First Colony: Books 1 - 3

by Ken Lozito

  Mills was right. Connor was being a jerk.

  Mills held his hand in front of his chest. “I know you’re not doing it to be malicious or cruel, but even you’ve got to remember that the men and women serving under you have their own personal reasons to fight. Let people like Mallory have his few moments of happiness, even if you won’t allow it for yourself.”

  Connor chewed on the inside of his lip. “You’re right. I’ll go apologize.”

  Mills frowned. “Honestly, the best thing you can do right now is just go. Franklin is going to be with Kallie today. In layman’s terms, he’s taking the day off,” Mills said and leaned toward him. “Remember what those were? Now get out of here. And thank you for taking the engineering team.”

  Connor left Mills’ office grim-faced and feeling more foolish than ever. He walked in silence for a few minutes, then glanced at Reisman. “Do you think I drive you guys too hard?”

  Reisman’s eyes widened in shock and then he laughed almost uncontrollably.

  Connor shook his head and quickened his pace. “Forget I asked.”

  5

  A short while later, Connor was back at the CDF airfield. He sent a message to Mallory, congratulating him on becoming a father again and apologizing for being such a killjoy. The message would be waiting for Mallory whenever he checked his inbox. After he’d sent it, he pushed all thoughts of Mallory’s blossoming family out of his mind.

  They entered the CDF hangar, and Connor saw Sean supervising the loading of equipment onto the combat shuttle. Seven passengers were waiting to board, one of whom he immediately recognized.

  “Coming out of retirement, Bones?” Connor asked.

  A ripcord-thin man with black hair turned around and saluted Connor.

  “I’m still with Search and Rescue, sir. Let me introduce you to the team,” Joe Ramirez said and presented the team of engineers that was traveling to the archaeological dig site. The engineers seemed friendly enough, but they were quite reserved with him, as if they weren’t sure how to act around Connor.

  “Those of us with engineering backgrounds also consult on projects,” Ramirez said.

  Ramirez had been part of the alpha class to go through Connor’s first Search and Rescue training program. Some of the graduates of that first class had stayed in Field Ops, while others, like Sean Quinn, joined the Colonial Defense Force as soon as it was ratified.

  Connor looked at Sean. “How much longer until we can be under way?”

  “This is the last of it, so just a few more minutes, General,” Sean said.

  The engineering team walked up the loading ramp and checked their equipment containers.

  Connor saw Ramirez checking the seats and Connor grinned. “I won’t be dumping you out mid-flight this time.”

  An engineer named Dave Rogers became pale and his gaze darted to Ramirez. “Please tell me that was a joke.”

  Connor kept walking.

  “He only does that to the people under his command,” Ramirez said.

  “He’s the general of the CDF. Doesn’t that mean you’re still under his command?” Rogers asked.

  “That’s right,” Connor called over his shoulder. “Rarely do I dump people out of my ships twice, but in Ramirez’s case I might make an exception.”

  Never one for riding as a passenger when he didn’t have to, he headed up to the cockpit as Ramirez coaxed Rogers back into his seat.

  Sean joined him in the cockpit and sat in the copilot’s seat.

  “Do they really think I’m going to just toss them off the ship?” Connor asked.

  Sean pressed his lips together in thought. “Let’s just say you’ve developed quite a reputation over the years. Go for preflight, sir.”

  Connor sat in the pilot’s seat and set about going through the preflight checklist. Lieutenant Frook entered the cockpit and sat in one of the rear seats. Connor engaged the engines and withdrew the landing gear. He eased the combat shuttle out of the hangar and thrust the stick. The main engine’s power output spiked and the shuttle sped forward. He set a heading for the coordinates of the dig site.

  Connor opened a comlink to the rear of the shuttle. “Attention, all non-CDF passengers. We’ll reach the dig site beyond the frontier border in a little over an hour. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts securely fastened at all times. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure in the shuttle, I will click the eject button and jettison all of you to safety,” Connor said and brought up a video feed of the passengers. “Unless you’re sitting next to Joe Ramirez. In that case, you might not survive.”

