Kindle Edition
Amazon
Category:
Science Fiction
ISBN-10: 1508756074
Type: Fiction
Pages: 374
Copyright: March 5, 2015
ISBN-13: 9781508756071
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
The War for Terra continues as the crew of Resolute struggle to maintain the order despite threats from within. An action packed sequel to Resolute Alliance and a race tot he finish for Lee PEarce and his crew.
Betrayed by the Alliance he had sworn to protect, Lee Pearce struggles to cope with an enemy turned ally and an old friend who seems intent on betraying everything they have fought for. Gathering his forces together, Lee embarks on a secret mission to save the Alliance from the invading forces of the Gizzeen.
It's a race against time and a mission to save the galaxy from an enemy much closer to home than they suspect.
The War for Terra series continues in this action-packed adventure that brings the war full circle and ends with a daring raid into the heart of Gizzeen space. Resolute Strike twists and turns through a labyrinth of intrigue and adventure culminating in the most shocking ending of all.
Excerpt
1
Proxima Centauri
A vast field of blue energy covered the center of Proxima Centauri’s small native system. A main system star, the flare star should have been spitting x-ray energy from its core across the system, blasting any orbital bodies with radiation and weak light. Instead the energy of the star was being absorbed by exotic particles leaking from another reality. Small planetoids tumbled in their orbits, seemingly unconcerned with the tendrils of energy leaping out and fingering their satellites. Among these, a small moon of one of these bodies sheltered twelve ships speeding close to its radiated surface.
The squadron of fighters raced low over the horizon, four banded Ch’Tauk fighters to the left and four to the right flanking the new Eagle class Alliance fighters flying point. As the recon patrol crested the edge of a crater, the first tendrils of exotic blue energy finally became visible above the rim. The ships dipped into the deep crater, the Ch’Tauk ships breaking off and moving away in opposite directions while the Eagles continued on target. The flight leader slowed the fighters as they approached the lip of the crater, halting to hover just inside the rim.
“Hive to hornets, are you in position?”
A crackle of static answered the Alliance squad leader. She hated working with the bugs. They refused to follow Alliance protocols and forced everyone on edge during missions. The Ch’Tauk were good fighters and made an effective wing on recon flights, but when not in battle they were difficult and ill-mannered. Command refused to listen to the complaints. Pilots were told the way of things and sent out to deal with it on their own.
“Hive acknowledged,” replied the hissing translation of the Ch’Tauk. “Hornets One and Two in position. We await your command.”
The only redeeming quality the creatures had shown lately was a willingness to follow orders from a woman. Their regent Empress had commanded obedience from her drones and they willingly obeyed. Some of the command structure had transferred to the pilot ranks and allowed some of the female human pilots to hold a greater command over the aliens.
“Execute Alpha,” the commander ordered her team. “Hornets, just sit still until you’re needed.”
The flight leaders acknowledged the order and the commander switched to low power mode. The cockpit projection dimmed, limiting her field of vision, but also lowering her energy profile in space. The lights indicating her fellow recon patrol also blinked out, becoming too low for the sensors to track efficiently. She gently pressed the altitude bar on her panel and raised the ship above the lip of the crater. As the view expanded she scanned for their target, first visually and then with the passive sensor array.
The splash of energy was the first thing her eyes registered as the rocky crater edge disappeared below her horizon. It looked as if the black canvas of space had been splashed with vivid blues and oranges. The exotic energy covered her display almost to the edge of her cockpit projection, blotting out stars and other celestial bodies alike. A quick check of her sensors, however, showed nothing. It was a strange consequence of the cataracts—the name given to the energy intrusions from the Gizzeen home system—the inability of sensors to register anything but the surface perturbations of their intrusions. Beyond the visual light show, no further data could be gleaned from the area inside. It was frightening to think whole star systems had been swallowed up by the invaders and no sign of what had been lost could get out. As far as the Alliance was concerned, places like Earth which had been swallowed up by the intrusions were gone forever.
Silhouetted against the blue backdrop was a dark form. The target of the recon patrol was floating against the blue energy like a deep sea creature from Earth’s depths. Bands of armor plating covered a thick, vacuum-resistant hide. The ship, a small example of the Gizzeen menace, appeared lifeless and made no move towards the Alliance ships as they rose above the moon. Long projections hung from the underside, swaying to the invisible currents of the exotic energy.
