Destroyer of Worlds (Alpha Ship One Book 2)

by L. D. P. Samways

  L.D.P. Samways

  Destroyer of

  Worlds

  Alpha Ship One, Book two

  Text © 2016 by Luis Samways

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design by The Purple Book Co.

  Luis Samways has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  eBook edition first published in July 2016

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  For more information on books by Luis Samways Visit:

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  © 2016 by the Purple Book Co.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sample

  Prologue

  “Every action, has a reaction,” Commander Korr of the Annex Rebel Fleet said as he gazed upon his ever-faithful crew. The many faces that stared back at him forced the crook of his mouth to rise slightly. It made him smile to know that he had such a vast crew. A vast crew on an equally vast ship. A ship that stretched on for miles and miles. Hurtling through space toward its ever nearing objective. An objective that his people, the Annex people, wanted retribution on. And they would get their retribution. Korr was certain of it.

  “And with every reaction to an action, comes a greater action. We have to be prepared for the worst. We don’t know what’s waiting for us out there, but we can assume that whatever it is; is bad. So bad that they sent us,” the Commander said as he stood on the bridge of the large ship.

  His loyal workforce stood below him, on a lowered steel platform. Some of them were dressed in military fatigues. While some were dressed in ship maintenance uniforms, covered in oil and dirt. Others wore normal clothing. Clean clothing. But one thing remained true regarding all of the people on his ship; they were mad. Angry. Seething. Vengeful. Violent. And impatient.

  An unjust act had been committed. And it had to be answered with a just reply. Korr and his crew were that reply. A reply that would echo through the vacuum of space until many years passed, and nothing but the legend of what they had accomplished remained. But that was a long way off from where Korr and his crew were heading. They weren’t interested in the legend of what they were about to do. All they were preoccupied with was making sure that justice was served, and it was served as quickly, and efficiently as possible.

  “They say that everybody has their day,” Commander Korr said as he began to pace the width of the bridge. His heavy boots clunked against the metal floor beneath him. “And our day is today,” he continued.

  “A day that has been lying in the wake of the atrocity committed by Earth and its people. An atrocity that the rest of the Galaxy let happen. They may stand idly by and do nothing, but we will not,” the Commander said as he stopped pacing and raised his chin up. He stared at his people and stiffened his shoulders.

  “For far too long, the people of Earth have gotten away with murder. They have gotten away with theft. And now they have gotten away with planet-wide genocide. A whole race gone. And for what? Greed? Envy? Lust?” the Commander said to a smatter of rumbling from his on-looking crew.

  “The people of Earth may be our ancestors. They may share the same blood as us. They may even look a lot like us. But they aren’t us. Somewhere down the line, they lost their way. They became what they feared. And what they feared since the dawn of man was evil. And quite frankly, that’s all I see in them now. It’s an evil that must be eradicated. An evil that must be answered to, or the very existence of us as a species will be compromised, solely based on the misguided actions of one sector of our species.”

  The many crewman and women being addressed by the Commander burst out into a roar of approval. They hollered loudly in agreement with their war chief. Their Commander. Their savior. Commander Korr nodded his head and broke out into a smile. His pearly white teeth shone as he stared at his subjects. He raised his left arm up and made a fist. The crewman and women below him fell silent, almost immediately.

  “Every action…has a reaction…and this is ours,” he snarled.

  Chapter One

  “No, no, no, no, no! You’re doing it wrong!” Teresa said as she grabbed both of my arms and straightened them out. “You need to hold it like this,” she continued, steadying my grip on the sword I was holding.

  The both of us were dressed in fencing gear. We were aboard Sector Eight, a space station that orbited Earth. People stationed on Sector Eight usually spent most of their days goofing around, drinking beer and playing games. It was what the brass referred to as the “cooling off” station. It was a place where people scarred by the horrors of war could go and unwind.

  The thing is, neither me nor Teresa were scarred by war. We were just dog tired. We’d spent three weeks on an alien planet, locked in a prison cell and were then forced to shuttle a nuclear bomb back to Earth, with the mission directive of destroying Earth with that bomb. Luckily, things had played out a little differently. We’d managed to turn things around and destroyed the alien threat that was making gains on our planet. My crew, or what was left of it, were all welcomed back like heroes. We’d done the unthinkable. We’d singlehandedly destroyed the majority of an alien species as it trudged its way toward Earth. We obliterated their convoy of warships and set off a chain reaction of explosions that was apparently felt hundreds of light years away! It was quite an achievement, but it wasn’t an achievement I was particularly proud of.

  Since we’d come back to Earth, we were fed various BS stories on what exactly went on between the humans and the Ursines. Some people had told us that it was all just an unfortunate moment in human history. A moment that had cost the Ursines their lives and their planet. The humans had colonized the planet a month after we got back home. I still don’t know how they did it, but it only took them a week of space travel to reach the planet and rid the Ursines’ home world of the rest of their species. They also found the bomb that Philip had left on the big purple giant, which in hindsight was probably a silly thing to leave on Philip’s part. But luckily for him, they were none-the-wiser as to who left it there.

