Explorations: War

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Also By Woodbridge Press

  Newsletter

  Prologue (Nathan Hystad)

  Nine Thousand Seconds to Earth (Robert M. Campbell)

  Field of Fire (Ralph Kern)

  A Million Points of Light (C.C. Ekeke)

  Friendly Fire (C. Gockel)

  The Hand of Empyrean (Scott Moon)

  Minimum Safe Distance (Scott McGlasson)

  The One Who Waits (Scarlett R. Algee)

  Shot in the Dark (Richard Fox)

  The Path to War (Josh Hayes)

  The Last Battle (Jay Allan)

  Epilogue (Nathan Hystad)

  Explorations Series

  A Nathan Hystad Anthology

  Explorations: War

  A Nathan Hystad Anthology

  No Part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or means without the written prior permission of the copyright holders below, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles.

  The stories in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  “Explorations: War” Copyright © 2017 by Nathan Hystad

  “Prologue” Copyright © 2017 by Nathan Hystad. Used by permission of the author.

  “Nine Thousand Seconds to Earth” Copyright © 2017 by Robert M. Campbell. Used by permission of the author.

  “Field of Fire” Copyright © 2017 by Ralph Kern. Used by permission of the author.

  “A Million Points of Light” Copyright © 2017 by C.C Ekeke. Used by permission of the author.

  “Friendly Fire” Copyright © 2017 by C. Gockel . Used by permission of the author.

  “The Hand of Empyrean” Copyright © 2017 by Scott Moon. Used by permission of the author.

  “Minimum Safe Distance” Copyright © 2017 by Scott McGlasson. Used by permission of the author.

  “The One Who Waits” Copyright © 2017 by Scarlett R. Algee. Used by permission of the author.

  “Shot in the Dark” Copyright © 2017 by Richard Fox. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Path to War” Copyright © 2017 by Josh Hayes. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Last Battle” Copyright © 2017 by Jay Allan. Used by permission of the author.

  “Epilogue” Copyright © 2017 by Nathan Hystad. Used by permission of the author.

  All other Explorations universe is Copyright © Woodbridge Press and Nathan Hystad

  Cover Illustration © Tom Edwards

  TomEdwardsDesign.com

  Series Editor: Nathan Hystad

  Copy Edited by Scarlett R. Algee

  Also By Woodbridge Press

  Explorations: Through the Wormhole

  Explorations: First Contact

  Journeys

  Heart Blade

  The Haunting of Lake Manor Hotel

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  Prologue

  By Nathan Hystad

  Mars orbit – FCF-1007 Research Station

  Sally pushed against the console and floated to the far side of the dome. Space was all around her. Below sat the dusty red planet, slowly spinning on its axis. She touched the large screen on the floor and punched in a few commands on the glowing blue buttons. The image zoomed smoothly until their colony filled the window. She could see the rovers moving around, showing off the state-of-the-art facilities to the visiting UEF dignitaries. Part of her wished to be down there; to see new faces, since they so rarely came any more. She lifted her head and looked around. There she was, floating in what was essentially an icosahedron with twenty large screens, each with the ability to zoom thousands of times.

  She used to love reading pirate books as a young girl, and now she sat atop Sol’s crow’s nest, orbiting Mars and watching for anything out of the ordinary. A couple years ago it was her that first spotted a change in the sun. It was minor, a tiny dimming, but FCF-1007’s programming knew the variances that were in the norm. She calculated Uranus’ location and set it to zoom. She saw the Konstantinov station, spinning rapidly in its tight orbit around Miranda, and thought about sending Yuri a message. She imagined him sitting there with his music cranked, beard a mess, and staring at his viewscreen, scanning the Kuiper belt for inbound comets.

  All of the changes happening in the universe were so exciting, but she felt stuck. Stuck on Mars. Stuck in that station. Stuck in life. If only she had listened to Fazion after grad school, she could have been working on the Oort Cloud project, playing with wormholes. Instead she was watching planets do nothing.

  An alarm sounded from her left, and she turned to see what it was all about. It was coming from the direction of the sun. The sun automatically filled the screen, the computer’s auto alarm feature taking over. Everything looked normal. Then she saw it. Lines swirled together near the surface, and its magnetic readings were scrambled. She tried to understand the data, but knew it would take moths of studying by someone specializing in solar magnetic storm mechanics. They were like nothing ever recorded before.

  She reached for her comm-link, hitting the colony and Earth at the same time. “FCF-1007 here. We have a problem. Massive flares forming from the sun. I’m transmitting the readings now.”

  The flares were forming together, a bright yellow flash, and something shot forward out of the sun. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. A huge beam of energy, stretching forward like an outstretched arm. Coronal mass ejection, something she’d only seen videos of in classes. The screen dimmed to accommodate. Locking the viewer on to the now speeding flare, she watched as it sped past Mercury’s orbit line. “Computer, calculate trajectory!”

  She silently said a prayer, and felt her shoulders loosen, when she saw it was going to pass far enough away from Mars to not be a danger.

  “Get me Admiral Skarsgaard!” she yelled into her comm-link, hands shaking.

