REV- Revolution Read online

  REV: Revolution

  The REV Warriors Series

  Book 4

  by

  T.R. Harris

  ____

  Copyright 2018 by T.R. Harris

  All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  My Email List & FREE BOOK OFFER

  Please sign up to be included on the master email list to receive updates and announcements regarding the series, including release notices of upcoming books, purchase specials and more, please fill out the Subscribe form below.

  See the Author Notes at the end of the novel for information about my FREE BOOK OFFER, as well as details regarding my exclusive Human Chronicles short story coming soon.

  Subscribe to My Email List

  Contact the Author

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: bytrharris.com

  Novels by T.R. Harris

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  The Fringe World

  Alien Assassin

  The War of Pawns

  The Tactics of Revenge

  The Legend of Earth

  Cain’s Crusaders

  The Apex Predator

  A Galaxy to Conquer

  The Masters of War

  Prelude to War

  The Unreachable Stars

  When Earth Reigned Supreme

  A Clash of Aliens

  Battlelines

  The Copernicus Deception

  Scorched Earth

  Alien Games

  The Cain Legacy

  The Andromeda Mission

  Last Species Standing

  Invasion Force

  Force of Gravity

  Mission Critical

  The Lost Universe

  The Immortal War

  Destroyer of Worlds

  The Human Chronicles Book Bundles

  Bundle #1 - Books 1 -5 in the series

  Bundle #2 - Books 6-10 in the series

  Bundle #3 - Books 11-15 in the series

  REV Warriors Series

  REV

  REV: Renegades

  REV: Rebirth

  REV: Revolution

  REV: Retribution

  Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

  The Enclaves of Sylox

  Treasure of the Galactic Lights

  The Drone Wars Series

  Day of the Drone

  In collaboration with George Wier…

  The Liberation Series

  Captains Malicious

  Available exclusively on Amazon.com

  and Kindle Unlimited.

  Contents

  REV: Revolution

  1. The Vonis Plains, the planet Menkar

  2. Aboard the Battle-Carrier Eldorado

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  6. Aboard the Battle-Carrier Eldorado

  Chapter 7

  8. Aboard the Battle-Carrier Eldorado

  Chapter 9

  10. Arrival at Borin-Noc (ES-6)

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  19. The planet Enif (ES-8)

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  24. Aboard the Battle-Carrier Valhalla

  Chapter 25

  26. On the surface of Enif (ES-8)

  27. In the Antaere-guarded entry corridor to Enif (ES-8)

  28. Aboard the Battle-Carrier Valhalla

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  The End

  Author Notes and FREE BOOK OFFER

  Email List & FREE BOOK OFFER

  Contact the Author

  Novels by T.R. Harris

  REV: Revolution

  1

  The Vonis Plains, the planet Menkar

  Designation: ES-4 (Earth-Standard #4)

  “Sir, we have a priority request for a REV team in grid sector G-18,” said a non-com as he pressed the headphones tighter to his ear to cancel out the wind-driven noise of the battle outside the tent.

  “So late? What is it, another flush and dump?”

  Acrid smoke burned the eyes of Colonel Adesh Khatri, carried from the burning city of Doorer only six klicks away. It had become the focus of combat operations since about eleven-hundred hours; however, with darkness approaching, both sides were scaling back for the night. Be they Human or alien, everyone needed rest after sixteen hours of intense fighting, including REVs. Sending out another team this late in the game didn’t make sense.

  Besides, most of the requests he’d seen over the past hour or two had been for mop-up operations, using REVs instead of regular troops to flush out small pockets of enemy resistance. That grated on Khatri. His REVs were the most-elite warriors in the Corps, not janitors to be used when the regulars didn’t want to risk another injury here and there. He’d started the operation with one hundred twenty REVs; he was now down to sixty-four active and recovering troops. No other unit in the campaign had lost fifty-percent of their strength. Only Khatri’s. And now he may lose some more, and for what?

  “How many troops are involved?” the Marine officer asked.

  “There’s about a hundred fifty, pinned down on the northwest side of the town. A crossfire is keeping them from reaching more protected ground for the night. Snipers are picking them off now and then. Resistance seems more intense in the area.”

  “Even at this hour?” Khatri grumbled, knowing it would be hard to deny a request with a buck-fifty Marines involved…and being shot at to boot. But still, couldn’t that many Marines do the same job as five REVs?

  The colonel knew his primary objective was to help win the battle, not preserve his men. At least that’s what General Diamond would say. In truth, Khatri didn’t have a choice. He would have to send the team.

