Death Never Leaves a Calling Card Read online

  Death

  Never Leaves A Calling Card

  Saxon Andrew

  Copyright © 2017 Saxon Andrew

  All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organisations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to any online ebook store and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Epilogue

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  About Saxon Andrew

  Introduction

  Randy looked at Tommy and put his hands on his shoulders, “Are you sure you understand your orders?”

  “I do.”

  “You and your fleet of scouts will move out on your transport immediately and move into Tronan Territory undetected. You must not be seen!”

  “I’ll use the old scouts to patrol ahead of us to warn us of anything moving our way. I have a Guyton assigned to command them and he’ll let us know telepathically if he finds anything. I’ll make sure we stay hidden. We’ve been equipped with the new communication system; we should be fine.”

  “Your transport has enough provisions on board to keep your Fleet fighting for five years. You know what has to be done.” Tommy nodded and Randy hugged him, “Stay safe.”

  “I’ll do what I can, Admiral.”

  Randy smiled, “I know you will.

  Tommy took a shuttle from Delilah’s Sword, where his briefing took place, to the huge Dragon Transport holding position fifteen-miles away and entered the landing bay. The moment he exited the shuttle he heard over his communicator, “Admiral, we need to start moving.”

  “Sorry, Leb. I had to get my final orders and Fleet Admiral Hummel can get long winded. Is the short-cut open?”

  “They’re waiting for us to arrive before activating it.”

  “Get on the way and go to full speed. We’ll launch the scouts to patrol ahead of us after we clear the short-cut.”

  Tommy walked through the cavernous landing bay and saw the thousands of scouts stacked in their berths. The crews came to attention and saluted as he passed. He returned their salutes and finally arrived at his conference room. Roger smiled as he entered and said, “Your scout crews think you’re some kind of superhero.”

  “Let’s see how they feel when we take on the Tronan Communication lines.”

  “We’ll be fine, Admiral.”

  “Call me Tommy, Roger.”

  “You deserve your rank, Sir.”

  “Sometimes I wonder.”

  “What’s our first assignment.” Roger asked.

  “There’s a planet we found a few years back with a large Tronan Fleet surrounding it. I’ve been ordered to remove them and prevent them from communicating with their leadership as we do it.”

  Roger shook his head, “There’s at least twenty Tronan Fleets there. It should prove interesting carrying out that order.” Tommy nodded and watched the Dragon’s Maw enter the filament on his wall monitor. He shook his head at the size of the Dragon Transport. It began construction as a colony ship but was converted to a military transport after the new scouts were developed. Boy! The Dragons built them big. He knew carrying out his mission would prove to be very interesting.

  He looked at the conference room and shook his head, “This room is large enough to have an echo. Every crewman on board will fit in here.”

  Roger smiled, “My quarters are also huge. It’s been divided up into three rooms.”

  Tommy chuckled, “I guess when you build a ship to carry tens of thousands of twenty-foot long dragons, the space is larger than normal.”

  “That’s an understatement, Tommy. Some of the quarters have been converted to game rooms and recreation facilities. Every scout in the fleet wanted to be on this ship. Our time on this ship won’t be anywhere near as bad as the time we spent attacking the Tronan’s last communication line in our scouts.”

  “Have the defenses been completed?”

  “Most of them have,” Roger answered. “The only thing not done is feeding the missile belts into the launchers. We still have seven-hundred launchers left to finish. The blasters are on line and ready to go.”

  “Good. I’m going to my quarters and get unpacked. Notify the commanders of our Ghost Scouts that I want to meet with them in three-hours.”

  “Will do, Sir.” Tommy scowled at Roger and he said, “Sorry, Sir, but on a ship this large, protocol must be observed. There’s always someone around listening.”

  Tommy sighed, “I guess. I just don’t know if I’m cut out for all this formality.”

  Roger waved a hand at him, “Just think of it this way, Tommy. Pretend your parents named you Sir Tommy Cranton. That way everyone will be calling you by your first name when they say Sir.”

  Tommy tilted his head frowning and then smiled, “Now that is a novel idea.”

  “You’ll get used to it, Sir. Give it some time.”

  “At least I have a good ship commander in Leb. I won’t have to worry about that.” Roger nodded and Tommy left the conference room. He sighed and wondered if he was going to spend his entire military career in space away from his small apartment on Romania. He settled there after Heaven’s destruction and it was now his home. He had no personal life and the only woman that ever interested him was now molecules of gas floating in space. He missed Gloria and he had never told her how he felt. But now, it was too late. He shook his head and put the memory out of his mind. He needed to get to know his scout crews and determine who among them had the leadership skills needed to survive this mission.

