Dissonance: Aurora Renegades Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 5)

by G. S. Jennsen

  “At this rate, such an outcome won’t take so long…though we are nearly out of soldiers to use the weapons the Gods provide.”

  “No, you misunderstand. I’m not talking about you killing each other off thousands at a time. If you don’t stop fighting and soon, all this—” she waved an arm at the sky “—all the planets, stars and Khokteh alive today will vanish from the cosmos as if they never existed at all. This is what your gods have planned for you.”

  Her expression was stern enough to cower the mightiest warrior into submission, and Pinchu wilted beneath it. His gruff voice faltered. “You ask me to make peace with the monsters who did this?”

  She didn’t even look around at ‘this.’ “Yes. The alternative is extinction. There’s no coming back from that—no new weapon to fire when no one is left and you’ve no universe left to fire it in.

  “Pinchu, you have one last chance to stand up and say, ‘Stop. No more. We want to live.’ You can’t undo the past, but you can give your people a future.”

  He regarded them silently, then wandered several meters away to poke his feet at debris. “What if the Tapertse refuse to talk? How do I make them listen?”

  Caleb went over and clasped Pinchu on his intact shoulder. “We’ll help you.”

  51

  IRELTSE

  KAMEN PORTAL SPACE

  * * *

  THE TEMPLE ON THE OUTSKIRTS of the city remained standing, not so much as a chink in its columns amid all the destruction wrought so near to it.

  Had Iapetus’ Tapertse incarnation warned its subjects not to defile religious landmarks? She absolutely would not put it past the Metigen to do exactly that.

  An ominous full moon bathed the temple in a crimson sheen, a reflection of the blood spilt at the behest of the entity it celebrated.

  Alex took Caleb’s hand in hers, and together they climbed the steps to the dais.

  They’d be returning home in the morning, later than they should but as soon as they dared, in the hope they could restore a measure of sanity to clearly insane people. But first there was one last matter to take care of here.

  She reached into the recess at the center of the long table and pressed the metal ring without fanfare.

  It took Iapetus longer to appear this time. The alien had probably not been expecting any additional summons. As before, the Metigen’s transformation into a vague Khokteh form halted on awareness of their presence.

  You do get around, don’t you, little fledglings. One can hardly keep up with all the commotion you’ve generated.

  Could the alien be more condescending? She stood tall to fix her glare on its pulsing lights. “That’s the idea. Now we’re here to make damn sure you see and acknowledge what’s happened here in the last several days. The Khokteh worlds have made peace with one another. Ireltse and Tapertse have laid down their weapons and agreed to help rebuild Nengllitse alongside their own cities. Their war is over.”

  For today, perhaps. Their brutal, violent disposition will not allow it to remain so for long.

  “Maybe, maybe not, but we’ll all get to find out, because you will not shut this Enisle down. No one will—not you, not Lakhes or any other Metigen, not your Idryma. The Khokteh are under our protection.”

  What—

  “Here’s the thing: everyone deserves a chance to live. Not just those from Amaranthe. You—all of you Metigens—have never grasped this, but we are going to make you honor it nonetheless. Humanity will fight you to protect the lives of the Khokteh, and any other species you threaten. Now and forever.”

  She gulped in air, flush with righteous indignation and emboldened by Caleb’s encouraging touch at her waist. “We saved ourselves from the decimation you intended to mete out on us, and now we’ll do the same for others. Because life—the very existence of it—is precious, no matter where it came from or who created it.”

  Iapetus’ already nebulous form swelled and agitated around the dais.

  Who are you to believe you can make demands of the Idryma?

  She was aghast at the alien’s continued arrogance, but Caleb just smirked with a brazen, fierce certitude. It was beautiful. “We’re the people who are going to help you win your war. But you’re playing by our rules now.”

  You dare—

  A second Metigen arrived from the darkness in a rush of brilliant ice blue lights, displaying its winged form so distinctly she didn’t need to peer into the quantum space to confirm it was Mesme.

  Enough, Iapetus. It has been decided.

  Mesme shifted to face them directly. Caleb, Alexis, we accept your offer of assistance and, within reason, your terms for it. This Enisle will not be tampered with further. If the Khokteh perish in the future, it will truly be of their own doing.

  She squeezed Caleb’s hand, sensing his relief flow and merge with her own. “Then answer a few questions for us. Please. Who is your war against? Who are your oppressors?”

  There is no war today, only the dream of a future one—of a war which will free not merely the Katasketousya, but all beings of Amaranthe. Our oppressor is as you deduced: the Anaden. They have been so for many long aeons.

  Caleb stepped forward, not in intimidation but rather vehemence. “But who are the Anaden? What are they, to be so powerful they can oppress you? If you want us to help you, we have to know.”

  Mesme morphed and shifted until it presented the humanoid form it had taken on Portal Prime when they first met.

  They are you, and you are they.

  Caleb’s expression conveyed unmitigated shock. He growled a single, stunned word. “What?”

  Humans are the genetic recreation of the Anaden, Aurora a recreation of their beginnings.

