Annihilation: The Relissarium Wars Space Opera Series, Book 1

by Andrew C Broderick

  Theo heard Cherish’s sonic gun fire three times. Each blast struck Garth’s prone body. “I’m not taking chances with that freak this time. Three shots will hold him, until we get the hell out of here.”

  Theo’s eyes were still locked on the Relissarium. “Did you see what happened when his blade hit the slab? I thought it was going to explode.”

  “I’m sure Hubard will want to know. Hey, look who’s here.”

  Walking towards them, from the direction of the hovercraft, were Makram and Irane. They seemed to be calm, even though minutes ago there had been a flurry of bullets and laser shots aimed at them.

  “I thought you guys were shooting it out with the soldiers? Did they run?” Cherish waved at them, but looked around confused.

  Makram nodded. “They pulled back. Hubard and the others brought out some of the big toys we picked up from that post. They’re shooting plasma grenades up the hill. I don’t think we’ll have to worry.”

  The cove lit up with the light of a new sun. Makram looked up into the sky. “Drop shuttle’s here! Time to pack this load up, and go!” He turned back to the carrier, and ran to it, with Irane hot on his heels.

  Cherish and Theo returned to the cargo ship. They watched, as the shuttle came down on a column of flames. In the distance, they could see grenades firing up the hill and exploding, to keep the militiamen at bay. That would buy them a little time.

  After a few minutes to cool down, the back end of the shuttle popped open, and the pilot emerged, blaster in hand. He’d known this landing was a hot zone, and didn’t want to take any chances. His voice was cautious. “Cierra! I’m here to pick up a group with Sub-commander Cierra!”

  “Got her right here! She’s not her usual self. Took a hit from a sonic gun.” Cherish and Hojae lugged Cierra out of the cargo ship.

  The pilot compared her face to a picture he carried. “Looks like her. All right, there’s supposed to be some more to this cargo. What is it?”

  “Got it!” Makram yelled as he and the rest of the Carbonari made a line, with some small electric carts. They ran the guns out of it, to the drop shuttle. Theo noticed the load was a little lighter than before. Grenades continued to be lobbed up into the hills.

  “Is that all? You have five minutes and then I leave!” His expression was serious.

  “Those rocks! Can we take them?” She pointed at the mineral slabs, near Garth’s unconscious body.

  The pilot walked over to the slabs, and kicked one. “Seems light enough. What about him?”

  “He stays,” Cherish said, thickly.

  “Fine. Now, get this crap loaded. If I’m one pound over, somebody gets kicked out of the cargo door.” The pilot walked back inside the ship.

  It took an extra two minutes for the team on the ground to load the mineral slabs. At T-minus one minute, the pilot began to spin the warning lights, and let loose with a siren. Theo was inside, and strapped in by that time. He watched as Hubard ran up the cargo hold, and skidded into the passenger section. It was a tight fit, but they’d managed to get everything they wanted on board. Ropes bound the slabs of Relissarium to the belly of the cargo bay. Crates of guns, and other weaponry, were stacked from the floor to the ceiling.

  Hubard struggled to catch his breath. “I had to send the last of those plasma grenades over the rocks. The militia saw the shuttle land, and they were ready for one final push. I waited until they tried to set something up over the hills, and unleashed a barrage. I think it took them out.” There was a rumble outside the shuttle, as the ground shook. Hubard squinted, and winced apologetically. “Maybe I missed a few.”

  The pilot yelled back to the passenger compartment. “Holy shit! That was an attack ship. Time to go, people. I’m lighting the torch.”

  Theo felt his stomach slam to the back of the couch, as the pilot fired all his plasma engines at maximum throttle. The shuttle leapt off the ground, accelerating rapidly. The pilot yelled something about evasive action, but Theo didn’t care by that time. All he wanted to do was maintain consciousness, so that he could be sure they’d made it to orbit. He didn’t succeed. His face was pushed back towards his ears from the G force, and everything went black.

  Cherish unlatched Theo’s safety harness. By that point, everyone was floating around the passenger area. Cherish gave him a bottle of water to drink, and checked his pulse.

  “We’re safe,” she said. “The pilot knows a few tricks to get us back to Relisse. Everyone but me blacked out on takeoff. That kind of G was the only way to make orbit quickly enough to get away from the attack ships.”

  “All I want is to get home and put this mess behind me.” Theo slowly sipped from the bottle she had given him. “How’s Cierra?”

  “I’m doing good,” she replied, from across the cabin. “Guess I beat the twelve-hour mark on the sonic gun, too. It just took me a little longer to come around.”

  Cherish nodded. She was still concerned with Theo’s vitals. “The acceleration pushed things up.” Her eyes lit up, as she remembered something. Cherish snapped her fingers, and turned to Cierra. “Oh, I heard from your husband, he’s back on Relisse.”

  Good. The two of them can go back to playing dangerous revolutionaries, and leave me alone, Theo thought. He took another swig from the bottle.

  “I want to talk to you about the way the mineral performed.” Hubard pulled himself over to Theo’s seat. “Cherish said it sparked, when the infintium blade hit it. Did you see that happen, too?”

  “Not only did the blade spark, but I saw one blade broken in half when it hit a slab. It didn’t hit that hard, either. Is there something about this mineral that makes it do that?” It was harder for Theo to hide his genuine excitement and curiosity than he wanted to admit.

  Hubard was bubbly with exhilaration and passion. “It absorbs energy like nothing I’ve ever seen! This is the sort of thing we need, for our cause. History is filled with technological advances that changed the tide of battle.”

  “Oh! The electric security field repelled a slab I tossed into it. Didn’t even bother the metal, and it felt cool to the touch afterwards.”

