Descent into Darkness

  Blood on the Stars XVII

  Jay Allan

  Copyright © 2020 Jay Allan Books

  All Rights Reserved

  Contents

  The Crimson Worlds Series

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  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

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Appendix

  Books by Jay Allan

  The Crimson Worlds Series

  (Available on Kindle Unlimited)

  Marines (Crimson Worlds I)

  The Cost of Victory (Crimson Worlds II)

  A Little Rebellion (Crimson Worlds III)

  The First Imperium (Crimson Worlds IV)

  The Line Must Hold (Crimson Worlds V)

  To Hell’s Heart (Crimson Worlds VI)

  The Shadow Legions (Crimson Worlds VII)

  Even Legends Die (Crimson Worlds VIII)

  The Fall (Crimson Worlds IX)

  Blood on the Stars Series

  (Available on Kindle Unlimited)

  Duel in the Dark (Blood on the Stars I)

  Call to Arms (Blood on the Stars II)

  Ruins of Empire (Blood on the Stars III)

  Echoes of Glory (Blood on the Stars IV)

  Cauldron of Fire (Blood on the Stars V)

  Dauntless (Blood on the Stars VI)

  The White Fleet (Blood on the Stars VII)

  Black Dawn (Blood on the Stars VIII)

  Invasion (Blood on the Stars IX)

  Nightfall (Blood on the Stars X)

  The Grand Alliance (Blood on the Stars XI)

  The Colossus (Blood on the Stars XII)

  The Others (Blood on the Stars XIII)

  The Last Stand (Blood on the Stars XIV)

  Empire’s Ashes (Blood on the Stars XV)

  Attack Plan Alpha (Blood on the Stars XVI)

  Descent into Darkness (Blood on the Stars XVII)

  Empire Reborn – Coming 2020

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  Chapter One

  CFS Donallus

  Beta Telara System

  Year 329 AC (After the Cataclysm)

  “Go…it is time.”

  Andi had sat in her place, as quiet as possible, for as long as she’d been able. But now, the moment was on her, and she knew what she had to do. She had taken command of the expedition—despite Tyler’s still…tenuous…support for it—and she was completely committed to it.

  Completely.

  She had the go ahead from Tyler, at least for the current step of the operation, but she was going to have a real fight on her hands at some point…unless he changed his point of view. And she knew that was unlikely.

  Almost as unlikely as her changing her own.

  But there wasn’t time then, not for second guessing…not for anything, save to do the job she’d come to do. It was time…time to launch the attack.

  “Yes, Commodore…right away.”

  Andi listened to Ross Tarren, who was handling his duties perfectly, even his recent attachment to the navy…but still, she couldn’t get one thought out of her mind.

  He wasn’t Vig.

  Tarren had served with her as long as Vig had, or nearly so, and she valued his presence immensely. But he wasn’t Vig. No one was, not even Tyler, at least not in the same way. She’d appreciated Vig when she’d had him—immensely, even—but she’d found his loss even tougher to take than she’d imagined.

  But she pushed the thoughts out of her mind, along with the other considerations—so many she could hardly keep up with them all. There was one thought on her mind then above all others, one goal that took its place at the head of her mindset. Above the aide to her crew, even the worry for her husband, or the others she cared for.

  She wanted to destroy the enemy. Not just to defeat them, not to batter them until they were crushed. No, she wanted them obliterated. Destroyed to the last survivor.

  Worst of all, perhaps, she was not alone in that. Not even close. She was a leader, of perhaps one of the most prolific movements in human history, and she was utterly dedicated to her place near its head.

  Even without Tyler there at her side.

  She loved Tyler, of course, as much as she ever had…more even. But she disagreed with him on this, at least on the methodology for destroying the enemy. She saw only one possibility, one methodology that would work, and she was dedicated to it, with all the stoicism she could muster.

  The utter destruction of the enemy.

  Tyler had his share of anger at the Highborn too, of course, but he fell short of the total wrath that had taken her…and thousands of her colleagues along with her. Billions, actually, though she hadn’t really connected with most of those.

  Still, she knew they were there.

