Read Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) Online

Authors: Marshall S. Thomas

Tags: #Fiction : Science Fiction - General Fiction : Science Fiction - Adventure Fiction : Science Fiction - Military

Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree)

Prophet of ConFree

by

Marshall S Thomas

Copyright © 2012 Marshall S Thomas

 

KINDLE ISBN: 9781621416524
PRINT ISBN: 9781621418207

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

 

Published by BookLocker.com, Inc., Bradenton, Florida.

 

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

 

BookLocker.com, Inc., 2012, First Edition

 

 

 

 

Layout design by Chris Thomas

Editing by Carol Woods

Starmaps by Hatton Slayden

William Wallace photo from William Wallace

Monument in Stirling, nationalmonumentwallace.com

 

Cover photo of M101
from the Hubble Space telescope.
Credit for Hubble Image:
NASA
,
ESA
, K. Kuntz (JHU), F. Bresolin (University of Hawaii), J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Lab), J. Mould (NOAO), Y.-H. Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana), and
STSc
i.
Credit for CFHT Image:
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/ J.-C. Cuillandre/Coelum.
Credit for NOAO Image:
G. Jacoby, B. Bohannan, M. Hanna/ NOAO/
AURA
/NSF. Public domain.

Dedicated

To

William Wallace

Warrior, Patriot, Martyr

Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,

Welcome tae yer gory bed,

Or tae victorie.

Now's the day, an now's the hour:

See the front o battle lour,

See approach proud Edward's power -

Chains and Slaverie.

Wha will be a traitor knave?

Wha will fill a coward's grave?

Wha sae base as be a slave?

Let him turn an flee.

- - -

Lay the proud usurpers low,

Tyrants fall in every foe,

Liberty's in every blow!

Let us do or dee.

Robert Burns

 

When the first Outworlder refugees approached the Outvac fleeing System oppression, the Crista Cluster beckoned them onwards with a view that appeared to form a starry cross in the vac. ConFree's ancestors settled those worlds as a free people and vowed in a constitution written in blood to uphold liberty, justice and freedom, no matter what the cost, and to remain eternally vigilant against all forms of tyranny and slavery. The ConFree Legion was formed to accomplish those objectives.

CONTENTS

PART I - THIN BLACK LINE

Chapter 1 - Volunteers

Chapter 2
-
The Dark Lady

Chapter 3
-
Providence

Chapter 4
-
Monsoon Sweat

Chapter 5
-
Planet Hell

PART II - SOLDIERS OF THE LORD

Chapter 6
-
The Wasp

Chapter 7 - The Demon in the Cube

Chapter 8
-
AGATE

Chapter 9
-
Voodoo Honey

Chapter 10
-
A Distant Music

Chapter 11
-
Where Satan Reigns

PART III - DOING THE RIGHT THING

Chapter 12
-
House of Horrors

Chapter 13
-
Space-A

Chapter 14
-
Dreamtime

PART IV - BLOOD OFFERINGS

Chapter 15
-
Golden Lotus

Chapter 16
-
Dragon Shoals

Chapter 17
-
Thirty Fracs Over Kratar

Chapter 18
-
The Hand of God

Chapter 19
-
Tears of Acid

Glossary

PART I
THIN BLACK LINE

 

Chapter 1
Volunteers

The Legion Gate loomed before me. It was right in downtown Windwood; it fronted a cold grey building with no windows. A Legion cross was carved into the stone above the Gate. It was dark in there; you couldn't see in. Anyone could go in – but not many came out again. The Gate was always open, but only for volunteers.

I was a tall, skinny teen with an ugly shaved head and a bandage across my nose. And I sure as hell wasn't a volunteer. I was standing across the street from the Gate, about as far away as I could get while still remaining on the same street. That Gate scared me. It looked like the entrance to a black hole. Not too many people knew what was inside and even fewer wanted to know. I sure didn't. Yes, it was just like a black hole – mysterious, extremely dangerous and ultimately fatal. On a scale of one to ten, one being a heroic volunteer and ten being a terrified coward, I rated myself about a twelve.

No, I didn't want to volunteer – but I was going to, as soon as I could work up the nerve. I didn't have any choice.

I told myself that I'd wait a bit longer, and see if my friends showed up. They were supposed to say goodbye to me. The thought of leaving Eugarat, forever, was depressing. I really needed somebody to show up – just to say goodbye.

Eugarat was a paradise. I thought it then, when I was growing up there, and still thought it many years later, when I'd seen the best and worst of the galaxy and knew what was what. It was a bloody paradise. I was a brainless teen back then, but I did recognize how special it was. It was a Legion world, torn from a savage wilderness by free men fleeing slavery, violent men determined to create a new world for their families. They did it, but they had to fight for it. ConFree was born in blood. And people from Eugarat had a reputation as aggressive, troublesome, hardassed warriors. Yugo-rats, they were dubbed by the rest of ConFree. They accepted the name as a badge of honor.

That's what it says in the history of ConFree, and that's what my mom told me, too. I knew all that, even as a kid. I didn't doubt it. They pounded it into our heads in school and my mom reinforced it. I loved to listen to her. The stories about how the Outworlder race colonized the Crista Cluster and formed the Confederation of Free Worlds fascinated me. The System pursued them, and sent in Starfleet, and the colonists responded by forming the ConFree Legion and Fleetcom and declaring war on the System. Born in blood. Those people were my ancestors and they were heroes to me when I was younger, but they never seemed real. It was more like the mythological legends from the olden days. I didn't think it really had anything to do with me.

A paradise – in more ways than one. We lived by the Misty Mountains in Windwood, a lovely little settlement set in a tropical rainforest, and it was really beautiful. Romantic even. My birth name was Richard – Richie for short, Richard Rains in full. I graduated Windwood Middle School at seventeen, and I was having so much fun I didn't want it to end. I spent all my time with my lovely little Windwood honeys and couldn’t settle on anybody. They were all a few years younger than me but that didn't bother me. My buddies were jealous of my success with the girls but we were all pretty close so it didn't matter much.

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