Star Forge: Imperial Hammer, #2

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Space cities have been locked in war for centuries over the resources of an asteroid belt.

Humans pilot swarms of pod fighters to protect their city’s mining operations from other cities, risking everything and suffering multiple deaths and regenerations. Then Landry goes through a regeneration which introduces an error that will destroy the delicate balance of the war.

Resilience is a space opera short story by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper.

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Epic science fiction at its finest. Realistic far future worlds. Incredible characters and scenarios. – Amazon reader.

This short story has not been commercially released for sale. It is only available as a gift to readers who subscribe to Cam’s email list.

Click here to get your copy:

https://cameroncooperauthor.com/resilience-free/

Table of Contents

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About Star Forge

Praise for The Imperial Hamer series:

Star Forge Title Page

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About the Author

Other books by Cameron Cooper

Copyright Information

About Star Forge

Danny is trapped in a fragile relationship with the self-aware interstellar array which calls itself Noam.

The array provides transport and communications. Without its cooperation, the Carinad Empire would collapse, stranding billions of people and causing chaos and death.

Danny Andela, a former Ranger known as the Imperial Hammer, is the only human the array trusts. Danny’s work to keep the array happy and minimize its deadly temper tantrums is draining. Worse, other humans distrust her because of her association with the array, including the crew of her one-of-a-kind ship, the Lythion.

Broke and alone, Danny faces a new peril: The array may not trust her, afterall…

Star Forge is the second book in the Imperial Hammer space opera science fiction series by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper.

The Imperial Hammer series:

1.0: Hammer and Crucible

2.0: Star Forge

3.0: Long Live the Emperor

4.0: Severed

5.0: Destroyer of Worlds

Space Opera Science Fiction Novel

Praise for The Imperial Hamer series:

Fun, fast paced, full of action and humor.

I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.

Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!

This is a read that really sucks you in!

Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.

Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.

1

Starview Restaurant, Penthouse Level, Keeler IV Non-Transient Space City

THE TWO-METER-TALL MAN WHO planted himself in front of my little table was broad of shoulder, square of chin, and pissed as hell.

He was also an Imperial Ranger. I didn’t need a uniform to tell me that.

You have to get rid of the wolf, lady, he growled. I shoved my assessment of him up to mid-ranking officer, used to handing out orders.

I glanced at Varg, who sat by my hip. Even sitting, her head came above the level of the white tablecloth. The intimate lighting in the under-dome restaurant made Varg’s eyes glow. She couldn’t help it.

Varg is a parawolf, bonded to me, I told the officer. Which he already knew, because parawolves are the only kind to exist, now. I can’t send her away from my side. Which wasn’t exactly true, but I was counting on this idiot only knowing the distorted myths and rumours about parawolves.

He nodded. I had confirmed his suspicion. His gaze flickered to one side. I knew he’d squashed the impulse to glance back at his fellow officers. There was a long table of them on the other side of the restaurant, up against the dome wall.

I’d grown used to spotting Rangers in the last standard year. In that time, I learned what I had not realized in over forty years as a high-ranking Ranger myself; that Rangers clump together when they move beyond the borders of their natural habitats, and they were proactive about rearranging environments to make themselves comfortable.

Right now, that meant encouraging me to move on.

True to form, the Ranger shook his head. If you won’t send the thing away, then you’ll have to go, too.

I’m waiting for someone. It was an automatic protest. I was thinking hard.

Wait somewhere else. That thing is upsetting my friends.

I put my hand on Varg’s head. She won’t eat here, I assured him. I’m here for business, that’s all. A parawolf’s eating is usually what upsets people the most, although I’ve never understood the objections. Watch a man devour a steak. I mean, really watch every bite and slice. Yeah, he’s using a knife and fork, but that doesn’t civilize the process.

My implant clicked in my ear. Do you want me to come and get her? Juliyana’s voice was a whisper in my head. Juliyana herself was half a klick away, out of sight of local authorities, for she had a history here she didn’t want to advertise.

The Ranger shifted on his feet. I’m asking nicely, lady. Don’t make me make you go.

I stay. So does Varg, I said, answering them both. It had taken most of the standard year to set up this meeting and a shit-ton of sunk money, too. I wasn’t moving from this table until my meeting arrived. It’s a free world, I added.

