Star Raiders
And The Lost Expedition
M. Shaunessy
Copyright © 2008 M. Shaunessy
Cover Graphics by M. Shaunessy
All rights reserved
ISBN: 1438230192
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“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery
of something we do not understand.”
-Frank Herbert
US science fiction novelist (1920 - 1986)
Preface
December 21st, 2012, most humans will not forget that date. The Earth changed the day. Most people believed it was the end of the world, some knew it was a beginning of a new world. Scientists of that day knew that the Earth would align itself with the center of the galaxy. Nobody knew what would happen. The human race saw the sun for the last time that day. The atmosphere changed. It grew colder as huge blizzards covered the planet and the second ice age began. More than seventy percent of the human population did not survive the harsh cold, but most of them, scientists, did survive. Living in underground bunkers, to protect themselves, they needed to study what was going on outside. Ten long years has passed as the storms finally calmed, the scientists resurfaced only to see a new world.
They explored the icy world they once knew, to see if they could find other survivors, but they found something they did not expect. However, something different also happened on that day. The animals, they began to evolve. The Scientists were astonished that they look almost human-like. They figured it must have happened on December 21st ten years ago. They concluded that there was a strong energy force. It must have emitted from the center of the Milky Way that affected the animals. When they first met them, most of them did not understand our language. The scientists then classified them as Animuns. When the Ice and snow finally melted, it was then, that they must work with the Animuns to rebuild what Mother Nature has destroyed.
The Animuns and the humans began to live with each other for decades to come. The Owl Avitons, a highly genius race from the Animuns, helped NASA to create a spacecraft to fly at light speeds. They have also discovered Hyper Flight from this. According to the top Avitons scientist, Hyper Flight consisted of magnetization pull from and to a center of a star. They discovered a new crystal called Neoxite that was on Saturn. Its properties multiplied the magnetization ten times its power. It had seems that the entire planet was made from it. The Avitons also designed a force shield so powerful that cannot crush the hull. That way ships can now enter the dense atmosphere of Saturn and create a mining colony. Once they introduced, Hyper Flight, colonization had begun throughout the Solar System and the Milky Way.
Prologue Part One
A hundred a fifty years has passed since the second ice age had began and a Lizzian explorer, Uno Pu’do, climbed into his one manned star ship, The Magellan II, to begin his historic journey into the center of the Galaxy. Jonathan Tippin, his colleague theorized, that there must be significant unlimited energy there to power a planet for generations to come. Energy that was powerful enough to evolve the animal kingdom, especially when energy supply on earth was critically low at that time.
Uno piloted his ship at the right angle, held his breath as a voice entered his ear.
“Good luck Uno,” he said, “And god speed”
“I will John. And I will say the same to you and your wife,” Uno replied, “I hope your baby will be healthy and smart as you.”
John laughed, “Thanks I will, talk to you in four days. That should be enough time for you get to that energy force.”
“Right.” Uno said.
He then pressed the Hyper Flight button and his ship disappeared, headed towards the center of the galaxy.
Just as John predicted, Uno came out of Hyper Flight only to have his scanning instruments malfunctioning. Alarm bells rang throughout the little ship as Uno tried to find out what was causing it. He pressed numerous buttons, but nothing worked. He then started his audio transmission to Earth.
“Attention, Columbia. Something is interfering with my instruments and I do not know how long I will be able to transmit this message, but, what the….” He paused as he saw something amazing in his port window. Then the ship’s light started to flicker as he continued. “This expedition has failed, the energy it’s draining my ship’s power. Whatever it is, its heaven and hell, and…”
That was last anyone has heard from him. The WSA (World Space Association, formally NASA) has sent rescue ships, but never returned. It was then, decided by the WSA Counsel to ban space travel through the center of the galaxy.
Prologue Part Two
The energy source that first emitted from the center of the Milky Way, and continued to emit outside our galaxy only to find another was interested in it. Hundreds of space station was designated throughout the galaxy to help probe unknown regions. One station in particular, near the edge of the galaxy outside of the Zeta Aquilae System, named Discovery Station 812, the scientist’s there had a job to probe the infinite space beyond the Milky Way, but one Earth day, a signal was sent back.
