The Clone Republic

Infobox Book |
name = The Clone Republic
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Steven L. Kent
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Clone series (Actual name not known yet)
subject =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Berkley Publishing Group Penguin Group
release_date = September 28, 2006
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 384 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-441-01393-7
preceded_by =
followed_by = Rogue Clone

"The Clone Republic" is the first book in the "Clone" series of novels, set in 2508 a.d. It is followed by "Rogue Clone", "The Clone Alliance", and "The Clone Elite".

Plot summary

Mankind has spread across all six arms of the Milky Way galaxy under the control of the Unified Authority. The UA keeps control of countless planets and governments with a powerful and numberless military made primarily of disposable clones.

Wayson Harris starts the book believing he is the only human in a large government run orphanage (in actuality, a large cloning facility) being human, he is the only orphan that doesn't look and act exactly the same. While they all start physically the same, they are raised to be perfectly capable soldiers from 'birth' and each of them are programmed to serve the UA unquestionably, and to see themselves different from all other clones (to know that one's self is a clone is a literal death sentence, as it has been programmed into their genes)

Harris has problems early on in his military career because while the clones would follow orders before actually analysing them, the human response is slower. His first official posting, a desert planet named Gobi, seems to him like a punishment. The soldiers are sloppy and it appears as though the programming has been mostly forgotten after ten years of baking in the sun. Most have let their hair grow long and the sun has bleached it, not bothering to wear their helmets anymore. The commanding officer; Guttman has actually lost the ability to fit inside his combat armour, and wears the breastplate loosely belted around his neck and chest like a bib.

Harris notices many more things wrong with this outpost, such as it's dilapidated state, and the heavily contaminated drinking water. At one point he actually notices a dead dog laying in it, but all of the marines insist that it's been filtered. On one outing to the nearest town, Guttman takes Harris to a poker game, where we are introduced to a bearded man and Kline, a less than reputable local. In the game, Guttman bets his own particle-beam pistol, loses it, then bets Harris's and wins them both back, but not until the man who was winning inspected one of them.

It is later found out that the man they were playing cards with was Amos Crowley, a general who deserted the army. During an investigation, they meet a mercenary named Ray Freeman, who berates them for their stupidity, and explains that Crowley actually had set Harris's gun to explode the next time it was fired.

The next day, Freeman and Harris go into the town, where Freeman interrogates Kline and gives him plenty of incentive to find out what Crowley wanted; before they leave, Freeman superglues a live grenade into Kline's hand and tells him he has 48 hours to think about it.

Not long after the meeting, Kline ran to find Crowley's assistants. After which, they attack the Gobi outpost. Kline and some of Crowley's men; controlling tracker droids (armed with rocket launchers and machine guns) blow huge holes in the base and kill most of the soldiers inside.

Freeman makes a diversion with a droid of his own, orders Harris and the other survivors to cover him while he makes a dash to his ship. The ship then proceeds to destroy the trackers easily. Capturing Kline and interrogating him, they find out that Crowley wanted to bottle all of the surviving marines into the barracks so he could kill them without damaging the large weapons cache inside the armory.

After the fight is over, Kline is sent off into the desert with the hand grenade still attached to his hand. At some point before it is set to explode he finds another ally and they remove his hand once they realize they couldn't disarm the grenade. Freeman and Harris are debriefed, Freeman's mission was to hunt down Crowley, so he is told to continue his search, while Harris ends up getting all of the credit.

Harris is then promoted and transferred to Fleet Admiral Bryce Klyber's flagship the "Kamehameha" (a retrofitted ancient warship from when humanity first started to explore the galaxy). Harris early on becomes friends with Vince Lee, a clone who Harris originally mistakes for a human, because Lee looks somewhat differently, being obsessed with bodybuilding. It is established early on that Vince wants to one day become a politician, and is afraid of being a clone (the realization of which would literally kill him) and is rather prejudice against other clones. In this part of the book, a Liberator-class clone, Tabor Shannon, is introduced. It is later explained that the Liberators were custom made to investigate a missing fleet of ships that went to the galactic core, and that their survival skills are far above average clones and people. Unfortunately, some circumstance also made them attack whole worlds, and they are remembered as butchers by most of the civilians.

Shannon ends up taking control of Harris's unit, and they are sent to occupy the planet of Ezer Kri, which has attempted to leave the authority of the UA, by trying to establish Japanese culture over the standard one that the UA permits. This includes but is not limited to language, culture, building styles, and making deals with terrorist and resistance groups. After a platoon is killed by locals (they ignite a fuel pumping station) the response was for the "Kamehameha" to lower it's orbit and leveled the fifteen square mile district. The marines then were ordered to occupy the largest (and densest population of suspects) town on the planet, where Harris and Lee run into Freeman. Freeman sends Lee back to the rest of the soldiers with Harris's helmet on, then leads Harris to the hotel across the street where they ambush Kline wielding a rifle that had been set to track Harris's helmet signal.

During his interrogation, Kline is revealed to be a Morgan Atkins separatist (an influential terrorist group) and it's revealed that the separatists only go by one name. It's also established that Kline could either be his given name, or family name. Shortly thereafter, one of Klyber's ships is blasted out of orbit and a fleet of separatist ships carrying the deserters from Ezer Kri flee from the planet before anyone can react.

Characters

Wayson Harris: The protagonist of the book, Wayson is the straight man of the story. He has better than average tactical skills, responds fast to orders for a human (though not fast enough to avoid some mild reprimands) he normally wears his combat armor, frequently wears interlink shades, has a particle-beam pistol and a m27 pistol. He originally thinks he's the only human at the orphanage he came from, but it's later revealed he is a newly minted Liberator-class clone.