  And I suppose I was obliged to keep it that way. I wouldn’t be letting anybody in on that little secret. The other lines we were fed included such gems as “maybe your crew is just unlucky”. Yeah, sure, we’re unlucky enough to be banished into space by our own people, given to a bunch of savage aliens as slaves and then watch on as Earth plays a game of chess with ballistic weapons.

  Sure sounds unlucky to me.

  “Fencing is an art form, Flynn. You can’t go into it thinking you’re an artist though. Ego will take most warriors down in a flash,” Teresa said, “Like this,” she added, suddenly pushing me to the floor.

  She stood over me, her very long legs rising up as I stared at the point of the sword she held over me. She then began to laugh, which was just as well, because I wasn’t finding it the least bit funny. I didn’t like being overpowered much. So it came as no surprise to me that Teresa kicking my butt at fencing didn’t exactly put me in the best of moods. But she had something working
in her favor that most fencing instructors didn’t possess.

  And that was a rocking body. My oh my was it rocking!

  “The sword is up here…not wherever you’re looking at,” she playfully smiled.

  “I wasn’t looking at anything,” I said, getting up to my feet.

  I removed my fencing helmet and placed the thing on the ground. The metallic sheen of the helmet melded with the dark black reflection coming off the grating beneath me. Millions of tiny holes stared back up at me. For a moment or two I was transfixed by the darkness beneath me, but Teresa’s shrill voice pulled me back to reality. I suppose after everything we’d been through recently; I’d become easily spaced out. Like the deep seeded terrors I’d felt back on the Ursine planet still ran through me. They still terrorized me. And nearly a month after it all, I could still feel my heart skipping a beat in my chest every once in a while.

  But I was safe now. So there was no point in wallowing in what happened. But it was hard for me. I had blood on my hands. Blood I wasn’t sure would ever wash off. But life went on. And I was back to work tomorrow. Back to flying missions to alien planets for Earth. Under the radar of course.

  That, at least, hadn’t changed.

  “You okay?” Teresa asked me.

  “Yeah I’m fine. It’s just these clothes. They aren’t that flattering. And I’m afraid the years I’ve spent in the Captain’s chair has caused a slight mound to appear in my midsection,” I smiled.

  “I’d say you look just fine Flynn. Anyhow, there’s a lot to prepare. We’ve got our first official mission tomorrow. Time to get back in the saddle and whip our asses back into shape. So no ogling my boobs, yeah?” she said, grinning at me.

  I acted a little shy, but there was no point really. We knew where we stood with each other. Since getting back from the Ursine planet, we’d formed a relationship. Not a serious relationship. But a courtship. One that involved kissing and everything! I was ever so excited about that fact. Teresa was brilliant. Smart. Sexy. And above all, she was kind. Something I hadn’t encountered in a woman in a very long while.

  “So, back to the ship?” I asked, touching her shoulder. She nodded.

  We walked hand in hand toward the changing rooms. In this particular part of the station, they’d decided to install unisex changing rooms, so we went in there together. We were alone. It was late I guess. Everybody must have been in bed. The plan was simple. We’d get changed. Grab a quick bite to eat and then board our ship, the Alpha Ship One, which was located in the shipyard, along with many other fleets that were cooling off. So we hadn’t planned on taking our time. But I guess circumstances got the better of us and we ended up spending an hour in the changing rooms.

  Doing what? Well, I guess whatever two people of the opposite sex do in a steamy changing room.

  ***

  We both walked out of the changing room with smiles on our faces. Not because we’d just had the best sex we’d ever had but because we’d done it in public, and like naughty teenagers, we found it amusing that nobody was the wiser. I wish that our joy had lasted a little longer than it had, but unfortunately, an alarm sounded off all of a sudden. A loud alarm. At first, we didn’t know what it was. Maybe a fire? Probably. That’s what was running through my head. But then the floor lights turned red. And they only went that color in an emergency.

  Times had changed. A fire wasn’t really an emergency now. Every inch of the station was fitted with heat sensors. The moment the ambient level in a room went to a certain level, extinguishers would put the fire out. It was designed to sort the problem out before it even became a problem. So fires were rare, at least ones that were left to their own devices, and became big enough to set off the alarms.

  So I was worried. If it wasn’t a fire, then what could it possibly be?

  “God, that’s loud,” Teresa said as she held her hands over her ears.

  We’d stopped momentarily in one of the many narrow corridors on the Sector Eight Station. Seconds earlier, it had been a ghost town. You could have heard a pin drop. But now, now was different. Red lights were shining up the walls. Alarms were shrieking in my ears. Footsteps were rushing down the corridors around us. We turned a corner and saw armed troopers beckoning people over. At first, I just stood there, staring at the men in power armor suits. They wore them with pride. They were adorned in medals, insignias and metal plates. But now was not the time to stare at the shiny dangerous men.

