by SD Tanner
After surrendering to Ark Three, the Arians had been brought back to Earth. Only five thousand of them had been living underground with their ships hidden deep inside of the planet. For now, Ark Three had moved them into the Navigator barracks where they could be watched. It was an unsteady alliance. People were angry with them, including their host Navigators. There was still a chance all hell would break loose and they’d be massacred.
At least Ark Three had listened to him, which he found encouraging. Maybe there was a way for them to live together. Tank had been surprisingly accepting of his idea to merge Aria with Earth, to the point of giving him a friendly slap on the shoulder and one of his menacing grins. Recalling the injury, he tentatively stretched his shoulder still convinced he was bruised by the blow. Tank was taking more of a parental role with him, listening to his concerns while encouraging them to work together. Considering Tank had been determined to wipe out the Dunk bloodline, it was an about face he didn’t completely trust, not yet anyway.
Standing and rubbing the back of his shoulder, he looked across at Dunk Two. “How do you suggest we shore it up?”
Using his hands to lever himself from the table and onto the floor, Dunk Two began to pace as if in deep thought. “We need what they can do. Telepathic and empathic ability is a completely new add. The Trachans bring the nanobytes and cyborgs. Make a robot smart and you have a weapon. Give a robot emotion and you have a highly motivated weapon. Those nanobytes learn from their masters, adding the element of will.”
Snorting to himself, he leaned against the console watching Dunk Two walking back and forth. “Unless it goes mad and then you’ve got yourself a very dangerous enemy.”
“You’re mad and you do alright.”
He had a cure for his insanity and that was Mariana. Ark Three was still angry with her and quite rightly so. He’d gone against Earth to save her, only to learn she’d taken advantage of his good nature. Hardened by battle, his brother was no longer the naïve young man who’d left Earth. Under his command fifteen thousand Bombardiers and two hundred thousand Navigators had died. A further ten million humans had been lost when they failed to defend Earth from the critters. Gone was the soft face of his youth. In its place was a hard-faced Bombardier with deep worry lines. Although they needed the man Ark Three had become, he missed the boy he’d grown up with.
“Get to the point.”
Pausing mid step, Dunk Two gave him a sly look. “What makes you think I have one?”
“You want to suggest something I won’t like, which is why you’re pacing like a caged cat.”
Giving a dramatic sigh, Dunk Two hunched his shoulders. “Fine, but you won’t like it. You need to marry Ark Three and Mariana. It’s the only way to secure the Arians on Earth. Their child will be a Bombardier with a human mind that is also telepathic and empathic. Ark Four will be the best of all species.”
Giving Mariana to Ark Three didn’t appeal to him. He’d assumed she would be his, protecting him from the vagaries of his own mind. It wasn’t as if Ark Three wanted her. He was devoted to Tiana and their adopted son, Leon. There was a slim chance Tiana might kill her, although he doubted she would be aggressive enough to do that.
“I need her.”
“Don’t be dumb, there are enough stupid people in the world as it is.” Smiling widely, he added, “Albeit we’re down a few now.” Leaning closer to him until he could almost smell the blood that was always trickling down his face, Dunk Two whispered conspiratorially, “She marries Ark Three, but she stays with you. You take their DNA and splice us up an Ark Four. That child will be raised with Dunk Four.”
He’d be pushing his luck to get Ark Three to agree, but suspected the new and improved Tank might support him. Dunk Four would be capable of exploiting technology, and Ark Four would contain every genetic advantage they’d found. The next generation would be a step up from what they were today. They could explore the universe capable of taking everything it had. Ark Three might not like the idea, but it felt right to him.
“What about Tiana? He won’t give her up.”
Dunk Two’s tone became scornful. “He won’t have to. It’s a marriage in name only. It will legitimize the next generation of leaders.” Spreading his arms wide, he winked at him. “Think big, my boy, and then bigger still. There’s a universe to conquer and we’re top dog.” Suddenly losing his magnanimous smile, he face became stern. “And I want us to stay top dog, so don’t play the fool. We lost most of mankind getting this far and we don’t leave the table just because we won a hand.”
