Endless Night (The Guild Wars Book 3)
Page 38
All, bar one, whose reaction was not of confusion but absolute, cast-iron certainty.
“What do we do next?” thundered Sun. “There’s only one thing to do. We gather our strength, force our way to Aneb-4, and we fucking take it back.”
# # # # #
About the Author
Tim C. Taylor lives with his family in an ancient village in England. When he was an impressionable kid, between 1977 and 1978, several mind-altering things happened to him all at once: Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and 2000AD comic. Consequently, he now writes science fiction novels for a living, notably in the Human Legion and Four Horsemen Universes. His latest project is an adventure serial called Chimera Company, which has been described as Warhammer 40,000 in the style of Star Wars. For a free starter library of stories from all the worlds he writes in, join the Legion at humanlegion.com.
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For a suggested reading order guide to the Four Horsemen universe, go to:
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For a listing of all the Four Horsemen books, go to:
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy:
Salvage Title
___________________
Kevin Steverson
Now Available from Theogony Books
eBook, Paperback, and Audio
Excerpt from “Salvage Title:”
A steady beeping brought Harmon back to the present. Clip’s program had succeeded in unlocking the container. “Right on!” Clip exclaimed. He was always using expressions hundreds or more years out of style. “Let’s see what we have; I hope this one isn’t empty, too.” Last month they’d come across a smaller vault, but it had been empty.
Harmon stepped up and wedged his hands into the small opening the door had made when it disengaged the locks. There wasn’t enough power in the small cells Clip used to open it any further. He put his weight into it, and the door opened enough for them to get inside. Before they went in, Harmon placed a piece of pipe in the doorway so it couldn’t close and lock on them, baking them alive before anyone realized they were missing.
Daylight shone in through the doorway, and they both froze in place; the weapons vault was full. In it were two racks of rifles, stacked on top of each other. One held twenty magnetic kinetic rifles, and the other held some type of laser rifle. There was a rack of pistols of various types. There were three cases of flechette grenades and one of thermite. There were cases of ammunition and power clips for the rifles and pistols, and all the weapons looked to be in good shape, even if they were of a strange design and clearly not made in this system. Harmon couldn’t tell what system they had been made in, but he could tell what they were.
There were three upright containers on one side and three more against the back wall that looked like lockers. Five of the containers were not locked, so Clip opened them. The first three each held two sets of light battle armor that looked like it was designed for a humanoid race with four arms. The helmets looked like the ones Harmon had worn at the academy, but they were a little long in the face. The next container held a heavy battle suit—one that could be sealed against vacuum. It was also designed for a being with four arms. All the armor showed signs of wear, with scuffed helmets. The fifth container held shelves with three sizes of power cells on them. The largest power cells—four of them—were big enough to run a mech.
Harmon tried to force the handle open on the last container, thinking it may have gotten stuck over time, but it was locked and all he did was hurt his hand. The vault seemed like it had been closed for years.
Clip laughed and said, “That won’t work. It’s not age or metal fatigue keeping the door closed. Look at this stuff. It may be old, but it has been sealed in for years. It’s all in great shape.”
“Well, work some of your tech magic then, ‘Puter Boy,” Harmon said, shaking out his hand.
Clip pulled out a small laser pen and went to work on the container. It took another ten minutes, but finally he was through to the locking mechanism. It didn’t take long after that to get it open.
Inside, there were two items—an eight-inch cube on a shelf that looked like a hard drive or a computer and the large power cell it was connected to. Harmon reached for it, but Clip grabbed his arm.
“Don’t! Let me check it before you move it. It’s hooked up to that power cell for a reason. I want to know why.”
Harmon shrugged. “Okay, but I don’t see any lights; it has probably been dead for years.”
Clip took a sensor reader out of his kit, one of the many tools he had improved. He checked the cell and the device. There was a faint amount of power running to it that barely registered on his screen. There were several ports on the back along with the slot where the power cell was hooked in. He checked to make sure the connections were tight, he then carried the two devices to the hovercraft.