  According to his datapad, most of his active troops were already in the field. There were a few coming in with the Recovery Crews and others in the hospital, but this would make the third Run of the day for some of them. Hell, even supermen had their limits. But the sad truth was that with a little extra RG-9 and a reduced dosage of AC-3, several of the REVs in the hospital could be redeployed. They wouldn’t be in peak condition, but they could still function.

  Khatri approached the shimmering holographic image at the other side of the tent. The man had his back to the colonel, with the stereographic cameras picking up the edge of a wall monitor and a desk behind the figure.

  “Excuse me, general, but we just got a late-term request down here.”

  A continuous comm link was open between the battle-carrier and ground command allowing the holographic image of the thin, nearly-bald REV Operations Commander to be in the room with Khatri. General Jack Diamond turned to his field commander, a wry smile on his face.

  “Another one?” he said almost gleefully. “So what’s the problem? Send them.”

  “It’s the operators, sir. The cycle rate has been so high that you must be running out of fresh controllers.” Khatri was hoping that would be the answer. It would be the excuse he needed to deny the request and possibly save the lives of some of his men.

&n
bsp; “Let me worry about that. If you need to send another squad, I’ll find the operators.”

  “But sir…the requisite rest periods—”

  “If you haven’t noticed, colonel, we’re in the middle of a battle. There are fourteen thousand troops in the combat theater. You don’t see them rotating back to their barracks once their prescribed battle time has elapsed. My people up here will do what’s necessary, just as yours will.”

  Khatri inhaled sharply. He didn’t need to be reminded that a battle was going on, especially not by some sniveling armchair general. Adesh was down here in the shit with his men, while the general was in orbit three hundred miles above the surface, safe and warm in a well-protected battle-carrier. “It’s just that I don’t think the mission is a necessity,” he admitted, venting some of his anger. “Things are winding down for the night. A few more hours of rest and recovery and everyone will be a lot more effective. If they go out now, REVs will die.”

  General Jack Diamond shook his head. “We have to keep them cycling through as long as the battle continues, answering every call as it comes up. Only by proving their worth on the battlefield will the REVs play even more important roles in the future.”

  “The REVs have proven their worth above and beyond, sir. You can’t ask much more of my men.”

  The general’s face turned darker in the greenish glow of the hologram. “We can and we will, Colonel Khatri,” Diamond snapped. “And they’re not your men; they’re mine. Besides, we’re too close to victory now to play it safe, either here on Menkar or elsewhere. And colonel, Marines die in combat; that’s just a fact of life. And sometimes we—as officers—have to send them out on missions knowing that will be their fate. So grow a pair, Khatri, and get your team ready to go.”

  Khatri glared into the glowing eyes of the translucent image. Diamond was an intelligence officer, not a field commander. What would he know about growing a pair? He was more comfortable sneaking around and stabbing people in the back, which was basically what he was doing to Khatri’s REVs. Adesh, on the other hand, preferred his fights straight up and in your face, as did most Marines. But if there was one thing he’d learned throughout his twenty-four years in the Corps, it was how to follow the orders of a superior officer, even if the word superior was a misnomer in this case. He bit his tongue and nodded.

  “Yes sir. Just let me know when I can deploy.”

  “That’s better. Now get your men juiced up and I’ll do the same up here. Even operators have a little extra boost available if need be. As they say, all is fair in love and war, and the term illegal drug takes on a different meaning in times like these. And if what you say is true, another thirty minutes or so and everyone can get some much-needed rest…until the next call-up. ”

  2

  Aboard the Battle-Carrier Eldorado

  Air Force Sergeant Joanie Hollis entered the huge operator’s bay aboard the battle-carrier Eldorado, blurry-eyed and half-awake. This was the last thing she expected, to be shaken from her sleep after only twenty minutes and ordered back to work. She knew this was against regulations, but she also knew the regs were being written as they went. With this new type of REV operating in the fleet for only the past six months, how could anyone know what worked and what didn’t? Apparently, letting her get through her prescribed rest period wasn’t one of them, at least not today.

  She carried a small plastic flask filled with what was ostensibly water, yet with a little extra ingredient added. Although highly-illegal back on Earth, the drug cocktail was regulation—sort of—an accepted concoction of stimulants designed to help operators and techs make it through a game. She grimaced. They would chew her ass if they heard her refer to the control session as a game. But that’s what the teams called it. It seemed a better fit, rather than REV Operational Control Session, or ROCS. Others called it getting your ROCS off, which was frowned upon even more. Joanie would stick with calling it a game.

