Renegades

By LC Morgans

In the year 3030 an alien species known as the Thrakorian’s attacked Earth, and won. They came on a research mission and in search of one thing, and one thing only—answers. The humans held the key to finding those resolutions and after searching relentlessly for over two decades, the Thrakorian’s finally found their cure.

Those afflicted were healed and they had the humans to thank for it.
And all was going so well, until Kronus’s sister, Vasa, decided to declare war on their father and kidnap not only his namesake and heir, but also Kronus too.
But his betrothed, Gretchen, wasn’t going to lose him.
Wasn’t going to sit back and wait while the Thrak she loved was being held prisoner.

They had a life they were planning to make together, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take it from her.
Not even his family...

• Language: English
• Publisher: LMauthor
• Release date: Jan 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463099902

LC Morgans

LC Morgans is an author with an obsession for telling powerful stories. Her YA science fiction series is a story set a thousand years in the future, and one where humans have used and abused the planet beyond repair to both the earth itself and to society. Close to cataclysm, an alien race called the Thrakorian's step in to save the planet, and the humans, but at a price. The human race is then enslaved to their new masters, albeit willingly, and this is the story of a young girl and her journey into adulthood beneath their reign.

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Renegades

Book #5 in the Invasion Day series

By LC Morgans

Copyright LC Morgans

All rights reserved

This book is also available in print.

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please destroy it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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

Cover art by Laura Morgan

Cover photographs © courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com

For Eira, who loves this series almost as much as me!

A Brief History of Earth, humankind, and its demise.

(If you needed a reminder…)

"The human race will ultimately be responsible for its own demise. It is with great certainty that I alert you of this now, and you heed my warnings. What we have called the ‘benefits culture’ hundreds of years has caused profound chaos to our world and its economy, and it is damage I fear we will not return from." President of the USA, Harold Chant, the year 2465.

~~~~~~~~~

"We need to find alternative fuels and a cure for overpopulation. But short of a miracle or genocide, I fear it’s too late…" Queen Anastasia of England, the year 2989.

~~~~~~~~~

In the year 3030 an alien species known as the Thrakorian’s attacked Earth, and won. They came on a research mission and in search of one thing, and one thing only—answers. Proof of their own kind’s history and distant relation to the human race, and along with that, answers to a problem they could not answer alone. Many of their kind were dying, afflicted with a disease named Ehrad, and with no known cure. The humans held the key, and by searching relentlessly for over two decades, the Thrakorian’s soon found their cure. It was embedded deep within the human DNA. Obscure enough to evade them for years, until one woman found the answer. A human woman, Kyra.

After toing and froing, she finally left Earth with the Thrakorian’s. The mighty Besieger Thrayke saved her life and saw to it she was safely stowed away, but they didn’t know there was a sinister underground regime at play. An undercurrent to their strategy working outside the laws their King had decreed, and so Kyra was stolen away. Lost while Thrayke’s back was turned and when he found her again, she was far from the same woman he’d once known. The woman he had loved.

Paladin Greegis had taken her and adapted her. He had used his knowledge of the human makeup to alter her as he’d seen fit, but he was soon discovered in his dastardly deeds, as was her captor, Chief Rasmos.

With them finally out of the picture, Thrayke and the team at Greegis’s old lab discovered the one and only way to deliver the cure and save the Thrakorian’s afflicted with the Ehrad disease. Kyra’s blood. The serum flowing through her veins had adapted. Evolved. She had the carrier but not the cure, however it was working, for the time being at least. Regardless of her being negative for the required DNA sequence, she was their only hope, and so she would continue to be their blood donor until those who had come to Thrakor on ice could let their own serums evolve too. And eventually, the human migrants’ blood began to do just that. With the help of a young scientist their cure was cultivated, and along the way a young mixed-breed woman found herself in the middle of it all. Gretchen. She’d been raised a slave, but was far from it and after being lifted from her old life she quickly found herself falling for the broken Prince of Thrakor, and Kronus fell for her right back. It wasn’t easy, but they made it work.

And all was going so well, until Kronus’s sister, Vasa, decided to declare war on their father and kidnap not only his namesake and heir, but also Kronus too.

But Gretchen wasn’t going to lose him. Wasn’t going to sit back and wait while the Thrak she loved was being held prisoner. They had a life they were planning to make together, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take it from her. Not even Kronus’s family…

Glossary of terms, and general information regarding the Thrakorian reign.

