Invincible

David Makinson

Description

All Jack Tanner asks is to be judged on his own merits. But life as the son of a much-loved war hero is never going to be that simple. Caught up in a galactic war, he confronts deep personal tragedy, suffers life-threatening injuries, and finds love for the first time on his way to becoming a soldier and a leader. Galactic superpowers Meridian and Sendara have been at war for decades when Jack Tanner, fresh out of military academy, signs on with Meridian's Starforce for his final year of officer training. All he wants is to be allowed to stand or fall on his own merits. But life as the son of a much-loved war hero is never going to be that simple. Thrown into non-stop action right from the start, this is Jack's coming-of-age story. He will confront personal tragedy, stumble through the trials and tribulations of first love and discover the true value of friendship on his way to becoming a soldier and a leader. Across the galaxy, an organised crime syndicate concocts a treacherous plot that could change the course of the war. Bribery, sabotage, treason and murder combine to threaten Jack's family, his new friends, his career - and his life. Against a backdrop of interstellar war and an escalating series of betrayals, all roads lead to Kobara Junction, where Jack will be in the forefront of the climactic battle as a desperate Starforce strikes back against its Sendaran enemy.

Sujets

• Adventure (Guyana)
• Science fiction
• Adventure

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506901787
• Langue: English

Extrait

INVINCIBLE

Volume 1 of the Tanner Archives


by David Makinson
Invincible
Copyright ©2016 David Makinson

ISBN 978-1506-901-77-0 PRINT
ISBN 978-1506-901-78-7 EBOOK

LCCN 2016935783

March 2016

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .
For all who dream of the far side of the sky
Part One


Extract from: Interstellar: A Military History of the New Common Era, Volume 4
Professor Archimedes J. Marchant
* * *


Even the longest night must end. The scattered peoples of the Chaos would need over four hundred standard years to recover from the collapse of the First Union, but as the ninth century NCE drew to a close, advances in starship technology cut intra-system travel times, and exploration uncovered new routes to vast, hitherto unknown regions of the galaxy. The long age of isolation fell into memory as humanity once more reached out across and beyond the Spiral Arm, driven by the search for territory and profit. New powers grew, and new leaders rose with them to test their ambition.
Perhaps inevitably, improved access and communications had unwanted side effects. Localised power struggles and endless trade disputes drove a bitter new cycle of small wars and uprisings. The Inner Systems evolved into myriad nation states with few areas of consolidated power.
Into this vacuum stepped the newly-named Riallan Empire, its strength built on the discovery in its most distant territories of varidium, the soft, dense metal destined to become one of the key strategic factors in the coming struggle for galactic ascendancy. Rialla would dominate the galaxy for three centuries but at the height of its powers, even as intellectuals and leaders began to espouse the unique moment of historical opportunity, the golden chance to learn from the lessons of history and reshape society, familiar patterns began to emerge.
First Sendara then the Meridian Federation rose to challenge Riallan power. Pirates terrorized trade routes, increasingly sponsored by ambitious business and political interests. The first true armies and fleets of the interstellar age soon followed. Territorial rivalries and tensions were brought to a climax by Meridian’s opening up of the New Territories in the Andromeda galaxy.
There could be only one outcome: the Andromeda War – the first truly pan-galactic conflict of the interstellar age. A conflict which in various forms has continued for over 100 standard years.
Such is the slow turn of empire.
* * *
Chapter 1
* * *


