Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10.5: Carnie's Tale Read online

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10.5: Carnie’s Tale

  Randolph Lalonde

  Contents

  The Spinward Fringe Series

  Also by Randolph Lalonde

  Acknowledgments

  Preface

  Part I

  Part II

  Part III

  Part IV

  Part V

  Part VI

  Part VII

  Part VIII

  Part IX

  Part X

  Part XI

  Part XII

  Part XIII

  Part XIV

  Part XV

  Part XVI

  Part XVII

  Part XVIII

  Part XIX

  Part XX

  Part XXI

  Part XXII

  Part XXIII

  Part XXIV

  Part XXV

  Part XXVI

  Part XXVII

  Part XXVIII

  Part XXIX

  Part XXX

  Part XXXI

  Part XXXII

  Part XXXIII

  Part XXXIV

  Part XXXV

  The Spinward Fringe Series

  Also by Randolph Lalonde

  The Spinward Fringe Series

  (In chronological order)

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 1 and 2: Resurrection and Awakening

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 3: Triton

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 4: Frontline

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments

  The Expendable Few: A Spinward Fringe Novel

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8: Renegades

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10.5: Carnie’s Tale

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors

  Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14: Rebel (2020)

  Also by Randolph Lalonde

  Highshield

  Brightwill

  Dark Arts

  For more information please visit:

  www.RandolphLalonde.com

  Copyright © 2017 by Randolph Lalonde

  Spinward Fringe is a Registered Trademark of Randolph Lalonde

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Randolph Lalonde.

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

  Revision 4

  Print ISBN: 9781988175140

  EBook ISBN: 9781988175133

  Acknowledgments

  This novel is a part of the Spinward Fringe series, and takes place between Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground and Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge. It was originally offered through http://www.patreon.com/randolphlalonde as a serialized story.

  I owe thanks to everyone who supported me on Patreon, read along and offered their comments along the way. If it weren’t for you, this book would only exist as a selection of chapters that were pulled from Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge because they didn’t fit in the timeline of that novel. Now we have a story about young people learning, growing and fighting in difficult times, a story I took great pleasure in telling.

  I’d also like to thank Ray and Janet, who have provided important feedback and an ear for me to babble into while I was working on this. That kind of support is rare.

  I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Preface

  Haven Fleet, a newly minted military force tasked with the defence of the Rega Gain system. Finding qualified people to man their ships, to carry their weapons and watch the stars isn’t difficult, there are plenty of volunteers coming in from across the galaxy. The problem is getting thousands of people with different military training and service backgrounds to work the same way, operate under the same set of regulations, and work towards the same goals.

  The Apex program was invented to train people who already excel in multiple fields or have extensive combat experience to become top officers in Haven Fleet. They are the next wave in leadership, the ones who will enable the expansion of Haven Shore so they can face the looming threat of the Order of Eden and more. Alice Valent is one of the chosen, and has already completed most of the academic and physical portions of her Apex training.

  The largest project in her curriculum is the most complicated. Alice must review over a year of recordings detailing one young man’s journey across a world changed by Haven Shore’s enemies. While she reviews the material she will have to create a report that summarizes details of strategic importance, and comments on the character of the person who created the recordings.

  Alice’s trainers are watching. They need someone to report on the mountain of data they’ve given her, but more importantly they wanted to see how emotionally attached she becomes to the main subject.

  Part One

  One of the few classes everyone attended was Stellar Cartography. The lead instructor was Ensign Cariss, a short half-human who had a nose that strangely blended with his top lip and had vertical nostrils. What race he was cross-bred with wasn’t public knowledge, nor was it available in the database.

  Alice was only able to pay attention to the first forty minutes of his session that morning before she started nodding off. Iruuk was at her side, as always, and he didn't hesitate to poke her as soon as her nose started pointing towards the floor. Alice faintly remembered the hours she spent in a former life tracking her father and running from Vindyne, then Regent Galactic. The lesson on tracking targets through hyperspace was so basic to her that she was ready to take the lesson over, but Ensign Cariss's class required that she complete ten hours of attendance even if you already passed the Certification Examination, which she had. This would be her last hour in his class.

  Deciding it was worth the risk, she set her comm unit to start sending audio directly to her through a wire-thin tendril that stretched up her neck and into her ears from her vacsuit. The material for Alice’s largest assignment was already cued up – she had to write a report on a large batch of recordings detailing a series of events experienced by a current member of the fleet. Who she was assigned to report on had to remain secret, and confidentiality had to be absolutely maintained. She was assigned to review a record from Noah Lucas, who was better known by his handle; Carnie. He was currently serving in Samurai Squadron, which flew off the Revenge, her father’s ship. There was a lot of material to cover, so she was eager to get started.

