Attached below is the Prologue, which is the first chapter of the book. Since this is a sequel, it gives a summary explanation of the context (Jackson's Universe), and a brief outline of the main characters, for those who may not have read my first novel, The End of Winter.
Both are available at Amazon and other outlets. Comments appreciated.
Enjoy!
:-)
TCS
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Circle of Fire: Chapter 1: Prologue
In the year 5,000 BC, the Galactic Empire was thriving.
The Empire included half the galaxy, with 5000 inhabited worlds. Then, the
galaxy was invaded by a destructive force the Imperials called the Swarm. The
invaders had ships with speed, shields, and weapons far beyond those of the
Empire, and they looted all of the advanced systems, leaving a trail of death
and destruction. Advanced civilization in the galaxy almost perished.
In the year 2808 AD, there were 4 major sectors of the
galaxy:
1) The recovering Ancient sector, about 15% of the galaxy,
consisting of the 753 systems in the partially rebuilt Empire. They have highly
advanced technology, including faster than light travel and advanced bio-tech.
2) The devastated remains of the Old Empire, about 35% of
the galaxy.
3) The Modern sector, a little less than 10% of the
galaxy, consisting of Earth (the most powerful component) and numerous other
systems and species. Moderately advanced technologically, with slower FTL,
including basic shielding and weapons.
4) The historically unexplored regions, about 40% of the
galaxy.
After the Swarm, many of the surviving military assets of
the Old Empire fell into the hands of pirates and dictators. Admiral Alexi
Akido of the Ancient Imperial Service survived by hiding his fleet until the
Swarm passed. The Ancients had solved the problem of biological aging thousands
of years before, and after emerging from hiding, Akido served as de facto
Emperor for 7000 years, and with his fleet (by far the most powerful in the
galaxy after the Swarm) he was able to keep the pirates in check, and set the
Empire on the path to recovery.
Almost all of the leadership class of the Old Empire had
been killed, and in their desperation to bring order, the scientists
experimented with genetically engineering leadership and management skills into
their people. It seemed to work for a while, but there was a serious side
effect: megalomaniacal insanity. The Empire tried to exterminate them all, but
some people with the LM gene set escaped, and one of the descendants of these
artificial mutants joined the pirates, and started to unify them, and design
new weapons.
The Ancients had been monitoring the Modern Sector for
centuries, but mostly from a distance. There had been interaction unofficially
along the vague boundary between the two. In July 2808, Commander Curt Jackson
of the Earth Space Force made the first official contact between the human race
and the collection of species called the Ancients. The Grand Imperial Starship Behemoth, a huge, intelligent, disc
shaped craft 200 yards in diameter, along with Captain Misha and their Ancient
crew, saved Commander Jackson and his squadron from an ambush by a superior
force of renegades…but Behemoth was
seriously injured in the process. Commander Jackson took command of the
combined surviving forces, and helped to save the Ancients and the ship. They
all quickly became fast friends.
The damage to Behemoth
was so severe that Captain Misha had to call for help from the repair crew of
the Ancient Imperial Service. Meanwhile, politics on Earth and in the entire
Modern sector was roiled by the discovery of this huge, powerful Ancient
ship…never mind the Ancients themselves. The admirals at Earth Space Force Command
were determined to capture Behemoth, but Curt and his crew were equally
determined to keep that from happening.
The development of new pirate weapons made it imperative
that the Empire be reformed and re-energized. During the first meeting of the
Earth Space Force and the Ancient Imperial Service at a conference on the ESF
Battle Station Horatio, Misha
discovered that Curt was a human/Ancient hybrid…and that he had the
leadership/management gene set! Oddly, Curt showed no sign of the insanity that
had universally plagued the early LM gene experiments. After the crew defeated
pirates in two separate encounters, Misha was appointed Empress of the New
Galactic Empire by the Council of Guardians, and she immediately appointed Curt
as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. They set out for Valhalla, the ancient
capital of the Old Empire, which had been completely destroyed during the Swarm
attack. Their mission was to rebuild the ancient capital, and begin the
revitalization and expansion of the Empire. An official coronation convention
of the new Galactic Assembly was scheduled on Valhalla for November 22nd,
2808.
While surveying the area around Valhalla before the
coronation in November 2808, Curt and his crew discovered the wreckage of a
dozen Grand Imperial Starships…and one long, needle-like craft they had never
seen before. It was a Swarm ship…and it was fully functional! After a brief
escape attempt by the ship, they subdued it, and towed it back to Valhalla,
where it was prepared for a voyage of discovery by a seasoned Ancient crew.
This is the story of that voyage!
