Righteous Reign by T. J. MacDonald ©Copyright 2016 Tom MacDonald all rights reserved. Righteous Reign is purely a work of Fiction. Any resemblance or similarity to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Dedication: To Tanis who put up with so much while I completed this work. Table of Contents Forward Part One Chapter 1 Turning Point Chapter 2 Old Tom Chapter 3 The OESA Chapter 4 Rigil Chapter 5 The Promotion! Chapter 6 Bryant Chapter 7 Bryant and Boots Chapter 8 Drums of War Chapter 9 Expansion!! Chapter 10 Justice Chapter 11 Mobile Fifth Command Chapter 12 The Spiel? Chapter 13 The Fifth RAC Forever Chapter 14 On My Way to The Top Part Two Chapter 15 The Loki Step Chapter 16 Clean Up this Mess Chapter 17 The Conspiracy Chapter 18 Opened for Business Chapter 19 Manipulations Chapter 20 A New Beginning End Forward There are four hundred ninety-two billion, four hundred twenty-one million, three hundred eighty-six thousand, seven hundred twenty-eight citizens within the sovereign territories of the democratic government I work for. And, of all those people, I am the one in the best position to access any information; no matter how secret or sensitive. That makes me the best person to tell this story. It is the story of George Bryant; probably, the greatest man to live, in my lifetime. It tells of his adventures, successes and love. It also tells the story of his absolute loyalty to his love, his subordinates, his government and his Emperor. It describes his "Royal" wedding; and two others celebrated similarly in a ten-year span. George's story is one of leadership. Though a man of deep feelings, strong convictions and impeccable ethics, he is also a tactical genius capable of leading wars waged on a massive scale. He'll do anything to defend the people and institutions he cares about. Within his story are several others, including my own - we are interwoven. In one way or another, we all owe George for the success we have achieved on his coattails. And, through it all, are the stories of a conflicted Emperor and the determined, "Old Tom", who helped established this great sovereignty; and became one of its legendary heroes. Admiral Kurt Brubacher Inspector General Part One Chapter 1 Turning Point Tuesday July 10, 2255 "Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects". Lester B. Pearson Canadian Prime Minister Life aboard any military vessel is never easy. However, it can be challenging, rewarding and downright pleasurable, at times. Officers and crew face navigational hurdles, confined spaces, Mother Nature's anger and sudden perilous encounters. On the other hand, we get to assist others; to be ambassadors; to be explorers and pioneers; and, to enjoy the camaraderie aboard ship. I am just about to engage in my third meeting of the day. It's a training meeting that follows a two-hour mission debriefing and a staff meeting, I chaired earlier in the day. The first involved all the department heads under my command. The second included my Exec and the other three shift commanders. Meetings like those first two are magnificent opportunities for junior officers to extend their experience at command. Someone has to run the ship, while we're all occupied. Overall, it's been a very long day. After rising, dressing and eating, I spent a couple of hours managing administrative chores. Then, I finished my six hours as the bridge watch commander; a boring job considering, we are just orbiting Rho Corona Three. Orbiting any planetary body is a sobering experience; changing with your perspective. When you arrive at a system many planets, close to its star, are not even visible, to you; or are little points of light, in the distance. As you approach, the planet grows on your screens and in the viewing windows. When you finally park in orbit, it appears as a colossal object that diminishes your vessel to the absolute minimum. The Shenzhen is just a mosquito on the back of an elephant. And, when it occurs to you that; the planet is a tiny speck in the totality of the universe; you can feel meaningless, for a moment… Until, you realize that; you are one of very few species that use this space-scape for a playground. The earlier debriefing concerned a mission that started out, six days ago, resembling a captain's ghastliest nightmare. We'd been intercepted by a communications drone from Rho Corona Borealis, a system a little over eleven light years from 14 Hercules; which we've been patrolling. The communiqué stressed that the Encalle tribe had turned a political disagreement into an out and out civil war; employing terrorist tactics to achieve advantage. The Encalle political view is grounded in ancient religious beliefs. Rho Corona Three had a deep tribal heritage; but, had long since become a technological, space-faring planet. The planetary government expressed their unqualified