Thrakorian/Human class structure (in descending order):

King Thrakor

Prince Kronus and his other siblings

Kings Guard Service (a separate entity to the regular Thrakorian army consisting of its highest honored members.)

Thrakorian Royal Armed Forces

Thrakorian civilians

Mixed-breeds (those whose families were forged years before Invasion Day to establish a presence on Earth prior to the arrival of their species. Many ensured they were appointed heads of state, or elected Kings and Queens of countries due to be overruled by King Kronus on his arrival.)

Human Royal Armed Forces

Human civilians

~~~~~~~~~

Human Royal Armed Forces rank structure (in descending order):

Gentry:

General

Elite Officers:

Colonel

Captain

Secondary Soldiers:

Lieutenant

Sergeant

Primary Soldiers:

Corporal

Recruit

~~~~~~~~~

Thrakorian Royal Armed Forces rank structure (in descending order):

King Thrakor

Kings Guard Service: (Only one of each title is awarded, and they are master’s of all soldier’s beneath them.)

Chief of Defense

Lawbringer (judge and juror of all who stray from the laws)

Besieger (Capturer of rebels and rogues)

Master Protector (the personal guard of the King)

Marshals of the Army, Navy and Air force

Regular Thrakorian Royal Armed Forces:

Paladin (the highest rank bestowed on a soldier, given to those renowned for braveness, intellect, heroism and loyalty to the King.)

Lorde (a superior warrior, respected and heralded for their mastery in their field or fields.)

Duke (the strongest fighters and most experienced conqueror’s.)

Sentinel (a soldier who guards their division and keeps watch over their comrades.)

Inquisitor (a soldier who’s highly trained to seek out information, by any means necessary. Nothing is forbidden, and a long and painful death would come for any human who refuses them.)

