Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection

by G. S. Jennsen

  AURORA RISING

  THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

  G. S. JENNSEN

  2015

  AURORA RISING

  Copyright © 2015 by G. S. Jennsen.

  Cover Design by Josef Bartoň.

  Cover Models by Taylor Thompson.

  Cover Typography by G. S. Jennsen.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Hypernova Publishing

  P.O. Box 2214

  Parker, Colorado 80134

  www.hypernovapublishing.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  The Hypernova Publishing name, colophon and logo are trademarks of Hypernova Publishing.

  Ordering Information:

  Hypernova Publishing books may be purchased for educational, business or sales promotional use. For details, contact the “Special Markets Department” at the address above.

  Aurora Rising / G. S. Jennsen.—1st ed.

  ISBN 978-0-9960141-7-5

  View the Colonized Worlds Map Online

  View the Dramatis Personae Online

  CONTENTS

  OVERTURE:

  RESTLESS, VOL. I

  An Aurora Rising Short Story

  AURORA RISING TRILOGY:

  STARSHINE

  Aurora Rising Book One

  VERTIGO

  Aurora Rising Book Two

  TRANSCENDENCE

  Aurora Rising Book Three

  CODA:

  RESTLESS, VOL. II

  An Aurora Rising Short Story

  APPENDIX:

  Interview with Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano

  (Follows STARSHINE)

  Interview with Miriam Solovy and Richard Navick

  (Follows VERTIGO)

  Interview with Caleb Marano and Noah Terrage

  (Follows TRANSCENDENCE)

  AURORA RISING

  When faced with its greatest challenge, will humanity rise to triumph or fall to ruin?

  Aurora Rising is an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, of the thrill of discovery and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible.

  SUBSCRIBE TO GSJENNSEN.COM

  Receive updates on the continuing AURORA Saga, new book announcements and more

  OVERTURE:

  RESTLESS

  VOL. I

  AN AURORA RISING SHORT STORY

  * * *

  BACK COVER BLURB

  Space is vast and untamed, and it holds many secrets. Now two individuals from opposite ends of settled space are on a collision course with the darkest of those secrets, even as the world threatens to explode around them.

  …or they will be, in about 8 years. Restless is a short story prequel to Starshine, Book One of the Aurora Rising trilogy.

  Before Alex Solovy was a successful interstellar scout, she was building starships and planning for the day when she would fly one she called her own. Before Caleb Marano was wiping out the terrorist group who murdered his mentor, he was…wiping out terrorist groups who murdered shopkeepers and threatened his friends.

  Catch a glimpse of Aurora Rising’s heroes while they were still becoming the individuals they will need to be in order to face the galactic threat which, for now, waits silently in the void.

  2314

  (EIGHT YEARS BEFORE THE EVENTS OF STARSHINE)

  * * *

  EARTH

  SAN FRANCISCO

  I QUIT.

  Alex Solovy rolled the words around in her mind, trying out different inflections and intonations and generally letting her brain grow comfortable with the notion. Not so much the words themselves as what they signified.

  Freedom, in all its wondrous and terrifying splendor.

  She was on pleasant terms with her boss at Pacifica Aerodynamics—if not necessarily her coworkers—and bore him and the enterprise he operated no particular ill will. The opposite in fact; it was a decent company as companies went, inasmuch as it hadn’t allowed two centuries worth of ship fabrication to weigh it down or stifle an innovative spirit.

  No, unlike so many legions of corporate drones she wasn’t quitting because she hated her job. She was quitting because the job had always been nothing more than a means to an end—a way to gain a fulsome understanding of and skill in operating every conceivable system to be found on a starship, plus each one’s variations, quirks and maintenance requirements.

  Two years before, she had left IS Design on Erisen because she had learned everything they had to teach her. Now she would leave Pacifica Aerodynamics for the same reason.

  Seeing as they were the two premiere civilian starship manufacturers in the Earth Alliance, the only place where she could learn the remaining—and the most important—lessons was space itself.

  She had also spent the previous four years of gainful employment saving every spare credit to pass through her account. Never one to spend frivolously on consumer trappings, she had trimmed her expenses to the bone by sharing a flat with Kennedy while on Erisen and, upon returning to San Francisco, renting a modest one-bedroom apartment in a once-and-not-yet-again-trendy neighborhood.

  The savings had built up quickly, albeit not so quickly as her innate restlessness might have liked. And now ninety-five percent of those savings had been spent on a ship of her own.

  Her ship.

  She let those words roll around exquisitely in her mind as she went to break the good news to her boss.

  SENECA

  CAVARE, CAPITAL OF THE SENECAN FEDERATION

  Caleb Marano flattened himself against the wall and readied the Daemon at his hip.

