The Atlantis Chronicles: The Kordam Party
The Atlantis Chronicles: The Kordam Party
Copyright 2019
Authors: Michael Brown and Myles Edmundson
Publishing House: Stellar Being Productions
Affiliated with Rose and Dagger Publishing
Front Cover Illustration by Michael Brown
Design by Michael Brown
Atlantis Short Story: The State Dinner
by Don M. Rady
Edited by Bradley Simpson
Author of Gems of the Druid
The Atlantis Chronicles: The Kordam Party
by Michael Brown and Myles Edmundson
Prologue: “The Battle of Aldebaran”
“Orpheus had taken the fair Eurydice as his wife. But as they danced amid the naiads on the day of their wedding, Eurydice stepped into a nest of vipers and was bit upon the heel. Eurydice died. Orpheus wept over the body of his slain wife. Thus he played upon his lyre a dirge so sorrowful that even the gods themselves wept over the death of fair Eurydice.”
Excerpt from “Orpheus and the Underworld”
The planet Elnore Prime was arguably the most supremely beautiful world in the galaxy. It was said to be the closest one could get to visiting heaven without suffering death. The vast family estate of House Lovandiel was nestled in an idyllic valley deep in the Imaradel Mountains. The Lovandiel Valley could quite honestly be called a sylvan paradise. The main feature of this valley was a lake that was fed by three rivers that flowed down to it from the mountains. A fourth river flowed out of the lake and out of the valley. On the north shore of the lake, a sizable collection of buildings were situated on the land between the three rivers. The main manor house, known as Lovandiel Manor, straddled the central river and its flowing waters were featured prominently in all the central rooms and chambers of the house. The manor house was the home of House Lovandiel. This manor house was surrounded by a wide scattering of smaller buildings. Most were the homes of minor houses associated with the Lovandiel family. The rest were guest houses for visitors, outbuildings which housed shops for artisans and craftsman permanently in the employ of the Lovandiel family and their associated minor houses, barns and stables for livestock, garages and boat houses for vehicles. A small spacecraft landing field stood off to one end of the estate. This landing field was mainly used as the primary arrival area for visitors to Lovandiel Valley. Most of the traffic to and from this landing field consisted of planetary shuttles, though it was equipped to receive spacecraft as large as a light starship.
The Hall of Waters was the name of Lovandiel Manor's central great hall. It featured an open area of the floor that ran the full length. This area was lined with artistically wrought metal railings. Little bridges crossed it, connecting the two sides of the room. Below this open area, the central river ran swiftly, filling the hall with the everlasting music of running water. Colorful little birds flew about the hall, flitting about the trees rooted in the ground, yet growing through holes in the floor. Flowers grew in stone planters, flower boxes and hanging pots all around the hall. The flowers filled the space with their vastly mingled perfume. Glitter stood under a particular tree. She was dressed in a simple, flowing white dress. Her golden hair was loose from braids and adornments. She wore no jewelry and only a small amount of makeup. She was surrounded by the women of House Lovandiel and minor houses. Her mother stood to her right and her grandmother, Ambassador Lovandiel's wife stood to her left. All the women were dressed like Glitter, in simple white dresses, their hair worn loose and without adornments. Kayara Winelle stood out because her belly was swollen with pregnancy. Her dress hugged the curve of her belly, accentuating her pregnant glow. She only stood out because she was standing next to Glitter. There were other pregnant women among the gathered ladies, but all had their eyes on Glitter. Glitter looked nervous, yet proud at the same time. It was her coming of age, ceremonially declaring her a grown woman.
“Rose,” Kayara smiled warmly. “Today is a day of great pride for me. You emerged from my womb at the beginning of your life and now you have grown into a woman. I have longed to see this day, and now we celebrate your womanhood. To go from my womb to womanhood is a great achievement, and we stand with you today to celebrate your life.”
Glitter turned to her mother and placed her hands on her mother's pregnant abdomen.
