The Opron Insurgency Read online

  The Opron Insurgency

  Book 5 of the Alliance Conflict

  By Jeff Sims

  Best Wishes

  I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks to everyone that helped me with this book.

  © 2018 by Jeff Sims 1-6417669541

  All rights reserved. No part may be copied or reproduced in any manner or by any means without prior written permission by the author.

  Cover Art by: Laércio Messias

  http://lrcdesigner.wixsite.com/laercioportfolio

  https://laerciomessias.deviantart.com/

  ISBN:978-1-64316-985-9

  The Opron Insurgency is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and events are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. For more information, visit www.allianceconflict.com

  Class

  Length (meter)

  Width (meter)

  Height (meter)

  Missile Launchers

  Fighters Carried

  Crew

  Alliance

  Cruiser

  100

  25

  10

  10

  20

  50

  Destroyer

  140

  25

  10

  12

  24

  60

  Battleship

  200

  25

  10

  20

  80

  200

  Transport

  5

  4

  3

  n/a

  n/a

  n/a

  Fighter

  4

  2

  3

  n/a

  n/a

  1

  Hiricula

  Cruiser

  100

  25

  10

  10

  20

  50

  Destroyer

  140

  25

  10

  12

  24

  60

  Frigate

  140

  25

  10

  14

  20

  60

  Battleship

  200

  25

  10

  20

  80

  200

  Transport

  5

  4

  3

  n/a

  n/a

  n/a

  Fighter

  4

  2

  3

  n/a

  n/a

  1

  Earth

  Cruiser

  100

  18

  8

  10

  40

  70

  Chart of known hyperspace lanes

  The chart shows the hyperspace connections and relative distances. It does not necessarily show the physical location of the system in space. The shaded ovals contain a planet with intelligent life. The ‘S’ Denotes a secret route and a secret, habitable planet.

  Many more systems have been charted, but only the ones relevant to the story are shown.

  Time Chart for hyperspace lanes

  From

  To

  Hours

  Status

  Advranki 1

  Advranki 2

  5

  Open

  Advranki 1

  Advranki 3

  6

  Open

  Advranki 1

  Altian

  6

  Open

  Advranki 2

  Advranki 3

  3

  Open

  Advranki 3

  Influenla

  18

  Secret

  Altian

  Solaria

  6

  Open

  Conron

  Advranki 1

  8

  Open

  Conron

  Earth

  33

  Closed

  Conron

  Opron

  8

  Open

  Conron

  Solaria

  8

  Open

  Conron

  Uselon

  6

  Open

  Hepitila

  Dunron

  5

  Open

  Netron

  Hepitila

  6

  Open

  Netron

  Hiricula

  6

  Open

  Netron

  Neto

  8

  Open

  Neto

  Hiricula

  5

  Secret

  Neto

  Influenla

  6

  Secret

  New Earth

  Earth

  11

  Secret

  New Earth

  Solaria

  7

  Secret

  New Earth

  Waylon

  9

  Secret

  Opron

  Influenla

  7

  Open

  Opron

  Netron

  6

  Open

  Opron

  Trilon

  2

  Open

  Uselon

  Waylon

  6

  Open

  Uselon

  Trilon

  9

  Secret

  Waylon

  Earth

  11

  Secret

  Waylon

  Trilon

  27

  Secret

  Main Characters

  Advranki

  Carank – Brilliant Scientist, accidental interstellar terrorist

  Frank – Associate Senate member

  Lexxi – Accidental interstellar terrorist and ambassador to Earth

  Solear – Former Alliance Admiral

  Altian

  Clowy – Accidental interstellar terrorist and ambassador to Earth

  Lorano – Brilliant scientist, accidental interstellar terrorist

  Human

  Jim Donovan – Fleet Admiral

  Russ Brand – Captain of the Sunflower

  Fighter Pilots - Edward Williams (Ace), Heather Miller (Red), Chris Armstrong (Kip), Ralph Dellman (Rubie), Gus Swanson (Gus)

  Communication – Dave Norris, James Patterson, Larry Holly

  Engineers – Colin O’Neal, Becky Matthews, Mike Jones

  Hiriculan

  Blifgot’ne (Bline) – Associate Senate member

  Fruid’la – Supreme Admiral in the Hiriculan Navy

  Lopeq’la – Admiral in the Hiriculan Navy, stationed in Opron

  Thiad’bo - Chef

  Venit’la – Fruid’la’s chief of staff

  Solarian

  Baxter Bunnyhop – Associate Senate member

  Victor Bullpeep (Tyrano on Earth) – Owner of Victory Games

  Crista Bullpeep – Victor’s wife

  Jack Dogbarks – Captain of the mini-freighter Jackal.

