF magazine in South America - is publishing the first novel in the Sten series in four
episodes. Part One and Part Two appeared in back-to-back issues. And now Part Three has hit the virtual book stands. Stay tuned, for the grand conclusion. Meanwhile, here are the links to the first three parts. Remember, it's free!
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