First Colony: Books 1 - 3

by Ken Lozito

  “Do you want to get some air?” Noah asked.

  “The air out there is the same as in here,” Lenora replied without looking up from her screen.

  “Alright then,” Noah said and stood up. He’d tried. “I’ll be outside if you change your mind.”

  He left the mobile Command Center. The skies were clear and the sun was shining. Even the rings that surrounded the planet weren’t as visible as they normally were. By all evidence, contrary to this beautiful day, the cities they’d built had been destroyed over the span of twenty-four hours. Today was an awful, miserable day for the colony. Since the attack on their cities had begun, Colonel Cross had instituted a mandatory curfew, with only small groups of refugees allowed beyond the city ruins at any given time. Not ideal, but it did give the refugees a chance to stretch their legs before returning to the lower levels of the alien city.

  Noah glanced back at the brown, prefabricated walls of the mobile Command Center. Through the doorway, he saw Lenora shaking her head at something on her screen and frowned. There was only so much irritated, cold fury he could take from one person, even if that person was family to him. He turned around and walked away.

  The mobile Command Center was near the entrance to the archaeological site where the ancient alien city had been discovered. His boots crunched along the well-worn path to the left toward the grassy plains beyond. A group of displaced colonists were heading back to the alien city, and some waved at him as he walked by. After they’d received news that Sierra had been destroyed, only one other communication from the CDF forces had made it to Sanctuary. Noah knew Sean had made it out, but the only thing in the message was that they should remain hidden because the fight with the Vemus wasn’t yet done. Of all the things Noah hated most, being in the dark about what was going on was near the top of his list.

  He sucked in a breath of fresh air and blew it out. For the span of a single breath, he’d found a moment’s peace, and it felt good to stretch his legs. But suddenly, an ear-piercing siren began to wail, catching him so completely by surprise that he actually ducked at the sound of it.

  The colonists nearby looked up at the sky in alarm. Noah heard several people shouting, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. A pair of CDF soldiers drove out in an ATV, using the vehicle’s PA system to order all of them to return to Sanctuary. The refugees were slow to respond and Noah began shouting for them as well. The nearby colonists looked at him, and upon seeing his uniform, started to head back into the alien city. They were slow to move at first but quickly increased their pace. Noah stayed out on the grassy plains to make sure the colonists were returning to the subterranean levels of the alien city.

  The CDF soldiers driving the ATV headed toward him and stopped. “Can we give you a ride, Captain?” one of the soldiers asked.

  Noah thanked them. The ATV only had two seats, so he had to hold on from the outside. He stepped onto the running boards and grabbed the handle. The driver pressed down hard on the accelerator and the ATV lurched forward. Noah held on as tightly as he could and they quickly made it back to the city entrance. The last of the refugees were already inside and Noah saw CDF soldiers retreating to the interior of the city. Everyone knew the drill. They had to minimize their presence on the surface to avoid detection by the Vemus. Colonel Cross wouldn’t have ordered the use of the siren unless there was a credible threat nearby. That meant there were Vemus ships in the area.

  The CDF soldier slowed the ATV down near the mobile Command Center, and Noah stepped off the running board at a jog. They quickly drove away as Noah ran into the Command Center.

  Colonel Cross glanced at him as he walked in. “Where’ve you been?” she asked.

  “I went to get some air, Colonel,” Noah said and went back to his workstation. “Are they close?”

  “Whatever it is, it’s at the edge of our scanning range,” Colonel Cross said.

  A central holoscreen powered up and showed a simplified PRADIS output. There was one ship at the edge of the range, just like the colonel had said, but there was no identification code being broadcast, so they knew it wasn’t from the Colonial Defense Force. The unidentified ship wasn’t heading directly toward them, but it was going to fly close enough that if they weren’t careful, it might detect their presence.

  A CDF soldier came into the Command Center. “Colonel, all colonists are inside the safe zones,” he said.

  “Acknowledged,” Colonel Cross said and turned toward Sergeant Yates. “Ops, set Condition One. All CDF soldiers to action stations.”