  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

&nbs
p; Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Prologue

  “Exiting hyperspace now Captain. We are at the correct coordinates for the rendezvous.” Jenny Sledgehammer said.

  “Update the passive scan. Show it on Sunflower’s main monitor.” Russ Brand replied.

  Russ was one of the original 20 fighter pilots. Russ had recently been promoted to captain of the Sunflower and this was his first mission; to retrieve 84 former Alliance warships that Admiral Solear had hidden deep in hyperspace. The mission was critically important for Earth and their war effort.

  Paul Smith, the captain of the marines, and Mike Jones, the newly promoted chief engineer were the only others aboard with previous experience.

  Russ paused for a breath and said, “Weapons, Engineering.”

  Paul answered first. He said, “Missiles launchers are ready. All pilots are in their cockpits. We are as ready as we can be.”

  Jenny yelled, “The passive scan shows multiple objects. We are surrounded.”

  Mike screamed, “It’s a trap!”

  Chapter 1

  It was a glorious morning in the capital city of Advranki Prime. The sun was shining and beautifully reflecting off of the sea moss growing on the buildings. It created a cascade of beautiful, stunning colors. However, only a few people in the crowd were looking up to enjoy it.

  Frank took a couple of steps forward to get a better look at the scene. The crowd surrounding him also moved forward; thus negating his progress. Frank wedged himself forward two more steps so that had an unobstructed view, but was still well shielded by a full row of beings in front of him.

  Frank was balancing his desire to watch the commotion against his desire to evade detection. He was wanted by the Hiriculans for questioning in the murder of Senator Figur.

  Well, a little more than just questioning. Frank knew that the Hiriculans would ask him precious few questions if he were to be captured. They would simply lock him away and leave him there until after the election and quite possibly until the public forgot about him.

  The Hiriculans were justifiably angry that they had been framed for a murder that they didn’t commit and had no involvement in. They wanted to capture the guilty parties and prove their innocence to the galaxy.

  Apparently, the mystery man that built the murder weapon betrayed Frank’s confidence. He sold the Hiriculans information directly linking Frank to the murder weapon. Frank knew this because the Hiriculans issued an order to apprehend him the moment they landed on Advranki Prime.

  They wanted to question him and really didn’t want to be questioned. It was something of a standoff and as long as Frank could stay hidden, it would remain one. As a result, Frank now only ventured outside in disguise.

  Today, he was dressed in his favorite disguise, his sea moss harvester outfit. He had streaks of gray in his hair, old age make-up around his eyes, and some sun/old age spots on his forehead. The disguise had worked perfectly the day that the Hiriculans came to arrest him and he was forced to flee from his Senatorial apartment.

  He had worn the outfit several more times since then and no one had recognized him, or even gave him a second look for that matter. He was fairly certain that as long as he didn’t break character, no one would be able to detect him in this disguise.

  He made a special effort to a keep a slight frown on his face. He definitely did not want to flash his award winning smile in the crowd or draw any undue attention to himself - especially since he was standing outside his old Senatorial apartment.

  Frank, one of the taller Advranki, readjusted his stance a little to the right and positioned himself directly behind a shorter female. He was able to look over her head and have a great view while keeping the majority of his face hidden. Again, there was very little risk of detection, but there was a risk nonetheless.

  He watched as a Hiriculan construction crew backed a large piece of drilling equipment into position and started digging a hole exactly where the supposed shaft to his fake underground bunker was located.

  The crowd drew a little closer to the construction site. Frank was carried along, but was careful to maintain at least one being’s head between himself and the front of the crowd. It was more difficult than it sounded because Frank just naturally wanted to be the center of attention.

  Frank watched the Hiriculans dig for a while. He could see the foreman visibly arguing with one of the workers. He flashed a communication pad at him and pointed at something on it. Frank couldn’t see what it was, but he imagined that it was the blueprints to the bunker.

