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  ORCHESTRA OF SHADOWS

  BOOK ONE OF

  SHATTERSPACE

  Charles Nall

  Orchestra of Shadows (Shatterspace)

  Copyright© 2014, 2015 by Charles Allen Nall

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in

  any form, by any means, without prior permission from the author.

  First Edition

  v1.8

  Cover Image from NASA

  This is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this

  work are fictitious. Any similarities to real people, living

  or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Orchestra of Shadows

  December 6, 0131 AC – 21:10 Local Time

  Near Listening Post 27-T

  Edge of Galactic Union Space

  “How long has the all-clear signal been offline?”

  “Too long.”

  “And Command doesn't think this is a problem?”

  “Well, it's definitely a problem. But the all-clear signal going out isn't necessarily the warning signs of an invasion. 27-T has had its issues over the last few months. Hell, one time we prepared for an invasion and bolstered defenses on all the nearby systems. And then...”

  “Nothing happened.”

  “Exactly. Command doesn't want to cause panic or spend resources they don't have to. It's your job to find out if there's a communication problem... or if there's a 'vampire' problem.”

  “Copy that. I'll let the boys know.”

  “Remember, I want to maintain contact. You'll be out of standard link range, so every sixty seconds I want a NEP signal from you. I don't care what you guys send us, just send us something to let us know you guys are okay.”

  “Copy.”

  The small display in Lieutenant Elijah Shepherd's Peregrine fighter switched from a feed of a man speaking to a screen of various system diagnostics. The man speaking to Shepherd was Captain Fletcher of the USS Atlas, a New York-class battleship. Shepherd commanded a squadron of four Peregrines that had recently entered a dense asteroid field—too dense for Atlas to follow them.

  “Listen up, people,” the lieutenant announced to his squadron, “we're flying to listening post 27-T, it is either just having some communication errors again or we have a big problem. Be on your guard.”

  “Sir, isn't this a secret location? How would they have found it? It's in the middle of this effing asteroid field,” responded one of the members of his fighter group.

  “Well, I'm not sure of the specifics, but I do believe this listening post was operational back before the revolution. It's weird that they're having issues, I thought they upgraded the hardware.”

  Another voice came across the communications system, “Perhaps a 'cried-wolf' scenario? In the event of an actual invasion, we think it's just acting up again? I don't know. That would imply–”

  “That we have a traitor at 27-T. Let's hope that isn't the case. God knows this war isn't really based on allegiances or land. It's hard to tell where people's loyalties lie. The human race has been split apart. Something went wrong. We'll be at the post's coordinates in a few minutes.”

  The sleek Peregrines skimmed by tumbling asteroids. This asteroid field was fairly uninteresting, as was the solar system where it resided. A star at the end of its life cycle and the dense asteroid field was about the only thing one would notice on first glance in this system. However, on closer inspection, one would find a secret installation built for the purpose of making sure the nearby inhabited planets and stations of the Galactic Union remained safe from invasion. These nearby planets and stations had minor defenses–not enough to repel an entire invasion force without assistance.

  A pinging noise played over Lieutenant Shepherd's communications link. Shepherd hit a button in response that sent a ping back to USS Atlas.

  “Oh,” Shepherd called to the squad, “by the way, you probably heard that ping too. Home base will ping us every sixty seconds over the Network of Entangled Particles and we need to reply with something just so they know we're safe.”

  “Just... anything?” a fighter pilot asked.

  “I guess we should try to keep it clean. But eff it. If this is nothing but someone sleeping on the job at the post I'm going to send them a photo of a moon.”

  A squadron member laughed. “Oh, which moon?”

  Another member chimed in, “Shepherd, you really should send them a photo of Uranus!”

  Shepherd cackled. “That's no moon! But really, if I could drop my pants right now...”

  “I wasn't aware you wore pants when you flew Peregrines.”

  Shepherd laughed. “I'm wearing pants. This time. You know what, hey, you there Sylas? Haven't heard anything from you.”

