War Drums: The Veterans of the Psychic Wars, #4

By R Thomas McPherson

The Galactic Game of conquest rages on. 
 
McNair rescues a member of an alien race he has never seen before. 
 
Pleading for his help McNair is dragged into an interplanetary conflict where he must decide the fate of the world. 
 
Who are the races and what is the basis for the conflict? 
 
Find out in War Drums 
Book 4 The Veterans of the Psychic wars

• Language: English
• Publisher: R Thomas McPherson
• Release date: Sep 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386041016

Book preview

War Drums

A novel by

R. Thomas McPherson

War Drums

Book 4 The Veterans of the Psychic Wars

By R Thomas McPherson.

Imprint of 'New Atlantic Industries'

Copyright 2016 by R Thomas McPherson

All applicable copyrights and other rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means or for any purpose except as provided by the US copyright laws without express written permission of the Author

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events locales organizations or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental

and beyond on the intent of the author.

If you wish to contact the Author, Comments are always welcome. Send to Email

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Chapter 1

Reflection

THE FUTURE IS SET IN circular patterns. A grand cycle of events that repeats itself. Moons orbit planets. Planets move around suns. The suns around galaxies. Galaxies around the universe. And in this grand procession, our lives are so short that we can barely see the meaning of events in which we are a part, much less see the events unfold from beginning to end.

One question baffled McNair. Was this the first time around or had it all happened before? He wasn't sure which answer would frighten him more. There were few things more frightening than the future unknown and unseen. Sometimes the most frightening future is the one you know and can't escape. The fate that you can see coming but can't avoid.

Time. Captain McNair could not shake the perception that he was running out of time. He stood on the observation deck of Space Station One and stared out into space. The nanobots and the medical program in his neural interface kept his body as young as it was in his twenties. Forty years later he was healthy and free of pain. Still he was starting to feel the burden of time.

Locked in his own private thoughts and battling his own private demons. He was used up and he knew it. Still he had to continue the fight. It was his responsibility to save the galaxy from the evil menace known as the Trehim.

At times like this McNair wished that he had told Shepard No when he asked McNair to find that boat load of Sims. That's what started it all. It seemed like a lifetime had passed, but in truth, it was only four years ago. The thought rolled around in his mind like a marble in a bowl.

He had lost so much in such a short period of time. The last four years had been particularly taxing, starting with the loss of Preacher. In the process of the Pacifica Trehim making herself known, McNair lost David, also known as Preacher. Preacher was McNair's best friend and first officer. While the chip that was in Preacher's head was recovered, David was never the same. He had been given the position as the Artificial Intelligence, AI for short, in Space Station One. He was still contributing, but he seemed to have lost something in the translation.

It had been McNair's observation that there was a spark of life that never fully translated onto the crystal chip known as the Lazarus Chip. The chip in McNair's own head had been active for almost sixteen years but didn't have the feeling or passion that McNair had.

Now that is not totally true, said Lazarus.

McNair let the comment pass without a remark. Lazarus did have feelings, but they were like a cold distant echo of McNair's. He was sure that once he was dead that Lazarus would lose the feelings just like Marlen's chip did.

Shepard had gone to great lengths to recover Marlen's chip on Braxis and build him a research and development station. It had been online for the past four months. Some amazing things had come out, but nothing truly innovative. It was as if the creative part of the personality was left behind.

Betty, the AI on his ship on the other hand, was highly logical to begin with, so her adaptation was not far from her true personality. Maybe that's why she had no personality disorders like so many others from the first project.

It wasn't until they got out into space that things really started going bad. McNair had assumed that the Trehim on Pacifica was the only one. He was wrong. With the encounter of other races, McNair had discovered that there were four other Trehim out in the galaxy. They were engaged in a galactic game of conquest.

McNair had, like so many times before, been caught in the middle. In trying to figure out what was going on, he was directed to the Temple of the Ancients. Beings of pure energy, known as the Aireoth, asked McNair to recapture the Trehim. And the battle began.

In the first major engagement of the war, McNair lost Carrie. Carrie Montoya was one of two women McNair loved.

It was a strange relationship. The two women, Carrie and Lisa, had agreed to share McNair. This was a fact McNair could never understand. He was not much interested in romance and didn't consider himself to be handsome. So why were women attracted to him? Still he had to admit, it had worked.

With Carrie gone McNair pushed Lisa away. But in time they got back together and McNair was grateful for her being there. He wanted to try to protect her, but as Lisa pointed out, he could not guarantee that he wouldn't die so all they could do was live for the moment.

The second battle was for Braxis. It was a key location for this area of space. It may have been some backwater outpost to the Caltarie, but it was the front line for Pacifica. As Shepard put it, We need to keep them off our front hatch.

It had been four months since they had taken Braxis. The galactic game of conflict was on pause while everyone reconsidered their strategies. McNair had ordered scouts into the battle zones given to him by Lomar. The Galaxy was at peace, for the moment.

