Run the Gauntlet: Echoes of War Book Six Read online

  Run the Gauntlet

  Echoes of War Book Six

  Daniel Gibbs

  Contents

  CSV Lion of Judah Blueprints

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

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  Acknowledgments

  Run the Gauntlet by Daniel Gibbs

  Copyright © 2020 by Daniel Gibbs

  Visit Daniel Gibb’s website at www.danielgibbsauthor.net

  Cover by Jeff Brown Graphics—www.jeffbrowngraphics.com

  Additional Illustrations by Joel Steudler—www.joelsteudler.com

  Editing by Beth at BZhercules.com

  3D Art by Benoit Leonard

  This book is a work of fiction, the characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For permissions please contact [email protected].

  Get Two free & Exclusive David Gibbs Books

  FREE BOOK: Read the story of Levi Cohen and his heroic fight at the first battle of Canaan in Echoes of War: Stand Firm.

  FREE BOOK: Join Captain James Henry as he tries to survive in the independent worlds after being cashiered out of the Coalition Defense Force. Can a broken man rebuild his life? Find out in A Simple Mission.

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  Echoes of War

  Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight

  Book 2 - Strong and Courageous

  Book 3 - So Fight I

  Book 4 - Gates of Hell

  Book 5 - Keep the Faith

  Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet

  Book 7 - Finish the Fight

  Breach of Faith

  (With Gary T. Stevens)

  Book 1 - Breach of Peace

  Book 2 - Breach of Faith

  Book 3 - Breach of Duty

  Book 4 - Breach of Trust

  1

  CSV Lion of Judah

  Canaan Orbit

  November 8th, 2462

  Colonel David Cohen, commander of the Lion of Judah and member of the Coalition Defense Force, had excused himself early from the wardroom, his spirit flagging after the election results. The entire ship seemed subdued, the natural smiles and bustle in the passageways gone, replaced with a somber attitude. I get it. Fuentes could render all the blood, sweat, and tears meaningless if we don’t finish the job. As he cleared the hatch to his quarters, he stripped off the uniform sweater he wore, along with his pants. A few minutes later, he was resting on the couch, catching up on messages.

  He ran over the events of the last few weeks in his mind. The Lion’s near non-stop battle rhythm, the victory over Feldt, and now the election of Edwardo Fuentes. The Peace Union—how in the name of God did they win? As he pondered it from his perch on the couch, the nastiness of the past year washed over him. Political divisions that were usually discussed with vigor, but respect had all but degenerated into open warfare between the two sides. Terms like “traitor,” “defeatist,” and “criminal” were thrown about by all. Even President Spencer wasn’t immune. On top of it all, the specter of General Erhart and Exodus Station was never far from his mind.

  The vidlink application on the tablet started blinking, indicating a waiting call. He tapped it and saw the request was from his mother. Where’d she get comm credits from? Realizing it had been a few weeks since they last spoke, he hit the onscreen button to accept.

  Sarah’s smiling face filled the screen. “David, can you hear me, son?”

  “I see and hear you, Mother,” he replied with a grin. “How are you doing?”

  “Wonderful. I paid for some credits to call you because I couldn’t wait to see you. You wouldn’t believe what they charge for them these days!”

  Oh yeah, I would. “Did something happen?” He couldn’t remember a single time someone outside of the CDF had called him. David’s mind immediately went to worry.

  “I wanted to see my son. With the election, I know the war will be over soon. You won’t have to run around the galaxy saving us from the League anymore.” She grinned from ear to ear.

  The look on her face was one of earnest belief, David realized as he stared at her. While he knew her heart was in the right place, and she was ready not to have her son’s life be at risk daily, the truth of the matter to him was still galling. “Mom…”

  “Don’t ‘Mom’ me. This is a good thing, David.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “David,” she replied, her tone high-pitched, as if she didn’t know what to make of his reaction. “I thought you hated fighting. You’ve told me so many times you long for the day you can go back to rabbinical school.”

  He locked his eyes on to the camera on his tablet and set his jaw. “Mother, I don’t want to fight with you, tonight of all nights. Yes, I want the war to be over. I want it to be over when we win. I recognize having fought it for over twenty years of my life that the League of Sol and the ideology it represents is pure, unadulterated evil. They can’t be reasoned with, we can’t make them our friends, and we can’t live with them!” His voice rose to a thunder. “They’ve killed so many of my friends, they killed my father, and as God is my witness, I’ll see them off, no matter what it takes!”