fear that; they were about to lose control; and illustrated some of the barbarism that was being inflicted on the population. Nine generations ago, the Empire I serve ratified a Constitution guaranteeing its citizens generous rights. The one notable absence is the right to religious freedom. That Constitution included the means for new colonies to gain admittance to the Empire. Once in the group, it forbade separation from it. Enshrined in the document is also a clause dealing with treason and the use of terrorism as a means of waging war against the Empire. The punishment for treason is as specified in supporting legislation. However, civil disobedience, civil war and other treasonous acts shown to be terrorist in nature are dealt with by sterilizing the affected planet of its infection. OESA regulations specify how a ship's captain is to fulfill his obligations under the Constitution. As captain of the ESS Shenzhen, I would first have to corroborate there was a legitimate threat. Then, I would have to document that the threat was terrorist in nature. This step, in itself, requires deployment of a considerable intelligence operation, to the planet, to gather accurate, real time, objective information. Once this phase meets the specifications outlined in OESA regulations, I am required to obtain Flag Level approval; and completely eradicate the threat. I have to admit that this is the one responsibility I have that truly terrifies me. The only buffer for me is that, such a decision must be supported by a Flag or General Officer of Level eight, or greater. But, for all intents and purposes, we are a blunt object wielded to defend and protect the constitution of the Empire. In this case, I was very fortunate, in that, preliminary intelligence reports indicated this was a very extensive uprising. Thousands of Encalle had snatched vast swaths of territory and were deploying terrorist networks throughout the planet. Though the ship is capable of bombarding the offenders into submission, it requires land forces to ensure successful completion of this type of mission. Such an expansive operation could require more than five thousand ground troops. And, that’s not to mention the intelligence body I would need to land, first; to acquire the level of detailed information I need to meet the requirements to gain approval. This means the deployment of a full fleet to the scene, since the Shenzhen only carries fifty Marines and a fleet possesses a division of over eight thousand supporting troops and all their command structures. The Shenzhen is part of Ninth Theatre Command which is attached to Fifth Mobile RAC Command. Fifth Mobile directs over twenty percent of all OESA forces. The Ninth and Tenth Theatre Commands each with eight fleets are within Fifth Mobile's jurisdiction. In addition, those theatre operations each have twelve frigates unattached to any fleet. The Shenzhen is one of those autonomous frigates. So, when I have to seek help, I send a communication to my boss, Admiral Stephen Nichols, commander of Theatre Nine. Communications’ drones were used to take digital messages to their recipient, until 2249; but now, a communications assembly uses a Casimir Emitter to open a wormhole and transmit and receive messages through it on laser beams. I copy Admiral George Bryant at Fifth Mobile. Nearly three hours later, I receive notice from Nichols that the Virgo Fleet has been dispatched, from its current patrol at 69 Virgo by Theatre Five Command; which is the permanent regional headquarters. I turned over all my intelligence reports and handed over command of the operation to Vice Admiral Shagotha, when she arrived in command of the Virgo Fleet, three and a half days later. …………………………………………………. I don't have all the particulars; because, I was not in overall command of the operation; but I can tell you that, three different regions totaling more than four hundred and fifty square kilometers were rendered temporarily unusable and uninhabitable by bombardment from orbit by the Virgo Fleet and the Shenzhen. I watched the “Gods Rods” we dropped; tracing smoky trails; as, they streaked through the atmosphere; with, very little reduction in their acceleration rate; because of, their extremely sleek shape; and never burning up; due to the heat resistant tungsten that, jacketed the entire six-ton exhausted uranium body. Exhausted uranium is pure processed uranium ore, where the concentration of fissile material has been depleted by processing, to less than two-one-thousands of a percentage point, by mass – far less than background radiation on most planets. Only in the last half century have, we been able to reach that level of refinement. Each projectile struck with a force of between fifteen and twenty kilotons of TNT; generating a shockwave and mushroom cloud like a small nuclear weapon.