“Mother,” Glitter grinned back at Kayara, “I began my life growing here in your womb. You carried me and kept me safe. In time you gave birth to me. I stand here in celebration of my womanhood, and yet this celebration can't go without giving thanks to you, my mother. On this day, I thank you for carrying me within your womb. I thank you for giving birth to me. I thank you for raising me.” With that, Glitter hugged her mother.
Glitter's grandmother turned to Rose. “Rose,” her grandmother respectfully intoned, “you have come of age. Now you may wear the symbol of womanhood. Receive your nadashi pendant, and wear it with pride.” She placed an exquisitely made gold and silver pendant around her neck. It was strung on a chain with regularly spaced rings. The pendant itself featured a gowned, heavily pregnant woman with her hands on her swollen belly. Glitter looked at it, and then at the other women. At this moment, the other women put on their nadashi pendants. She noticed that some of the women had little jeweled charms hanging from the regularly space chain rings. She gazed at her grandmother and saw that her grandmother's nadashi pendant had five charms hanging from it. Glitter then looked at her mother, who had only two charms on it. Kayara noticed this and smiled.
“You have no charms on your nadashi pendant, my daughter,” Kayara said, “but when you find yourself carrying a baby in your womb, a charm will be added to your nadashi pendant.”
“Adding a charm to your nadashi pendant is a ceremony as important as this one,” Glitter's grandmother added.
“Let us welcome my daughter as a woman of our family,” Kayara was very proud, “for today Rose is no longer a girl, but a woman.”
“Welcome, Rose,” the assembled women spoke in unison, “may your womb be as fruitful as ours.”
“Thank you,” Glitter managed to smile with gratitude.
Alpha Tauri, more commonly known as Aldebaran, was an orange giant star. A system of seven planetary bodies orbited the giant star, most notably a gas giant seven times larger than Jupiter. The sixth planet was the home of Aurora Colony. Aurora Colony was originally an Elnore colony. However, as the Galactic Alliance grew, members of other species came to settle on Aurora Colony. Now Aurora Colony was home to Elnore, Simma, Shrive Thinkers, Shrive Fighters and humans. It was very much a metropolitan colony with a reputation for being quiet and peaceful. But this peace was shattered when a Hellkin fleet emerged from a hyperjump. This was not a small, six vessel battle group like the one that had attacked Simmal. This was a fleet fifteen hundred ships strong. They were led by a massive, egg-shaped command ship. Aurora Colony was normally a sleepy colony with few defense forces, because the colony was not tactically important. Its defenses consisted of a network of orbital cannon satellites, which were hastily placed in orbit following the Hellkin attack on Simmal. There was also a Galaxy Ranger station. The Galaxy Rangers were a multi-species law enforcement organization seemingly patterned after the Texas Rangers, though most people dismissed this as a convenient coincidence.
The Atlantis burst out of hyperspace. She was followed by an armada of Galactic Fleet warships, two hundred fifty strong; battleships, carriers, destroyers, frigates and escorts. As she glided toward Aurora Colony, her armada arrayed around her. On the far side of the colony, the USS Pacifica, a sister ship
of the Atlantis, burst out of hyperspace. She too was followed by two hundred fifty warships. In total, five hundred ships emerged from hyperspace to come to the Aurora Colony's defense. Aboard the Atlantis, Bowen sat in his command chair on the bridge. At his station, Too Far glared at his displays.
“All ships have emerged from hyperspace and have formed up,” Too Far said, “the Pacifica and her armada are moving in on the opposite side of the colony.”
“Understood, Too Far,” Bowen growled, “what's the disposition of the enemy?”
Lieutenant Frelsey Grame scanned the information on his panel. “The Hellkin fleet has arrayed around the planet. Scanners indicate the enemy is still exchanging fire with the gun satellites.”
“What's the status of the colony's gun sat network?” Bowen clenched his hands on the arms of his command chair.
Grame inputted some data into his panel and then said, “Looks like twelve percent of the network remains intact, Captain.”
“Too Far, issue orders to the fleet,” Bowen glowered intently. “Weapons free! Splash the enemy!”