  “Yeah, I was just deep in thought. Sorry.”

  “Better than being deep in Uranus!”

  “You guys are a mess. Let's get this done,” Shepherd said.

  The fighters glided over a larger asteroid with a massive central crater. The spacecraft started circling the large asteroid.

  In the center of the crater was a small, gray, rectangular structure with a barely-visible landing pad. The bulk of the post was actually inside the asteroid.

  “They aren't accepting any links. I can't talk to anyone in the post. Let me scan for life signs,” Shepherd said.

  Clusters of asteroids tumbled by the fighters. The rocks floated in eerie silence. The silence was interrupted by the familiar sound of a ping.

  “I got it, Lieutenant,” Sylas said. “I just replied with my own ping back.”

  “Thanks, Sylas,” Shepherd said. “Oh eff. No life signs detected. Well, that's a problem. I'm going to open a NEP link to Atlas and tell them what's up. Wait, something– just now–is jamming me? Wait, it looks like–” Shepherd pushed some buttons and his console showed some data about the source of the jamming. “Guys, it looks like this listening post has started jamming our frequencies. It wasn't before, it just started when I tried to open a channel to Atlas.”

  Suddenly, a barrage of weapon fire came across the Peregrines.

  “Shepherd!” exclaimed one of the squad members. “We’ve got hostiles!”

  “Evasive maneuvers! They are everywhere! Let's get out of here, we have to get out of range of the jamming signal! Go!”

  Enemy fire pierced through one of the Peregrines. The Peregrine exploded in a fireball, killing the pilot inside. It was too late to eject.

  “No!” yelled Shepherd as he began retreating. “Eff'n vampire scum! This was a trap!”

  Mass driver slugs flew by the cockpit of the lieutenant's fighter. Errant mass driver rounds turned asteroids floating in the field into dust. The chase was on, as the three Peregrines tried to outrun the pursuing vampire fighters.

  “How many are there?” Shepherd asked.

  A squadron member replied, “Detecting eight–no, nine bogeys. A mix of Peregrines and Raptors. I'm also detecting hyperspace fluctuations!”

  Shepherd darted between asteroids. “We have to get a message to Atlas! At least they'll know something is up after a minute but holy—”

  A mass driver slug ripped through the wing of Shepherd's fighter. The damage was major, but the fighter was still mostly operational, having only lost some precision landing equipment and weaponry.

  “How did–my shields are fine, wait, how do they know our shield frequencies?”

  Weapon fire cut into another Peregrine as Shepherd barreled between two asteroids. One of the pursuing enemy fighters did not react in time and flew straight into one, obliterating it completely.

  “I'm detecting noticeable hyperspace fluctuations! It's an eff'n huge group of vessels!”

  “What?!” Shepherd replied. A
blast hit Shepherd's Peregrine but only caused minor damage. However, this attack did not come from a vampire ship, but Sylas' Peregrine. “Watch your aim!” Sylas' Peregrine fired another shot that impacted Shepherd's fighter.

  “Sylas?!” Shepherd yelled over the squadron channel, as he darted between the asteroids.

  Sylas snarled, “You all deserve this! What you did to my new people was barbaric! We're your unwanted trash! Did you know my father was infected? Did you?! Do you know he was nearly beat within an inch of his life because of it? Do you support this sick government?! We're going to take Urbania and then you will be the ones kicked to the curb!”

  A barrage of fire from the enemy squadron took out the other loyal member of Shepherd's squadron. Shepherd, barely able to focus on weaving between the asteroids and dodging enemy fire, yelled back to Sylas in reply, “Jesus Christ, I didn't agree what happened to your 'people.' It was unfortunate, it's the darkest side of us that is only exposed in our darkest times. But these sort of actions don't exactly make your side seem very open to civil discourse!”

  “Getting quarantined away from the rest of the galaxy is a great idea, I agree. Eff off. By the way, I'll be sure to send a ping to base after I destroy you so they know we're all safe! You can take solace in the fact as you die!” Sylas shouted over the link.

