Homeguard Read online

  Homeguard

  Book Four of the Kin Wars Saga

  By

  Jason Cordova

  PUBLISHED BY: Theogony Books

  Copyright © 2019 Jason Cordova

  All Rights Reserved

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  Get the free Four Horsemen Universe prelude story

  “Shattered Crucible”

  and discover other titles by Jason Cordova at:

  https://chriskennedypublishing.com

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  License Notes

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

  This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to all my friends and family who have supported me while I continue to pursue this writing thing. None of this would have been possible without your support. I want to give my love to the Super Mega Awesome Beta Force Crew for going through this and making sure it doesn’t suck. Yes, a few new faces this time around, but I needed the more feminine viewpoint. Thank you Jay, Jasmine, Collyn, Kelly, and Lauren…you’ve kept me on the straight and narrow for this series. Also, a huge shout out to Dr. Nikhil Rao for taking the time out of his busy schedule to make sure I don’t screw up basic anatomy. If there are mistakes, they’re mine and not his. Thank you all!

  Lastly, thanks to Colonel Fritz Ling Fotovich for designing the map of the Dominion. We need to add a new system or three. Just giving you a head’s up to expect an email soon.

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  Cover art by Ricky Ryan

  Cover Design by Brenda Mihalko

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  Dedication

  As always, this book is dedicated to Michael “Gimpy” Fisher. I still miss your terrible sense of humor even though you have been gone for over ten years now.

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  Stellar Map

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Stellar Map

  Prologue

  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

  About the Author

  Titles by Jason Cordova

  Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy

  Excerpt from Book One of the Earth Song Cycle

  Excerpt from Book One of The Psyche of War

  Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle

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  Home –

  1. the place where one lives permanently

  2. the social unit formed by a family living together

  Guard –

  1. one assigned to protect or oversee another

  2. a defensive state or attitude

  3. the act or duty of protecting or defending

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  Prologue

  It was dawn when the first bomb fell.

  Marigold City wasn’t the largest metro area on Belleza Sutil, but it did hold the most people. Over five million citizens of the Dominion of Man called the capital city home. The city lacked the suburbs typical of the Core worlds; much like kingdoms of old, true power on the planet lay in the rural farming areas.

  It also hosted the largest launch terminal on the planet, Roystav Station. It was from here that the Marines, under the command of Octavio Nunez, Justice of the Black and the commanding officer of Battle Group Four, had been assisting with search and rescue operations stemming from the fallout of the previous month’s battle between the rogue forces under the mysterious Darkling and the loyal Dominion forces.

  Most of the citizens on Belleza Sutil didn’t trust the central authority of the Dominion but were initially thankful for the assistance. The devastation and fallout from the DV Icewind falling into the ocean, creating a massive tsunami, were enormous tasks for the planet to recover from. Even after a month of constant search and rescue efforts, bodies were still being washed ashore during the changing of the tides.

  However, as swiftly became apparent to all, the rescue operations were a cover for something far more insidious. The rescue mission had ended almost as soon as it had begun, and an armed occupation replaced it, as every planetary guard member was rounded up on suspicion of harboring insurrectionists, and the Dominion Marines took control of security at the behest of the Justice of the Keys. Given the very public history of the Justice’s handling of problems in the past, the citizens living on Belleza Sutil were more than a little concerned.

  They were right to be.

  The next sign of trouble came when Dominion Marines arrested the planetary governor. There had been no warning before the move was made, and thus many citizens were caught off guard. While she wasn’t popular with everyone, she’d carried the popular vote during the elections by a wide margin. Even her political opponents respected Governor Amanda Huesting, quite a bit, and protested her arrest. Their appeals to the Justice of the Black fell on deaf ears, however.

  Uncertainty reigned. Governor Huesting’s political opponents were caught in a particularly twisted quagmire. On one hand, they’d been given the opportunity to replace a governor they vehemently disagreed with on numerous social and economic issues. On the other, they ran the risk of being seen as collaborators by the very people they sought to lead. There was no way they could win both scenarios, and the debate quickly turned to which side they should support.

  After a few clandestine meetings, it was decided they would throw their public support behind the recently-deposed governor. Protests were called, and the citizens, who had always considered themselves to be leaders of the Fringe Worlds, began to march in the streets of downtown Marigold City. While they hadn’t yet reached the “torch and pitchfork” mob mentality, they were still a large and angry mass of humanity. One that was, unlike those who inhabited the Core worlds, surprisingly well-armed.