Four personals were on hand that day doing routine work. Two humans; a man and a woman, and two Animuns; a female Fawnis, and a male Orcian were surveying the outer rim. They have been sending out probes to find, more planets or life, but what they got was something else. It appeared on Janis’s screen, the Fawnis, but before she could react and tell her colleagues the station was no more. Something destroyed it, atomized into tiny pieces as it scattered everywhere. There floated by five enormous ships shrouded in darkness.
At the communication and scanning center located on the small planet Pluto, they have been trying to reach Discovery Station 812 for a daily update, but they were unsuccessful. This bothered them, and it was unusual. They usually do hear from them from time to time and they always keep their communication line open. Something was wrong, one of the employee in charge thought. That was until scanning personnel picked up something huge. It was five unidentified ships. At first, they thought that they were a new life form, from the unknown region of the galaxy. They have tried to communicate with them through DR a.k.a. Digital Radio, but the Alien ships did not respond. They did not even stop. They kept on moving. It seemed that their primary target was somewhere in the center of the Solar System. They have continued to communicate them throughout all channels, they even warned them, but they did not stop instead a group of tiny fighters ships emerged from one of the huge star cruiser and attacked the planet-based station. The station did not have time to react as in minuets it was gone.
Five years, since he last heard from his friend Uno, Jonathan continued to find unlimited energy source. He had a theory back in college to use Hydrogen and heated thermal coils. He had sent this theory to WSA and it was instantly accepted. Now he walked down the halls of the new WSA research lab at the Bush Center in Illinois. As he was walking towards the cafeteria, his Vidphone beeped. He knew it could be only one person, Samantha, his wife. They have been married for a several years now and have a little Five-year-old son, Michael.
He answered it and grinned, “Hello?”
“Hi hon.,” the image pop up and he saw her beautiful blond wife smiling at him.
“Hey babe, what’s up?” He said blissfully.
She replied with the same tone, “Not much I was wondering when you would be home for dinner?”
“I don’t know, probably around six or so, depending if,” just before he could finish his sentence, a green-scaled Lizzian scient
ist ran up to him.
“John, John!” He cried worriedly, “You must come, the coils are overheating again!”
Jonathan looked to his Lizzian friend and said to him disappointedly covering the screen on the Vidphone, “Not again, look just shut down the coils and I’ll be there as soon as possible.” The Lizzian nodded and hurried back to work as John looked back to the screen again, “I could be a little late. If I am not home by seven, just leave the plate by the solar heater.”
She sighed and said, “Alright, you know you could spend more time with us than that uh whatchamacalit?”
“Hydro Helium Coils, and I am sorry,” He replied, “Look I’ll tell you what, as sooner as I am done perfecting it, we will go to New Jersey and visit Mars Park or something, just the three of us.”
“Promise?” She asked hopefully.
“Yes, cross my heart and hope do die.”
“Ok,” she said and Jonathan saw her smile through the screen.
“Alright Hun, let me get back to work. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He switched off the Vidphone and quickly headed to the experimental research lab. He knew that she would understand and that is one of the reasons that he loved her. When he first met her, they were both in college. Sam majored in psychology as he was in physics. He remembered what happened. It was cold winter morn and he was late for class, until he accidentally bumped in to her. At that time, she was a beautiful slender blonde-haired person about a few inches shorter than John was. He immediately had fallen in love with her. Once he gotten to the huge room he saw the humongous coil immersing in a bright red. He hurried over to the controls as the buzzing alarm filled the room.
“Ganu quick, open the liquid nitrogen chamber,” he said to his Lizzian colleague, “But do it slowly, we don’t want to break the coil.”
Ganu acknowledged. He turned a knob on the panel. John pressed a few buttons trying to reduce the temperature but it was no use. It seemed that it was stuck at a temperature of 1200 degrees. He then heard a hissing sound as the liquid nitrogen poured on the intense coil. He then saw steam rise from the top of it and hoped that it will not break.
“A little more,” he said as Ganu tuned the knob just slightly, maybe a decimal or two. The nitrogen continued to sizzle on the coil as John saw that the temperature was finally was dropping. They waited for a few more minutes as John saw on the computer screen the meter dropped to the yellow zone and they knew that they were safe. They waited five minutes more, and then the meter dropped again to green. They both sighed in relief. If that coil broke, it would have destroyed the entire room, engulfing them in flames.