That was stretching it a bit. Keeler station was an open city, but this non-transient dome was supposed to be only for the very rich, very private superstar residents and public figures who clung in protective clumps here on Keeler. That made the Rangers interlopers, just as I was. He wouldn’t argue the point.

Instead, he chopped through all the posturing and reached for the front of the shimmery evening gown Juliyana had insisted I wear.

Clearly, the idiot didn’t know all the myths about parawolves.

Varg snarled, her chops on display, showing rows of serated teeth. That was the only warning she gave. She barely had to lift her paws to the table to reach the Ranger’s arm. She clamped her jaws around his forearm and crunched down.

The Ranger howled and let me go.

Every face in the sea of intimate tables-for-two in the middle of the restaurant turned to look. Eyes widened.

A waiter dropped a tray of dishes with a wet clatter, his hands to his mouth, when he saw Varg standing on her haunches. She was taller than the Ranger.

More gasps and chairs clattering as people scrambled to their feet and backed away from my table.

The Ranger further demonstrated his idiocy by trying to pull Varg’s jaws off his arm. She just grinned and sunk her teeth deeper. Her amusement came through loud and clear. She could play this game all night.

The Ranger’s howl brought his comrades running.

Shit.

Juliyana! I didn’t raise my voice.

I heard. On my way.

Get it off! Get it off! the Ranger screamed, batting at Varg’s head with pain- weakened motions.

The wait staff—no dumb waiters and printer maws for this joint—were collecting by the kitchen door, which was right by my table, all babbling with panic-inflated voices.

The other Rangers reached the table, then. I knew two of the faces. My heart sank. They shouted, although none of them was stupid enough to reach for me or Varg.

I rested my hand on Varg’s head, between her ears, to pull her attention to me. Let him go, I told her. You don’t know where he’s been.

She rolled her eyes. Regret. She hadn’t played like this for the longest time.

I didn’t have to lean closer to make sure she heard me. She could hear me twenty clicks away. Venison ribs, I crooned.

Varg dropped the Ranger’s arm and licked her chops. She dropped from the table, her plate-sized paws landing softly. I gripped the scruff of her neck and backed away from the table, bringing Varg with me.

The Rangers all stepped forward except Idiot, who cradled his bleeding forearm, sweat dotting his temples.

I know you… the smallest Ranger said. He frowned, then pointed at me. The Imperial Hammer!

The others all dropped their mouths open and stared at me.

I sighed. Time to go, I told Varg and Juliyana, who was still to reach the restaurant and wouldn’t be here in time to help. My voice would also reach the Lythion, hanging out in black space on the other side of the dome, for anyone on board who was listening. It bothered me that I didn’t know for sure who that would be.

Ma’am, your bill…

The tone was deferential, as if I hadn’t just startled half his night’s revenue into racing for the door. It came from my left, but I wouldn’t take my eyes off the Rangers to check.

I had drunk a single cup of coffee but didn’t argue the point. Here. I held out my wrist.

I felt the warmth of a scanner run over the flesh. Thank you.

How much had this cost me? I’d find out later.

I took a few more steps back, in the direction of the front door. Varg backed up patiently, too. Her steady death-stare pinned the Rangers to the spot.

Right behind you, Juliyana murmured, her breath barely taxed. I felt her fingers against the back of my shoulder, giving me her location. Door is fifteen meters away.

Straight back out, I said.

We kept backing and I kept my gaze on the Rangers, reading irritation and anger mixed with wariness. They watched with the same steadiness that Varg watched them. This was a stalemate.

Problem was, sooner or later, we’d have to turn our backs. I could back up to the door a step at a time, but then we would have to swivel…and that was the moment the Rangers would leap after us. It was what I would do.

The restaurant had grown completely still and silent as we backed up.

Yaw three degrees to the right, Juliyana murmured.

I shifted my shoulders and hips, adjusting the angle I was on and saw the silver piping and crystal steel doors from the corner of my eyes as we moved through them.

This was the moment.

Varg gave a soft sound in the back of her throat. She felt my tension.

Run, Juliyana breathed.