  “I had a clan once,” he began with just enough sorrow for her to know that his clan didn't come to a good end. He was speaking as though it was late at night, and he only had one person in front of him. It was easy for her to picture herself sitting across from him in a small booth table from him in a darkened cafe when there was no one around. “My first family abandoned me on Yukon Station, Level Nineteen, Blue Section B. They scrambled my DNA just enough so I couldn't use it to track back to them, but not so much that I'd be some kind of weird mutant. A guy named Niles picked me up, and he became my dad. He just lost his family two years before that in a refinery accident, and he'd been
with Warren's Wonders for a year or so when he found me. Say what you want about that tribe of nomads, but there's no end of kindness. As soon as he was able to prove to our Ringmaster and owner, Robin Warren, a great woman with a huge voice and the biggest smile in the galaxy, that I wasn't kidnapped, and I would be put in the Yukon's slave auction if I was handed over to the authorities there, she gave Niles the go-ahead to take me on. I was about to have my first birthday when they left Yukon Station. Why am I starting at the beginning? I don't think I'll survive tomorrow, so I'm recording a little background on the best people I've ever known so whoever finds this can hear about 'em. I want you to know I was part of a good family before every bot in the galaxy tried to wipe humanity out.”

  Alice had no idea what Ensign Cariss was saying anymore, and had to stop the playback then check the class notes on her comm unit. Waiting for the class to end seemed to take forever. When it did, Iruuk would be headed to the practical mechanics lab, where he would train with the cadets on repairing a shuttle. Alice had already taken her Certification Exam and passed it with a ninety-eight, high enough for her to instruct the class, and she had assisted the instructor twice since. She felt restless though, and wanted to continue listening to Carnie tell his story, so she nudged Iruuk on their way out of the class. “I'm going to run the track for an hour, I have to work on this assignment.”

  Iruuk cocked his head for a moment then nodded, realizing that she was talking about the assignment no one could trade details on. “I'll see you at lunch.”

  “Definitely,” Alice replied.

  Part Two

  The track was a three hundred-metre long cargo hold, much like one of the larger internal holds inside the Triton. An old British Alliance patrol craft rested in the middle, a snub-nosed ship that was a hundred thirty metres long, eighty wide and thirty metres tall. The Cadets were using it as a training course that morning. The track ran along the outside of the large cargo space, and an obstacle course had been built near the middle, leading under the nose of the British Alliance ship. It didn't have the difficulty rating that the one on Tamber did, but she still ran it every once in a while with cadets.

  There were at least two hundred cadets standing outside the main boarding ramp on the port side of the ship in white and grey armour turned their heads when she started running the track, which was only a broad blue stripe that had been painted in an oval along the outer edge of the cargo hold. They watched her run by, holding their practice rifles, standing ready to take their turn at combat exercises aboard the old ship. The Drill Instructors paid her no mind, she made daily appearances at both physical training centres. “It's Red Versus Blue today, Petty Officer,” one of them said. “You're welcome to pick a side for a round.”

  “No thank you, Sergeant Polk,” Alice replied as she stretched, smiling back at the tall woman. “Just running today.”

  “Are you sure you don't want to teach these grunts a thing or two? We'll give you a solo versus squad run.” A few of the cadets grinned at the prospect, something Drill Instructor Polk caught right away. “Oh, you think you could take her?” she asked. “All right, when we're finished here, you're going to watch one of her Combat Qualifier tests. There's a reason why she's an Officer in fast track training and you're a bunch of entry class cadets.”

  Alice knew it wouldn't be the first time the cadets were shown footage from Officer testing. The Academy may not be in a permanent location, but the philosophies seemed solid to her. Cadets watched their future officer's more spectacular work so they could begin respecting them early.

  It was still difficult for her to believe that she would be in command of any number of them. Their white and grey armour would be an entirely different colour as many of them traded their practice rifles for specializations on a starship. Some would be in black, armed and trained for boarding missions or planetary landings. Alice still didn't know what kind of command she'd get, and she tried to block it out of her mind as she started running and Noah Lucas' voice filled her left ears again.

  “I'll get back to the point so I can finish telling this story tonight, maybe get some sleep before dawn. Life with a travelling carnival was all I knew. I think it felt like a family because most of us tried to get along. The routine was pretty simple. Keep the menagerie happy and fed, try to stay out of the way while we were in transit, and then help set up when we arrived at the next show site. I wasn't in charge of the animals, but I got to feed them whenever we were between worlds, so that was my thing until I was a teenager. I even have my own Gelboo, short for Teldor Industries Gel Booster, a small synthetic crawler pet that records everything. Not the prettiest little thing, but he definitely helps me out every once in a while.