  From the other side of the entrance Samuel counted down the seconds with his fingers. When the last finger dropped Samuel activated the door and they stormed into the room.

  A makeshift office containing only a collapsible desk sitting askew and cartons stacked along both walls, the setting carried all the hallmarks of shady and transient criminal activity.

  “Pascal Abelli, you are under arrest for blackmail and extortion of a government official. You may—”

  “I don’t think so.” Abelli drew his own Daemon as footsteps pounded down the hallway behind them.

  The investigation had fallen to the Division of Intelligence because there was some question as to whether a government official, Interior Director Orsi De Campo, had in truth engaged in the crime Abelli was blackmailing him to keep secret—selling Federation secrets to the Triene cartel. If the Director had not done so, the pertinent question became how classified material had found its way into Pascal Abelli’s hands.

  Samuel shot Abelli before the gun made it halfway up. Caleb stayed by the entrance, waited a beat, then threw an elbow backwards to smash the face of the guard who burst through the doorway, knocking the man flat on his back as blood gushed from a crushed nasal septum.

  He spun and fired
as the guard tried to get up, confiscated the man’s gun and tossed it to Samuel. Next he crouched to search the now unconscious form for other weapons.

  Laser fire streaked above his head. He lunged forward to tackle the second guard at the knees when the opposite wall turned red in a spray of blood propelled out of the hole burned through the man’s chest. The body collapsed to the floor.

  After Caleb checked to confirm the hallway harbored no further attackers, he climbed to his feet and found Samuel lowering the gun Caleb had tossed to him, his personal shield sparking with residual energy dissipation.

  “Guess his gun wasn’t set to stun. And I thought I might actually get to finish this op without having to kill anyone.”

  “When was the last time that happened?”

  “Too long ago to remember, seems like.” Samuel flipped Abelli’s prone body onto his stomach and secured his arms in wrist restraints. “This guy’s a lard-ass. Help me drag him out?”

  Caleb wiped stray blood off his cheek using his shirt before grabbing hold of the unconscious man’s left arm. Together they hauled him past the two guards and down the hallway.

  “Thanks for tagging along with me tonight—turns out I did need the backup. Logistics ought to be here by the time we get outside. I’d invite you to go get a beer or four, but I suspect I’m going to be ass-deep in red tape for hours. Killing politicians, their friends or even their enemies always means mountains of bureaucracy.”

  A beer or four would serve well to calm the adrenaline still coursing hot through Caleb’s veins and the agitated energy which inevitably lingered longer than it should after such confrontations.

  But there was more than one way to appease the restlessness.

  “It’s all good. I’ve got plans on Romane later.” ‘Plans’ was perhaps a strong word, but Samuel didn’t need to know that. “Next time?”

  Samuel grunted as they lugged Abelli around another corner. “Next time it is.”

  ERISEN

  EARTH ALLIANCE COLONY

  “Are you ready?”

  “For fuck’s sake, Ken, I’ve been waiting a month for the ship to be finished. I am beyond ready.”

  Kennedy Rossi rolled her eyes as they approached one of the hangar bays at IS Design’s production facility. “I just don’t want you to faint when you see it or anything.”

  “I’ve never fainted in my life. Why on Earth would I faint now?”

  “Well….” Kennedy entered a code on the panel beside the interior bay entrance and let the door slide open.

  Alex crossed the threshold, at which point all other thoughts vacated her mind as her perception narrowed, transfixed by the vision exposed before her.

  The ship gleamed a charcoal two shades from black. All curves and edges, the broad midsection flared out to expansive wings which housed—or would soon house—a plethora of instruments and sensors. From an aesthetic viewpoint, the silhouette resembled an Indian Black Eagle preparing to swoop upon its prey.

  Her gaze ran bow to stern and back again. Though a small vessel by any objective measure, here in the hangar it loomed large and powerful to dominate its environs.

  “You’re blocking the door, Alex.”

  “I know I’m blocking the door. Give me a minute.”

  She had to credit the engineers. She had provided them a design, and they had brought it to life more vividly than it had ever existed in her imagination. A grin spread across her face as she at last approached the ship.

  “You would not believe how much grumbling I caught from, well, everyone on the project. ‘Nobody makes ships like this,’ ‘We’ll never fit slots for so many instruments on the frame,’ ‘I’ve never even heard of this material’…on and on it went.”

  Alex ignored her to run a hand along the hull, following it all the way to the sLume drive suspended beneath a gracefully tapered tail section. Though faster than eighty percent of civilian drives, it was a previous-generation model and the most she could afford right now.