I turned and ran, Juliyana only a few steps ahead of me, racing along the elegant curve of the concourse around to the other side where the airlock gave pleasure craft a means of letting off their pampered passengers at the penthouse level, instead of forcing them to schlep through the public areas of the city.

Behind us, a low drum of boots sounded upon the floor. The Rangers were giving chase, just as I’d expected them to.

In my shimmering evening wear and facepaint, I would have stood out like a supernova in local space-time anywhere else, but here, Juliyana in her plain overalls and spacer boots was the one to stand out. Heads turned as we hurried past. Then they turned again to take in the bunch of Rangers on our tail.

Sauli waited fifty meters ahead, waving us on with the pad in his hand. His freckled face was screwed up with worry. Just Sauli. Dalton was still on the ship, it seemed.

Lyth is bringing her around, Sauli yelled at us as we drew level with him. He turned and ran with us. Copy, Lyth?

Four minutes, Lyth said shortly in my ear.

We came to a crossroad of glittering shops displaying expensive wares. Each steel glass wall displayed only a few items, set well apart from each other. I could estimate the altitude of the price tags by the amount of space between each item.

Which way? Juliyana yelled at Sauli, who had the pad.

He glanced at it. This way. He pointed to his right.

Varg whined and pranced and not in a good way.

I hesitated, watching her. She never acted up without reason. Smell something? I asked her, ignoring both the rumble of booted feet behind us and my jumping heartrate.

Varg stopped moving. Her hackles lifted. She hunched her shoulders. Her muzzle swung toward the righthand route.

Sauli, I think we might have to—

That was all I got out. Varg launched herself at me with a growl from deep in her belly. Her paws slammed against my chest and knocked me off my feet. I dropped heavily and my head smacked against the floor, which was some sort of extruded demiplastic and softer than plascrete, which saved me from more than an instant headache.

Varg’s paws stayed on my chest, keeping me down, her hot, coppery breath in my face. She wanted me to stay down.

A shriver bolt sizzled through the air, just over Varg’s shoulders…coming from the right-hand passage.

Fuck! Juliyana cried. She pulled out her own shriver and let loose with a volley of three shots, backing away from the passage. Danny, get up!

Off, Varg! I shouted and shoved at her. Varg hopped over me, which put her between me and the passage where the bolt had come from. I flipped, pushed off with my hands and bounced to my feet. I shucked off the evening sandals at the same time and wished uselessly that I was wearing my spacer boots.

Sauli backed up, too. Shit me standing… he breathed, which was as wild as his curses ever got.

Warned, I spun to look down the corridor.

Racing toward us was a Ranger unlike any other I’d seen in my forty plus years of service. He had not been slowed by Juliyana’s covering fire. He wasn’t dodging or trying to use cover. He ran at us at full tilt.

He wore all-over heavy-duty body armor, the type that ground shock troops wore—which they had to train to wear and build kilos of muscle to carry. I’d never seen armor as advanced and different as what this guy was wearing. I had no time to analyze it further, for he was moving at speed, the traction-enhanced feet of the suit slapping the floor with sharp claps.

He must have taken a shot at me the moment he rounded the curve and spotted me. Now, though, he was close enough to be accurate. He raised the shriver in his hand. I recognized it as a two-handed model.

Run! Juliyana screamed and sprinted toward the thing, laying down a suppressing fire with her shriver, trying to make the Ranger flinch or slow.

I whirled away. Sauli. Come on!

Sauli, though, watched Juliyana close with the enhanced asshole, his face working with concern.

I pulled on his arm, almost yanking him off his feet. He lifted a hand. Wait.

We don’t have time!

The first of the Rangers from the restaurant came into sight. Spotting us gave them a spurt of speed.

I pulled on Sauli’s arm once more and glanced down the passage to the lone warrior. He and Juliyana met with a clash which should have rocked him off his feet. She could take down a fully armed Ranger with ease because she’d gone through the same basic training we all do.

Only, she didn’t take him down at all. The tricks with weight and inertia and impetus, using the leverage of her boot upon the ground when she leapt to add power and velocity, aiming for the high chest, the easiest point to distort balance…none of it worked.

Juliyana slammed against the man like she would a plasteel wall, then dropped.

The Ranger’s face didn’t shift an inch. No surprise,