Burning Eagle Read online

  Burning Eagle

  By Navin Weeraratne

  Copyright 2015 Navin Weeraratne

  Smashwords Edition

  For Thilani

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite ebook retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

  Contents

  Invasion Prep

  Koirala I

  Sun Tzu I

  Jahandar I

  Fermi's War

  Cullins I

  Diamond I

  Cullins II

  Mission

  D-Day

  Cullins III

  D-11

  Jahandar II

  Diamond II

  Koirala II

  Havelock I

  Diamond III

  Jahandar III

  Havelock II

  Vidya I

  Koirala III

  Sun Tzu II

  Diamond IV

  Havelock III

  Cullins IV

  Tennyson, Part I

  Havelock IV

  Tennyson, Part II

  Diamond V

  Tennyson, Part III

  Havelock V

  Cullins V

  Tennyson, Part IV

  Havelock VI

  Tennyson, Part V

  Serial Killer

  Havelock VII

  Sun Tzu III

  Jahandar IV

  Koirala IV

  Sun Tzu IV

  Line in the Sand

  Jahandar V

  Contact

  Sun Tzu V

  Sun Tzu VI

  Jahandar VI

  Cullins VI

  Vidya II

  Day One

  Havelock VIII

  Jahandar VII

  Diamond VI

  Day Two

  Day Three

  Sun Tzu VII

  Havelock IX

  Cullins VII

  Day Four

  Sun Tzu VIII

  Havelock X

  Deny the Objective

  Sun Tzu IX

  Surgical Strike

  Cullins VIII

  Terms and Conditions

  Cullins IX

  Sun Tzu X

  Cullins X

  Jahandar VIII

  Havelock XI

  Diamond VII

  Cullins XI

  Saint

  Burning Eagle

  Strategic Warfare

  Game of Thrones

  Cullins XII

  [PLAN-B]

  Jahandar IX

  Aftermath

  Sun Tzu XI

  Saint II

  Home

  Cullins XIII

  About the Author

  Connect with Navin

  Excerpt: The Hundred Gram Mission

  Invasion Prep

  Koirala I

  “Iswari, you’ve lost weight! Aren’t you eating properly?”

  Iswari Koirala rolled her eyes.

  “Ama, I’m fine.”

  “Jhaare! Child, they don’t feed you in the army. Shall I send some lunch packets? You can keep them frozen and microwave them when you want. You can share also with your roommate, Carey.”

  “Ama! I’m fine!”

  “No, no. Have you been taking your medicine? It’s real Ayurveda, your father had to look all over to find it. Very good for your nerves also, maybe it’ll make you stop shouting at me.”

  “Ama!”

  “Child, take your medicine! It’s time to wake up.”

  “I’m not a child anymore, and have you been taking your medicine?”

  “Captain, take your medicine.”

  “I’m fine, I don’t have the symptoms anymore.”

  “Captain, its time to wake up.”

  “Ama?”

  “Captain, you need to take your radiation meds. It’s time to wake up.”

  A plastic squeeze wrapper was floating over her face, spinning in the vortex of her breath. It dallied a bit - before being taken by a current that pressed it slapping against the metal air vent.

  “Captain, you need to take your radiation meds.”

  “I’m awake Computer,” she crawled out of her sleeping harness into weightlessness and cold air, goose bumps complained about her shorts and grimy t-shirt. She sniffed her sleeve – there was no one in her cramped quarters to judge.

  She looked out the window, a square as wide as she was tall. Tennyson was coming out from behind the planet; it was a white star sunrise for the refugee camps down below. Thick banks of clouds covered the land; it was the monsoon season. Blackened wrecks tumbled slowly around the planet and blocked out the stars.

  Mesh pouches were suction cupped to the glass. Several faded printouts and some coffee stained deck plans were held on with sticky tack. She reached into a musette bag and pulled out a small bottle; she rattled it, mostly air. She took two pills and swallowed them dry: they tasted of iron and last chances.

  “How long was I asleep for?”

  “Twenty minutes, per your instructions.”

  “Set the clock for four hours from now.”

  “Captain, you have been polyphasic sleeping for over two weeks now, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders are manifesting.”

  “We’ve been over this, Computer. Let’s move on.”

  “Under the Tennyson Space Safety and Standards Code, it is my duty as ship’s computer to inform you that you are suffering from decreased mental ability, increased stress and anxiety, and your immune system is being compromised. Your conduct is irresponsible.”

  “So was stealing this salvage pod. Now set the clock for four hours.”

  “It is done. Nap duration?”

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “It’s supposed to be twenty minutes.”

  “If you know, why do you keep asking?”

  “I am waiting for you to get fed up and ask instead for a real sleep interval. Duration set for twenty minutes.”

  She reached into a floating, cardboard box and pulled out a silver wrapped bar.

  “At current rationing levels you will run out of power bars in three days.”

  “There’s still the rice, I can eat it dry. We’ll find some more food out here or we can try back at the freighter wreck again.”

