The Regime Read online

  The Regime

  Resurrection

  Andrew Iddon

  iUniverse, Inc.

  Bloomington

  The Regime

  Resurrection

  Copyright © 2012 by Andrew Iddon.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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  ISBN: 978-1-4759-2985-0 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4759-2987-4 (hc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4759-2986-7 (ebk)

  Contents

  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 1

  The dark sky cracked open with light as dawn arrived, forcing a mild squint in Aloysius’ eyes as he observed the transport fill up with troops. The orange sands became visible as the sun rose above the horizon, revealing the rugged beauty of the planet’s surface. He walked down the rocky hill towards the transport to see off his leader, who was busy organizing men for the attack. He stopped behind the leader, and poked him on the shoulder to get his attention. His leader turned, gazing at Aloysius through the goggle lenses of his armored mask, and said, “It is a beautiful day, Aloysius. Perhaps it is a sign.”

  “A sign of what sir?” asked Aloysius.

  “Change,” replied his leader, as he fixed his officer’s peaked cap.

  “You’re right; it is time for change.”

  “It has always been time for change; change comes whether we want it to or not. The choice to embrace it, or the strength to see it come to be, is what makes history. You pronounce your name as a Greek warrior would. The soul of a warrior burns within you. Here we are on this barren wasteland about to embark on a quest to change the very balance of power. Just as the Federal Earth Conjugate did when they subjugated Earth years ago,” said the masked man.

  Aloysius did not reply. He always stood in awe of his leader; always trusted him and his judgment. His faith in him would never falter.

  The men finished boarding the transport all clad in their black battle armor, resting their assault rifles on their shoulders.

  The masked man stood in the doorway of the transport waiting to take his seat before embarking. He just stood there as the wind blew the bottom of his black leather trench coat from side to side. He finally turned towards Aloysius and said, “General, see to the people while I am gone, and prepare them, for tomorrow we will have what we need. By month’s end we will see to it that change is made a reality.”

  Aloysius clapped his feet together and shot his hand out towards him saluting his leader as the door of the transport closed. The masked man walked up the aisle of the vehicle and sat down at the helm with the driver. The transport then fired up its engine and roared off into the distance, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in its wake. It thudded up and down as it traversed the rough terrain, rattling the armor and equipment of the men inside.

  The masked man stood up from his seat and firmly grasped a balance bar on the ceiling facing his crew. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a disc, holding it in front of him for the men to see.

  “This is our mission, men. This is why we are here; the brother to this disc will provide the solution to the filth that plagues us and our people. With this we will not be stopped!”

  “We are on our way to an abandoned research facility where those who oppose the Imperium have fortified themselves. They stand in our way; they seek to use this for their own gains. But nothing is more important than our victory. Recon reports that they are extremely unprepared for a direct assault, especially by troops of your caliber. You are equipped with the best armor, the best weapons, and have the best training history will ever know! You are gods! Your home is the heavens! Now show these mortals their place!”

  With that the soldiers huzzaed with satisfaction; they cheered and chanted their master’s name, ready for anything. A red light then shrouded the transport, alerting the troops that their destination was before them. The soldiers put their helmets on as one, and as the light of the transport went off, the red lenses of their helmets buzzed on. The door of the transport lowered, and became a ramp. From the dark, the haunting red eyes of the demons within were all that could be seen.

  Their master was the first to walk down the ramp and make his way to the front of the vehicle. He stood in the open, glaring at the rusted old factory that lay before him. His soldiers formed a horizontal line behind him, forming a column of fifteen men. The masked man remained motionless as something moved on a ledge above the doors.

  “We are rebels to the Imperium, and demand to know who stands before us?” cried out a voice, as a man slowly emerged like a groundhog.

  The masked man raised his head, and yelled back, “You know me already, by many names. I am Zeus; I am Ra; I am Odin; I am God. I am your undoing!”

  He quickly raised an antique pistol from the inside pocket of his coat, and fired one bullet that pierced the air, and struck the gatekeeper square in the forehead. The remains of the bullet erupted from the back of the gatekeeper’s head, spraying skull fragments and brain matter on the wall behind him. One of the masked man’s soldiers then raised a missile launcher and pointed it towards the doorway. A booming THOOM sound rang out as a missile blazed towards the door, blasting it off its hinges into the darkness of the hall inside.

