The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) by Kal Spriggs Read Free Book Online Page A

we’ll have broken them entirely and she may well serve in a peacetime Fleet... or we’ll all be dead anyway.”  Of course, those simulations didn't take into consideration the many other threats.  The Balor had been knocked back, but General Shaden had reported them regrouping.  The Shadow Lords were out there too, malevolent and powerful human psychics who pirated across human space with massive fleets.
    Reese shook his head, “At least pull some strings and get her assigned–”
    “That kind of patronage would set exactly the wrong precedent, create exactly the wrong atmosphere.”  Lucius answered.  “Even if I felt it necessary, I wouldn’t do it.”
    Reese took a step back.  Desperation marked his face as he spoke, “She’s all I have, Lucius.  Please, this is my wife... your sister!”
    Lucius sighed, “Reese, I can’t.
    He watched his friend’s face harden, “Again, you choose politics and possible consequences over your own family.  We got lucky last time, lucky that someone else got her out of danger.  Danger you could have prevented.  It’s the same thing and now I can see that the truth is you don’t give a damn about anything but your little empire you’re building out here.”
    Lucius grimaced, “Reese…”
    His brother-in-law's blue eyes were cold and hard, “No, Baron, we’re done.  If you won’t help me with this, I’ll see what I can do on my own.”  Reese turned and stalked out of the office.
    A moment after the door closed Lucius’s com chimed.  He answered it with a slight sigh, “Yes?”
    “Baron, Admiral Dreyfus called up to remind you about the strategy session at fifteen hundred.” The voice of his new civilian secretary announced.
    Lucius grimaced again, he was late, “Thank you, Cindy.  Please let him know I had an issue come up and that I’ll be down immediately.”
    ***
     
    “Attention on Deck!”
    Lucius paused in the doorway, momentarily startled by the pronouncement.  He shook his head, “Carry on.”  There were times his new position caught him off guard, and one of those areas lay in military formalities.  “Sorry I’m late, I had an issue come up.”  He took the open seat left for him between Admiral Dreyfus and Admiral Mund.
    Admiral Dreyfus spoke first, “We’ve finalized a set of plans for the offensive, sir.  Captain Doko, as the head of that particular project, has prepared a brief.”
    The familiar captain stood from his position at the table.  His light pitched voice was confident as he spoke, “Gentlemen and ladies, I’m Captain Doko of the War Shrike .  A quick summary: in order to secure our own borders and to save the lives of billions, we must not only stop the expanding Chxor, but liberate the worlds they’ve conquered.”  He brought up a hologram that illuminated the vast and angry red swath of the Chxor held worlds.  “Of particular interest is securing Nova Roma herself, along with the shipyards the Chxor captured intact.”
    He paused to let his audience study the map and the glowing beacon that was Nova Roma.  “Our primary concern is time.” Anthony Doko said.  “The more time the Chxor are allowed, the more established they can become on those worlds.  Also, we believe that given more time, millions of human civilian lives may be lost to Chxor death squads, work camps, and other atrocities.”
    Lucius grimaced at that.  They’d liberated one such facility in the Melcer system and still hadn’t processed all the survivors.  From what he’d heard, the Chxor punished minor ‘crimes’ such as leaving ones assigned district by assignment to their death camps.  The Chxor simply executed anyone of anything they considered a major violation.
    “Therefore, gentlemen and ladies, our best possible course of action is to open a direct path to Nova Roma, by securing these three systems,” Doko activated his control and illuminated the short chain.  “Melcer, Tehran… and Danar.”  The Nova Romans at