  Randy had left it up to him to promote his unit leaders and he was woefully unprepared to make those decisions immediately. The first new scouts that completed the initial production had been assigned to him. The Leadership Team knew he had to leave as quickly as possible before the Tronan started launching the next invasion. He had five months before arriving in Tronan Space…he hoped it would be enough time. He had thirty-five thousand new scouts on his transport and most of them had not been trained in combat conditions; there just weren’t enough vessels for them to attack. Tommy stopped walking and the corner of his mouth went up. That had to be why the Leadership Team ordered him to go and remove the Tronan Fleets surrounding the Sand Civilization; it would give his scouts an opportunity to fight in actual combat. He was planning to delay attacking the Tronan Fleets there until the next invasion began…but this chance to get his scouts bloodied in actu
al combat was more important than preventing the Tronan from learning about it. Preventing the Tronan Leadership from learning about it would just have to be done on the fly. And if they learned about it, maybe he could get them to believe the Sand Civilization did it. He started walking again to his quarters and Roger beeped him on his wrist-unit. “Yes.”

  “Admiral, seven-thousand scouts have caught up to us and are requesting permission to come aboard.”

  Tommy chuckled, “Now I understand why Admiral Hummel took so long issuing my orders. Roger, check with Leb and see if they can be brought on board without stopping the Transport.”

  “Sir, we need to do this even if he says he can’t.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because this ship must be capable of landing operations while under attack.” Tommy shook his head and Roger asked, “What?”

  “I’m more amazed at the Leadership team every day, Roger. I believe they held these scouts back just so this would happen. We’ve been ordered to attack the Tronan at the Sand Civilization to allow our forces to fight in actual combat before the major invasion begins. They’re forcing us to make decisions on our own without them issuing orders. They have their act together, Roger.”

  “I suspect sending ten-Guytons on this mission is also not an accident.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “We’re going to need them to contact the Sand Civilization and go out with the ghosts so they won’t have to use electronic communications.”

  Tommy smiled, “You’re right but that shouldn’t be an issue with the new filament communicators. They’ve really thought this mission through. But notice that they’re nudging us and not issuing direct orders. I’m almost tempted to stop the transport and see if I’m ordered to continue at high-speed.”

  “You’re not going to do that, are you?”

  “I might have when we left for Tronan Space with Randy and Gloria a few years back; my stubborn side might have taken over. But I’ve got nothing to prove now. Let’s get the scouts landed before we arrive at the short-cut.”

  “Yes, Sir. I’ll notify Leb. You also need to bring me up to speed on the new communication system.”

  “I’ll do that after we settle in.” Tommy sighed. He remembered the first mission into Tronan Territory and didn’t realize it at the time, but that was the happiest days of his life…Gloria was still alive.

  • • •

  An hour later, Tommy went to the landing bay and watched the organized mayhem taking place as the new scouts came roaring into the landing bay and coming to a jarring halt. The landing crews would attach a cable to the scout and it would be snatched away from the landing area to the berth it would be kept in during the voyage. What made it amazing was that twenty scouts at a time were roaring into the landing bay with twenty more only a few seconds behind them.

  Tommy looked across the two-mile wide landing bay and saw the process was being repeated at the other landing bay entrance. He continued to watch the landings and Roger joined him, “We have a good crew.”

  Tommy nodded. After a moment, he said, “They’ll be better after we push them.” Roger nodded and smiled.

  They arrived at the short-cut filament and landing operations continued as the giant transport went into the filament. Every new scout was on board before they arrived at the end of the short-cut and launch operations began as the Ghost Scouts roared out of the Dragon’s Maw’s giant landing bay.

  Chapter One

  Gregor looked at Sam on his monitor and said, “Sir, I prefer to continue to use my own ship.”

  “Gregor, your landing forces are going to be assigned to Transports and that is where you should be.”

  “Sir, I don’t mean to sound contrary, but I will need to know what we’re facing. I need a ship to go out and scout what my forces will be up against.”

  “But your ship is woefully antiquated. It won’t survive in the coming conflict. Besides, you’ll have the Ghost Scouts to do your scouting.”

  “Sam, you know as well as I do that we won’t be using landing forces until such time as we take the war to their space. In the interim, I will be taking part in the defense of our sector.”

  “Then you and Kaylee should use one of the new Command Scouts.”

  “Sir, I am going to Romania today to update my ship. I’ll let you know if the modifications are a success.”

  Sam exhaled sharply, “I wish I outranked you and could just issue you orders.”

  Gregor smiled, “But you don’t. So, give me some space and let’s see how this works out.”

  “Stay in touch, Gregor.”

  “You know me.”

  “Like I said, stay in touch!”

