Jack Dillon: into the Dark Void

J.T. Spears

Description

VENGEANCE!!!
That’s what the regent of Brashnor swore, as the
drones left his city in ruins.... There’s nowhere in the entire
galaxy, that they’ll be safe from the mighty Kraaglor Front. Especially
from its general: the ruthless Voch!
RETALIATION...!
Jack quickly becomes the target of a relentless
hunt. And immediately learns that there are enemies more worst
than the Seezhukans; and adversaries more formidable than the legendary
Drofh. An enemy, who will bring total annihilation
to entire sectors. And cause the mighty
Stendaaran general to flee for his life!
RESOLUTION...!
There’s no defeating Voch! Only one course
of action could bring a cease to all of this madness now! One
that will pull them all into a different
dimension. And it is here, where new alliances
are formed; and new enemies are discovered. An enemy,
that’s even more powerful than general Voch!

Sujets

• Fiction
• Science Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 11 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663247711
• Langue: English

Extrait

JACK DILLON: INTO THE DARK VOID
J.T. SPEARS


JACK DILLON: INTO THE DARK VOID
 
 
Copyright © 2022 J.T. Spears.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
iUniverse
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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
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ISBN: 978-1-6632-4770-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4771-1 (e)
 
 
 
iUniverse rev. date: 12/07/2022
CONTENTS
Prologue
Expedition Six
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Expedition Seven
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Expedition Eight
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Expedition Nine
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Expedition Ten
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
PROLOGUE
“YOU’LL NEVER DO business in this sector again!” The furious serve-bot shouted after the drones as they rushed towards the edge of his landing-platform built on the face of one of Brashnore’s craggy mountains.
There’s no way the Regent of an entire planet should be treated like this. Insulted. Swindled. Taken for a ride. Scammed, like some mindless vendor droid plucked off the assembly line.... No, Whaapco thought. Two of Piilor Syndicate’s top commanders lay dead inside his palace. Murdered! And not to mention the six merchants––claiming to be Jaanloch’s servants––that had just broken out of their prison, destroyed his demolition droid, and attacked the Viceroy of Kraaglor Front. “Tell Jaanloch, I’ll have him exiled for this!!!” It was an act of war; that’s what it was! He would never let them escape his planet alive.
“Get me the general,” he ordered one of the guard-droids nearby. The last of the fugitives had just left his platform, leaping through the air in a high arch, but then crashing into one of its own. The violent collision sent them tumbling down the platform of another building, causing one to nearly going skidding over the edge.
The Regent fumed at the drones’ good fortune. He spun around to face the droid. “I said get me the general! Can’t you see that we’re under atta––” He paused when the hazy hologram materialized before him and the wrinkled face of an alien––encased in a frame of obscuring static––appeared.
“Voch, here,” the hologram said, scouring the Regent and his guards, with a pair of almond-shaped eyes that shimmered as if affected by the planet’s strong winds. Those same eyes settled on the bits of rubble and debris strewn across the threshold of the palace’s entrance; a real sign that some kind of battle, or explosion, had taken place. Most of the Regent’s guards were still fixated on something beyond Voch’s vision...something they longed for perhaps. Or an enemy, in who’s face thy stood powerless.... The whole lot appeared beaten. Defeated.
How intriguing, Voch thought. The sight amused him. He now grew impatient to learn who––in all of Plogg––would attack Whaapco? What business would any scourge of the sector, have with this miscreant serve-bot? And more importantly; who was bold enough to attack a high ranking member of the Kraaglor Front? “Why’d you hail me, Whaapco?” He asked, suppressing the strong desire to get a full report on the Regent’s obvious and most recent troubles. He decided on a more subtle approach. For now, he would ignore his better sense.
“The Viceroy’s under attack!” Whaapco said, floating like a drunk butterfly toward the hologram. “Omegon tribe-bots, disguised like merchants, infiltrated our world with designs on kidnaping His Highness. I tried to stop them, of course. But they were no regular tribe-bots. Our weapons had no effect on them. They wore some kind of protective armor––”
“Tribe bots?” Voch asked, remembering the attack on Mage City, on the planet Stong, that left dozens of traffic-monitors destroyed. One of the Viceroy’s own guards had been the intended target in that attack.... But reports revealed that those bots had all been demolished.
“Yes general,” Whaapco replied. “Six tribe-bots, in the company of Kapac and that ambitious Zhorg.”
So there is a connection, Voch thought. But why would the Viceroy’s own guards aid the assassins? It didn’t make sense. “What of Kapac and Zhorg?” He asked. “What role did they play in all this? And where are they now?”
“They’re both dead, sir.”
“What!?”
“I swear, sir. I didn’t know anything about any of this.... They came with their own designs, but something happened between them. For whatever reasons, Zhorg killed Kapac, then had the tribe-bots thrown in one of my dungeons. But the tribe-bots, sir...are no regular Omegon. They have special weapons; so powerful, they killed Zhrog and escaped. They destroyed at least 200 of my guards and one demolition droid, before grounding the Viceroy’s ship as he was leaving the planet. And this is where we are now. They’re on their way to kidnaping the Viceroy as we speak. You must hurry. There isn’t much time.”
Far from what the general of the most powerful syndicate in Plogg had expected. The Viceroy...? Things were much graver than he’d first thought. He now regretted not having intervened when that incident first occurred on Stong. It was a problem he’d left for the Piilor syndicate’s leaders to deal with (seeing that it happened in their Province). But that was a mistake. Such an unprecendented attack on Stong shouldn’t have been taken so lightly. He should’ve intervened. However, he would do so now! “Stand by...” was all the instructions he left for Whaapco and his droids as his holographic image faded into the gust of a strong Brashnorean gale.

