Set the Galaxy on Fire: An Aeon 14 Anthology Read online

  “Well then, it’s like a reunion,” another voice said from the bridge’s entrance. “Just like old times.”

  Andrea’s head whipped around to see Mark standing on her bridge, that insufferable smile on his face. The man thought he was causality’s gift to the cosmos and flaunted his obnoxious personality wherever he went. Her sister’s one-time infatuation with him had lowered Sera in Andrea’s estimation, more than anything else the impetuous girl had ever done.

  Still, almost by some miracle, he managed to get results, and so The Hand kept him around. It would seem that one of his “results” was his presence on the bridge.

  “What are you doing here?” Andrea snapped.

  “You didn’t think I’d take that dismissal lying down, did you?” Mark asked. “I convinced Justin that even though Sera and I didn’t separate on the best of terms, I know her well and can be of use. I’ve spent more time with her in the field than either of you. So, Justin convinced the president, and here I am.”

  Andrea left out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Make yourself useful, we need another thousand gallons of saline and food for another person. Get a service mech to top us off, and take care of your supplies.”

  Mark scowled at the menial task but left to perform it without a word.

  Andrea ordered.

  Gerard replied.

 

  “Going to be fun, listening to him talk about how awesome he is for this whole mission,” Serge said without looking up from the reports he was poring over.

  “Looks like he’s not supposed to be in the initial meet, though,” Andrea said. “At least father had the sense to see how bad that would be.”

  “This looks pretty nuts,” Serge said from his console. “Do you think this ship really has pico and stasis shields? It’s like finding two holy grails—it’s a bit hard to believe.”

  Andrea nodded. “Alternative postulations are welcome—though, so far no one has any. The ship survived a direct hit from a black hole’s relativistic jet. Nothing short of a star should survive that kind of punishment.”

  “So a world for their tech then, eh?” Serge asked as he stood and walked to Andrea’s side, examining their route on the holoprojection.

  “Yup, standard deal for an old colony ship—though at least this one will actually be worth it,” Andrea replied.

  “It’s not supposed to work in our favor, Andrea,” Serge said with a frown. “Making worlds for these colonists is what the FGT was founded to do. Just because some of them got lost along the way, doesn’t mean we can’t help them.”

  “Yeah, I know you see it that way,” Andrea said. “But you’re being naïve. Those colonists already had worlds made for them. Just because they broke down or got lost on the way doesn’t mean that we have to give up our choice worlds now.”

  “The Intrepid didn’t get lost, at least not in space,” Serge replied. “It’s poetic justice really, that they showed up at Bollam’s and gave them what for.”

  Andrea nodded in agreement. Serge may be a romantic, but he was right about that. The original colonists at Bollam’s world, also dumped there by the Kapteyn’s Streamer, had originally set out from Sirius, headed to New Eden, intent on stealing it from the Intrepid before the colony ship arrived.

  Given the fleet and weaponry that the Intrepid’s colonists had created for themselves while at Kapteyn’s Star, she imagined that the colony thieves from Sirius would have been in for quite the surprise—if either of them had ever made it to New Eden.

  “I wonder if Sera will be the same?” Serge asked wistfully. “It must have been rough—what happened to her.”

  Andrea snorted. “What? Royally fucking up, getting her support team killed, losing invaluable tech, and then running away and taking up work as a freighter captain?”

  “That’s a skewed view. You know that she wasn’t fully responsible for that,” Serge replied.

  “Yeah, Mark may be an asshat, but at least he came back and took his licks. She ran away.”

  Serge gave Andrea a hard look. “She’s still our sister, our code.”

  Andrea snorted. “She’s your sister. I’m a thousand years older, than you two—and we don’t share the same mother. I’d like to think that I share as little genetic code as possible with Seraphina.”

  Neither spoke for a minute before Serge stood and approached the holo tank.

  “Looks like it’ll take us just over seven months to get there,” He said, apparently also interested in changing the topic.

  “Yeah, we’ll punch a hole to the edge of the Corona Australis cloud, and then fly through the dark layer to get to Ascella. We’ll do a few course corrections as well—doesn’t’ hurt to be safe. That ship probably has the AST searching everywhere for it.”

  Serge nodded. “And I assume that the Watchpoint has been alerted?”

  “Yes, a full assault force will be pulled from stasis—just in case.”

  “Good,” Mark said from the doorway. “If I know Sera we may just need it.”

  SINGULARITY

  UNREST

  STELLAR DATE: 02.29.8928 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: ISS Intrepid

  REGION: Interstellar Dark Layer below the Galactic Disk

  Tanis asked her AI, deep in the darkness one sleepless night.

  her AI responded, always alert and ready to converse.

 

  Angela paused before she responded. Tanis could tell, because she could count the milliseconds, and knew her AI had taken almost fifteen more than her norm.

  Angela replied. Her DNA looks perfectly normal; her brain development is perfectly natural.

  Tanis said.

  Angela said.

 

 

  Tanis reached down and stroked her distended stomach, feeling the life growing inside shift about. Beside her, Joe stirred and she stilled herself. There was no need to disrupt his sleep as well.

 

  Angela said with a smile.

 

  Angela replied.

  Tanis replied with a smile.

  Angela responded.

  Tanis asked, a small amount of worry in her mental tone.

  Angela replied.

  Tanis said with a sigh. She hadn’t really expected an answer. She and Angela co-thought a lot about what was happening to them, and neither really knew.

  the AI said softly.

 

  THANK YOU

 
If you’ve enjoyed reading Set the Galaxy on Fire, a review on Amazon.com and/or goodreads.com would be greatly appreciated.

  To get the latest news and access to free novellas and short stories, sign up on the Aeon 14 mailing list: www.aeon14.com/signup.

  M. D. Cooper

  BOOKS & STORIES BY

  M. D. COOPER

  THE INTREPID SAGA (AEON 14)

  Book 1: Outsystem

  Book 2: A Path in the Darkness

  Book 3: Building Victoria

  Book 4: Destiny Lost

  Anthology: Set the Galaxy on Fire (short stories)

  THE ORION WAR (AEON 14)

  Book 1: New Canaan (coming Spring 2017)

  TOUCHING THE STARS (The Plundered Chronicles*)

  Book 1: The Girl Who Touched the Stars

  * The Plundered Chronicles is a Kindle World created by Alex Westmore that the Touching the Stars series takes place within. Though The Plundered Chronicles takes place in a historical fiction setting, it is a far-future science fiction setting with starships, star-spanning empires, and a wee bit of time travel.

  Because copyright issues prevent me from overtly placing these stories in the Aeon 14 universe, you can imagine them as stories that Sera may have read in her downtime on Sabrina, and that, perhaps, she has leant to Tanis as well.

  APENDICES

  Be sure to check http://www.aeon14.com for the latest information on the Aeon 14 universe.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Michael Cooper likes to think of himself as a jack of all trades (and hopes to become master of a few). When not writing he can be found writing software, working in his shop at his latest carpentry project, or likely reading a book.

  He shares his home with a precocious young girl, his wonderful wife (who also writes), two cats, a never-ending list of things he would like to build, and ideas…

  Find out what’s coming next at www.aeon14.com