“Do we have to control the universe?”
A sly look came over Dunk Two’s face. “Control or be controlled, there’s no other option. Which do you prefer?”
He turned to face the console. Dunk Two already knew the answer to his question. He might be a skinny, pale-faced man with no physical presence worth noting, but his mind knew no such boundaries.
Earth’s Empire would rule the universe.
EPILOGUE
(Mariana)
Twenty-one years to the day the war ended and the United Empire was born. Adjusting the pleats on her long, gold-colored skirt, she sat stiffly on the podium. They celebrated this day every year, but this one was special.
For Dunk Three, Ark Three and Tank, today was when they flew their colors. Proud and strong, they stood together on the platform overlooking the city of CaliTech. Crowds had gathered by the statue outside of its gates, cheering and waving the flag of the United Empire. It showed Earth at its center surrounded by planets of species they controlled.
Her life had been easy in many ways, but Dunk Three didn’t appreciate that this was a day of mourning for her people. It was on this day they’d become slaves to the human race. Warped inside the womb of Earth, their unborn developed a rage they couldn’t subdue. Her father raised her to defend their nurseries by healing the unborn when they were injured. It didn’t seem right they’d risen up against them.
Dunk Three loved her, treating her well and keeping her safe behind the walls of CaliTech. They’d taken her DNA and merged it with cells from Ark Three to produce a strapping son. Arians didn’t raise their unborn, merely taking possession of their bodies once they were grown. She hadn’t known what to do with the baby when it had been handed to her. Recalling the memory, she glanced at Tiana standing next to Ark Three at the front of the podium. She was his true wife and mother to the three young men standing beside her.
Ark Four was a Bombardier on the outside and a perfect blend of human and Arian within. Having been created in a test tube and grown in an incubator, he could be nothing less than perfect. The man next to him was Dunk Four, cloned again from Dunk’s DNA. The third young man was most curious of all. He was part human and part Bombardier, born of a union between Tank and a woman long dead.
Ark Three raised his hands, calling the crowd to attention. “My three sons have come of age today.”
Pulling the young men forward, each was wearing streamlined armor with insignia spelling out their senior rank and division. The silver arrow cutting across the stars meant they were part of the Space Corps, destined to travel the universe.
Grinning proudly, Ark Three nodded. “They will lead the Forward Space Corps. Their mission is to explore and bring home what they find.”
She took a sharp intake of breath as the crowd roared in delight. Ark Three, Dunk Three and Tank intended to control the universe. Her father often spoke of taking back the unborn by outliving the current leaders. Looking at the three young men on the podium, she knew her father’s dream would never become a reality.
They had been defeated by a bloodline and a union that would never end. Ark lived on in his son, always the leader everyone would follow. Dunk repeatedly cloned himself, bringing the insane mind of a genius. It had taken a while for her to understand Tank’s role. He was the warrior, ever ready to fight at Ark’s command and Leon would replace him.
Seeing the three young men, their chests swelling with pride,
the next generation were learning to lead. They’d lost twice to these three men and they would lose a third time if they dared try again.
Stepping forward so that he was now at the front of the podium, Ark Four raised his hands in the same way his father had. Once the crowd quietened, he gave them a confident smile.
“My name is Arkansas the Fourth. It is my destiny to rule the universe.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Well, that escalated fast. What an ambitious group of tyrants they all turned out to be. Of course, I’m not sure I can leave it there. I’m very worried about Byte. Give a robot a brain and you get a smart weapon. If you give it emotion then you’ve made a dangerous enemy.
I hope you enjoyed Bombardier. I’m so entertained by Dunk’s Empire I’m considering writing another trilogy. BattleDroid would go forward in time another few hundred or so years. Imagine a universe with humans, Bombardiers, cyborgs and telepathic empaths. Mix them up and throw in BattleDroids with human traits. I wonder where that might go. Knowing me, probably nowhere peaceful.