  Noah heard Sergeant Yates repeat the order and then send a broadcast to all soldiers stationed in Sanctuary.

  “Colonel, should we bring the colossus cannon online?” Noah asked.

  Colonel Cross pressed her lips together. “Not right now, Captain,” she said.

  “When would be a good time?” Lenora asked.

  Noah glanced over at her in surprise. She’d been so quiet that he’d forgotten she was there, and he wasn’t the only one.

  Colonel Cross brought her steely-eyed gaze to Lenora. “Dr. Bishop, I don’t think your presence here is appropriate anymore. It would be better if you went to one of the safe zones,” Colonel Cross said.

  Lenora snorted in disgust. “The Vemus aren’t far away. Why not use the cannon we’ve been working on so hard to shoot them out of the sky?”

  The breath caught in Noah’s throat. Lenora was completely out of line. He stood up and went over to Lenora before Colonel Cross had her forcibly removed.

  “Come on, you can’t be here anymore,” Noah said and moved to grab Lenora’s arm.

  Lenore flinched away from him and stood up. She glared at him. “Fine,” she said and walked toward the exit.

  Noah looked at Colonel Cross, who nodded for him to go after Lenora. He went outside and called out to her.

  Lenora spun. “I’m fine. Go follow orders, soldier,” she said scathingly.

  “That’s not fair, and you’re out of line,” Noah said.

  Lenora looked away from him and sighed. “They’re coming. We’ve got to at least defend ourselves.”

  “We will, and we’ll do it the right way, which doesn’t involve you questioning the orders of Colonel Cross,” Noah said.

  Lenora rolled her eyes.

  Noah heard Colonel Cross snap an order to someone inside and turned back to Lenora.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Noah asked.

  Lenora jabbed her finger toward the sky. “They’re what’s the matter!”

  Her shouts drew concerned glances from the soldiers passing by. Noah stepped closer to her. “We can’t just start shooting at them. There’s more than one ship, and if we shoot one down, it’ll paint a giant target on us here.”

  Lenora’s brows pulled close together. “I know,” she said through gritted teeth and then her gaze softened. “I know. Go back inside. You can’t stay out here and babysit me.”

  “You’d do the same for me,” Noah said while backing toward the mobile Command Center doors.

  There was a loud whirl of actuators moving something heavy, and Noah’s eyes widened. He turned toward the heart of Sanctuary. Jutting out from the ruins was the long barrel of the colossus cannon. It was powering up.

  “Barker, get in here!” Colonel Cross shouted from inside the mobile Command Center.

  Noah hastened inside.

  “We’re locked out of the colossus cannon controls,” Colonel Cross said.

  Noah brought up the command interface for the cannon’s weapons systems. He was completely locked out. He tried to take back control, but nothing worked, and he slammed his hands on the desk.

  “I’m locked out, Colonel,” Noah said.

  “Comms, are the soldiers guarding the colossus responding?” Colonel Cross asked.

  “Negative, Colonel. They’re not responding,” Corporal Blanks replied.

  “Sergeant Gray, get a team of CDF soldiers down there now—” Colonel Cross said and stopped.
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br />   There was a bright blue flash over the skies above them. Noah’s mouth hung open. Someone was firing the colossus cannon. He jumped out of his chair.

  “I need to get down there to fix the lockout. I can’t do anything from here,” Noah said.

  There was another bolt of blue-white lightning lancing overhead. If the Vemus hadn’t known Sanctuary was here before, they did now.

  32

  The Lunar Base Command Center had become a cauldron of renewed vigor and determination. Nathan was infused by its energy and he also heard it in the voices of those nearest him. He looked at one of the status holoscreens for the base. The smaller satellite CDF locations were home to rail-cannons that were peppered across the lunar landscape. Separate from those were the missile pods that were home to the midrange HORNET class missiles.

  “All stations report status green, Colonel,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  Nathan glanced at the young officer. There was a slight catch to her voice, and she swallowed. “Acknowledged, Sergeant,” Nathan replied.

