“Understood sir, transferring power now.”
As promised power began to flicker and later shut down in sections of the ship such as the gym, rec room, and crew quarters. The rotation of the habitat ring slowed and weapons that were unable to acquire a target shut down, then repowered as EVE’s quantum computing processer calculated the ETA for the spinning Hashmedai ships to fly into range.
Shield power of the Winston Churchill shot up to thirty-four percent, allowing Xavier’s breathing to stabilize, only slightly. There was still a high chance of the Wilfrid Laurier finding the remains of the ship when they arrived.
“EVE, coordinate your weapon cycling with Mr. Matsushita,” Xavier said. “Keep firing. Concentrate on the Destroyer with the weakest shields.”
… … …
►► Gladius squadron, Titan
► Sol system
Aura marveled at the flames that would erupt from an enemy craft as her rail guns pierced through its cockpit. The oxygen the Hashmedai pilots needed to breathe was igniting as her weapons fire cut through, allowing methane from Titan’s atmosphere to flood in then burst into flames as the heat generated from her rounds ripped through the interceptors’ cockpit.
Only she and the rest of Gladius were able to achieve such displays, Hyperion’s fighters all out destroyed interceptors with their plasma cannons. Sadly, for every two or three Hashmedai interceptor downed, one Hyperion fighter was taken out by an interceptor. Gladius’ defensive stance was effective, but not impervious. There was no way ten of them were going to save everyone.
Aura turned her fighter and faced the surface below where she saw fires and smoke rising upward from the city. Several of them in fact were burning out of control and spreading. The Hashmedai bombing run was slowly succeeding. She hoped that the evacuation transports on the horizon held all the civilians from the city. If not, there weren’t any other places they could run to. This wasn’t Earth where you could just leave the city, Titan was a cold moon not fit from human life without shelter.
Then there was the fact none of the evac transports had left the sector, probably worried about being targeted and shot down by the interceptors bombarding the city with plasma, and the two destroyers in orbit taking turns shooting at the Winston Churchill, their escort out of the sector. On that note, how were they doing? New data populated Aura’s HUD in regard to her enquiry of the status of the Winston Churchill.
None of it was good.
“Gladius lead to Hyperion lead,” she transmitted. “The Winston Churchill is getting torn up. Possible you can spare some fighters to take the heat off?”
“Negative, unless we all break off together to punch a hole to get back up,” said Red Lotus.
“Then let’s do that.”
“We fall back now civilian casualties will only rise,” Red Lotus said. “We need to get these evac transports into a safe distance.”
“If we don’t take the pressure off the Winston Churchill, those two destroyers will be able to join in the fighting down here!”
“We’ll have to take that risk!”
Aura braced herself as a wave of interceptors broke away from the main group and headed toward her and the rest of Gladius exclusively. They knew Gladius was the sole reason why Hyperion squadron was still alive and fighting.
And therefore, became the biggest threat to the success of their mission.
… … …
►► Abyssal Explorer, Oyuri orbit
► Barnard’s Star system
Chloe floated above Stolanei and Karklosea while they rested in the infirmary of the Abyssal Explorer. They had several medical monitoring devices attached to the sides of their heads, transmitting their vitals to a nearby hologram. Dr. Ure Wyuei’s hand pulled away from Chloe’s arm along with a device to take her blood sample. It was the fifth time he took Chloe’s blood sample since they returned from the surface. Better to be safe than sorry, she thought.
“Good thing you two got out of there when you did,” Wyuei said.
“That was by far the most pain I’ve ever felt in my head,” said Karklosea.
“Whatever that psionic wave was, it was powerful and was interacting with the chips in your brain,” Wyuei said, loading a hologram showing a three-dimensional image of both Stolanei and Karklosea’s brains with their psionic chip. “Had you stayed there for another thirty seconds your chips would have overloaded causing major damage to your brains. Quite possibly killing you.”
“That explains the pain,” Stolanei said, rubbing the side of his head.
“Refrain from using any psionic powers for the time being, your heads need to heal up for the next few days.”
“And for me?” Chloe asked the doctor.
“Well, your mind is fine,” Wyuei said.
Chloe rolled her eyes at the statement. She and the two psionics resting knew very well she lost complete control of her body and part of her thoughts. You took five fucking blood samples, surely you must have found something?
“The psionic wave didn’t affect you,” Wyuei continued. “Probably because you don’t have any implants nor are you a psionic. But...”
“But what?”
Wyuei paused, then nodded for Chloe to follow him over to his computer in the corner. He began to use it, activating several holographic pictures in the process. “I ran a blood test on everyone as you know, just to make sure you didn’t pick up anything unknown.” A new hologram appeared in front of them, it depicted an image of a DNA strand. “I don’t know how to tell you this Major but...”