  “You’re ‘normal,’ Sylas. Even if your father is a vamp!”

  “I will join the vampires soon enough. I will become one of them.”

  “How do you even know it will work? There’s no telling if you’ll be infected successfully!”

  “I am strong. Stronger than the weaklings who fear change. The Dynasty is superior. They shall reign.”

  Only six thousand more kilometers until I'm out of the jamming field. I can do this. Shepherd continued to evade incoming fire.

  Sylas dodged some asteroids and got right behind Shepherd. Sylas had a clear shot on his target.

  “I didn't want to do this...” Shepherd sighed. “You always weren't great at dogfights, you know. I always told you: ‘Never get right behind your target.’”

  Shepherd surveyed the field in front of him–it was relatively empty for a few kilometers. Shepherd's side thrusters fired and the fighter turned 180 degrees around, still moving forward at the same speed.

  “You know our shield frequencies? Well, did you change yours, bastard?” mocked Shepherd as he unleashed his weaponry.

  Sylas' fighter exploded in a burst of shrapnel as Shepherd's fighter maneuvered back into a forward-flying position. The other vampire forces had seemed to back off.

  “That's right, bastards, get out of here!”

  Shepherd flew out of the jamming range and started transmitting a warning to USS Atlas. Suddenly, a huge vampire battle cruiser materialized out of hyperspace into an area that was relatively free of asteroids right in front of Shepherd. The battle cruiser aimed its many cannons at Shepherd and began to fire.

  Back at Atlas, Captain Fletcher called to a crew member, “Ensign, any details about Shepherd yet?”

  “No, sir, we still haven't received a return ping. You think–”

  “I think one way, but I hope another way.”

  “Wait! Sir, I'm getting something. It's from Shepherd's Peregrine!”

  “Let me hear it, Ensign.”

  The computer played the transmission, “Fletcher! Vamp–”

  “Is that all?”

  “Yes,” replied the ensign. “That was it. What should we do?”

  The captain stared out the viewscreen into the blackness of space.

  The ensign stammered, “Sir, if an invasion force has already compromised the listening post and something happened...”

  “If they already compromised the listening post, they are already upon the Union. I fear we are too late. Get the warnings to Galactic Command and nearby planets. Now. Every ship in this sector needs to be on alert. It has begun. Assume Con-1 throughout the ship.”

  The “vampire” fleet had descended upon the Galactic Union. However, there was enough time to get some defenses up to dissuade the invading force from attacking Urbania, the capital of the Union. Still, the terrible war would rage for decades. Lieutenant Shepherd and his Peregrine fighter were never found by “vampire” or Galactic Union forces. However that is not to say he was killed. In fact, the cannons on the battle cruiser that fired upon Shepherd's Peregrine didn't impact anything. The Peregrine vanished without a trace. Shepherd was assumed dead, a casualty of the Vampire War. But in reality his fate was not to fight in the Vampire War but a War that would shatter space itself.

  1

  January 27, 0270 AC – 20:20 Local Time

  East Vega, Urbania

  Galactic Union Space

  Jacob Carpenter kicked a soda can down the sidewalk. Were the maintenance bots even doing their job? He'd gladly clean the crud off the road. Most of that was automated, at least in the developed areas of the galaxy. Perhaps he should move to some fringe world and struggle to survive like those poor souls. “Or I could actually apply to the Academy...” Jacob's voice trailed off as he stared into the sky. Although the smog was pretty thick in this part of Urbania, he could still see the twinkling of stars. You'd think humanity would learn that mucking up a planet's air isn't a good idea, but I guess with the loss of Earth we had to find some other place to mess up.

  Jacob walked slowly down the sidewalk as ground traffic raced by. These people driving past him have lives, maybe some of them didn't have fulfilling lives, but Jacob assumed most of them were better off than him. Most of them had a family that cared for them. They probably knew their real mom and dad too.