  “Come on Flynn! Something is up, we need to get to the emergency meeting point,” she said, jogging toward the power armored men in front of us. I caught up with her, but a massive metal arm sprung in front of us, stopping Teresa and me from passing.

  “Credentials,” the man that the bulky arm belonged to spat out. His heavy breathing suggested that he was excited about something. Scared of something even. I looked up at him, his helmet covered the majority of his face. I could see my own reflection in his eyes. They stared at me as I stood there terrified, not quite sure what to say or do.

  “Credentials. I need to see your credentials!” he snapped.

  I looked at Teresa and then at him. My neck was hurting as I tried to keep my eyes level with his. But he was so tall and menacing that my neck was having a hard time keeping up.

  “We don’t have our credentials. We left them in our barracks. I didn’t think we’d need them. We’ve been fencing and I thought…”

  The man interrupted me.

  “I can’t let you pass unless you show me some damn I.D. Earth is being attacked. Sector Eight is on lockdown until we know who is who, and you can’t come through until we know who YOU are,” the guy said.

  He then held his hand to his head and pressed two fingers into what I assumed was his ear. I couldn’t really tell, on account of his helmet. He appeared to be listening to something. A transmission of some sort.

  “What do you mean Earth is being attacked?” I asked, the reality of what was going on finally sinking in.

  The man didn’t reply. He just stood there and listened. I turned to Teresa, who was wide-eyed with fear. I was just about to say something when she started to scream. My attention diverted back to the power armor wearing man in front of me. He was holding his gun at me. A long thick barrel stared directly into my soul as the blackness of the muzzle seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as he stepped closer toward me.

  “I’m afraid if you can’t prove who you are, then I’ll be forced to shoot you. Earth’s orders,” the Marine gruffed.

  I raised my hands in the air. So did Teresa. I was just about to tell him who we were, in the hope that we’d convince him we were friendlies when the lights went off. Darkness was followed by the sound of an explosion.

  And then gunfire.

  Chapter Two

  “We have them right where we want them. Look at all of the tiny ants scurrying below,” Commander Korr’s right-hand man said as he reported his findings.

  The man was small in stature, yet grand in vocal delivery. He had a way about him. A villainous way. Like he was out of some sort of old-world spy movie. But the right-hand man to the feared Commander was not an old world spy. He didn’t hold any old world values. He didn’t follow any creeds. Nor was he one of those types that looked back at human history and yearned to experience the retro lifestyles of the citizens of Earth before they all became advanced.

  No, X-O Zutor was a man of impeccable thinking. Progressive thinking. He knew where the human race was supposed to be. And equally, he was disappointed to see where they currently were. Still fighting with each other. Still spilling blood for the sake of war. But this time, things were different. Korr and the people on this ship, including the X-O, were fighting the good fight. A fight that they had to fight. If they didn’t, and they let the humans of Earth carry on unscathed, then it would most likely end up badly for the whole of humanity.

  And the people on this ship were not prepared to suffer for the sins of Earth. They hadn’t sanctioned the baiting and extinction of the
Ursine race. They had no say in it. But they recognized that it was wrong. And that’s why they were attacking Earth. That’s why they were doing so in the biggest non-Pilgrim-Tech-owned human fleet in space.

  “Scurry away, cretins,” Commander Korr said as he stood at the ship's helm, observing from the bridge. His very own worker ants were scurrying too. But not in cowardice, but in vengeance. They were scurrying toward victory. And Korr was certain that they would affirm it soon.

  They just had to. There was no other possible outcome. They were just too big of a threat. They carried far too much weight. And all of that weight was crashing down on the unsuspecting people of Earth. It made Korr very happy indeed. They hadn’t seen it coming. Why would they have? A giant warship approaching Earth would usually be met with some sort of radio communication. Or if deemed hostile, it would be met with brute force. But Earth didn’t see them for the threat they were. All they’d seen was a human ship approaching the big blue planet. And human ships of that size were usually part of a fleet.

  Fleets carried special privileges. They weren’t privately owned. Well, nine times out of ten they weren’t. And unfortunately for Earth, this was unlucky number ten.

  “We have an incoming attempt at a video link from Earth,” X-O Zutor said as he typed something into his tablet and swiped the screen. An image popped up on the ships rather large tron. “Connecting” appeared in the middle of the screen, and after a few seconds a face was staring back at the entire crew of the Annex Rebel Fleet.

  “This is Admiral Thisk of Earth, what is the meaning of this unprovoked attack? I hope you are aware that you are attacking a sovereign planet. A planet protected by Galactic Law. This will be the end of you if you proceed any further!” Thisk said, his face going a shade of red on the video link. The quality of the video call was bad. Every now and then there was a stutter of lag, causing the high-resolution screen to tear and scramble.