Xarthan Wars: Invasion

By Neil Stott

War was coming to Barnes World.
All because of one 18 year old girl ... and a special secret she didn’t really understand
It was the greatest secret in the known universe. Folded space technology, the ability to travel between the stars in days or weeks. A secret that only the Guild possessed and through it controlled all interstellar travel. And through that power were very, very rich.
Now this mere Earther girl threatened all that.
For the Guild it was simple. They had dealt ruthlessly with the spies and scientists who threatened to uncover their secret. They would do the same again, but preferred ‘others’ do their dirty work. The Xarthans were the perfect weapon for this. Brutal, merciless killers who had no love for the Earthers having lost the last war twenty years before. Their thirst for revenge would be extremely ‘useful’ to destroy the Earther fleet, defeat the Colonial Marines and take the planet. When that was done, the Guild would come and restore order and ensure their secret was safe once more. It did not matter if everyone on the Earther colony was dead or an Xarthan slave.
A simple plan. A perfect plan.
But they did not consider who stood in their way, Colonel “Mad Max” Roberts and the 25th Brigade of the Colonial Marines.
And one girl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neil Stott
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463028599

Neil Stott

Neil now works part time for a rural Victorian church. He now uses his spare time to focus on writing with three books already published and more in the pipeline. He always enjoys reading the great action adventure novels and brings that passion into his own writing. He is married with two adult children and seven grand children. His other passions include Sci-Fi, AFL Football (The Saints), golf and snow skiing.

Book preview

Galactic Almanac Barnes World History

(Ref 34290889)

Barnes World was one of the Lost Colonies established during the great colonial period of human history. Earth had became depleted of much of its raw materials and severely overcrowded, the question of the ongoing preservation of the human race and the quest to reach out to the stars came together in the greatest technological achievement in Earth's history. Giant colony ships powered by near light speed engines were dispatched to distant planets that gave every indication that they could sustain life. They were filled with cryogenic crypts designed to keep colonists in frozen, ageless sleep in their often decade long journey. In those great colonial years, Earth reached a dozen systems. Some ships arrived with all on board dead, killed in their sleep by a massive onboard systems failure. Others arrived to find the promised planet unfit for human habitation and perished in space, as air, water, food and hope ran out. Some reached good planets, established fledgling colonies only to perish by disease, famine or natural disaster. Some were never heard from again, lost to some disaster in space. Despite these setbacks, there were successes, and in that one hundred years began to flourish.

Captain Barnes commanded the New Hope III to Barnes Minor, supposedly containing an Earth type planet. Unfortunately, the scientists were wrong with each planet in the system airless, waterless wastes and totally uninhabitable. A programming error at launch had sent them to the wrong star. It was Barnes Major that contained the only inhabitable planet circling the second star in the binary star system. Faced with death, Captain Barnes risked everything in a daring cross between the systems, arriving with minimal power and life-support. There they landed, survived and flourished; though completely cutoff from all contact with Earth their fate and ultimately their location was unknown.

The Guild had been watching the expanding colonial empire for some time. They initiated contact and invited the humans to become members of the Guild Alliance. The Guild were well aware of all of the human colonies and provided links between Earth and the known colonies as well as the Lost Colonies like Barnes World.

Chapter 1

Guild Courier Boat - In orbit – Barnes World

Captain C'medor sat in his command chair. He watched his crew at work. Countdown to breaking orbit was going smoothly. Being Captain of a Courier Boat was not the most prestigious of appointments, certainly not one of the monster inter-stellar bulk haulers or a Naval frigate. But the Courier Boats were fast and he enjoyed the ability to transit quickly between worlds. Their visit to one of the Earther colonies at Barnes World was uneventful and even boring. With only a single day in orbit, they were preparing for their next journey to the neighboring stars.

He checked again his own sensor displays which showed all was well. He nodded to himself as he nodded at the calm assurance of efficient and competent command crew. He looked through his own pre departure checklist. All green. Satisfied, he looked at his Exec Officer,

Are we right to clear orbit, Mr. Yun? His Exec Officer turned,

Yes, Captain. All green across the board.

Very good, activate the ion drive, set course for the Jump Zone. The senior pilot on the Dark Comet pressed a control on his panel. However, instead of the confirmation message he expected on his display, a series of red sensor alerts made him hesitate.