  The monitor went dark and Gregor heard his ship’s computer say, “He’s still ticked off that you didn’t tell him what you were doing when you developed the new scout.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

  “After all we’ve been through, that won’t happen, Computer. If push comes to shove, I’ll move you to one of the Command Scouts.”

  “Do you honestly think this ship I’m in can be modernized?”

  “I hope so. I know we don’t have time to modify the ships in the fleet but Romania can work on you and Kaylee’s ship.”

  “I really hope you’re right. This old bucket is the only home I’ve ever known.”

  “Let’s see what Gamgel has to say.”

  “Gamgel, I thought he retired after Heaven was destroyed.”

  “He did. But he came out of retirement and is working on Romania building the new scout command vessels.”

  “I feel better already.”

  Gregor smiled, “Don’t worry, Computer. You and I be mates.”

  “That’s an awful English accent.”

  “Actually, it’s supposed to be Australian.”

  “Australian?”

  “It’s a continent on Earth originally colonized by England.”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “I learned about it during the time I was a captive of the Movement on Earth. However, you get the idea.”

  “I guess. You’ve not gone back to Earth since you wiped the Movement out. Is there a reason for that?”

  Gregor was silent for a moment and then sighed, “I don’t know. The Movement killed my mother and Emmett and then invaded Bellingham. I have bad memories from my time there and what happened after I left to live with Emmett.”

  “It might be interesting to see the legacy you left behind.”

  Gregor took a deep breath and then slowly blew it out, “Tell you what, when we wrap it up here, we’ll take a trip and go see what’s happened since we left.”

  “I suspect Kaylee will want to go with us; she spent a longer time on Earth than you did. Incidentally, we’ll be arriving at Romania in thirty-minutes.” Gregor nodded and hoped something could be done to avoid scrapping his ship. He didn’t tell the computer that the scouts were too small for his computer to be installed in them. He would not allow his computer to be harmed. He’d know shortly if what he planned was possible.

  As they entered orbit, the Computer said, “Thank you for suggesting that I could be moved into a Command Scout. But you and I both know my old system will not fit in it.”

  Gregor shook his head, “Do you miss anything?”

  “I’m just like you. Very little gets by me.”

  “Just so you know, you will be my ship and will go wherever I go! I will not accept another ship.”

  “You may not have a choice but I do appreciate your feelings.”

  Gregor looked at the monitor and saw the huge city getting larger. There had to be a way to save his ship.

  • • •

  Gregor sat across the table from Gregory and Gamgel. Gregory shook his head, “I just don’t see any way to convert your vessel.”

  “Why not?”

  “Gregor, you’ve hardened the hull on your vessel to the point where there is ab
solutely no possible way I’m aware of to change anything on your ship’s hull. No tool we have can penetrate Bellingham Steel once it’s hardened and yours is as hard as it gets.”

  Gregor slumped in his chair and Gamgel said, “If you can’t change the shape of his ship, can you add things to it?”

  Gregor looked at Gamgel and Gregory tilted his head, “What are you suggesting?”

  “Well, it appears to me that it’s the fins that make the scouts able to handle the Tronan Warships.”

  Gregory shook his head, “The fins are only part of it. The wings on the scouts are also sharpened to a fine blade so they can penetrate as well and the wings on Gregor’s ship are forty-feet wide!”

  Gamgel shrugged, “From what I’ve seen, size doesn’t really appear to be an issue. It’s the sharpness of the bow and wings that hits a Tronan Warship which leads to a puncture.”

  “We have no evidence to support that,” Gregory responded. “Besides, we’re totally committed to building the scouts. We’re not authorized to work on larger warships.”

  Gregor looked at Gamgel, “What are you thinking?”

  “Can you weld Bellingham Steel to Bellingham Steel.” Gregor’s eyes narrowed and Gamgel said, “Can you take a piece of Bellingham Steel and weld it to another piece that’s been hardened?”

  “I really don’t know. Why do you ask?”

  “I was just thinking that if we made a nose piece with large enough fins to attach to your ship’s bow and a form to cover the edges of your wings, you could coat them with Bellingham Steel that have sharpened edges.”

  “What about the bridge, viewports, external blaster ports, and scanner antennae?” Gregory asked.

  Gamgel shrugged, “All of those items aren’t coated and have ports where they’re extended out of the hull.”

  “The bridge is ten-feet higher than the point of the bow!” Gregory exclaimed.

  Gamgel smiled, “I know that, Gregory. But if the nose piece is made to slope back to the bridge, then the hole the fins cut will provide a hole for the rest of the ship to go through.”

  “Not really.”

  “Why not?” Gamgel asked.