Initiation Series: Series One Compilation (Terran Chronicles)

by James Jackson

  The Terran is a Destroyer class vessel. When the Gamin left Earth, it was incomplete, missing power and weapons, amongst other things.

  George’s alien friend, Sharz, was given command of the first one built in the Australian Outback. The second one that was under construction, is now the Terran.

  Construction Craft/Cruiser:

  These spacecraft are three Kilometers wide, eight Kilometers long, have forty internal decks, and rise to a height of four hundred fifty meters. These massive ships require a crew of twelve hundred. Some of these crew operate the various ground and atmospheric craft that are carried on board. Some of these craft even carry space fighters and crews, but I have yet to come across any of these craft. These monstrous ships require two active Power Units to land or take off from planets. The come equipped with eight power units, which makes me wonder how long they can sustain combat operations. They are bristling with weapons. Twenty-five small kinetic weapons, and one large one, compliment the ten energy weapons, to allow these craft to deliver an enormous amount of damage, in a short time. These ships are well protected by an armour belt which averages ten meters thick.

  One of these landed in Manhattan, practically covering the entire island!

  Command Craft/Battleship:

  These mammoth spacecraft are some five kilometers wide, sixteen long and almost one kilometer high. Amazingly, these craft can land on planets, but they rarely do so. They require a crew of fifteen hundred to operate fully, and could easily house twenty thousand more if required. With eighty internal decks to call these ships behemoth in size is an understatement. Twenty Power Units operate these craft with at least eight being needed to attempt a landing or take off from a planet. These ships have an amazing amount of firepower with fifty small kinetic weapons three large. These craft have and twenty-five energy weapons to complement their firepower. An armour belt in excess of fifteen meters thick protects this ship from the most punishing of attacks.

  Regent Voknor commands one of these. I don’t know if every Regent has such a vessel as their command ship.

  Update: I have yet to discover any other spacecraft, other than variations of what is listed above.

  Main Drive versus Speed:

  I have been racking my brains as to how the eight settings on the main drive relate to speed. Factor one is close to the speed of light, while factor five is close to Cx3850. But this is where the graph I am putting together gets weird. Factor six is close to Cx61600, and seven is Cx985660. Our mad dash at factor eight was around Cx15770000.

  No matter how I chart the speeds, I can’t rationalize how the ships maximum speed is somewhere around 15.8 million times the speed of light, and yet factor five is not even four thousand times.

  The energy required to sustain the various speeds does not scale the way I think it should either. Two Gamin power units can sustain the Terran at factor six almost indefinitely, yet factor eight drains everything we have in twelve hours, and that was with the nuclear reactors running wild.

  Epilogue

  Stuart gazes out through his thick faceplate and smiles. His bodysuit’s shield adds a shimmering effect to his surroundings, but the added protection is well worth any inconvenience. Standing before him are four other similarly garbed individuals. He reviews a readout on his portable computer and grins all the more as he gives his colleagues a thumbs-up.

  Stuart actives his transmitter and reports, “Survey team one, reporting in. We have safely landed and I am happy to report that the environmental suits are protecting us from the corrosive atmosphere.”

  “Understood survey team one. Your transmission came through with only a mild distortion. Watch yourselves down there, we’re monitoring numerous hot spots.” The man leans back in his command chair and tries to relax. His mission is perhaps the most important in all of humanity’s history, and the pressure on him to report something positive is immense.

  “Okay, will do command. Survey team one out.” Stuart surveys his surroundings. Europe was hit hard. Between the Atlan attacks, and the nuclear weapons that were used as a desperate, and futile, measure, the landscape is unrecognizable.

  Time has not been kind either; it is almost as if Earth is happy to be rid of its inhabitants. Distant volcanoes spew ash and lava into the air, while grey oozy waters lap at the shores of every continent. Nothing lives on the planet anymore, and nothing will for an extremely long time. The very building blocks of life have been reset to a state that existed billions of years ago. Remote surveys have determined that a primordial soup exists across much of the planet and, once conditions are right, life will again emerge from the water.

  A distant city defies Earth’s attempts to reclaim it. Its tall buildings, though battered and ruined, still stretch into the cloudy sky. Cars and trucks slowly rust away in long lines on roads that radiate out from the devastated city. Thousands, if not millions of white bones lay scattered across the landscape, as if the city’s inhabitants took to fleeing in any direction they could, in their futile attempts to escape.

  Stuart finishes gauging his surroundings, then motions to his colleagues as he steps onto his gravity sled. When they are all ready, he leads them toward the first of many sites. His team is but one of many that scour the planet, looking for anything of value.

  The mission’s commander sits in his chair and sighs as he reflects. The Gamin were right! This survey mission is a waste of resources, precious resources, which the Alliance could have used for better endeavors. He recalls viewing the lengthy debate between the various council members, and recalls his excitement at being chosen to command the mission.

  His teams relentlessly scour Earth in their quest to find something that they can present to the council. The days become weeks, and the weeks, months as his teams exhaust their list of primary locations, and then their secondary locations.