The main characters from The End of Winter, in order of appearance here, are:
Curt Jackson,
born in 2750 AD on a remote colony at the very edge of the Modern sector,
bordering the Empire. He is a human/Ancient hybrid, and his Ancient father died
under mysterious circumstances. From a very early age he was strong, completely
out of proportion to his size. He was also an excellent, inspiring leader. When
the Earth Space Force visited his planet in 2778, he was recruited into the
service. He was rapidly promoted to the rank of Commander, but his disregard
for tradition and questionable respect for chain of command kept him from
further advancement. He was Commander of a squadron of 250 fighters when he met
Behemoth and crew in 2808.
Chimera was born
in 2013 BC, one of a mysterious race of beings who can move at close to the
speed of light, channel enormous amounts of energy, morph their front paws (all
four of them) into anything they desire, and have unusual aptitude with both
medicine and electro-mechanical systems. Her birthplace, the planet Chimer,
orbits a normal G type star, itself in distant orbit around a weird binary
system…a neutron star orbiting a black hole. Chimer is very rarely visited by
the Empire, but Grand Admiral Akido started a massive recruiting effort of
chimerans into the Ancient Imperial Service after the Swarm to keep the fleet
from falling apart, after the technical infrastructure of the Empire was
destroyed. Chimera, feisty and brilliant, was recruited into the AIS in 1491
BC. She faced pervasive anti-chimeran bias, but through sheer competence and
perseverance, rose to the rank of Captain, the first chimeran in history to do
so. By 1800 AD she was offered the rank of Admiral, but refused in order to
avoid the management and politics involved with such a role. When the Superstar
Battleship Andromeda was completed in
2317 AD, Chimera requested and was granted a transfer to serve on Behemoth, which she did until 2808 AD.
Admiral Nimitz---“Moose”---was
born in 1969 AD on the planet Chimer. He is abnormally large for a chimeran,
roughly 6 feel tall and 250 lbs, vs a chimeran norm of around 4 feet tall and
100 lbs. He early showed unusual management skills for a chimeran, and was
promoted to Commander and 1st Officer of a Grand Imperial Starship
by Grand Admiral Akido in 2152 AD. Due to the pervasive anti-chimeran bias in
the AIS, he remained a commander for centuries, but built a reputation as a
brave, brilliant, reliable officer. Curt promoted him to captain in 2808. He
was promoted to admiral later that year, and placed in charge of planetary
defense for the new Imperial Capital world, Valhalla.
Around the year 10,000 BC, the Old Empire got serious
about consolidating its military control of the galaxy. They needed a starship
that was fast, powerfully armed, and able to carry a huge load. They wanted it
to be able to operate at least semi-autonomously. The Grand Imperial Starship
was designed for that purpose, 200 yards in diameter, and capable of speeds of
20 light years/hr sustained. Behemoth
was one of the first Grand Imperials built, completed in 9187 BC, with an
enormous excess of computational capacity. Over the millennia, he developed
into a conscious, intelligent being. In 5933 BC, he was assigned to Captain
Alexi Akido, who was later promoted to admiral. After surviving the Swarm by
hiding in an asteroid field, Behemoth
was actively engaged in the rebuilding of the Empire. When the Ancient Imperial
Service was fully re-established, he was re-assigned to the Council of
Guardians at the request of then-Chairman Misha. He was under Misha’s personal
command in 2808 AD, when the Ancients and Moderns met.
Suzi is the
computer aboard the Swarm ship that was discovered and captured by Curt and his
crew. Very little is known about her. Cygnus and Iapetus linked with her
briefly to try to persuade her to join the Empire, but no one knows if it
really worked. The bond with Cygnus was unusually strong. The Swarm ships have
incredibly powerful weapons and shields, and can sustain speeds of 200 light
years/hr. These ships could bat a fully armed and shielded Grand Imperial
Starship out of space as easily as swatting a fly. And they did so repeatedly,
during the Swarm.
Saurus was born
on the planet Zorca in 2112 AD. He is a large lizard, about eighteen feet tall
and close to 2000 lbs. Many of his species are well over 15 feet tall. Saurus heads
a crew of several dozen lizards that the AIS hires for major construction work.
He and his crew have done most of the work rebuilding the Imperial Complex on
Valhalla.
Merlin was born
to an aristocratic family, also on Zorca, in 5447 BC. He is reptilian, like
Saurus, but much smaller, about 4 feet tall. He discovered his “spooky powers”
very early in life, and was quickly recruited into the ranks of the Guardians,
where he and Misha first met. He took over as Chairman of the Council of
Guardians after Misha resigned in 1180 BC, and has served in that role since.
The full extent of his powers has never been tested. Sometimes, despite his
consistently cheerful demeanor, he even makes other Guardians nervous.
