Read Online Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) by Brian Dorsey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Brian Dorsey
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learned. Luckily, after a few short minutes, Mori, Henry, and Orion entered the room.
“Everyone listen up,” barked Mori as she stepped to the head of the table and turned on the data screens immediately behind her and at each person’s chair. Stone pulled up and expanded the map on his screen as Henry and Orion took their seats. It was the Echo System.
“Based on the information we gathered and intel from operatives in the Echo System and on Port Royal, this is what we have.” Mori took a step back from the table and with a digital pad manipulated the images on the larger screen while she spoke.
“It looks like this Saint we heard about has popped up out of the blue and is making a grab for control of the entire system. The intel shows he suddenly appeared on Echo 4’s moon and took control of the abandoned Xen airbase there from the warlord Syra. His believers think he’s an orphaned child of farmers found by a mystic who raised him in the forest, where he became one with the Word…whatever that is. From there, he started converting people to his doctrine about shared community wealth and a quest for communal consciousness that will remove the mortal bounds that cause pain, fear, and so on.”
“So he’s crazy?” asked Sandwick.
“Like a fox,” Mori replied. “It looks like there was some tech left on the base, which he has renamed the Divine City, and he took full advantage of it.”
“Do we have details on the tech?” asked Thay.
“Some but it’s spotty,” replied Mori as she pulled up another screen with weapons and spacecraft schematics. “For the most part it’s all first-generation stuff with a few jump-capable ships—-nothing bigger than corvette size.”
“Because of this,” interjected Orion as she took control of the big screen from her chair. “This Saint has control of all non-jump-capable ships in Echo. And he apparently is the only one with jump capability.”
Mori continued. “From his Divine City, he spread to Echo 3, where he gained control after a bloody campaign against the combined forces of the two ruling governments.”
“Echo 3 is fairly advanced for a Dark Zone city,” mused Stone. “Combustion engines, supersonic flight, even basic nuclear weaponry.”
“And they used all of it—even on their own cities,” replied Mori. “But the Saint and his army, called the Crucesignatis, picked up three recruits for every one killed. His ‘share the wealth and classless society’ line, combined with a promise of your own fiefdom for eternity if you die in his service, is pretty compelling to worlds ruled by tyrants, warlords, and oligarchies.”
“Even with that,” Stone said, shaking his head, “they should have been able to hold out longer.”
“You would think so, but the intel also indicates he has been in contact with both the Xen through Alpha Humana and with the Association at Port Royal.”
“Don’t forget the Elite Guard on that slave ship,” added Henry.
“What has the Association said?” asked Stone, knowing they played the neutral card but actively worked both sides for their own profit.
“They’ve said they don’t know anything about the Echo System, which means they’re ass-deep in it.”
Mori paused to pull up a map of Echo 2. “Echo 2, now called the Promised City by the Saint. Currently, the Crucesignatis occupy one of the three primary landmasses and is currently fighting for control of the second, called Talia. A warlord controls the majority of Talia—his name is Ya-ling. He’s allied with a warlord called Barca and an oligarchy of merchants and mercenaries on the third landmass to create what they call the Triad. They are only slightly less technically advanced than Echo 3 but have a large population. It seems the Saint, even though he has the capability, isn’t using nukes or bios, so it’s an old-fashioned slug-fest. Now he is bogged down on Echo 2 and the chatter between the Divine City, the Humani, and the Association
“Everyone listen up,” barked Mori as she stepped to the head of the table and turned on the data screens immediately behind her and at each person’s chair. Stone pulled up and expanded the map on his screen as Henry and Orion took their seats. It was the Echo System.
“Based on the information we gathered and intel from operatives in the Echo System and on Port Royal, this is what we have.” Mori took a step back from the table and with a digital pad manipulated the images on the larger screen while she spoke.
“It looks like this Saint we heard about has popped up out of the blue and is making a grab for control of the entire system. The intel shows he suddenly appeared on Echo 4’s moon and took control of the abandoned Xen airbase there from the warlord Syra. His believers think he’s an orphaned child of farmers found by a mystic who raised him in the forest, where he became one with the Word…whatever that is. From there, he started converting people to his doctrine about shared community wealth and a quest for communal consciousness that will remove the mortal bounds that cause pain, fear, and so on.”
“So he’s crazy?” asked Sandwick.
“Like a fox,” Mori replied. “It looks like there was some tech left on the base, which he has renamed the Divine City, and he took full advantage of it.”
“Do we have details on the tech?” asked Thay.
“Some but it’s spotty,” replied Mori as she pulled up another screen with weapons and spacecraft schematics. “For the most part it’s all first-generation stuff with a few jump-capable ships—-nothing bigger than corvette size.”
“Because of this,” interjected Orion as she took control of the big screen from her chair. “This Saint has control of all non-jump-capable ships in Echo. And he apparently is the only one with jump capability.”
Mori continued. “From his Divine City, he spread to Echo 3, where he gained control after a bloody campaign against the combined forces of the two ruling governments.”
“Echo 3 is fairly advanced for a Dark Zone city,” mused Stone. “Combustion engines, supersonic flight, even basic nuclear weaponry.”
“And they used all of it—even on their own cities,” replied Mori. “But the Saint and his army, called the Crucesignatis, picked up three recruits for every one killed. His ‘share the wealth and classless society’ line, combined with a promise of your own fiefdom for eternity if you die in his service, is pretty compelling to worlds ruled by tyrants, warlords, and oligarchies.”
“Even with that,” Stone said, shaking his head, “they should have been able to hold out longer.”
“You would think so, but the intel also indicates he has been in contact with both the Xen through Alpha Humana and with the Association at Port Royal.”
“Don’t forget the Elite Guard on that slave ship,” added Henry.
“What has the Association said?” asked Stone, knowing they played the neutral card but actively worked both sides for their own profit.
“They’ve said they don’t know anything about the Echo System, which means they’re ass-deep in it.”
Mori paused to pull up a map of Echo 2. “Echo 2, now called the Promised City by the Saint. Currently, the Crucesignatis occupy one of the three primary landmasses and is currently fighting for control of the second, called Talia. A warlord controls the majority of Talia—his name is Ya-ling. He’s allied with a warlord called Barca and an oligarchy of merchants and mercenaries on the third landmass to create what they call the Triad. They are only slightly less technically advanced than Echo 3 but have a large population. It seems the Saint, even though he has the capability, isn’t using nukes or bios, so it’s an old-fashioned slug-fest. Now he is bogged down on Echo 2 and the chatter between the Divine City, the Humani, and the Association
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