Anomaly on Cerka Read online

  ANOMALY ON CERKA

  QUANTUM LEGENDS – BOOK 1

  BY ANDREW DOBELL

  & M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Chad Burroughs

  Gareth Banks

  James Brandon

  Copyright © 2019 Andrew Dobell & M. D. Cooper

  Star Magi is Copyright © 2019 Andrew Dobell

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2019 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  CONTINUITY

  PREVIOUSLY IN THE MAGI SAGA…

  PREVIOUSLY IN AEON 14…

  SABRINA’S CREW

  STAR MAGI CHARACTERS

  CELEBRATION

  VOID SHIFTING

  A VISITOR

  FRIENDS OF A FRIEND

  MULTIVERSAL

  REAVER ATTACK

  TWO’S COMPANY

  TAKING A TOLL

  DUKING IT OUT

  UNLEASHED

  THREATS

  CAVALRY

  DINNER

  MOVING ON

  A SURPRISE GUEST

  DEPARTURE

  BOOKS BY ANDREW DOBELL

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  FOREWORD

  Thank you for picking up this book.

  Firstly, let me say I am incredibly proud of this book. Working with Michael on this has been a tonne of fun right from the start, and I can’t thank him enough for joining me on this crazy ride.

  The genesis of this collaboration and the Quantum Legends series was an interesting one, and led to the book you’re now reading. Quantum Legends was born from the BOB’s Bar anthology. In that book, my character, Amanda, met Tanis for the first time, and they got on really well. At the end of that book, Amanda mentioned to Tanis that if she could find a way to visit her universe, she would.

  It was a throwaway line, but it was the genesis of an idea. So, after BOB’s Bar, I got talking to Michael, and I did some thinking about how it would work in story terms, and the plan was born. Shortly after that, I asked Barry Hutchison if he’d be interested in this too. He also agreed, and the series idea was born.

  It’s taken several months to get to this point, but it’s been totally worth it.

  I really hope you enjoy this book.

  Thank you.

  Andrew Dobell

  CONTINUITY

  If you have picked this book up and you’re wondering where it fits into the larger stories of Star Magi or Aeon 14, hopefully this will clear up any confusion.

  Star Magi

  Anomaly on Cerka slots in between book 1 and book 2 of the Star Magi Series, so the reading order looks like this:

  Maiden Voyage: Star Magi Saga Prequel

  Star Magi: Star Magi Saga book 1

  Anomaly on Cerka: Quantum Legends book 1

  Magi Nexus: Star Magi Saga book 2

  Within Aeon 14, the book slots into the second season of the Perseus Gate series, between books 3 and 4. If you’re reading the Orion War series, then it fits in between books 3 and 4 of that series.

  Perseus Gate Season 2

  A Surreptitious Rescue of Friends and Foes: P.G. Book 3

  Anomaly on Cerka: Quantum Legends book 1

  A Victory and a Crushing Defeat: Perseus Gate book 4

  Orion War

  Destiny Lost: Orion War Book 1

  New Caanan: Orion War Book 2

  Orion Rising: Orion War Book 3

  Anomaly on Cerka: Quantum Legends book 1

  The Scipio Alliance: Orion War Book 4

  PREVIOUSLY IN THE MAGI SAGA…

  Amanda-Jane Page is a Magus from Earth, having lived for over a thousand years, fighting the forces of darkness—powerful creatures known as Archons that were freed from Earth’s Spirit Realm.

  These creatures fled into the depths of space, and Amanda followed. There, she discovered and joined an ancient and advanced civilization of Magi living throughout the galaxy. Today, Amanda’s self-appointed mission is to hunt down these Archons, and others who would destroy or enslave humanity.

  During her adventures, Amanda traveled outside of her universe on two separate occasions and drew the attention of a multiverse-traveling Magus known only as Void.

  She met with Amanda, and Void told her that she is one of a very small number of Magi who can use their power to cross into other universes. Void also informed her that some of these Magi use this ability for their own personal gain.

  Amanda pledged her support to Void, who said that when the time came, she would contact Amanda for help.

  That time has come…

  PREVIOUSLY IN AEON 14…

  Sabrina and her crew have spent over a month in the Virginis System, which they visited twenty years prior. It was once independent, but after Sabrina set about liberating its AIs, it became a founding member of an alliance of star systems known as the League of Sentients.

  The principles of the LoS were not compatible with the nearby Hegemony of Worlds, and as that empire began an expansionist surge, it surrounded Virginis, and ultimately attacked.

  Despite facing a far superior foe, the people of Virginis held off the aggressors—though they fell back to the inner system, ceding everything beyond 4 AU from the star.

  This was the state Virginis was in when Sabrina and crew arrived, only to find themselves immediately embroiled in a coup attempt on Cerka Station—the system’s capital. They were able to stop the coup, but the system was still far from secure.

  Jessica contacted Tanis, who agreed to send a number of destroyers to the system to aid in its defense. However, the people of New Canaan were still recovering from the attacks on their own system, and many of the ships are incomplete, meant to function more as a deterrent than an actual defense.

