First Strike!

Wonderful

 

I enjoyed it! Thanks!

 

Thanks guys! Now...what should I do next?

Chris

 

Well, I’m not quite sure what to write next.

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The idea I intended to do after First Strike wasBookworm. Bookworm would have focusedaround a rather nerdy female librarian in a fantasy world, who suddenly foundall of the library’s knowledge stuffed into her head. That knowledge includes a great manyforbidden spells – spells she can’t use, but some of the more powerfulsorcerers in the world could use, if they knew she had them. She has to fight to remain free when shebecomes a pawn in a power struggle with deeper implications than any of themknow.



But I had another idea. Double Dealing would feature an ex-CIA/USMC agent being hired toterminate a rogue Russian who has formed links with various terroristgroups. On the face of it, it’s a simpleassignment – but when he gets caught up in the terrorist plot, he finds himselfstruggling to prevent absolute disaster.



And I had other ideas... Inverse Shadows is a story about a civilisation that rivals the Culture,but lacking a reason to exist. Secure intheir power, they accidentally open a gateway to another dimension and unleasha deadly force beyond their comprehension.



Both ‘His Father’s Son’ and ‘Undercover’ would be set in acrumbling Galactic Empire. The hero ofHis Father’s Son would be the heir to a businessman whose father was murderedby pirates. He starts building his ownspace fleet to extract revenge, but galactic politics might get in theway. Undercover would follow an agent ofthe Empire trying to prevent a disaster that would start the Empire’s final collapse. I actually want to set a whole series ofstories in this universe, all of which would be both stand-alone and part ofthe greater plot.



And there are so many other possibilities. One is about an all-out galactic war thatwould shatter the uneasy peace that prevailed after the last war.



So...what do you want?



Chris

 

I have been looking forward to The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, part 1 was really good, can't wait to find out what happens next<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<a href=" />
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Revised version of CH1


Chapter One<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />



Ambassador Li Shan waited.



The message had been urgent, specific – and unsigned. It had bidden her to come to a certainlocation on Centre’s immense flying city, using a channel that was only open toAmbassadors from the Galactics. She’dheard stories about how the Ambassadors to the Association’s Commune used thesystem to strike secret deals that affected the fates of thousands of starsystems, but she’d never been invited to take part. Why should she? Earth was a tiny planet and the human raceonly laid claim to eight systems – nine if one counted Terra Nova. The entire human race would vanish like adrop of water in milk is placed against the trillions of different races thatinhabited the galaxy. Earth was nothingto them.



When she’d first arrived on Centre, the capital of theAssociation, Shan had been awed by the view from the embassy. The Association had been exploring space andlaying the groundwork for the quantum gate network since before humanity hadlearned to produce fire on demand and it showed. Hundreds of tall spindly buildings reached uptowards the sky, testament to an alien aesthetic that turned creation into anact of joy, while thousands of starships hovered overhead. The capital city floated on antigravitygenerators that cost more than twenty times Earth’s combined GNP to maintain. It looked as if the Association was stillpowerful, still in the grip of the uncanny self-confidence that had led it’sfounder race to the stars. Earth – poorprimitive Earth, only aware of the existence of alien races for the lastfifteen years – could not have hoped to match what the Association had builtover the centuries.



And yet, the Association was dying. It seemed absurd – the Association’s founderrace had developed a form of biological immortality – but it was true. Theirs was a civilisation in decline, burningup its resources and slowly becoming dependent on other races to maintain itsinfrastructure. The low birth-rate onlycontributed to the slow collapse into senility as the aging population, unableto die, lost interest in the universe around them. A society that could have rolled over Earthany time it chose was finding it harder and harder to care about the rest ofthe galaxy. They were already abandoninghundreds of colony worlds and migrating inwards towards Centre. And the power vacuum they left behind wasslowly being filled by other races, races more interested in seizing power forthemselves than terminal naval-gazing. Oneday, the Association would look up and see those races landing on theirhomeworld, claiming their technology and their population. The Association was going to fall and fallhard.



Shan was Chinese, a veteran of diplomacy on Earth andCommunist Party infighting in China in the chaos that had followed First Contact. Human sociologists had claimed that theAssociation bore some resemblance to Manchu China, back before the CommunistParty had seized the reins of power, something that China had used to win thepost of Ambassador for her. Personally,Shan wasn't so sure. Unlike the China ofthe Boxer Rebellion, the Association could have smashed all of its potentialenemies within a few months, if they worked up the nerve to impose their willon the universe once again. The mightydreadnaughts orbiting high overhead might have been hundreds of years old, butthey were still formidable. But theydidn't have the will to accept casualties any longer. They preferred to close their eyes andpretend that the universe no longer mattered to them.



But all the denial in the universe wouldn't change thefundamental truth. Throughout thethousands of worlds settled by the Association, hundreds of millions of guestworkers supplied services that the Association could no longer be bothered todo for itself. Those workers, includinghumans, were raising families and claiming rights, even as the Associationbecame increasingly dependent upon them. The Association was slowly losing control over its infrastructure – andthose who were aware that there was a problem, such as Mentor, wereisolated. One day, they’d realise...butby then it would be too late.



It was hard to care about the Association – even the mostbenevolent Oligarch was utterly convinced of his own superiority over membersof the younger races – but Shan knew that if the Association fell, humanitywould be caught up in the chaos. Therewere a dozen races out there that would love to lay claim to Earth, if only tonip another potential competitor in the bud. The Hegemony – who had pushed humanity out of its first colony on anEarth-like world, Terra Nova – wanted humans firmly under their thumb. Humans were good at making otherwiseinhospitable worlds habitable, creating new territory for the ruling Empress. And Earth’s tiny sphere was blocking theHegemony’s line of advance towards the Rim and the rogue colonies beyond theAssociation’s territory. They had goodreasons for wanting to suppress humanity before Earth became too powerful.



