Ascension

by Nicholas Woode-Smith

  ‘I’ve lived my life serving,’ Mul’gu said, before gulping down a big bite and then continuing. ‘Served slavers, perverts, murderers, dictators and monsters. But then, black and blue soldiers freed me. They didn’t tell me to serve them. Didn’t change the key to my shackles. They took them off. But all I’ve ever done is serve.’

  She shrugged. ‘So, I continue to serve. I serve the black and blue.’

  The group turned to Derk. He smiled, weakly.

  ‘How about you first, brother-mantis? It is not like your kind to leave the matriarchy. You might miss prime beheading season.’

  ‘It was not my choice to leave the motherland, brother-fleshbag. I was dragged from my home and from the woman who would lovingly eat my head. She, and the pods that were to carry my children, were torched. I do not know who did it. Human, merka, squogg, pegg, Imperial…doesn’t matter. I was sold to tan’quor through a syn-proxy. Never made it to tan’quor space, though. A black and blue ship boarded the slave ship and let us all free on the nearest space station.’

  The firelight reflected in the enque’s eyes.

  ‘There is nothing for me back in the motherland. There, I’d face the ultimate shame as a widower. But here, I can be something more. I can save people. I can free people.’

  A silence fell on the group. Firelight flickered. In the distance, gunshots. The zap of Imperial weapons followed. Derk broke the silence with a sigh.

  ‘You all know my story. Black and blue.’

  The group nodded.

  Derk continued. ‘Did more for me than red and black ever did. Cause you know what it did? It gave me a reason.’

  The zap-zap of energy weapons stopped. Two sharp gunshots. Then silence.

  ‘It made me realise that if we want to make a change for the better, we gotta fight for it ourselves.’

  ‘For the Ancient Empire,’ a gray whispered.

  ‘For whatever.’

  Derk stood, exuding an energy he hadn’t demonstrated ever before.

  ‘The Defiant is more than an army, brothers and sister. It is a reason to be. A reason to fight. It isn’t just liberating our bodies from chains. It’s liberating our souls. Our minds.’

  Derk took a big, audible breath.

  ‘It is giving us breath.’

  He turned and with both arms opened wide to his sides, indicated the motley lights arrayed across the valley. Tears streamed down his face. He shouted.

  ‘It is giving us a family.’

  No one responded.

  Derk sat down. His heartbeat calmed. Mul’gu moved over and put her claw on his back. A look of concern crossed her yellow eyes. Derk swirled the liquid of his stew in his tin cup.

  ‘Whatever the reason we fight,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll die for it. Cause…cause…’

  ‘It gives us a purpose.’

  Face sweaty, hands shaking, Derk nodded.

  Silence descended on the group. They didn’t need to speak anymore. They’d said enough.

  Tomorrow, Bagash’s banner would fly once again. Bullets would speak for them. A thousand people from a thousand backgrounds would fight. For a shout. For a reason. For the black and blue, which had given them something to live for.

  And something worth dying for.

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  Glossary

  Swearwords (in order of severity)

  Void – equivalent to hell, a term some humans still use.

  Zot (zoot) – a scaly rodent, insult used to refer to the untrustworthy.

  Grako – one who has forgotten the face of their father.

  Skite – broad meanings. Typically, a waste product or trash, or a sign of severity.

  Vok (as written) – broad meanings. Typically, an adjective to describe the intolerable.

  Vushla – Imperial swearword. Roughly translates to: From all that is the most vokked up, this is more so.

  Races

  Edal – blue, pointy-eared humanoid mammals often called the Star Folk. Founding race of the Imperial Council.

  Enque – the mantis people. Upright insectoids known for their peculiar mating habit of the female eating the male counterpart, and the male consenting to this.

  Exanoid – pig-like mammals standing on two short legs, with a permanently bow-bent spine. Renowned as traders, scientists and business-people due to their constant transactions with humans.

  Gleran – hive-mind insects controlled through pheromones produced by a sentient queen.

  Gray – grey-skinned, hermaphrodite mammals, typically found subservient to other races.

  Human – a race of mammals who have populated much of the region of space known as Free space. If you are reading this, you are probably human.

  Krugar – six-armed, legless reptiles with violent skin, mostly dominated by the Xank Empire.

  Pegg – large-headed, small mammals who evolved in low gravity. They excel in zero gravity battles in space as pirates, but are unable to perform with medium to high gravity.

  Squogg – almost permanently covered humanoids, who wear embalming suits to prevent their bodies decaying from a genetic plague.

  Tan’quor – six-eyed, pale faced humanoids from the fringes of known space. Famous for having a complete slave based society.

  Ulyx – tall, snow-white humanoids that breed through parthenogenesis, where some individuals are born fertile while others are not.

  Vacaraptor – short, sentient dinosaur resembling reptiles, from Grengen.

  Voroz – grey titans who fight for the Imperial Council.

  Zangorian – flightless bird humanoids with orange coats of feathers and sharp talons and beaks.

  Prominent Factions

  Empire of Xank - empire formed of multiple races found in the Outer Reach, beyond the Central Space frontier.

  Imperial Council – a mysterious, totalitarian alien empire, and likely the largest empire in the Milky way galaxy.

  Rii’s Rebellion – a revolutionary empire seeking to overthrow and destroy the Empire of Xank.

  The Defiant – a revolutionary group turned government holding power over the ex-Trooper world of Nova Zarxa.

  Trooper Order - human military order founded on Mars which is devoted to the protection and expansion of human owned space. They are pledged to protect humanity across the galaxy.