  Everything was designed with an affinity toward continual iterative transformation, though, and if all went according to plan she’d be able to upgrade it soon enough. This was the case for many of the on-board components: solid, quality last-gen equipment she intended would one day be replaced by the state of the art.

  But the ship…the ship holding them was one of a kind.

  She traced the hull to the hatch. Already keyed to her, it opened at her touch. She was vaguely cognizant of Kennedy trailing her up the ramp, then rather more cognizant of it when she halted at the top and Kennedy bumped into her and sent her skidding into the cabin.

  She stood silently in the center of the cabin for several seconds…then she was laughing and twirling around in the cavernous open space like a carefree child. “Ken, look. This is amazing!”

  Her best friend leaned against the cabin wall to watch the rare display of exuberance in amusement. “So it’s what you wanted?”

  “Well, I’ll need to run diagnostics on the mechanical systems and confirm the HUD layout and test all the modules against my specs and I hope like hell the engineering core’s wiring isn’t a complete disaster…” she glanced at Kennedy to find her wearing a mock glare “…but yes. It’s exactly what I wanted. It’s—it’s everything I wanted. Thank you.”

  “You are most welcome. But we hardly worked gratis. You paid my company bucket-loads of credits for it.”

  “True, but those bucket-loads were a scintilla above cost, so I’ll double-down on the ‘thank you.’ I could not have commissioned this ship if it had included a retail markup.”

  “You’ve given the designers here some clever ideas to pursue. I predict we will soon recoup the initial loss in profit.”

  “Hmm.” Alex scrutinized the main cabin once more before arching an eyebrow. “Want to go somewhere? Take her for a test run?”

  Kennedy made a show of considering the question. “Only if we go somewhere with top-shelf shopping. I need new shoes. Lots of new shoes.”

  “Well I’m broke now, so I’ll be a poor shopping partner.”

  “That’s fine, I don’t require an enabler. I’ll do plenty of buying for both of us.”

  Alex pondered it a moment. “Romane?”

  Kennedy’s face lit up. “Romane.”

  ROMANE

  INDEPENDENT COLONY

  “Caleb, this is a surprise.” Mia Requelme’s lips curled up in an expression somewhere between delight and anticipation. “A pleasant one, naturally.”

  He placed a kiss at her temple then stepped a respectful distance away, as they had an audience. “How are you? It’s been a few months.”

  “I’m good. I signed a lease last week on a new retail location. I’m expanding the store.” She gestured at the cramped, cluttered space to emphasize the necessity of the act.

  He wasn’t surprised. It had taken her a few months to get her feet under her after arriving on Romane, but once she had it was off to the races. In less than five years she had gone from renting a cubbyhole behind a flat to a five-room apartment, from trading secondhand gear in the flea market to owning a custom tech shop in an upscale neighborhood. And he suspected she was barely getting started.

  Mia checked the two customers browsing her shelves then leaned in close to murmur in his ear. “I’m devastated to say I can’t leave for another five hours. I only have part-time help, and said help is currently on vacation.”

  He chuckled; she had obviously deduced why he was here. “Well, I don’t—”

  Mia’s eyes darted to the entrance, her expression darkening. He turned to see what had distracted her.

  A man hovered a step inside the store. His scruffy appearance and grungy clothes set him apart from not only the other customers but everyone in a six-block radius. They marked him as a thug.

  Caleb demanded the entrant’s attention with his eyes and held it hostage with a sharp, silent stare.

  The man balked under the scrutiny. He glared at Mia and departed.

  “So an
yway—”

  “What just happened?”

  “Nothing. As I was saying—”

  “Mia….”

  She blew out an exasperated breath. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

  Now he demanded her attention, though in a far softer manner. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  “Not at all. I can take care of myself.”

  “I know you can. So tell me what it was about.”

  She drew him to the rear wall of the shop, farther from her customers’ hearing. “He’s an enforcer for this upstart local gang. They’ve gotten it in their heads they’re going to run a protection racket.” She sighed in blatant disgust. “Even here, at the center of a pillar of our civilization, there are still goons and delinquents lurking in the shadows.”

  “Are you paying them?”

  “No. But….”

  “But?”

  “I’m starting to think it may be better for me to simply do so and be done with it.” Her gaze slid away as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. Her arms crossed over her chest. “They’re low-rent scum, but they have muscle. They’ve gotten violent against several of the more recalcitrant store owners. Two have ended up in the hospital, and…the last person who said ‘no’ more than twice ended up dead.”

  “Okay, that’s it.” He pivoted toward the door, but was halted by her hand grasping his wrist.

  “Caleb, please don’t. This isn’t your fight. The police are investigating, and if they don’t handle it, I will.”

  “Mia, this is what I do. Let me help you.”