by M. D. Cooper
TANIS RICHARDS:
BLACKEST NIGHT
ORIGINS OF DESTINY – BOOK 3
BY M. D. COOPER
Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers
Jim Dean
Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn
Gene Bryan
David Wilson
Lee Bessing
Scott Reid
Marti Panikkar
Steven Blevins
Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper
Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper
Version 1.0.0
Cover Art by Andrew Dobell
Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books
Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper
All rights reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREVIOUSLY IN ORIGINS OF DESTINY…
MAPS
CREW OF THE KIRBY JONES
ACRONYMS, NAMES, AND COLLOQUIALISMS
OURANOS
RESIGNATION
BOARDING PARTY
THANKS BUT NO THANKS
CONFESSIONS
CRANTOR
A DRINK WITH NO ONE
DEFERRED
THE MISSIVE
REPERCUSSIONS
DERAILED
ADMIRAL MIKAYLA
CONSIDERATIONS
INTERROGATE
HYPERION
TENTH
A DATE WITH SATURN
NEW AMSTERDAM
TANK
SEEKING TANIS
BOAT RIDE
BREAKFAST
ESCALATION
COLLUSION
BACKUP
COMING IN HOT
PONTOON 4
KABOOM
UNWILLING
RESCUE
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY
MEET WITH TEAM
AN YLL WYNDE
THE BOOKS OF AEON 14
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOREWORD
Chances are that you are not reading these stories in the order I’m writing them in. That’s more than OK, and I’m almost envious of folks that get to see all of Tanis’s growth in chronological order.
As I’m writing the Origins of Destiny series, I’m also writing the Orion War series, which features a much older Tanis, who is dealing with a whole other set of problems than her younger self.
I’m especially enjoying the ability this gives me to keep her many stages of personal development in mind, and contrast them appropriately.
One thing I often think regarding Tanis is the old curse, “May you lead an interesting life.” That certainly applies to her.
Even in childhood, Tanis was special. Born with mental L1 abilities, she was selected at a young age for post-adolescent L2 enhancements. She received the Link at the earliest age possible, and prior to that, had used ocular overlays to more fully interface with the digital world around her.
Growing up knowing she was about as engineered as a person could be, she has always striven to stay ‘real’, not losing herself in virtual sims, or give herself over to fruitless endeavors.
Though her father wanted her to enter the business world, Tanis felt that she didn’t want to be a pawn in the corporate world. Partially because she wanted to make a positive impact, and partially to spite her father, she joined the military.
That one act of rebellion on the part of a willful young woman will be instrumental in shaping humanity’s future.
But big things don’t start big. They start small and gain mass, momentum, purpose.
I hope you enjoy these stories of Tanis’s youth, and the unacknowledged work she did in keeping the Sol System from tearing itself apart in the 41st century, I know I am.
Not only do we get to see Tanis when she’s younger and more vulnerable, we get to take a tour through the Sol System at the height of its golden age and imagine wonders unlike any we’ve ever conceived before.
Welcome to Sol, circa 4085.
Michael Cooper
Danvers, 2018
PREVIOUSLY IN ORIGINS OF DESTINY…
Aeon 14 is a portrayal of the future I hope our race will occupy. It’s not a perfect place—because we are not perfect—but it is a future where humanity (and our creation, the AIs) has managed to learn well enough how to survive, expanding out into the far reaches of the Sol System, and even to other stars.
At the time this story takes place, it is just over two thousand years from now. Lives are measured in centuries, and trillions of humans fill the Sol System.
Mega-structures have been built, such as the Mars 1 Ring and High Terra, which encircle entire worlds. Humans have terraformed many planets, and even changed the orbits of some.
The Sol System (what you know as the ‘Solar System’) is divided into a few major political bodies, all under the umbrella of the Sol Space Federation.
InnerSol (everything up to and including the asteroid belt) is under the umbrella of The Terran Hegemony—with the notable exception of the Marsian Protectorate.
OuterSol (Which includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) falls generally under the Jovian Combine. Beyond Neptune’s orbit is the Scattered Worlds Alliance, a loose conglomeration of the hundreds of small planetoids which fill the outer reaches of the Sol System (NASA currently estimates that there are over two hundred dwarf planets out there, and very likely at least one large major planet, which is named Nibiru in Aeon 14).
Our story follows Tanis Richards, a commander in the Terran Space Force (For the military folks, that makes her an O-3). Tanis is an enhanced human with an augmented mind (L2 status) and a highly modified body.
Having been born and raised on Mars’s low gravity, she’s tall and willowy, but her bones and muscles have been enhanced to give her a strength that few 21st century humans have.
She shares her mind with Darla, and is one of the first L2 humans to receive an AI—all of which is classified by the military.
