Ifria Fallen: Book I

By Alexander Gabriel

Ifria Fallen tells the tale of Darren Tollman, and Ulrick Grey, two very different souls on a collision course with destiny. Packed with action, this fast paced adventure combines high tech weaponry, and complex human emotion to take the reader across the cosmos, holding on for dear life. Teleportation, space travel, and biodiversity, are the low points of this sci-fi thriller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483545141

Book preview

compartment.

1

Planetary Study 117 was supposed to be an outreach programs crowning achievement. A planet that had consistently shown signs of biological life when scanned started to respond to simple radio transmissions. The Order of light sent a ship to stream data about the civilization from orbit. The trip was a success in regards to discovering a civilization. The outreach failed because shortly after arrival, a horrible discovery was made.

The ship scanned the planet's surface to access the unusual activity visible from orbit. The results portrayed a wasteland. A very one sided battle had taken place. After a short investigation it became evident a terrible genocide had occurred. Something or someone had wiped the planet clean of all sentient life forms.

Scans of the planet picked up a burst of unusual energy just off planet that matched a massive teleportation signature. After analyzing the signature and simulating a small scale version the Order was able to find its point of origin. The signal pointed the order to a dark and harsh volcanic world. It was a world where the sky was in eternal twilight, and ash rained from the clouds.

Ulrick was the Master of Arms for the Order of Light, and its chief investigator. He traveled to the Dark world using a new technology that was reverse engineered from the signal discovered at P.S. 117. The new technology was an improved version of modern jump technology, and allowed him to jump to any location, as long as the processor could estimate the approximate distance from a known point.

The order set out to test the new technology, and find out what had destroyed P.S. 117. The jump was a blind leap across the cosmos into the uncharted, and Ulrick volunteered. The Dark planet was a mass of molten wasteland when he arrived. He fell to his knees from the heat almost immediately. The LMSS (Life-force Monitoring Support System) on his forearm indicated the composition of the planet's atmosphere to be only slightly toxic. The temperature readout hovered just below lethal. He knew his time would be limited, even with the Stabilize suit he had on. Six hours of temperature control was the best he could hope for, and maybe twice that for the air filtration.

Ulrick looked around for a high point to get a bearing. Scans had shown a high level of energy readings in his target sector. The jump had put him within a few hundred meters of his intended landing zone, but he was only overjoyed to be in one piece after hurtling across space time to an essentially uninhabitable rock.

A short distance from his location the ground gave way, and an enormous cliff overlooked the valley he intended to explore. He began his approach cautiously. The gravity was nearly twice that of most habitable worlds. The S suit he wore compensated for decreased or increased gravity. It was designed to keep his spine from compressing, to allow movement, and blood flow to remain normal.

The communicator inside his ear canal chimed. A female voice startled him. Almost immediately he recognized his commander Alva Wren.

A.V. is transmitting at eighty percent Mr. Grey, looking great She said.

Great to hear a familiar voice commander Ulrick responded.

The chords implant Ulrick used was vibration activated. It transmitted, and recorded all Bio sounds. The mission was being streamed, and recorded. It would include his deep breaths, muttering, and any other dialogue he used. The Analysts required the stream, and would study the mission even if he never returned. The view from the cliff was breathtaking, and immediately after reaching the edge, life signatures began displaying on Ulrick's visor.

The first PT (Possible Threat) signature that flashed on his visor drew his attention. It was a great beast of a creature, with long horns curved back, and fiery eyes, that glowed crimson. Hulking over a volcanic vent, it seemed to be consuming the heat, like an enormous hungry rock god. The beast wore only a massive axe-like tool slung over its back, and a belt that held a few tools, and pouches.

The guidance module linked to His helmet directed him to an area in the valley below. By analyzing the layout, and cross-referencing documented thermal scans, the system made educated suggestions. According to his screen there was a heavily guarded ring of unnatural pillars just a short distance from where he was. The Analysts suggested it was likely to be a command structure, or at least important. He made an effort to remain unnoticed. He had a feeling something on the terrible world was responsible for the heinous acts unleashed on P.S.117.

2

Darren thought analyzed the explosion out of habit, even as the dust hung in the air, he was admiring the effect. Fluctuation grenades were effective for disrupting an enemy's control on a battlefield. The canister erupted within a short time after initiation, first discharging a shockwave to lift debris, and then recalling its energy to the point of origin, before finally delivering the contents of the blast radius, in all directions. The panel door was pushed into its opening in the initial explosion, and jammed during the pull, leaving Darren sheltered from the final delivery.