  United Exanoid Federation – a coalition of consenting exanoid dominated corporations, banding together for mutual defence.

  Megacorporations

  Aegis Corporation (Ee-jis) – human corporation founded on Mars as a shipping company and has since grown to become the largest supplier of high-end computers and combat utilities in human space.

  Grag-Tec – a corporation founded jointly by grays and exanoids after the Glotos III uprising. Specialises in robotics and computers.

  Obsidian Corporation – a human and exanoid corporation specialising in vehicle development and manufacturing.

  Titan Corporation – one of the oldest human megacorporations still in operation. Specialises in armaments, heavy machinery and mining.

  Zerian Corporation - a human corporation specialising in cheap commodities and questionable industries.

  Terms

  Tabs – the shortening of the word tablet. Refers to any small, portable computer. Can range from as large as a contemporary laptop to nanoscopic proportions.

  Warp – a mysterious element that can be used to produce energy and facilitate faster-than-light travel.

  Terra – the focus of a human-dominated religion. Terra is a metaphor for the spirit of humanity.

  Void – a reference to space, death, or just an expletive.

  Extos Strip – the three neighbouring systems of Extos I to III.

&n
bsp; Overseer – a corporate assigned manager of a frontier venture.

  Core Worlds – the high developed worlds of any particular race.

  Credits/Creds – money.

  Reaper – gigantic mechanised walking vehicles armed with extensive weaponry.

  Syn – a catch-all term for a robot or AI.

  V-flick- a series that transmits not only sight and sound, but taste, smell and even feeling.

  Dating System

  Use of the Gregorian calendar is still prevalent but was renamed to the Terran Calendar (TC) at the start of the Armageddon Calendar (AC) which began in the year 2250 TC. Other dating systems used by humans are the Age of the Cape (ACP, 2300 TC) and After Blight (3000 TC).

  Trooper Ranks (Descending)

  High Protector: First among equals of the Council-Generals. Makes final decision when consensus cannot be achieved. Can be seen as the ruler of the Trooper Order.

  Council-General: An almost peerless general tasked with directing the grand strategy of the Order, including the affairs of the Armada, Logistics and Order.

  Planetary General: The highest ranking general and commanding officer on a planet.

  General: Leads an army made up of 2-5 forces.

  Force Commander: Leads a force of 2-5 divisions.

  Colonel: Leads a division of 2-5 companies.

  Captain: Leads a company of 3-5 platoons.

  Lieutenant: Leads a platoon of 3-5 squads.

  Strike Leader: Leads a strike team of 10-20 men. Answers to superior officers but not formally a part of any greater structure. Acts semi-independently.

  Sergeant: Leads a squad of 6-12 men.

  Corporal: Leads a fireteam or section of 2-6 men.

  Lance Corporal: Leads a patrol of 1-3 men.

  Specialist/Corporal: Specially trained personnel.

  Private: Inducted Trooper.

  Trainee/Recruit: Informally inducted Trooper.

  Notes on Human Language

  Unexpectedly, human language has not changed as much in the last one and a half thousand years than one would expect. Proliferation of media and technology in languages led more to a blending of language than any sort of replacement by new dialects.

  When humans first encountered aliens, to facilitate easy communication – Standard Terran was developed. The language was mostly the future dialect of English, combined with Portuguese, German-Dutch, Gaelic, Korean and Afrikaans.

  Many human worlds speak their own languages, but Standard Terran is the lingua franca of the Core Worlds.

  Zonian has similar roots to Standard Terran. The original crash-landers were mostly of Scottish origin, blending with a few Cape Federation settlers and some German-Dutchmen.

  Due to the vast population of humans in Free Space, most Free Race aliens choose to speak Standard Terran.

  Tenets of the Trooper Order

  The tenets are by no means a legal document. They were constructed by early Trooper officers to instil a set of values in new recruits.

  Fight the enemies of mankind.

  Slay the traitors of our race.

  Protect humankind.

  Prepare to live and die for the Order.

  Never slay or harm a fellow Trooper.

  Relish peace, prepare for war.

  Bullets take lives. Skill saves them.

  Pursue the art of our enemies to wreak vengeance upon them.

  Blood and Blight, never forget.

  Note from the Author

  I began writing the Warpmancer Series in 2009. I was 13 years old. In 2017, I realised that I wanted to take writing seriously. As of 2018, I went from one book (Fall of Zona Nox) being written in three years to an entire series of 9 books being re-written, newly written and released in 8 months.

  It has been a truly invigorating experience. But also hard.

  Re’lien, James, Erryn, Marshal, Danny, Peron – even Leri – are family. I’ve spent more time with them than many members of my real family over this past year. And because I’ve come to care about them so much, the writing process becomes harder. I want to do them justice. I want their stories to mean something.

  I hope they meant something to you.

  The Defiant is somewhat of a metaphor for what the Warpmancer Series means to me. It is a driving purpose. A raison d’ettre.

  But that makes it harder. It becomes less and less about writing a book, or even appealing to readers, but about doing the universe and characters justice.

  The Warpmancer Series will be continuing. It is my baby, after all. But I need a change of pace. For the next while, I will be writing an urban fantasy series called the Kat Drummond Series. On the surface, it is a different story from Warpmancer, but readers will see many similarities. I am the one writing it, after all.

  I hope to see you reading Part-Time Monster Hunter and will expect to see you come book 10. I apologise for the delay, but a year shouldn’t be too long to wait for a book.

  If the ending has you all anxious, though, I may grant you some respite. But not yet. For now, just sit back, open up Shadow, and start re-reading the series again.