The four AIWS-7285 class warships suddenly popped out of hyperspace in the blink of an eye, speeding toward an awaiting fleet of fighters near one of Brahnore’s moon. The gleam of shiny metal was blinding. The colorful spectrum of the clustered stardust space reflected off the ships’s hulls in a dazzling display of flashy strobes. Like bullish sharks, they moved (in silence) as if hunting prey to satisfy that long-lived hunger for war; even if such satisfaction might last for just that moment....
“Picking up a distress signal from the Viceroy’s ship, general,” said one of the droids, manning the helm on the bridge.
From where Voch stood, facing the long, curved port-side window, Brashnore was still a million miles away. Just a big gray hall, spinning slowly in a mist of purple and pink. Drannore, its much smaller moon, lay further beyond, hidden by the protective planet.
Voch took note of the many ships that still buzzed around Brashnore, and how things appeared as normal as they usually would. Other than the few skirmishes and rebellions during the Drofh occupancy (about three centuries in the past), Brashnore was still a peaceful planet. A rocky world, home to the gem-stone palaces, where kings and emperors held their lavish balls. The sight of his warships wouldn’t escape notice so easily––and he was yet to know how strong of a force these merchants really were.
“The Viceroy’s ship is requesting immediate assistance,” the droid said. “They’re taking heavy fire from the Omegon. Three of his guards are down.”
“Voch turned from the window and walked to the helm. Behind his green, shriveled face, a smooth metallic surface rounded the back of his oval skull. On both sides of his head, two red eyes glowed as he came to where the droid sat. “Zhorgh placed his fleet in Drannore’s orbit before going to Brashnore...Why would he do that?”
“The only rational answer to that question, sir...is most likely to prevent the Omegon from escaping.”
“Then why are they ignoring the Viceroy’s distress call?”
The droid paused and cocked its head inquisitively. “I don’t know, sir. They should’ve been on Brashnore by now.”
Voch gave a knowing nod before executing his next order. “Maintain our course to Drannore. Man all battle-stations. Send message to the planetary guard that no ship is to leave Brashnore at this time.”
“Message sent.”
“Good,” Voch said. “Now that our ships are in this system, no one’ll be able to escape this planet any time soon.”
From the vantage point at the helm of his own starship, it seemed that the four gargantuan vessels of war had suddenly winked themselves out of existence, and all signs of an upcoming battle had somehow been avoided. Nor would it occur to the astonished passengers on the lumbering galactic starbus that their plans of travel would be abruptly canceled until the sudden appearance of Voch’s terrifying ships near Drannore’s southern hemisphere.
The armada beared down quickly on the sixteen fighters that had accompanied the tribe-bots on their errand. It disturbed Voch that Zhorg would aid in attacking the Viceroy. By the looks of his fleet, it would appear that the leader of the Piilar Syndicate was preparing for a fight. However, he wasn’t preparing for the kind of encounter that would lead to an insurrection if the Piilar Syndicate