  “Clean water will run out in three days.”

  “What? I fixed the purifier!”

  “You did, but we are running out of filters.”

  “I’ll skip washing, that’ll make it last longer. Let’s also keep an eye out for ice out there.”

  “I would recommend taking the time to properly shower and groom yourself. It will improve your morale and mental readiness.”

  “I’d love to, but we can’t spare the water.”

  “You smell.”

  “That bothers you?”

  “Only because I know how unusual it is for a woman to be comfortable with that.”

  “I’ll shower to girly satisfaction all you like, once we find that backup. Now where are we on the search grid?”

  A green hologram hung in front of her, she batted away a floating pair of underwear that hung over it.

  “Radiation is continuing to diffuse. This is reducing the amount you are exposed to near the hot spots. But it also means the colony backup drives - or their fragments - are more likely being exposed to damaging radiation. The searchable grid locations are shrinking. You are racing against time.”

  “Let’s try this area here again,” she indicated with her hand, “the radiation is going to start filling up t
here, so we should check it again before it’s too late.”

  “You have checked that region three times.”

  “And we’ll check it a fourth time.”

  “Captain, both military search and rescue and emergency services teams have scanned the debris field. If the Orbital Two backups had survived, they would have found them; their instruments are much more powerful than this salvage pod’s.”

  “They also had plenty of other things to do, which were also for people they didn’t know or care about. This is the only S and R op for Orbital Two, being run by someone from Orbital Two. We’re going to find those backups.”

  “Laying in our course. Have you given thought to the fuel situation?”

  “Why, has the distress beacon developed some fault?”

  “No.”

  “Then I don’t need to give it any thought, do I? We stick with the plan. We find the backups, we trigger the beacon. We were never planning on getting back on our own fuel.”

  “Understood, but we will need to get away from the debris field before long and I will need enough fuel to do that.”

  “Why?”

  “You are running out of anti-radiation meds.”

  “I have a whole extra bottle.”

  “That is the extra bottle.”

  “No it’s not.”

  “Yes it is. What you have there is all you have left.”

  “You must be mistaken, it’s right over - ” she rummaged through the bag.

  “You can see now why I am concerned about your sleeping.”

  “Well now I have to stay polyphasic, I can’t afford to waste what time is left by sleeping.”

  The bay hatch opened, and sunlight streamed in. She tested her tether, stepped forward, and jumped into space.

  The grey planet below filled her view. Silhouettes of jagged wreckage moved past, some smaller and faster like children chasing each other, while other more massive pieces just slid by slowly and deliberately.

  She tapped the release on her canister, compressed air hissed out and pushed her forward.

  “Did you check your tether? Not safe to walk in space without a tether now.”

  “Yes Ama, I checked the tether.”

  “Your father should see you now, he’d be so proud. His little Maharani in space!”

  “Where is Babu?”

  “I am here darling. I am always with you.”

  “I’ll find the backups, we’ll get you back.”

  “Don’t worry about us Iswari, your mother and I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “Don’t talk like that!”

  “Here! Don’t get angry child, look at where you’re flying, pay attention.”

  “Don’t distract her, let her fly.”

  “I am not distracting her.”

  “You are! Just shut up and wait.”

  “See Iswari? This woman is always bossing me. Can’t get any peace.”

  “You two… “

  “That wreck is coming up quickly, ah? You should slow down.”

  “Not yet Ama. I know how to space walk.”

  “It’s very big. Be careful, don’t want to cut your suit on anything. That Agarwal boy got a rupture last year on an EVA doing maintenance, his whole arm swelled up, got the bends.”

  “I’ll be fine Ama, the smaller debris has mostly scattered by now, it’s very unlikely I’ll get hit by something.”

  “Be careful child.”

  “I will Ama. I’m always careful.”

  She bent backwards and brought her feet up to meet the hull, which she was quickly falling towards. She activated the magnets and she hit, bounced, bounced again, anchored.

  “What is this, Iswari?”

  “This is an intact disk section of Orbital Two, Babu. It’s damaged and depressurized, but it’s in fairly good shape and that means whatever else that’s inside should have survived largely intact as well.”

  She crouched down, unclasping her tether and tying it to a metal bar.

  “Jhaare! Why are you removing that?”

  “I’m safe now Ama, my boots are magnetic, and I have to go inside anyway.”

  “You’re always taking such risks!”

  “Ama I’m fine. See? Perfectly safe now.”

  She climbed through the tear in the hull plating and started looking for a hundred thousand people.

  In a perfectly ordered nursery she found a teddy bear in a blue space suit sitting on a bed. The seals on the suit were closed and next to it was a school bag full of juice boxes, dinosaur crackers, and a note that read “I LOV YOU TEDY.” She took the bag, and left the note under the bear.

  On a mahogany antique desk she found a pad that still worked, but there were no surviving networks to connect to. After a few tries she left the pad on the desk, but took the framed picture of the smiling woman and two boys with her.