Jack forced his eyes open and looked around at the other shuttle passengers. Most of them were dozing, veterans and new recruits alike. Yawning, he checked the time on his wristpad . Still an hour to go. His eyes drifted to a close.
A shot blasted out from the back of the cabin. Jack’s eyes snapped open, all trace of drowsiness gone. Gunfire? On a Starforce shuttle? Instinct took over. In a flash, his seat belt was undone and he was on his feet. His right hand arrowed towards the holster at his hip.
Empty. His plasma pistol was stowed in the shuttle’s hold. With a silent curse for Starforce regulations, Jack dropped to his belly and snaked past two empty seats to the end of the row as two more shots rang out.
Easy, now .
He inched his head forward and looked to the rear. One of the Sendaran prisoners of war was stomping over wide-eyed, bewildered passengers to get to the aisle. A motionless PlanCom guard lay face down on the deck. A second guard slid from her seat with excruciating slowness. Unseeing eyes stared from beneath a smoking hole in her forehead.
Next to the dead woman, a middle-aged man tore at his seatbelt with frenzied hands and stumbled into the aisle. A Sendaran, a young woman with close-cropped, blonde hair, paused as she passed. Her expression did not change as she rammed the muzzle of a plasma pistol hard into the side of the man’s head and pulled the trigger. Blood pulsed from the wound as the body slumped onto the dead guard. The cabin filled with the acrid reek of burnt flesh.
The Sendaran woman moved with practised ease in the low gravity, barging her way forward along the narrow gangway. Jack’s heart seemed to stop beating. Surely he wasn’t the only passenger alert enough — stupid enough — to want to know what was happening?
He was. He looked at the faces of the passengers in his line of sight. Blank, dumbfounded, scared. As far as he could tell, he was the only person aboard looking aft. The only one who had moved since the shooting started.
What the hell am I thinking?
Jack squirmed back along the row, slid into a sitting position and fixed his gaze on the back of the seat in front of him. He clutched hard on the armrests, palms slick with sweat. His eyes darted from side to side as two more Sendarans hurtled past. They took up positions at the head of the shuttle’s aisles, covering the passengers with their weapons. The third prisoner of war, a hard-faced older man in a colonel’s uniform, made straight for the open cockpit.
‘Who here speaks our language?’ the blonde woman yelled in Sendaran. She scanned the cabin. Jack stole a glance around at the passengers he could see. No response.
‘I’ll ask one last time.’ Her voice cracked as she shouted. ‘Then I start shooting. Who speaks our language?’
Jack waited for someone to step forward. The silence stretched out for several seconds. There are senior officers on this shuttle. Surely one of them speaks Sendaran? Transfixed, he watched as, with calculated deliberation, the blonde woman pressed the muzzle of her pistol into the nearest passenger’s head. She scanned the cabin with indifferent eyes.
I must be the youngest person aboard, but…somebody has to take a lead here. The Sendaran’s trigger finger tightened. Jack pushed aside his doubts and raised a wary hand.
‘I do. I speak Sendaran.’
The woman’s eyes fastened on him. A quick, taut smile flickered across her face. She gestured with her weapon. ‘Out there, boy. Now .’ Jack stood, keeping his hands well away from his body. He sidestepped along the row and into the starboard aisle. The POW on this side of the shuttle, a tall man with dark eyes and hair, watched him approach.
‘Tell them to put their seatbelts on and their hands on their heads. All of them.’ Jack relayed the instruction and the POW gave a grunt of satisfaction as the passengers complied. ‘Good. Now sit there, next to the pilot. Eyes to the front.’
Jack squeezed past the pilot, who sat as if frozen to the controls by the weapon jammed into the side of her head. Her white-knuckled hands gripped hard on the control stick.
The Sendaran colonel gave Jack the briefest of glances. ‘You. Seatbelt. Hands on head.’
Jack slotted the seatbelt clasp home. Now the only people not strapped in tight are the damned prisoners. Adrenalin surged, prickling his fingertips as he placed his hands on his head.
‘Tell her to open up a channel to whoever is in charge of this fleet.’ The colonel’s voice was soft, but left no room for hesitation. Here was a man who expected to be obeyed. Jack translated the order and the pilot’s trembling hands fluttered over the controls.
‘Shuttle HG 37, this is M.S. Invincible . Is there a problem?’
The colonel pushed the microphone unit across to Jack. ‘Tell them this shuttle is now under the control of the Sendaran Defence Force.’
Jack focussed on keeping the tremor out of his voice as he transmitted the message. There was a long silence on the other end of the comms link as Invincible’s signals officer absorbed the news. After what felt like an age, a new voice, this one female, issued from the speaker.
‘HG 37, this is Commodore Madalin Navarr. Please confirm your status.’
Jack translated, and then waited, puzzled, as the colonel hesitated for several seconds. Could it be they had no real plan?
The Sendaran looked directly at Jack as he finally spoke. ‘Tell her we demand safe passage to the nearest Sendaran base. The hostages will be released once we are safe. Either that or we crash this shuttle into the ship we just left and everybody aboard dies. Tell this commodore the choice is hers.’ Jack thumbed the comms switch and relayed the message.
Another prolonged silence followed.
‘Tell them again.’ The Sendaran’s voice held the first hints of strain. Jack began to repeat the message. At his side, the pilot’s breathing grew ragged. She dissolved into sobs.
‘And tell her to shut up.’ The colonel ground the pistol harder into the pilot’s temple. Before Jack could say anything, the last shred of her self-control snapped. He turned his head to see her push the colonel’s pistol aside, then claw at her seatbelt clasp.
With an exasperated sigh, the colonel reversed his grip on his pistol and slammed the butt hard into the base of her skull. She slumped forward with no more than a sharp intake of breath. Jack forced himself to sit in silence as a hot surge of anger pushed him to the edge of a reckless, futile response. It would be pointless to expose himself to the same treatment – or worse. The colonel turned away from the pilot and shoved the pistol hard into the angle of Jack’s jaw.
‘I hope you know how to fly this thing.’
Beads of sweat break out on Jack’s forehead. He gave a slow nod and grabbed the co-pilot’s control stick. His hands shook with both fear and rage. He scanned the unfamiliar displays without speaking.