This can't be true? His denial at what he was seeing brought a moment of indecision, a delay that would prove fatal. An alarm began to sound, more alerts appeared on his board ... not just on his own ... but all through the command net. Captain C'medor stood ... he could see immediately what the problem was, the ion drive had gone into a runaway meltdown, a meltdown that was theoretically impossible yet was happening right before his eyes.

Captain. It is out of control. his Exec announced. They both knew there was no time for them to escape, no time to even warn the crew. They could only do one thing, eject the FTL pod. At all costs, this must be saved even if the rest of the ship was lost. The Captain gave the order to the ship's computer,

Eject Pod, command code BVF897. Execute. He barely had time to register the pod's ejection when the Courier ship vanished into a ball of plasma.

Roberts Farm – Barnes World

Deanne woke with the stars swirling in her mind. As long as she could remember she had been plagued with the strange dreams. Sometimes, with startling clarity. This was one of them but clearer than anything she had felt before. She rolled out of bed and walked to the window. It was early morning, the sun's rays just peeking above the hills. She smiled and pulled her robe on and was about to walk to the kitchen when the fear came. Like a burst of light in her head ... she fell to her knees and wept. Terror overwhelmed her. She cried out and slumped to the floor, clutching out her mat with her hands. Fear, blackness ... pain and a voice

Help me.

25th Marine Brigade HQ – Barnes World

The burst of light in the night sky caused everyone in the open to look up. The sensors at the Earth Space Defense Force HQ in Barnes Town immediately detected the explosion and the Watch Officer pressed the Emergency Alert. Colonel Mad Max Roberts was sitting in his small apartment on the base, taking the time for some overdue down time. He was enjoying reading the ancient hard cover book, Moby Dick when his Comm carried the Alert. He was standing in an instance and pressed his Comm to the Duty Officer.

Roberts. Was all he said.

Colonel. The Guild Courier ship in orbit has just exploded. Roberts replied instantly,

Take us to Alert Status 1. Sound the alarm. His communications officer did not hesitate as the alarm sounded and Alert message went out to every unit on the planet and in orbit. Roberts did not know if there had been an attack, but he was not taking any chances.

Their entire strategy of defense was based on the knowledge that one day, the

Xarthans would come. As he stood and clipped on his weapon belt, he wondered if that day had arrived.

Orbit

The detonation flooded all of the orbital sensors, blinding them for several minutes so that none detected or even recorded the passage of the FTL pod as it entered the atmosphere. It descended like a small meteor before it's onboard descent engines burst into life and angled the pod up into a slower glide angle long enough for the short delta wings to catch the thin atmosphere and turn the pod into a glider. The flight computers guided the pod down in long spirals, spilling more and more of its descent speed until it was finally at a thousand meters and at 100 knots. Then the onboard grav unit took over to lower the craft into the midst of a dense forest, crushing a number of trees before it came to rest on its side, blackened but intact, its vital contents safe and secure. A damper unit came on line, the Guild stealth technology ensured that neither sensor or visual over flight would detect the small pod. A ground crew would see it once they came within fifty meters of the crash site. However, they would have to know where to look, and no one on Barnes World had the faintest idea that the Pod was even there.

The onboard computer then activated the next stage of its protocol and a faster than light beacon transmitted its urgent message, encrypted and in a tight broadcast firstly to the Guild stealth satellite in orbit and then to the relay satellite at the Jump Zone. In a day, the Guild Fleet HQ would receive the report. The Guild were masters of the known galaxy because only they possessed the secret to the FTL drive. Rescuing it was the highest imperative ... ensuring no one else discovered the secrets of the FTL drive ... Guild standing orders were clear ... use any and all force to prevent capture of the FTL drive.

Chapter 2

Roberts Farm

Dee looked up at the ceiling,

What just happened? She wondered. She stood, shook her head, dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen where here mother was already preparing breakfast.

Did you see the explosion? Her mother Leanne asked. Dee just shook her head.

Explosion? Her mother pointed at the Vid on the wall where one shot after another showed the explosion in orbit. What happened? Dee finally asked.

The Guild Courier ship that arrived yesterday just blew up in orbit. Dee’s eyes opened wide, her mind went numb.

