The Belt Loop_Book 2_Revenge of the Varson Read online

  Table of Contents

  The Belt Loop: Book Two

  PART ONE: The Plot

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  PART TWO: Homecoming

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  PART THREE: Bayliss Can Wait

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  PART FOUR: Yorn Strikes Back

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  PART FIVE: Trouble In The Fringes

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  PART SIX: Bayliss Battle Royal

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  PART SEVEN: The Price Of Command

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  The Belt Loop: Book Two

  Revenge of the Varson

  By Robert B. Jones

  © 2011 by Robert B. Jones

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be published in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

  All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Cover illustration by Christopher A. Jones

  To the memory of Herman Clifford, neighbor, teacher and friend.

  PART ONE: The Plot

  Chapter 1

  His Eminence Piru Torgud Bale Phatie sat at his desk and studied the latest reports from his Fleet Uurgud Wan Galnal. The reports did not augur well. Unless the Malguur could find a way to run the Elber blockade the future was dismal. Since the war with the humans left three decimated planets and over one billion Malguurians dead or burned, left a robust fleet of six thousand ships in almost total ruin, left an Elber Fleet of seventy-two picket ships surrounding Malguur territorial borders, all Bale Phatie could think of was revenge.

  Now this report. Wan Galnal, Fleet Uurgud since the Great Purge following the bitter defeat, needed replacing. That was evident in his weak and bordering-on-treasonous report. No way to run the blockade. No way to penetrate the Second Fleet of Elber. No spine for a fight, Phatie thought. What he needed was a new approach aimed at striking back at the humans. The last ten years of hand wringing and finger pointing had gotten the Malguur nothing. Gone was the will to fight, the will to avenge the death and destruction wrought by the horrible atomic particle-weapons unleashed by the humans. Over 300 million killed on Hyfuur; another 400 million dead or wounded on Brauud; a half-billion slaughtered in the nuclear fires rained down on Nuurhe. And all the ruling Orduud did was negotiate a truce. A promise to stay within borders established and patrolled by the humans. A capitulation.

  That malfeasance from on high had been responsible for the Great Purge. Over two thousand political and military leaders rounded up and systematically executed for handing over the keys to the Malguur Domain. The “Varson Empire” was what the humans had called it. A vast collection of worlds spanning seventeen vauurde. Worlds rich in minerals, valuable metals, precious ores and heavenly spices. Now three of those beautiful planets reduced to nothing but ash and radioactivity. The Piru Torgud Kuueade had just stopped fighting. His claim that the human ships were on the verge of bombing their home world, Canuure, led him to his disgraceful surrender. That act of cowardice led to his death in the months following the war’s end. And the Great Purge led to Bale Phatie being appointed to his present position of Piru Torgud of Canuure, or Supreme Military Commander, if you prefer the Elber translation. A Piru Torgud in the Malguurian Defense Forces carried with it unimaginable responsibility and ultimate power. It was his intention to reengage the humans. Only, this time, the outcome would be significantly better. He was confident of that.

  Phatie pushed away the report reader and stood. He crossed the hardened stone floor and gazed from the ornate window overlooking the central atrium of the huge building. Just barely visible in the shimmering reflection from the inside of the mirrored glass he saw his grizzled countenance. Tall and thin, pale orange flesh, hardened eyes, spiky tuft of gun-metal gray hair marching away from his heavy brow. From his viewing angle he seemed to shimmer above the great city below him. His gaze wandered to the two small moons chasing each other around Canuure’s equator, both low on the horizon to the southwest. The Orduud complex was a collection of silica-glass and steel structures situated on the sandy western coast of a large ocean and the towering spires and minarets marched away to the east casting long purplish shadows over the glittering city. The Malguur had lived for two million tanuude on this world. In the last three hundred tanuude they had ventured into space and settled on nearby planets and colonized every inhabitable rock and moonlet they could reach. Now it was evident they weren’t alone in the universe. The humans had stumbled upon them and ultimately pushed them back into the core systems. Their fledgling outward expansion snuffed out in a war they thought they should have easily won. Sure, the Elber Fleet possessed weapons and ships the Malguurians had never encountered before. Even in their own wars of conquest and planet-wide assimilations of lesser cultures throughout the Domain they had developed what means of destruction they could. Against the humans their weapons had proved crude and ineffective.

  Phatie turned from the window and made his way back to his desk, his leather heels beating out a sharp cadence of defiance. He reached for his intercom and punched it to life. “Send in Uurgud Galnal,” he said. He heard three short bursts of tone as a reply.

  One knock at the door and slowly a trembling hand pushed it open.