Misha was born
to a wealthy feline family in 9586 BC. Misha is externally indistinguishable
from a common Earth housecat. Instead of a life of leisure, she chose to join
the Ancient Imperial Service as an engineer, and was overall construction
manager for Behemoth. As her “spooky
powers” began to develop, she joined the ranks of the Guardians (A society of
people with special powers dedicated to peace, honor, and justice), but always
retained close ties to the military, particularly to Alexi Akido. After
surviving the Swarm, she was the most senior surviving member of the Council of
Guardians, and was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Council, which she did
for 3000 years. In the late 28th century, she decided to focus her
attention on the emerging Modern sector and the Earth Space Force, the most
powerful military power in that sector. She met Commander Curt Jackson of the
ESF in 2808 AD.
Guardian Councilman
Bering is a humanoid born on the planet Nutria, on the boundary between
Ancient and Modern space. He was born in the year 2500 BC, in the early
difficult years of recovery from the Swarm. Nutrians are essentially human, but
with unusually large heads, and no hair. They are very slightly built, and
stand roughly 5 feet tall. Nutrians are universally recognized as the most
intelligent organic species in the galaxy, and they have an ability to model
complex mathematical and engineering systems that rivals that of the
intelligent machines. Bering was recruited into the ranks of the Guardians at
the age of 12, the youngest in recorded history.
Cygnus, born in
2004 AD to a middle class family in the center of the revived portion of the
Empire, is a tigroid about 4 feet tall and weighing 100 lbs. He was the pilot
and gunner for Behemoth, and his
piloting and battle skills were known throughout the Ancient world. He has a
supernatural ability to bond with and manage machines…particularly intelligent
machines like Behemoth.
Iapetus is a
tigroid of the same species as Cygnus, and slightly younger, born in 2137 AD.
His “spooky powers” developed very early. He can read and influence minds at a
distance, as many Guardians can, but Iapetus has an extremely rare ability to
completely re-write thoughts, emotions, even basic values, if he can physically
touch someone. When Misha was appointed Empress, Iapetus (Yappo to his friends)
was recruited to join the Imperial Squadron for away missions.
Amazona, born in
1322 AD to a military family, is a cantilian, a canine/reptilian hybrid
species. Cantilians, in addition to being huge and powerful, have a “sixth
sense” that tells them when something isn’t right. Amazona, standing over 7
feet tall and weighing 800 lbs, was the Security Officer for Behemoth. She was later promoted to
captain, and commanded one of the starships in the Imperial Squadron.
Alexi Akido was
born to working class parents on a mining planet in 7483 BC. He joined the
Ancient Imperial Service as soon as he was old enough to escape the mines. He
early showed incredible bravery, and an ability to manage people and machines
that was unsurpassed. He moved rapidly up the ranks, including a promotion to
Captain of a Grand Imperial Starship when he was under 100 years old…unheard of
at the time. When the Swarm started, he read every battle report that came in,
and despite his desire to fight them, he knew there was no chance of victory,
only the certainty of death and defeat. A senior admiral at the time,
commanding a fleet of 100 Grand Imperials, he reluctantly hid his fleet. When
they emerged, he immediately and effectively set about the task of restoring
order to his regions of the Old Empire. He served as de facto Emperor for
almost 7000 years, until 2808 AD.
Anthony Quinn
was born on Earth in the year 2737 AD to a military family. At his request,
after attending the Earth Space Force Academy, he served in numerous capacities
at the very outer reaches of the Earth sphere of influence,. He recruited Curt
Jackson into the ESF in the year 2778, and was Curt’s commanding officer for
much of the next three decades. He successfully lobbied for the creation of an
Earth outpost on the edge of known space, and construction of the Horatio station began in 2797. Admiral
Quinn was then assigned to command the Horatio
when it was completed in 2807. Due to the extreme distance of the Horatio from Earth, Quinn was given wide
discretion to operate the station and manage the surrounding space as he saw
fit. After ESF formed an alliance with the Ancient Imperial Service, Quinn was
assigned to command a squadron of Ancient ships, as part of an officer exchange
program.
Admiral Ursa was
born on the planet Syber in 1849 AD. Syber is an agricultural world, and rarely
intrudes on the political affairs in nearby systems. Syberians are generally
soft-spoken, but they become fierce warriors when defending their homeland. Syber
was never heavily industrialized, and hence, was barely hit by the Swarm.
During the recovery, Syber was the main food supplier for New Valhalla, and
Admiral Akido was careful to include Syberians at all levels of his
organization. Ursa and her husband both served in AIS with distinction, until
he was killed in a pirate raid. Admiral Ursa was assigned to command the Earth
Space Force station Horatio, to
replace Admiral Quinn in that role in the officer exchange program.
King Wasilla,
monarch of the planet Kotzebue, was born on Kotzebue in the year 2736 AD.
Kotzebue was the first faster than light civilization the Imperials found on
their way from New Valhalla to Valhalla. At Wasilla’s request, Kotzebue was the
first system from the Ancient Empire to re-join the New Galactic Empire.
Let the voyage begin!
