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  Looking down, the prince was shocked. Looking up at him, with fading eyes was a beautiful Sabirin woman. "I thought only men were allowed to be Royal Guards." Oltranic said with a smile.

  "And almost all are." The woman replied with a slight smile before closing her eyes for the last time.

  In the distance, the prince could see about thirty soldiers approaching his position. They hadn't opened fire yet but were advancing cautiously towards the end of the platform.

  Looking around him, the prince spotted the guard's rifle and saw that she still had several magazines of ammunition on her belt. Carefully laying the body down, the Prince collected the magazines and shoved them into his pockets. He picked up the rifle and checked it was fully loaded and ready for action. Setting the gun back down, he reached up to his shoulders and unclipped his cape, allowing the wind to carry it off the platform.

  Picking the weapon up, he rose to his feet and looked to the skies. He was not sure if his younger brother was behind this treachery, but he was confident that he would one day be avenged. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, sucking in the pure Jarosian air into his lungs. Letting the air out slowly, he opened his eyes, locking them on the advancing troops.

  Prince Oltranic, the heir to the Empire, brought the rifle to bear on the approaching forces, let out a roar and started his attack, weapon blazing.

  2

  Less than ten minutes after the prince had died a large perimeter had been secured around the government quarter, but exchanges of gunfire could still be heard in the distance. Black plumes of smoke were rising all around the Imperial Palace while more ships kept bringing down the invasion force from orbit.

  While Prince Oltranic had been preparing for his coronation, a vast armada had jumped into orbit from the Pohjois Periphery and quickly annihilated the modest force of ships that were tasked with the defence of Jarosis 7. The same scene was unfolding at the same time on other worlds in the Core.

  The rapid gains that were being made was due to several key factors, first among them the fact that the Core Worlds were lightly defended because of their location within the Empire, and secondly because most of the military units stationed in the Core while serving under either the standard of the Empire or a Core world, were actually units that had been seconded from the Etelanien or Pohjois Peripheries, making their loyalty to the worlds they were stationed on questionable, and as such were able to operate as a fifth column.

  When Prince Salrugina’s personal dropship touched down at the palace, the sounds of battle were just faint whispers in the distance. The big, grey warcraft was adorned in red, and the crest of the Pohjois Periphery and exuded an air of violence and wrath. Of the three dropships in service to the royal family, his was by far the most heavily armed and menacing.

  As the craft came to a halt, its front ramp lowered and out moved four Light Sentinels, all of the Sentinel Commander variant. Salrugina had always taken his personal protection very seriously and was constantly upgrading his security detail with the best mecha on the market.

  Once a small perimeter was established at the bottom of the ship's ramp, two Royal Guards walked down the ramp, their long red capes, flowing from their crimson uniforms, flapped in the breeze, swords on their left hips, and energy pistols on their right. Their faces covered by helmets which had a series of short spikes running from the brow to the rear of the helmet. A crest on each guard’s uniform of Prince Salrugina adorned the chest gave the clear distinction where their loyalty lay.

  The prince only made his way down the ramp once a signal had been provided by one of the guards at the bottom of the ramp that the area was secure. Dressed in semi-formal regalia, the prince strode down the ramp with a purpose, his red cape blowing in the breeze that swirled around the rear of the palace. Look towards the sky; he noted that there wasn’t a cloud in sight. It had been a perfect day so far; the invasion had been quick and in many cases without bloodshed. Now it was just a matter of his brothers’ surrender, and all would be complete.

  Before he could take more than a pace towards the palace entrance, one of his guards moved towards him and whispered to him the news that made his eyes go wide. He looked at the guard, unsure if his hearing had failed him.

  “What do you mean, dead?” He asked coldly.

  “It seems a section of infantry killed him in a firefight.” The guard replied. “They weren’t assigned as part of the assault on the palace, but their landing craft went down nearby and attacked the palace as a target of opportunity. The Sentinel’s that were tasked with securing your brother were not able to detain him in time.”

  Salrugina looked at the palace, then back to the guard. “Where are they?”

  The guard pointed to a group of around twenty soldiers that were standing close to the palace entrance.

  The prince gave the team a quick glance, before looking back at his guard. “Kill them.”

  Even though the guard quickly relayed the instruction to one of the nearby Sentinels without hesitation, it still came to a shock to the guard that the prince could be so vicious at such a young age.

  3

  The slap came down hard and fast on the cheek of the young princess from the hand of the Head Matron. With two admirals at her side, she was under strict instructions to get his mistress to her throne room as quickly as possible.

  Shaking her head, she looked at the admiral closest to her. “I’m afraid she’s totally drugged, Madam Admiral.”

  The young Sabirian Admiral leant over the princess and picked up a small vile that was next to her on the bed. Examining the label, she tossed the bottle back on the bed and looked at her colleague. “We’ll need to carry her.”

  Without saying a word, the hulking male Darjkan Admiral picked up the sleeping princess and carried her out of the room.

  “When we get to the throne room, put her on the throne, and activate the authentication systems at once.” The female admiral barked at the matron.

