Terranus: Origins: Book one of the 'Terranus' series.

by Joe Crouch

  “Sir,” the trembling voice came back, “Long range scans have detected an unknown fleet approaching Terranus, their speed and hull configuration seems consistent with Xuron craft.”

  * * *

  “Ambassador Sean Maguire to Earth command, please respond, I repeat this is Ambassador Sean Maguire of the Mar’Ell, please respond, I have critical information regarding a possible and imminent attack on Earth.” He stood back from his console and looked around the packed bridge, everyone had gathered in concern for Earth, hoping to hear back from the troubled world.

  “While we’re in FTL communications can be disrupted,” Fez consoled Sean who was visibly shaken about the information he carried. Slumping back into his seat he went over what he had learnt in his mind. His body had recovered well with the assistance of the advanced med bays aboard the Mar’Ell, but the mental scars would likely be permanent.

  “How long until we reach Sol?” he asked, his voice pained.

  “Not long, then we can see that there was nothing to worry about and you can show me some of your world,” Fez said. Sean turned to face the resolute Captain, a hopeful glance on his face.

  “I hope you’re right, I really do, but I’d still like to get prepared for any eventuality,” he replied, standing from his seat he headed towards the bridge’s exit.

  “Wait,” Fez shouted, “I’ll join you and inform the marines we may be slipping into trouble, you wouldn’t last a minute out there by yourself anyway.” Nodding, he carried on and walked towards the armoury, the tension inside of him built at a rapid pace, his mind flashed through various memories he held of back home. The crew of the Mar’Ell had little idea of what they were flying into, they had no communication with Earth and their most recent orbital scans were dangerously out of date, they were effectively flying in blind. He knew they could cope with a relatively small force themselves, but anything large enough to invade a planet they would require assistance.

  “Do you think we should tell the High Council about this?” he asked.

  “I already have,” Fez replied, looking at him with a degree of surprise, “I didn’t mention it because I thought you would be against the idea.”

  “I’m not,” he trailed off, “I know what the Ioution’s have done for us and I’m grateful, I just hope they have their agreed upon defences in place already.” The mood between the two grew sombre, Fez was distrustful of the High Council, of any official in power, he knew how long bureaucracy took with his experience as Captain. The corridors felt cold to him, almost lifeless as he projected himself onto his surroundings, he knew expecting the worst was a poor trait to have, but it was something he couldn’t run from. As the duo walked he tried his best to remind himself that they had no evidence anything the Priest said was true, for all he knew it could be a distraction to take the Mar’Ell and the Ioution fleet away from other key targets. Something within him told him differently, though, there was a certain finality to the Priests threats, as if they were already underway and the destruction was imminent.

  Arriving in the armoury, they inspected their weapons. Fez rustled through the assortment of melee arms that were racked up while Sean grabbed the largest weapon possible. The peace was broken as the Ioution marines piled into the armoury, each seemed to bring a higher volume to their voice than the last. “Went with the biggest thing did you?” the joking marine quipped, making his platonic brothers look up and laugh at his expense.

  “All the better to see you with,” Sean replied, looking down the scope that was fixed atop the weapon. The laughter died down and the marines fanned out, each inspecting their own armaments, the nattering of conversation filled the air, it reminded him of better times spent in bars back on Earth.

  “Sean, come over here,” Fez shouted over the top of a pair of bickering marines. Waltzing over and squeezing between the sea of bodies that blocked his path he emerged to see Fez holding an instrument in both hands with a large grin on his face, “It’s time,” Fez stated.

  “Time for what exactly?” he gulped, crossing his arms instinctively as Fez reached out and held the device up to Sean’s chest. A thin blue light spread out from a crystal that extruded from its surface, Fez moved the beam across Sean’s body in a methodical fashion. “Fez,” he barked, “What are you doing.”

  “Uncross your arms,” following Fez’s orders, he put his arms behind his head.

  “I won’t resist arrest, officer,” he smirked which drew a punch that slammed into his fragile stomach, “Why?” he coughed, dropping to the floor he curled up into a ball, “Everywhere hurts.”

  “Good,” Fez replied, “I’ve got enough information now anyway.”

  “For what?” he asked.

  “For this,” Fez replied, placing the device into an unlocked terminal. Within moments it flashed into life and began computing the information that had been input, a picture started to appear on its inbuilt screen. As the image grew, his excitement grew in tandem.

  “No way,” Sean said, standing up with his face almost planted on the screen.

  “Oh yes,” Fez beamed, “Do you like it?”

  “Do I like it?” he snapped his head to look Fez in the eyes, “I love it.”

  * * *

  “Alpha team, orbital defences to maximum, focus your fire on the support vessels, do not let them anywhere near Earth,” general Hagen barked out in between heavy breaths.