Moreover, Tanis has two masters. As captain of the Kirby Jones, she reports up to the 121st Fleet command, but she’s also an operative for Division 99, the Terran Space Force’s military intelligence and counterinsurgency division. With the acronym MICI, people in Tanis’s work are often called Mickies.
In the previous book, someone tried to kill Tanis and replace her with an Infiltrator Chameleon—a machine made to mimic a given human and usually do something bad. In this case, that “something bad” was kill the Jovian Oligarch while wearing Tanis’s face.
Tanis worked to stop the Infiltrator Chameleon and was aided by Harm (her handler in Division 99) and Connie, her Chief of Boat on the Kirby Jones.
Ultimately, they saved Oligarch Alden’s life, and Tanis was able to reclaim her own place on the Kirby Jones.
Rogue elements in the Scattered Worlds Space Force are suspected of being behind the attempt on the oligarch’s life, and Tanis is now tasked with gathering evidence in OuterSol that will point toward who is behind the problems that have begun to plague the Sol System.
MAPS
Find full-size maps at www.aeon14.com/maps.
CREW OF THE KIRBY JONES
Note: This book takes place during the years of the TSF’s military division unification process. This explains why you see some odd ranks, such as Connie being a Technical Sergeant and an E7, while not a Chief Petty Officer. You’ll see some other odd ranks mixed together, and the absence of a rank of Captain.
Flight Crew
Ship’s Captain - Commander Tanis Richards (O-3)
Ship’s AI – Lovell
Helm Officer - Lieutenant Jeannie (O-1)
Weapons and Scan – Lieutenant James Smythe (O-2)
Chief Engineer – Technical Sergeant Connie (E-7)
Engineer – Spaceman Seamus (E-3)
Engineer – Spaceman Liam (E-3)
Breach Crew
Team Leader – Corporal Marian (E-4)
Team Member – Private Second Class Yves (E-2)
Team Member – Private First Class Susan (E-3)
Team Member – Private First Class Lukas (E-3)
Other Returning Characters
Harm Ellis – Tanis’s contact in Division 99 and her handler. Harm is also undercover with Enfield.
Admiral Kocsis – Commander of the 814th and 121st Fleets, and Colonel Higgs’ commander.
Alden – Oligarch of the Jovian Combine. Head of the JC government.
ACRONYMS, NAMES, AND COLLOQUIALISMS
Combine – Alternative name for the Jovian Combine.
Disker – A citizen of the Scattered Worlds Alliance
JC – Jovian Combine. This is the region of the Sol System that extends from 4AU to roughly 40AU from Sol.
Jovian – A citizen of the Jovian Combine.
JSF – Jovian Space Force
Marsian – A citizen of the Marsian Protectorate.
Marsian Protectorate – The region of space that stretches one light minute to either side of Mars’ orbit. The Protectorate is a sovereign state in the SSF.
NSAI – Non-sentient AI
SAI – Sentient AI
SDA – Sometimes the SWA is referred to as the SDA (Scattered Disk Alliance).
SSF – Sol Space Federation. The governing body that oversees the entire Sol System.
SWSF – Scattered Worlds Space Force
SWA – Scattered Worlds Alliance. This is the region of the Sol System that extends from just beyond Neptune’s orbit to the edge of the Sol System.
Terra – Earth and its nearspace objects. This includes Earth, High Terra (the artificial ring around Earth) and Luna.
Terran – A citizen of the Terran Hegemony.
Terran Hegemony – The dominant state in the Sol System. Excepting the Marsian Protectorate, it extends from The Sun to the 4AU boundary with OuterSol. Major worlds are Venus, Terra, and Ceres.
TSF – Terran Space Force.
OURANOS
STELLAR DATE: 02.17.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Kirby Jones, en route to Crantor
REGION: Ouranos nearspace, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
Six months after the events at Europa…
“Hoooooolleeee shit,” Smythe whispered as Tanis switched the main holodisplay on the Kirby Jones’s bridge to show the mass transfer operations around Ouranos.
“Something to see up close, isn’t it?” Tanis asked as she leant forward in her seat.
“Not only that, but look at the size of the Jovian fleet protecting the work site! There have to be at least ten thousand ships out there.”
“One thing’s for sure,” Tanis added. “When the Jovians set their mind to something, they really set their minds to it.”
Jeannie shook her head, a scowl on her brow. “All those Jovians, and the TSF is still running picket operations to help keep the site secure. All because those SSS fools keep threatening to blow it up.”
“I really wonder how you preserve the ‘Sanctity of the Sol System’ by threatening to destroy a planet?” Smythe asked. “Not that I think they could actually pull it off.”
Tanis felt the same way about the SSS. For people who wanted to protect the Sol System, they were one of the most destructive forces around.