McNair thought about the first time he met Fleet Captain Lomar. He was trying to find a way to bring Ashanty out of a fear-induced coma. A mind from the Order of Braxis had made contact from 600 light years away. McNair figured that if a mind was that powerful, they should be able to help Ashanty. And they did. As he was leaving to return to Pacifica, McNair swam into Lomar for the first time.

Lomar had destroyed his jump ship and left McNair stranded. Then Lomar tried to kill McNair and only a timely rescue by Admiral Shepard kept McNair and crew alive.

Every time he thought about Shepard, McNair wanted to kick himself for not seeing the signs. It still baffled him that he didn’t notice that a Trehim had taken control of Shepard's body. In hindsight it was clear that Shepard had sent small signals to alert McNair that something was wrong but most of the signals had been dismissed by McNair as stress or the burden of war.

Shepard had tried to make McNair feel better by saying that the Trehim were masters of deception. Lisa added that if it hadn't been for the little things she would have never believed the news when Hobbson told her of the Trehim.

None of that made McNair feel any better. The thing that had relieved the stress over the situation was the fact that Ashanty had known about Shepard. Not only did she know, but she knew that it would be handled in the proper time and place. In fact, McNair was sure that Ashanty had manipulated events so that he could capture the Trehim. In the right place and the right time. It always came back to time. Something he never felt he had enough of. Time.

McNair remembered the look of surprise on Clairemont's face when Ashanty whispered something to him. Then she told McNair that Clairemont would be a good addition to the crew. She knew that Clairemont was an Aireoth, and that he should stay close to McNair. At the time, McNair had stopped trying to figure out the most powerful mind in this section of the galaxy. It all made sense now. It was Clairemont that led them to the Aireoth home. McNair had to feel sorry for him. Clairemont had sacrificed his life and freedom to imprison the Trehim that had taken over Shepard.

McNair wanted to get away from that thought as he stared out into space. He was standing on the observation deck of Space Station One. The thought came to him that the vast emptiness was not as empty as the human race first thought. It was strange that the space faring races were much the same size and shape. They had two arms, two legs, and opposable thumbs. For some reason, that struck McNair as odd. Carrie had told him once that on 'Earth that Was' there were many forms of intelligent life. The whales were more intelligent than man, but man was more destructive.

Maybe that was the key. The Trehim McNair spoke to said that she had altered the DNA of the human race. Perhaps it was this alteration that caused all the pieces in this galactic game to look alike, somewhat. It seemed like the genetic line of each dominant race came from different animals, but the basic DNA was the same. The Aireoth has said that they had seeded many worlds. Few had grown, and fewer still had passed into the basic civilization stage.

Now the time had come for the children of the Aireoth to play nice together. If only they could put the Trehim back in their prisons.

That was one of the indisputable facts of McNair's life. The Aireoth had chosen him for the task of recapturing the Trehim. He could not evade it. The longer he put it off the more people would die in this endless conflict. At times, it seemed like he had the burdens of the Galaxy on his back. That's when Ashanty would show up and make it seem like nothing more than a simple task to be completed, however, the task was neither simple nor complete.

McNair looked out into the vastness of space as his thoughts led him from one place to another. A sudden flicker of light caught his attention. At first McNair thought it was a jump window of some incoming ship. No, that couldn't be right. The jump window was a bright gold light. This light had a subdued green shimmer. Any time McNair saw green the first thing he thought of was the Aireoth. But that couldn't be right either. Beings of energy didn't need jump windows or any mechanical assistance. In another half second, a ship emerged. It was hard to tell what it looked like because it was a very dark color with bright green lines on it. As best as McNair could make out it was shaped like a cone with a squid on top. Its tentacles squirmed as it moved. The ship was not moving in a typical flight pattern. As a matter of fact, it looked as if it was tumbling out of control.

McNair watched as three more ships jumped in and started firing on the first. Three things happened at once. First, the Battle-station alert started to sound. Next, adrenaline flooded McNair's system which activated the neural interface and time seemed to slow. Last was the realization that the ship under attack was heading for the observation deck. For the first time, McNair realized that he was not alone.

Clear the deck!!! shouted McNair but the order was unnecessary. There were two young couples and three stargazers seeking solitude, much like McNair. Everyone had seen what was going on and were already heading for the exits. For some reason, he felt it was necessary to make sure that everyone got to safety.

McNair was pleased to see that the hostile ships were being engaged by a squad of Fox class ships. All the while the first ship was tumbling through space at McNair. He could do nothing but watch in morbid fascination as it headed for a collision. His trance was broken just seconds before the ship rammed into the transparent aluminum.

With time seeming to move slowly, McNair had felt that he had plenty of time to escape the impact area and get to the exit. He was wrong. His body was not moving as fast as his mind.

There was a blood-curdling crash as the cone of the ship penetrated the viewport. The ship was wedged into the observation deck, and McNair watched not knowing what would happen next. Whatever was about to happen McNair was sure it would not be good.