  Fleet Uurgud Wan Galnal eased the door closed behind him and stiffened his body and pounded his chest with his left hand. He was a tall officer with thin features and keen eyes. His lower jaw was hairless and, as was typical of the Malguur, he sported an array of facial decorations commensurate with his rank. His green and gold uniform was also adorned with sashes and medals and an outside observer would certainly have been impressed with his overall military bearing even if the purpose of the decorations flowing across his tunic were unknown. Galnal kept his headgear sandwiched between his right arm and his torso.

  “Field Uurgud Galnal, in your presence, your eminence.”

  Phatie returned the chest-thumping salute and told the uurgud to be seated. Galnal marched to one of the wing chairs and deposited his wiry frame into it, being careful to keep his ceremonial sword out of the way.

  “I have read your report, Galnal. There are some disturbing things that we must address,” Phatie said as he seated himself behind his desk.

  “Disturbing, how?”

  Phatie took a minute to glance at his reader again. Galnal
looked at the torgud and could not interpret his facial expressions. Phatie’s high cheek bones and protruding forehead cast shadows across his face and made Galnal’s view even less revealing. On two occasions the torgud grunted and stroked his massive lower jaw.

  “You not knowing what disturbs me is one of the reasons I called for you.”

  “Well, eminence, you had asked for my honest opinion and I think that is what you have before you,” Galnal said, shifting his body in the chair. He didn’t like the tone he was hearing from his commander.

  “Opinion is one thing, fact is another. I did not see any fitness reports in your assessments, Uurgud Galnal. Did you even make any field evaluations or look at any combat facilities?”

  Galnal squirmed. “I relied on the reports from my officers, eminence. As you are well aware, our ships are limited and our resources are few. I did the best I could under the circumstances.”

  Phatie looked up and sat back. Just what he’d expected from this pompous, ineffectual dandy. All the trappings of a highly-decorated officer with none of the emotional or situational awareness to accompany the rank. His posting was somewhat of a sinecure, a political compromise to quiet some of the noisy fallout after the Great Purge. Perhaps it was time for a change.

  “We are at the rebuilding stage, Galnal. I know that as well as any. But my concern is focused on what we are rebuilding for. It took us, as a race, hundreds of tanuude to get where we were, masters of our domains in space, masters of this arm of the galaxy. It only took a couple of alien bombardments for us to lose that status. The people are not used to being told what to do, being told where to go, what is permitted travel, what is not. The humans did not elect to occupy any of our worlds which to me was a sign of weakness. Their blockade of our territorial space is thin and porous. What we do now must shape our future as a species, and that future should not be clouded by the ashes of war or the overbearing domination by another race.”

  “And I agree with what you just said. But until we can effectively find a way out of this bottle, find a way past the blockade, how do you see us regaining what we have lost?”

  Phatie grunted. “It is your lack of vision that disturbs me most, Galnal. You were appointed by the Orduud politicians; I reached my position by way of battles won. We seem to be at an impasse here about the future of the Malguur. Do you not agree?”

  “You seem to forget that I served in the Hyfuur campaign, eminence. My experiences there led me to where I am now.”

  Phatie stood quickly and yelled, “Your experiences on Hyfuur! What a joke! What did you do, Galnal, hop the first ship out of the system when the bombs started to destroy your birthplace? You certainly didn’t rally any resistance to the incoming Elber Fleet.”

  Galnal stood and leaned in. “What you say is pure rubbish. We were outnumbered and our ships were no match against the humans. I did what was necessary to survive, as did many.”

  This insubordinate geluur, thought Phatie, summoning up the most outlandish curse he could think of. He reached down and opened one of his desk drawers. When his three-fingered hand came out of the drawer it was holding a high-powered projectile weapon. “Survive this,” he said casually as he pulled the trigger.

  A loud report filled the room and Fleet Uurgud Wan Galnal grabbed at his chest. His hand almost disappeared into the gaping wound. He looked at his eminence with a quizzical stare before he crumpled to the floor, his ceremonial sword making a clattering racket as it fell with him.

  Phatie walked around the desk and kicked the sword away with his boot. “You’re not fit to wear this, not even in death,” he said.

  Chapter 2

  Bale Phatie next went to the meeting room on the sixth floor. A small group of partisans awaited him. “It’s done,” he said as he entered the room.

  Vice Torgud Janth Resuur immediately slapped his chest with his left fist. In a split-second six more thumps resounded in the large conference room. Besides Resuur, there were three more senior officers present, two combat ship hiruunes — captains — and one representative from the secret intelligence bureau.

  “Praise Malguur!” they shouted in unison. “Praise the One Who Casts No Shadow,” Phatie replied emphatically.

  “There is no turning back, now,” Hiruun Teivuun said. “The old order can now be swept away.”

  A round of polite applause followed that prophetic statement.

  “Yes, hirrun, our course is defined,” Torgud Resuur said.

