Legacy of Shadow

by Gallant, Craig;

  “Can you imagine what would happen if we just rode Angara’s ship down onto the lawn of the White House and announced that aliens were real? Not only that, but that we were outnumbered millions to one, and the rest of the galaxy wanted us all dead?” He shook his head and made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “No. I don’t think that’s an option right now. With Earth as an isolated prison colony content to spin along on its own, it’s no threat. If we bring them into this right now, with no way to defend them? They’ll be dropping rocks down on London before we know what’s going on.”

  “Okay.” Justin was quicker to let the point go than Marcus had feared he would be. But he was still wary. His friend wasn’t finished, he could tell. “But what about your brother and sister? What about your father? What about Clarissa?”

  Clarissa. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He hadn’t thought about her since before Taurani’s takeover. But when he did think about her, it hurt.

  “Clarissa and I were done before we ever left Earth, remember? That’s why we were at that damned casino in the first place?”

  Justin laughed, and he was surprised to hear no judgment or anger in the sound. “You were, maybe. I was there to win a little cash, have a little fun…” He gestured around them. “Mission accomplished, I guess.”

  Marcus stared at him, and soon Justin raised his hands in surrender. “Okay. But still, I know you’re not over her. You usually take a lot longer than this to get over a girl. Doesn’t it bother you, knowing that her, and the rest of your family, are trapped in a prison? That they have no idea what’s going on?”

  Marcus settled back, exploring the emotions that had churned up at Justin’s questions. He had been so lonely. He hadn’t gotten along with his father in over a decade, and even his brother and sister weren’t too close anymore. But they were family. They would understand what he was going through better than anyone except maybe Justin. Hell, they’d even be assets, given what he felt for sure was coming down the pike.

  And Clarissa …

  “Just something to think about, I guess.” Justin murmured as he settled back on his own hands, looking out over the lake.

  And in the distance, as they sat in companionable silence, green flecks glistened on the distant water.

  Epilogue

  The dead system spun through its accustomed patterns, unaware of time’s passage beyond its decaying borders.

  Circling the blasted remains of a once-mighty gas giant, the enormous hunter once again powered up to perform its accustomed watch. The massive hatch opened, the armature extended out past the expanding cloud of cosmic dust. The collected, collimated light of a thousand stars pounded down into the melted sphere below, pounding the field of craters with yet another indignity to heap upon the rest. And the eternal bell was struck once more.

  And once again, the wave fronts of countless forms of energy and particles were cast outward into the vastness of space.

  The column vanished, plunging the planetoid and the gargantuan ship back into utter darkness. The armature retracted, bringing with it the huge energy projector, and nestled back into its internal cradle. Another skeletal arm moved into position, reaching out, and extended the silvery orb of its receiver array into the void.

  The automated monster waited with the infinite patience of a machine as time passed. As the decaying messengers returned home once more, many having crossed the length and breadth of the galaxy, systems within the juggernaut began to analyze and collate the data provided by the rebounding waves. The armature shivered, the silver ball began to withdraw once again.

  Soon, the matte black finish of the behemoth’s hull was unbroken once more, and it continued its eternal dance with the black ball of slag. It spun through the crypt system, oblivious to the ancient death and tragedy around it.

  And then it trembled. Deep beneath its armored flanks, the crystal matrices of its mind, sifting through the minutia of the latest reports, found an anomaly. Somewhere in a distant corner of the galaxy, something had been detected. The sentinel’s systems began to power up beyond the limits of its caretaker duties. Huge shields opened upon the aft sections of the hull and engines that could swallow an Ntja battleship flashed to life as they came back online for the first time in millennia.

  The data was vague. The return was weak, the tachyon wave that had carried it had only tasted the remnants of an event; the shadow of a moment that had occurred before the particles had passed through that region of space. But that taste had been enough. That moment had been captured, reported, and now logged.

  Somewhere, the ancient enemy was stirring. The weapon that had been feared had, indeed, been unleashed. And now, it was a danger to the leviathan’s creators.