  She slid into her chair while glancing around at the rest of the team as they took up positions. Normally, the operators and techs would have met thirty minutes earlier for a pre-Run briefing, outlining the mission goals and parameters. But these weren’t normal times. The battle for the Vonis Plains had been going on for over twenty-four hours, including the aerial bombardment. REVs were being recycled more than ever, with the control teams in disarray and running on wacky-juice themselves. Although there was a rumor the operation was winding down, it didn’t seem like it from where Joanie sat.

  As equally groggy and strung-out techs plopped into nearby seats, Joanie acknowledged each of them. Although there were no set teams among the controllers—just a gathering of people available at the time—she knew them all, having worked in the same bay together for six months. Joanie nodded at the med tech on her right. HM3 Carrie Anderson was a good friend of hers, often playing the role of Joanie’s wingman at the carrier’s main meet and greet R&R venue. She would monitor the REV’s bio readouts during the Run. Behind her was the drone operator, a tactical technician at his strategy computer, the weapons guy, and the field surveyor. Six people to run one REV, plus two supervisors with overall operational authority for the Run. Then there were the Recovery Crews out in the field, the jumpship crew, as well as the medical staff on standby back at the field hospital. That made a total of nearly sixty people to support the five REVs in the squad.

  For some reason, the number struck Joanie as funny, reminding her of the familiar chant of the military higher-ups when it came to these new REVs: If they can be controlled, then by god we’re going to control them! It was how the military liked to micromanage every facet of an operation, for good or bad.

  Joanie had spent a few months with a traditional REV unit back in the NT-4 days. It was much simpler then. A small medical crew, a recovery team, a handful of operational observers and a few REVs. Then just wind them up and let them go. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. That wasn’t the case anymore. This was… better?

  Joanie snickered at her last thought, overcome by fatigue and irony. She took another long swig from the flask, wondering when in the hell she’d start feeling the effects. She was too tired to even remember all the names of her current team. It didn’t matter. In a few minutes they would all stagger out of the bay and return to their compartments.

  Lieutenant Steve Bennett leaned on the console, looking down at Joanie from the other side of her station.

  “You’re senior operator on this Run, sergeant,” he said with a pleasant, yet tired smile. They had hooked up a few times and Joanie felt he’d actually developed some feelings for her. Tough luck, buddy, she thought as she smiled up at him. Too many fine pickings aboard the El for me to limit my opportunities.

  “I’m on it, LT. Aren’t they pushing it a little? I thought this thing was just about over?”

  “It is, but the brass wants to make an impression.”

  Joanie wondered if Bennett knew, that to enlisted pukes like her, he was one of the brass? It didn’t matter; he was just trying to impress her by being one-of-the-boys, regardless of his rank. She would let him flirt. It never hurt to have an officer in her pocket…or wherever.

  “So what’s the op, lieutenant? We didn’t get a briefing.”

  “No time. Spur of the moment request. A group of Marines are pinned down in grid section G-18, caught in a crossfire and unable to move. They need a breakout.” Using his hand controller, Bennett lit up the screens in front of the rest of the controller teams. It showed a video overview of the area. “Approximately a hundred and fifty Marines are along the side of this building and in the alleyway to the west.” The scene changed to show a wider view of this section of the city, with twenty-story buildings and wide roadways. The place was littered with the remnants of the battle; burned out vehicles, crumbled storefronts and even the charred bodies of either combatants or civilians, it was hard to tell which.

  The officer highlighted two of the tall buildings flanking the Marines’ position.

  “There are two e
nemy emplacements on the seventeenth and fourteenth floors respectfully. They have a series of tripod-mounted double-bore flash cannon keeping the Marines in place. In addition, there are ground troops to the north, as well as a few drone snipers that pop up now and then and take shots at the Marines. The mission’s objective is to eliminate one of the arms of the crossfire so the Marines can move out and into the area to the northeast. There they’ll find better cover for the night.”

  “So we’re clearing the way to their hotel?” Petty Officer Carrie Anderson asked sarcastically.

  Bennett glared at the corpsman. “These guys have been at it since before dawn on the planet. They deserve a safe place to rest.”

  “Yes, sir. Sorry. It’s just that we’ve all been at it since before dawn, especially the REVs. The ones they’ve assigned to the mission have been hacked to pieces by now and are barely able to move without AC-3. What about them?”

  As one of the five hospital corpsmen assigned to the mission, Carrie was aware of the physical condition of the REVs. She would also be the most sensitive to their plight.