More than a hundred years of war have left the old empires of the Cor'Lster and the Delvy broken and shatter. In their wake the Spur, a unimportant region of the galaxy, is left in the hands of the remaining and young major powers of the region. Tales of the Spur tells of three stories of the lives of events of this region of the Galaxy.
Alone in the Night: A forgotten, and abandoned colony is attacked by a Warlord and his band. When help from an unexpected source comes, the people of this colony wonder if there is a price to the rescuer's generosity
Investigation on Xilos: An investigator receives a murder case, a rare occurrence for Xilos a mining Colony on the edge of Union space. While investigating he learns that there may be more laying under the surface and his world may never be the same.
Stranded: A freighter is left stranded because of the actions of it Captain. Now its crew are left to deal with the consequences and the hope that they will get home.
More than a hundred years of war have left the old empires of the Cor'Lster and the Delvy broken and shatter. In their wake the Spur, a unimportant region of the galaxy, is left in the hands of the remaining and young major powers of the region. Tales of the Spur tells of three stories of the lives of events of this region of the Galaxy.
Alone in the Night: A forgotten, and abandoned colony is attacked by a Warlord and his band. When help from an unexpected source comes, the people of this colony wonder if there is a price to the rescuer's generosity
Investigation on Xilos: An investigator receives a murder case, a rare occurrence for Xilos a mining Colony on the edge of Union space. While investigating he learns that there may be more laying under the surface and his world may never be the same.
Stranded: A freighter is left stranded because of the actions of it Captain. Now its crew are left to deal with the consequences and the hope that they will get home.
Vilcuis System, Cawli Orbit
“Spin drive signatures detect Quilik.”
Quilik Kilox felt his tendrons pulsate with nervous energy. Cawli was an obscured colony on the edge of the Tilon practically seen as a backwater. The only reason he could think of for the incoming ships was either the monthly trade (unlikely as the ship was five months overdue), or they were pirates. Kilox felt his eyes narrow in cold fury as he thought about the possibility of pirates.
Bloody scavengers! With the state that the Spur was in now, he was not surprised that criminals like them would take advantage of the chaos. He had heard that other colonies had been raided for everything they had, including people. Kilox bristled at the thought that even one denizen of the world below would be sold into slavery. He would not allow that.
“How many ships?” he asked Sensors.
“Hard to tell, sir-,” the young officer spoke. “Maybe twenty, thirty ships, judging by distortions in void space.”
That was more than a raiding group, Kilox realized. It was an invasion force. These were no simple raiders or pirates. He had heard of warlords carving out their own fiefdoms in the colonies. Now it seemed one of them had set their eyes on Cawli
Kilox held back a sigh. These days, things were not easy. When he had been much younger, such an incident would have never happened. The threat of retaliation from the Cor’Lster Astrium would have deterred any foolish enough to attack worlds of their protectorates. Kilox was no fool, not since his days as a young and eager officer in the Tilon military. He knew the Cor’Lster couldn’t be bothered to defend their protectorates. Even before their war against their ancient rival, the Delvy. Before they crippled themselves and retreated to their core systems, they would have never raised a finger to defend those they had sworn to do so.
But no one else knew that, and he would have been more than happy to have kept it that way. If it made life easier for him and his people, he would have kept that deception up. But now, it did not matter anymore; a hundred years of war against their rival, the Delvy, had left the Cor’Lster only able to defend their core systems.
With them gone, its protectorates, the ones that had not been annihilated in the war, were scrambling to defend themselves. The Tilon was one of the lucky ones who survived the war and still possessed a military intact enough to protect itself. Problem was they only had enough resources to defend the core worlds and some mid-range colonies. The rest of the outlying planets and colonies had been left to die. A lucky few like Cawli were able to put together a militia to fend off pirates and raiders. But against the warlords that took system after system, their defenses were useless.
Kilox did not like his odds. Adding to the hardly operable hunk of junk that was station Ikos, he commanded a dozen ships. Mostly frigates by his people’s standards, with a couple of light cruisers, but calling them relics would not be far from the truth. They were old ships that the Tilon stopped manufacturing two centuries ago. It was a wonder why they had not been scrapped long ago. His best guess was that someone somewhere in logistics made a mistake.
