Terranus: Origins: Book one of the 'Terranus' series.

by Joe Crouch

  “Alright people, let’s get this over with, I know how much we all love new alien interactions,” Fez said to a chorus of grumbles from the marine group, “But we have to show our faces, so best behaviours.” The familiar feeling coursed through his body as the Mar’Ell exited from slip space but before his body could stop tingling a panicked transmission came over the intercom.

  “Captain, multiple Xuron signatures detected above Terranus Prime, it looks as if they’ve brought an armada.” Sean shot up from his seated position and rushed over to the system.

  “How many ships? How is Earth coping? Is everyone alright?”

  “Terran defences seem to have eliminated a portion of the smaller ships, numbers are inaccurate at the moment but they appear to have destroyed seven ships.”

  “Seven,” he shouted, unsure if to be happy or distraught, “How many ships did they bring?”

  “Unknown at the moment, but it is a sizable flotilla,” the officer paused before continuing, “It appears as if the Xuron have landed on the surface and begun a ground assault.” Sean’s world crashed around him, his homeworld, Earth, was under invasion by a truly hostile force, he was too late to warn them, too late to do anything, he knew he had to contact general Hagen, if he could help, he would.

  “Sean…” Taris laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

  “I know, Taris,” he replied, turning to face her he grabbed her hand, “I’ve got to go and do something, I can’t wait here for Ioution reinforcements.”

  “I know you do, and I’m coming with you,” she declared. He had no words as the others to his rear strolled over and gave their support, offering their lives in the defence of the world that meant little to them, in a fight that seemed already lost. Nodding, the love and pride he felt overwhelmed him, before making a scene he raced over towards the Arrakis-two and stood at her entrance.

  “You lot coming or what then?” he smiled

  Chapter 25

  The engines aboard the Arrakis-two roared into existence, the flow of energy surged through the ship as Sean slipped into the cockpit and engaged the grav-drive. The remaining crew climbed aboard and sat themselves down as the ship readied for take-off, the tension surrounding the experienced crew was intense, they all feared the worst but knew something had to be attempted. With a crash, the ship’s hatch slammed shut and the shuttle lifted off the dirty floor. Dormant in place above the hangar bay decking he began to nudge the nose out past the protective shielding. Opening fire on the closest group of Xuron transports, the Mar’Ell’s weapons sparked through space erupting the dark sky into a rainbow of colours. He looked on as the bolts of energy slammed into the shuttles, either tearing them apart or superheating them down into giant balls of slag. The weapons exchange intensified as the Xuron caught wind of the powerful Ioution presence that had slipped in behind their line. Tendrils lashed about as the Xuron armada provided a wonderful if terrifying sight as they linked, their surfaces erupting into a flash of colour as energy coursed through the veins towards a large, central weapon.

  He wasted no time and with some mental wrangling pushed the ship out from the Mar’Ell and into space, the sheer number of vessels closing in on Earth took the crew’s breath away. “That’s an incredible amount of firepower,” Taris bemoaned, “Honestly, I’m surprised your world hasn’t already been harvested, you should be proud of the fight they’ve put up.” He could only look over and smile at the concerned Ioution that sat to his right, he knew she meant well, and he took no offence, but there was still a long way to go before the whole situation was over, one way or another.

  Warning lights illuminated his vision as the HUD inside his helmet changed to an ecliptic map surrounding Earth. It began to populate with the signatures the Mar’Ell was tracking. He stared in horror at the numbers he witnessed, new signatures continued to pop into life, marked with red diamonds as they drew closer. His attention turned to the smaller signatures that flashed into existence, they took up position between him and Earth, forming a picket line that would be almost impossible to cross.

  “Fighters,” he groaned, unconsciously grabbing the flight controls with anger, “Lots of fighters.”

  “You see any… Hammerheads, out there?” Fez asked. He couldn’t stifle a smile; he was like a proud mother hearing his own term become the norm for the crew.