Too Far grinned, displaying his teeth with saurian glee, “With pleasure, sir.”
As Too Far set to issuing the nanoburst orders to the rest of the fleet, Bowen turned to the Air Boss.
“Landry,” Bowen snapped and paused for effect, “scramble!”
“Aye, sir,” Landry spoke into his headset, “all units...scramble, scramble! Weapons free!”
All along the length of the Atlantis' outrigger hulls, her fighters shot from their launch tubes. From her outrigger hulls' landing decks, heavy eagle SWAC ships and black eagle stealth ships emerged. From her shuttle landing deck, bombers and ultra-light starships scattered to the battlefield of space. The vast numbers of small ships began firing their weapons at Hellkin fighters and bombers.
In the cockpit of Argathreft's Talon Two starfighter, he looked at the small scanner display in his helmet visor's data display, which, because of the way it was designed and focused, appeared like the data was hovering in the air a few inches in front of his visor, even though it was actually a transparent data display unit sandwiched between the layers of the shatterproof transparent sheeting that made up the visor. On his data display, the Simma saw the icons that represented the fighters from the Atlantis and her support carriers. The symbols gathered in formation around the icon that represented his fighter. Seeing this he keyed his radio.
“Archmage to all wings,” Argathreft spoke into his radio pickup, “report in.”
In the cockpit of the lead fighter of Screaming Eagle Squadron, the pilot, an all American man, keyed his radio. The word Raptor was painted on his flight helmet.
“This is Raptor,” Raptor reported into his radio pickup. “Screaming Eagle Squadron standing by.”
In another Talon Two cockpit, the male Zetabot pilot keyed his radio.
“This is Zombie Leader,” the Zetabot communicated his readiness. “Zombie Team standing by.”
In his cockpit, Argathreft gazed upward from his cockpit and saw a squadron of fighters that were very different from the Talon Two starfighters of his squadron. The craft had a distinctly bird-like shape, even down to a swallowtail shaped drive section. He knew these were fighters piloted by Shrive Fighters.
“This is Razor Claw squadron,” came the voice of the lead shrive fighter pilot from Argathreft's helmet speakers. “We are ready to spill the enemy's blood.” He thought he could hear in the pilot's voice that he was clicking his mouthful of pointed teeth while smiling.
In the cockpit of another Talon Two, the female Elnore pilot keyed her radio.
“This is Angel Squadron,” she spoke in his radio pickup, “we are prepared to do battle.”
In yet another Talon Two cockpit, the male Shrive Thinker pilot keyed his radio.
“This is Gemini Squadron,” he said, “My fighters are ready to battle.”
Argathreft glanced again at his scanner display and saw a collection of red lights moving toward the icons that represented his own ships. He keyed his radio again.
“Wizard Leader to all units,” Argathreft spoke into his radio pickup. “Lock missiles on targets.” He manipulated his controls activating his fighter's fire control system. All across his field of vision red target reticules appeared as the fire control system locked a missile onto a target. After watching this for a moment, Argathreft keyed his radio. “All units. Fire missiles, full spread!”
The vast formation of fighters fired a dense cloud of missiles. Ahead of them, a formation of Hellkin fighters flew at them, armed for combat. The missiles flew straight and true. Moving within the formation of Hellkin fighters, the missiles broke open, scattering an even denser cloud of micro-missiles. Each micro-missile impacted on a Hellkin fighter, destroying it in a brilliant explosion.
In his cockpit, Argathreft skimmed his display to see how the spread had done. The display showed explosion animations all along the lines of Hellkin fighters. After a few moments, the animations cleared, leaving many Hellkin fighters still flying. He keyed his radio. “All units. Break and engage!”
