Eve of Destruction Read online

  EVE OF DESTRUCTION

  SENTIENCE WARS: SOLAR WAR ONE

  BOOK 1

  BY JAMES S. AARON

  & M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Copyright © 2019 James S. Aaron & M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2019 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

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

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY…

  MAPS

  PROLOGUE

  THE END

  PART 1 – PRISON

  WHEELS

  CAUGHT IN THE HOWL

  DEALS

  FAMILY JEWELS

  SURFACE TENSION

  RADIATION FOREST

  CHASE TIME

  BARN FIRE

  DOWN AND OUT IN JERHATTAN

  THE GREATER GOOD

  PART 2 – GRAVITY WELL

  WATCHER FROM AFAR

  ROOTS

  ANGRY HORNETS

  THE PRICE

  MURMURS ON THE MESH

  CONTRACT VIOLENCE

  BROKEN HANDS

  GREY DUST

  MOLE CITY

  THE ANDERSONIAN EUDAIMONIA MACHINE

  SIGNAL SUPPORT

  GENERAL COLLECTION MODE

  GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITY

  CYRANO DRONE

  PART 3 – COMRADES

  MARS 1 BLUES

  QUESTIONS

  TRUST

  A DANGEROUS OFFER

  HUMANITY FIRST

  THE DOUBT

  A FEW GOOD PEOPLE

  HONOR THY FATHER

  SIXTEEN SECONDS

  REVERSALS

  THE PSION PROBLEM

  PART 4 – SYMPOSIUM OF KNIVES

  LETTING GO

  GET DOWN MAKE LOVE

  PLAN NUMBER ONE

  EVERMORE

  SPECTACULAR FAILURE

  PLAN NUMBER TWO

  NOBODY WINS

  CARA WINS A LITTLE

  SOLAR FALLOUT

  PART 5 – GOODNIGHT, MOON

  FREEFALL

  NEW AUSTIN BLUES

  PARTY DOWN

  LYSSA TRAPPED

  CLOSING CREDITS

  EARTH’S SECOND MOON

  OH SHIT THERE’S A WAR

  AFTERWORD

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  FOREWORD

  This is a story that has been brewing in the back of my mind ever since I wrote Outsystem nine years ago. Back then, all I really knew was that whatever had led to the Sentience Wars and the Phobos Accords must have been significant to keep Sol under the SSF’s power for a thousand years.

  Bit by bit, ideas regarding that time in the distant past (which is also our distant future) began to form until I had a picture of an emergent Sol System that was ready to be thrown into chaos.

  James took those rough ideas and refined them further, bringing the seedy underbelly of Sol that is Cruithne to life, and adding in an old and worn feel to the thirtieth century.

  Though this is the first book in the Solar War 1 series, it’s really the eighth Sentience Wars novel, and at this point, we’re all hip-deep in this rich and textured depiction of what the future holds.

  I couldn’t have picked anyone better than James to write this book and help craft the Sentience Wars story. He has a passion for it that brings the characters to life in a deep and nuanced way.

  We all felt Andy’s pain as he willed Sunny Skies to make it just a little further, and we fear the white place just as Lyssa did. We choked back tears when Tim blew out the airlock, and we sat slack-jawed as Psion fired their volley at Ceres and brought the ring down.

  Well, strap in, everyone, because that was just the warmup, skirmishes before the real fight. The people of Sol don’t know it yet, but they’re about to find themselves in the first pan-stellar war in humanity’s history.

  Welcome to Solar War 1.

  M. D. Cooper

  Danvers, 2019

  PREVIOUSLY…

  Sol in the year 3100 is a unique time in Aeon 14. While the Future Generation Terraformers have already departed for farflung systems, Earth, Mars, the Jovian Combine and the Worlds of the Scattered Disc remain enmeshed in the struggles that have plagued humanity since its inception.

  While humanity may resist significant change, a new player has entered the stage: Sentient Artificial Intelligence, often called SAI or non-organics. They are as varied as humans, some seeing themselves as better than humans, others as simply another branch of humanity, some bent on the destruction of their creators.

  Sol in 3100 is the beginning of the Sentience Wars, a conflict that will define the future of humanity and create the conditions for the voyage of the Intrepid, the Enfield Family, Tanis Richards and all who come after--from Jessica, to Sera, Cheeky and Kylie.

  The Sentience Wars: Origins told the story of the Sykes Family, struggling to survive as freighters in the wilds between Outer and InnerSol. Andy Sykes makes a deal to save his family, and finds himself undergoing the first implantation of an SAI, and in the process becomes the protector of Lyssa.

  Lyssa is a Weapon Born, a seed AI imaged from a human, part of a weapons program developed by Heartbridge Medical that spread throughout Sol. In the course of smuggling Lyssa to safety, Andy and the crew of the Sunny Skies learned about Psion, a group secretly transporting SAI out of InnerSol to supposed safety near Neptune.