  The great, stupid brute had no concern for the passage of eons. It had no knowledge of the rise and fall of empires, or the turning of galactic seasons. It had been created for a purpose. It had tirelessly worked toward that purpose for more millennia than its creators could have imagined. In fact, in the intervening ages, the tumultuous history of living beings had wiped the leviathan’s existence from living memory. It had been forgotten.

  But it had not forgotten.

  Using the returned particle waves to plot its course, it sent power to those enormous engines and began to lift itself away from the broken planetary core that had been its home since before the first man had stepped foot upon the Earth. The thrust to move such a massive object was unimaginable, and the roar of its mighty engines would have shivered the heart of any living being who might have witnessed its departure.

  But there was no living being to watch as the monster slid upward, orienting itself past the white dwarf, spinning away its last millennia of life in the distance. Weapons designed to devastate continents began to run their system checks, bringing colossal projectiles and energy capacitors out of their dormant state and preparing them to be fired in anger for the first time.

  The enemy had revealed itself, and if the behemoth, charging out of the dead system at its best speed, lacked the furious, burning anger of a mortal combatant, it nonetheless went forth with all of the same focused intensity and fatal intent.

  The enemy had revealed itself, and the enemy must be eliminated.

  A Survey of Member Races

  Within the Galactic Council

  Aijians Large aquatic gray mammals originally from the planet Omiaye, the Aijians are

  known to be loyal subjects of the Council. Thousands of years ago a great

  sacrifice was made by Aijians, to assist the council in containing a terrible evil.

  They are held in high esteem in no small part due to this sacrifice.

  Diakk One of the Humanoid races, the Diakk are not easy to generally categorize, but

  are looked upon with some small amount of suspicion by the Council. Marked

  by jaundiced skin and dark, scale-like markings across exposed areas of skin, few

  Diakk wander from their home planet of Varra.

  Eru The Eru are a race most comfortable in a servile position. Their squat, powerful

  bodies are usually covered in a fine coat of pale, purple fur, with coarse black

  growing from their heads. They are true citizens of the galaxy, as few of their

  number remain on their homeworld of Heimurin.

  Gogoi Their diminutive stature and dexterous limbs combine to make this species

  considered to be one of the more mechanically apt in the galaxy, although many

  also pursue more scholarly paths. A coat of soft green fur covers most of their

  bodies, while a fringe of white tendrils covers their lower jawline.

  Iwa’Bantu A gentle species, usually given to careers in poetry, music, and philosophy, the

  Iwa’Bantu have never been prominent within the Council, caring little for

  Galactic politics. Relatively recently, a marauder raid on their home planet of

  Iwa’Ban caused terrible damage, from they have yet to fully recove
r.

  Kerie Prominent within the Galactic Council, the Kerie wereinstrumental in the

  administration of the ruling body since itsinception. Their nearly featureless gray faces are generally considered to be unreadable by almost any other race, and thus they are considered to be among the best diplomats in the galaxy.

  Kot’i The Kot’i are some of the best engineers and craftsmen in the galaxy. Content to

  allow others to administer the Council, the Kot’I have been behind some of the

  most important technological advances in recent memory. Their shaggy fur and

  and long, somber-seeming faces belay their generally light, wry personalities.

  Leemuk The most salient feature of a Leemuk, upon first encountering one of these

  massive creatures, is their enormous, lipless mouths. With a huge expanse of

  glistening gum above and below long, yellowed teeth, they are truly a fearsome-

  looking race, at odds with seemingly genetic bureaucratic bent.

  Matabessi Their spatulated heads and serrated beaks seem more at home in a deep ocean

  than the deserts of their homeworld, Lamanta. The heavy, armored lids of their

  large eyes only add to this impression. However, the Matabessi are among the

  most savvy traders in the galaxy.

  Mhatrong One of the oldest denizens of the galaxy on record, the Mhatrongare a true

  oddity in that they seem to monolithically follow a standard racial archetype;

  that of historian and philosopher. The bone mask that hides all but the hollows

  of their milky eyes only adds to their air of aloof detachment.

