by Randy Dyess
First Contact
Spider Wars: Book 1
Randy Dyess
Copyright © 2017 Randy Dyess
All rights reserved.
Aliens, Corrupt Government, Indifferent Corporations, Backwater Planets, Unlikely Heroes
In the distant future, humans have colonized hundreds of planets and thousands of moons and asteroids. We travel between planets in large numbers and have made advances in all aspects of human achievement. As with the present, the future with all its advancements is not exactly Utopia. Powerful politicians and the extremely rich enjoy benefits on the planets closest to Earth that trillions of people on the outer planets only dream about. Large corporations have replaced nations and control planets and billions of workers. Workers live and work on the same planet and for the same corporations as generations of their ancestors. Generations have lived with no hope of ever having any life other than one of “just getting by”.
At least they don't have to worry about other species competing with us. – Well, until now.
Join our unlikely band of heroes as they pull together to save the people on outer-rim planets that have been left by an uncaring government and greedy corporations to face the alien invaders as they sweep over planet after planet harvesting everything in their sight.
DEDICATION
I would like to once again give thanks to my wife for all the help she provided me during my writing sprints. I know it’s hard to put up with someone who always has a laptop in front of them, but she managed to do it. I’m glad you are there to take care of me as I spend my spare minutes trying to get another book out of my head.
Spider War Series:
Battle At Pirate’s Bay: Book 0
First Contact: Book 1
On The Run: Book 2
Fighting Back: Book 3: (Coming Apr, 2017)
Fleet Action: Book 4: (Coming May, 2017)
Invasion: Book 5: (Coming Jun, 2017)
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Table of Contents
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
On The Run: Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Commander Qugnyt stared at the small display screen on the bridge of the Quant patrol vessel, Druggette, as if doing so would make the ship go faster. Thirty thousand cycles had passed and the Quant were finally back to their home world, Quantum. Commander Qugnyt and his three-ship squad were now responsible for the protection of the thousands of researchers picking the planet apart for clues about their ancestors.
Commander Qugnyt had heard the stories: the Quants had been a peaceful people who focused on growth and development, instead of war. For thousands of cycles, they had never known anyone else inhabited the stars. Like most young species, they’d thought they were alone. It wasn’t until their first trip to the fifth planet of their home system that they had met the Feebies. For hundreds of thousands of cycles, the Feebies had protected the Quants and dozens of other species from the horrors of galactic war. They’d allowed the Quants to develop in their own way and on their own time, and once they’d developed space travel, the Feebies had been there to guide them.
The Quants had enjoyed four thousand cycles of peaceful interactions with other species scattered across their isolated part of the galaxy. A strong confederation had been created, and the Quants and other members of the confederation flourished under the protection of the Feebies—until the Syndicate moved in.
The Syndicate and the Feebies had then gone to war while the Quant and other members of the confederation watched and waited. They’d been scientists, artists, and diplomats—they’d known nothing of war. In fact, they’d been shocked that species would fight each other and not simply work out their differences in a peaceful manner. Despite this, they’d helped the Feebies as much as they could with weapons development.
They had watched as Feebie ships left their orbits around confederation worlds and disappeared. Feebie space stations had been abandoned and ambassadors and scientists had left their planets to never be heard from again. The Quants had been told that the war had ended and a treaty was signed between the Feebies and the Syndicate. The Syndicate had gained control over all of the planets in the confederation.
“Helm, make sure we approach from the sun side and put the moon between us and the planet.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Commander Qugnyt looked down at the book he had carried as a child—all Quants were required to carry and read it at least once a day. Simply called The Syndicate, the book told the history of the thirty thousand cycles of Syndicate rule. The commander turned to the beginning and once again started reading the history of his people. He smiled at the thought of being part of the expedition that would rewrite Quant history. Both he and his entire crew believed the information contained by their old home world would allow them to rebuild their society; thirty thousand cycles of suffering would come to an end after they learned the secrets of the Feebies.
“Commander,” the Druggette’s helm officer said.
“Report.”
“We’ve entered the Quantum system. We should be over Quantum in twelve divisions.”
“Very good,” Commander Qugnyt replied. “I’m going to be in my quarters. Let me know when we are two divisions out.”
“Yes, Commander.”
He closed his book and walked off the bridge, toward his quarters. Thirty thousand cycles, he thought. The Syndicate hadn’t arrived with open arms and hearts when the Feebies had pulled out. In fact, the main species of the Syndicate hadn’t arrived, at all. Instead, they’d sent the Freack.