Argathreft's vast line of fighters scattered, all firing their particle beam cannons. Aurora Colony's orbital space was suddenly filled with even more explosions. Someone gazing at it from a distance would have thought they were seeing fireworks. All along the length of the Atlantis, her vast arrays of weapons fired. Missiles fired from her launchers. Torpedoes emerged from her tubes. Then her mass driver cannon tubes fired quantum zero-point anti-starship shells. One shell struck a Hellkin carrier amidships. The ship was blown in half and broke apart. Another shell struck a Hellkin dreadnought head-on. The forward third of the ship exploded. The ship started listing, as a spread of torpedoes struck it. The ship exploded in a brilliant blast. The third shell struck another dreadnought squarely in its main reactor. Explosions ran the full length of the ship. The craft vanished in a cloud of debris and gases in seconds. The fourth shell struck a Hellkin dreadnought as it was moving in to fire a full broadside at the Atlantis. The shell struck the ship on the starboard side. This threw the ship sharply to port. It struck a Hellkin carrier. Both exploded.
On Elnore Prime, Glitter sat on a bench, beautifully carved from a single piece of a marble inlaid with precious stones. It was situated in a breathtaking landscaped garden amid the eastern wings of Lovandiel Manor. It was among the few places within the walls that was open to the sky. The bench she sat on stood on the shores of the valley river. She was simply sitting watching the river. Presently, a young Elnore man approached her. He was a slender young fellow at that stage in the adolescent stage of life, though he was 120 years old. He was Havadar Lovandiel, and he was Glitter's uncle, her mother's brother. He approached Glitter and sat down next to her. He looked at her and saw her nadashi pendant and gasped.
“By the Holy Creator, Rose,” Havadar said, “you've come of age?”
“Yes, Havadar,” Glitter rolled her eyes.
“But you're only twenty years old,” Havadar groaned. “You should still be a child.”
“My father was human,” Glitter smiled faintly. “I matured quickly.”
“It's not fair,” Havadar cried, “I'm a century older than you are, and I still have to wait till I'm 200 years old before I come of age.”
“Sorry, Uncle,” Glitter teased. “I'm an adult and you aren't.”
“That's galling,” Havadar growled, “to have a niece that's grown, and yet I'm not an adult yet.”
“Impatience is always a trait of the young,” Glitter chuckled.
“Don't be so deep, Rose,” Havadar whined. “You're not old enough to spout philosophy.”
“What do you want, Havadar?”
“Can't I come to spend time with my favorite niece?” Havadar hedged carefully.
“I suppose,” Glitter frowned, “but usually when I visit, you want to talk about sex, or to get me to help you find a girlfriend.”
“Of course,” Havadar huffed, “but this time, I'm here because
I heard what those awful Naziortol did to you.”
“Yeah,” Glitter breathed with remembered pain.
“It must have been horrible being raped by that...that...vine creature.”
“Unfortunately, I remember every moment of it,” Glitter sighed. “It's one of the few down sides of being one hundred percent Elnore. If I had still been part human, I might have blocked some, if not all, of the incident out of my memory.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” Havadar said, “at least; Kayara brought you here to heal with your family.”
“I know. It helps. Even talking to you helps.”
“See, Rose,” Havadar cheered. “I'm not always obnoxious.”
“You still have some time before you're grown up.”
“Yeah,” Havadar seemed a bit bashful, “there is one thing I want to tell you.”
“What's that?”
“Mother betrothed me,” Havadar broke out in a big grin.
“Really,” Glitter was intrigued, “who did grandmother betroth you to?”
“Galasa.”
“Galasa of House Liren?” Glitter gasped.
“Yes, she is the same age I am. Her parents made arrangements with mine for her to marry me when she comes of age.”
“Have you bedded her yet?”
“Not yet, we haven't had our betrothal ceremony yet.”
“Why not?”
“Mother wanted to delay it so you and Kayara could be here to see it,” Havadar beamed.
“Oh, I see,” Glitter said, “what will this betrothal ceremony involve?”
“I don't know,” Havadar had the temerity to blush, “other than she and I will have sex for the first time at the ceremony.”
“So you get to claim her virginity at the ceremony,” Glitter pondered, “assuming she hasn't had sex yet.”
“Even if she has had sex already,” Havadar shrugged, “my having sex with her during the ceremony is still a ceremonial claiming of her virginity.”
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