  She had been more or less settled on her course of action before the last mission, but that had finalized it for her. Her discovery of so much of what the empire had been, and for how long it had endured, grew on her, seemingly every minute. She’d always thought of the empire as some forgotten legacy, as the source of the great finds she’d made in her earlier life, but nothing else. Until more recently, at least. She’d come to realize that the empire had been a good thing, at least in many ways, and that it had existed for ten thousand years. She knew there had been terrible things as well, evil overlords and the like…but how much worse could it have been than the miserable hell she’d come from? That was one area where she and Tyler clashed. He knew of the hellish worlds that existed, even in the Confederation, and likely more in the Union and the Alliance—not to mention the Hegemony—but he didn’t really understand them. Not like one who’d lived there, who always had the memories…no matter how much she made and how far she got.

  Still, the two had pushed aside their arguments, and Tyler had agreed to the mission she led. She knew the two of them would once again meet, likely in the center of the argument. They looked at the situation differently. Tyler believed the enemy had to be defeated, had to be reduced to an inferior force, however unlikely that seemed.

  She believed they had to be destroyed. Completely destroyed.

  And she knew she would win…if only because there was no alternative. The only way to prevail, the only chance at real victory, was to lunge forward with the genetic weapon. All other routes, all other methods, led only to a short protraction of the war. Defeat was the inevitable result of any other form of resistance…despite the better than expected results obtained so far. Despite the survival—such that it was—of the last defensive forces.

  She had allowed the celebrations at the last victory, even as she had realized they were transitory, but she knew the enemy would strike again, long before the fleet had completed meaningful repairs. Tyler had known as well, but his mind went toward different options, pulling back from the current position, falling toward the Confederation’s front line. That was all pointless, Andi knew that, but it also created other problems. Akella might have gone along with Tyler’s plan, even a withdrawal to Confederation territory—with enough persuasion, at least—but the Hegemonic Council would never vote with her on it. Tyler’s plan—and he hadn’t come right out and said it was his plan…even though she knew it was there—had more than one bit of opposition. There were at least four or five plans, all fighting for attention. Many people found themselves varying between several…but Andi knew the only hope, the only way to go.

  And this was the start of it, the first blow.

  “Commodore…we’re picking up several enemy ships. It appears to be seven…all fairly small.”

  Andi felt one more do
ubt fall before her. She couldn’t be sure the enemy didn’t have more ships hidden somewhere…but she was certain of her obligations. And she had forty-one ships with her. More than enough to take out seven enemy vessels…especially the small ships she saw facing her force.

  “Close…we are to destroy every enemy ship.” Her voice was cold, dark. No one could escape. She wanted to leave the enemy uncertain about what had happened here, relying only on the words of ground troops and residents. Actually, she’d have preferred no enemy knowledge at all, but she knew that point was hopeless.

  “Yes, sir.” Tarren’s voice, at least, was almost as conclusive as hers. Whatever opinions had come up around the ships of the fleet, everyone who’d been aboard Pegasus on the last mission had come back with more or less the same opinion.

  Destroy the enemy…if at all possible. The fact that her plan was limited, that even she knew the chances of success were fairly small, was not relevant at all. She knew she would not survive defeat. She could have endured that fate, save for Cassiopeia…she was reason enough to do all she could to prevail.

  And if Andi failed, she’d just as soon see her daughter die rather than live as the enemy’s plaything. At least sometimes. That was one area she struggled with, and she knew Tyler did, too. Neither of them wanted to survive defeat…but it was different when they were thinking of their daughter. Sometimes she was sure she’d rather see the young girl die than become a pawn of the enemy…and others she wondered if Cassiopeia didn’t deserve at least a chance, even one that twisted her memories of her mother and father.

  She sat back, her eyes focused on every activity around her, all the while looking like she was barely interested. She stared at every ship to the front of the fleet, watched every beam, incoming or outgoing. She knew she would lose ships, just as she realized she would prevail in the battle. And, so it happened. In the end, which came stunningly quickly, she lost five ships for seven destroyed, not bad, save for the fact that she’d put four and a half times the number of the enemy into the fight…and nearly six times the tonnage.

  She wasn’t surprised though, not really, and with the destruction of the last enemy vessel, she had thirty-six ships ready for the final attack. More than enough.

  “We’re closing with the planet now, Andi…”

  “Very well, Ross.” Her words were stiff, her tone almost nasty. For the vast majority of people, she would have left them so, but for Ross Tarren, she felt a tug of pity. Her rage wasn’t directed at him, any more than any of her people. “Order the units to commence bombardment as soon as they are within range.” The words were still somewhat harsh, but they were definitely softer. For a moment, at least.

  “Very well…” The response was clear, and it was obvious that Tarren understood her perfectly well.