No Quant knew what the Syndicate looked like, only that they had sent the Freack after the Feebies left and killed or captured every Quant they could find. Planet after planet had been harvested, colonies on moons and asteroids had been attacked, and billions of Quants and trillions of confederation members had been taken. The Feebies had never told the Quants where the Syndicate’s empire was or where the captured Quants might have been taken. No, they had just pulled out and left them to their fate. Although the book told of the Feebie library and technology centers on Quantum, no one had the time to research them for answers thirty thousand cycles ago.
After the few survivors, had fled into the desolate reaches of nearby star systems, they’d had to learn to survive. They’d tried to head into the Feebie systems, but had been told to leave, for the treaty didn’t allow them to help the members of the confederation. Some Quants had tried to flee from the Feebie systems, but had soon found that the confederation space was surrounded by two hostile empires. Only a few empty systems had been in the border zone between the two empires, but the Feebies hadn’t let them go there, either.
Since they’d had nowhere to go, they’d hid. Science and cargo vessels had made their way to remote space stations that had been abandoned by the Feebies. Some refugees had made their way to small, isolated moons, and the nearly-extinct Quants had pulled together and tried to rebuild their species.
/> “Commander to the bridge!”
“On my way,” Commander Qugnyt replied. It hasn’t been nearly enough divisions for us to be near the home world, yet, he thought as he left his quarters and put his book back into his pocket.
“Commander!” Came the shout as he entered the bridge of his ship. “We’re picking up strange readings three million lengths away. We can’t identify them.”
“What do they look like?” Commander Qugnyt asked as he stepped up to the sensor console.
“At first, we thought they were asteroids, but they seem to be moving in unison. It’s not the random movement you usually find in an asteroid field. Plus, they are moving as a unit into the system. We’ve not detected this asteroid field before.”
The commander was silent. Alarm bells were ringing in his head, but he didn’t know why. It came to him, then. “Battle Stations!” he shouted. “Incoming Freack harvest fleet.”
The rest of the remaining bridge crew froze. “Freack?” someone questioned. “Our calculations don’t show them to be due for another thousand cycles. It’s too early for them!”
After the Freack had harvested the Quant systems, they had left large animals behind. For the first thirty thousand cycles, the Quants had watched their worlds return to their wild states with large herds of reptiles roaming them. No one understood why the Freack had left them on the planets, but Commander Qugnyt believed the animals were used as a food source.
For three thousand cycles, the Quants had recovered from the Freack harvest and started to reclaim their worlds from the wilderness when the Freack had come back. They’d harvested the large reptiles and any Quant unlucky enough to be seen. Nine times, they’d come back, and each time, they’d wiped out all the Quant colonies they could find. For thirty thousand cycles, the Quants had hidden and tried to survive. Their species never returned to its former glory, however, from when the Feebies had protected them.
“Battle Stations!” Commander Qugnyt repeated. “I don’t care if the Freack are not due—they’re here, anyway.”
The battle alarm sounded throughout the ship and Quants headed to their stations. The Druggette and her sister ships were small vessels, but they were heavily armed with advanced weapons. Pirates and scavengers had moved into Quant territory and over the last thirty thousand cycles, and the Quants had learned to protect themselves. Once they had rediscovered their ancestors’ technology, as well as that of the Feebies, they had made progress and relearned much of what had been developed for the Feebie war. Over time, the Quants also learned to use that technology to defend themselves. There may have only been a fraction of them alive today, but they were now an armed race willing to do what was necessary for their defense.
“Commander, all stations report ready,” the Druggette’s tactical officer reported.
“Good,” Commander Qugnyt said. “Move us to an intercept course with the Freack fleet. Make sure you send off comm probes to base and to the researchers on Quantum. Let’s see if we can buy them some time to evacuate.”
“Yes, Commander. Estimate three divisions to intercept. That’s going to put them really close to Quantum,” the helm officer replied.
“I know, but, that’s all we can do. Hopefully we’ll cause enough damage to slow them down.”
*****
The commander sat in his ready room preparing for the battle. No Quant ship had ever faced a Freack ship in battle. The Feebies had given the Quants very little information about Freack ships, and he just didn’t know if his three-ship squad would cause any damage to the incoming harvest fleet.
Commander Qugnyt’s comm unit lit up. “Commander, Fleet Commander Kleach on secured channel.”
He had spent the last two divisions going over the upcoming battle in his mind, knowing they had no chance. Now he knew fleet command believed the same thing. With a frown, Commander Qugnyt straightened his uniform and opened the channel. “Fleet Commander Kleach,” he said as the face of his old friend appeared on his view screen.
“Commander Qugnyt,” the fleet commander replied. “We’ve received your transmission, and my people agree with your assessment that this is a Freack harvest fleet.”
“Kleach, why are they here so soon? I thought we’d determined that we still had almost a thousand cycles left before they were due.”