  “Command, come in.” Stuart’s says with mounting excitement.

  “Command here,” replies the commander lazily, as he suppresses a yawn.

  “I have found a locked safe, and want to bring it up to decon.” Stuart requests.

  “Where did you find a safe?” The Commander asks, his interest piqued.

  “My team has been inspecting the various residencies the Terran’s bridge crew used to have.” Stuart answers, then adds, “Joe’s apartment on the outskirts of Perth was leveled by something, and underneath the rubble we found a safe.”

  The commander leans forward in his chair and replies, “Bring it up, it’s our only find to date.”

  Twenty people stand with Stuart outside the clear walls of the decontamination unit, waiting. Inside the room are three robots positioned around a large table. The safe is slowly brought in on a remote-controlled gravity plate. The safe’s metal casing is marred and clearly shows the ravages of time. Two robots carefully move the old safe onto the table, dislodging a few flecks of discolored paint as it is lowered. The safe’s handle is almost rusted away, and crumbles into dust when one of the robots grasps it.

  Stuart cringes, and says, “I hope the contents are not as fragile.”

  The commander replies optimistically, “If whatever is inside was spared the gas, then perhaps we will be in luck.”

  The robots meticulously absorb the safe’s casing. Thirty minutes pass before the contents are revealed. A stack of books sit before the group, the uppermost of which is little more than a curled-up pile of papers.

  Stuart’s jaw drops as he whispers almost reverently, “Joe’s logs!”

  The Commander feels a chill work its way up his spine, as he orders, “I want those books in stasis now.”

  “Stasis?” Questions Stuart, “Don’t you want to read them?”

  “If we touch them, we risk ruining them. This is a job for the archivists.” The Commander states.

  Stuart stares at the fragile pages in awe, “That is from the days of the Terran!”

  The Commander raises an eyebrow as he replies, “Days long gone.”

  ###


  Section Six: COLONY

  Novel

  Preface

  Thought lost, the spacecraft Terran and her crew are finally home. The adventure continues as humanity attempts to use the new-found technologies to establish a presence on other worlds.

  “Our future is as always an uncertainty, as new challenges present themselves." - James Jackson

  “Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become space faring. Not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.” - Carl Sagan

  "It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety". - Salvor Hardin epigram - Isaac Asimov

  “Burn the ships.” - Hernando Cortez

  Welcome to 'Colony', book three of the Terran Chronicles Universe.

  Introduction

  An epic shower of asteroids and meteors completely destroyed every satellite orbiting Earth. Many of the remaining projectiles struck the ground. Fortunately, only two cities were hit; Manhattan in New York, and St Petersburg in Russia. Most of the targets were either military in nature, or radio telescope facilities. A fleet of alien spacecraft followed behind this bombardment. They made Earth their home for a few months while they repaired their damaged ships. Their leader, Regent Voknor, made overtures of peace by building housing facilities for the survivors of the Manhattan and St. Petersburg impacts, claiming these impacts were unintentional. The Gamin, the conquering aliens, are a very strange looking race of beings. They are taller than the average human, have mottled-green leathery skin, and short crocodilian snouts filled with teeth. Yellow eyes with vertical iris give rise to a reptilian ancestry, as do their clawed ‘hands’.

  As suddenly as they came, the Gamin departed. Soon afterward, an abandoned spacecraft was found resting inside a huge construction dock in the Australian Outback. This technological marvel was massive. Its main storage area occupied approximately one quarter of the ship, and would be able to hold ten Nimitz class aircraft carriers, parked side by side. From the outside, the spacecraft appeared almost complete, but once inside it became clear why the Gamin left it behind. Without internal power, and with many decks completely missing, this craft was far from space worthy. A closer inspection further revealed that many external hull plates were missing as well, particularly gravity plating, which we discovered, is required for takeoff.

  Completing this spacecraft required the combined efforts of a consortium of nations. Earth’s first spaceship was dubbed the ‘Terran’ in a naming ceremony involving many world leaders. Its launch into space was earlier than planned, and almost disastrous. The spacecraft was severely underpowered and though everything seemed to function, this lack of energy added to the crew’s problems. However, these limitations did not stop the mission to explore nearby worlds from being a phenomenal success. As the crew flew home, an act of sabotage sent the Terran hurtling more than twenty thousand light years away, toward the Galactic core.

  The crew met new races, new dangers, and even succeeded in making a few friends along the way. One of these were the short furry Kord, a quiet race with enormous space stations. The crew rescued survivors from one of these massive constructs after it came under attack from yet another race. The attackers, the Atlans, have been at war with the reptilian Gamin for many centuries, and attacked the Kord for merely trading with them.

  The trek home was as perilous as it was arduous, and many paid the ultimate price. Finally, with assistance from both the Kord and the Gamin, the surviving crew made it back to Earth’s solar system.

  Prologue

  The starship Terran, though still far out in the solar system, edges closer to Earth at just under half the speed of light. Captain John Thompson plots a course up and over the distant asteroid belt. He loves the high ground when he can take it, a legacy of his days as a space shuttle pilot.