  “Aye Sir,” came the response from the overwhelmed officer who manned his station, “Bringing up visuals now, Sir.” General Hagen and his team had assembled in the central war room, a large holographic image flashed into life displaying Earth and her orbital traffic. Defensive structures blinked a bright orange with their arc-of-fire overlaid onto the rotating image with deep-space tracking stations registering an immense invasion fleet exiting into Sol and heading for Earth. Their defensive fleet was nowhere to be seen, they were currently stationed out near Jupiter on harvesting duties, a brilliant idea from the ever-enlightened President. “Visual contact Sir,” the distraught officer whimpered, “We can confirm deep-space tracking seems to be accurate with their numbers.”

  “Damn,” Michael groaned, “Alright people, stay sharp and stay alert, this will need us all to be at the top of our game and with a sprinkle of luck we might make it through this.” Since their last encounter the surface defences of Earth had been improved and added upon, the majority were still under construction but what they did have they were quietly confident would have an immediate impact. On top of surface defences, the remaining stations in orbit had been retrofit with large defences capable of fending off greater vessels, Earth was no push-over.

  Terminals encircled the entire room, providing everyone with a clear view of what was going on above Earth herself. The view zoomed in to show an armada of Xuron ships in a neat, flat formation plodding towards the planet. The ships were almost holding hands as the cephalopod limbs linked and formed a bridge between every vessel with best guesses determining it a form of energy transfer or a way to enter all ships into slip space simultaneously. “Prepare surface railguns with high-impact explosive rounds and aim them on the path of the enemy’s central mass,” general Hagen bellowed, trying his best to show at least some form of confidence to his team, even if he himself didn’t see much hope in the situation.

  “But Sir, they’re currently out of effective range.”

  “The mass drivers will lose little to no speed once out of our atmosphere, as long as they don’t avoid the projectile it will hit with a crunch,” Michael replied. The loud echo of machinery working filled every inch of the facility as belts loaded the specified projectiles into their designated chambers. The surface defences were huge, drawing massive amounts of power to their capacitors from the grid, even with modern energy generation, if they fired every weapon in tandem they would almost certainly blow the grid causing more panic. The power that built in the capacitors was palpable to every sense, the general looked down to see the hairs on his arms stood to attention.


  “Local drivers are charged, Sir,” an officer blurted after a few moments of silence.

  “Very good, acquire the target and open fire.” The floor rumbled as the weapon shifted its position, rotating to get a clear shot on the incoming wave of Xuron ships. A moment of silence fell upon the room before an ear-splitting boom tore through every surface, knocking loose objects from their stable positions. “Fucking hell,” general Hagen shouted, “I never expected it to be that loud.” He turned to face his XO whose mouth was moving but nothing seemed to be penetrating the loud ringing within the general’s ears. It was a little while before he regained his hearing, only to hear faint explosions in the distance as additional batteries opened fire.

  “Projectiles are on course and predicted impact is within seven minutes, Sir.”

  “Excellent, keep me appraised Lieutenant.” General Hagen took control of an empty terminal and displayed the different defensive instillations that dotted about within the local vicinity, the majority were active and awaiting a good firing solution as the largest drawback to surface defences was the planet’s natural rotation. Cursing to himself that he didn’t commission more emplacements, Michael turned his attention to the holographic display, the projectiles and their predicted paths were drawn into the picture with dotted lines. To him, the picture provided a form of solace, the sheer quantity of tracked projectiles would have brought a smile to his face against a Human adversary, and it may still do against the Xuron threat, but there were still so many unknowns to their technology.

  “Sixty seconds, Sir,” the cry came from a wobbly voice and nodding his recognition, Michael returned to view the live image on the closest terminal, watching as the Xuron remained interlinked and didn’t attempt to avoid the incoming fire. He held his breath and bit his lip as he remained deathly still, quickly turning his gaze to the flight paths and back to the live feed, waiting for the inevitable.

  “How long until…” the general was cut off as his display was engulfed in a brilliant flash of white, he looked up and saw that the projectiles had been predicted to have impacted four different Xuron vessels. The entire room clenched up waiting for the screens to clear, waiting for visual confirmation of what their readings estimated, they knew they could trust the calculations, but seeing was believing. A loud cheer erupted from around the room as the visuals cleared up, the mass drivers had torn a hole right through the Xuron lines and obliterated four different ships, only clouds of a viscous green liquid and debris remained. “Great shooting everyone,” the general beamed, proud of his crew like they were his own family, “But the battle is far from won, we’ve shown what we’re capable of but we also know what they’re capable of, so stay on your toes and don’t let your guard down.”

  Circling the room, the general praised his officers on a job well done, he knew there was still a lot more to do, but small victories like this were vital in keeping morale high, if this battle can be fought at distance he knew they had a chance. “Sir, you’ve got to see this,” came the cry from a worried officer.

  “What is it?” he remarked as he stood, looking over the officer’s shoulder to his display, what greeted him made his heart sink.

  “Multiple contacts exiting the larger of the ships and heading on an intercept course for Earth, they’re far smaller than anything else, I’m not certain our mass drivers will be able to land a clean hit, Sir.”