Clip then called Rinto’s personal comm from the communicator in the hovercraft. When Rinto answered, Clip looked at Harmon and winked. “Hey boss, we found some stuff worth a hovercraft full of credit…probably two. Can we have it?” he asked.
* * * * *
Get “Salvage Title” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8Q3HBV.
Find out more about Kevin Steverson and “Salvage Title” at: https://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/kevin-steverson/.
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of The Progenitors’ War:
A Gulf in Time
___________________
Chris Kennedy
Now Available from Theogony Books
eBook, Paperback, and (soon) Audio
Excerpt from “A Gulf in Time:”
“Thank you for calling us,” the figure on the front view screen said, his pupil-less eyes glowing bright yellow beneath his eight-inch horns. Generally humanoid, the creature was blood red and had a mouthful of pointed teeth that were visible when he smiled. Giant bat wings alternately spread and folded behind him; his pointed tail could be seen flicking back and forth when the wings were folded. “We accept your offer to be our slaves for now and all eternity.”
“Get us out of here, helm!” Captain Sheppard ordered. “Flank speed to the stargate!”
“Sorry, sir, my console is dead,” the helmsman replied.
“Can you jump us to the Jinn Universe?”
“No, sir, that’s dead too.”
“Engineer, do we have our shields?”
“No, sir, they’re down, and my console’s dead, too.”
“OSO? DSO? Status?”
“My console’s dead,” the Offensive Systems Officer replied.
“Mine, too,” the Defensive Systems Officer noted.
The figure on the view screen laughed. “I do so love the way new minions scamper about, trying to avoid the unavoidable.”
“There’s been a mistake,” Captain Sheppard said. “We didn’t intend to call you or become your minions.”
“It does not matter whether you intended to or not,” the creature said. “You passed the test and are obviously strong enough to function as our messengers.”
“What do you mean, ‘to function as your messengers?’”
“It is past time for this galaxy’s harvest. You will go to all the civilizations and prepare them for the cull.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that. What is this ‘cull?’”
“We require your life force in order to survive. Each civilization will be required to provide 98.2% of its life force. The remaining 1
.8% will be used to reseed their planets.”
“And you expect us to take this message to all the civilized planets in this galaxy?”
“That is correct. Why else would we have left the stargates for you to use to travel between the stars?”
“What if a civilization doesn’t want to participate in this cull?”
“Then they will be obliterated. Most will choose to save 1.8% of their population, rather than none, especially once you make an example or two of the civilizations who refuse.”
“And if we refuse?”
“Then your society will be the first example.”
“I can’t make this kind of decision,” Captain Sheppard said, stalling. “I’ll have to discuss it with my superiors.”
“Unacceptable. You must give me an answer now. Kneel before us or perish; those are your choices.”
“I can’t,” Captain Sheppard said, his voice full of anguish.
“Who called us by completing the quest?” the creature asked. “That person must decide.”
“I pushed the button,” Lieutenant Commander Hobbs replied, “but I can’t commit my race to this any more than Captain Sheppard can.”
“That is all right,” the creature said. “Sometimes it is best to have an example from the start.” He looked off screen. “Destroy them.”
“Captain Sheppard, there are energy weapons warming up on the other ship,” Steropes said.
“DSO, now would be a good time for those shields…” Captain Sheppard said.
“I’m sorry, sir; my console is still dead.”
“They’re firing!” Steropes called.
The enemy ship fired, but the Vella Gulf’s shields snapped on, absorbing the volley.
“Nice job, DSO!” Captain Sheppard exclaimed.
“I didn’t do it, sir!” the DSO cried. “They just came on.”
“Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“I don’t know!” the DSO exclaimed. “All I know is we can’t take another volley like that, sir; the first round completely maxed out our shields. One more, and they’re going to fail!”
“I…activated…the shields,” Solomon, the ship’s artificial intelligence, said. The voice of the AI sounded strained. “Am fighting…intruder…” the AI’s voice fluctuated between male and female. “Losing…system…integrity…krelbet gelched.”