  Marines in riot gear deployed to “peacefully disperse” the crowds. At least, that’s what the news agencies reported to the ’net. Indeed, many of the reporters were able to record quite a bit of footage of the marines calmly asking the crowds to leave and being obeyed. To anyone on the outside, it was an orderly situation, and they went about their business, wondering which prince was going to take the throne and whether it would affect their daily routines.

  Outside the range of the vid cameras, however, the marines drove the protesting citizens of Belleza Sutil away using far more violent methods. Clubs, gas, and even massive T-M201 “Goliath” tanks met the protestors as they chanted for the release of their governor. Unused to such treatment, the citizenry fell back. Martial law was imposed, and the leaders of the loyal opposition were arrested. They were quickly executed after show trials. Information from Belleza Sutil trickled to almost nothing, as the news cycles of the Core worlds moved away to more pressing matters.

  In the quiet valley of Soldier’s Retreat, the small community could do nothing but watch as the occupation began in earnest. No one fully understood why the marines had taken hold of the planet, nor did they
care. The patriotic blood of every man, woman, and child in the hamlet boiled at the sight of armed soldiers in the streets of Marigold City. Former marines who now called the area home were conflicted. They remembered their oaths upon being sworn into the marines, but they also knew the difference between wrong and right. Such individuality was common among the Fringe, even for marines who no longer wore the uniform.

  Battle Group Four, tired of the insurrectionists they believed to be pouring into the capital from the outlying villages and townships in the region, decided enough was enough. They elected to isolate Marigold City from the rest of the region. How to do this, though, remained the question of the day for the senior officers of the battle group.

  Destroying the four main bridges, which allowed the majority of citizens from the region to enter from the west, became the first objective. Kinetic strike plans were drawn up so they wouldn’t disrupt the natural flow of the Coachee River while taking the bridges out of play. With that settled, they began looking for other ways to isolate the capital.

  North was out of the question. The massive Druk Gyalpo Dam lay at the very edge of the Dragon’s Head Mountain Range, behind which sat Lake Zhabdrung. This mammoth body of water stretched almost forty kilometers in length, and was twenty at its widest point, making it one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the entire Dominion. If the dam—which extended almost two kilometers—happened to fail, over 2.4 trillion gallons of water would be released upon the floodplains below. Directly in the path was Marigold City. An idea, sure, but the senior officers quickly dismissed it as a last resort.

  More deliberations were made as the civil unrest within Marigold grew. West, it was finally decided, would be made into impassable terrain, save for a single, major road, which would allow goods to be transported into and out of the city. Warnings were put out among the planetary citizens about what was to happen, and the marines did a decent job of evicting any squatters or protestors who were still in the strike area before the tungsten-core kinetic rods were dropped from orbit.

  The strikes were coordinated, and the targets pre-determined. Various roads were targeted, with the largest of the bunch, Interstate Six, to be left alone. Everyone onboard agreed. Plans were drawn up, and the final orders were given after consultation. Fifty were dropped from five different ships of the battle group. Forty-nine struck their intended targets.

  The tungsten-alloy kinetics impacted the ground around Marigold City in the pre-dawn darkness. Bright flashes of light erupted as the energy from the fifty-meter-long rods struck the ground, transferring momentum into energy. Large plumes of dirt, concrete, and rock were tossed high into the air as the roads were vaporized upon impact. Massive shockwaves spread out from the impact sites, leveling everything within a two-hundred-meter radius. More buildings were damaged as the overpressure wave hit, though the energy of the wave dissipated as it spread further out from the impact sites. Downtown Marigold City became a centralized whirlwind as winds slammed it from all angles, creating a vortex of death for twenty seconds. Every being outside at that moment was tossed aside, leading to fourteen immediate deaths and hundreds of injuries.

  Protestors, who had decided to spend the night outside the capitol building in Marigold City, were the largest group of those injured and killed. It was exactly as the Justice of the Black had planned. Warden Octavio Nunez had dealt with protestors and insurrectionists before and used his experience to the fullest of his abilities. In this case, it was his knowledge regarding riot control dispersal tactics.

  The fiftieth rod was a stringer, the final kinetic released by the Legacy-class dreadnought Amun-Ra just before it moved out of the launch zone. This rod wasn’t aligned properly when the signal was given to fire its rocket booster. Instead of angling across the pole and striking the southwest corner of Marigold City, outside Roystav Launch Terminal, it streaked across the equator and landed in a small vale next to the meandering Cattleprod River. It was almost an inconsequential miss, except for the minor fact that it landed squarely on the gutted remains of the Espinoza family farm.