From his crouched position He could make out commands being shouted in Ifrian from the floor above. The mechanical space Darren was occupying wasn't high enough to stand in, and he didn't know if there was an exit. Moving away from the access panel that was being fired on like a hailstorm of energy bursts, Darren stumbled into a small opening. Tripping over the threshold he landed on his knees in a small compartment. He reached out in the dark, and unintentionally activated a switch. A door slammed shut behind him. Whirling around as the small tube lights in the floor, and ceiling illuminated the small space Darren took in his surroundings.

An escape pod. Darren mumbled

The Ifrians were closing in already he could hear the boots dropping through the hatch.

Quickly Darren he commanded himself.

Then he noticed the interface beginning its systems check. He hit the emergency eject, and felt the pod pressurize. The pod burst through the side of the ship, slamming him to the wall. He fumbled around for the door latch to make egress, and started to panic. He whirled to inspect the information panel, and found a larger problem. According to the flight plan the pods flight was preset to deliver its contents to an off planet pickup.

But these coordinates don't make any sense Darren yelled at the panel.

Just as he felt the pods jets kick in to propel him even higher, an armor piercing burst punctured the hull, depressurizing the pod, and exacerbating the situation.

Great he coughed, covering his face from the debris whipping around inside the pod. Now I'll be launched into the vacuum to die

Darren blasted the information pane with his sidearm. As he tore at the mechanisms inside, he found the two he was looking for. First he ripped free the navigation card. Darren pocketed the navigation card out of habit learned while working the salvage yard. Second he disconnected, and removed the drive power source, an explosive power-source commonly described as emotional. He ripped it free from its attachments, and crossed the wires from both poles rerouting the output into the input.

The power-source began to vibrate, and expelled an arc instantly. He dropped it onto the floor, and with his foot shoved it into the breach where the round had struck. With no restriction module connected to limit the output, the full charge of the pods power-source blasted through the opening, tilting, and then flipping the pod.

Caught in an end over end somersault above the salvage yard, the little lifesaving escape dwelling had become a death trap. As the energy from the power-source burned through the hull it broke free spinning out into the sky. Diving for the opening, Darren felt an impact. It was the kind of bone jarring impact that brought a flash across his vision, and was followed by nothingness, and pain.

The pod had ejected through the side of the ship, found its trajectory, and fired its thrusters. It was heading for the sky port to exit the planet. The flight path was only a few hundred yards off the surface, and half a mile out when he sabotaged the pod. Waking up to see the stars shining down through the breach he had created, he struggled to remember the crash.

He recovered his wits, and found all his anatomy intact. Minus a half pint of blood or so smeared across his face, the damage seemed to be superficial. To find out where he had landed and how to get out became his second priority. Something in the night sky appeared familiar, but he couldn't exactly remember why with the pounding in his head. As he pulled himself up to look further he recognized what was familiar about the view, and slouched back into the pod as quietly as he could.

The Hallways he whispered.

He heard the howling after a few moments, and knew what it meant. The hounds were on the hunt. They were always on the hunt at night, and he was bleeding the fluid that best quenched their thirst. Looking up at the canyon of metal, it was painfully obvious he was at the bottom. Darren knew the hounds would shred the pod like an old rag, and snatch him out, so he hurdled through the open hull. He checked his magazine before he holstered his pistol, and chose a path.

The hounds didn't sound terribly close, but to Darren, who knew them well, they sounded terrifying. If the sky was any indication he estimated the time was just about right for the nightly howling. Just after sunset the hounds serenaded the moons. The Hounds were nocturnal by nature, and there were two popular theories about their howling. The ritual was believed to either to warn off trespassers, or to wake up the packs for the hunt. Darren didn't care why they sang, as long as it was at his back.

He was glad the larger moon was mostly out. The labyrinth of the hallways twisted, and turned through an unreadable landscape. He could feel the land dropping in elevation slightly as he ran. A small shanty town bordered the salvage yard. Beyond the shacks where most of the salvagers, and merchants lived, were the markets. Darren ran harder down the path as his adrenaline wore off.

He found himself on a narrow path that brought him close to the river. He could hear the water rushing over rocks. The sound gave him hope of escape. The river ran straight to the Markets. He slowed his run to catch his breath, and search for a way out of the salvage yard when he heard a sound so vile, it threw off his step. He half tripped over his own feet, and slid on some trash. He came to a stop nose to nose with his worst night mare.

It stood, mid howl, steam from its breath visible from the moonlight. The beast had its eyes on the moon, and had yet to notice him. Darren fell back away from the monster, scrambling for his short blade to find the sheath empty. The horror was smeared across his face like the dried blood. He realized where it must be. The last place he remembered having it was in the pod.