He pointed to the DNA projection, Chloe’s body started to produce cold sweat, she half expected news of a terminal illness. However, Radiance could cure all known human diseases meaning this might be something worse, something that can’t be cured with their technology.
“According to this,” Wyuei said slowly. “You are not human.”
She felt her pulse start to accelerate and the cold sweating intensify. “What do you mean I’m not human?”
“This is Linl DNA. It came from your blood samples.”
Bullshit! “Run it again,” she said.
“I did. Five times. I thought I had mistaken your samples with Karklosea’s as she’s Linl as well.” Another hologram appeared, it was a second DNA strand, and it floated side by side the previous one. “But as we can see here, the only differences in your DNA and Karklosea’s is that you’re two different people. That’s it. You two are of the same species. Linl.” A third DNA strand appeared. “This is a sample of the Major’s DNA from when she first came aboard this ship. Human DNA.” Wyuei continued while extending his fingers toward the first DNA image. “This is your DNA, they are not the same, you are not Major Chloe Vaughan of Earth.”
Was Fiesei right this whole time? Am I really Vaish? Chloe’s demeanor never shifted despite the sheer panic that was racing through her body. If so... I killed my husband... and didn’t know any better... No I AM Chloe Vaughan.
“Do you have Vaishea’s DNA on file?” she asked.
“One second,” Wyuei said as he performed a database search on his computer. “Oh.”
A holographic message appeared with the words ‘Restricted information’ in the Radiance language.
“It’s blocked out,” Chloe mumbled.
“Everything is, in fact,” said Wyuei. “DNA, dental records, medical logs.”
“The Whisper,” said Stolanei from behind them. Clearly their conversation had him interested enough to get up and float over. “Whisper agents, they have nano machines in their blood stream to corrupt data like this to keep the identities of their agents a secret when an unauthorized person wants to view this. Vaishea is a member of The Whisper. This proves it if it’s blocked out in this manner.” She and Stolanei made eye contact. His words were painful, yet the truth. She couldn’t deny it any longer, the dreams, Fiesei. “Vaishea must be the Vaish you talked about, the one Fiesei was obsessed with.”
“No, she’s not,” she said. “I’m Vaish, a
nd I’m starting to think I have been this whole time, since the attack on Foicanta.”
“Then who is Vaishea?” he asked.
She said, “Vaishea is Major Chloe Vaughan. The real one.”
To be continued...
Afterword
For those that hate cliff hangers, sorry! However, it was the only way to get this out without delaying it until August / September. My original plan was to end the story arc with this book, however, the story that I had planned turned out to be much larger than I thought. I thought long and hard as to what I could do other than delaying the release all out. Book two was already delayed by a month, tossing in another two-month delay was unacceptable in my eyes.
Then it hit me. I was watching re-runs of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the infamous Best of both worlds cliff hanger played. I had my solution, two-part book, first one ending in a wham, cliff hanger. Part 2 will be released this September, thus bringing in the conclusion to the Splintered Galaxy story arc. Subscribe to my mailing list and get the heads up on its release when the time comes.
Now for some random lore stuff. Ever wondered what’s up with Radiance names? Members of the Radiance Union have to adhere to Aryile naming conventions. Names that end with ‘ea’ are female names, while names that end with ‘ei’ are male. The three-letter word prefix is a label that matches the race they are. The label also translates to numbers in the Aryile language. So...
Ary = one = Aryile
Mil = two = Javnis
Za = three = Rabuabin
Gab = four = Vorcambreum
Ure = five =Linl
If you were keeping track that also represents the order the five races joined the union. Had the Hashmedai joined they would have been given a prefix based on that order. The word for ‘six’ in the Aryile language is ‘Ark’ and the prefix that awaits humans should they join the union.
Regarding exiles, they take on the names their race used prior to joining the union. Kalis an exiled Rabuabin for example has the full name of Kalis no’vi Telan. Meaning ‘Kalis child of Telan’, Telan being her father. Easy way to know if someone is an exile is if they are a Radiance race that doesn’t have the ea or ei ending to their names.
About the Author
Eddie R. Hicks is a Canadian author known as a man of many talents, and for good reason. He’s educated in media arts, journalism, and culinary arts, and now he writes dark and sexy science-fiction thrillers such as the Splintered Galaxy series.
If he’s not working with skilled chefs in the restaurant industry, baking an epic red velvet cake for the hell of it, or playing video games, then he’s in front of his computer doing what he always dreamed of doing since he was a kid: storytelling.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Timeline
Dramatis personæ
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Afterword
About the Author
Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1 (Splintered Galaxy Book 3) Page 47