  Connor grinned as he watched Dave Rogers check his seat belt and then decide to change seats. He heard Ramirez’s hearty laughter coming from the rear of the shuttle.

  Connor glanced at Sean. “What? I’m just lightening the mood.”

  “Whose mood would that be?” Sean asked.

  Connor opened the comlink again. “Pay no attention to that last bit. This combat shuttle is a Falcon III and survived a two-hundred-year journey through space to get here. She’s been flight tested and approved for flight by top Colonial Defense Engineers. Pilot out,” Connor said but left the comlink open. “There, see, I took it back. Everything’s fine. Oh, did you make sure the power coupling for the mid-tier inertia dampeners was replaced?”

  Sean glanced at him, his mouth hanging open. He glanced at the open comlink and smirked. “I submitted the request to the repair technician when we landed. Let me just check their comments . . . hmm, that’s strange.”

  “What’s that, Captain?” Connor asked.

  They heard Ramirez shouting from the passenger area that they could hear them.

  Sean could barely contain himself. “They were replaced, but the diagnostic is showing they’re defective. Sir, we’re going to have to make an emergency landing or anyone sitting in the middle of the shuttle could fly out of their seats . . . Oh no, sir. That’s the master alarm.”

  “You’re right. That inertia dampener is throwing out all kinds of errors in the logs. That’s strange. They all have Ramirez’s name on them,” Connor said.

  “It makes for a much more interesting ride,” Ramirez shouted.

  Connor grinned.

  “In all seriousness,” Sean said, “the ship is fine. Relax and enjoy the flight.”

  “Aw crap. I’m showing all kinds of cargo failures now,” Connor said. “They could be cut loose at any moment. Do you think that team knows their chief engineer is so incompetent he hardly made it through graduate school? It’s no wonder he was kicked out of Search and Rescue. Wait a minute, is that a coolant leak being reported?” Connor said.

  Sean closed the comlink and they all burst out laughing, including Lieutenant Frook, who’d never seen his general act this way.

  Connor blew out a breath. “God, that was so much fun. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Remind me to have Reisman tell you what we did to Colonel Douglass after one of our missions.”

  Connor glanced at the video feed from the back of the shuttle and saw that Wil Reisman was fast asleep. Typical. That man could sleep anywhere, any time.

  Less than an hour later the nav computer displayed an alert that they were nearing their destination. They’d been flying over a large grassland area for the past fifteen minutes. Connor magnified the view and saw the research base up ahead.

  “How does Dr. Bishop even find these places?” Sean asked.

  Connor peered at the heads-up display. “She hardly sits still for more than a few minutes, for one. Plus, she’s really good at her job.”

  Connor watched as they closed in on the research base, which butted up against a vast dig site.

  “Sir, would you like me to land the ship?” Sean asked.

  “No, I’ve got it,” Connor said.

  There was an area of flattened grassland that looked to be the designated landing area for supply runs. Connor set the combat shuttle down there. He shut down the engines and set the shuttle’s computer systems to sta
ndby, then climbed out of his seat and left the cockpit. Connor didn’t get to fly all that often, but when he did, he always experienced a longing to return to the pilot’s seat again. Generals weren’t supposed to fly their own ships, but oh how he missed flying sometimes.

  Ramirez grinned when he saw Connor.

  “That was quite the show,” Ramirez said.

  Connor gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. “All in good fun. It was really good to see you again, Joe.”

  Most of the engineering team was much more at ease now that they were on the ground. Dave Rogers gave him a friendly nod.

  They lowered the loading ramp and were met by a woman with short brown hair.

  “General Gates, I’m Martha Campbell.”