The hound saw him, and lowered its gaze from the heavens to better evaluate him. The rugged and deadly looking hound crouched into a low predator's stance. Darren unloaded his side arm as accurately as he could in the low light, and hoped with all his might to land a fatal shot. His pistol was powerful enough to kick up a wall of dust with its burst, but not strong enough to take down a full grown Hound.

Darren remained still breathing hard and scared to move, he starred into the dust searching for movement. He was searching the darkness of the night for death itself coming to claim him. He didn't hear the hound, or see it anywhere near where it stood before. He checked his left, and saw nothing.

He breathed a sigh, relieved that he had scared away the killer. He started to put away his pistol, but when he looked to his right, he starred straight into the eyes of the scale covered beast. It stood lager than he was by more than double. Its eyes were the color of spring grass speckled with orange.

The beast starred Darren down until he couldn't look anymore. Ready for the pain to start he closed his eyes. He heard the monsters growl quiet a little, and the beast stepped back. Slowly it backed its way to block the path Darren needed to take.

Darren thought of the many species in the universe to be studied. Scientists were constantly learning new characteristics about a slug on some moon, in an obscure location. He knew papers were published about the hounds, and there were probably ways to communicate with them but the only thing he knew was to stay away from them.

They stood still weighing each other. Standing in the moon lights neither of them moved, until Darren slowly raised his pistol. He had the pistol half way up when the hound's low growl began again. Darren froze his hand, and began to slowly side step back toward the corner. The hound backed away slowly. Just out of sight Darren let out the breath he was holding. Breathing slowly to calm his pulse he stepped forward, and froze, before his second biggest concern.

The Ifrians had him outmaneuvered. Two gunners flanked a blades-man in a wedge formation. Darren spoke enough ifrian to know they were telling him to get on the ground. He bolted around the turn back towards the hound. Startled, it sprang to its feet and made for Darren at ridiculous speed. Half a ton of muscle wrapped in scale and armed with daggers on all four hands it charged. To Darren it seemed like death incarnate.

Ducking the monstrous form he slid past, and just under its reach. Just as it passed over him, its tail flicked like a whip, tearing through the flesh of Darren's forearm. The hound rolled into its landing, and crashed against the metal canyon wall.

Wild and murderous it whirled around looking for its prey, and three Ifrians rounded the corner chasing Darren. They all backpedaled, and fired, but their formation fell apart. The first ifrian to die went like a hero. Firing his rifle at the hound, he stood his ground to the last second. The other two chose a cowards death, and ran away screaming.

The hound ran after the three of them forgetting Darren. He was sure it wouldn't be more than a moment before it dispatched them, and came back for the finale. He turned to run through the now unimpeded path, and noticed that further ahead it was not a path at all, and more like a tunnel. He stood at the entrance to the awful smelling cave, and after a short evaluation, he thought it better than the beast.

He scrambled into the mouth of the garbage cave. It was dark in the passage causing him to move slowly. He suddenly had the urge to move faster. After tripping, he remembered the optic he had used before sunrise. Grabbing for the satchel attached to his waist belt, he felt relief. Securing the straps that allowed hands free operation, he hit the power activation sensor.

"Finally some good luck" he said nervously into the dark. Moving through the cave, and down deeper into the darkness, Darren began to question his plan. Just as the path leveled out he saw something inspiring. Light was at the end of the cave. His eyes focused, and he realized there were lots of lights at the end of it. He slowed his pace as he approached the lights.

As he entered a round cavernous area, he found the source of the lights. The chamber was filled with strange glowing rocks. The attack came without warning, and the optic flew off of Darren's face into the darkness. The hound had come back for him, and almost finished him in the darkness. He wondered how the Hounds were so stealthy.

He grabbed a glowing rock for light, and sprinted through the darkness. He was running on pure instinct, and didn't feel any of the gashes he was getting when he collided with the walls. He almost became food once again as he slipped through a small opening. The hound had his boot in its mouth, and refused to let him go. The opening wasn't big enough for it to get through. Darren kicked at its snarling face, and it finally lost its grip.

He pushed up from the ground, and ran. He only made it three steps out into the moonlight, until it became obvious he was falling. As he approached the moon, he realized it was a reflection. He hit the waters of the sky port river at a painful velocity.

Down into the dark cold water his momentum forced him, until his feet found the bottom. He didn't want to surface where he entered, so he kicked off with the current. He swam until his lungs burned, and then he swam until he became dizzy. Occasionally he collided with something. Darren followed the air towards the surface. It was air that was forcing its way out of him.

Breaking through the surface he looked around frantically. The river ran the length of the salvage all the way to the edge of the shanty village. It continued past the sky port city out into the sea. He would have been content to stay in the river, and just drift, if it