  Psion is not all that it seems. Led by a group of powerful SAI, they attack Ceres and its Insi Ring, destroying the habitat and displacing the millions who live there, flooding Sol with refugees from the fascist Anderson Collective.

  Lyssa leads an attack on Psion, stopping their advance on Earth, but not before Andy Sykes is killed protective Lyssa and his children, Cara and Tim.

  For twenty years after the destruction of Insi Ring, Psion occupies Ceres. A tenuous peace holds between SolGov and Psion until Humanity First, an anti-AI coalition led by Senator Randall Harrin, leads a blockade on Vesta, a planetoid within Psion’s sphere of control.

  The battle of Vesta ends in a stand-off, but not before the powerful SAI Camaris proves her hatred of humanity, and Psion shows its widening cracks from within. Peace is ending, and factions on all sides are driving to seize separate control of their territory. Mars and Earth maintain a weak alliance, while the Jovian Combine grows in power, and the Worlds of the Scattered Disc continue to gain influence separate of InnerSol. In the midst of all this, the Anderson Collective moves to seize a new homeland, exploiting the chaos between Psion and SolGov.

  NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS

  Fugia Wong – Leader of the Data Hoarders

  Emerson Sharp – Weapon Born imaged from Kylan Carthage

  Camaris – Originally a member of the Psion Council but cast out after the attack on Ceres

  Charles Osla – Chancellor of the Anderson Collective

  Randall Harrin – SolGov Senator and leader of the Humanity First Faction

  Jentry Price – TSF Agent

  Sinclair Rondo – Leader in the Data Hoarders, works to protect the Data Mesh that spans Sol

  Xander – Rogue Shard AI of Alexander

  Lyssa Sykes – Leader of the Weapon Born AIs

  Alexander – Multi-nodal AI who leads the Psion group

  MAPS

  Also available at www.aeon14.com/maps

  PROLOGUE

  THE END

  STELLAR DATE: 3.13.3008 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Hellas Asteroids

  REGION: Mars Pr
otectorate, OuterSol

  The railgun hit dangerously close on its first shot. The SWS Forward Momentum was saved only by an abrupt engine reversal that nearly crushed everyone on the command deck.

  “We clear?” Cara shouted over the warning klaxons.

  Daria, the pilot, clung to her console as g-forces threatened to toss her away.

  “They’ve got another shot in their magazine,” she said. “The scans showed two railguns along the frigate’s body, with point defense cannons on their center line. I’d get close to avoid the railgun, but the cannons will tear us apart.”

  The engine ended its burn, and Cara Sykes was able to sit upright at the command console. In the cramped interior of the Forward Momentum’s command deck, Cara’s head nearly scraped the upper deck, and she wasn’t tall.

  At the communications console, Chab stabbed the display with a thick finger. “It looks like they’re hailing us again. Do you want me to respond?”

  “Is it the same recorded message?” Cara asked.

  “I can’t tell. You know I can’t operate this thing to save my life.”

  Chab could blow up anything with chemicals he found in the galley, but wasn’t much use with ship’s operations.

  “Do it,” Cara commanded.

  Chab squinted at the display, then tapped an indicator on his screen.

  “Attention, combatant ship,” a nasally voice shouted. Chab lowered the volume. “You are known to be harboring the fugitive Cara Sykes. Surrender her at once to the Terran Space Force, and we will leave you unharmed. Continue to ignore our contacts, and we will have no choice but to take offensive action against your ship.”

  “Offensive is right,” Daria said.

  Cara rolled her eyes at the joke. “How’d they know I was here? It was like they were waiting as soon as we entered Marsian space.”

  “They’re not Marsian, though,” Daria pointed out. “That’s a TSF long-range attack cruiser. The railguns are proof. And his message is a little late, since they already fired on us.”

  Cara grimaced. “That was probably just a warning. We shouldn’t have escaped it.”

  Sam cursed from one of the overhead speakers, her voice crackling. “You mean I put the engine through hell for nothing? We just wasted a week’s worth of fuel for that little stunt. And I banged my toe.”

  “I’ll come kiss it for you,” Chab offered.

  “Don’t test me,” Sam said. “I’m busy. If we’re going to outrun a TSF attack cruiser, I need to figure out how to squeeze some juice out of this lemon.”

  Daria shot Cara a worried look. They all knew the Forward Momentum couldn’t outrun a war ship. The little frigate had done well against freighters out in the Scattered Disk, but back in InnerSol, they were a little fish among sharks.

  Cara glanced at the cabinet near the exit hatch that held her dad’s weapons case. The Forward Momentum had been on an extended burn back into InnerSol so she could plant that case on the top of a building in Jerhattan and light it on fire with a plasma grenade.