A Guild ship? She couldn’t grasp it. The Guild were the masters of interstellar travel. They had never lost a ship, ever. She sat at the table and absently ate the breakfast that her mother pushed in front of her. The reporters were speaking but he wasn’t really listening. In her head she just heard the words,

Help me. She stood up and went to the rear door, grabbing her coat and hat and mumble,

I’m going for a ride. She said without looking at her mother.

Deanne Roberts. Where do you think you are going. You have chores to do young lady. Dee looked at her and smiled,

Just a short ride. I will get my chores done. Promise. And leaned across to peck her mother on her cheek.

Well make sure you do. And waved to her daughter. As she walked into the barn her father looked up from the work bench.

You goin’ for a ride?

Yes, Dad. Mum said it would be okay. Mike Roberts just nodded,

No going into town today. He said sternly, It's not safe. The Marines are on full invasion alert. Dee could not quite figure why, there was no other ship in the system, no invasion fleet could hope to get to Barnes World without a Guild transport ship bringing them. Even if they did, the Obs Posts would give them a whole day's warning. Enough time to call up all of the reserves. She knew her Uncle well enough that the disaster was a good excuse for him to call a planet wide exercise. She had heard him often enough talk about eternal vigilance and you can never do enough training.

Sure Dad. I’m just going up into the hills. I’ll be back for lunch. Mike smiled. Enjoy yourself … hey, what about your chores?

Dad. I will get them done. Mum said it was okay. Mike did not argue the point and just said,

Be sure you do.

Yes Dad, and walked across to where her Grak Betty was tied up.

It did not take long to saddle the beast. The colonists had tamed the big beasts soon after they arrived and despite the availability of modern vehicles, most of the farmers preferred to use the Grak’s to get around. The Grak was just plain ugly and when she had been given her she called him Betty. Dee swung onto Betty’s back and she was soon trotting along the trail toward the forest. As they cleared the last of the fences, Dee kicked her Grak in the flank and the big beast grunted in protest and turned its head toward her.

Come on girl. Dee said to her beast with a smile, Don't get lazy on me. Betty just grunted and accepted that her young mistress would have her way and began to lumber down the track. The sun was warm on her back as she guided the Grak up the slope away from the farm and into the light brush and then further into the thicker trees that thickly covered much of Barnes World.

Wilderness near Roberts Farm

She had many favorite places she liked to ride, this time, on a whim she headed into the forest. As she rode on, the track began to narrow, far less travelled and finally disappeared altogether. Her Grak stepped carefully between trees and fallen logs and then she saw it.

It’s … It’s …. a spaceship. She exclaimed to herself and pulled the Grak to a halt. The Grak snorted in protest.

Steady girl. The Grak snorted again, swinging its head, becoming more and more distressed. A noise caused her to sit very still. Her back crawled with sudden fear, she was not alone. Something moved to her left. She turned and saw it move toward her. The Grak reared and she felt herself falling ...

Chapter 3

Roberts Farm

Where was Dee? Leanne Roberts frowned as she looked at the Chrono. Mike emerged from the bathroom. He had just finished washing up after his workday. She saw the look on his wife's face. He only needed one guess,

Dee? Leanne nodded,

She went off on Betty. She said she would be back for lunch. Mike looked at the time. It was past 6.30 and it was getting dark.

Have you called her? Leanne nodded.

She is not picking up. She pulled out her PVid again and redialed Dee's number. It rang and rang and rang and went to voice mail.

Is her trace on? Mike asked.

I tried. Nothing. I put a trace out, the Nav Sat has nothing showing. Leanne hated doing that. If Dee had just forgotten the time or had gone visiting with her friends she would be very angry that her mother was checking up on her ... again. Mike has a very bad feeling. He looked outside, a bad storm was rolling in.

I’m calling Max. She nodded and waited while he placed the call.

On the Skimmer

The storm front battered at the skimmer as Max Roberts struggled with the controls. As soon as Mike gave him the news Max had called the commander of the local search and rescue unit himself and soon there were flyers, skimmers and ground units already heading into the forest as well as Mike’s neighbors out on Graks. Once he was satisfied all the search units were on the move, he climbed into his own skimmer and swooped over the Roberts farm. He hit his Comm Unit which immediately connected to his brother.

Anything?

No. The temperature is well below zero and it is starting to snow. Max turned and brought the skimmer down next to the house and popped open the hatch. Immediately his brother climbed in.