To Commander Cruz, it was a threat they couldn’t avoid. Her every instinct told her to rush in and attack the motionless ship. Her orders, however, were to survey it and deduce if it was active or dormant. A captured Gizzeen ship would be one of the most valuable tools in the war against the invaders, and it was her task to determine the safety and security of the plan. Her personal desire to blast the creature from the blue space around it was tempered with the knowledge of the ineffectiveness of her own weapons. Alliance technology had proven useless against the ships in battle. As long as they stayed within the blue energy field they could fire into our space and Alliance weapons were powerless against them. It was only the limitations of the exotic energy which had stayed the expansion of the Gizzeen throughout the galaxy. The only ships which had shown any effectiveness against them were the Ch’Tauk fleet. Reasons why had eluded the Alliance’s top minds since the first cataract opened.
“Proceed to position Beta,” Cruz ordered her flight.
The four ships began to move slowly towards the alien vessel. The magnetic drive systems were only marginally useful inside the energy field, but they would not be there for long. Cruz felt the shudder as her Eagle entered the field. She gripped the control yoke tight as they moved closer to the ship. She felt a shimmy in the reactionless drive which threatened to slide her ship out of the diamond formation the Hive flight had chosen. Her heads-up showed the other ships drifting in and out of formation as they approached, staying just outside the energy field in a wide formation. Ch’Tauk sensors were weaker than the Alliance’s inside the field. The logic of the formation had been tested in simulation after simulation and found sound, but Cruz didn’t trust the creatures at her back.
Activating her active sensors at a low power, the Hive flight split into two teams and moved off in different directions. Perturbations in the exotic energy by the active sensors showed as shimmering beams which connected the fighters with the Gizzeen scout ship. Cruz could feel the ripples in the space around them, making navigation even more difficult as they moved on. Her projection display began to receive the detailed scans and save the data. Most of what she saw was incomprehensible to her. It didn’t matter; the scientists back home would interpret it all when they returned. After that, bigger and better ships would come and attempt the capture. If it worked, the ship would be taken apart, and whatever weaknesses it held would be revealed. If it didn’t, they were no worse off than when they started.
“Commander…” The voice of her wingman, Lieutenant Yen, broke through her concentration. “I’m reading movement from below. The legs are twitching.”
Cruz checked her scanner. The Vadne pilot was tasked with monitoring the vessel as she performed the scans. The limitations imposed by the blue energy field kept them watching each other’s backs. She saw the motion he was talking about. The legs were the slang term for the long projections hanging from the underside. Each was banded with cables of metallic armor. The Alliance had determined a thousand possible uses for the long structures but so far had not come up with anything solid. The front set of legs was moving further than before. The movement was not the effect of the gentle energy currents, but something else.
“Re-tune for our ripples, Hive Two,” Cruz called back. “Coordinate with Four.”
“Aye,” Yen called back. “I see it. It’s us.”
Cruz had watched the scan just long enough to see the ripple produced by their own scans was moving the legs. She saw the next set begin to move as well, swaying in time with the energy ripples. As the motion travelled around, more of the legs began to sway to the perturbations. The feeling of watching some kind of oceanic creature intensified as Cruz readjusted her scans back toward the main vessel. So far, she had not seen much evidence of life from the ship. As she came around the bow of the vessel, she saw a gaping wound along the far side. The armor from that side appeared bubbled and cracked; the cavity underneath looked sheared away. It was the first evidence she had witnessed of the ships being damaged by anything. Inside the cavity, she could just make out three individual decks, about ten feet apart. Debris was floating away from the hole.
“Two, open up on that hole and get the eggheads back home some good pictures,” Cruz ordered her wingman. “I don’t want to change these scan settings again.”
Yen, flying just behind and outside the scan perimeter from Cruz, slowed his movement and tuned his sensors towards the hole. Fine scans would give the scientists a chance to examine the interior of the ships. After months of war, they still had no idea what the Gizzeen actually looked like. All of their encounters had been in space, with no communications between the races. If the deck heights were a true indication of the interior, then the Gizzeen might not be that much different in size from humans.
“Hive Four to Hive Commander,” called one of the other pilots in the flight. “I’m reading movement from the Hornets. They’re entering the cataract.”
“Hive Leader to Hornets, pull back. Your assistance is not required.”
“We monitored aggressive behavior from the ship,” replied the Hornet commander. “Our orders are to defend the leader from the ship and destroy if necessary to keep the leader alive.”
“Negative on aggressive behavior, Hornet. Stand down immediately.”
“Humans make no sense,” replied the Ch’Tauk translator. “We will help you whether you request it or not. We have orders too.”
Cruz heard the connection break as the Ch’Tauk moved into the energy field. A quick curse and she pulled her ship up and over the Gizzeen ship. If the Ch’Tauk were planning an attack on the vessel, it might damage the ship beyond their ability to capture it. She called to the other Hive flight pilots to join her and moved over the ship and into the line of fire. The eight Ch’Tauk ships were speeding in comparison to Cruz’s velocity. She checked her shields in vain, knowing the exotic energy sapped the power from the system as fast as it could regenerate. The other members of her flight joined her, spread out between the Gizzeen ship and the oncoming Ch’Tauk. Cruz had a strange sense of déjà vu as she watched the Ch’Tauk approach. She had fought against the creatures during the war. This time, however, the Ch’Tauk gods were not going to stop the fighting. This time, they were on their own.