Although it isn’t necessary, for those of you who would like to know how all of this came about, the Navigator series tells how Ark, Lexie, Tank, Dunk and many others saved the world from the first alien attack. If you would like to find out how this world came into existence then please take a look at the Navigator Boxset.
If you’re interested in my other books, or staying up-to-date with which universe I’m currently destroying, please subscribe to sdtanner.com. I usually post once or twice a month. Please feel free to chat with me through twitter @sdtanner1 or email through [email protected].
Take care and I’ll see you on the battlefield, wherever that may be.
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Also by SD Tanner
Books in HUNTER WARS Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Book Five:
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Book Six:
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BOXED SET - Books Four to Six:
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Book Two
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Book Three
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Book Two
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Book Three
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Book Four
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Books in HUNTER WARS Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Gears, Pax and TL are brothers and soldiers in the US Army when the world comes to an abrupt halt. Thrust into the apocalypse, they decide mankind deserves another chance. Their ruling puts them at the center of an epic battle between good and evil, and they uncover the hidden truth behind the Devil in the land of the undead. Along the way, they meet a woman they name Ip and their true role is revealed.
Forming the first of their bases, they call survivors to their side and unwittingly make enemies of the undead and the living. Determined to succeed, they take drastic steps to secure safe havens for those left alive.
Book Two:
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Book Three:
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Determined to fight fire with fire, Gears offers the survivors the choice of infection. Mackenzie does the unthinkable creating a remarkable outcome that makes Gears question everything he knows about life.
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
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Book Five:
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Fed up with the Devil’s play, Gears is determined to enforce his right to rule. The Devil disagrees and does something they didn't expect, setting them back again. Captain Ted is forced to make a terrible choice and they stand to lose more than they gain. The land is dying and hunger grips their world.
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Gears witnesses the impossible and they learn there's more that the Devil can do. Faced with disaster, he calls the game to an end and prepares for a final battle. Mankind must make their true intent known or all will be lost for a thousand years.
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Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
It's been five years since they put the Devil in his place, but all is not well in Eden and our Horsemen have dug their way out of their graves. It seems the Devil wasn't done and neither were they. Gears must uncover his new mission, and he believes he needs another army to defend his right to rule. America is at war with itself and he needs to know why.
Book Two
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The hunters have returned, but they're not the same as they were. Gears, Pax and TL decide they need to look for the problem in Eden and uncover more than they ever expected. Ruler is playing them all for fools, and Gears finds a unique solution to save America.
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Fed up with man's cruelty, Pax demands they rule again, leaving Ip out in the cold. When the young Horsemen argue the toss, Gears, Pax and TL must go through the doorway to Heaven to find Ip, concluding their epic fight with Ruler.
This is the last book in the Hunter Wars and Eden Lost series.
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Book One:
ENEMY LINES (Purchase Now)
After nearly being executed in a war zone, Staff Sergeant Leon Shield finds himself urgently recalled from deployment, and lands back home to a defeated country. In a matter of days, and without a single shot being fired, a new species has taken over the world. Determined to survive Armageddon, the only chance to fight back is to find a man called Ark, and use an untested technology to become Navigators.
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Our team match the enemy by creating a little critter magic of their own. New forces join them, and survivors add their weight to the fight, further changing what becomes possible. First contact is made, and believing they are running headlong into failure, Ark learns to take the lesser loss.
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Ark is preparing to take over the Bombardier army. Traveling with his mentor, Tank, he discovers the Guild is committing genocide against any planet with even a hint of enemy DNA. Learning he is part of a tyrannical empire, he must decide whether to start a war against Earth.
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Ark is the Commander of the Bombardiers, the transformed soldiers working as the United Guild's army in space. Two hundred years earlier, aliens used mankind's own DNA to destroy Earth. Now, the Bombardiers hunt for the enemy aliens, destroying them wherever they are.
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