by K. L. Lewis
K.L. Lewis
Global Union - A New Life
Book 1
Copyright © 2021 by K.L. Lewis
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
K.L. Lewis asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
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In Memory of My Grandfather, Ernest Jenkins.
THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE IS CHANGE
—Heraclitus
Contents
PROLOGUE – RES NOVAE
I. PART ONE
CHAPTER 1 – A NEW LIFE
CHAPTER 2 – OF FAME AND FORTUNE
CHAPTER 3 – LEARN AND ADAPT
CHAPTER 4 – ON THE BRINK
CHAPTER 5 – INTO THE FIRE
CHAPTER 6 – PURSUED
CHAPTER 7 – CHECK UP
CHAPTER 8 – GIVING UP
CHAPTER 9 – NEW HOME
CHAPTER 10 – REPORT
II. PART TWO
CHAPTER 11 – LOVE-STRUCK
CHAPTER 12 – PLAZA OF TERROR
CHAPTER 13 – GET-TOGETHER
CHAPTER 14 – GROWTH AND CHANGES
CHAPTER 15 – INTEL-BY-FORCE
CHAPTER 16 – VETERANS
CHAPTER 17 – NEW VENTURES
CHAPTER 18 – VACATION
CHAPTER 19 – A NIGHTMARE COME TRUE
CHAPTER 20 – EXFILTRATION
III. PART THREE
CHAPTER 21 – AFTER THE STORM
CHAPTER 22 – R&R
CHAPTER 23 – A GIFT TO REMEMBER
CHAPTER 24 – PAIN, TRAUMA, STRESS, AND DESPAIR
CHAPTER 25 – REPORT
CHAPTER 26 – HEATED CRISIS
CHAPTER 27 – FALSE CONNECTIONS
CHAPTER 28 – HIGH TIER ESCAPE
CHAPTER 29 – ENTRAPMENT
CHAPTER 30 - LATER?
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also by K.L. Lewis
PROLOGUE – RES NOVAE
Teal waves crashed over the metallic shores, flowing back into the sea as an orange light crawled over the blue night skies. The spires and domes of the city below shined a sapphire blue as the sun rose in the horizon over the soldiers dotting the city’s northern district—Iuvian troopers patrolling alongside their North American brethren on the coastlines of the Great Angel’s Gulf in west. A routine patrol, common since the end of the Solar War and the uprisings that followed with it. Nowadays it was hard pressed for anyone attacking by sea, but even in moments of peace, it was foolish to let one’s guard down.
Birds swam along the gentle breeze above the city. Idle creatures unconcerned with the world below, they glided over the heads crossing the streets and black-tiled highwalks. A large pale eagle casted a shadow on the ground, heavy wingbeats scattering the flock of smaller avians crusing by. It cawwed a faint howl as it scanned the ground with it’s fierce red eyes. An Iuvian Gentilli, it’s thin rubbery wings pushing it through the skies, it was joined by another as it descended to a Terraport, a small city within a city of Seraphyne.
Iron-blue and pale grey amidst the greens and whites under its watch, it was occupied with more soldiers than any part of the city. It was a small piece of Iuvia itself, where blue branches of solar trees twisted along the Terraport buildings’ edges. The Gentili circled a Terraport apartment and landed on a fourth floor guardrail. It hopped over to the windows and stared at the woman inside laying in bed.
She looked back at the Gentilli and the city behind it. Both had brought Sekhmet a sense peace ever since she arrived in the city a year ago. After a yawn and a stretch with a brush of her messy hair from her amber eyes, she rose from the embrace of the man behind her. Her knees wanted to bend to the floor as her feet touched the carpet, and she held her stomach on her way to the bathroom. She wasn’t sick, but there was a heaviness in her belly, one to soon be brought into a new world, a new life.
Freshening up with a face wash and a brush of her teeth, her sharp ears flattened as she looked at the news on her OmniMorph—“Ten HDF Militants Killed in Recent Skirmish,” the caption read from the Seraphyne City News.
One tap on the screen and out popped a newscast covering the incident. “Damn Fronties,” she grumbled.
Unfolding the OmniMorph into a wide sheet, her eyes raced through the article—the incident happened in the outskirts, near the southern coast of the Great Angel’s Gulf. The militants were said to be searching for something, or rather someone, based on the confession of a sole survivor. What for and why, she didn’t care. Just hearing about it made her tail thrash behind her. She didn’t want any nasty surprises today, and such was often the case here in the North American Federation where militants kept trading shots with each other since the war. Even now she wished things were better, but despite the news anchorwoman droning about the danger of militants, Sekhmet had seen far worse back in those days.
Folding the OmniMorph into a thin strap and wrapping it on her wrist, her ear twitched from a man’s voice groaning outside the bathroom. “Malcolm, you awake?” She asked.
“Yeah, I’m up,” the man said.
He wasn’t the only one. There was a slight kick in Sekhmet’s belly, and she gave it a gentle rub. “I know, we’ll get through this,” she said, gasping from another kick. “Rude.”