  “How did Wan Galnal take it, your eminence? Being told he was out?”

  Phatie looked at Teivuun. “He took it in the chest, hiruun.”

  A sudden quiet supplanted the withering applause and for a few seconds no voices could be heard. The impact of what they had just been told was finally sinking in. Two or three of the officers exchanged knowing glances.

  It was the young intelligence officer that spoke first. “From now on, we must concentrate on speaking only in the language of the hostiles,” the intel rep said. “We refer to ourselves only in the Elber parlance. We must appear to have succumbed to their culture and their presence.”

  Nods of approval. Only Resuur seemed to object. “I still think that’s carrying things too far at this early stage, Colonel Inskaap. We are months away from launching this plan of yours. Calling us by those Colonial Navy ranks will do nothing to bolster our confidence in this scheme.” Although he secretly objected to Inskaap’s outrageous plan, he was careful to use very precise Elber-speak in his mild protest.

  “See, Vice Admiral, that wasn’t so hard, was it? What we do here today will define us forever, gentlemen, and we must constantly make the effort to seem subservient. That is critical to our mission. When the Elber Ambassador and her spy-laden trade delegation arrive in three of their months, we must be ready to strike. Should any doubts as to our total acquiescence in all things human surface unexpectedly and raise the alarm, all these years of planning will have been for naught.”

  “The colonel is correct, Janth. Three of the Elber months is equal to only a fraction of one of our tanuude. The time will be upon us before we know it,” Phatie said, using his fist to hammer his open palm as a punctuation mark behind each sentence. He was surprised to hear any objections at all from these men; they were hand-picked personally by him.

  The admiral looked at his commander. He knew he was on dangerous ground and he blanched at even the thought of being upbraided by Bale Phatie. “Of course, your eminence. I totally see your point,” he agreed, his mind taking him to what surely must be a crumpled and bleeding body of Wan Galnal.

  “Then let us begin our final preparations. I have heard from the scientists and the prognosis is good. The subjects will be ready in a few more days. Then the intense training must begin. Captain Wuurde, that is your department, is it not?”

  The captain pounded his chest. “Yes, sir. We stand ready and the facility has been prepared. Our team awaits the feeds from our esteemed Colonel Inskaap. The training plan is unbreakable, and I’m positive the results will meet your satisfaction.”

  Phatie nodded and walked around the room, stopping at each man in turn. He got reports from the admiral in charge of the rebuilding fleet; a report from the officer in charge of logistics and personnel matters. A report from the officer in charge of the blockade penetration effort made him stop his stroll.

  “So, Admiral Uubiid, if what you are saying is true, the delegation from Elber has launched some months before. How long is the expected transit time?”

  “Almost one of their years. In a way, that’s better for us. It gives us more time to prepare the other aspects of this plan.”

  Phatie continued polling his senior officers. After minutes of small discussions he dismissed them all except one. “Please remain, Colonel Inskaap. We have urgent matters to resolve.”

  After the rest of the officers left the two Malguurians settled into a long conversation. Inskaap was one of Phatie’s most trusted advisors. The officer was young, energetic and ruthless. The
last trait being the one Phatie respected the most. The intel officer was not quite as tall as Phatie but his decorated face bore a sinister scowl that was a mirror into his dark soul. He wore no medals and his clothing was not adorned by any sashes or banners of rank. As they conversed, he matched his paces with his commander.

  “How is the infiltration going, colonel? Are we still able to manage our operatives left on Elber Prime?”

  The young colonel smiled and clasped both hands behind his back as he walked. “These operatives are the best in the world, your eminence. Their conditioning has been fortified with — how can I say this? — the best mind-altering drugs available. They will not break their programming and they will not give themselves up under any circumstances.”

  Phatie stopped and nodded. “I must admire your cleverness, Inskaap. Your mind behaves like mine. Getting an advance party to one of the human worlds was a pure stroke of genius.”

  Inskaap rearranged his long black leather tunic. “I appreciate the compliment, sir. How better to infest a dog than with a swarm of fleas. The humans are so concerned with their grand ships and their outward push they have ignored some of their core worlds. I used the smallest ships we had that could make jump speeds. They went unnoticed through the blockade. Now we have a team of operatives all set and ready to proceed on the planet they call Bayliss in addition to our spies on Elber Prime.”

  “Excellent. Now, what is the other important news you have for me? My time is very limited and I have an inspection of the surgical facilities scheduled for tomorrow. I must prepare my shuttle.”

  Inskaap looked away. He took two or three paces toward the huge tinted window overlooking the ocean. “He’s coming to Elber. As a matter of fact, they both are. Haad and Yorn. Seems they had some trouble out in the Alnitak range. Their ship was damaged in some kind of skirmish. The reports are sketchy but my contacts on the human world assures me that information is rock solid.”