  Andrew’s smile turns to a frown as he reviews fresh data coming in. “Ah, hang on a sec.” His Australian accent seems to exaggerate the tone of his uneasiness.

  Cindy leans forward, as if being any closer will grant her a better view, her blond hair falls in front of her face. She flicks it away in annoyance.

  Andrew taps his console and adjusts the main screen. The image zooms in, bringing the object of his curiosity closer. He suddenly exclaims loudly at the sight.

  “What the heck is that?” Andrew’s finger points like a dagger at the distant object.

  Orbiting Earth, high above the Gamin made satellites, is a massive structure. Easily large enough to encompass the Terran, it looks like a massive space-dock with huge claw like appendages hanging downward.

  Cindy’s eyes narrow warily. With all that has happened this last few months, she is taking nothing for granted. “Andrew, plot us an escape trajectory and feed it into John’s terminal, just in case.”

  They all wonder if the Gamin have returned. But, as there are no ships in orbit, it does not look like it. Tensions mount as the excitement of returning home is replaced with apprehension.

  Cindy sits back, and as she often does, considers her options carefully before making a decision. “Joe, can we discreetly contact the Aussie facility from this distance?”

  Joe considers the request for a moment, and then shakes his head while responding. “We would still need to use the Gamin satellite grid, anyone could pick up the signal. We would have to be practically in orbit for our own communications equipment to work.”

  Cindy scowls, disappointedly. “Very well. John, you so much as even think you see another spaceship, punch it.”

  John nods, though having just shut the main drive down means that reinitializing the field could be risky and very draining on their limited energy reserves. Their recent adventure has been as harrowing as it has been exhilarating, giving everyone a renewed sense of caution when something feels out of place.

  Cindy bites nervously at her lower lip for a few seconds, then issues her orders. “Joe, open up a channel to the launch site, we have to find out what’s going on.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Joe replies formally as he taps a symbol on his terminal. He has come to trust her instincts during this arduous trek. “Your console has access now.”

  Cindy stares at her chair’s controls, takes a deep breath, then taps the symbol for external communications and says, “Ground control, this is the starship Terran, come in.”

  As the seconds tick by, tensions mount even more. She is just about to resend the message when the bridge speakers come to life.

  “WOW! You guys made it.” The young man’s voice is filled with excitement, and does not sound very professional at all. “Hold on a sec. Let me get someone.” Silence follows.

  Cindy glances around the bridge bewildered, curiosity building as she waits. The others shrug their shoulders or shake their heads. This is very bizarre indeed, she ponders.

  “Starship Terran, this is General Walker of ground control. Welcome back.” The strong American accent resounds through the bridge speakers.

  Joe and Andrew both turn to each other in surprise. An American in charge of the Australian facility, now that is strange.

  Cindy is curious as all hell as she wonders what the old NORAD commander is doing there. “General, what’s going on? Where’s General Hayes?”

  “Well folks, you have been missing for quite a long time. We thought you were lost, or worse.” Walker’s voice is tinged with surprise. “That last transmission we received from you kicked off the largest, and most expensive, space-race in history. It was almost world war three down here for a while. A lot has changed while you were gone, that’s for sure.”

  Cindy continues, “How did that space station get built so fast?” Cindy is not liking that her questions are being ignored.

  “Fast!” The General replies quizzically, “It took us over two ye
ars to build that monstrosity.”

  The bridge crew is stunned into silence. The hairs on the back of Cindy’s neck raise up in alarm. As far as she and the crew is concerned, they have only been gone for just over six months, not years.

  General Walker’s voice fills the quiet void. “You must be close, dock inside Space Station Unity, then come down with your command crew. We have a lot to discuss.”

  Cindy feels some frustration building up. “General, just how long have we been gone?”

  Surprised at the question, General Walker continues hesitantly. “Ah, you have been missing for almost three years.” He quickly adds, “But Lisa wouldn’t let us give up hope. That’s why Space Station Unity was originally built.”

  At the mention of his wife’s name George turns to Cindy, his shocked expression mirrors the faces of those around him. Three years! The bridge crew is staggered by the revelation.

  Joe’s blank gaze wanders the room as his mind shifts into high gear. He puts a hand to his head, concentrating. His voice carries with it a disquieting tone as he conjectures, “The RMC went down when GUS was shot up. Perhaps our loss of time happened because we were travelling faster than light without it? I don’t know. This will keep scientists busy for a long time, that’s for sure.”

  Cindy takes the news stoically, and then taps her console and responds, “We will see you soon General.”

  She cuts the communication and then sits there, quite pensive. Everyone patiently awaits her orders. Her eyes narrow as she gazes around the bridge, and considers their options. The crew has been through a lot these last few months, and have forged strong trusting bonds.

  Cindy issues her orders pensively, “John, take us in slowly. Let the main drive fully charge up, then park us in a high orbit facing away from Earth. We won’t trap ourselves in that dock until we know what’s going on.”