His people had outfitted the old ships with newer technology than when they were in service, though the stuff was still decades old. He feared his fleet was woefully unprepared compared to whatever these attackers may have.
“All forces prepare for battle,” Kilox ordered, prompting klaxons to sound. “Communications get a channel to the Regent. Inform him to start evacuating the civilians to the shelters and ready the militia for battle.”
“Sir.”
On the display, he could see three dozen smaller craft emerge from the station and the ships under his command. Fighters small, fast, nimble attack craft. They might improve their odds in the battle. Kilox didn’t put it past their enemies to have their own fighters, and they likely had several times the number he had.
“Contacts entering real space.” Sensors reported.
“Visual display.” Kilox ordered.
On his display, he saw the rendered images of ships spinning into view. An odd quirk of spin drives. He saw the vessels hold their position in a sloppy formation. He counted thirty-five ships, mostly corvettes and destroyers, with a few frigate-sized vessels. His heart dropped when he saw what the command ship, a cruiser-sized ship with a main weapon running the ship’s length, was. Energy readings told him it was powerful enough to destroy his station in two or three shots. His ships would not fare well against that thing. Moments later, a cluster of smaller objects emerged from the enemy vessels. Fighters, about sixty to seventy of them from the looks.
Then the vessels vanished from the monitor. “Sir, the contacts have activated their distortion drives. They’ll be here in less than a minute.”
It was chilling how such a short amount of time would change everything for him and his people. In less than a minute, they would be in the fight for their lives. In less than a minute, the fate of the colony below would be decided.
The contacts reappeared on his screen, this time much closer to the station and the planet. “Sir, the lead vessel is sending us a message,” his communications officer said. “They’re telling us to surrender or die.”
The choice was obvious for him. “Fire, a warning shot off their bow. Then open a channel.”
“Sir.”
Back on display, he saw a bolt of light shoot past the invading fleet. “Channel open, sir,” he heard his officer say.
“This is Quilik Kilox of the Cawli defense group to the hostile fleet. You have illegally entered our space. You will withdraw, or we will be forced to engage. We will not surrender. I repeat, withdraw, or face the consequences.” He signaled for the channel to be closed.
“The enemy fleet is powering weapons. They will be in weapons range in three Tisecs.”
“Battle stations,” he ordered. “Lock weapons on the nearest enemy ships and fire on my orders.”
“Weapons locked, sir.”
Kilox looked at the display, waiting for the attacking fleet to get closer. “Fire!” He heard the station’s cannons firing reverberating through the command center. On the display, he saw several of the attacking ships move out of the way to avoid the incoming fire. A few failed and disappeared from the display. Three enemy ships had been killed. His ships were not idle as they pressed forward, and the largest of his makeshift fleet fired its weapons, killing four more enemy ships.
Kilox allowed himself to feel a moment of hope that they could come out alive. Another ship died as it was swarmed by their fighters, quickly followed by a second. Then one of his cruisers died as the invaders’ lead ship fired its main cannon. With one of their larger ships gone, the remainder of his fleet became disorganized as the invader’s fleet fell on them. More ships disappeared from the display as they died, and a few were sent adrift. Kilox began to give new orders when the entire station lurched, almost sending him to the floor. “Damage report,” he said, recovering.
“The enemy lead ship fired its main weapon at us, sir. Shields failed to hold, and the beam pierced through the station. We have breaches on levels three through seven, sections two to four. Casualties coming in.”
That station lurched again. Kilox had been ready for it and steadied himself. This time he didn’t need a report from his officer to see the damage. On his display, he saw a portion of the station had been ripped away. “Statues on weapons,” he shouted, praying that the lead ship had to cycle through a cool down before firing again.