Let’s go, we’ll find her. Was all Max could say as he lifted off again. In this temperature at least the heat sensors should find her. The skimmer bucked as wind gusts swept across the darkened landscape. Here and there he saw the lights of the searchers on the ground his sensors bleeped as he passed them. Looking up, the clouds obliterating the twin moons. He checked again the location of all the searchers on the map, the grid pattern they were using and the state-of-the-art sensors, it would be easy to find anyone, despite the weather. Yet the sensors remained stubbornly silent.

Max looked at the sensors and the search grid and shook his head.

They were in the wrong place ... but where. Then the sensor bleeped.

I got something. Turn 30 degrees left. Max immediately hauled the skimmer over to the new heading. There, there. Mike shouted and pointed down. Visibility had dropped to zero as he set the skimmer to hover and turned on the search light. A strong beam arced down, highlighting the rain and sleet that seemed to increase in power. Then it locked on a dark shape. Max pushed the skimmer down. There was bare centimeters from the skimmer's side and the tall trees but Max guided it expertly down to the ground. Mike was out of the door even as the skimmer touched the ground. Max locked the skimmer down and then joined him by the shape. Mike stood up, his face hard and fearful.

It's Betty. She's dead. Max looked at the dead Grak. It's neck was broken but no other visible signs of injury. The beast must have tripped and fallen. The snow on the ground was thick, any tracks completely covered. Max touched his Comms.

Jacobson, Colonel Roberts here. the search commander answered immediately,

Yes, sir.

Get a lock on my signal. We've found Dee's Grak. It's dead. Reconfigure your search pattern on my position.

Roger. he turned to his brother. We won't find her up there. If she is buried under the snow, the sensors may not find her. Mike nodded and zipped up his heavy jacket,

I'll go north, it's the most likely direction she would take. Max nodded and they shook hands. He watched his brother stomp off through the snow. That left only three other directions. East. It wasn't logical, but he backed a hunch over logic any day. He took one more look at the dead Grak and shook his head. He remembered the day he had bought the beast for Dee. She had been thirteen. He wasn't sure why she called the thing Betty, but she loved the ugly beast more then her own family. She would be crushed to lose her like this. As all of us would be if we lost her. He pushed that ugly thought away.

No ifs, we will find her.

Elsewhere in the forest

Dee stumbled again. She was beyond tears. Every part of her body ached. The gash on her head had stopped bleeding, the blood now frozen to her scalp. She was also beyond grieving for Betty. Now she was very, very afraid. She had no idea where she was. The fall had knocked her out and she had woken to find Betty dead and her PVid crushed beneath the big beast's body. By the time she had woken the snow had covered their tracks and in the darkness she had no idea which way they had come and which way was home.

She stumbled again and her arm grazed a fallen tree. The pain rocketed up her arm. She slumped into the snow and held her arm tight and waited for the pain to ease to just to a throb. This time, the tears did come,

Oh Daddy. Then she thought of her Uncle Max. Whenever she had gotten into trouble he had always helped her. Oh Unc ... I wish you were here. She tried to push herself to her feet but her arm sent more tortured signals to her brain. She gave up and sat in the snow and leaned against the tree trunk, tears freezing on her face.

Max and Mike

Max kept walking steadily, pausing only to avoid rocks, fallen trees and branches. He knew he had travelled over a kilometer but had seen nothing to indicate anyone had ever been there. He had checked in with Mike and the search teams ... nothing. But he was not going to give up. He kept walking and then stopped.

Unc. He heard her voice. He looked around and then called out,

Dee. Dee. Can you hear me? Nothing. She was near, he knew it. He turned and walked to the left of his original approach and called out again, Dee. Ten meters, twenty meters ... nothing. Then ...

He bent down by the body covered by snow, only her face clear in the dark. He brushed the snow away, touched her neck and pulled back on a sob ... she was alive. He pulled out his Comm.

Elsewhere in the wilderness

Vorlanda sat in his own flyer. His was fully shielded from the Earther sensors and watched the scene below via his drone feed.

The Earthers have the gift. As the Guild Envoy assigned to Barnes World, it fell to him to find the lost FST pod. Guild sensor drones had swept the planet ever since the explosion of the shuttle but had turned up nothing ... but he knew the pod was intact and out there somewhere. Now the Earthers without knowing it had led him to it. He waited as the Colonel and his brother tended to the girl and brought her into their own flyer.