“I am sorry that it didn’t work as the way you planned,” Ganu said as he walked over to him.
John replied, “It’s ok Ganu, even Thomas Edison tried over a hundred times before he perfected the light bulb.”
“Who?”
“Edison, he was an inventor, just like us.”
“Oh.”
Suddenly another human rushed in. John knew him as Dr, Daryl Jones. He was a taller man than John was and a little darker. Ganu and John looked at him as they saw a scarce expression on his face and knew it was not good news.
“Have you guys heard?” He said.
John replied cocking a brow, “Heard what?”
Daryl hurried over to the computer screen, tapped in a few buttons and they were immediately watching a local news channel. They saw a blond newscaster sitting behind a desk reading from a teleprompter.
“…To bring you up to speed, Mars has been invaded by an unknown alien force. As you can see,” The picture changed and they saw at least two space cruisers. To John they looked like giant pinecones coated in metal. Its spikes shot out like deadly randomized positioned porcupine quills. It was nothing John had ever seen. “There are two space cruisers out of five floating around the red planet. Their demands are unknown as they speak in alien language we cannot understand. What you are about to see may shock you. This is the message we got.” The picture changed again, this time to a fearful nose less alien. It had three liquid black eyes, his rust-colored skin was wet, reptilian-like, but he had a human-like figure. When he talked, he had razor sharp teeth that would cut steel. His dialogue was a mix of Arabic, Japanese, German, and Spanish. It was nothing of the three men had heard before. The alien spoke for no more than a few minutes. The picture then froze it was pulled back in a mini box next to the newscaster. “The top dialect and language professors try to decipher the strange tongue, but they had no luck,” he paused for a moment, “We had just received that the alien force has taken a young human man as hostage. And we are being,” The screen began to scramble and flicker as the alien returned. This time he was holding the young human man with its hand gripping on his head. The young man seemed unconscious as the alien twisted and snapped his head.
The three gasped as John’s Vidphone rang again. He answered it, as it was his wife on the other end one more time.
“John, are watching the broadcast?” She said sacredly.
“Yeah,” he just answered still stunned.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t,” the alien interrupted him as he began to talk this time in complete English.
“People of Earth, I am Mi’Tuk, Emperor of the Xatu galaxy and of this one,” he started, “You will kneel before me as your new master or die a horrible death. You have seen what I have done to the people of Mars. I have spared their planet, but will I spare yours? That is up to your loyalty, if your leader does not respond with proper respect that is. You have twenty-four earth hours. Xata!”
Mi’Tuk had taken the human and absorbed his memories. That is how he knew the English language and that planet was Earth and everything else the human knew. The screen went back to the newscaster at the news desk. Like him, everyone around the world was in shock. They could not believe that this was the day, an alien force known as the Xatu threatened the entire Earth that day.
“John? John you there?” His wife called.
John replied looking back at the screen, “Uh, yeah I’m here.”
“John I’m really scared,” she said fearfully, “Come home, please, I need you.”
“Yeah, I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he replied still shocked, “Don’t worry ok? I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said as the screen went black.
He looked to his two colleagues and said, “I have to go you guys.”
“What about, the…” Ganu started to wonder.
John interrupted him as he headed for the door, “Shut everything down, I’m going home to my family, you guys better do the same. We’ll resume when this threat is over.”
At the New United Nations building, now located Baltimore Maryland, after a group of terrorists destroyed the one in New York, during the Terrorist Wars, the group of nations was arguing on how to deal with this new menace. They only had less than twenty-three hours left to give Mi’Tuk an answer.
A tall African-American woman stood up and faced the other leaders, “Ladies and gentleman, please settle down.” The entire group stopped talking and looked towards her. Everyone knew her as Pauline Jones, the recently elected President of the United States. The threat took them by surprise. “Now as acting council leader, I propose that we do not take steps upon his threats. If he thinks that we will be followers, then he has not seen what we are capable of.”
“Then what do you propose we do?” The Japan emperor inquired.