“Hornet flight, I order you to stand down,” Cruz called, knowing it was futile. “This is not part of your mission. There is no aggressive activity from the target. Stand down and return to Alpha point.”
Instead of turning back, the Ch’Tauk unleashed bolts of plasma energy at the Gizzeen ship. The red-orange energy, vastly reduced in power inside the field, struck the armored hide of the ship and spread. Cruz was forced to roll out of position to keep from being struck by the Ch’Tauk fire. She watched the fighters race past her position, spreading out and trying to surround the ship with plasma fire. Cruz turned her ship in space and tried to come up with a solution. Their weapons and shields were nearly useless. The only advantage she had over the aggressive ships was their sensor array. She looked down at the scanner system to determine any way the advantage could be pressed, only to find a new alert. Systems all over the Gizzeen vessel were activating. The ship was coming to life under the constant barrage of energy. A lightning bolt of fear raced along Cruz’s back as she saw crackles of energy surround it.
“Pull out!” Cruz ordered. “Get back to extraction point now! That thing is waking up.”
“The Hive flight turned as one and began to move. The Ch’Tauk flights were still circling the larger ship, launching volley after volley of energy into it. As Cruz watched, the Gizzeen vessel seemed to glow with a pale blue energy. The glow flashed bright for a fraction of a second, blinding her sensors to the rear. She focused on their escape instead. As they crossed back into real space, her controls smoothed out and she was able to control the ship easier. She opened her comm back into the blue energy field at her stern.
“Hornets, Hive Command is clear,” Cruz ordered. “Get out now before it’s too late.”
“Terrans run while Ch’Tauk fights,” replied the Ch’Tauk voice. “It’s why you lost your planet then and now. We stay and fight until the battle is won.”
Cruz swore at the comm as it snapped closed. As the Alliance fighters crossed over the lip of the crater, she slowed. As much as she hated the Ch’Tauk and their arrogance, it was against every fiber of her being to leave a wingman behind. She pivoted her ship around and came to a stop, watching as her fellow Alliance ships slowed and followed her movements. She wanted to see what the Ch’Tauk intended to do.
The Gizzeen ship began to move. The swaying legs under the craft now seemed to be spreading wide, feeling the energy field around it. The Ch’Tauk responded by changing formation, trying to cut off any hope of escape for the vessel. Against the Alliance, the tactic might have worked, but the Gizzeen ship was only barely affected by the plasma bolts being hurled down at it. A blast of blue-white energy erupted from the Gizzeen hull—seemingly from no turret, emerging from the hull itself. Two Ch’Tauk fighters disappeared in the blinding flash, torn to atoms. The six remaining ships spread wide, hoping to minimize losses.
“Commander,” Yen called over the comm. “Extraction is waiting. We need to go.”
“One more minute, Yen,” Cruz called back. “I want to see this.”
The Gizzeen ship turned now, advancing on two of the Ch’Tauk fighters even as it was being blasted by the remaining four. Cruz could see the gaping wound in the side of the ship. Her heads-up was useless outside the field, so she could not analyze if the assault was having any effect. She watched two more of the Ch’Tauk fighters vanish under the blue-white onslaught. The four remaining Ch’Tauk fighters broke off, giving Cruz some hope they might run. Instead, they swung around and opened up on the damaged section.
The plasma bolts filled the empty space on the side of the ship, making the Gizzeen hull glow red for a moment. Cruz tried to magnify the image on her projection but the sensors failed to improve the resolution through the field. When she pulled the focus back, two more of the Ch’Tauk fighters were gone and the Gizzeen ship was moving away. The remaining Ch’Tauk ships moved around to the bow of the Gizzeen ship and resumed fire. The bow of the Gizzeen ship poured forth a deep blue energy, illuminating the two ships and making them pulsate with energy. When the light faded, the two ships were gone.. “Hive,” Cruz said quietly. “Head to extraction and mind the bumps. The sensor data is all we have.”
The squadron turned as a unit and headed back along the crater’s depression, the battle and the victor now lost to their sight. She pushed her throttle forward and turned the ship back to full power.
As the Vadne micro-carrier came into view, she felt the loss of Earth. The carrier had become home for her and her team and she wondered when that had happened. In any case, she would return to base and have the data analyzed. It was her duty.
She despised the Ch’Tauk but respected their fighting spirit, and was feeling every one of her losses personally. On top of that, she had a feeling she had just witnessed the opening salvo in a war the Alliance had no hope of winning.
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