Chris Kennedy - Dark Moon Arisen

Colonel Alexis Cromwell gestured the rest of the Four Horsemen leaders to their seats. The intervening weeks since the invasion of Earth had been the most pivotal for Human mercs in the hundred years since first contact. Alexis and her ancestors had spent that century turning their hidden headquarters at New Warsaw into an unassailable base. The first commander of the Winged Hussars had decided invisibility wasnt enough; hed wanted defensibility as well. The system in New Warsaw was unmapped, its coordinates lost from the Cartography Guild databases. Simply put, you couldnt get there from anywhere.

When Alexis had taken command more than a decade ago, she had continued to prepare for war despite how expensive it was, even though shed never thought being attacked in New Warsaw was a serious concern. Not until a little over two years ago, that is, when things started getting strange. The Hussars special asset, an ancient artificial intelligence known as Ghost, warned her of impending danger, but couldnt provide specifics. As it liked to remind Alexis, it wasnt omnipotent, just very, very observant. A few months before Earth was invaded, a move was made against her, directly, and her command ship Pegasus. With Ghosts help, and some very creative tactics, Alexis survived.

To her right sat Jim Cartwright of Cartwrights Cavaliers. The least probable of the assemblage, he was just 21 years old and at least 150 pounds overweight. His father, Thaddeus Cartwright, had been the best Cavaliers commander since the first Cartwright, but hed been killed when his son was only 10 years old. His mother had taken temporary control and appeared to have bankrupted it. The reality was, the same plot against the other Horsemen had been behind the economic disaster. Alexis intel suggested it was probably one of the first moves against them.

Jim Cartwright reconstituted the Cavaliers with some salvaged gear and stashed credits. With no practical trainingand a complete lack of physical merc traitsthe kid turned out to be a natural, much like his great grandfather. It also didnt hurt that hed somehow managed to resurrect a 20,000-year-old, 100-foot-tall war robot known as a Raknar. His furry friend had probably had something to do with that.

The alien, known as a Fae, rested on his shoulder. Looking like a cross between a howler monkey and a lemur, her thick tail circled Jims neck, and her delicate toes clasped his shoulder. Her big eyes were shielded by handmade, skillfully-assembled goggles. Despite her appearance, the alien examined the assembled group with a clear intelligence.

To her left sat Nigel Shirazi, the Asbaran Solutions commander, who was smiling at her with a grin that was a little more than congenial. His incredibly handsome bronze features, with thick black hair and boyish glimmering eyes, caused her to return his smile before she could stop herself. Hed been 4 th in line to command Asbaran and all but disowned. That was, until the alien plot against the Horsemen had rolled up all those ahead of him. Then they kidnapped his sister.

Unlike the rest of his family, Nigel loved his sister, and he threw everything he had into rescuing her. The MinSha, long the adversaries and mortal enemies of Asbaran Solutions, proved to be behind the plot. Nigel fell short in his effort to recover herhis sister died in his armsand he barely came away with his life. Hed since managed to scrape together some forces and, thanks primarily to Jim Cartwright, had left Earth just in time. Since shed met him, hed grown progressively more charming, much to her chagrin.

The Golden Horde commander, Sansar Enkh, was directly across from her. She was a few years Alexis junior, and as much in love with pinplants as Alexis sister had been, until shed been killed while her pinplants were linked with Pegasus computers, and Ghost had taken over her sisters body. Sansar was incredibly intelligent and an accomplished commander, especially in the defensive and relief tactics her company specialized in.

It was Sansar whod remained behind on Earth and called the aliens bluff. The Merc Guild, headed by General Peepo, had taken her into custody and transported her to Capital Planet. There, shed been subjected to a show trial. Even though Sansar had revealed the trial to be just that, the guild still had the temerity to sentence her to death. Nigel had rescued her and brought her back to New Warsaw, and the Horsemen were finally together.

Before we meet with the rest of the merc commanders, Alexis began, I wanted to thank all of you for a great job. Thanks to everyones efforts, we have a sizeable combat force at our disposal. Polite applause. Breaking them out of Karma was a master stroke, and Im sure Peepo is stinging from that blow.

We have 23 companies here in New Warsaw, Sansar said. As a defensive specialist, shed tasked her people with assembling the numbers after shed arrived. Not counting our own commands, there are 12 battalions of CASPers, most of which are Mk 7s and Mk 8s, although there are couple of battalions with older models. We have four battalions of modern infantry, along with a battalion of mechanized armor, and a battalion of artillery. Jim Cartwright whistled, and Sansar shook her head. Dont be too impressed, she cautioned, Peepo hit me with more than double that in Uzbekistan, and that was just Tortantula assault companies.

Yes, and they are now radioactive goo, Nigel said, nodding. In New Persia, we call that a good start.

Still, Sansar said, that is but a fraction of the forces Peepo can use against us. There are 36 other races lined up against ours.

Our real problem is their space navy, Alexis pointed out. As we discussed before Sansar joined us, we have nothing compared to what the merc guild has at their disposal. The sensor data we have showed battleships in the Sol system. Several of them. Im happy to say that my efforts to salvage ships from 2 nd Level Hyperspace was successful. A Tri-V came on and showed the ships shed returned with. We salvaged two Izlian ships, a battlecruiser, and an older heavy cruiser. But the real find was four Egleesius -class battlecruisers, the same class as Pegasus. The screen showed the four ships, moored a short distance from the Hussars huge space station, Prime Base.