  Major Shelton shifted in her seat next to him.

  “Tactical, any change in the Vemus cruiser’s orbit?” Nathan asked.

  “That’s a negative, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix responded.

  The three Vemus cruisers were orbiting the moon on different elliptical planes that were about to overlap. When his tactical officer alerted him to the possibility of the overlap occurring, Nathan had expected the Vemus to adjust their velocity because the targeting opportunity they were giving him was too good to pass up. They were essentially lining up for him to take them out.

  “Let’s show them our teeth. Execute firing solution Knock Out,” Nathan ordered.

  “Executing firing solution,” Lieutenant LaCroix said—three simple words that carried with them a huge spike in activity.

  Scanners became fully active and fed targeting data to the HORNET missile salvos that were launching from their pods.

  “HORNETS away,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  The HORNET missiles were close-range weapons capable of bursts of speed that would crush a human, even with the inertia-dampening technology they had on their ships. Nathan watched as the missile marks on the main holoscreen showed them quickly closing the distance to their targets. The Vemus cruisers hadn’t altered course or launched countermeasures.

  “Ops, give our guys in the hangar bays the green light for launch,” Nathan said.

  They needed to get the assault teams away before the Vemus counterattacked.

  “Confirm missile detonation, Colonel. Direct hit,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  Nathan watched the main holoscreen as the missiles pelted the Vemus cruisers.

  “Tactical, target bravo salvo and task all mag-cannon turrets to target the cruisers. Light them up,” Nathan said.

  Lieutenant LaCroix confirmed the order. “Scanners show two Vemus cruisers completely destroyed. The third is severely damaged.”

  A live feed from the high-res optics showed the remaining Vemus cruiser being chewed up by the rail-cannon high-velocity projectiles. Nathan watched with grim satisfaction as the Vemus cruiser exploded.

  “Colonel, assault teams are away—” Sergeant Martinez said and stopped speaking in the middle of her status update. Her eyes widened. “Colonel, sensors have detected colossus cannon active fire near Sanctuary.”

  Nathan’s gut clenched. “Are there any Vemus ships in the area?”

  “Negative, Colonel,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  “Comms, have there been any alerts from our CDF forces on the ground?” Nathan asked.

  “No, Colonel,” Sergeant Boers answered.

  Nathan winced and looked at Major Shelton. “It has to be those Vemus scout ships we detected earlier. They’ve located Sanctuary.”

  “Colonel, Vemus Alpha is moving out of orbit from New Earth,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Put it on the main holoscreen, Lieutenant,” Nathan said.

  The Vemus Alpha was slowly moving away from New Earth.

  “Tactical, ready the next HORNET salvo,” Nathan said.

  “Yes, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix responded.

  “What about Sanctuary, Colonel?” Major Shelton asked.

  Nathan frowned, trying think of something they could do to help. “Comms, send an encoded broadcast to CDF ground forces.”

  It was the only thing they could do. He had already committed his resources to the Vemus Alpha. There were CDF ground forces. They’d have to deal with the threat to Sanctuary.

  Three new ships appeared on PRADIS. They came from the Vemus Alpha.

  “Troop carrier class ships detected, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  Nathan gritted his teeth in frustration. “Target the carriers,” he said and watched the PRADIS screen update. The Vemus Alpha was moving faster now on an intercept course right toward them. There would be no hiding from the Vemus. Nathan knew he couldn’t stop all the troop carriers from reaching Sanctuary, but he hoped that what they were doing would give them a fighting chance.

  “Target all weapons on the Vemus Alpha,” Nathan said.

  The CDF had built weapons systems all across the lunar surface, and once they went active, they could be tracked by the enemy. Lunar Base was in this fight now. Hopefully, the assault teams were flying undetected, closing in on the Vemus Alpha. They’d have to execute emergency combat landings on the Vemus Alpha, but that was something his teams were prepared for. It was Connor and his team that needed to get inside that massive Vemus ship if they were to have any hope of stopping the Vemus permanently. He couldn’t even warn them about the change in plans, but it wouldn’t have changed anything. The Colonial Defense Force’s final assault on the Vemus was just beginning.