He saw the tactical officer, Jalesse, look over her station, tendrils increasingly twitching with worry. She looked at him. “Sir, we only have one weapon remaining operational,” she reported before looking down again at her station. “Heavy cannon three,” she said with her hands gliding across the terminal, checking over the statues on the only thing they had left to fight with. “I’m afraid we’ll only be able to get a short burst of fire from it.”
Kilox nodded at her. They would have to make it work. “Lock onto the lead ship and fire with as much power you can get into it. Fire on my command,” he barked out the order and turned his attention to his display, eyeing the lead ship. He waited a few seconds, letting the attacking fleet get closer. “Fire!”
He saw five bright blossoms of white light surge towards the lead ship. One missed, sailing into the empty void. The second shot hit the cruiser, dissipating on its shields. A third bolt missed but hit another invading ship, destroying it. The fourth and fifth shots found their mark. The last directly impacted the hull. Kilox smiled to himself, seeing a breach in its hull and small shapes blown out. They had managed to hurt the largest of the invader’s ships.
Maybe it would make them think twice about approaching the planet, not that they could stop them now. No such luck; the cruiser’s primary weapon lit up, and a stream of red light erupted from its bow. Half a second later, the station lurched again. All around him, the command center was engulfed in flames and sparks as terminals, conduits, and other parts exploded from power surges.
Kilox got up. His head was ringing, and he couldn’t feel anything in his left arm. Looking around, he saw that the command center was a mess of tangled wires and metal. Smoke and gas vented into the air, and Kilox had to restrain himself from going into a coughing fit.
“Report!” He wheezed out the order. He hoped that somebody was still alive.
He saw his tactical officer pull herself up to her station. Her uniform was wrinkled and torn, and there a nasty cut above her left eye, a steady stream of blood coming from it. “Critical damage to the station’s superstructure. Hull breach on levels four through ten, sections three to seven. We are venting atmosphere.”
“Seal off those areas,” Kilox ordered.
“Trying to, sir. The emergency bulkheads were damaged in the blast.” Jalesse wiped the blood away from her eye.
Not that they would have done any good. As old as this station is, Kilox thought to himself. “Statues on our fleet.”
“Half of our ships are gone, sir,” the woman reported. “But we did manage to destroy a third of the invading force.”
Kilox nodded. It was grim news. He knew they weren’t going to win this battle. Their best hope now was to ensure that the invaders took enough losses here that they couldn’t attack other systems. “Get to the escape pods,” he ordered his tactical officer. “I’ll remain here. A commander should go down with his station.”
“But sir,” the Jalesse protested.
Kilox stopped her with a raise of his hand. Jalesse was a good officer. Eager but attentive to her duties. Kilox found he could rely on her as the station’s chief tactical officer, and security officer. “Just go. You’re still young and have the rest of your life ahead of you. I would hate for that chance to be wasted.” Cawli would need people like her to defend it.
The young woman looked ready for another protest before she stopped herself and nodded. “It has been an honor,” she saluted him.
Kilox turned his attention back to the display. He was ready to face death. He had lived a good long life. He had lived past a hundred years. A time when most senior officers would retire and live out their last two or three decades in peace. Though he never did, feeling the colony of Cawli needed him, and to be truthful with himself, he never saw himself joining his ancestors in his sleep. He made a final prayer for himself and the rest of his crew. He was about to give the rest of his crew the order to abandon the station when a beeping noise stopped him.
“Sir!” he heard his tactical officer shout out in astonishment. Kilox spun around to face her. “More ships have appeared near the station; they’re,” she stopped to double-check her readings. “They’re Union ships.”
“Union ships?”
The arrival of a wing of Union warships had caught the attention of the invading ships. Several seconds after entering normal space, a transmission was sent from the lead Union ship, a light cruiser that measured 1.2 Km in length.
“This is Commander H’Jchar Telesse of the Union warship Valassie, in command of the 427th Tactical Wing,” a deep voice said. “I order you to cease all hostilities with the Faelsh colony planet of Cawli and withdraw from its orbit. Once you have done that, we may begin a negotiated settlement. If you do not comply in the next five minutes, I will be forced to order my ships to act. I appeal to you, do not force us into a pointless battle. I await your response.”
