“Thank you, Torstara. I will try my best to distance you from me.”
The other male gave a head motion of acceptance. Ca'cadasans were a fatalistic race, necessary in their society. The humans weren't like that. From what the great admiral understood, even their emperor had limitations on his power. People were executed in that empire, rarely, and only after a magistrate had heard all of the witnesses. His alien subjects served willingly, given full rights and participation in their society. It was a foreign system, but it worked. It worked so well that they went from reeling under the onslaught of the Ca'cadasans to driving them out, to pushing into the empire's territory within a few short years.
We're doomed, he thought. He had made his peace with his coming end, if not that of his line. He could not reconcile himself to the fact that his species was going to lose this war, unless they made some major changes. There probably wasn't enough time for that many changes. The humans had not been known to exterminate whole species, something they called genocide. Something like his own people's aversion to ending genetic lines. The new emperor had turned his back on the tradition and the religion that spawned it.
Mrastaran recalled something he had read from a philosopher from the far past. How the Ca'cadasans had misinterpreted their early victories over the other species that inhabited the closer star systems. They had defeated their own invaders, through luck as much as fierce determination. After that they had been the only space faring race in their region, and the conquests had come easily. Always a step ahead of whomever they encountered. Including the humans. The Ca'cadasans had interpreted their successes as a boon from the Gods, a sign that they were destined to rule the Galaxy. Possibly the Universe. Mrastaran had always though that philosophy to be defective, especially after encountering tales of ancients so far ahead of the Ca'cadasans that his people might as well have still been in the stone age.
The great admiral pulled up a holo to look at the capital, a planet his ship was decelerating toward at this moment. It was still a ways from being rebuilt. The young fool was making sure that his own palace was complete, while ignoring the needs of his people. From what he had heard from his oldest son, there was rising dissent in the capital, a bubbling pot that was sure to boil over.
“My Lord,” called out the com officer. “We have shuttle on approach. They are requesting permission to board.”
And who might that be? he thought. A delegation from the emperor, sent up to put him under arrest, would not be so polite. They would demand entry, in the name of the emperor, and threaten anyone who stood in their way.
“Did they say who they are?”
“No, my Lord. But they did say that they are here at the order of the Supreme Admiral of the Fleet.”
That didn't sound like an arrest party. The Emperor would have sent his own Secret Police, or his personal guard, up to conduct the arrest.
“I'll meet them on the hangar deck,” replied Mrastaran, getting up from his chair. He thought for a moment about putting on his dress uniform, but didn't know what good it would do him. Instead he walked from his cabin in his shipboard dress, curious to see what was going on.
And we all live in fear for our lives, he thought on the way to the lift, unable to pull his mind away from the problems his people faced. The humans act out of duty, and honor, and the will to defend their own. Why can't we be like that?
He entered the hangar in time to see a standard assault shuttle slide through the cold plasma field that kept atmosphere in when the heavy doors were open. The great admiral felt a strange sense of calm when the shuttle settled on the deck with its extended landing jack. Good news or bad, this would all soon be over.
Mrastaran felt his mouth fall open as the Supreme Admiral of the Fleet walked down the ramp, accompanied by a male wearing the robes of the Patriarch of the Ca'cadasan Church. He could think of no reason why these two males would be here, or why a delegation of admirals and generals follow on their heels.
“All hail Mrastaran,” said the Supreme Admiral, his words echoed by the rest.
“I thought I was here for an execution. Not a triumphal reception. Has the Emperor changed his mind.” Such would be like the child, who was just as likely to order an execution a few minutes later.
“Jresstratta, the fifth of his name, is dead,” said the Patriarch in a deep voice. “Killed by the men sworn to guard him.”
Mrastaran stared in disbelief. It was no more than the child deserved, especially after being linked to the death of his father. But two assassinations in as many years, in an Empire that had never had an Emperor killed before.
“Who is in charge?” asked the great admiral, imagining all kinds of claimants.