  33

  A small taskforce of ten combat shuttles had left the remnants of Phoenix Station two hours before. To keep their approach hidden from the enemy, Connor ordered the taskforce to power off their main engines. He didn’t want to give the Vemus any reason to suspect the combat shuttles were anything but wreckage from previous battles. Throughout their engagement with the Vemus, they’d proven to be more reactionary when the CDF switched tactics.

  “Nothing like putting Sir Isaac Newton in the driver’s seat,” Captain Randle mused from the copilot’s seat in the cockpit of the shuttle.

  “There are worse ways to get inside an enemy ship,” Connor replied, thinking of when he’d used a storage container to infiltrate a space station. The entirety of the Ghost platoon had been cramped inside that confined space with nothing but a whole lot of waiting to be offloaded.

  “Final update from Phoenix Station. The comms drones have been sent off. They’ve staggered their departure and speeds,” Captain Randle said.

  The comms drones contained all of Dr. Kim’s findings on the Vemus, as well as what they were about to try. Connor understood the theory that supported the scientist’s belief that the Vemus were behaving with a hive hierarchy, but he couldn’t help but think there was more to it. The evidence was there to support the scientist’s theory, but there seemed to be some missing pieces that Connor couldn’t quite wrap his mind around. Primary among those missing pieces was the fact that the Vemus had navigated across interstellar space to find them. They had followed the deep space comms buoy network like a trail of breadcrumbs. A two-hundred-year journey was no easy feat. How had the Vemus survived for that long? Connor was sure that, with time, colonial scientists could answer those questions, but ultimately he just wanted the Vemus gone without a chance of survival. The colonists were the last humans in the galaxy. He was disgusted that part of the reason humanity was in such a predicament had stemmed from an opportunistic human faction. Were humans always destined for such an outcome?

  New Earth had been home to an alien intelligent species that had evolved to build a civilization, but the colonists hadn’t figured out what had happened to them. They left behind cities and ruins. Colonial scientists had even detected an alien influence over the
other species on the planet. Had they reached a point in their evolution where their own self-destruction was assured? Were humans just another species to follow along that seemingly well-worn path to destruction, paved by the intelligent species before them? In the hundreds of years that humanity had looked to the stars with wonder, they hadn’t detected any traces of intelligent life.

  “The final comms drone is configured to reach Sanctuary’s vicinity in seven days,” Captain Randle said.

  “It’s our failsafe in case we aren’t successful,” Connor said.

  “Let’s make sure it’s not needed then,” Captain Randle said.

  Connor glance at Randle. They were heading into the belly of the beast. Given that their chances of survival weren’t great, Connor was surprised to see a hopeful glint in Randle’s determined gaze. He’d seen a similar look in Reisman’s eyes right up until Connor left him to die.

  “You’ve got that look again,” Captain Randle said.

  Connor turned back to the controls. “I was just thinking of Wil and everyone else we’ve lost during this war.”

  “Wil.” Captain Randle snorted. “I liked him. He always came up with ways to keep you on your toes.”

  Connor let out a small chuckle. “It was what made him so good at what he did.”

  A comlink opened to the cockpit from the rear of the shuttle.

  “General, it’s ready,” Dr. Kim said.

  Connor sat up in his chair. “Excellent work. I’ll buy you a drink when this is over.”

  “I’ll take you up on that, General,” Dr. Kim said.

  The comlink closed and Captain Randle gave him a sideways look. “Here’s what I don’t understand. How is whatever the doctor is cooking up back there going to stop the Vemus?”

  “I’m sure if you went back there and asked him, he could spend hours trying to educate you on it, but by then the mission would be over,” Connor replied.

  Captain Randle laughed. “I’m surprised you don’t want to know.”

  Connor shrugged. “The way he explained it to me was that the basic function of a virus is to spread itself. He’s just helping to speed that along, which is where the nanobots come in. The process will gain momentum as time goes on.”