“Ambassador,” a voice said, from behind her.



Shan turned slowly and lifted an eyebrow. A Cat – their real name was unpronounceable -was standing there, studying her through uncannily human eyes. The Cats had founded the Association thousandsof years ago, after they’d become the first race to master FTL travel through quantumspace, but they’d been withdrawing from the universe for centuries. And they were a consensual species. The only Cat Shan knew to have committed acriminal act was Mentor, the Cat who had come to Earth and given humanity thekeys to the stars. No one had set eyeson him for ten years.



The Cats were roughly humanoid, with faces that remindedhumans of felines from Earth, but they were covered in fur that changed colourto reflect their mood. No one knew muchabout their biology, but they’d made themselves immortal hundreds – perhaps thousands– of years ago. Since then, they’d hadalmost no children at all. And many ofthe other senior races were in the same boat. The previous Ambassador had joked that the boat was the Titanic. Shan found it hard to disagree with him.



“Your Excellency,” Shan said. The Cats were the senior partners in theAssociation – everyone knew it, until the day came that the Association collapsedunder its own weight. “I received yourmessage.”



Inwardly, she was thinking fast. It was rare for any Cat to talk directly toany of the younger races – Mentor had been a criminal by their laws, afterall. Even the Cats who moderated in theCommune rarely interacted with anyone outside the colossal building that servedas the Association’s debating chamber and parliament. Shan had always assumed that, like theEmperors of Imperial China, they’d simply been too important to talk to merebarbarians from a minor world on the other side of the galaxy. Why should they have cared about Earth?



The Cat produced a datachip from his fur and passed itover to her. “Take this,” he said. “It contains vital information. Warn your world.”



Shan stared down at the chip. “Warn my world about what?”



The Cat started to turn and walk away. “About the oncoming storm,” he said. “You may have a chance to save your world.”



Shan watched him step into one of the side corridors andvanish, before she pocketed the chip and headed back to her office. It was rare – practically unprecedented – forthe Cats to interfere directly in politics. Mentor had been an exception, but no one knew what had happened tohim. What did the Cats do to criminalsanyway? In all her time on Centre, Shanhad never been able to find out the answer.



Back in her office, she inserted the datachip into adatapad and skimmed through the contents. It was astonishing – shocking – and yet it came as no realsurprise. No one had expected theHegemony to simply abandon its quest for legal permission to take control ofthe star systems that just happened to be inhabited by humanity. The politics on Centre were confusing – near-immortalityensured that the various Oligarchs and Ambassadors occupied their seats forcenturies, each one laying plans and striking bargains that took decades to payoff – yet she’d managed to create a small network of friends, allies andinformation sources. One of them hadtipped her off that the Hegemony’s gentle, but insistent pressure had finallyborne fruit. The Association was on theverge of signing Earth and her colonies over to their worst enemies.



And now the Cat, who would have access to information farbeyond anything she could obtain on her own, had confirmed it for her.



Centuries ago, the Association had discovered Earth. They’d watched with detached interest asRepublican Rome fell into civil war, Julius Caesar was assassinated and hisheir became the first true Roman Emperor. Earth had nothing the Association wanted or needed, so they’d claimedthe system and forbidden contact between humanity and more advanced races. It hadn't been until Mentor had arrived onEarth that humanity realised that they lived in a galaxy filled withpredators. The Association had raised noobjection to humanity colonising a number of lifeless worlds near Earth, butthey had continued to claim ownership of Earth and – by extension – Earth’scolonies. One day, humanity would dosomething about that, if the Hegemony gave them the chance. The Association had been content to ignoreEarth. She knew, beyond all doubt, thatthe Hegemony wouldn't be so kind.



Leaving her desk, she locked the door and then put up aquiet field. The Embassy was as secureas human ingenuity could make it, but she’d never taken it for granted. Humanity might have gained access to theAssociation’s tech base – they’d stagnated for centuries; some of their starshipsfrom when they’d discovered Earth were still in service – yet it was quitepossible that one of the other races had developed something new anddangerous. Humanity was inventive –another reason the Hegemony intended to crush Earth’s independence – but theyweren't the only inventive race known to exist. Besides, it was also possible that the Association had kept a few tricksup its sleeve. Some of them realisedthat the younger races did pose athreat, after all.



Sitting down in front of her computer, she started totype a message back to her superiors on Earth. Once composed, the message would be encrypted using the latestalgorithms and flashed back home through the tachyon-burst network. The scientists swore blind that even the bestAssociation computers couldn't decrypt humanity’s messages in time to beuseful, although Shan knew better than to take that for granted either. Tachyon-burst signals could be intercepted byanyone with the right communications equipment. If she’d been working for the Hegemony, she would have made sure tomonitor humanity’s communications as closely as possible. But there was no other choice. It would take the fastest starship known toexist over two years to reachEarth. The Association was gigantic. No humans, even the increasingly large numberworking as starship crews, could really grasp its size.



She finished composing the message and hit send. Earth would have some advance warning of thecoming storm, for all the good it would do. Humanity’s tiny navy wouldn't be able to stand up to the Hegemony forlong. She’d hoped that some of the otherraces would be interested in counterbalancing the Hegemony, but Earth didn'thave anything to offer them in exchange. Why risk war with the Hegemony over an unimportant little race from atiny little world?



But what else could she do?

 

I really like your writings. keep up the good work.
Time to start the next story.

 

don't forget about Kat

we haven't

 

Thanks Chris,great work.

 

Thanks guys - I haven't forgotten about Kat either.

Would anyone be willing to help me write a synopsis? I really suck at writing them.

Chris