“Krelbet gelched?” the DSO asked.
“It means ‘systems failing’ in the language of the Eldive,” Steropes said.
“The enemy is firing again,” the DSO said. “We’re hit! Shields are down.”
“I’ve got hits down the length of the ship,” the duty engineer said. “We’re open to space in several places. We can’t take another round like that!”
“That was just the little that came through after the shields fell,” the DSO said. “We’re doomed if—missiles inbound! I’ve got over 100 missiles inbound, and I can’t do anything to stop them!” He switched to the public address system. “Numerous missiles inbound! All hands brace for shock! Five seconds! Three…two…one…”
* * * * *
Get “A Gulf in Time” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0829FLV92.
Find out more about Chris Kennedy and “A Gulf in Time” at:
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* * * * *
The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Earth Song Cycle:
Overture
___________________
Mark Wandrey
Available Now from Theogony Books
eBook, Paperback, and Audio
Excerpt from Overture:
Prologue
May 21st
Dawn was still an hour away as Mindy Channely opened the roof access and stared in surprise at the crowd already assembled there. “Authorized Personnel Only” was printed in bold red letters on the door through which she and her husband, Jake, slipped onto the wide roof.
A few people standing nearby took notice of their arrival. Most had no reaction, a few nodded, and a couple waved tentatively. Mindy looked over the skyline of Portland and instinctively oriented herself before glancing to the east. The sky had an unnatural glow that had been growing steadily for hours, and as they watched, scintillating streamers of blue, white, and green radiated over the mountains like a strange, concentrated aurora borealis.
“You almost missed it,” one man said. She let the door close, but saw someone had left a brick to keep it from closing completely. Mindy turned and saw the man who had spoken wore a security guard uniform. The easy access to the building made more sense.
“Ain’t no one missin’ this!” a drunk man slurred.
“We figured most people fled to the hills over the past week,” Jake replied.
“I guess we were wrong,” Mindy said.
“Might as well enjoy the show,” the guard said and offered them a huge, hand-rolled cigarette that didn’t smell like tobacco. She waved it off, and the two men shrugged before taking a puff.
“Here it comes!” someone yelled. Mindy looked to the east. There was a bright light coming over the Cascade Mountains, so intense it was like looking at a welder’s torch. Asteroid LM-245 hit the atmosphere at over 300 miles per second. It seemed to move faster and faster, from east to west, and the people lifted their hands to shield their eyes from the blinding light. It looked like a blazing comet or a science fiction laser blast.
“Maybe it will just pass over,” someone said in a voice full of hope.
Mindy shook her head. She’d studied the asteroid’s track many times.
In a matter of a few seconds, it shot by and fell toward the western horizon, disappearing below the mountains between Portland and the ocean. Out of view of the city, it slammed into the ocean.
The impact was unimaginable. The air around the hypersonic projectile turned to superheated plasma, creating a shockwave that generated 10 times the energy of the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated as it hit the ocean’s surface.
The kinetic energy was more than 1,000 megatons; however, the object didn’t slow as it flashed through a half mile of ocean and into the sea bed, then into the mantel, and beyond.
On the surface, the blast effect appeared as a thermal flash brighter than the sun. Everyone on the rooftop watched with wide-eyed terror as the Tualatin Mountains between Portland and the Pacific Ocean were outlined in blinding light. As the light began to dissipate, the outline of the mountains blurred as a dense bank of smoke climbed from the western range.
The flash had incinerated everything on the other side.
The physical blast, travelling much faster than any normal atmospheric shockwave, hit the mountains and tore them from the bedrock, adding them to the rolling wave of destruction traveling east at several thousand miles per hour. The people on the rooftops of Portland only had two seconds before the entire city was wiped away.
Ten seconds later, the asteroid reached the core of the planet, and another dozen seconds after that, the Earth’s fate was sealed.
* * * * *
Get “Overture” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077YMLRHM.
Find out more about Mark Wandrey and Earth Song: Overture at:
https://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/mark-wandrey/.
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