She knew she was in for a hell of a morning. Her eyes shifted to a small slate-grey case with a bold yellow label—Omegan Industries Bio-Morphic Pigments, For Military Use Only. The case was already empty—she had used it the day before, the empty vial sitting near the sink. Raising her right arm, she gazed at the long, dark scar snaking from there to her shoulder and neck, then looked into the mirror at the two slashes streaking across her left cheek. “Is it not working?” she asked herself.
She blinked, took slow breaths, then looked back at her arm. A small dark spot grew on her skin, changing it from her natural golden beige to a shadow grey. More dark spots grew on her neck and face, spreading across her arm and crawling up to her shoulder until her whole body was a deep shadow grey—the only thing unchanged was her hair and her scars, still dark and ugly on her skin. They’ll never go away, and she never wanted them to—they carried many memories, many painful, but still worth keeping.
There was another kick, and she lurched toward the sink as if she’d lose last night’s dinner, breathing a sigh of relief when nothing happened.
A man leaned in from the door, looking at her with concern. Tall, square-headed, with ears far smaller than hers. He was just a normal human being with green eyes that looked like they were glowing from his almond complexion. “You okay, Sekky?” he asked.
“I’m fine, Malcolm,” she said, taking another breath.
Malcolm picked up the grey case
sitting near the sink and read the warning label on the back. “Are you sure these don’t have any side-effects?” he asked.
“They only change your skin,” Sekhmet said. “They’re not gonna hurt the baby.”
Malcolm raised a brow at her as he sat the case back down, eying at her change of skin tone. She shrugged and smiled at his gaze before posing. “Like the new look?” she asked.
“Is that what it is?” Malcolm asked with a chuckle. “I guess it does make you hard to recognize.”
“The last thing I want right now is to be noticed,” said Sekhmet, rubbing her belly. “I doubt he would either.”
Malcolm embraced and kissed her. “Let’s hope so.”
They both got dressed, Malcolm putting on a simple pair of blue pants and a grey shirt, while she pulled up a pair of soft white slacks and a red shirt with long heavy sleeves that was like silk gliding down her shoulders. Then she grabbed a dark grey shawl that she draped over her shoulder.
“You sure you’ll need that?” Malcolm asked as she wrapped the shawl around her head.
“I’m not taking any chances today,” Sekhmet said.
After gathering everything they needed, they strolled out of their apartment doors and out into the open air. The quick gust of the outside nearly blew Sekhmet’s shawl away as she anchored it to her shoulders, with Malcolm catching her from the push of the wind. The Gentili hopped across the branch and greeted them, its eyes lighting up with a message that pinged onto their OmniMorphs—“Hostiles identified north of the city. Beware.”
They were already aware. “Thanks for the warning,” Sekhmet said to the eagle. “Keep being our angel in the sky for us.”
Obeying her request, the Gentili spread its wings and took off to the skies, circling above the apartment as the two kept close on the way down the elevators. At the bottom floor, they set off for the city along the bustling walkways, joining the people moving back and forth on the glossy black tiles amidst the earlier broadcast playing on the public news-screens.
Sekhmet’s ears caught murmurs of praise from the people tuning in to the demise of the nearby HDF chapter, one of them shouting, “Good riddance,” as she and Malcolm passed by.
The man was a parahuman, just like Sekhmet, although he had rounded ears thicker than hers and lacked a tail. There were many such people around them, some with long tails, others with pointed ears like Sekhmet, but they were otherwise no different from the regular humans walking side-by-side with them throughout the city.
She caught a smirk on Malcolm’s face from the earlier man’s comment. “What’re you smiling about?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. She wasn’t convinced. “Just glad to see how much things have changed,” he added. “Though I wish we could’ve brought the aerocar.”
She huddled closer to him. “Oh, come on. I don’t wanna be cramped in a car the whole day. Besides, I need the exercise.”
“You Iuvians really hate sitting still, don’t you?” Malcolm asked.
“You’re one to talk,” Sekhmet said, pinching his arms as they strolled along.
wouldn’t be long before she had a child of her own.
They visited a downtown cafe for a quick bite, sitting near a couple’s booth near one of the aqueducts. It was nice to see people around enjoying themselves, even better that not a single eye was on her as she and Malcolm waited on their orders. Normally people crowded around the moment she stepped outside the Terraport, her scars bring everyone’s attention in droves over how she got them. But with them barely visible on her face, Sekhmet was just another person enjoying her day with her boyfriend as far as anyone else saw.
“Those pigments really are something,” Malcolm said. “Hardly anyone seems to notice you here.”
“Good thing, too,” said Sekhmet.
“You sure we shouldn’t have brought the aerocar?” Malcolm pressed once more. “What if you end up expecting sooner than we thought.”
Sekhmet sighed. “Relax. If that happens, the medics’ll be here in a heartbeat. You’re starting to sound like my parents.”
Her OmniMorph buzzed on her wrist, the name “Mom” showing on the caller ID.
