by Richard Fox
One of the techs on the side of the room looked up from his station. “Director Hale, sir, we're receiving a transmission.”
“Put it through,” Hale said.
The star field vanished, replaced by a swirling fractal pattern of multicolored lights.
“What are you?” a voice asked. The swirling fractals pulsed and shifted colors with each word.
“My name is Ken Hale, Director of human colony Terra Nova. To whom am I speaking?”
“What have you done with the exiles?”
Hale frowned. “I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.”
“The Poison in the Water. The Shadow Around the Light. The Supreme Failure. The Exiled Ones who have been silent this past age of peace and prosperity. Where are they?”
“You mean the Triumvirate?” Hale asked. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You set them free.”
It was a statement not a question.
“No, we—”
“By the Sacred Intelligence, speak the truth and we shall be merciful. What have you done with the Exiled Ones?”
Hale looked over the faces of his staff, as if looking for an answer. Finally, he said, “I know you're probably not going to believe me when I say this, but I don't know. They disappeared from Negev’s orbit many days ago in a ship that appeared to travel faster than the speed of light. We don’t know where they went.”
The fractals pulsed red. “Do you know what you’ve done? What they’re capable of?”
Hale squeezed the rail around the holo tank. “We are aware of what this Triumvirate is capable of. They enslaved the fi—our people and we have only recently broken free from their control. If you’re going to hunt them down, we’re interested in helping you.”
“What is your species…you’re not Zeis. How have you escaped the Sacred Intelligence’s knowledge?” The fractals went still and everyone around the table exchanged confused glances.
The fractals disappeared, replaced by the star field.
“Transmission terminated,” the staffer announced.
“We’re picking up additional energy spikes near the Negev system,” Hue said.
Carson watched as clusters of additional red dots appeared on the holo-map, above Negev.
“Another fleet?” Hale asked.
Commander Edison moved to one of the stations along the side of the room. He peered over the shoulder of its operator. “It's difficult to say if they’re exact, but the signatures are similar to the ships already in orbit.”
“God, I wish we’d brought the Breitenfeld with us,” Marie said.
Heads nodded around the table, accompanied by murmurs of agreement.
“We’re receiving another transmission, Director.”
“Oh…good.” Hale squeezed his temples. “Put it through.”
The hollow map vanished again, this time replaced by an alien that resembled the Netherguard, but its skull was smoother, less bestial. A crown of ridged bone stretched from the top of its eye sockets back over its skull. Gold rings hung from bone outcroppings along its forehead and above where human ears would be. Its eyes, sunk back into deep sockets, glowed, one green and one orange.
“By order of the True Ultari Empire,” the alien said, “you will tell us why we detected a warp signature from this world.” The Ultari’s head pulled back slightly. “What are you?”
Light around the alien’s face went red and guttural shouts spilled over the open channel. The image blinked out, again replaced by the holo-map.
“Just a guess,” Marie said, “but we seem to have a mess on our hands.”
“Pull all the data you can,” Hale said. “Give us some sort of technical read out on their ships. Their communications are coming to us from Negev in almost real time. There should be a…three-minute delay. So they’ve got faster than light communications as well.”
Two minutes later, the plot on first group of alien ships lurched toward the new arrivals.
“We’re watching the battle on lag,” Marie said.
“They could be here before we see them leave,” Hale said.
“Sir,” Commander Edison said. “The fleets are moving; it looks like they're converging on each other.”
“More energy spikes, Colonel. I think they’re firing on each other,” Hue said.
Hale turned to Marie. “What's the status on our bunkers?”
His wife shook her head. “A handful are up and running. The rest won't be finished for another couple of days, a week on the outside.”
Hale pursed his lips, breathing deeply through his nose. “I want every militia leader here in ten minutes. Have the medical staff start handing out stems and start getting people sobered up. Terra Nova is the only home we've got, and we’re not going to give it up without a fight.” He turned his attention to Carson. “Is your team ready to jump back into the fray?”
“Pathfinders light the darkness, sir.”
He nodded. “Good. Get your team together and report back here.”
Carson snapped off a salute, then turned and set out to bring her team the bad news.
****
Sergeant Ricks shivered as a cold breeze blew through his guard shack. A weather front had moved in after almost a week of heavy rain, turning their once temperate clime into something chilly and miserable. Ricks wasn’t sure if it was the season changing or just an infantryman’s luck that he’d be out in this weather.
He lifted a mug to his lips, then cursed. Empty again. He turned away from the railing, to the small table in the corner of their small shack, and poured his sixth cup of coffee. The engineers hadn’t got around to elevating their post, and Ricks was okay with that. He didn’t much like heights and was entirely content to keep his feet on solid ground for as long as he could.
He checked the sensor screens again, and logged yet another hour of NSTR. Nothing Significant to Report.