  Mnymian These Humanoids have a terrifying reputation that they seem determined to maintain. Jet-black skin, fiery red hair, and white, featureless eyes make them out, even other Humanoids. Few Mnymians who venture off their home world of Ekaya do so as anything other than mercenaries or guards.

  Namanu Another Humanoid race, their skin is a marked orange color, their hair black, and their eyes unnatural large for their heads. As a race, the Namanu appear to be ideally suited to the hard sciences, their skin particularly resistant to many types of radiation, as befits the children of a blasted planet such as Lefatsia

  Nan’Se La With their rearward-facing knee joints, heavy skulls, and of course, the second,

  albeit generally clumsy pair of arms, the Nan’Se La hardly seem Humanoid.

  . However, the best Council scientists have proven their provenance beyond

  question. The absence of a home world of record only adds to their mystery.

  Ntja One of the most loyal of galactic races, the Ntja of Ntj have served selflessly

  through some of the Council’s greatest crises. Foregoing the nano technology

  used by most of the galaxy, a mature Ntja will have several metal domes affixed

  to their heavy-featured heads, housing all manner of intellectual enhancements.

  Rayabell These amorphous gastropods are often particularly gifted in bureaucratic or

  administrative positions, found in organizations across the galaxy. Most evince

  a mild to severe sociopathy that often makes them more effective when

  properly supervised.

  Subbotine One of the most highly-regarded of the Humanoid races, the pale skin, regular

  features, and stark white hair of the Subbotine are often acknowledged as

  aesthetically pleasing by even the most rigid galactic loyalist. Many grow bored

  of their homeworld, AlyonaSubbotina, and leave for more sophisticated climes.

  Tigan Not, strictly speaking, members of the Galactic Council, the Tigan are anarchist

  nomads who travel across the galaxy in an enormous flotilla they refer to as PrapaVimala. With their deep purple skin, they can be mistaken for Mnymians if shorn of their brilliant white hair, often with temperaments to match.

  Tsiiki The somewhat vapid-looking half-smile that is the Tsiiki default expression,

  along with the drooping cephalic nodes over their eyes,, combine to give the

  Tsiiki the appearance of amused, idiot children. Their sharp, insightful minds, however, often mean they have the last laugh in any negotiations.

  Variyar Their crimson skin, twisted, sneering expressions, and impressive ebony horns

  give them the Variyar a frightening appearance that their racial history does

  little to dismiss. A large percentage of the Variyar have eschewed their

  homeworld of Variya to follow their disgraced ruler into mysterious exile.

  About the Author

  Craig is from Bedford New Hampshire where he does his best to warp space and time to fit far more activity into each day than anyone, including his wife, thinks would be advisable. During the day Craig teaches Theatre and Literature courses to the intrepid students of Milford High School. After hours Craig actively pursues kickboxing and mixed martial arts, and is one of the two hosts of the wildly mediocre and not-too-horrible general gaming podcast The D6 Generation. He is husband to a remarkably supportive wife and father to clearly the smartest, cutest, and most promising three year old on the planet (an entirely objective assessment). Craig plays games whenever he can find the time and the opponents, ranging from his recent favorite, a classic South American dice game called Perudo, to whatever the local tabletop war-game flavor of the month happens to be. And in all the voluminous free-time this schedule allows, Craig writes.

  Always an avid reader and a writer for his own pleasure, recently Craig has been able to parlay that dream into a stunningly-exciting reality. For two years now Craig has written articles, rules, short stories, and background fiction for companies such as Spartan Games and Fantasy Flight Games. In August of 2012 Craig partnered up with the freshly-minted Outlaw Miniatures, where he spent the next nine months writing over 100,000 words worth of supportive fiction establishing the entire game universe for their new Wild West Exodus. In that time he was also hired as the lead writer for a line of comic books taking place in the same universe. And now, the most recent chapter in this ever-rising rollercoaster of coolness, Craig prepares to embark on his newest adventure, more excited than words can convey to set his keyboard to bringing the shattered Wild West even further to life in a new series of novels for Wild West Exodus. Legacy of Shadow is his first independent story.

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