“I don’t know. They’ve never made harvest off schedule before. Our opinion is that they discovered our research colony on Quantum.”
“Maybe, but we’ve established small research colonies before and they’ve never reacted.”
“Quantum is different. It has an enormous population of Gyrdyds on it. Maybe they have a probe in orbit over the planet and we missed it.”
“That would make sense. Are we going to be able to get the researchers evacuated in time?”
Fleet Commander Kleach looked at Commander Qugnyt with sad eyes. “No. We’ve issued a general evacuation notice to all of our stations and colonies, but we don’t have a ship large enough to evacuate the researchers on Quantum. I’ve talked to the lead researcher and he understands. They are going to seal the sites they’ve found and try to get everyone to the shelters in the hopes that they can hold out until the Freack leave. We will not be able to send reinforcements to you.”
Commander Qugnyt looked down, briefly closed his eyes, and sighed. “Understood. What do you need us to do?”
“I need your squad to engage the Freack. The researchers need more time to get everyone rounded up and into the shelters.”
“We can do that. I don’t know how much time we can buy, but we’ll do our best.”
“Qugnyt,” Fleet Commander Kleach responded with an odd look on his face, “I need you to do one more thing.”
“What is it, Kleach?”
“I need you to determine how well our weapons do against them. We need to know their tactics, formations, and their ships’ strengths. This has to be more than just a hit and run—we need detailed information.”
“I understand. We’ll give our scientist as much information as we can.” Commander Qugnyt knew his friend had just asked him to sacrifice his ships to gain knowledge about the Freak’s capabilities.
“Goodbye, old friend,” Fleet Commander Kleach said.
“Goodbye to you, as well,” Commander Qugnyt said as he cut the comm channel and stared at his blank view screen.
Over the past thirty thousand cycles, the Quants had learned how to sacrifice—individual lives meant nothing compared to the preservation of the species. Commander Qugnyt had always thought he understood this, but now that he had been asked to make that sacrifice, he truly understood.
His species had almost been exterminated and they’d spent tens of thousands of cycles barely surviving in the backwaters of this part of the galaxy. The great protectors they had worshipped had left them, and the advanced confederation they had built with other species had been shattered. Quants could no longer allow others to protect them. Commander Qugnyt understood that better than ever, and he was proud to give his life, if it meant gaining the knowledge his species needed to survive.
“All senior officers to the bridge,” he said into the comm system before getting up to leave his ready room. As he stood there, he took his copy of his book out of trousers and placed it in the pocket over his heart. This was the Quant way of saying “species before individuals;” it was a signal to his crew of the sacrifice they were about to make.
*****
After explaining Fleet Commander Kleach’s order to the rest of the senior officers, Commander Qugnyt picked up his comm unit. “Comms, patch me through to the entire ship.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“This is the commander. As you all know, we are heading into battle against a Freack harvest fleet. The Freack are early, but that doesn’t mean they will not proceed to the rest of our space. A general evacuation notice has gone out to all of our colonies, and the rest of the Quant fleet will be assisting them in the evacuation, which means we are alone.
&
nbsp; “We don’t know how many there are, nor how strong they are. I’ve just talked to Fleet Commander Kleach, who says the research colony on Quantum cannot be evacuated in time. He has asked us to buy the researchers enough time to get into their shelters. We don’t know how we’ll do against the Freack ships, but Fleet Commander Kleach has asked, and I agree with his request, that we utilize this opportunity to learn as much about the capabilities of the Freack ships as possible.
“We are going to do just that. We will not retreat from this battle, and we will use everything in our arsenal to determine what needs to be done to win this war against the Freack. We will not make it out alive, but our scientists back home will have the data we generated to improve the rest of the fleet for the next battle.”
Commander Qugnyt looked down and closed his eyes. A moment of silence was observed as, all over the three ships of his squad, individual Quants took out their books and placed them in the pockets over their hearts. They were ready to die for the knowledge they needed.
“Comms, I want a series of comm relay probes spaced between here and the Freack fleet. I want a constant data stream sent with all sensor readings, comm traffic, and battle reports,” he commanded as he lifted his head and steeled himself for the upcoming battle. “I want you to make sure fleet command has every blimp of this battle. They need data and we are going to give it to them.”
“Yes, Commander,” the comms officer shouted. He knew what was expected and he would not let his people down.
“Helm, how much longer until we get into Grydyd range?” Commander Qugnyt asked.
The Grydyd, named after the large predators the Freack had populated their planet with, was the Quant’s largest missile. It was designed to blow apart asteroids the size of the Freack attack ship, although it had never been tested against an actual Freack ship. They believed, however, that the smaller Freack attack ships they had seen during earlier harvests could not stand up against the missiles.