Then the Arabic president replied, “If he threatens our freedom then we must go to war!”
“That’ll be the last thing we need to do,” Pauline said, “I suggest we negotiate with him. I mean he is a leader, and I hope a respectable one at that and not some dictating bully.”
“And if he does not cooperate?”
“Then we will have to go to war.”
However, she was wrong. Once she made contact with M
i’Tuk, the only thing he wanted is their sworn loyalty to the Xatu Empire. She did not like the idea the she would be reduce to a peasant to this new Emperor. The United Nations voted and declared war. Even though they did not have enough time to prepare a defense against the alien army, they must fight for their freedom.
Prologue Part Three
Two of the five Xatu space cruisers finally reached Earth and started the attack. Ten of thousands of crescent shaped ships emerged from the two ships like a swarm of mosquitoes and flocked dawn to the green planet. The war had begun. They first attacked major cities around the globe. The human’s defense was not even enough to fight back. The Xatu technology was far beyond what they expected. They were using lasers blasts, as the humans were still using bullets and missiles, not even enough to break through their shield technology. The defense researchers, was working around the clock before the alien invasion trying to develop new types of weaponry. The first design was a heated laser gun, but it design was only specially for the star ships to fight their fleet. Since the Xatu destroyed their lab, they did not have enough time to complete it.
“The Xatu has landed! The Xatu has landed!” Some cried as everyone in the Lincoln area scrambled to the local airport/spaceport. They had to get on one of the transportation ships, but the Xatu had started to either kill or take them as hostage. John, Samantha and Michael were stuck in an insane crowed trying to reach their ship. Panic was all around them as local authorities tried to calm the crowd.
“John we’ll never make it in time!” Sam cried as she held Michael’s arm.
John was holding a few black carrier bags as he replied harshly, “Don’t worry, we will.”
They pushed and pushed through the crowd until they finally got to their gate. There was a male Leopard Felinis guard at the gate. He was checking I.D.s and to see if they were cleared to pass.
The Felinis looked up at John and said, “Identification?”
John swiftly dug in his pocket and withdrew his wallet. He then flipped it open to his driver’s license as the Felinis looked at it. He saw that he worked for the WSA research facility and knew that he cannot board.
“I am sorry sir, I cannot allow you board,” the guard said.
John could not understand as he wondered, “What? Why?”
“You work for the government, and I have orders to not allow government officials to board at this time,” he replied.
John did not understand it he looked to the guard and asked, “What? I don’t believe it! You have to let me aboard, if not then let my wife and son go.”
The Felinis looked at Samantha and to Michael and saw that they were confused and terrified. He then nodded to John and allowed them to go ahead, but Samantha did not want to separate from her husband.
“No John, I am not leaving you!” She protested.
John held her and replied, “I don’t want to leave you either, but you have too. I promise you I will catch up to you two later ok?”
“Well, what if you don’t and? I’m just scared that I might lose you,” she said scarcely.
“You won’t,” he said bravely, and then he kissed her ever so deeply. Then he looked to his son and knelt down to meet his eyes.
“You commin’ wit us daddy?” Michael asked.
“Yes, but I will see you later, daddy has to do last minute errands. Here I want you to take this,” John quickly dug through his coat, withdrew a flash sick, and handed it to his son, “When the time is right, use it in your computer ok?” Michael did not understand, but nodded as John hugged him. He then realized that he had never going to see him again. “And remember, this, energy is in the heart. I love you son.”
Michael looked back to his father as water filled his eyes, “I wuv you too daddy.”
John hugged him tightly, as if he would never see him gain. Suddenly, Sam noticed two humans shoving their way through the huge crowd. It did not bother her at first, but suddenly as they were inching their way. One of them spoke in gibberish she could not understand. They then drew their alien like guns. The crowd panicked and ducked as they aimed it at John. Sam eyes widened and saw in horror.
“John! Look out!” She cried fearfully.
John spun his head quickly to see the two men, but before he could say or do anything, they shot the guardsman and he went down. He noticed that the blast that came from the gun was not truly lethal, as the Felinis did not bleed, but then again, he was not truly educational on Xatu weaponry.