The Union commander did not have to wait long for a response. Most of the invading vessels turned around to face the Union warships. Seconds later, they fired their weapons, expecting to see several of the ships be destroyed.
Unfortunately for the invaders, Union warships had more advanced technology than their Faelsh counterparts by several centuries. Their shields could take more punishment and regenerate faster. When the attackers finished their first volley, only one Union ship had received any significant damage. The same could not be said about the invaders themselves when the Union fleet returned fire. Half of the attacking fleet was reduced to spinning debris by the more powerful weapons of the new arrivals.
With half of their numbers gone, the remaining raider vessels instantly broke their formation to avoid the next volley from the Union warships.
With the invaders scattered, the smaller Union corvettes and fighters surged past their lines and joined with the planet’s defenders. They destroyed any invader fighter or smaller ships that got in their way.
Now that they had help, the defenders of Cawli were able to reform their lines. With their position more secured than before, they began to fire on the invading fleet with their long-ranged weapons.
Caught between two fronts, the invaders found their numbers quickly dwindling. But they were not out yet. The lead ship had made a complete turn and fired its main weapon. A beam of red light tore through empty space. It cut one of the smaller Union ships in two and impacted the shields of the Union command ship. They held for two seconds before the beam penetrated. The energy blast scorched the hull of the Union cruiser before dissipating.
Now it was the Union ship’s turn to show its main cannon. A blue beam of light emerged from the Valassie and raced towards the leadership of the invaders. The power difference between the two lead ships was made clear as the beam instantly breached the shields of the invader ship and sliced it in two. Atmosphere and bodies violently vented into the vacuum of space. A moment later, its reactor went critical, and the remains were consumed in a flash of light.
To the observing defenders of Cawli, it was a shock to see the force they had been struggling with be so easily destroyed. In his command center Kilox’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
With much of their forces gone and their lead ship turned to space dust, the remaining vessels decided to cut their losses and ran from battle. None of the planet’s defenders or the Union ships pursued the enemy. In less than a minute, the remaining invader ships all jumped into void-space. Except for one. A quick scan from the Union ships revealed that its spin drive had failed.
Now that the enemy had left, both sides stared at each other. The station hailed the lead ship of the Union squadron.
“This is Quilik Kilox of Ikos Station,” Kilox said eyeing the formation of Union ships. What was the Union doing out here? “In charge of the defense of the colony world of Cawli. I thank you for your assistance. But now I must ask. What are you doing here and what are your intentions for Cawli?”
The response he got did nothing to ease his nerves. “To help.”
Orion Wars: Tales of the Spur by Daniel Dearman presents us with three stories taking place in the titular location of the Spur, an unimportant and barely recognized chunk of space left after hundreds of years of war between enemy empires. Despite its assumed unimportance, some serious business goes down in this chunk of space. As this book has three different stories within its pages, giving a synopsis of these three short stories would take more words than I have to work with. While they may be short stories they are far from short reads, Daniel Dearman pumps a lot of amazing information into his stories.
The main appeal of this book for me is the worldbuilding. Each character, with their various differences in race, and descriptions of ways they live, eat, and even how some of the species act while experiencing certain emotions. These small things that are mentioned casually in the ways characters move, eat, and act tell a lot about the effort that the author put into the creation of this universe's various races. When you think of worldbuilding in science fiction the mind often goes to more classic settings, but even shorter stories require a firmly laid out background and Daniel Dearman has certainly given that to us in Orion Wars: Tales of the Spur.
Now as mentioned above Dearman has done a lot of worldbuilding, and this is clearly displayed in his characters. The various races have different appearances personal ticks. They also have some solid personalities that have clearly been shaped by the locations in which they had been raised in. All of these are fine examples of an author who clearly has a lot of dedication to his craft and the characters and worlds he has created. I know I am looking forward to reading more of Daniel Dearman's work. I sincerely hope that Orion Wars: Tales of the Spur is just one step towards an even larger display of Dearman's writing. If you are a fan of science fiction I suggest you pick this one up.