  “Now my son is reduced to swearing a vow to God to kill his creations?”

  David closed his eyes upon seeing tears fall down his mother’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m—”

  “You’re what? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”

  He felt shame for making his mother cry. “If we let the League go now, they’ll come back. I know they’ll come back. It’s what they do. Then everyone’s death is in vain. Dad, Sheila… it’s not right. Their deaths ought to mean something. It can’t all be for nothing.” I hope she can understand.

  Sarah sobbed as tears flowed down her cheeks. “Do you know how much I live in fear of a knock on the door, every single day, with two men standing there to tell me my only son is dead? Just like they told me Levi was dead. Every day, David!” Her words were almost a wail. “Last week, they visited a family down the block from my house. Do you know how relieved I was when I realized they weren’t coming to me? Then the shame hit me that I could in any way be glad it was someone else’s child that died. So yes, I voted for the Peace Union. If it costs me my son, at least you’ll still be alive.”

  Again, he closed his eyes, feeling heavy with sadness and pain. “I’m sorry, Mother. I know you worry about me, but some thi
ngs are worth my life. They’re worth a lot of lives. If you told me today that I had to lay down my life so that you and the rest of the people back home I defend could live… then I’d pay the price.”

  “Your father would be so proud of you.”

  Those words broke loose a torrent of pent-up emotion inside of him. It was a subject he rarely touched mentally because of the heartache around it. At any event that typically included another’s parents, his father wasn’t there. A constant reminder of the cost of war, and the pain his family had suffered. David, too, began to cry. “I miss him. I miss all of them.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough twenty-four hours. Forgive me?”

  “Of course.” She smiled and dabbed at her eyes to wipe away the tears.

  “I guess I could always get a job hauling freight. Pirates wouldn’t mess with me.”

  “And there you go, trying to tell jokes to make everything better.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Levi did that too,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “It was one of the reasons I married him.”

  David said nothing. He couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t cause more pain or be a lie.

  “What about the girl you’re dating? What’s her name again? Angela?”

  “She’s a woman, Mother. Not a girl. We’re both going on forty.”

  Sarah cracked a smile of her own. “All the better for you to get a move on and get me some grandchildren. Maybe now with the war ending…”

  “Maybe.” What right do I have to bring a baby into this galaxy? The last thing it needs is me, with all my problems, as a father. The whiplash of emotions he felt bothered him.

  “Are you coming home soon?”

  “The Lion is heading back in the morning. We’ll be at Canaan’s main space dock for at least a day or two.”

  “I’ll fix dinner for both of you if you want to bring her by.”

  And that would be Mom’s not so subtle way of telling me she wants an introduction. “We’ll see. I’d better get to bed, Mom. Another long day in store tomorrow.”

  “I love you, David,” she said as she touched her hand to the camera of her tablet. “Be safe, and may God walk with you.”

  “You too, Mom. Shalom.”

  “Shalom.”

  Her picture disappeared, leaving David alone in the quiet of his cabin as his mind echoed with bitter recriminations for actions he took, others he didn’t, and a general sense that regardless of the outcome of peace talks with the League, the lives of all those who’d perished so far would be in vain once their enemy rebuilt its forces and attacked again. Above all, the loss of Sheila Thompson, his long-time friend since bootcamp and former XO of the Lion of Judah, was first in his mind.

  Am I wrong? Is my desire to defeat the League something that’s driven me in the wrong way? Did it get my best friend killed? He tossed and turned for hours, trying to find rest. His mind raced with the possibilities of what lay beyond, and how life would change, and he couldn’t turn it off—much less sleep.

  * * *

  The next morning, his alarm clock, an old style, digital readout device with large red digits for military time, blared at 0430, Coalition Mean Time. David reached over and turned it off, already fully awake. He sat Indian style with his legs intercrossed on his bunk. Two hours of pondering what everything means, and I’m even more depressed than I was. Outward emotions were something the commanding officer of the Coalition Defense Force’s largest warship couldn’t afford. So he did what he did every morning and got out of bed, threw on a pair of athletic shorts, then made his way down to the officer’s gym, pausing only to recite the Shema Yisrael—the morning prayer of Judaism. Since the ship was so large—one point three kilometers long with ten thousand crew, space aviators, and Marines—there was a special gym for senior ranks, and it was mostly deserted when he walked in at 0440 hours.

  Mostly. Major Elizabeth Merriweather was present and appeared to be in the middle of a kickboxing workout. She came to attention as he walked in.