  “None yet, but don’t discount it, I’ll keep the Mar’Ell informed with our readings.” Satisfied with the answer Fez slumped back into his chair, playing with the various weaponry stored below him in a large metallic container. The picket line drew ever closer; they were almost breathing down their neck but still didn’t budge, the Xuron remained resolute and held their positions. “Mar’Ell, this is Sean, if I mark some targets will you punch a hole for us?”

  “Go ahead and mark, we will be ready,” came the reply. Focusing his attention on an area of space directly ahead of them, the targeting systems acquired all the signatures within the given space and relayed them back to the Mar’Ell. It wasn’t long before streaks of bright energy screamed past the cockpit windows in a barrage of finality towards the scampering Xuron. The destruction was far from spectacular, the small shuttles seemed to melt in place, morphing into red-hot statues for him to avoid. The Mar’Ell continued her assault, the fighters tried their best to scatter in almost every direction, any that got close enough to the Arrakis-two the point defences picked up and made sure they wouldn’t become a problem.

  A lone surface defence weapon spat its rounds into the heart of the Xuron fleet, striking one cleanly in its central mass its tendrils flailed about harmlessly as minute detonations raced along the vessel’s bulkheads. The resulting explosion forced him to avert his gaze as the ship erupted into a ball of superheated gases and materials that blew outwards, smashing into nearby vessels but causing no real damage. “Whoa, did you see that?” he said in awe to Taris, shoving a finger in the direction of the destruction, “We did that, Humans.”

  “Very impressive,” Taris teased, “What are they going to do next, ask politely that they stop?”

  “What do you mean? We blew that ship away, it’s gone, look,” he pointed out the window again towards the debris.

  “You destroyed it by throwing rocks at it.”

  “And the quickest way to get downstairs is by falling, what’s your point?”

  “I… I mean… I don’t even, sure,” she conceded, letting the Human have his moment. Sean turned back to his display, proud of what his people had managed to accomplish, at least to some degree. The invasion of the surface continued as the bulky shuttles, what he assumed were troop transports, continued flooding towards Earth, erupting into balls of brilliant flame as they slammed into the thick atmosphere that engulfed the planet in a comforting blanket. One thing continued to bug him, though, where exactly is the fleet? dismayed at the lack of response from orbit. He knew Earth hadn’t lost all of their defensive vessels in the last Xuron attack, in fact, some of the battleships still remained, on pure luck, they were being retrofitted at the time. Brushing the thought aside he diverted power from weapons to the engines, the quicker they could reach Earth the sooner they could find the general and devise a defensive strategy.

  The battle raged on all around them, he danced his ship between the magnificent light show that sparked across the horizon, there may have only been a single Ioution vessel, but she was pumping out energy at a furious rate. Finally, the Xuron fighter line broke and returned to their ships, giving him the perfect opportunity to thread the needle and enter Earth’s atmosphere. It didn’t take long for the resistance to shake the ship violently as they nosedived through the exosphere into the thermosphere, the thick blanket of clouds below looked safe enough to land on with a gentle bounce. “Hold on tight everyone, things are about to get crazy,” he cried.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing,” Taris yelled over the violent motions that battered the ship, “You’re going to get us all killed, and I don’t want to go out looking at your f
ace,” she bemoaned, holding on tightly for her life. Sean craned his neck and looked at Fez, the Captain’s eyes were squeezed tight and his fingers were tearing a hole into the armrests as he clamped down hard, bracing against the fierce vibrations. Turning to look back out of the flame-enveloped cockpit he broke out in a maniacal laugh, unfazed at the actual danger they were in, he felt invincible in his exoskeleton, nothing less than a nuclear detonation would stop him now.