  The elderly lady struggled to keep pace with the two officers as they moved swiftly along the long corridors linking the royal bedchamber and the throne room. “Would you at least tell me what is happening?” She was almost out of breath, and her voice sounded strained.

  “The Core is under attack.”

  “Attack? By whom?”

  “We don’t know.”

  By the time they reached the throne room, it had been converted into the strategic operations centre for the Etelainen Periphery and was swarming with military and government officials.

  While the Admiral carrying the princess set her unconscious body on the throne, the female was already taking her seat at a large table that occupied an area just off from the throne. Around the table were representatives of every planet in the Etelainen, or their holographic representation, along with the senior members of the armed forces.

  As the admiral scanned the information that was displayed before her, she quickly realised that there almost no information coming out of the Core.

  “May I have your attention please.” One of the Elders sitting closest to the throne finally stood and addressed the gathering. “We have just received a data packet that is being fed to you now.” He paused until he was sure that the information had been distributed before continuing. “It seems that less than an hour ago forces loyal to Prince Salrugina attacked the Core without warning, and engaged all Imperial and Core military formations that are not aligned with the Puhjois Periphery. We do not yet know the size, disposition or strength of the forces involved, but all indications point to a massive assault.” He paused to let the reality sink in. “Imperial Admiral Veek has taken command of the Imperial Fleet following the destruction of the Royal Fleet Ship Yards at Fury 161 aboard the Imperial Command Ship and is attempting to get as many friendly forces out of the combat zone as possible. As of this moment, all Etelainen elements in the Core are jumping back to our territory. It is now that we must decide what course of action to take.”

  The Elder sat down,
and another sprung from their seat. “How long will it take to ready our forces deployed to face a threat from Pohjois?” She asked before sitting back down.

  The two admirals looked at each other. The male shrugged and stood. “The bulk of our forces are deployed to protect the Reach. We have limited forces within the Periphery ready to send towards the Core. Moreover, the forces we do have are limited in number and strength.”

  The admiral could tell that the Elder understood what he was saying. There had never been a perceived threat from the Core, and therefore the bulk of the fleet had been sent to the Reach to protect the boundaries of the Empire from external threats. Each system within the Periphery a limited defence capabilities, usually a patrol craft, and one that probably wasn’t even jump capable. In the time it would take to recall the fleet, then deploy it to the Core, Pohjois forces would have been able to jump into any system of the Etelainen they wanted.

  “What we need to do at once is have all systems with jump denial units to have them brought online at once. If we can prevent any hostile warships from jumping into our territory, it will at least give us some time on consolidating our position.” The admiral continued.

  “What about those ships trying to flee the Core?”

  “They will need to coordinate their jumps with their destination systems. It’s the only way to prevent Pohjois forces from jump into our orbit here, right now.” The admiral had already put the ships in the Mechcharga system on alert, but he knew they were not equipped to repel a strong attack.

  “War!” The voice of royalty boomed from the throne, and from the body of the now stirring Princess. “If my brother wants war, then we’ll give him a war.” The young royal steadied herself on her throne. “We must not allow our great empire to be hijacked by one individual. I don’t care if it is my brother.” Bracing herself against the throne, she stood slowly and looked at those gathered at the table. “I don’t care if it takes a century, he will pay for this treachery.”

  4

  The sun broke early across the Paraguayan landscape. The month of June had been unseasonably dry, without a day’s rain since the crash. July, on the other hand, had started wet and dreary, so when Joe saw beautiful, golden rays of sun flooding through his room’s window, it brought a smile to his face.

  It had been a month since the arrival of Tohil Technologies, and the end of the Russian threat and life for the members of the SETI team had settled into a calm routine. At eleven every morning, two members of Joe’s splinter team would visit the crash site and meet with Communications Officer Ranix, or other members of his crew. The rapport that was developing between the humans and the visitors had grown steadily since the invitation from Ranix for Joe to dine with the extraterrestrials, and while the food that had been consumed was clearly heated rations that had been frozen, and barely edible for the humans, the trust and camaraderie that had been developed was priceless.

  The experience had also been the human’s first look inside the alien spacecraft, which reminded Joe of a naval warship with grey corridors and tight spaces. The ship was clearly function over form, and some of the technology that they had seen inside was much more advanced than Joe, or anyone else had ever expected to find.

  With the might of Tohil Technologies breathing down the neck of the local authorities, the SETI team had been required to share all data, notes and video recordings with the Tohil research team, which was now being headed up by Doctor Stephenson, under the close observation of Tohil’s CEO John Robert, who seemed hell-bent on forcing Joe and his team out, and installing Tohil as the primary contact point for the visitors, but that had been made a mute point after several Tohil members, under the guidance of Doctor Stephenson had attempted to reach the ship, only to be turned away by the Sentinel Commander and two of his subordinates.

  Turning over in his bed, Joe did have a few reasons to be grateful for Tohil’s arrival. They had built a mini city in the clearing near the crash site which now provided sleeping quarters for the SETI team and was far superior to the prior sleeping arrangements at the airport.