He turned to his beloved wife and cried, “Take Mikey and get out of here!”
“No! I won’t leave you,” She shot back, but before John could say something back, she heard a strange electronic buzzing noise, and her husband fell down. Sam’s eyes widened and cried, “John!”
Michael looked at his father in shock and cried frightfully. “Daddy!”
The two men ripped their faces off to reveal that they were Xatu soldiers. At the same moment that the guard and John was hit, Ganu and other awaiting passengers down at the end of the gate, heard the commotion and looked. Ganu saw that his human friend was in trouble he started to run down the gate and saw that he fell down.
Sam looked at her son and said to her, “Go Michael,” she looked at the end of the gate and saw Ganu. She looked back to her son and said franticly, “Run to Ganu baby, I’ll be right behind you.”
“I don’t wanna leave you,” Mike said to her scarcely.
Sam was on the verge of tears, but said again, “Just do what mommy said ok?” She saw that the two aliens were close by maybe several feet, she could not truly guess. She then said to her son franticly, “I’ll be fine, just run!”
Michael nodded, looked towards Ganu and simply ran down the gate as fast as he could. He heard the same noise stopped, turned and saw his mother lying down next to his father. Fear froze him, as he could not move. One of the aliens looked up at him as Ganu grab Michael and scooped him up in his scaly arms. Michael squirmed to get free but Ganu held him tight. Ganu frowned as he listened to Michael’s cries. The Lizzian ran back down to the gate as fast as he could. Michael was crying out to his mom and dad but it was too late. The Xatu army had besieged the space/air port and dragged Michael’s parents away. The two Xatu soldiers continued to fire at Ganu but he barely slipped under the security blast shield as it slid down deflecting the laser blasts.
Ganu and Michael raced towards their departure ship called Mayflower 18. The ship was huge, maybe four times bigger than the space shuttle that they used back in the last century. The design however did not change. As they boarded, Ganu saw in the sky tiny bursts of explosion and frowned, as he knew that the war was never going to end.
High above the Earth’s atmosphere, one of the spikes underneath the Xatu star cruiser, opened up like blossoming flower. It emitted a bright yellow glow, and then a laser beam shot down on the planet. As the Mayflower 18 took off, Ganu looked out the window and saw horridly the beam hit somewhere out in Midwest. Ganu figured that the beam must have been two hundred miles wide in radius. It was big enough to destroy one city, but it did not move. It puzzled Ganu as the ship ascended into space, and then he realized that beam was cutting into the Earth’s surface. The Xatu was targeting the core. If that beam reaches it he thought, it would oh no, destroy the planet entirely. They had to get safe distance if they were going to survive the explosion, but they are not out of the woods yet. The Mayflower 18 must get past the two star cruisers.
A fleet of crescent winged Xatu ships called B’tars, changed its course as the leader saw the transport ship departing. They flew behind it at incredible speeds firing its pulsar bolts at it trying to damage it. The pilots inside the Mayflower 18 could not shake them. The navigator was trying to plot a course to the planet of Cian, but the pilot was too busy avoiding hits by the Xatu fleet. The pilot told the navigator that they must enter Hyper Flight to escape, but the navigator said that the ship must be in the right position.
The pilot did not care. They needed to leave before Empire sliced their ship into Swiss cheese, so he then pressed the Hyper Flight button on his control panel and the Mayflower 18 disappeared. It was at that moment the Earth began to break and crack as thousands of volcanoes erupted all over the surface. Then it happened. The Earth, destroyed in a violent gigantic explosion. The shock destroyed all of the Xatu fleet, but the star cruiser sustained minimal damage because of its strong force shield.
It was gone. They were gone. Michael could not believe that Ganu let them die. Ganu had told them that he would he would see them again, but Mike did not believe him. He hated him. Ganu placed him in his bed on the ship and frowned. He felt so guilty and wanted to do something. He would adopt him but it was against Lizzian law to take in a human boy. Michael just lay in his bed, his face buried in the pillow crying his eyes out. When Ganu closed the door, he made a decision to put him in an orphanage once they reached Cian. Then at least he would have a home and be safe as Cian was unknown to most of the galaxy. It was more of a safe house for others who were trying to hide from the rest of society.