  “Landing craft,” Michael choked, “They plan to invade us on the ground, inform the military worldwide to prepare for the invasion, I repeat, prepare for invasion.” Michael rushed over to his console, ready to arrange a briefing with the other generals in the area, but a faint red blinking caught his attention – It was an incoming transmission. Michael slipped a headset on and displayed the incoming call on screen, a dishevelled man greeted him, his background engulfed in flames that seemed to lick the clouds.

  “General,” the man stuttered.

  “Commander, what is it, we’re pretty busy up here.”

  “I’m sorry Sir, but it’s the Alpha-C11 installation, Sir.”

  “What of it?” the general asked while flicking his screen back to the image of the various surface defence platforms that circled the planet, the red flashes caught his attention, “Explain this at once.”

  “Yes Sir,” the Commander fretted, “I’ll do one better, I’ll send you the video we recovered from the incident,” nodding, the general accepted the incoming transmission and displayed the file. It showed a high-level Earth official, an inspector, gaining entry to the facility and proceeding through its winding, narrow hallways. The woman was well dressed, she had a sharp suit and hairstyle to match. Flicking between the varying views, the video showed the path she took, stopping at the weapon’s reactor core, she showed her credentials and gained access and began a routine inspection.

  “There’s nothing out the ordinary here, Commander.”

  “Just wait, Sir.” Unsure what to make of it, the general continued to watch, his interest waning rapidly. But the Commander was right, the inspector stood with her back as straight as an arrow before ripping open her jacket, revealing what appeared to an explosive device, but before the general could get a good look the camera feed cut out and returned to a black screen.

  “This is what destroyed your facility, a suicide bomber?” he asked.

  “Yes Sir, but she was legit, she was who she said she was, why would she do this?”

  “I’m not sure, Commander, but I think there’s more to this than meets the eye, keep me informed if you discover anything else, you have a direct line to me, Hagen out.” Michael slumped back into his seat, looking at the various red lights that flashed over different surface facilities across the globe, had they all been attacked or was it just a malfunction, it was something he was going to find out, and the sooner the better.

  * * *

  “Slip exit is imminent, Captain,” came the call over the Mar’Ell’s intercom system, “We will be arriving just outside of Terranus Prime’s influence.”

  “Very good,” Fez declared, “Inform me when we enter Earth’s orbit… or if anything suspicious is detected on sensors.” Fez and his marines lounged about in the hangar bay, waiting on Sean to arrive so they could get situated and head to Earth in the Arrakis-two. The team were already prepped; their weapons and armour lay scattered about the shuttle ready for take-off to the presumed peaceful expanse that was Earth.

  “Where is this idiot?” a marine snorted from behind Fez, “It doesn’t take this long.”

  “Just let him enjoy his moment,” Fez replied, “He’s probably never experienced anything like this before.” Before long, a rhythmic beating came from above, the hangar bay door cracked open to reveal Sean in all his mechanical splendour.

  “How do I look?” he yelled.

  “Terrible, as always,” Fez replied, shaking his head in embarrassment. Sean stood atop the gangway, his face lit up like a kid at Christmas, he was covered neck-to-toe in a flexible metal. The bulky suit provided intense protection against small and medium weapons fire and seemed to glisten in the bright lights overhead. He made his way down the steep stairs, each step was accentuated with a crash as the hydraulics on the suit made every movement into a spectacle. He grabbed the railings tightly as he wobbled from side-to-side, trying his best to wrangle his way around the computer assisted movement the suit provided, but it was no use. In front of the entire crew he clipped the back of his own enlarged foot and tumbled down the stairs, from the outside it took mere moments for him to slam into the cargo vehicle at the base of the stairs, but for him, it felt like an eternity. “Look what you did to my stairs,” Fez exclaimed over the hysterical marines that stood against the ship, each of them trying to catch their own breath, “They’re ruined.”

  “Take it out of my paycheque,” he gasped while rocking on the floor like a turtle, trying to gain some traction to get back on his feet, “Oh that’s right, you don’t pay me anything.”

  “Because you’re
not worth anything,” Fez laughed, making his way over to the encumbered Human. The pair looked at each other solemnly for a moment before the door above once again cracked open, the female laugh sent a chill down his spine.

  “Wow, look at you go champ, really impressive,” Taris beamed as she made her way past the bent and crumpled stairs to stand beside him, “Really impressive,” she laughed, giving him the once over.

  “Alright, alright, I get it, the naïve Human wanted the big bulky space armour to look great.” He paused, looking up into Taris’ powerful purple eyes, “But I do look great, right?”

  “Oh yeah,” she smirked, “How can I resist?” In-between laughter, Taris and Fez each grabbed an arm and helped him to his feet. The trio sat on the almost destroyed stairs and made small talk, waiting on the all-clear to lift-off and head for Earth. He was beaming to see his family again, the mission had taken him away and restricted access while the mess was sorted out back on Earth, but things had died down enough for him to return.

  “Captain, slip-space exit in ten seconds,” the navigational officer declared over the intercom.