Well, barring these rogue elements in our militaries and governments that seem to be aiding the Diskers in…what? Starting a civil war?
Worrying about ecoterrorists wasn’t something Tanis had a lot of mental capacity for. Hunting down whoever had set things in motion with the attempted assassination of Oligarch Alden was consuming all of her time and brain space.
“Or why we need to be in the mix,” Jeannie muttered, adding onto Smythe’s statement.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to stay long out here,” Tanis said, hoping she could assuage Jeannie’s worries without having to give her pilot any classified information.
Jeannie glanced over her shoulder at Tanis, a look of relief on her face. “Glad to hear you actually say that, Commander. You’ve been tight-lipped lately. I was worried it was because we were getting assigned to the boonies out here.”
Tanis laughed and shook her head. “No, no assignments in the boonies. This is really just a glorified courier run. The downside of having Admiral Kocsis’s trust; we get these milk runs.”
Lieutenant Smythe let out a long sigh. “If you’d asked me last year—after we hit the Norse Wind—I would have told you that I was more than ready for some milk runs. But I’m really starting to itch for some action.”
“Never know,” Tanis replied with a shrug. “After we slingshot around Ouranos, it’ll be just a few days to Crantor, and that place has a bit of a reputation.”
Smythe craned his head around to give Tanis a measuring look. “Really? You that much of a company woman, Commander? I don’t care how often the Jovians say that planet’s named ‘Ouranos’—where I come from, we call it ‘Yer-anus’.”
Tanis almost laughed at the twang Smythe added to the word, but managed to keep a straight face and then raised an eyebrow.
“It’s a JC planet, and they officially renamed it from Uranus to Ouranos. I always thought it was a good move. It’s the only planet named after a Greek god…. It’s fitting that it should have the Greek name, not the Latin one.”
Smythe snorted, Jeannie giggled, and even Tanis couldn’t help but crack a smile.
“ ‘Gas’, ‘Butt’?” Smythe asked with a chuckle. “I knew I liked you, Darla. Lovell here is such a fuddy-duddy.”
“Oh, hey, no need to go talking about that, Lovell,” Smythe said, hunching over his console.
“Your ears are turning red,” Jeannie said, her tone entirely casual as she made the observation.
Smythe didn’t reply, and Tanis gave the pair of lieutenants a measuring look before she resumed watching the scene around Ouranos.
The most obvious feature on the planet was the presence of a ring that wrapped around it—not the natural one, that was long gone. This one was artificial and sat only a thousand kilometers above the cloudtops. Unlike the orbital rings wrapping around planets such as Mars and Earth, Ouranos’s ring did not exist to create more habitable space for humanity.
This ring’s purpose was to remake the planet.
Once, Ouranos had been roughly four and a half times Earth’s diameter and just over fourteen times its mass. Now it was both larger and less massive.
All around the inside of the ring, electrostatic scoops drew atmosphere off the planet, separating out the constituent gases for use in manufacturing, fuel—though both were less in demand now that Jupiter’s equatorial particle accelerator was functional—and to build new Miniature Black Holes.
Tanis had to admit that it was a bit saddening to know that in a hundred years—or less, if GE kept to its
timetables—the nearly featureless light blue orb of Ouranos would be no more.
Eventually the lighter layers of hydrogen and helium would be gone, and then the ammonia, water, and other resources would be harvested.
The goal was to pull off the gases until there was roughly only three Earth masses of rock, carbon, and ice left: the planet’s core. While the GE’s MBHs would be used all over the Sol System to increase spin and gravity on dwarf planets, and to make a few new ones out of bits of flotsam and jetsam, the primary goal of the Ouranos project was to make a rosette of either three planets with masses similar to that of Venus, or five with Mars-like mass.
Many pundits decried the idea, saying that while Ouranos’s placement between Saturn and Neptune made it a good candidate for rework, the fact that it had the most eccentric orbit of any major planet made the execution of a rosette far too complex.
GE’s Orbital Dynamics group disagreed, and said that with the correct orbital speed, the gravitational resonance would in fact stabilize the rosette.
Though Tanis felt sad that Ouranos’s nearly five billion years swinging around Sol were coming to an end, she was excited by the prospect of five new terraformed worlds in the system.
Despite the fact that humanity had terraformed dozens of smaller worldlets out in the scattered disk and set fusion suns around them, most were dimly lit and highly dependent on a constant supply of hydrogen and helium from the OuterSol worlds to remain habitable.
The Ouranos Quintet, as it was often called, would be close enough to Sol that, with thick atmospheres and minimal aid from a single fusion sun, they would be much easier to maintain in the long run.
“The Jovian Space Force?” Tanis asked. “I thought we were linked up with Titania’s Tower.”