  Jacob had short, messy, brown hair. His trench coat was tattered. He hadn't shaved his face for days.

  Jacob pulled what appeared to be a slightly thick, wadded piece of paper out of the pockets of his dark brown, ragged trench coat. He straightened out the paper and leaned against one of the buildings. This building was one of many skyscrapers that were rising into the smog. A forest of dark spires.

  Jacob voiced a command to the piece of paper, or, in actuality, a fully functioning personal computer. “Computer, latest news. Cheer me up with reports of people in worse conditions than me.”

  “Error, please rephrase your request.”

  Jacob sighed. “Just give me the latest news.”

  “Loading latest news, text or vid?” the personal computer chimed in response.

  “Vid, I guess.”

  “...The unrest on Artemis continues today,” announced a news reporter on Jacob's computer, “the Galactic Union's launch of Exodus begins in about two weeks. The infamous Artemis, the moon orbiting the desolate planet known as Diana, is the site for many riots and demonstrations. To understand why, we go to our correspondent who is live on Artemis, light-years away from our studio via hyperNEP relay, Mikel Caela.”

  Jacob was beginning to lose interest but did not end the video.

  The scene changed to a reporter that was standing in front of a large complex. Many people were around the gated complex in protest. “Thanks, Paige! I’m standing in front of one of the space ports on Artemis. Soon, those who are volunteering with the Exodus program are going to head here and then be transported to Exodus, a huge spacecraft which will hopefully find something exciting in a whole new galaxy. Exodus is heading to Andromeda with its crew of brave explorers and potential colonists. Some people aren't too thrilled with this idea.”

  “Isn't it volunteer work? Why is there controversy?” asked the reporter in the studio.

  “Good question, Paige. To understand what is going on here we have to remember the Union assigned this moon for terraforming for colonization. Several other planets and moons were terraformed under the Green Frontier Act. Poor living conditions are quite standard throughout the colonized galaxy. Instead of fixing these conditions, the Union decided to create new worlds that would hopefully be better. Artemis, the uninhabitable moon of Diana, was to be turned into a habitable location for people to mov
e to. Over fifty thousand hopeful people moved into this new land.”

  “And something went wrong. And instead of fixing the issues, the Union funneled more funds into the war machine, which was not even marching at this point,” said the reporter in the studio.

  “Right, but a war could start at any moment,” replied Mikel Caela on the scene of the protest. “There was a problem with the terraforming and the side of Artemis facing the planet slowly became uninhabitable, plagued by toxins in the air and water. Most of the land facing away from the planet has been claimed safe, but there are reports of mutations and deaths on that side as well. Half the moon is uninhabitable, so everyone assigned to this moon is taking up only half of Artemis' surface now, which may be contaminated just like the other half. So we have an overcrowded, potentially sick group of people.

  “Instead of finding another place for these people to live, or fixing the failed terraforming, the Union opted to spend resources on Exodus. In the end, building Exodus was far cheaper than relocation or fixing this moon. Although people aren't being forced onto Exodus, it was built over this moon, and many people are being urged to become 'new pioneers.' In twelve days, the Exodus will depart for the Andromeda galaxy. The people on board will be put into stasis until they reach their destination, a star near the edge of Andromeda. This will be thousands of years into the future, and there is no telling what they will actually find there. Some say that the human race needs to branch out from the Milky Way. But there is a possibility these explorers could make first contact with a hostile alien race. Most people here just feel ignored. There are many spots left on Exodus for pioneers.”

  “So the people of Artemis were put onto a world that may not be fit for human life, and now they are being urged to go into a new galaxy–where it may not be fit for human life as well?” asked the reporter in the studio.

  “That pretty much sums it up, Paige. Earlier today, I talked to the captain of Exodus, Jerry Turner. He runs a little salvage operation, and was picked, much to his surprise, to lead humanity to another galaxy. Mr. Turner is a supporter of the Galactic Union and loves the idea of Exodus. From where I'm standing, that does seem to be an uncommon point of view.”