  In the wake of those events, Jessica and her team got wind that some old friends were in trouble on Chittering Hawk Station—well within the AST-controlled region. Despite the threat, they launched a rescue operation, freeing many AIs, humans, and a number of captured ships from the enemy.

  From there, they returned to Cerka to await the ships from New Canaan. Things seem to have settled down, and the enemy forces in the outer system have not made any moves to take the inner worlds and stations.

  It seems like the perfect time for a relaxing night out….

  SABRINA’S CREW

  Amavia – Ship’s Engineer (ISF Commander)

  Cheeky – Pilot

  Iris – AI formerly embedded in Jessica (ISF Commander)

  Jessica Keller – Ship’s Captain (Brigadier General)

  Misha – The cook

  Sabrina – Ship’s AI

  Trevor – Supercargo and muscle

  Usef – ISF Marine (Colonel)

  Jinx – An AI recently liberated by Sabrina’s cew.

  NOTE: When Sabrina is italicized, it refers to the ship, but if Sabrina is not italicized, it refers to the AI. Yes, this would be much simpler if the ship and AI did not share the same name, but you try telling that to Sabrina!

  Just so you stay on her good side, never call the ship “the Sabrina”; it really gets on her last synthetic neuron.

  STAR MAGI CHARACTERS

  Amanda-Jane Page – Arch Magus, Arkady’s Captain.

  Void – Arch Magus & Multiverse Traveler

  Rane Ormond – Ormond Dynasty Heiress

  Samhain – Amanda’s Familiar

  CELEBRATION

  STELLAR DATE: 05.10.8948 (Adjusted Years)
r />   LOCATION: Sabrina, Cerka Station

  REGION: Mullens, Virginis System, LoS Space

  Jessica flipped a microdrone ahead of herself as she walked down Sabrina’s port-side cargo deck passageway, and spun it to aim its optics at her.

  An image of her progression appeared on her HUD, and she watched the long, blue dress slide across her body, pleased with the way her left thigh peeked out of the slit—which doubled as a useful way to grab the lightwand that was hidden within her thigh.

  A deep sigh of satisfaction escaped her lips, pleasure from both the recharging session she’d just completed in Sabrina’s rear observation lounge, and also from the knowledge that she and Cheeky would finally be able to resume the outing they’d been on when the call from Chittering Hawk had interrupted them.

  Granted, since it was the tail end of Cerka’s second shift, a lot of shops were closing, which meant she and Cheeky would simply have to enjoy the other type of celebrating one was prone to during the evening on a well populated station: food, dancing, and sampling the local alcoholic concoctions.

  Jessica reached out to her friend and ship’s pilot over the Link.

  Cheeky replied with a drawn-out sigh.

  Jessica sent a laugh over the mental connection.

  Cheeky snorted, and the impression that the other woman was sticking out her tongue came into Jessica’s mind.

 

 

  A happy smile graced Jessica’s lips. Everything was right in the universe. The team was aboard Sabrina, kicking ass in outer space. They’d just bearded an AST fleet, rescued some old and new friends, and on top of it all, her best friend Cheeky was back in the land of the living.

  “I really do need a night out,” Jessica muttered aloud as she reached the airlock.

  “Don’t we all,” said a tired voice, and she turned to see a man standing outside the open airlock, a sheet of plas in his hand.

  “Dammit, buddy,” Jessica muttered. “Don’t do that to a person, I coulda killed you.”

  The man wore a shipsuit with a holo-logo hovering over each shoulder that read ‘Tora Livestock – Cerka’s Finest’. His eyes slid down Jessica’s body, and a small smile appeared on his lips.

  “Not sure where you’d hide a weapon under that dress—uh, er…sorry, ma’am.”

  Jessica suspected that the man—whose Link ident tagged him as ‘Pauly’—had just realized he was speaking to a brigadier general, the same general who had saved his station two weeks prior. She nodded wordlessly for him to continue.

  “Sorry…” he said again. “I saw you when you gave the speech last week at the president’s press briefing. You looked…a lot different then.”

  “Really?” Jessica asked with a look of scorn. “I’ve not seen a lot of glowing purple women on your station. Plus,” she held up her hands, and electricity arced between them “I don’t really need to carry weapons.”

  Pauly was blushing furiously at that point and nodded quickly. “Sorry, General. I meant no offense.”

  Jessica scowled at the man for a moment longer before giving him a solemn wink and then chuckling.

  “Relax, Pauly. Do you think I’d wear a dress like this and not want people to look at me? I’d ogle me too, if I were you.”

  Pauly gave her a guarded look and then nodded slowly. “Umm…of course, ma’am.”

  “OK, what do you have there?” Jessica asked, knowing that nothing she said would get the man to lighten up at this point.

  A definite downside to being a renowned general. I wonder how Tanis copes? No, nevermind, I doubt she even notices.

  “Two crates of chickens, a full feeding system, pens, the works.”