“No one, at the moment,” said the Supreme Admiral. “We were hoping that you might step in and assume the throne.”
“Me. Gentlemen, I have no desire to be Emperor.”
“You are next in line,” said the Patriarch, bowing. “Jesstratta killed all the other claimants, making sure their would be no figure to rally around. With the exception of yourself, due to the fact that you were fighting a battle on the other side of the Empire.”
“Rest assured, you would have been stricken from the list of possible successors, win or lose,” said one of the accompanying admirals, one Mrastaran was not familiar with. “Luckily, you were far away and engaged in a fight. As soon as it looked like you weren't going to do the job, he recalled you.”
“My sons?”
“Safe,” said the Patriarch. “We spirited them away into the safekeeping of the church.”
“You eldest and his ship was ordered to a far frontier, Great Admiral. Your grandchildren and their mothers are safe as well.”
“That still brings us to the need of the moment. We need someone on the throne, to rally the people and prevent revolution. We need you, Mrastaran.”
“But, I don't want it.”
“Then you are the best claimant we could imagine,” said the Supreme Admiral, bowing his head. “If not you, it will have to be one of your sons.”
That almost sent Mrastaran into a panic. Much as he didn't want the throne, he didn't want his eldest to have to shoulder that burden.
“I will do it, reluctantly.”
“Then all hail Mrastaran. The first of his name,” intoned the Patriarch, bowing deeply, while the rest of the males took a knee.
Well, crap, thought Mrastaran. He had been looking forward to retirement after this last campaign. Until it seemed like his long rest would be the sleep of death. Now he was faced with the biggest job he could imagine. I might not be able to save us, but I will give it my best shot.
The End
About the Author
Doug Dandridge is the author of over thirty self-published books on Amazon, including the very successful, Exodus: Empires at War series, the Refuge techno-fantasy series, The Deep Dark Well Trilogy, as well as numerous standalone science fiction and fantasy novels. In a six-and-a-half-year period as a self-published author, Doug has sold well over two hundred and eighty thousand eBooks, paperbacks and audio books. He has amassed over 6,000 reviews across his books on Amazon, with a 4.6 star average, and a similar number of ratings on Goodreads with a 4.12 star average. His first traditionally published series, Kinship War, is now out, and he has written a novel, When Eagles Dare, in Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey’s Four Horsemen series. He served in the US Army as an infantryman, as well as several years in the Florida National Guard in the same MOS. Doug, who holds degrees from Florida State University and the University of Alabama, lives with his four cats in Tallahassee Florida. He is a sports enthusiast and a self-proclaimed amateur military historian.
Books by Doug Dandridge
Science Fiction
The Deep Dark Well Trilogy
The Deep Dark Well: An Adventure 40,000 years in the making. Pandora Latham was a Kuiper Belt Miner from Alabama. She’s used to landing on her feet, even when the next surface is through a wormhole, halfway across the Galaxy an
d 46,000 years in the Future. Pandora must discover the secret behind the end of civilization, and the enigma of the Immortal Watcher, the last survivor of the Empire that once ruled the stars. Her decisions will set the path for Galactic recovery, or a continuation down the roads of Barbarism.
To Well and Back: Pandora Latham is back, working Watcher’s plan to restore Galactic Civilization. But first she has to deal with the Xenophobes of the Nation of Humanity, back in the Supersystem with their sights set on making the Galaxy their own. Pandora is angry at the hyper religious Nation, and you don’t want to make a woman from Alabama angry.
Deeper and Darker: Pandora Latham is on the warpath. Watcher, her lover, and the only man who can once again unite the Galaxy, is a prisoner of the Totalitarian government of the New Galactic Empire. The Empire thinks they have the upper hand, but they have never faced someone like Pandi, and the peoples of the Galaxy that she has rallied to her cause.
Theocracy: A young gunpowder era monk becomes the only hope for his doomed world as he is caught up in the game of empire between two more advanced cultures.
