Free Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Invasion by Ryan Krauter

Birthright:
    Battle
for the Confederation
     
    Invasion
     
    Ryan Krauter
     
    Copyright © 2011 by
Ryan Krauter
    Cover art by Ryan
Krauter
    All rights reserved. 
No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the author.
    Novels by Ryan Krauter
    (hyperlinks)
     
    Birthright
Series:
     
    Invasion
     
    Reprisal
     
    Crusade
     
    Turmoil
     
     
    The
Out of Nowhere Series: (Young Adult)
     
    Out of Nowhere
     
    Shadow of Doubt
     
     
    The Fixer
     
    My Own Prison  
(short
story)
     

    Chapter 1 . 5
    Chapter 2 . 17
    Chapter 3 . 29
    Chapter 4 . 41
    Chapter 5 . 53
    Chapter 6 . 64
    Chapter 7 . 75
    Chapter 8 . 83
    Chapter 9 . 97
    Chapter
10 . 109
    Chapter
11 . 120
    Chapter
12 . 130
    Chapter
13 . 139
    Chapter
14 . 148
    Chapter
15 . 159
    Chapter
16 . 170
    Chapter
17 . 179
    Chapter
18 . 190
    The Brief
History of a Galactic Spiral Arm ... 195
     
    Chapter
1
     
    The Corona cruised silently through
the vacuum, white light from its’ drives washing the rear of the ship in a pale
light which rivaled that of any of the dim stars nearby. It was an earlier Pulsar
class destroyer, dressed in the standard gray Confederation colors.  Like all
others of the Pulsar class, it was mainly an escort type ship, assigned to fleets,
routine patrol routes and convoys due to its smaller size.  With a crew of only
three hundred, it was Confed’s smallest warship.
    Her course was nothing out of the
ordinary. After a brief stop at a Confed communications station to deliver some
equipment, she was now swinging through a moderately traveled sector of
Confederation space, which adjoined a mutually agreed-upon neutral buffer area
between Confed and several other local group territories.  She had recently
received orders to make a slight detour to include several uninhabited systems,
most likely to check for smugglers or pirates; just a quick jaunt through the
spacelanes of Confed’s extended backyard, as it were.  
    On the modestly sized bridge, it
was business as usual. The ship’s command center, like all other Confed
vessels, was considered by many to be just slightly too dark, but
Captain Salles liked it that way. It made the crew concentrate that much harder
on their instruments. And this close to Enkarran space, we’d better be
concentrating , he thought. The Confederation and Enkarran Union existed in
a kind of cold war half-truce.  Their relationship was a long way from perfect;
however, they maintained at least social ties in the interest of keeping the
peace.  They were the real reason the Corona patrolled this particular spot of otherwise
uninteresting space. You had to show the neighbors that you were in fact
keeping an eye on them.          Captain Salles was from what others would
refer to as the ‘Old School’ of starship command, though he would argue there
was no ‘New School’ that had cropped up to take it’s place.  Another generation
in a proud military family, he had earned his place on this ship through hard
work and tireless devotion to his duty.  Just past middle age, he was valiantly
fighting off the added pounds that seemed to creep up on many of his fellow
officers.  He looked years younger than he actually was; the only giveaway to
his advancing years was the now mostly gray hair which he kept shaved close.  Some
captains ran a less formal ship, but discipline had its’ place, and he felt a
starship was one of them. 
    The Captain had been sitting for
quite some time- he decided it was time to take a stroll around his bridge.
    â€œHow’s the sector looking, Ensign?â€