  It, and you, were designed and spawned so we might study the enemy until we understood its nature, and in so doing decipher how the Anaden evolved into the host of monsters and tyrants they have become.

  It was our hope that if we accomplished all these things, we might discover a way to defeat our enemy. The enemy of all sapient beings.

  Silence hummed in the ghostly night air for endless seconds.

  Finally Alex sank against the dais table with a dramatic sigh. “Well, fuck.”

  TO BE CONTINUED IN

  THE THRILLING CONCLUSION OF

  AURORA RENEGADES

  ABYSM

  ***

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  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I published Starshine in March of 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since that time I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do exactly that, and there has never been a more wonderful and humbling experience in my life. There’s no way to properly thank you for that support, but know you changed my life and made my dreams a reality.

  I’ll make the same request now. If you loved DISSONANCE, tell someone. If you bought the book on Amazon, consider leaving a review. If you downloaded the book off a website with Russian text in the margins and pictures of cartoon video game characters in the sidebar, consider recommending it to others.

  As I’ve said before, reviews are the lifeblood of a book’s success, and there is no single thing that will sell a book better than word-of-mouth. My part of this deal is to write a book worth talking about—your part of the deal is to do the talking. If you all keep doing your bit, I get to write a lot more books for you.

  This time I’m also going to make a second request. Dissonance was an independently published novel, written by one person and worked on by a small team of colleagues. Right now there are thousands of writers out there chasing this same dream.

  Go to Amazon and surf until you find an author you like the sound of. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing those authors’ lives by giving visibility to people who until recent
ly were shut out of publishing, but who have something they need to say. It’s a revolution, and it’s waiting on you.

  Lastly, I love hearing from my readers. Seriously. Just like I don’t have a publisher or an agent, I don’t have “fans.” I have readers who buy and read my books, and friends who do that then reach out to me through email or social media. If you loved the book—or if you didn’t—let me know. The beauty of independent publishing is its simplicity: there’s the writer and the readers. Without any overhead, I can find out what I’m doing right and wrong directly from you, which is invaluable in making the next book better than this one. And the one after that. And the twenty after that.

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  APPENDIX A

  SUPPLEMENTAL

  MATERIAL

  (UPDATED)

  Updated Portal Network Map can be viewed online at: Mosaic Map - Post-Dissonance

  (UPDATED)

  Updated Dramatis Alienorum can be viewed online at: Alien Characters - Dissonance

  The Timeline can be viewed online at: What Is Aurora Rhapsody?

  APPENDIX B

  AURORA RISING

  DETAILED SYNOPSIS

  (Also Available Online)

  * * *

  STARSHINE

  BY THE YEAR 2322, humanity has expanded into the stars to inhabit over 100 worlds spread across a third of the galaxy. Though thriving as never before, they have not discovered the key to utopia, and societal divisions and conflict run as deep as ever.

  Two decades ago, a group of breakaway colonies rebelled to form the Senecan Federation. They fought the Earth Alliance, won their independence in the Crux War and began to rise in wealth and power.

  Now a cabal of powerful individuals within both superpowers and the criminal underground set in motion a plot designed to incite renewed war between the Alliance and Federation. Olivia Montegreu, Liam O’Connell, Matei Uttara and others each foment war for their own reasons. One man, Marcus Aguirre, manipulates them all, for only he knows what awaits humanity if the plot fails.

  Alexis Solovy is a starship pilot and explorer. Her father, a fallen war hero, gave his life in the Crux War. As Operations Director for Earth Alliance Strategic Command (EASC), her mother Miriam Solovy is an influential military leader. But Alex seeks only the freedom of space and has made a fortune by reading the patterns in the chaos to uncover the hidden wonders of the stars from her cutting-edge scout ship, the Siyane.

  Caleb Marano is an intelligence agent for the Senecan Federation. His trade is to become whatever the situation requires: to lie, deceive, outwit and if necessary use lethal force to bring his target to justice. Clever and enigmatic, he’s long enjoyed the thrill and danger his job brings, but now finds himself troubled by the death of his mentor.

  On Earth, Alex is preparing for an expedition to the Metis Nebula, a remote region on the fringes of explored space, when she receives an unexpected offer to lead the Alliance’s space exploration program. After a typically contentious meeting with her mother, she refuses the job.

  On Seneca, Caleb returns from a forced vacation spent with his sister Isabela and her daughter Marlee. Fresh off eradicating the terrorist group who murdered his mentor, he receives a new mission from Special Operations Director Michael Volosk: conduct a threat assessment on disturbing readings originating from the Metis Nebula.

  While Alex and Caleb separately travel toward Metis, a Trade Summit between the Alliance and Federation begins on the resort world of Atlantis. Colonel Richard Navick, lifelong friend of the Solovys and EASC Naval Intelligence Liaison, is in charge of surveillance for the Summit, but unbeknownst to him, the provocation for renewed war will begin under his watch.

  Jaron Nythal, Asst. Trade Director for the Federation, abets the infiltration of the Summit by the assassin Matei Uttara. Matei kills a Federation attaché, Chris Candela, and assumes his identity. On the final night of the Summit, he poisons Alliance Minister of Trade Santiagar with a virus, which overloads his cybernetics, causing a fatal stroke. Matei escapes in the ensuing chaos.