  This time Frank did smile. He quickly guarded it though by putting his hand over his mouth. He knew that the Hiriculans were in for a real treat in deciphering the plans for his underground abode. Frank had used multiple contractors and multiple design firms. Each firm had drawn up multiple plans for the secret bunker.

  There were probably 50 plans on file with various construction companies. Each plan gave a slightly different location and different depth for the chamber and a different location for the entry and exit shafts. The Hiriculans could entertain themselves by digging for a month and never find the bunker.

  Eventually, the Hiriculans would discover that there was no secret bunker. Until then, Frank was basically free to move about as he pleased. He figured that since they were looking for him here, they weren’t looking for him anywhere else. At best, this ploy had bought him a few weeks of anonymity.

  “The election results from the outlying systems are coming in now,” someone in the crowd announced.

  Frank pulled his communication pad out of his pocket and quickly looked at the election numbers to date. He put the pad back in his pocket and continued to watch the Hiriculans dig. He didn’t want to be spotted gloating at the results.

  The election for the senator to represent the Advranki race in the new interstellar government was being held today. This government was a new confederation between the Hiriculans, Neto, Solarians, Advranki, and Altians. Each race was allowed one senator and interstellar issues were to be passed by a simple majority.

  Most everyone was now referring to the new galactic government as the Associated League of Star Systems or simply the Association for short. Frank hoped that that wasn’t the final name, but at the moment he had little say in the matter.

  The elections on the other planets had already occurred. Baxter Bunnyhop was elected on Solaria. Former Alliance Senator Korno was elected by the Altians, and former Ambassador Blingfot’ne (Bline) was elected to represent Hiricula.

  Quarl, the current president of Neto, had easily won the election on Neto. In an unusual twist of fate he won the election even though he only garnered 41 percent of the popular vote. There were two reasons for this outcome. First, he ran unopposed. Second, the majority of the Neto population had literally voted for ‘anyone else’ instead of Quarl.

  Quarl, to his credit, argued that since ‘anyone else’ could in fact be anyone else then the vote had to be separated equally among everyone that voted for anyone else. The Neto election officials agreed with Quarl and allowed him to win on a technicality.

  Each of the other races’ elections had been fairly quick because the overwhelming majority of its citizens lived in a single star system. The Advranki, however, had three inhabited planets in three different systems and multiple stations in deep space. As a result the election took almost three days to tabulate because the results had to be beamed through hyperspace.

  Frank was one of only the three candidates that applied for the position. The others were the former Alliance senator from Advranki 2 and the former Alliance senator from Advranki 3.

  The Hiriculans had made the fairly reasonable demand that all of the fellow races fill the position as quickly as possible so that they could start the new government without delay. As a result the Advranki were only given two weeks to organize and hold an election.

  Frank had realized almost immediately after the announcement that with such a small
window of time there would be no time for formal debates or even a serious discussion of the issues. The election would essentially come down to a popularity contest.

  Frank smiled. He couldn’t help himself. However, he quickly covered his mouth with his communication pad. He also scrunched down a little bit and made sure that he was still obscured behind the female. This election was going to be a popularity contest and Frank was immensely popular.

  A minute later he relented and checked the results again. The results from the mining space stations in Conron had just arrived. Frank had won Conron handedly.

  The results of Advranki Prime had been posted nearly three days ago. Frank won the planet by a wide margin. He had garnered over 80% of the vote. This made sense since he was a native of Advranki Prime and the other two candidates were from different planets.

  A moment later the results of Advranki 2 arrived. Frank had done respectably there; getting almost 15% of the vote. Space stations 1 – 8 reported next. Frank won with over 60% of the vote on each station. He did some quick math. He only needed to get 5% of the Advranki 3 vote to win a simple majority; and hence the election.

  The results of the 9th station, the one located in deep space, would not be known for another day.

  The Hiriculans had now been digging for over 20 minutes and had nothing but dirt to show for their efforts. Most of the crowd soon became bored with the digging and started to dissipate. They had expected to see someone being pulled from the ground and now realized it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  Frank noticed that the crowd was thinning and decided to leave. He walked down a short alleyway and entered the nearest building. He took an electro lift to the 50th floor and started walking along the skywalk to an adjoining building.