“Shit, man, don’t you ever want to sleep?” Eaton said from his seat at the other side of the shack. He sat, legs stretched out in front of him, arms folded across his chest, his gauss rifle propped against the wall behind him.
Ricks stirred two helpings of creamer into the steaming liquid. “Like we’re going to be getting any sleep with what's going on.”
“We’re supposed to be on light duty after getting worked over by those doughies. Take it light. Still, I’d just like to know exactly what is going on. Command’s got their panties in a bunch about something. ”
“Well, that information, Private, is need to know,” Ricks said with a grin. “And we don’t need to know as we’ve not been told.”
Eaton sniffed. “Yeah, I've heard that plenty of times before. Usually right after everything goes down the crapper and I wish I’d had a few minutes of warning.”
“You should be used to it, then.”
“You ever wonder why they sold a load of crap on Terra Nova? My recruiter was from Iceland or something, a Viking. Never trust a Scandinavian when it comes to real estate. ‘Greenland,’ my ass. Don’t trust a military recruiter either. Ever. Doesn’t matter where they’re from.”
“Well, they put Hale in charge,” Ricks said. “That was a big plus for me.”
“Anyone else was in charge and I’d be too scared to sleep,”
Ricks chuckled, then took a careful sip of his coffee. He peered out into the darkness, squinting to try and see through the thick fog. Floodlights affixed to the top of their shack did little to illuminate their sector of responsibility; in fact, the powerful lights reflecting of the low-lying clouds probably made it worse, like driving with your high-beams in a snowstorm.
“I don't know how they expect us to see anything in this soup,” Ricks said. “Would’ve been better to set up motion sensors and give us infrared scanners, but no, deal with what you have, they said.”
“I hear they’re in the production queue.”
“Yeah, just like those gauss rifles we were promised before they shuttled us down here.”
“They
had manufacturing issues,” Eaton said, sitting up. “At least they took the time to give us pea shooter carbines instead of giving us faulty rifles.”
Ricks opened his mouth to respond, when something moved in his peripheral, a shadow in the fog. He turned, focusing on where he’d thought the shadow had been, but saw nothing.
“Did you see that?”
Eaton chuckled. “I thought you said you couldn't see anything.”
The shadow moved again and Ricks set his cup aside and picked up his rifle. “I think there's something out there. Call it in.”
Ricks opened the door slowly. “Who goes there?”
No one answered.
Eaton stood and leaned out over the rail next to Ricks. After a few seconds of looking, he said, “I don’t see anything.”
“I’m sure something moved out there.”
“Maybe it was an animal or something.”
Ricks shook his head without taking his eyes from the spot. “I don’t know, man, I haven’t seen any animals bigger than a cat around here the last couple of days, have you?”
“Well, no, but that doesn’t—”
“Doesn’t what?” Ricks asked.
When Eaton didn’t answer, Ricks turned. “Eaton, what—”
The rest of his words stuck in his throat as he turned to see Eaton standing there with a knife to his throat. A woman stood behind the private, face covered in sweat and dirt, her eyes locked on Ricks.
“Shut up and don’t do anything stupid,” she said.
Mind racing, Ricks tried to calculate how quickly he could bring his rifle to bear. He dismissed the idea almost immediately. The woman wouldn’t need a quarter of the time he’d need to slit his partner’s throat, and then she’d be on him.
“Whoa, whoa there, lady,” Ricks said. “You don’t look like those doughboys. We’re all friends here. Human just like you. No need to get violent.”
An arm wrapped around his neck and he felt the press of a knife against his back.
The smell of unwashed clothes and body odor almost made Ricks gag.
“Maybe we want some violence,” an old man whispered into Ricks’ ear.
The woman appeared to be in her early fifties. Her salt and pepper hair was cut short and matted to her head.
“Nice!” Ricks squeaked. “We can be nice too.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” she said. “I’m going to ask you and your friend here some questions, and you’re going to answer them truthfully and quickly. Or this interrogation will get not nice so fast you’ll wonder if you ever had all ten fingertips. I don’t have time to bullshit you and drag this whole thing out longer than it needs to be, so I’ll be quick and to the point. You give me straight answers, I won’t kill you. Understood?”
Ricks nodded. Eaton managed to just barely nod, his eyes wide in panic.
“Please,” Eaton said, his voice a whimper. “Don’t kill me.”
“Like I said, if you’re straight with me, you won’t have anything to worry about. When did you all arrive here? I don’t recognize you.”
Ricks squirmed against the knife point over his kidneys. “The Enduring Spirit made the jump weeks ago. Second wave of colonists from Earth.”
“Told you Ibarra could do it,” the man holding Ricks said.
“Did you come here to fight the Ultari?”
“I…” Ricks paused, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”
“The Netherguards, big ugly doughboys. We heard the shooting; what happened to those monsters?”
“We killed them all,” Ricks said. “Shot ‘em. Dumped the bodies in the incinerator. That OK with you?”
“Who’s in charge?”
