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Ether War

Book 10

John Walker

Copyright © 2020 John Walker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This story contains explicit language and violence.

Blurb

Having unified humanity against a common foe, the Morrigan prepares for what promises to be a final battle. Using coordinates they recovered from a daring mission, they take an armada to the ervas homeworld where they hope to deliver a serious beating...the kind that will make their opponents listen.

All the while Rita Peck finds herself the unwilling guest of Tobin Loch, the pirate who believes she owes him for the botched job that put her on this path. Alone, seemingly without help coming, she plans her own escape. Unbeknownst to her, several allies are en route, ready to put their lives on the line to liberate her.

These men and women find themselves in a race against time, a desperate bid to save the galaxy as they know it...or die trying.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

Prologue

Donovan Trent picked himself up off the floor, groping for a console in the dark. His legs felt weak, trembling as he stood. The explosion came out of the blue, brought about a brief rush of screams, then ended with the sound of the space station alarm blaring. Confusion dulled his senses and made it hard to think.

What were we doing? Donovan peered around the room, squinting in the low, emergency lights. His colleagues, each of them members of the command crew, were scattered about the room. Merna seemed to be missing her arm, a fact that alarmed him until he saw her neck yawning open. Holy Jesus… she’s… she’s dead!

He stumbled about the room, checking on his coworkers, finding not one had survived the impact. Nine people, all gone. Few of them were whole. The scent of blood turned his stomach and made bile rise in the back of his throat. He began to panic, frantically checking himself over for wounds.

Aside from some bruises and strained muscles, he felt fine. How’d I get through that unscathed? It felt like some kind of miracle, as if a divine being must’ve been watching out for him. Why me? That makes no sense! I’m not special! As a level two technical operator, he handled scans of incoming spacecraft.

He wasn’t in charge of anything; held no command authorization whatsoever. Just one of many individuals working for the Gold Empire on the verge of their territory. Nothing like what he’d experienced had ever happened before. That place had been peaceful. Even station security rarely found action… and that was with various pirate factions visiting.

So what happened? Donovan moved as if on autopilot. He sat at his terminal, slapping the side of it. The screen flickered, displaying a message that it was nearly finished with its reboot cycle. Oh for the love of God, we don’t have time for this! He checked the terminals nearest him, but they were in the same state.

Normally, a quick reboot took a matter of seconds. This time the computer remained offline for almost a minute. When it finally came back, it showed that power to the network had been cut off. The reason he didn’t have immediate access came down to a disconnect between the command center and their technical center.

That’s not good! The explosion must’ve impacted most of the station then. Everyone could be out of power! Donovan thought about moving to the comm station to reach out to any survivors aboard the station, but he had to know what hit them. A lot of people could be in trouble. I’ll probably need to send out a search and rescue team.

A quick scan of the sector made his eyes bulge. Six unidentified ships took up position within close proximity. He ran them through the database, a process that took less than ten seconds to reveal a terrifying result: ervas combat vessels. All six of them, battleships… each with fully charged weapons.

Oh my God, we’ve been attacked! Accepting that thought helped him to focus. I need to make contact. I need to talk to them and surrender! The station had the most basic of defenses when it came to small vessels, but they were no match for warships. Their small arsenal of fighters were meant to scan cargo ships for contraband.

Not fend off overwhelming odds!

Donovan brought the main screen up, turning to watch as all the docked ships from the station broke free. Some of them moved into attack formation while others fled, their main thrusters carrying them far away from the action. “No!” he shouted. “You stupid bastards, not a single one of you stands a chance!”

He moved over to the comm station, typing in his access code. Leaning into the microphone, he called out, “All vessels, stand down! We must communicate with the ervas. We cannot win this fight! Please stand down! You are jeopardizing the lives of every survivor left on this station!”

His cries were met with static. He tried again to no avail. Rushing back to his own station, he squinted at the data from his initial ping. They’re jamming our comms! His last-ditch effort involved dropping