  All the men then roared and raised their weapons, charging inside. They shot, impaled, and mauled the rebels as if they were paper toys. Whatever shots the rebels could fire back bounced off the black armor of the soldiers. The soldiers did not flinch. The masked man walked behind his men, firing his pistol into the heads of wounded and dying rebels as they made their way into the depths of the facility. He stopped to pick up the hat of what seemed to be a ranking officer,
and gave it to one of his soldiers who ran it back to the transport. Another addition to his collection. His trophies of fallen enemies. He stopped walking with his men as something caught his attention. The internal radar built into his mask began to beep. He turned his eyes towards it, and read the description spelled out before him. It detailed an Imperial vehicle that approached; an all terrain transport vehicle just like his.

  He was a bit disturbed. He knew there was an Imperial encampment on the planet, but it was miles away. They shouldn’t know about the facility, or the attack that he was initiating. It could be mere coincidence, but for the first time in a long time he felt the hairs stand on his neck. He calmly regained his composure, and fixed his hat once more before running up some stairs. He headed towards a balcony on the other side of the factory, the side the Imperial transport was approaching. He remained in the darkness and awaited its arrival. He stared at it, controlling a binocular style zoom to view it, and activated a material based x-ray scanner observing the men inside.

  He investigated them quickly one by one until he reached what seemed to be a commander of sorts. He zoomed in closer on his face, and felt as though he recognized him. His eyes widened inside his mask, and he vanished back into the depths of the facility.

  His pace was hurried as he rejoined his men. They were about to engage in the final stand against the rebels left inside. The masked man chose not to inform the troops about the new arrival. He hoped their mission would be complete by the time the Imperials arrived, and that the change he was so confident of earlier would be realized.

  He prepared a breaching charge on the doorway of the research labs in the facility. His mind began to race a million times a minute as memories of his past began to flood into his head. He knew that Imperial soldier; he even remembered his name. He got another small chill knowing what this meant to him. He decided to try and suppress the memories, and look towards the future—the future of him and his people, the future of the galaxy. He sighed in relief as his finger pressed the detonate button on his breaching charge remote, blowing off the door of the research labs. He charged inside with his men as bullets and gun flashes immediately showered around them.

  This was his beginning.

  CHAPTER 2

  Thirty years earlier, near the end of what people called the “Russian’s War,” when the FEC was about to take the last bastion of the Free People’s Army of the United States, trouble was stirring. Washington was the last place where those opposed to the FEC’s reign sought refuge. However, the defences grew weaker and weaker as Admiral Gerard Federov’s army pounded the city with countless troops and bombs. Hundreds of men’s lives were lost every day on both sides. The president of the USA at the time realized that defeat was inevitable, and abandoned the old world in favor of his new prize, Nuevo Amerigo.

  The cities surrounding Washington, DC, were pressured to lend assistance to the hopeless cause, trying to recruit all the able bodied troops they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, the FEC was doing exactly the same thing.

  There was a small community on the outskirts of the capital that was experiencing an identity problem of its own—to side with patriotism, or to side with a future.

  At Lincolnsville High school, there was a lot of segregation among the students: those supporting the US freedom force, and those supporting the Federal Earth Conjugate. There was often fighting between the two groups. To stay and fight was seen as honorable; to flee the planet to various colonies in space was seen as smart.

  There was a young man named Freddy Rickson who was on the fence, preferring to stick to the pacifist road. He was hoping not to anger either side, although he did have distaste for those who so eagerly abandoned their history to side with the Russians. He was an average high school student: average grades, lots of friends, went to parties, and was a sociable person. However, he had a problem.

  Although he did not show it, he was very much infatuated with a young girl, a close friend with whom he had a brief relationship in the past. She was a beautiful siren named Katy Morris. She seduced and teased him beyond his dreams, but never allowed him a taste. This angered him greatly; yet he continued to care for her. He did not know what was wrong; why he continued to care for her, when any regular person would have the common sense to move on as easily as she did. But he could not. Perhaps it was the war, the fear, or perhaps it just was not meant to be. He just could not for the life of him let go; he was in love. He was becoming obsessed. She was the unreachable, forbidden, the impossible and it started to drive him mad with lust.

  Graduation was just around the corner, and thoughts of war were forgotten for the time being. Thoughts of celebration, adulthood and the future replaced the brutal truth of what was really out there. All the students were paying less attention to classes and more to what they would wear, and who their dates would be. The same thoughts, of course, ran through Freddy’s head. He knew who he wanted to take, but did not think it would happen.