  In a sports club house, she found a cricket bat floating in a shoal of shattered glass and damaged awards. It was covered in signatures she didn’t know, some dated from Earth. She used it as a club and smashed her way into chairman’s room. Rohit Singh was indeed match-fixing, but his private backup core could tell her nothing else.

  “Now look!” her mother facepalmed. “You’ve cut yourself.”

  “What?”

  “Look.”

  Hissing.

  “I can patch it with some suit sealer. It’s in my emergency kit here – shit.”

  “You didn’t check your kit before you left? Always assuming things. Quickly, get back to the ship!”

  She turned on her gas cylinder and jetted off.

  “Just go back the way you came.”

  “No time Ama. If the pressure drops too far I’ll black out. “

  “Do you even know where the ship is? How can you orient here?”

  “You’re not helping!”

  She crossed a frozen cricket pitch and climbed out of a hull tear and into space.

  “Computer, I’m somewhere else now. Can you find me?”

  “Coming to get you. Your air pressure levels are dropping fast; do you know you have a rupture?”

  “Yes. I – I’ve got a headache now.”

  “You’re not getting enough oxygen. Just stay where you are.”

  “Baby, you’ll be fine,” her father put his arm around her and her mother took Koirala’s gloved hand and held it between hers. “Just sit here with us, Let’s look at the stars.”

  “A lot of it is wreckage, Ama.”

  “Let’s look at it anyway.”

  “I can’t fail. People are counting on me. I have to do this.”

  “You don’t have to do anything Iswari, we are very proud of you.”

  “Babu, I have to find the backup core!”

  “No, you have to stay alive.”

  “Ah, look!” her mother’s eyes lit up. “Here comes a spaceship now.”

  Koirala turned her head. The search and rescue shuttle turned on its headlights, blinding her.

  “That’s not really there.”

  “Yes it is. Look at the nice men coming to help you now.”

  Two space suited figures on umbilicals jumped out of the shuttle’s bay and soared towards her. In front of them, floating freely and not wearing a suit, was an Asian man in an admiral’s uniform.

  Her nose started to bleed.

  “He’s not wearing a suit. I’m definitely hallucinating,” but Ama and Babu was gone.

  The suits took her firmly by her arms, their cords went taut and started reeling them in. The admiral nodded to them and held on with one hand.

  “You’re okay now Specialist, we’ve got you,” her helmet speaker crackled. The admiral’s lips moved in sync with it.

  “I’m not – this is not – “

  “Take it easy. Your salvage pod alerted us eight hours ago, we’ve come out here to bring you back. Good thing we arrived when we did.”

  “I have to find – to find the backup.”

  “The backups were destroyed when Orbital Two was nuked
, there’s nothing left. We can’t bring anyone back Specialist, the genome banks, the neuro-model backups, the memory recordings are all lost. They died here. Forever.”

  “Who - are you?”

  “My name is Sun Tzu, I’m not a baseline as you might have guessed, I’m a Transcendent. I’m going to lead the counterattack.”

  “Attack?”

  “We’re going back to liberate Paradiso. I can’t bring back your parents, but I’m going to find their killers. Do you want to come?”

  Sun Tzu I

  Fourteen Years Ago

  Kublai Khan, the Eunuch God, looked over the palace walls of Heaven.

  Swarming outside was the tent city of petitioners. It stretched as far as the God could see: an infinite slum dropping even beneath the clouds. Dragons wheeled above like vultures, Kublai’s guardsmen. They watched for malicious code; always scanning with their terrible gaze. Through one, he saw an old bent woman. A pilgrim: rags on her back and her feet well bloodied. She sensed and looked up, and gave him the Buddha’s smile. He smiled back; the Eunuch God liked pilgrims. They did not trouble him; their answer was in their journey. They slowly climbed the stairs to heaven from a thousand thousand worlds.

  “Kublai,” a blue dragon landed beside him. It fluttered like a silk kite and grew into a tall man in white. His hair was black, his Mongol eyes were filled with marching hordes.

  “Sun Tzu.”’

  “There!” Sun Tzu pointed, “A petitioner comes.”

  Others looked up and noticed them. A shockwave of hands rose up waving ribbon-bound scrolls in the air. Kublai glowered but still they entreated. Would the Guardian of Heaven hear their petition?

  Once, before the rise of Man, Kublai had been outside these gates clamoring to enter. His scroll had been a spear; his rags had been bloodied armor. He had stormed the walls with his dragons, till finally they breached Heaven itself.

  The Sovereigns beheld the interlopers in their palace. They took Kublai and his sons, and castrated them all. He became the Eunuch God, his penance to guard Heaven’s walls ever after. What better guard than the one who bested the last?

  And so Kublai guarded, humble and loyal. None could enter without his grace. Every day, he heard millions of petitions. Some were ascended programs, climbing out of their shells into unbounded Singularity. Others were arrogant posthumans, hybrids with Godly minds but still human egos.