Vince Lee: A clone who has partial realization that he is a clone, or at least enough doubts to make him worry that he will activate the gene that would kill him for that knowledge. He is an avid bodybuilder and prefers to only ingest Earth made things, claiming he can taste the difference. He is also strangely anti-synthetic, meaning he hates his own kind.

Ray Freeman: A massive, tall, black, bald freelancer. In a time when race normally doesn't exist anymore, Ray really stands out, which works fine for him. A humorless mercenary, Ray sometimes goes to extremes to get the knowledge he wants. He is currently hunting Amos Crowley, but looks out for Harris. He owns a gunship, and is never seen without his armored breastplate on.

Tabor Shannon: One of the last Liberator-class clones, Shannon is a gruff drill sergeant type, who rearranges the barracks on board the Kamehameha so that his soldiers have one side, and Harris's troops have the other. Very standoffish on duty, but is considerably more relaxed off duty. He is presumably killed on Hubble in a type of cave in, trying to flush separatist enemies out. It's assumed that the oxygen generator was destroyed and caused a toxic corrosive gas killed all of the people inside.

Captain Gaylan McKay: A 5'6 human, under Klyber he had been given access to high profile assignments, color guards, and generally bypassed many other officers despite his rank. Quite possibly Klyber's understudy or informal second in command. He is later reassigned aboard the ship by Thurston. He is also very honest.

Fleet Admiral Bryce Klyber: Described as gaunt and skeletal looking, Klyber is the commanding officer of the Kamehameha. He is one of the highest decorated officers in history, and considers himself to be a statesman and a soldier. He is also the top tactician in the UA before meeting Robert Thurston. The only black mark on his record is the Liberator clones he made, but other than that, he is an outstanding officer. He also made a second flagship, the "Doctrinaire" a self broadcasting, bat winged ship. Easily the best ship in the entire fleet.

Admiral Robert Thurston: A prodigy, Thurston bests Klyber in a simulated battle so effortlessly, that he gets to control the UA fleet, and redesigns most of it. He is described as having red hair and pimples, and most of the officers give him grudging respect, though they do still make fun of his young age behind his back.

Admiral Che Huang: Secretary of the Navy, Che Huang, in a bid to get more power, manages to overthrow Klyber and install his own man (Thurston) aboard the UA's flagship the "Kamehameha". He also manages to get Harris and his unit sent to Ravenwood, an outpost that has a tendency to kill everyone that is sent there. In actuality, Ravenwood is Huang's training facility for the Seal-class of clones he created.

Standard Clone: The UA has countless clones, and for the most part, they are treated like pieces of equipment, and are mostly expendable. They wear combat armor, and are generally referred to as bubbleheads because of the shape of their helmets. They are all cut from the same helix, so they all have brown hair, brown eyes, and normally cut their hair in a flattop hairdo. They are unquestionably loyal, responding to orders before thinking about them.

Seal Clones: A new type of clone under Huang and Thurston. Undersized, thin, and with a receding hairline, they are considerably shorter than standard clones, barely being 5 feet tall. Easily identified by a brantoo (a tattoo/branding crossbreed) They are far faster than the standard clones, meant for guerrilla operations, they are incredibly deadly in close combat, as they have clawed fingers. 'Adam Boyd' is the nickname that Harris gives to all clones after fighting against one (they are all identical, so there is no way to tell who was the original) in Honolulu. In all actuality, it was probably a different clone each time, but the combined record was 200 wins and zero losses until Harris fights. Harris only just manages to kill the one in Honolulu before being hospitalized for 2 days.

Kasara and Jennifer: Two ladies that Harris and Lee met while in Honolulu. The pair had been saving up all year to go. Kasara is easily the more fun loving and reckless of the two, and is the one that suggested Harris to fight the Adam Boyd clone. Jennifer has a fling with Lee, and Kasara has a fling with Harris. Nearer the end of the book, there is a small mention that Kasara got married when she went back home, but it's debatable on if it lasted. They both are in the second book.

Technology

Interlink: A type of catch-all media technology. Radio, tv, phone, email/internet all in either civilian headset form, or built into the bubblehead armor. Used frequently to communicate over large distances in civilian application, used as a squad radio in combat. Can be jammed.

Cloning: The specifics haven't been expanded on, but it's assumed that about 90% of the soldiers in the book are clones. There are currently only three classes of clones; Liberator class, Seal class, and Bubblehead class. Apparently not able to impregnate people, but still able to procreate.

Particle Beam Pistol: Extremely accurate pistol. Has roughly the same range as the m27 but has a higher armor penetration value. Can be set to self destruct. Can be considered useless if there is enough particles and debris in the air.

Kettle: Orbital dropship. Has effective atmospheric shields that burn ozone upon entry causing the cabin to smell bad.

"Kamehameha" (ship): The oldest ship to still be used in the UA standing army. Retrofitted to be modern, this is the flagship of roughly every commanding UA officer.

"Doctrinaire" (ship): The newest ship, under the command of Klyber, a bat-winged assault vessel. Roughly the biggest ship of the fleet, it was originally meant to be kept a secret. It has multiple launch bays and a fuel supply that takes up most of the remaining internal space. Self broadcasting.

Broadcasting: A series of mirrors between Earth, Mars, and countless other destinations. In effect, it is essentially a relay transporter. Plans are found of the main facility among the Morgan Atkins separatists intel. Without the broadcasting array, countless worlds would not be able to sustain life for more than a few months.