Theocracy Book 2: With the aid of Watcher, Patrick O’Brien and his partners, including some new alien allies, quest across multiple worlds in a search for the control center that could save his world.
The Exodus Series
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1: The introduction to the Exodus Universe. Two thousand years prior mankind fled from the Predatory Ca’cadasans, traveling a thousand years and ten thousand light years to a new home. Now the greatest power of their sector of space, things seem to be going well for the New Terran Empire. Until the enemy appears once again at the gates. And the years have not softened the aliens’ stance toward Humanity.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2: The saga continues. The Ca’cadasans attack at the moment when the government of the Empire is at its most chaotic. There are other enemies as well, waiting for their chance to fall on the overwhelmed humans. And a young man with no ambition for power finds himself in the position he most dreads.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3: Sean is rescued, but he is not about to go back to the safety of the capital without striking back at the Ca’cadasans who have invaded his Empire. But will his decision put the lives of thousands at risk, as well as risking the safety of his own Empire, by depriving it of its leader.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 4: Sean is crowned Emperor and attempts to organize the Empire for war against the Ca’cadasans. But he finds that planning battles and winning battles are two different things. Defeat follows defeat. Can anyone snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Or will the new Emperor fail before his reign even really begins.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 5: Ranger: Cornelius Walborski enters the rigors of Ranger training, becoming one of the augmented warriors of the Empire. But his first assignment, Azure, is one of the deadliest planets in the Galaxy, even prior to the coming of the Cacas. Can Cornelius survive his first mission? Or will a promising career end before it really begins.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 6: The Day of Battle: Sean and the Empire need a victory before human morale goes completely into the black hole. He develops a plan to bring the Ca’cadasans into battle in space of his choosing. But the Cacas are not an easy opponent, and they have plans of their own, for the Donut.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike: The Empire has weathered the Ca’cadasan onslaught, and now it’s the time to strike back with an offensive of their own. A victory could win the war. But will it?
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers: The Cacas have been ejected from Imperial space, for the moment. But millions of citizens of New Moscow are still held captive in death camps in their former empire, processed for rations for the large aliens. Sean is determined to save as many as he can, and the Fleet and Army are prepared to carry out his directive; free the prisoners at all costs.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 9: Second Front: The exploration mission sent around the edge of the Ca’cadasan Empire has found the other Empire at war with the large aliens. They are not as expected, and Sean must order his military to perform actions that could vilify him in the eyes of his new allies.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 10: Search & Destroy: The Fenri, all but beaten, have not given up, and their new plan promises random death and destruction in the Empire. The Cacas have launched a new offensive against the Klavarta, and their new commander is much more intelligent than the last.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: Day of Infamy: The Cacas have a plan to end the war by taking out the capital system and the Donut at the same time. Only the bravery of the Imperial military can prevent a disaster from which the Empire can’t recover.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 12: Time Strike: The Cacas have launched another invasion, and Sean had been approached with the idea of hitting them where it hurts, back in time. But messing with the time stream is never a good idea.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 13: Retaliation: The Caca offensive has been turned back, and now it’s the time for the Empire to get some payback. But desperation will often breed deadly reactions, and this time is no different.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 14: Rebellion. The Cacas have come up with a horrifying new weapon that destroys entire star systems. Meanwhile, the religious cast of the Ca’cadasan Empire revolt against their Emperor.
Exodus: Tales of the Empire: Exploration Command: Three novelettes concerning Exploration Command, the arm of the Fleet tasked with pushing back the boundaries of the Empire, and discovering the technology needed to win the war.
Exodus: Tales of the Empire: Beasts of the Frontier: Three novelettes and three short stories about the dangers of the frontiers of the Empire. The Cacas are not the only threat. Sometime the danger is the wild, at other times, other humans.