  He became a nervous wreck, and his confidence level was at an all time low. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be happy without the girl he wanted. Gregory Simons, who was Freddy’s best friend since infancy, stayed by his side, and helped him through these tribulations. However, Greg kept a secret that he wouldn’t dare tell Freddy. While Freddy mourned his own loss and his inability to succeed with Lacey, Greg was secretly in a relationship with the same girl. His head told him not to betray his friend, but he couldn’t resist his urges, could not resist his own feelings.

  Freddy was waiting to ask Lacey to go to the prom as his date; she had said she would when they talked in the past. He was totally unaware that she had already agreed to go with Greg.

  He and Greg would often go for walks on the forested dirt road near their homes. This was where most of their prolific and often therapeutic talks would occur.

  “Have you asked Lacey out yet, Freddy?” asked Greg.

  “Not yet; I am going to, soon. I am pretty sure she will say yes, but I am still nervous,” Freddy responded.

  “How do you know? Did she hint at it?”

  “Kind of, we talked online last night for hours. I have never been so enthralled in my life. We have long talks like those all the time and we never run out of anything to say. You should see some of the things she says; they burn in my head like fire and I cannot stop thinking about her. I barely sleep; I sit by my computer and wait for her name to sign on. When it does, I get butterflies. Every time I pass her in the halls at school, I can’t stop smiling. Every day, just to be able to see her face, her eyes, makes me warm inside,” said Freddy, with a smile.

  “Do you talk to her much at school? I rarely see you hang out in person,” stated Greg.

  “Not really, I always wondered about that. Sometimes I think she is embarrassed to be with me in person, but that can’t be true. Not with what she tells me when no one else is around. She talks about getting together all the time; she even mentioned she wants to lose her virginity to me! That has to mean something; it is a big deal to girls. She must want me, right?” asked Freddy, confidently.

  Greg bit his lip; he knew what she wanted, and it wasn’t Freddy. He breathed in before asking, “What would you do if she was into another guy? You know there are a lot of dudes at school who want a piece of that. Remember that whole mess at the party with Conrad? You didn’t speak to anyone for weeks after that.”

  “Shit! Don’t remind me. I don’t know what she was thinking. She was probably just drunk, and not thinking straight. The night before, she told me she wanted to skip the field trip, and just spend the whole day together. I shouldn’t fault her for getting crazy at a party; these things happen,” replied Freddy.

  “You were there though. Don’t you think if she was feeling frisky and crazy, she would go for you?” asked Greg.

  “That thought has swum through my mind almost every day since. I still have
faith though; she is the one for me. I am going to ask her to prom soon, and you’ll see. If she says no, then I will be pretty depressed, but I got you to vent to, eh? Freddy and Greg, bros without hoes; too cool for dates,” Freddy said laughing as he turned up the path to his house leaving Greg standing on the road to be with his thoughts.

  Greg then felt his pocket vibrate, and he pulled out his phone. He looked at the display; it was Lacey, “My parents are gone for the weekend. How about you and me get together tomorrow, and have a little… fun?” Followed by a winking face.

  Greg put the phone back in his pocket, and sighed. He wanted to be loyal to Freddy, but couldn’t resist his own urges. He pushed Freddy from his mind, and went home, preparing for his day of… fun.

  The next day came, the day Freddy would go to her house, and ask her to the prom, face to face. As he approached her door, he was slightly shivering from the cold of the light rain. His nerves were trembling; his excitement was rising, as he walked up to her front door, fairly sure of her answer. He knocked on the door, checking out his reflection on her door knocker, to make sure he was looking sharp for the moment that would make his life. He stared eagerly into the doorway as it opened, to see the beautiful face that was to greet him. Indeed, he was very satisfied. However, there was a problem. She answered the door with her arms wrapped around another guy, around the waist of his closest friend and ally, Gregory Simons.

  They stared at him, as shocked to see him as he was to see them. His entire world crumbled around him. His best friend, sympathizing with his loss went against their friendship to steal the girl that he was so depressed without. He was at a loss for words to see her happy with another guy. Freddy was ridiculously distraught. His only instinct was to immediately escape this situation. He simply shook his head with disbelief, and ran in the opposite direction, as Greg tried to stop him.