“Hale,” Eaton said, his voice cracking.
The woman’s face went pale and she pressed the knife to Eaton’s neck.
“What did you say?” she asked.
Eaton shook his head back and forth, eyes clamped shut, lips pressed together, obviously not wanting to answer.
“You heard him,” the man said. “Let’s make it quick and get out of here.”
“No—” The grip on Ricks’ throat choked him as he tried to yell. “Hale. Ken Hale. Retired colonel, founder of the Pathfinder Corps, treaty, the guy in that damn corny movie—that Ken Hale!”
The woman held Ricks’ gaze for a long moment, as if she was trying to determine whether he was telling the truth or not. Finally, she said, “Huh.” She took the knife away from Eaton’s neck and pushed him away.
As soon as the knife was clear, Eaton lurched away from the woman, grabbing his rifle and bringing it up, leveling it at her.
This time, it was the woman’s turn to lift her arms in the air. “Easy. Had to make sure you’re all on the right side. ”
The point against Ricks’ back went away and the arm around his throat slackened. He spun around and found an old man wearing rags and a drooping beard halfway down his chest. The man took a rough wooden crutch off the wall and tucked it beneath a shoulder. He spun a combat knife in his hand and slipped it into a sheath.
“I knew that Hale on the Breitenfeld,” he said to the woman. “Brave enough. Ibarra took a liking to him.”
“Wait, you were on the Breitenfeld when?” Ricks shook his head quickly and pointed at the old man’s weapon. “How about you drop that knife too?”
“Come and get it, kid,” the old man huffed.
“Mr. Knight’s had that a hell of a lot longer than you’ve been alive, soldier,” the woman said. “Let’s all calm down. Turns out we really are friends here.” She went to the coffee table and took a long sip straight from the carafe.
“You’re part of the first colony mission, are you?” Ricks asked.
“Got it in one.”
“What do you want?” Eaton blurted out.
The woman smiled. “I want quite a bit, but first things first. I need to talk to Director Hale.”
“And what makes you think he’ll want to talk to you?”
“I have some information I’m sure he’ll want.”
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Ricks said.
The woman gave him a half smile. “You tell Hale that Shannon Martel is here and that I have information about his brother, Jared.”
The End
The story continues in Bloodlines, coming February 2018!
FROM THE AUTHORS
Hello Dear and Gentle Reader,
Thank you for reading Terra Nova. We hope you enjoyed your time with this new galaxy of heroes and villains, much more on the way!
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Also By Richard Fox:
The Ember War Saga:
1. The Ember War
2. The Ruins of Anthalas
3. Blood of Heroes
4. Earth Defiant
5. The Gardens of Nibiru
6. The Battle of the Void
7. The Siege of Earth
8. The Crucible
9. The Xaros Reckoning
Terran Armor Corps:
1. Iron Dragoons
2. The Ibarra Sanction
3. The True Measure
4. A House Divided (Coming Spring 2018!)
The Exiled Fleet Series:
1. Albion Lost
2. The Long March
3. Their Finest Hour (Coming Fall 2017!)
Read THE EMBER WAR for Free
The Earth is doomed. Humanity has a chance. Read where the saga began!
In the near future, an alien probe arrives on Earth with a pivotal mission—determine if humanity has what it takes to survive the i
mpending invasion by a merciless armada.
The probe discovers Marc Ibarra, a young inventor, who holds the key to a daring gambit that could save a fraction of Earth's population. Humanity's only chance lies with Ibarra's ability to keep a terrible secret and engineer the planet down the narrow path to survival.
Earth will need a fleet. One with a hidden purpose. One strong enough to fight a battle against annihilation.
The Ember War is the first installment in an epic military sci-fi series. If you like A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo and The Last Starship by Vaughn Heppner, then you'll love this explosive adventure with constant thrills and high stakes from cover to cover.
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Here’s a sample for you:
CHAPTER 1
THE NEAR FUTURE
Humanity’s only hope of survival entered the solar system at nearly the speed of light. The probe slowed as the sun’s heliosphere disrupted the graviton wave it rode in on from the abyss of deep space. Awakened by the sudden deceleration, the probe absorbed the electromagnetic spectrum utilized by its target species and assessed the technological sophistication of the sole sentient species on Earth.
The probe adjusted its course to take it into the system’s star. If the humans couldn’t survive—with its help—what was to come, then the probe would annihilate itself. There would be no trace of it for the enemy, and no chance of humanity’s existence beyond the time it had until the enemy arrived. The probe analyzed filed patents, military expenditures, birth rates, mathematical advancement and space exploration.
The first assessment fell within the margin of error of survival and extinction for humanity. The probe’s programming allowed for limited autonomous decision making (choice being a rare luxury for the probe’s class of artificial intelligence). The probe found itself in a position to choose between ending its mission in the sun’s fire and a mathematically improbable defense of humanity—and the potential compromise of its much larger mission.