“Speak of the devil herself.” She detached an earpiece from her OmniMorph and answered the call, displaying a human woman on her screen. Stone-white skin, wavy strawberry-blonde hair streaming to her shoulders, and stern gaze, the human was almost a spitting image of Sekhmet. A smile grew on the human’s face as Sekhmet greeted her. “Hi, mom. I figured you were too busy to call. How’s Mars?”
“It’s alright,” her mother answered. “We had a minor incident here on one of the orbital colonies thanks to a few of the Seralian immigrants, but it quelled down once they realized what nation they were in. How’s the baby?”
As if on cue, Sekhmet felt another kick. “Feels like he wants to come out already.”
“I can’t wait to see him,” her mother said. “A pity it’ll be years before I get the chance. At any rate, how’re things on Earth? Is Malcolm there with you.”
Sekhmet chuckled. “He never wants to leave my side.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” her mother said with a snicker. “You should be grateful you have that in him. Speaking of which, I’d like to speak to Malcolm regarding his admittance as Overseer. Can you put me through on speaker?”
“I’d rather not cause a scene, so I’ll put you in sound-mode.” Sekhmet sat her OmniMorph on the table before her and Malcolm, and a round avatar appeared in place of her mother. With only the words “Sound Only” circling around it, Malcolm squinted in confusion at Sekhmet, only to turn back to her mother as she spoke. “Good morning, Malcolm. Is everything well?”
Malcolm’s brows jumped. “Ma’am, I didn’t expect you to call so suddenly.”
The mother chuckled. “Me and Ramone are about to be grandparents, of course we’ll call when you least expect us.”
“Well, everything’s fine,” said Malcolm. “We’re just taking a stroll through the city.”
“You’re not taking an aerocar?” the mother asked.
“I asked your daughter the same thing.”
Sekhmet grumbled and rolled her eyes at the two teasing her over the safety of an aerocar, and she gradually tuned them out as they went onto the topic of Malcolm becoming Overseer. They didn’t call it such, her mother calling it a “high position” instead, but that’s what it was in name, not something to casually say out loud—Overseers had absolute authority over a whole region of space colonies in Iuvia and was granted based on merit. But it also required her and Malcolm to be separate for years—she had a world of a job to do herself here on Earth that would take her just as long.
As their conversation went on, and Sekhmet took casual bites of food from her plate, her eyes caught sight of a still figure from the outside of the cafe. With a small squint of her eyes under Malcolm’s chin, she focused on the figure, a pale human in a white and green hooded jacket leaning over a highwalk. Every few seconds the human turned their gaze elsewhere before returning over her shoulder, her blue shades glinting the sun into Sekhmet’s eyes.
She didn’t like the cold look the human was giving, their ear leaning in as if they were eavesdropping from the distance. Setting down her fork, she reached into a pouch hidden in her wide-open sleeves, feeling a metal click before snapping to her mother calling her name, “Sekhmet, are you listening?”
“Hmm?” Her ears stood erect. What were they talking about now?
“We’ve also received word of a hidden militant cell lurking in the city, one that might be after you,” her mother said.
“They’ve already taken care of them in the outskirts,” Sekhmet said.
“Not that one. There’s a smaller group still roaming about—no estimates as to how many, but enough for you two to be on alert.”
Sekhmet made a quick glance back outside the cafe, and her eyes did a double take—the human she noticed was no longer there. She turned back to her mother. “Any
idea who?”
“Intel is scarce, but signs point to a connection with the usual culprit, the Human Defense Front,” her mother answered. “They’ve been regrouping in the country over the years since Crow Storm. Either way, stay on alert. I’d like to see my grandson someday.”
Her mother hung up, and Malcolm focused his attention back to her. “That went well,” he said.
Or so he thought. Sekhmet kept her eyes outside the cafe in search of the staring human, but there was no sign of them. She thought it was nothing, but the nervous itch she had in the back of her head told her otherwise.
“Sekky? You okay?” Malcolm asked.
“There was a woman watching us from outside,” she answered. “Not sure why.”
She gazed over his shoulder, and Malcolm made a soft look behind him before turning back to Sekhmet. “Wanna cut this short and head home?”
Her eyes made another scan outside the cafe. She was beginning to think that going out today might not have been a good idea. “Yeah, let’s go,” she nodded.
They paid for their meal and left the cafe, taking the high walks home. They were busier than before with more couples and crowds of humans and parahumans pacing by. Sekhmet huddled closer to Malcolm, reaching into her sleeve, and pulled out a small pistol. “Malcolm, here,” she said, passing it to Malcolm.
Malcolm squinted at the gun, then he looked Sekhmet in the eyes. “Trouble?” he asked, taking the pistol.
“Call it a hunch,” Sekhmet said. “Let’s take a detour back to the Terraport. I don’t want them tracing us.”
Their normal way back was across the high walks and taking the path north, but this time they took a route east that led further into the city. They were still within reach of the Terraport, but she didn’t want to risk giving their exact location—anyone with a simple drone could sneak in and take her out following their path back, and going this way would put some distance from that threat.
Peeking around, ahead, and over her shoulder, Sekhmet couldn’t shake off the itch that someone was watching them. She had a strong feeling who it was, it was a matter of where they were that was the question.