  It had taken a while for the SETI team to find its legs, but during the last month, each member of the team that had stuck with Joe had gotten into their element and started learning more about the alien science and technology. Everyone understood little of what they were learning and knew that it would take years of study to analyse the data and facts they were gathering thoroughly, but spirits were high.

  Doctor Stokes had been spending every opportunity she could in the medical lab on the alien craft trying to learn more about the different species that the Alliance had discovered throughout the cosmos, and how it could be possible that of all the hundreds of charted worlds that all of the dominant species that had evolved ended up looking very similar to humans in regard to body shape and structure.

  Doctor Prure had proven to be surprisingly helpful and informative about the medical advances and technology that the Alliance possessed, and was very interested in providing as much knowledge to aid humanity as possible, even though his assistance was limited to the sharing of ideas and concepts, not the distribution of the highly advanced tools and instruments with which the medical bay was equipped.

  Doctor Temple and Doctor Ji-woon were having a more challenging time dealing with Master Engineer Sulvan and his engineering team, who were less than eager to share their knowledge about the ship's capabilities with the humans.

  Joe though spent most of his visits to the ship talking with Ranix about the structure of the Alliance and what military capabilities they possessed, and what he had learned impressed him greatly. The jump drive technology, the Sentinels and the broad range of weapons that had been developed amazed Joe, and he knew very well that the Epsilon alone, even being a corvette, would have had enough arms to reduce large swathes of Earth to waste from orbit. Joe had even been told of a Coalition weapon that could ignite the nitrogen in a planet’s atmosphere, killing all life on the globe in seconds. The idea of a weapon that powerful reminded Joe how completely outmatched the Earth’s defences would be against an attack from a hostile civilisation capable of interstellar travel.

  After lying in bed for 30 minutes watching the slow rotation of the fan that was hanging from the ceiling of his small living space, Joe pulled back his sheets and swung his legs off the bed, stood up and got himself dressed. Not wanting to shower, he put on a Baltimore Orioles baseball cap to cover his ruffled hair and headed off to get something to eat. It was half-past eight, and Joe had to attend a meeting in three hours to discuss the idea of building a permanent walkway to the crash site, and what was to be done about possible repairs the ship. The meeting would involve senior Tohil personnel, plus several members of the Paraguayan military, and a few of the SETI team members.

  The idea of repairing the spacecraft had always been on the mind of several of the SETI team members, but at the same time, there was resistance from several governments, and private organisations, including religious zealots about making the vessel fully operational. The question was asked about what would happen if the ship was able to fly and return to its homeworld. Even though many people pointed to the increased trust and the relationship that the two cultures were developing, some people were still not convinced that the aliens were to be counted as friends just yet.

  As Joe made his way out into the warm summer day, he noticed the buzz of activity around him that never seemed to cease. The clearing was almost unrecognisable from the wild brush land that Joe had arrived in the previous month. The army of Tohil workers had transformed the area into a permanent base of operations, and with the addition of a massive influx of Tohil personnel, the area was starting to look like a giant Forward Operating Base that Joe was used to seeing on his previous deployments to Afghanistan.

  5

  The conference centre that Tohil had erected reminded Joe of some science laboratory, minus the experiments and men in white lab coats. All of the interior walls were covered in a white plastic sh
ell; the floor was also white, albeit made of a sturdier material and all of the furniture was white. Every other wall was made of glass, and every computer was white. For a soldier who was at home in the field, the place gave Joe the creeps.

  The main meeting room was at the centre of the structure and was enclosed in what looked like a large glass box with a long white table dominating the room, with a dozen white ergonomically designed chairs placed around it. John Robert, the CEO of Tohil had bragged to Joe when he had first visited the centre that Tohil built every piece of equipment and infrastructure within the building from Canadian materials; even the computers were handmade by Tohil technicians.

  Joe had been running ahead of schedule for the meeting and found the meeting room empty upon his arrival. Ever since the conference centre had been built, a joint Tohil, Paraguayan military leadership meeting had been held every third day to discuss any relevant issues. Joe and Doctor Stokes represented the SETI team, and being the holder of the keys to the kingdom, Joe was able to have lots of influence over the direction the group swayed.

  Lieutenant General Erico, who was the Paraguayan Army’s 3rd Corps commander and de facto ruler of the region of the country they were in since the military had seised control the previous month arrived second. The General sat across from Joe. The career military officer had never been a massive fan of Tohil. Joe suspected that the General was embarrassed that his countrymen in Asuncion had sold their countries new found treasure to a bunch of foreigners, but nevertheless, he was a willing lapdog to his masters.

  After the General, a group of six Tohil scientists arrived headed by Doctor Stephenson who looked like a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had been under an enormous amount of pressure to analyse the information on the datapad that Lieutenant Ranix had given him the previous month, but the data pad contained so much information, and all attempts to copy or distribute the data had been a total failure, requiring Stephenson hours of reading and taking notes day after day, and after a month, he had only managed a small dent into the plethora of data on the tablet.