  Holding on through the fire and flames the ship remained relatively undamaged as they pierced through the fleecy clouds, through geoengineering the cloud formations on Earth were at much higher altitudes than in the past. The dense fluff surrounded the ship like cotton, its pearly white surface’s high albedo reflected light into the cockpit, the consoles glowed with a bright ambience. Punching out from the cloud layer, the Arrakis-two penetrated out onto a lush green landscape, towering mountains climbed towards the sky as the bright blue ocean twinkled off in the distance. “Oh wow,” Taris gushed, “You said your world had its moments but this… This is stunning,” the starry-eyed Ioution sat forwards, taking in every detail of the winding rivers below. He turned the shuttle onto a flat flight path and inverted her onto her back. “What do you call those?” she asked, pointing out the window towards the thick canopy that enveloped an entire region.

  “That’s a jungle, millions upon millions of trees gathered together, they’re a hive of hundreds of thousands of different species of life,” he beamed.

  “Incredible,” she welled up, “Your species is blessed, Sean, I hope you know that, most worlds out there are nothing compared to this.”

  “There was a time when we treated her poorly, ruined her landscapes and tore her apart for the minerals within like kids bashing a piñata, but we’ve grown up since then to respect Gaia.”

  “Gaia?” she questioned, “Is that a God of this world?”

  “No not really,” he huffed, “It’s an all-encompassing term for the environment, Mother Nature, some may say.” She grew quiet, contemplating the rigours of the world and admired its natural beauty. The first signs of battle drew in from the distance, plumes of smoke snaked into the sky from the scarred ground below, great buildings were torn apart and left as piles of rubble that littered the landscape. Local defence forces darted about the cities skies engaging with the Xuron fighters that lingered, they danced about like bees on a summer’s day, each trying to land the defining blow on the other. He watched on as the two sets of ships ducked and dove in every direction, avoiding the giant structures that littered the skyline. The weapons fire wouldn’t have been out of place on new year’s as the reds, greens, and blues danced to and from the Terran vessels, only interrupted by large tracer rounds from anti-aircraft emplacements on the ground.

  Turning the ship, he plotted a course for the Terran Fleet Headquarters, having to leave the ongoing battle behind them. “Are we not going to help?” Taris asked, her large eyes boring a hole straight into his chest.

  “We can’t,” he replied, “We’re better off finding Michael Hagen, if we’re going to coordinate with Earth forces they’re better off knowing that the new set of aliens walking around are friendlies. We tend to shun things that are different on this planet.” Taris didn’t reply, but her disappointed look said enough, he knew his race still had a lot more growing up to do before they felt comfortable allowing races like the Kesken come visit for their family holidays.

  “How long until we arrive?” Fez shouted his voice surprising Sean who had forgotten about everyone else.

  “Not long,” he replied, “In fact, I’ll try and get a communication line open again, see if it works now.” Fez nodded and sat back in his seat, relaxed at the fact that they were heading away from the fighting rather than to it. “This is Ambassador Sean Maguire, originally of the Mar’Ell, please respond.”

  “This is general Michael Hagen, it’s good to hear from you again, Sean,” Michael panted, “But how did you get this direct communication?”

  “I think you forget where I am, general,” he smirked to himself, “I’m here with some friends to assist in any way we can.”

  “We can use every hand we can get,” Michael noted, his heavy breathing punctuating every pause, “I also see the Mar’Ell is in local space, will she survive there alone?”

  “I’m not sure, general, but they’re doing everything possible to draw away attention from Earth,” he insisted, “I presume you’re at fleet HQ?”

  “I am, yes, it would be good to have some strength down here to assist, most of our men have never fired a weapon in live combat before,” the audio link was interrupted with a large explosion in the background on Michael’s end.

  “What was that?” he asked, but no response came.

  * * *

  “Report,” Michael bellowed as he pulled himself up by his console, “Get me a report now.” The room sustained damage but it appeared to be cosmetic only, the explosion had come from elsewhere within the facility. Michael looked around as the younger officers were already on their feet and extinguishing any flames that had taken hold, small piles of debris that had once been the ceiling were scattered about the floor. Brushing off his terminal he attempted to re-establish a connection with Sean, but it was no good, communications were down and the facility seemed to be in shambles.