  Shortly after departing Seneca, Caleb is attacked by mercenary ships. He defeats them, but when he later encounters Alex’s ship on the fringes of Metis, he believes her to be another mercenary and fires on her. She destroys his ship, though not before suffering damage to her own, and he crashes on a nearby planet. She is forced to land to effect repairs; recognizing her attacker will die without rescue, she takes him prisoner.

  Richard Navick and Michael Volosk each separately scramble to uncover the truth of the Santiagar assassination while Olivia Montegreu, the leader of the Zelones criminal cartel, schemes with Marcus Aguirre to implement the next phase in their plan. Olivia routes missiles provided by Alliance General Liam O’Connell to a group of mercenaries.

  Fighting past distrust and suspicion, Alex and Caleb complete repairs on the Siyane using salvaged material from the wreckage of his ship. Having gained a degree of camaraderie and affection, if not quite trust, they depart the planet in search of answers to the mystery at the heart of Metis.

  What they discover is a scene from a nightmare—an armada of monstrous alien ships emerging from a massive portal, gathering a legion in preparation for an invasion.

  Meanwhile, Olivia’s mercenaries launch a devastating attack on the Federation colony of Palluda. Disguised to look like a strike by Alliance military forces, the attack has the desired effect of inciting war. The Federation retaliates by leveling an Alliance military base on Arcadia, and the Second Crux War has begun.

  Alex and Caleb flee the Metis Nebula to warn others of the impending threat, only to learn war has broken out between their respective governments. Caleb delivers information about the alien threat to Volosk. He informs the Director of Intelligence, Graham Delavasi, who alerts the Federation government Chairman Vranas and the military’s supreme commander, Field Marshal Gianno. Forced to focus on the new war with the Alliance for now, they nonetheless dispatch a stealth infiltration team to investigate Metis.

  Caleb is requested to accompany the team and return to Metis, only Alex refuses to drop him off on her way to Earth. Tensions flare, but Caleb realizes he’s emotionally compromised even as Alex realizes she must let him go. Instead, he agrees to go to Earth with her, and together with Volosk they devise a plan to try to bring a swift end to the war by exposing its suspicious beginnings.

  The plan goes awry when Caleb is arrested shortly after they arrive—by Alex’s mother—after his true identity is leaked to Richard by those in league with Marcus.

  While Caleb is locked away in a detention facility, his friend Noah Terrage is recruited by Olivia to smuggle explosives to Vancouver. Possessing a conscience, he refuses. The infiltration team sent by the Federation to Metis vanishes as the Second Crux War escalates.

  Alex is forced to choose between her government, her family and what she knows is right. She turns to her best friend, Kennedy Rossi, and their old hacker acquaintance, Claire Zabroi. Plans in place, Alex presents her evidence on the alien armada to a skeptical EASC Board. Their tepid reaction leads to a final confrontation with her mother and a final plea to focus on the true threat.

  Alex hacks military security and breaks Caleb out of confinement. Allegiances declared and choices made, they at last give in to the passion they feel for one another. Despite lingering resentment toward the Federation for her father’s death and fear that Caleb is merely playing a role, she agrees to accompany him to Seneca to find another way to combat the looming invasion.

  Caleb appeals to his friend and former lover, Mia Requelme, for help in covering their tracks. She hides the Siyane safely away on Romane while Alex and Caleb travel to Seneca. Secretly, Caleb asks Mia to hack the ship while they are gone to g
rant him full access and flying privileges, something Alex zealously guards for herself, and Mia uses her personal Artificial, Meno, to break the encryption on the ship.

  On Earth, Richard wrestles with unease and doubt as he begins to believe Alex’s claims about the origin of the war. He confesses his dilemma to his husband, Will Sutton. Will urges him to work to bring about peace and offers to convey Santiagar’s autopsy report to Alex in the hope the Senecan government can find in it evidence to prove the assassination was not their doing.

  Volosk meets with Caleb and Alex, and they hand over the autopsy report Will forwarded and all the raw data they recorded on the aliens. In return Volosk arranges meetings with the highest levels of leadership.

  As Alex and Caleb enjoy a romantic dinner, EASC Headquarters is destroyed in a massive bombing executed by agents of Olivia and Marcus. Though intended to be killed in the attack, due to a last minute scheduling conflict Miriam Solovy is not on the premises. Instead EASC Board Chairman Alamatto perishes, along with thousands of others. On the campus but outside Headquarters, Richard narrowly escapes critical injury.

  Within minutes of the bombing, Caleb and Alex are ambushed by mercenaries in downtown Cavare. Caleb kills them all in dramatic fashion, but unbeknownst to him Alex was injured by a stray shot. In the panic of the moment he mistakes her shell-shocked behavior for fear of the killer he has revealed himself to be.

  Heartbroken but determined to protect her, he flees with her to the Intelligence building. Upon arriving there, they find the unthinkable—Michael Volosk has been murdered, his throat slit in the parking lot.