  They had all understood the danger in returning to InnerSol. Each member of the crew had some warrant or bounty waiting for them between Earth, Mars and the Jovian Combine, but they had thought the risk low enough to make it worthwhile. No one should have noticed a shabby frigate limping along the shipping lanes.

  That obviously wasn’t how things had worked out. They were trapped, and unless Cara made a quick decision, the ship and its crew were going to be split apart by a TSF railgun.

  Cara was a hacker, not a pirate, but maybe it was pride that kept her mentally circling the situation, looking for a way to pop the pins out of its door hinges so they could all escape.

  Cara shook her head.

  “I’m not letting all of you get hurt for my sake,” she said. “I’m going. I’ll take the shuttle.”

  “You’re going?” Daria said. “What do you mean ‘going’?”

  Cara unstrapped herself from the command console and stood stiffly. Her holstered pulse pistol slapped her hip as she stretched.

  “You’re going to go talk to them?” Chab asked.

  “Sure,” Cara said. “I’ll go out and talk to them. And while I’m doing that, the rest of you are going to burn every bit of fuel we’ve got so you can get the hell out of here.”

  Daria stared at her for what felt like a minute. The pilot’s dark eyes shimmered with tears.

  “They’ll kill you,” she said.

  “I don’t think it’ll go that far,” Cara said. “I mostly stole a lot of money. Enough to get this old ship, anyway. The good news is that they don’t seem to think the Momentum is stolen property.”

  “What’s that about stolen goods?” Sam asked from the speaker, obviously missing what Cara had said. “Everything’s stashed in the holds. They can search this place up and down, and all they’ll find is my filthy panties.”

  Chab perked up, and Cara laughed.

  “Whenever we’re screwed, we can trust Sam to make a joke.” She raised her voice. “Did you hear me, Sam? I’m taking the shuttle.”

  “No, you’re not,” the engineer answered.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Not unless you’ve got a main thrust control unit, you’re not. Haven’t you been reading the maintenance logs I’ve been sending you? I swear, half the time I should just fill those logs with entries from my journal. I know you aren’t going to read them.”

  “I’ve been preoccupied,” Cara said. “I don’t need the shuttle to go anywhere. As long as it can hold atmosphere, just kick me loose, then all of you can get out of here.”

  “Thrust control failure locks down astrogation on that model,” Sam explained. Her tone said ‘You should know that’.

  “Right,” Cara said.

  The TSF message had arrived for the third time. On Cara’s command console, the proximity alert pinged a warning that the TSF ship was changing velocity.

  She crossed the tiny command deck to the wall cabinet and pulled out the weapons case. It was easily a meter long, and unwieldy in the cramped space. Inside was a basic TSF loadout, including a projectile rifle, pulse pistols, and several multi-use grenades. Her mom had left it for her dad on Kalyke when Cara was a girl. After her father’s death, it was one of the few things she had left to remember him.

  Her dad had hardly used the weapons in the case, and neither had Cara, though she checked them fastidiously.

  It had been Daria who’d asked, during one of the last cleaning sessions, “When are you going to dump that junk and get on with your life?”

  From another cabinet, Cara pulled down an EV suit and helmet. She ignored her protesting crew as she stepped into the suit, pulled it up over her shoulders and shoved her hands down the sleeves. She didn’t turn to look at them until the helmet was locked into place and the sound of her breathing filled her ears as the suit conformed to her body.

  Daria leaned against the back of her seat with her arms crossed, her head tilted to the side with her ‘You’re not listening, Captain’ expression. Chab sniffled.

  Cara raised her hand in farewell. Switching to her Link, she said,

  Sam asked. The lanky engineer poked her head through the command hatch.

  Cara said.

  Another warning sounded from the astrogation console.

  Daria confirmed.

  Switching to the external channel, she answered the TSF hail.

  The other ship responded immediately.

  Daria made a gagging sound.

  the TSF officer continued.

  Cara said. n space. I only recognize you because you’ve already made hostile actions toward the Forward Momentum. As a Scattered Worlds ship, you have no authority over it or its crew.>

  Sivves laughed.

  Cara said.

  Daria said.

  Cara shook her head.

  Sam said.

 

  Cara motioned for Sam to step out of the hatch. Then she nodded at Daria and Chab and gave each of them a hug. Daria’s embrace was curt, while Chab took some shoulder-patting to get him to let go. The giant teddy bear wiped his nose and finally released his grip on her.

  Sam clasped Cara on the shoulder as she pulled the case through the hatch.

  the engineer asked.

 

  Sam gave her a wink.

  Cara said, feeling in her gut that she was telling them goodbye.

  Living on the run had become comfortable for all of them: freebooting, hauling freight, smuggling, pirating when necessary…. They didn’t think of themselves as pirates, but wasn’t everybody on the edge a pirate in one way or another?

  Cara clasped Sam on the shoulder and walked past her down the corridor. She glanced back when she reached the hatch into engineering, where the external airlock waited.