  By the time I was ten I had seen more worlds than most people see in their entire lives, and met more alien races than you would believe. I was allowed to fly a shuttle for the first time when I turned eleven and I was hooked. By the time I was fourteen I had special shoes so I could operate the pedals on a Coronur Interceptor. At fifteen I was finally allowed to join our defence screen, a small squad of five fighters that protected our convoy whenever we were in space and moving slower than the speed of light. It was a dream job – and best of all – I didn't have to deal with stinky animal pens anymore. Keeping my fighter in shape was my full time job. The hangars were cramped, we didn’t have launch systems, we dropped from airlocks instead, and parts were always in low supply, but I loved tinkering and flying. My first girlfriend, Sharon, called me Grease Monkey, and I have to admit the nickname used to bother me, but I miss it now. I miss her now.

  Man, I had one year where things were good. Maybe some core world richie-rich might think my bunk, my fighter, my girlfriend and my family didn't add up to anything, but that was the best time. Even when we were set up and the fighters didn’t have to be on patrol, I enjoyed my job. I minded one of our shooting booths and watched people test their skill against a bunch of moving metal plates and holographic surprises. Sure, boring, you say, but I met so many people from so many places, learned so much about how people used to live in this galaxy that I could go on for weeks. I loved it, I can’t say it enough. We just never know how good we've got it until the good times end, do we?

  I remember kissing Sharon before we came out of hyperspace, climbing through the airlock and into my ship. I sealed myself in, got my suit sealed, Lurk, my Gelboo mini-lizard, connected to my fighter's computer and started up some music. The Daring Dickenson, the ship I lived on, finished decelerating and my fighter popped free of the airlock. Okay, this is where I just drop a file from Lurk in so you can play back exactly what happened. I'll keep talking over this because, even though I used a crystalline storage chip, somehow the audio track got burned. Here goes, see you on the other side.”

  Alice stopped the playback as it warned her that the next segment of the video could be played back in full simulation mode. Instead of continuing her jog around the track, she passed through the interior door and ran back to her bunk, which still counted as twelve minutes of light exercise. Once she arrived, she dropped onto her bed, drew the privacy curtain closed and put her brain-bud, a small neural transmission device that provided realistic simulations, onto her forehead. The journal started playing back the visual and audio content, and though she felt like she was there, watching from behind Noah Lucas' eyes, Alice had no control.

  Part Three

  My twin engine fighter creaked as the airlock let go and a small pocket of oxygen burst between the Daring Dickenson and my hull. That push got me far enough away from the DD's hull to hit the thrusters and fall in with the lead pilot, Reggie. He was a few years older than me, but he went to a real flight school, and taught me plenty already.

  We pushed ahead of our convoy, six ships flying ahead of the DD, our biggest boat. Iora Navnet connected to all our systems and I expected to hear our lead Pilot aboard the Daring Dickenson's bridge start talking to Iora Port control. I'd been to Iora before, it was a planet with shipyards, trade s
o brisk and famous you could see anything you want and ten things you never knew existed before you finished checking in at any of the port offices.

  The people were kind, they had everything they wanted on that world, so they had time to be nice. They were even a little chubby, and I knew why. In the South Sea there are thousands of agricultural buildings standing tall like giant reeds in the biggest pond you've ever seen. They grew enough there for the three billion people on the planet and then some, trading millions of tons of food a week to places off world. If it weren't so expensive I would have put it on my list. That little list I kept of places I might settle down in some day, but it was brutally expensive there, and I heard citizenship took years to earn.

  They liked us there. We offered some low-tech, high-amusement fun with our menagerie ship, old fashioned red and white temp building, a few acrobats and a lot of unfair games. We all dressed up, from the ticket takers to security. When I was a kid I had a squirrel costume, but I graduated to an old-time earth pilot outfit. The holographic projection of a lion's head over my own made it interesting, and I wonder how many holo-snaps kids took with me and the other flyboys and girls before it all came to an end.

  So, back to Iora and the chatter I should have been hearing over Navnet channels. We were getting guidance, but no welcome from Port Control. I kept hearing Robin query; “Iora Port Control, come in. This is Robin Warren of Warren's Wonders Convoy, incoming, listed on your Navnet.”

  Something was up, whole sections of my Navnet screen was turning red with collision warnings then going green again. “Something's jamming the other channels,” Reggie said. “Looks like the source is on the planet, that's not right. That can't be right.”

  My navigation screen warned that there were missiles incoming, and I couldn't believe it when Reggie said; “All ships, get clear of the Daring Dickenson, I repeat, get away from the DD, now.”