  Connor shook her hand and stepped off the loading ramp. His internal heads-up display showed that the temperature was a comfortable seventy degrees with ten percent humidity. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Only the pale rings that surrounded the planet were visible along the southern horizon.

  The engineering team began offloading their equipment, and Martha directed them to where they should go. Sean and other members of Connor’s protective detail began securing the area.

  “At ease, gentlemen. There are no predators around here except for the ones with guns,” a familiar voice said.

  Connor turned around and saw Lenora, and he felt his lips pull upwards into a smile. Lenora’s eyes widened for a moment and she started to smile, but then her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Her long auburn hair hung freely and the soft breeze toyed with the ends.

  “It’s good to see you, Sean,” Lenora said, her gaze softening when she looked over at the young man.

  Lenora looked back at Connor. “Do you still have Noah way out on the outskirts of the star system at that space station?”

  Connor frowned. “Nice to see you too.”

  Martha, who’d been standing quietly nearby, gave Lenora a meaningful look.

  “I’m sorry,” Lenora said. “Thanks for coming out here. Franklin was insistent that you see what we’ve found.”

  Lenora gestured for Connor to follow her. He noticed that everyone else seemed to give them some space.

  “How did you find a city way out here?” Connor asked.

  “Survey flights, and I noticed several structures less than half a mile from where we’re standing. Ground-penetrating scans revealed a lot of vast structures under the ground. I assembled a team and we came back out here. We started to survey the area, marking places to dig. That was when we detected the power station,” Lenora said.

  “Mallory was pretty impressed with your initial report,” Connor replied.

  Lenora frowned. “That’s what I don’t get. Why would the CDF be interested in a thousand-year-old power station?”

  “Is that how old it is?”

  “Tough to say. There’s some radiation in the area, which can throw off some of our equipment. And before you ask, the radiation is within acceptable levels,” Lenora said, clipping her words as if she were swatting an annoying fly.

  “Alright then, why don’t you show me what you’ve found?” Connor said.

  “Of course, right this way, General,” Lenora said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Connor stiffened. She walked ahead of him and he supposed it could have been worse, but not by much. The last time they’d spoken to each other they’d ended up doing more shouting than talking. They hadn’t spoken since.

  Lenora led them toward a pair of all-terrain vehicles. A large brown ball of fur came from around one of the vehicles and howled. Connor drew his pistol and charged in front of Lenora.

  “Don’t shoot!” Lenora shouted and ran in front of him.

  The berwolf ran gleefully into Lenora’s outstretched arms. A large pink tongue lolled out of the blocky head with a mouth full of impressive teeth. The berwolf had a muscular body, but judging by the size, this one was a juvenile. Its black claws could still rend through steel, however. The berwolf nuzzled its head into Lenora’s middle and she used both her hands to scratch his thick brown coat.

  Lenora glanced up at him. “This is Bull. I found him as a cub.”

  Connor holstered his weapon and Lenora gestured for him to squat down.

  Bull pulled away from Lenora and swung his head toward Connor. The berwolf cub took a few steps toward him but kept his hindquarters leaning against Lenora. Gobs of drool hung from its chops as it peered at Connor.

  If this thing charged him, Connor had little chance of deflecting it before getting mauled.

  Connor met its gaze and stuck out his hand. “You could have warned me about your new friend,” he said.

  Lenora grinned. “And miss the look on your face?”

  Bull charged. The movement was so sudden that Connor didn’t have time to react before the berwolf had him pinned to the ground under two giant paws. The berwolf closed its mouth and lowered its snout to sniff him. Connor heard the shuffling of feet behind him and hoped Sean and the rest of the protective detail didn’t do anything stupid to set the creature off.

  Connor looked into the berwolf’s gaze. “Alright, what now, buddy?”

  He reached up and gave the creature a light scratch under its chin. A deep growl rumbled from its massive chest, and Connor slowly moved his hands away.

  “I’d like to be friends, but if you don’t get off me one of us is going to get hurt,” Connor said in a calm voice and started reaching for his sidearm.