  Jessica glanced up at the overhead. “You were serious, Sabrina? You ordered chickens?”

  the ship’s AI said brightly.

  “What can I say?” Trevor asked as he ambled down the passageway toward Jessica. “I’m a growing boy. I need protein.”

  “You gonna tend to the chickens when Sabrina gets bored?” Jessica asked him, taking in the sight of her massive husband in a rather form-fitting shipsuit.

  Trevor snorted and shook his head. “Right. Like that’s going to happen. I’ll just cook them all. Fresh roasted chicken for dinner!”

  Sabrina exclaimed in their minds.

  “Well who’s going to look after them after it’s not new and novel anymore?” Trevor asked. “You can’t just have a bot do it. Animals need real interaction.”

  Sabrina said, a grin appearing in their minds.

  Jessica couldn’t help but laugh at the AI’s matter-of-fact statement. Sabrina certainly did enjoy ordering Misha around—though it was always in good fun. She knew Misha didn’t mind it either. He had a soft spot for the starship’s AI.

  “So…I just need someone’s token on this delivery,” Pauly said, still standing in the airlock. “It’s been a long shift, and I have my own party—with my friends, pizza and beer—to get to.”

  Trevor planted a kiss on Jessica’s temple as he ambled past. “OK, let’s have a look. We might need to take it around to the main bay’s doors.”

  Pauly backed out of the airlock, disappearing around the corner. Trevor stopped at the lock’s entrance and shook his head as he regarded something to his left.

  “Fuck. That’s a shit ton of chickens.”

 

  “Do you want to start up a side-business selling them, too?”

 

  “OK, Pauly my boy, we definitely need to take this stuff around to the main bay doors. We can’t get those crates through the corridors on the port side.”

  “Have fun, hon,” Jessica called out as Trevor disappeared around the corner.

  A deep laugh came in response, and his voice echoed back through the airlock, “Nobody here but us chickens!”

  “Oh stars,” Iris muttered as she approached. “And so the chicken jokes begin.”

  Jessica glanced at the AI and smiled to see her ‘other half’ approaching in a silver dress that perfectly matched her own.

  Iris had spent twenty years embedded in Jessica’s mind—roughly the maximum for a human-AI pairing. The AI had been very young when their partnership had started, and had come to identify strongly with Jessica’s highly modified figure as being her ‘body’.

  Consequently, when she’d had to leave Jessica, she opted to get her own body that mirrored—quite literally, since it was a gleaming silver replica of Jessica’s—the body she’d been in for the past few decades.

  At first it had bothered Jessica, but she’d come to accept that Iris really loved looking like her, and it meant a lot to the AI to have a familiar shell, so she didn’t contest it.

  Over the past few weeks, she’d even come to enjoy the sight of her silver doppelganger—something enhanced by the new three-way relationship Jessica and Trevor had entered into with the AI.

  Of course, all that didn’t stop Jessica from needling Iris over her choice.

  “Face it, Iris, if you could, you’d just push my brain out of this body and take over.”

  The AI paused and gave Jessica a measuring look. “Hmmm…I’d never considered that before. It wouldn’t be too hard to pull off, either, but I think I’ll pass. Now that your alien microbes have completely suffused your body, they create a rather hi
gh risk of internal electrical discharge. That’s a bit much for me.”

  “Huh…you did just fine for a decade. Though your core is very well insulated. Stars, what am I saying? No, you cannot kick me out of my own body. Not even for a chrome dome like yours.”

  Iris shook out her long, silver hair. “My dome’s not chrome. It’s lustrous.”

  The sound of heels snapping against the deck came from behind them, and Jessica turned to see Cheeky approaching. “If you two are done dancing around how attracted to your collective self you are, can we get going? The night’s a-wasting.”

  Jessica smiled to see that Cheeky had gone back to the basics: a pair of white heels with a white bikini.

  “Kicking it old-school?”

  “You bet!” Cheeky winked at the pair. “You two look great, by the way.”

  “Thanks,” Iris said, giving a small shimmy. “You know, this is my inaugural ‘out on the town’ event with my own body.”

  “Oh ho!” Cheeky exclaimed with a broad smile as she linked arms with Jessica and Iris. “Let’s make it a good one!”

  “Hold up, Cheeks,” Iris said, stopping the pilot short. “Jinx is coming, too.”

  “Oh?” Cheeky freed their arms and peered over her shoulder. “I thought she was uncertain about venturing out on Cerka.”

  “I told her if she doesn’t come with us, I’m going to drag her kicking and screaming off the ship,” Iris replied. “She can’t hide here forever.”

  “I’m not hiding,” Jinx said as the AI strode around the corner in the silver and blue mobile frame Sabrina had loaned her. “I’m just…acclimating.”

  Jessica covered her mouth to hide a laugh. “You’re also naked, Jinx.”

  The AI’s eyes widened as she took in the three women in front of her and then looked down at herself. “Damn…am I supposed to get dressed to go out? I mean…this isn’t an organic body like you have, Cheeky. Am I supposed to cover it in cloth? That seems…inefficient.”