Master (regular soldiers who work alongside humans to ensure they are following orders and not deviating from their given class and sector.)

~~~~~~~~~

Prologue

Kronus was gone. Taken hostage by the Razr’s while all Gretchen could do was run so that she didn’t suffer the same fate. His Master Protector had been given his orders by the Prince of Thrakor—to save her over him. And so, because of that, Kronus had given himself over to those vile reptilian creatures and seen to it that Gretchen had escaped.

Domo had then readily done his duty. He’d taken her to safety at the Sanctuary and requested for her to stay there while he went to break the awful news to King Thrakor about his son’s disappearance. Only, Gretchen didn’t want to sit and wait for them to either save the Thrak she loved or deliver her the bad news that all was lost. All manner of potential outcomes were whirring through her mind and she wanted to scream just having to think about a future in which Kronus was a prisoner rather than free and by her side. After everything they’d been through, the plans they had made suddenly seemed meaningless without him there with her.

They were going to find a new home and rule it together. They were about to get married and watch their friends complete their nuptials too. The wars had already been fought and won, or so they had believed. But then, for some as yet unknown reason, Kronus’s sister had declared war on their father and taken two of her brothers as hostage. None of them knew why just yet, but Gretchen was sure it couldn’t be good. Their family was each a hardened warrior and had been brought up to be ruthless conquerors of worlds for their keeping. If Queen Vasa had rebelled against her father, then even Gretchen knew that this could potentially open up a whole new chapter of war for King Thrakor and his offspring. One that surely wouldn’t end well.

She wanted Kronus home and yearned for him like any woman in love would, or so she guessed. But then there was another emotion overriding her senses. A need for justice and the desire to get him back, whatever the cost.

Gretchen was already concocting a plan. She was going to sneak her way onto the planet Razr in a bid to rescue him. She could do it, she was sure, but knew she needed help if she had any hope of infiltrating their stronghold without being spotted. She wasn’t a warrior, after all. She was merely a fantasist. Someone who loved the arts and wanted to teach the next generations to love it too. Gretchen would tell their future human and mixed-breed children all about their adventures, but first, she knew she had to actually live it.

It was a good thing one of her new friends was an incredible badass. Kyra was the only person she knew could help her, and the only one Gretchen trusted to help with the task. She was human and could blend in at the Razr Citadel alongside her, but more than just that, she had a history of being a fearless warrior with a mind for problem solving that’d made her infamous among those at The Sanctum. Queen Vasa would see anyone else coming a mile away, but not the human underdog everyone had seemed to overlook in the past, and yet was the person who had reportedly worked miracles along the way.

Kyra was also infallibly loyal to Kronus. So much so, it had made Gretchen feel a touch jealous on occasion, but then again she’d seen for herself how Kyra adored her own fiancé, Thrayke. She loved him with all of herself and Gretchen knew he felt the same way about her. Their love was unyielding. Timeless. And Gretchen knew she had nothing to worry about. After having spent a few days in blissful solitude with Kronus just recently, she was the same way when it came to her own betrothed.

He had shown her a side of himself that she was sure no one else had ever seen. A truly caring and gentle side. An intimate and generous, loving and unselfish side. Far from the cold Prince of Thrakor he often liked to portray himself as. And he was finally doing so well, too.

Kronus had been cured from his disease at long last and Gretchen loved how she’d had a hand in that herself. Together, they’d found their cure and had been allowed just a few days to enjoy his good health before Kronus, like his big brother Thrakor Junior, had been taken by their own sister, Queen Vasa. His Master Protector hadn’t told her much as to why, but she’d read between the lines. The Razr Queen had turned on her own and she needed to be stopped.

They approached the Sanctum and she carried on cultivating her plot. She would enlist Kyra in her operation, and Thrayke too. He was Kronus’s oldest friend and she knew he’d help, especially as her plan involved Kyra. He wouldn’t see her go without offering his support as well.

They could sneak across to Razr and into their castle pretending to be human slaves. There, they’d take what was theirs and, with any luck, leave again before any of the Razr’s or their Queen were any the wiser.

Gretchen had been born a slave and knew she could portray one again. Her days as an overlooked nobody weren’t quite over yet, or so it seemed, but she didn’t care. She would do whatever it took to save Kronus and make sure he returned to them safe and sound.

Chapter One

Gretchen remained silent while in the small recovery craft and watched the team of Thraks who’d been sent to retrieve her and Domo from the clearing to the south of where their craft had crash landed. Well actually, that wasn’t quite true. They were there to rescue Prince Kronus and his two guests, and had been surprised to discover the son of Thrakor wasn’t with them when the pair had exited the dense forest looking both exhausted and elated at arriving safely at the rendezvous point.

The leader of the rescue party had been downright furious when Domo had revealed the truth about their Prince’s whereabouts though. 

Kidnapped! the Paladin declared for what she was sure had to be the twentieth time. He clearly couldn’t believe it and Gretchen had to agree. She couldn’t understand it herself.

Kronus had sacrificed himself to make sure she got away, but she wished they’d stood together and fought back. Him and Domo were seasoned fighters, but instead of standing their ground, Kronus had ordered for his guard to take Gretchen and run. To lure her away in the belief that her betrothed was right behind them, when in fact by the time she’d even realized he wasn’t with her, it was already too late. 

She was still sitting there in shock when the craft erupted into further chaos. The raised voices were just too much and Gretchen snapped out of her daze. She looked up at the group of males, each one looking to Domo for answers, and cringed when she caught the sideways glances in her direction. They clearly didn’t agree that she should have been saved in place of their Prince.

She focused her attention on Domo and could see he was indeed under the spotlight, but was pleased to see he was standing his ground.

I will not explain myself further, he eventually growled. I answer to King Thrakor and no one else. Gretchen is his daughter now too don’t forget.

She heard the mumblings and had to fight back her tears. The soldiers used words like mixed-breed playing princess to describe her, and it was torture. She wasn’t the sort to stand up and tell them off, so Gretchen simply curled in on herself. She crumbled and stared at the floor rather than at them, and was pleased to find the craft begin its descent a few moments later.

They arrived at The Sanctum a few tense minutes later and she burst out of the craft and towards the main house without even looking back, but it was too hectic there.

The working day was in full swing and there were people all around her, but all Gretchen wanted was to be alone. So, she took off in the opposite direction towards the wheat and corn fields to the south of the facility. Not a soul followed her, not even Domo, and she was glad. He knew she’d be safe here while he had to go to inform his leader right away, and figured she was right when the craft they’d arrived in was gone again a short while after she’d come to a stop by the edge of the fields.

Gretchen sat down on the warm grass and held her head in her hands. What was she going to do? Could she really hatch a plan like she’d been thinking on the way down here? Was she capable of following through with it?

She couldn’t sit back and do nothing, that was for sure, but she was no heroin ready and raring to head into battle. Behind her gentle surface wasn’t a warrior, not like with Kyra. She