He’d asked Damian to take control of the army, to find a way to win Haven’s independence. Somehow, despite every difficulty, every challenge, his friend had done just that. Now it was his turn. He couldn’t let Damian down, nor all the soldiers who’d fought so bravely for independence.
I won’t fail you, brother. I won’t fail you, Damian.
I won’t fail you, Haven.
Damian walked in the cool drizzle. The chill of autumn was in the air, and he buttoned up his coat, suppressing a small shiver. The spring and summer had been crazy, exciting, one hectic negotiation after another. But now everything was done. The senate of Federal America had approved the Treaty of Beijing, and all three of Earth’s superpowers had recognized Haven’s freedom. The republic, so long a dream, was now a reality. Whether it would live up to the hopes of so many remained to be seen, but Damian had chosen to be optimistic.
He’d taken on his own mission, even as he gradually disbanded the army. His people had hunted down Society members, rooting out those responsible for various crimes, including the murder of loyalists in Landfall. Those atrocities had been unforgivable in Damian’s view, and they had served only to energize the loyalists’ hatred of the rebels and send them flocking to the new battalions Semmes had organized. The bitterness had been too great to overcome, the dozens of incidents of rebels and loyalists conducting savage reprisals against each other, making the idea of rapprochement inconceivable.
John Danforth had handled the situation with considerable wisdom, allowing the loyalists to emigrate to Earth, and ensuring that they were able to receive fair value for all their possessions, despite the fact that rapacious profit-seekers had sought to virtually steal the properties of those they considered traitors. When Federal America had refused to pay the transport costs for the repatriated loyalists, Danforth had stepped in and committed the government to fund the emigration. With that act, Haven’s president had proved himself an honorable man, and he’d given the new republic something else that seemed to be a rite of passage for a nation.
Its first national debt.
Damian continued down the stone path, sighing softly as he did. He’d just come from his last meeting with his officers, a meal with the men and women who had fought and bled and struggled to help him achieve Haven’s independence. Many of them were fellow farmers from around Landfall, and he knew he’d see them on a fairly regular basis, but the hours they’d spent together talking had made him realize just how much he’d changed. He’d told himself all he wanted was to return to the farm, and to an extent that was true. But now he realized how much he would miss the camaraderie of his fellow soldiers. He was glad the killing was behind them, but memories flooded through his mind, nights around the fires, talks that ran well into the night. He’d been thrust against his will into the role of Haven’s first general, and that experience would always be with him.
He stopped abruptly, looking down at the well-tended gravestone. “Hello, Alex. I know it’s been a long time. The rebellion is over. Haven is free. I know you were on the other side, that you never really had a chance. I’m so sorry. I think you would have been happy with us, and I know you would have looked forward to a life of true freedom. You never really had the opportunity to imagine a future like that. You adhered to your duty, did what you believed you had to do. I understand that, and I respect you immensely for it. I know you wanted more from me than friendship and respect, and I’m sorry for any pain I caused you.”
He took a deep breath, and he looked down at the grave, the grass covering it just beginning to turn brown. “You will always be with us, Alex, and you will be remembered fondly and respected as a good and honorable soldier. I miss you, and for whatever meager consolation that might have given you, I will endure it, and I will remember all that you were, and the wondrous array of all you could have been had fate been kinder.”
Damian realized that all he’d done, whatever role he’d played in the rebellion . . . none of it would have been possible if Alex Thornton hadn’t saved his life. Though she’d served the other side, he was sure, if she’d lived, she would have rallied to the rebellion. And he would make sure everyone else believed that as well. He would make sure she was listed among the heroes of the rebellion, with all the others who had fallen.
It was a miserable bit of recognition, but it was all he had to give her, all he had to offer to a friend.
He looked at her grave a little while longer, and in a flash, the two years passed through him like a bolt of lightning. He shivered, then frowned, but then he smiled.
He turned around, and headed back to the whole reason he had fought in the first place.
He headed back to his home.
About the Author
JAY ALLAN currently lives in New York City, and has been reading science fiction and fantasy for just about as long as he’s been reading. His tastes are fairly varied and eclectic, but favorites include military and dystopian science fiction, space opera, and epic fantasy—all usually a little bit gritty.
He writes a lot of science fiction with military themes, but also other SF and some fantasy as well. He likes complex characters and lots of backstory and action, but in the end believes world-building is the heart of science fiction and fantasy.
Before becoming a professional writer, Jay has been an investor and real estate developer. When not writing, he enjoys traveling, running, hiking, and—of course—reading. He also loves hearing from readers and always answers emails. You can reach him at jay@jayallanbooks.com, and join his mailing list at http://www.crimsonworlds.com for updates on new releases.
Among other things, he is the author of the bestselling Crimson Worlds series.
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By Jay Allan
Flames of Rebellion
Flames of Rebellion
Far Stars
Shadow of Empire
Enemy in the Dark
Funeral Games
Crimson Worlds
Marines
The Cost of Victory
A Little Rebellion
The First Imperium
The Line Must Hold
To Hell’s Heart
The Shadow Legions
Even Legends Die
The Fall
War Stories (Crimson Worlds Prequels)
MERCS (Crimson Worlds Successors I)
Portal Wars
Gehenna Dawn
The Ten Thousand
Pendragon Chronicles
The Dragon’s Banner
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Harper Voyager and design are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers LLC.
Map copyright © MMXVII Springer Cartographics LLC
Title page art © DeltaOFF/Shutterstock, Inc.
Cover design by Owen Corrigan
Cover images: © Algol/Shutterstock (ship); © posteriori/Shutterstock (texture)
first edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-256684-3
Digital Edition APRIL 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-256
685-0
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