  Lenora came to Bull’s side and nudged him. The berwolf decided to allow Connor to live and pushed himself off. Lenora helped him to his feet.

  “Is this how he greets everyone?” Connor asked and dusted himself off.

  “He mostly ignores people. That’s the first time I’ve seen him do something like that. Must be your animal magnetism,” Lenora said.

  “Berwolfs aren’t pets,” Connor said.

  “I don’t keep him locked up. He leaves and comes back on his own,” Lenora said.

  She climbed into one of the ATVs, and Connor got in on the other side. The engineering team, as well as his security forces, divided up and rode in the passenger compartments. Lenora drove away and Connor watched as Bull trotted along beside them, easily keeping up with the ATVs.

  “Bull isn’t the first berwolf cub to be found. I’m sure he’ll wander off when he’s ready. I checked with the field biologists’ office and they confirmed that since I’d found him so young he’d probably developed an attachment to me,” Lenora said.

  Not the first male to fall under her spell but definitely the first berwolf ever to do so.

  “So, he just follows you to whatever dig site you happen to be on out here?” Connor asked.

  “Pretty much. He actually helped us find the power station—the general area at least,” Lenora answered.

  She drove them toward a series of alien structures. The rounded architecture had twisted metallic pieces on the top. There were ramps that went up the sides of each building. For some strange reason the ancient aliens that built this place hadn’t built stairs and instead constructed wide ramps to get to the upper levels.

  Lenora stopped the vehicle and they climbed out. Bull came to a stop a few feet outside Connor’s door, and he thought about waiting inside the vehicle for the berwolf to move. The creature looked at him as if he was waiting to see what Connor was going to do. Connor opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. He knew that making eye contact with certain pack animals was the equal of challenging them, so he met the berwolf’s gaze and then continued toward Lenora. Hopefully, the berwolf cub wouldn’t take it as a sign of submission on Connor’s part.

  Lenora walked ahead and Bull trotted to her side.

  “Looks like you’ve been replaced,” Sean said.

  “Seems that way,” Connor said.

  The path toward the building angled downward, revealing a complex of buildings that had been hidden under the dirt. The parts of the buildings that were exposed all had ramps to the upper levels. />
  Connor walked over to Lenora, who was directing the engineering team down into the site so they could check the power source.

  “Doesn’t look like they believed in making stairs,” Connor said.

  Lenora shook her head. “Just like the other city, though this site seems to predate that one.”

  Connor frowned. “How can you tell?”

  “Well, the other one was built underground and then extended out into the valley. The architectural design was sparse, as if they didn’t have time for all the ornamentation we have with these buildings,” Lenora said.

  Connor glanced around and could see her point. He’d always been fascinated by the things Lenora was able to find.

  “Do you want me to take you down inside?” Lenora asked.

  “Maybe. I’d like to hear what Ramirez and the others have to say first,” Connor replied.

  He used his implants to connect to the research base’s computer systems and pulled the survey data for the site. The data compiled and an overlay appeared on his internal heads-up display, showing him the vast alien city with only a few buildings aboveground. Connor gasped and took a few steps away from Lenora as he peeked through a synthetic window to another time. The aliens that lived here had constructed almost everything into a smooth, curved surface without any seams so the appearance was of one continuous piece. Multilevel pathways ran to and fro in an elaborate framework that connected all the buildings in the city.

  Lenora peered at him curiously. “You see it, don’t you?”

  “It’s amazing,” Connor said in awe.

  He almost hated to turn off the overlay on his HUD, but it wasn’t something he could have on and safely walk around.

  “So Mallory thinks you can use what we learn here as an alternative power source?” Lenora asked.

  Connor told Lenora about his request for additional resources being denied for the space station.

  “I see their point,” Lenora said.

  “Don’t tell me you doubt the warning now, too,” Connor replied.