  “General,” came a strong voice from behind Michael.

  “Yes, Officer?”

  “Reports are flooding in that another of those suicide bombers attacked our communications mainframe, backups are already online but we’re restricted to short range comms for now… Sir.” Michael nodded and let the information play over in his head a few more times before acting.

  “That’s them well into double figures now, what the hell is going on?” he demanded from no one in particular, “First surface defences now HQ communications? This group knows what they’re doing.” The Officer stood to attention, unable to offer any real explanation for what was happening, Michael waved him to be dismissed. Strolling out from the command centre, the picture that greeted him was one of panic and despair, the corridors were flooded with people dashing about, each trying to get to their designated posts now that they had sustained damage. The sprinklers overhead sprayed in every direction possible, soaking the general’s uniform from a light to dark blue. Unfazed by the water, he plodded down towards engineering, almost afraid of what he was going to find.

  The doors to engineering had been blown off, creating a large impact crater on the opposite wall. Walking in through the doorway the scene was a mess as fire licked at the walls, the thick smell of fuel giving reason to the severe secondary burn damage that most surfaces had sustained. Almost every terminal was covered in a white fire-suppressing foam, Michael would have laughed any other time, but not now.

  The epicentre of the detonation was a war zone, quite literally, the ground was charred, the large machines were ripped apart in two and the fleshy remains of the attacker were sprayed up against the communication array beside where he stood. Michael scuffed his feet along the foamy floor, making his way towards the injured personnel, but his path was interrupted by his feet kicking an object. He bent down and waved his hand about in the foam blindly, until he picked out an object, raising it up he yelped and threw it away from him, the severed arm slammed against the wall and fell back into hiding. Wiping his hands on his suit he waddled towards a stray technician and caught his attention, “Can you get me any long-range comms?” Michael asked, drawing only a blank look. The general knew he was getting nowhere, people here had more to do than ensure he got what he wanted, so with that in mind, he started to make his way back to the command centre. Why would anyone be attacking from within? How are they attacking from within? he asked himself, absent in his own mind, you need a certain level of clearance to even know about the facility, let alone enter. The whole situation made no sense to him, it was something he would have to get to the bottom of, any more of these attacks on key systems and their already pitiful defenc
e would be knocked offline.

  Returning to command, Michael drew up the list of installations that had been targeted, “Computer, display a list of all high-level planetary events that need my attention,” the machine obeyed. Sol-Defence IV – Offline read the headline of one of many reports, grabbing the visual representation of the report he swiped it to another display, opening it up in full. The report was long and arduous for anyone to read, but a plucky Private had drawn a list of bullet points at its conclusion – Terroristic actions caused by Senator Vasel Emproli, terminal damage to crucial facility operations sustained. “A senator?” he gasped, “How could this be…” flicking through a selection of the other closed reports each had their own damning evidence of high-level employees within the Terran government committing actions of treason and sabotage. “Officer Bradley, come here and make sure my eyes aren’t failing me, these are all official, right?” he asked.

  “You’re correct, Sir, they are,” the officer gulped, able to grasp the severity of the situation.

  “Dismissed,” Michael waved while slumping back into his plastic seating. The thought of Human’s doing this wreaked havoc on his emotions, on one hand, he couldn’t believe any person would be capable of these acts, but on the other he knew history repeated itself, the race he was part of had a penchant for self-destruction. He knew now was the time to get to bottom of it, at least in getting confirmation from the individual stations about the source of attacks. Rushing over to a short-range comms station, he noticed that there were only a handful of attacked stations nearby, but it would have to do. “Comms, patch me into Defence seven,” he demanded.

  “Patching in now, Sir.”

  “… general Hagen, I don’t mean to be rude but we’re under some stress, can we make this quick?” the agitated and scared face of a young officer formed on the screen, his pristine uniform was sullied with dust and grime.