  The house was already in ruins due to a suspicious fire months before, and while some of the cleanup had begun, that had come to a halt after the murder of two Praetorians. Nobody had wanted to touch the house until surviving family members could be contacted. This became a moot point after the tungsten rod streaked down from the heavens and smote it down to the ancient bedrock foundation.

  The blast emanated outward, flattening the trees surrounding the property as the pressure wave expanded. What had once been a proud, beautiful homestead became nothing but rubble as the debris erupted into the air. What remained of the house post-fire was tossed into the gale-force winds and scattered about the entire vale. Some charred pieces of wood were later found at the mouth of the Coachee River by local sports fishermen.

  The wave expended much of its energy on the immediate vicinity. Unlike the other forty-nine tungsten rods, the fiftieth contained less mass by almost half. Instead of leaving a two-hundred-foot crater, this one was far smaller. However, this made it no less devastating to the immediate area.

  The glade where the two Espinoza brothers had come to say goodbye to their youngest sibling years before was flattened by the blast. The eternal flame, which had been erected in remembrance of Gabriel Espinoza and Sophie Cardenas, was destroyed, along with the rest of the small memorial garden. Many of the markers were old, dating back to the founding of the Dominion. Every single Espinoza who had died since the birth of the Dominion was memorialized here, and would have remained undisturbed in their eternal slumber, had it not been for the unfortunate strike.

  The consequences would be dire, everyone in the valley knew. The Navy claimed the stringer was an accident. Many believed it. Every resident of Soldier’s Retreat knew better. They knew who the Espinozas were, and what the family had done for the Dominion since its founding. The Espinoza clan had a rich tradition of fighting for what was right, and the Cardenas family, still mourning the loss of their only daughter, was horrified at the memorial’s ruination. All the members of the small community in Soldier’s Retreat were familiar with the family motto, and how much faith the Espinozas put into it.

  Sobre todo, la familia permanence.

  “Accidents happen,” the captain of the DV Amun-Ra was reported to have said afterward. Multiple comms transmissions back to the Core worlds countered this argument as word began to leak almost immediately that someone on Ceres was pleased with this “accident.” The executive officer of the ship was a native of Belleza Sutil and, while loyal to the Dominion, had been furious at his CO’s carelessness. The man was quickly relieved of duty and taken into custody. The Justice of the Black promoted an officer who was more “politically safe,” and the XO was quietly shipped to an undisclosed location. More than a few instances like this occurred, as “political reliability” soon began to replace “competent officer” in the ranks of Battle Group Four.

  While the majority of Soldier’s Retreat residents were angry, there was little they could do in response. Instead, the citizens of the hamlet wished those who had dropped the kinetic rods the best of luck. All knew what would happen when the last surviving Espinoza discovered what had happened to his family’s homestead, and the lengths he would go to for his revenge.

  Of course, they all agreed, Andrew wasn’t nearly as terrifying as his father had been.

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  Chapter One

  Gabriel

  The Darkling fell from the sky, and chaos followed him.

  Gabriel’s eyes tracked his instruments, the suit constantly feeding him live updates, as he plummeted blindly through the thick black clouds. Numbers continuously changed as his altimeter adjusted to his position, while the global positioning satellite feed he’d hacked into earlier allowed for minor course corrections. The satellites were blind to him, courtesy of a program which had been embedded into all Darkling suits many years before. No Dominion-made early warning system would ever se
e a Darkling until said individual wanted to be seen.

  The Erebus program had been the only reason Gabriel had managed to infiltrate Maelstrom so easily. Named after the ancient Greek god who personified a great darkness, it was designed to defeat every detection program used by the worlds of the Dominion. While the rebels on the planet were ahead of the Dominion technologically, their entire technological tree was based originally upon the Dominion’s earlier designs. Everything, from tech designs to programming protocols, had been copied and expanded upon. It had saved him many months ago, at least for a while. It was the electronic equivalent of the fabled Chameleon program.

  Once again, the Darksuit did the job of keeping him alive. The Erebus program deleted any proof of Gabriel’s existence from the processor core of the satellites as he fell to the planet. This kept the marines who had occupied the planet in the dark when it came to his infiltration. Which is a good thing, he found himself thinking, as the braking system of the Darksuit began to slow his descent.

  “Eye, this is Gabriel,” the Darkling said as his sensors scanned the horizon. “I count fifty anti-landing embankments to the north of the city at ten kilometers. Definite Ashebir missile launch platforms, standard spread and placement. Looks like mobile units are moving around in the south. Unidentified vehicles, will tag and identify at a later time.”