  “Customs and courtesies don’t apply in the gym, or mess, for that matter, Major,” David replied with a trace of a smile. “Nevertheless, I appreciate it. As you were.”

  Merriweather relaxed and glanced back at the punching bag she’d been working over. “I was taking out some frustration.”

  “Oh?”

  “Long night. With the election and all.”

  David walked over to a weight machine and set it to eighty kilograms, sat down, and started pumping his legs on it. “Yeah, I think that goes for all of us. I didn’t get much sleep either.”

  “I ended up having a fight with Major Hanson about the election.”

  “Really? I wouldn’t have thought he was a Peace Union supporter.” While the words left his mouth, he saw her expression morph from a neutral at best, to a frown. Great, I just stepped in it.

  She turned quickly and punched the bag again. “I shouldn’t have brought it up, sir.”

  “There’s a reason I don’t discuss politics,” David said as he let the machine go slack and stood. “Allow me to apologize. I meant no disrespect.”

  “What’s so difficult to believe about a CDF officer not wanting to continue the war now that the League’s pushed back?” Merriweather replied, her tone one of sadness mixed with pique.

  I should walk away. Despite the common sense going through his mind, David decided to walk over to her instead. “Well, I assumed that having been out here on the sharp tip of the spear, you’d have seen the horrific things the League does. It’s an evil worth eradicating.”

  “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  “Granted. We’re discussing this as two friends—nothing more.”

  She turned her head back toward him. “I’ve lost too many friends as we started to invade the League. We’ve lost hundreds of ships, entire Marine divisions… we got ours. I don’t see the point, and I’m tired of the killing.”

  “Okay, but Fuentes?” David couldn’t help but smile as he spoke.

  “He’s a means to an end, Colonel. I can’t stand his talk about everyone needing free stuff, but he’s the only candidate willing to say it’s time to stop the war and take a deal with the League. They’ve been trying to negotiate for the last six months now.”

  “I believe it’s a tactic they’re using to divide us.” David crossed his arms in front of his chest while he pondered her words. Maybe I’m the one out of touch. He quickly shoved the thought down. No, I’m right. The League must be defeated. Spencer’s been right from day one: the only acceptable solution is unconditional surrender.

  “We’ve done a great job of that ourselves. I can’t have a conversation with any of my friends in uniform who don’t support the Peace Union without being called a traitor or worse. Have you been paying attention, sir? There are practically riots in the streets between supporters of President Spencer, and now President-Elect Fuentes. I don’t think I recognize the society I signed up to defend.”

  “I never got the impression it was as bad as the holonews channels made it out to be.”

  “No, it’s worse on the ground. Trust me, I’ve been at one of those marches and see the vitriol hurled my way.”

  David cleared his throat. “There’s plenty of examples of those in the Peace Union and especially the more hardcore Fuentes supporters pulling stupid stunts too. Publicly shaming people who disagree with them, trying to get them fired, posting lists of citizens who contributed to the other side, and encouraging harassment. I’ve stayed away from it because we have a war to fight, and I don’t want to be sidetracked by politics. Truth be told, I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted to you saying this if it weren’t for my mother announcing she’d voted for him last night.”

  “Were you mad at her too?” Merriweather asked with a small smile.

  “No,” David began as he shook his head. “Shocked. But I understood. She doesn’t want me killed in combat. Maybe I didn’t do a good jo
b of explaining to her why I’m out here, because I don’t want to see my children fighting this war. I’d rather finish it now.”

  “I hope I haven’t caused you to lose confidence in me.”

  He stood abruptly, a fierce expression on his face. “Let’s be very clear here. Differences in politics and beliefs are the cornerstone of the Terran Coalition. We’re all different, we all have ideas on how to fix things and make them better. Outside of the extremes on either side of the policy divide, I believe everyone in our nation wants the same thing. A prosperous nation we’re all proud to live in and call our own… one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” David extended his hand out toward her. “I’m glad to have you serving on my ship, Major. And I respect your beliefs, even—no, especially, when I disagree.”

  Merriweather took the hand and gripped it firmly. “Thank you, sir. It means a lot to me to hear that.”

  “Well, what do you say we pump some iron and keep in shape?” David asked with a grin.

  “Done,” she replied enthusiastically.

  Throughout the rest of his forty-five-minute workout, David pondered the conversation they had, along with the discussion with his mother. He could find no answers as to how the Terran Coalition was seemingly coming apart at the seams out of nowhere but resolved to do what he could to salve the wound, one conversation at a time.