Yes, she is still alive ... good. The flier lifted off and darted quickly away towards Barnes Town and he assumed to the main hospital, perhaps even to ESDF HQs own Medical Centre. He waited and when he was sure all Earther craft had left the area turned his own flyer to where they found the girl. Landing softly in the snow, the door of flyer slid back and the cold air rushed into the cabin. He stood and pulled his heated survival suit closed and stepped into the snow and walked past where the girl had lain and finally after 100 meters, yes ... there it was. The stealth field was particularly well done, imitating a smudgy snow filled sky and ground until he stepped past the field horizon and the pod suddenly appeared in front of him.

You’ve cause us no end of trouble you know, he thought and pressed his communicator for his waiting recovery team to assist. But no harm done ... in fact a great deal of good ... for the Guild.

Part 1

Guild Law extract

... The Guild do not interfere in the legal or domestic affairs of its members

20 years earlier - Arias IV

Max Roberts lay in his fighting hole, back pressed against the hard packed dirt. His breath came in short, sharp, rasping gasps. His ears roared with the pounding of his heart. His eyes looked wildly around him. Up. Left. Right. Looking for the enemy. A beep in his left ear pushed the sound of his thudding heart into the background and a voice spoke,

Alert one. Here they come. Even as the words were spoken explosions roared all around his hole. The ground heaved and rocked in sympathetic spasms of pain. One hundred meters and closing. the voice said. Wait for my word. Roberts looked upwards. The darkened sky was ablaze with flames, arcing lights and long lances of red, gold and purple. Each one a beautiful, deadly, lance of death. Fifty meters. The voice spoke again. Roberts grabbed the stock of his M2500 pulse rifle and glanced down at the small LED display. Half charged. How many single shots could he get? Or one murderous raking burst at full auto? He remembered his drill sergeant.

Roberts. When the dung hits the fan, it's just you and this here gun. It's no good lying in the dirt with a full charge. This here weapon is designed to kill Xers. You gotta kill every last one of those roaches or you will be main course at one of their roast marine barbecues. You got me?

Stand to and fire. The voice in his ear demanded. Against all his instincts to stay down, stay low, hide and wish it would just end, Roberts turned and levered himself up and pushed his rifle between the two large rocks he had placed above his hole and looked into a vision of hell itself. Two hundred Xarthans were loping forward, firing from the hip, seemingly impervious to the rain of death being hurled down on them. Fear vanished and an icy chill came over him, he was dead already and he knew it. Calmly he levered off the safety and began firing, slowly, methodically, as if he were lying on the range at Camp West. He continued to fire until the buzz from his pulse rifle announced he was empty. However the field in front of him was far from empty. He pulled his 12 shot auto Mag from his holster and took aim at the nearest. It took three shots to bring the laughing lizard down.

Nine shots left, two more clips to go.

Missed. Missed. Dammit. Another down, change clip. However, before he could take another shot, purple fire laced across the rocks, seared his face and arm and he slumped back and slid back into his hole. As he lay there, body frozen in pain and shock he could see the bright lights of fires suddenly blacked out by its dark lizard resident. Even as the Xers fighting claw swept down, Roberts fired one more time.

Chapter 4

Somewhere

The meeting was not a meeting, though there were many present. Words were being heard but not spoken. Each could be seen, but not with eyes.

We must have them. Do the Earthers know yet what they have in their hands?

No. They are but children.

Can they be used? Another asked.

They are not of us, but they have the gift. This one paused ... They do not yet know what they have.

They cannot be allowed to discover what they have.

One did not join in the debate as the questions were tossed back and forth. Finally, the Most Prime spoke, stilling the other voices,

This is a time of threat and a time of opportunity. Our choices will shape our future for generations.

We must have this world. One stated bluntly, There is no other choice.

The humans will fight. It will be war. Another said,

There is a way. We will have both these humans and the planet and the humans will not be able to stop us. The plan unfolded in their minds. Silence followed. It was time for a decision and they waited. The Most Prime's thoughts reached out to them cool, clear, concise and merciless.

It is decided, let it be so.

O’dorian Home World

The O'dorian home world was a green planet, made up of mostly lavish, temperate rain forests, some pasture and tall timbered areas. With very little arid land, almost no seas, and regular heavy rain, it was an eco system in balance. The fragile, but very intelligent avian race that had evolved there, despite their limited hand/claw capacity were still able to build industries, develop