  Outside Beijing, China

  Blair Skarsgaard stopped and looked down the middle of the production line, which looked to go on for miles. The images from the computer didn’t do the facility justice. It was massive. The whole place had the slight scent of solder and lubricant, reminding him of pushing a broom in the FCF hangars so many years ago. Dimitri Sokolov stopped just ahead, tapping his foot impatiently. He could tell from his brief interactions with the man that he was not used to waiting for anyone.

  “So, Admiral, what do you think?” he asked in a lightly Russian-accented voice.

  “Mr. Vice President, it’s amazing. All of this for colony ships? How necessary do you think all of this is?” Blair knew the answer. He’d known it the moment the rumors of the sun dimming had spread in the First Contact Federation circles. He also knew that every government since the dawn of mankind loved to sweep things under the carpet and not spend a dime until things got too bad. Then with a knee jerk reaction, they would over compensate and overspend. He hadn’t thought they’d follow through with their plan.

  “We have been given a gift, Admiral. That sphere ship your great-grandmother stepped foot in opened the universe wide open, whether that was for the good or bad of humanity. We have dozens of habitable worlds to travel to now, and the tec
hnology to get us there. Don’t you think she would have wanted it this way?” Dimitri asked him, eyebrow raised.

  It always came back to her. Blair knew his name had got him this far, but it didn’t lessen the shadow cast over him his whole career.

  “She would be happy we are continuing the explorations. But colonizing unknown worlds? I’m not so sure.” Blair continued to walk, and they eventually stepped outside. He took a deep breath and fresh air filled his lungs. They’d come so far. A clean Earth, poverty at an all-time low, a unified government, all to go along with the feeling in his gut that they were sitting ducks in the universe now. “How goes the colony production station?”

  Dimitri squinted and put a rigid finger to his lips. “Shhhh. These things are not widely known. This place is making children’s educational tools, and health devices, according to the tax reports. But it goes well. We will be able to transport millions of people by next year.”

  It felt more and more like the United Earth Foundation was making all the decisions, when the First Contact Federation was created to be the link to space travel. He could feel his pulse speeding up as he looked at the vice president.

  “And why would we need to move that many people off Earth?” Blair asked as his earpiece chimed softly.

  “Admiral. We have word from FCF-1007 over Mars. The sun…” The voice kept speaking, but Blair didn’t need to hear the words to know what happened. The night sky flashed as bright as a thousand days, and moments later it was past them.

  Weak in the knees, he spoke back into his comm-link as Dimitri stared into the distance with his mouth hanging wide open. “Get me a transport vessel. I want my ship Glory ready to launch now!”

  Glory – One Hundred Thousand Kilometers from the Sun

  “Leave the displacement drive on, Carl. We need to get nice and close for the readings Mr. Thompson here wants.” Blair Skarsgaard nodded to the salt-and-pepper-haired UEF Special Advisor and scientist. If every ship needed to have a Foundation representative on board, he was glad they sent him one who was more worried about experiments than politics.

  “Aye aye, Admiral,” Carl said, switching off the FTL generator, but leaving the drive running to keep the sphere shield up. Its shield would protect them from the heat emanating from the volatile surface of the sun. Blair had volunteered for this mission for a couple reasons. One, the sun had always intrigued him, and being able to be one of only a few people to see it so close was exciting. But more importantly, his gut was telling him something life-changing was happening. From this day forward, the universe they lived in would change. He could feel it.

  “Bring us in.” Blair stood now, seeing the viewscreens dim as the intensity increased.

  Clark Thompson was busy typing on his console, his face contorted in confusion. “This can’t be right,” he muttered.

  “What can’t be right? What is it?” Blair asked, dread creeping over his spine.

  “The numbers. There is no way a star should be able to flare in this pattern. It’s almost as if…” He trailed off.

  Light pulsed and swirled in a wave, unlike anything Blair had seen before.

  “As if what?” Blair demanded, needing to know.

  “As if… the sun is doing it on purpose. It can’t be natural.” Clark turned to him, face slack with disbelief.

  Images of the stars following their first First Contact ships, millions of miles away, flashed into Blair’s mind. The warning the Sphere ship had given them about the star. Was it theirs all along they were to fear? A hundred years with no sign of them. Had they been so foolish to think the threat was over?

  “Admiral, something is forming ahead!” Carl yelled, too loudly for the quiet bridge.

  The area around the sun was glowing hotly; orange, white, and yellow swirled in an unusual pattern, faster and faster, until another flare half the size of Earth shot forward, rushing by their ship and knocking them backward at an alarming rate. The crew went flying, and Blair felt himself weightless for a moment, until he crashed into the ceiling and fell on the floor.

  He could feel the engines kick in, trying to compensate, and soon they were slowing, the inertia dampeners once again becoming effective.

  “Is everyone okay?” he called. Groans and some mumbling met his question. The smart ones had been strapped in, like protocol dictated, and Blair cursed himself for getting too comfortable for protocol. His ribs would be feeling that for a while.