  She sat and watched, as the first six ships fired almost simultaneously. The second six followed, perhaps thirty seconds behind, and the next eight another half minute behind. About a minute and a half in total from the first firing, the last ships shot their loads. Donallus, the flagship, launched the final volley, and thirty-one vessels, every surviving ship save the five survivors who’d lost their weapons systems in the fight, had launched.

  Andi tried to imagine the amount of damage her people had done, the volume of fire her ships had managed to undertake. She didn’t know how many ships it would take to cover the ground, how many it would take to ensure total coverage. With the relatively narrow focus of the population on the planet, she guessed anywhere from six ships to eighteen were necessary for a full bombardment…and she had brought almost double that highest number to bear. If the virus was truly viable, if the work the legions of hastily assembled men and women had done was good…every Highborn on the planet would be affected.

  And if no unknown work had been completed in the three centuries since the empire had fallen…every Highborn on the planet would die. But first, he would carry the virus for months, taking it to different worlds, different populations…hopefully unknown.

  Then, if all went according to plan, he or she would die…and every Highborn he or she came into contact with would follow.

  And everyone affected by the phase two assault, the part of the plan that wasn’t approved yet, but had to be, would follow them. There was no way to kill all the Highborn, of course, at least not without a desperate and longstanding fight…but getting enough of them before they knew what was happening, that was the road to victory.

  Andi looked at the screen, at the reach of the affected areas. There was at least a fifty-percent overlap on all habitable zones. She had enough payload to launch another attack, but no need to do so.

  “Bring all ships around…we’re going to hit them again.” She stared straight ahead, knowing her operation was far from essential…or even wise. She didn’t care if it was essential, or even if it was smart. She was heading straight back to the base, and any fight she faced on the way was not going to use the virus—the tentative virus, she reminded herself. There was no reason not to use it all.

  “Forward ships ready to launch again in three minutes.” Tarren, at least, seemed to agree with her. They had left with a large portion of the ready virus, but there would be more, much more, by the time they returned.

  Enough for the phase two operation…or close to it…

  “Very well.” Andi was still, comfortable to all around her…at least externally. Inside, she was more of a mix, her own certainty mixing with the reality of the impending argument to carry out phase two. She worried about a number of potential rivals, but none more than Tyler Barron, her husband. The two had been together on most of the issues they’d faced, except perhaps her own involvement in them, but this time she was almost certain they were going to end up on different sides. She was going to be in favor of betting everything on the virus, on making it work against the enemy. And she was very afraid Tyler was going to come down on the other side, convinced against hope that he could find a way to win the fight conventionally. The fact that he’d done that on every other occasion in his life made his thinking stronger…but Andi was just as sure that this time, he’d gone too far. This time, he was going to lose…and she couldn’t allow that, not if she could do anything about it.

  “One minute until lead ships ready to fire again.” A pause, just a short one, no more than three or four seconds, then: “No sign of any enemy activity.”

  Andi turned her head and just nodded. She’d known that some of her people were still worried about further enemy activity, but the truth was, the second attack added less than ten minutes to her time in system, and that was almost nothing. She would escape—or she would be caught by new arrivals—but either way, not because she had put up a second fight.

  She watched, struck in some ways by the near silence on the bridge as the attack played out again. It was a replay of the first assault, six ships firing first, followed by six more, and so on. Andi watched, herself as silent as anyone onboard, until her own ship went in again and launched its second shot. Then she turned matter-of-factly, at least externally, and said calmly, “Let’s go now, Ross. All ships, course A-1…out of here and back toward the jump.”

  “Yes, Andi…I mean Commodore.” Tarren had done well enough using the proper ranks and pronouns of the navy, but he’d slipped up then, gone back to the norms on Pegasus, at least one time. For just a moment.

  Andi smiled, keeping it to herself as much as possible. She enjoyed it, as much as she had anything on the trip out to Beta Telara. But the joy only lasted for a few seconds, and the visual representation of it even less. Then she returned to her normal, cold, emotionless view and prepared for the flight home. Which could include no enemy contact—or running into the entire fleet—or anything in between.

  She looked forward, maintaining the coldness of her view. It would be what it would be…she knew that, and she was okay with it.

  Mostly at least.

  Chapter Two

  CFS Dauntless

  Vasa Denaris System

  Year 329 AC (After the Cataclysm)

  “She looks good, Atara…really good.” Barron paused. “Better even than she is…” He knew enough about the ship’s true condition, its real status, that he felt compelled to add the last remark.