Exodus: Machine War: Book 1: Supernova: When a civilization is discovered that has a special ability that would be of tremendous benefit to the Empire, great excitement is generated. When it is found that a nearby blue giant star is due to supernova in less than a year, destroying that world, excitement turns to a frantic race to save as much of that species as possible. And enemies from the past, lurking in space, bring forth a new war to the embattled Empire.
Exodus: Machine War: Book 2: Bolthole: The Machine Intelligences are back, with a vengeance. While the Empire is busy fighting a war of survival against the Cacas, the murderous killing machines they had created hundreds of years prior are now ready to strike back. And the Imperial stronghold of Bolthole is in their sights.
Exodus: Machine War: Book 3: Death From Above: The Machines are on the move, and their great planet killers have the Bolthole system in their sights. Only the courage and ingenuity of the organic defenders can save the only system that stands between the machine intelligences and the life forms of the sector.
Exodus: Machine War: Book 4: Retribution: The Empire goes on the offensive against the Machines, using their superior technology to take out system after system. And finding out along the way that they have a bigger problem than they thought.
Other Scifi
Diamonds in the Sand: When a perfectly healthy scientist falls dead of an apparent heart attack, it is up to Sarasota Police Detective Lieutenant Gary Lariviere to find out what really happened. The scientist was working on Nanotechnology, a secret desired by everyone from the Government to the Mob. There are too many suspects, including the woman that Gary comes to love. The Army had made Gary better than human, but had they prepared him for the terrors that had been unleashed by the new technology?
The Scorpion: The Scorpion had been the world’s deadliest living terrorist. Kestral McMann had been in on the kill. Now The Scorpion is back as a mind upload, using clones to penetrate the tight security of an isolationist United States. McMann is the only man who can stop him. But can McMann survive the threat of his own side, and the insane President who leads the Nation, in time to stop The Scorpion from plunging the Great Satan back into the Stone Age.
The Shadows of the Multiverse: Something has been periodically wiping intelligence from our Universe through the ages. It’s back, and it’s up to three unlikely heroes, the Captain of a Battle Cruiser, a Physicist turned Archeologist, and a Child, to save the intelligence of the Universe from Monsters from another Dimension. Can they learn to use the powers of their unusual Quantum Minds to defeat creatures that have been playing the game for billions of years?
Afterlife: What if you didn’t believe in the afterlife of the World’s Religions? And what if science offered you the alternative, survival within the Virtual World of a computer, where your mental abilities are magnified and you can do anything you want? And what if the World decided that your way was wrong, and declared war on you, meaning to destroy your reality? What would you do? Afterlife, a tale of survival at all costs.
We Are Death, Come For You: When aliens strike the Tau Ceti colony, humankind knows that something bad is on the way. They prepare as best they can, but will it be enough against superior technology? The aliens are death worshippers, and only the extinction of the human race will satisfy their evil intent. There are wonders of tech on the horizon, but can they be deployed in time? Or will humankind have to depend on the smallest of their techs to save them?
The Monster: When a scientist test his new teleportation device on himself, he comes out the other side better than before. But something is missing, and the world has a new terror unleashed on it.
Fantasy
The Refuge Series
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 1: A nuclear war in Central Europe opens the gates between dimensions, sending millions of Earth Humans into a land of myth, archetypes and fantasy. The Evil Emperor of the Ellala Elves sees the humans as energy to fuel his transformation to immortality. But the humans have brought their own weapons with them, as well as a race of Demigods who will battle the fantastic armies of Refuge. The war is on, and only one side will ultimately survive.
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 2: The Ellala have a plan to destroy the human military and capture the civilians. And the humans find that their weapons will soon cease to function. So, it’s use it or lose it for the Earth Humans, and they use it with a vengeance. Tanks against Mages, Attack Helicopters against Dragons, and Nuclear Weapons against Death Gods. And the other peoples of the planet come forth as allies to the humans that they see as the fulfillment an Ancient Prophecy. But will it be enough?
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 16: The Shield. Page 27