  “Good. What the hell is it doing?” he asked Clark, who looked no worse for the wear, other than his ghost-white face.

  “It appears to have shot another solar flare. If my calculations on its trajectory are correct, it’s heading for Ganymede,” Clarke replied. “We need to send a warning to the Herschef colony!”

  “Admiral. It looks like the sun is dimming…” Carl began, and stopped, getting out of his seat, and sliding his console out of the way.

  “Carl, what is it?” Blair asked his officer, whose eyes stared back at him blankly.

  “I’m sorry. I was too late,” Carl said in a voice that wasn’t his. His eyes started on fire, burning quickly and hotly. It was as if everything else ceased to exist and all Blair could see were the flames stretching to Carl’s eyelashes, then eyebrows. Blair could hear the sizzling, and started rushing to his aid.

  “They are here. Empyrean’s reach is vast,” the voice said, through Carl’s mouth, and the rest of him burned. Blair ran to him, pushing him to the ground, rolling him to put the fire out. But he was too late. Carl was gone.

  Mars Orbit – FCF-1007 Research Station

  Sally was terrified. It had only been a day since the flare had gone by, but it felt like weeks. Now she hesitantly watched the sun through her zoom-screen, with a mix of awe and horror. She was also still tracking the flare with another screen, and had the rest zoomed on each station or mined moon in the system. She hoped it was just a one-off. A scientific anomaly. Something the sun could bounce back from.

  Suddenly she wished she knew more about the colony project that was so top secret.

  Grabbing a stim-pack, she dumped it into a bottle and shook it. She’d need more energy to keep going, and there wasn’t time to get another member from the surface up there. Since Mars was on lockdown, it would be up to her to watch over the system.

  Just as she felt the stims begin to work, one of the screens chimed an alarm. She spun, and floated to the top part of the symmetrical dome. The outskirts of Sol. What was there to see out there? Nothing happened out there…well, ever. It zoomed as much as was possible, but the distance was nearing the focus limits of the scope.

  She dropped her bottle, and it stayed floating beside her while she saw slightly pixelated ships appear, unlike anything the FCF had in their fleet.

  Sol was being invaded.

  Nine Thousand Seconds to Earth

  By Robert M. Campbell

  Leaving Miranda

  Doctor Yuri Markov slung his bag over his shoulder and took one last look around his cabin. He flicked off the lights on the cramped space he’d called home for the past two years and slid the door closed behind him. He walked down the hall, past the shower, to the central machine lab, amid the roaring of the air circulation system. The grey-white walls of the habitat module were starting to look a little grimy, he thought to himself, as he dropped his bag on the floor and walked over to his launch suit, folded down in his locker next to the much bulkier Orlan-VII mounted on the rack beside it. Today he’d be skipping the EVA and going straight to his ship. Operating a space craft was hard enough without having to contend with bubble hands.

  He pulled the orange suit on over his liner and sealed it up. Aika and Anatoli watched him in silence as he prepared to make the trip to the Crow’s Nest orbiting Mars. He turned around and faced them when he was ready.

  Aika skipped forward and threw her arms around him in a hug. “Be safe. Don’t forget about us.”

  “I will. I will be back in time for tonight’s X-Faktor.” He gave her a squee
ze, barely able to feel her through his flight suit.

  “Tolya will make sure the station keeps running, won’t you?” Yuri asked, as he disentangled himself.

  “I will, my friend.” Anatoli answered matter-of-factly. He shook the older astrophysicist’s hand. “Doctor Markov. Good luck!”

  Yuri gave a grim smile and gripped his friend’s arm. “To the devil, my friend.”

  Letting go, he gave one last wave, then donned his helmet, pulling the tight-fitting polycarbonate shell over his head, stretching his chin out to dislodge his beard from the neck seals once he had it on, then sliding the catches into place to lock it in. Displays came up informing him of his air supply and suit pressure, Cyrillic readouts advising him of the external atmosphere.

  “I’ve loaded this with everything we received from Leonov.” Aika handed him his personal computer and he stuffed the rectangular slab into the pocket on his leg. He nodded thanks.

  With a casual salute, he opened the circular hatch on the floor and swung it up and into the service area, closing the lid behind him with Anatoli’s help. No need to cycle the air for departure. His ship would be pressurized. Verifying the Interface Leak Check System had a good seal, he opened the next hatch below him, crouching down awkwardly in his flight suit and climbing inside, squeezing through the access tunnel into the cramped crew module of the Sumerki, closing the hatch behind him.

  As he clambered into the pilot’s seat and strapped himself in, he thought back over the last two hours aboard the station. He’d been listening to music when Aika came to him with news of the sighting. Their companion vehicle stationed at Uranus’ L2 Lagrange point, Leonov, had found something deep in the Kuiper belt that was neither a comet nor the large body they suspected was lurking there in the dark.

  Yuri buckled in and began the startup routine on the small ship. It was essentially a Soyuz class capsule stacked onto a small displacement drive module. It had a limited jump capability, but could get him and his crew back to Earth if needed. Two jumps was all it could manage before it became a coffin.