  Hubard’s eyes sparkled. He made some notes on a pad, and returned it to his pocket. “Thanks! That gives me all kinds of ideas on how to put it to use.” He drifted off into the cargo area to examine the slabs that were corded down near the rear bulkhead.

  Once Hubard had left, Cierra came over to sit beside Theo. “Cherish tells me you did a good job out there. I know you’ve got a wife and kids back home, but you should consider joining up with us. We can use a good man. I’m sure your brother could put a word in for you, at the council.”

  Theo laughed dryly. “Thanks, but all I want is to get home, and back to my farm. You are going to follow through on the extra money you promised, aren’t you?”

  “Of course, little brother. I’m sure you’ll get everything that’s coming to you.” She winked and wandered back to another part of the passenger area.

  It hit Theo that the group had to have been infiltrated if the CRM knew their location at Smuggler’s Point. He suspected the island was used a lot by the militia to trap big fish, and the little ones could run whatever small items they wanted. This operation had counted as a big one, and the militia was adamant about keeping them on the planet. In spite of that, they’d somehow managed to make orbit.

  The original plan was for the drop shuttle to link up with a small-time transporter that ran goods between planetoids, but the rapid departure had made that almost impossible now. However, the insane ride into space had a benefit: the shuttle was already on a direct course for Relisse. They’d be stuck with each other until the pilot dropped them off, at some hidden location. All Theo wanted was to make sure it wasn’t too far away from his farm. At least he could return to the crops, and his family. His brother and sister-in-law could do whatever they wanted from now on, so long as it didn’t involve him. Theo leaned back on his couch, and tried to catch some sleep.

  Five

&nb
sp; The screams tore Theo out of his sleep instantly. Two blinks, and he remembered why he was on the shuttle, and where he was headed, though not why. Looking ahead, he saw Cierra, and a few strange characters gathered at the viewport at the front of the cockpit. Who the hell were they?

  Then, adrenaline brought all the strange violence of the last twenty-four hours back. But, why were they screaming?

  Theo was the only one still seated. He instinctively unsnapped his harness, and used the seat in front of him to propel himself up and forward to join the rest of the group. Groggily, clumsily, he pulled himself to the cockpit, the tears and screaming unceasing.

  Theo grabbed Cierra’s shoulder, and used her to steady himself so he could get a better look outside. Relisse was on fire. The entire surface of the planet was nothing but a deep, red, fiery glow.

  “Gone,” Cierra whispered. “The surface of Relisse is burning! All of it. Nothing can survive that hell!”

  “What happened?” Theo stammered. “When did it happen?”

  “Started maybe… a minute ago,” Cierra said. “The pilot was about to make his approach and then…this!”

  “I have no idea what’s going on,” the pilot said. “I had the location crew on the surface giving me landing instructions, and then...”

  “Any other transmissions from the surface?” Cherish asked.

  “Nothing. It’s dead down there…wait a minute, something big’s coming. Fast! Prepare for evasive maneuvers!”

  The passengers grabbed handles, and held on for dear life, as the pilot slammed the engines to maximum thrust. Seconds later, a Yasta cruiser moved past them, so close they could make out details like ports, hatches, gun turrets and thrusters on its surface. Then, the glare from its engines made them squint, as they watched it soar over them and then disappear.

  “Portal,” the pilot told the others. “Cruiser opened a portal and took off. Guess it was planned.”

  “Yeah,” Cierra mumbled. “That Yasta ship had something to do with this.”

  Theo could feel the sharp blade of hatred go through everyone’s heart.

  The shuttle drifted in space, for another two days standard. There was nowhere to go. A few other transport vessels had made it off the surface before the firestorm began. The spread of the incineration was so quick that only two achieved orbital velocity in time.

  “Any word from the other regional governments?” Theo asked Cherish, as she tried to find some transmissions on the afternoon of the second day.

  “Everyone’s stunned,” she told him. “They don’t know what caused it. There were no experimental fuel stations, or energy production down there at the time. No known instabilities on the surface. No impacts from interstellar objects. It’s a complete mystery. Even the Emperor is sending a science team in to investigate.”

  Theo tried not to think about his family. He only prayed that whatever happened to them was quick. He could tell Cierra didn’t want to think about Remi.

  “I’ve talked with the Brotherhood’s grand council,” Cierra told them, later. “They have a place where the shuttle can dock and we can disembark.” Theo noted she didn’t use the term ‘Carbonari’.

  “They’re putting together a special unit, after what happened on Relisse,” she continued. “We all saw that Yasta cruiser leave after the firestorm, right? It doesn’t take much to figure out who’s to blame. If anyone is interested in joining up with the new unit, see me. Just so you know, the new unit will be called Strike Force Retaliation.”

  An hour later, Theo sat in his flight chair and stared forward, dazed. He felt dead on the inside. Cierra drifted over. She touched his forearm, which seemed to break his trance. “I’d like to have you as part of the new unit,” she told him. “I don’t have to tell you why.”

  “Strike Force Retaliation,” he mumbled, the cogs in his mind turning much too slowly, due to shock and a lack of sleep. “Retaliation,” he repeated. Then, he looked directly at Cierra. “We’ve both lost the ones we loved. I’d say there’s some retaliating to do.”

  The Adventure Continues…

  If you liked Annihilation, you’ll love part two, Blood Red.

  Theo is a broken man. The only family he has is the rebel group known as the Carbonari.

  The war against the powerful Yasta acolytes, blamed for destroying the planet Relisse, is heating up. No longer a farmer, Theo must train for combat. Before he's even half ready to fight, his cell must infiltrate a Yasta monastery to retrieve vital intelligence. But, can the greatly outnumbered Carbonari pull off the incursion? And, even with the sharpest blade in existence, can Theo survive the fierce onslaught of dozens of determined Yasta monks?

  See next page for the book’s cover.

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