The ship had a technology that he had never seen before. The green rings around the cone were pulsing in a slow rhythmic fashion, much like the beating of a heart and it seemed to be getting slower.

An alarm started to sound as a hissing sound became louder. McNair knew that he should leave the area but was fascinated by the ship. The pressure doors were starting to drop. The doors came down in direct proportion to the air leak. If there was a huge gaping hole in the hull, the doors would drop in a fraction of a second but in this case, McNair knew he had a few minutes, and curiosity held him in place.

It seemed like there was a growth around the cone shape. The more McNair looked at it the more he realized that the green pulse came from one solid piece. He became certain that it was wood that wrapped the ship. In a number of places the wood had splintered and sap was oozing out of the breaks.

Cautiously, McNair moved in closer. As he did so the pulsing slowed to a stop and a moment later McNair heard a clicking sound. It made him think of an explosive bolt arming. A sudden panic filled McNair as he turned and ran.

The hatch blew, and the explosive force knocked McNair to the deck. Picking himself up off the deck McNair went to the ship to see the life form inside. It had green scales similar to the Agawee but the features were significantly different. The face was almost human, but it had scales instead of skin. Where there should be hair were small thorn like protrusions. It had four horns. Two came out of the side of its head and the other two came from the top. All four curved back above the scalp protecting the head from damage.

The flight suit looked to be made of the same vine-like wood that was on the outside of the ship. The ship itself was showing signs of shorting out. Sparks and flashes were starting to go off everywhere. McNair didn't know if it would be okay to move the pilot, but he was sure what would happen if he didn't move it. He was beginning to feel the air pressure drop. He was running out of time.

Contact Shepard, said McNair to Lazarus, And have him override the door. Then get Dr. Ginsa up here. Tell him I have someone that could use his help. It was not words so much as thought transmitted through the neural interface.

Shepard wants to know who you rescued?

As McNair went to pull the occupant out of the capsule it seemed like the ship was alive. The tendrils pulled back and allowed McNair to take the alien. As he stood, McNair looked back at the ship and was surprised to see that the tentacles were grabbing onto the wreckage of the impact zone. It reminded him of an animal hanging on for dear life trying to keep from being blown out into space. The ship was losing the battle.

Without another thought, McNair turned and ran for the exit with his burden. He could see the door slowly descending. His message was not received or Shepard had not had enough time to act and keep the door open. It was most likely the later as he had only made the request five seconds ago.

McNair could see what he had to do. Pushing himself as hard as he could, he ran and hit the deck, sliding. With only centimeters to spare McNair made it under the door with his passenger intact.

By the time he stopped sliding, the door was closed. He heard a loud rumbling on the other side of the door that was now sealed. McNair somehow knew that the ship had let go, now that its passenger was safe.

McNair set the alien on the deck and went to look out the viewport. The ship was floating away. He was surprised to see it turn brown and shrivel. As he watched it float away Lazarus said, Shepard is glad you made it out alive, but he was not about to risk the station for one man, not even you.

Now that the danger had passed McNair could look at things a little more objectively. Had the positions been reversed McNair would have done the same thing Shepard had just done. Good, I'm glad to see that personal feelings are not clouding his judgment, said McNair as he watched the ship get smaller and smaller until he could make out no discernible details. Then he turned his attention to the person on the deck.

Stand by, Ginsa's medical team is on the way, said Lazarus.

Two arms, two legs and hands with opposable thumbs. This was another pawn in the galactic game. The real question was who sent them and why. Who were the attacking ships, and why weren't they getting along?

McNair thought about that for a moment. Something had always bothered him about this war. Every race, the humans had encountered, had met at least one other race once they went out to the stars. The human race had been out among the stars for several centuries before they encountered any other race. Why had it taken humans so long? Perhaps because Earth was on the outer edge of the galaxy?

It seemed like the board game of chess. Different pieces were designated for different things. The Telon were a repair and support race for the Banith much like the Croth were for the Caltarie. Humans had no one as support. The thing that bothered McNair the most was, if they encountered other races, who would be the dominant one.

Who knows, said Lazarus, they may have left us alone because we are too aggressive. Remember what Clairemont said about the human race? That they are mean, self-centered, and nasty until opposed by an outside force? That came from an Aireoth so I'm sure he meant exactly what he said.

McNair thought about his own personal motto. To achieve the objective no matter the cost. He had done some damn distasteful things in the name of his country. He then thought about how Pacifica came together as a planet once they found out that the Trehim were on the loose in the galaxy.

No, humans would not be subjugated. But there was also something different about the human race. They had a need and desire to build communities. It was these communities that created the ‘us against them’ mindset.

Or was it? The Aireoth had said that they had tried to minimize the damage done by the Trehim. Was the goodness, beauty, and art from the Aireoth? The Greeks and Romans were builders as much as conquers. Even corporate America built with one hand while destroying with the other. The Corporate Wars did more for the colonization of new planets than any other event in human history. And now a new war, but what was the final, end game.

Looking down at the deck it was clear that he had no clue as to who all the players were. Was this