Kevin J. Anderson - Hellhole

Brian Herbert is a New York Times bestselling science-fiction writer. As well as being the co-author of the new Dune novels, he is the author of the highly acclaimed Sudanna, Sudanna, The Race for God and Prisoners of Arionn. He has also written the Timeweb Chronicles and Dreamer of Dune, a Hugo Award-nominated biography of his father Frank Herbert.

Kevin J. Anderson has over 20 million books in print in thirty languages. As well as the ambitious space-opera series, The Saga of Seven Suns and his Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy, he has written numerous bestselling novels based on Star Wars and the X-Files. He has won, or been shortlisted for, science fictions highest awards and in 1977 he set the Guinness World Record for largest single-author booksigning. He lives in Colorado and is an avid hiker and mountain climber.

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First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2010
A CBS COMPANY

Copyright Dream Star, Inc. and Word Fire, Inc., 2010

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
and 1998 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

The right of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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Hardback ISBN: 978-1-84737-993-1
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84737-426-4
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84737-994-8

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

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Brian: to Julie, Kimberly, and Margaux

Kevin: to Jonathan, Jessica, and Harrison

May your lives be filled with a universe of opportunities

For their help in the writing and preparation of this novel, we would like to express our gratitude to Tom Doherty at Tor Books, our editors Pat LoBrutto (Tor) and Maxine Hitchcock (Simon & Schuster UK), and our agent, John Silbersack. Kevin would like to thank Mary Thomson for her diligent transcription, and test readers Diane Jones and Louis Moesta. And, as with all our books, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our wives, Janet Herbert and Rebecca Moesta Anderson, for their love and creative support.

I t was the end of the rebellion, and this day would either make or break the freedom fighters. General Tiber Maximilian Adolphus had struggled for half a decade against the corrupt government of the Constellation, taking his cause across the twenty central Crown Jewel worlds and riding a groundswell of popular support all of which had led him to this place. A last stand where the old regime was bound to collapse.

The battle over the planet Sonjeera would decide it all.

The Generals teeth ached from clenching his jaw, but he stood on the bridge of his flagship, ostensibly calm and confident. He had not intended to be a rebel leader, but the role had been forced on him, and hed never lost sight of the goal. The ancient, incestuous system had oppressed many populations. The more powerful noble families devoured the weaker ones to steal their planetary holdings. Ultimately, even those powerful families split up and tore at one another, as if it were some kind of game. It had gone on far too long.

For five years now, the Generals ever-growing forces had battled old-guard loyalists, winning victories and suffering defeats. Any reasonable person could see that the bloated system was rotten, crumbling, unfair to the majority. People across the Crown Jewels had only needed a man to serve as an example, someone to light the spark and unify their grievances. Adolphus had fallen into this role by accident, but like a piece of driftwood caught in a whitewater flood, he had been swept along to his inevitable destination.

Now his forces converged over the main prize: Sonjeera, with its glorious white stone buildings, tall towers, and ancient museums window-dressing that made the government appear to be as marvelous as the politicians claimed it was.

Diadem Michella Duchenet, the Constellations supreme ruler, would never admit defeat, clinging to her position of power with cadaverous claws. Rather than relinquish the Star Throne, the old woman would see the capital world laid to waste, without regard to the innocent citizens she claimed to represent and protect. And if the General allowed it to come to that, he would be no better than Diadem Michella. But he didnt see any way around it.

In the battles of the rebellion so far, Adolphus had been careful to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, but he knew the Diadem would eventually force his hand. She would draw a dark line of morality in front of him and dare him to cross it. Today might be that day...

Steady ahead. His flagship, the Jacob, was named after his father, one of the first casualties in the string of political and economic schemes that had provoked Adolphus into action. Frigates and sweepers forward. Open the gunports and show them we mean business.

Aye, General.

With an intense focus, he studied the screen and the planet growing larger by the minute; Sonjeera sparkled with tiny dots of ships, stations, and orbital activity. It was a sapphire laced with clouds, green continents, and city lights that sparkled across the night side. The crown jewel of all Crown Jewels.

Adolphuss eyes were dark and old beyond his years, not having seen laughter in a long time. His black hair was neatly trimmed, and his square jaw had a tendency to show beard shadow, but he had shaved carefully only a few hours before. He intended to be presentable for this engagement, no matter how it turned out. He had his obligation to history...

His deep blue uniform was neat and impeccable, the coppery rank insignia prominent on his collar, though he sported no medals or decorations. The General had refused to let his men present him with accolades until they had actually won. He had not entered this conflict for glory or wealth, but justice.

Tactical display, Mr Conyer. Let me see the distribution of our ships, and project the defenses that Sonjeera has mounted.

Here they are, General. The tac officer called up a display of the 463 rebel ships a fleet that was certainly superior to what the Army of the Constellation could muster here on short notice. Destroyers, fast harriers, frigates, sweepers, large carriers, even civilian cargo ships refitted with armor and weapons.

Above the capital planet, cargo ships and short-range in-system yachts and transports scattered, seeking shelter. A meager ring of security ships kept station near the main stringline hub, the orbiting nexus of interstellar lines that connected the Crown Jewel planets. Not nearly enough. The Generals forces could and would overwhelm the security ships and seize the hub without much resistance.

The Diadem has mounted no primary defenses that we can see yet, sir.

She will, Adolphus said. It couldnt be that easy.

Over the codecall link, Franck Tello, the Generals second-in-command and a close friend, broke in from the bridge of his own destroyer, cheery as usual. Maybe thats the old bitchs answer. One look at our fleet, and she ran to hide in a bomb shelter. I hope she took sanitary facilities and some extra panties.