Galactic Empires: Invasion: How a Dancer Became a Star and a Hero

By Edward R. Woody

Approximately 250 years in the future a ruthless military empire called the Darmen invade our solar system— and they are not interested in diplomacy. They are only interested in absolute conquest and enslavement of the entire Human population. A young boy, who must take dancing lessons for physical therapy after a terrible accident, is a spectator to it all. He has no super powers and receives no help from forces out in space. But perhaps regular people can make a difference, too!

"Galactic Empires: Invasion" is the first in the Galactic Empires series. This epic tale of Humans sees them locked in a battle for our civilization. How can we save ourselves?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098342012

Book preview

Copyright: 2019 and 2020

By: Galactic Associates LLC and Edward R. Woody

All Rights Reserved

Galactic Empires: Invasion - How a Dancer Became a Star and a Hero is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The setting of the book is in a fictional alternate universe far away in time and space.

in Memoriam:

Edward F Woody

Norma L Woody

Galactic Empires: Invasion

How a Dancer Became a Star and a Hero

(In an alternate universe far away in time and space)

Print ISBN 978-1-09834-200-5

eBook ISBN 978-1-09834-201-2

First Edition

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

About the Author

Preface

The following manuscript was recently discovered deep under the Rocky Mountains in the western part of the U.S.A. It was discovered while construction engineers were expanding part of a secret American military base, deep under the mountains.

The manuscript was sealed in a metallic-like container of some very strong unknown substance. Instructions for opening the container were inscribed on the outside of the container in early 21st century American English. A special team of scientists and engineers was assembled to carefully open the container. Inside it, they found this manuscript written on near-imperishable sheets of some unknown material.

The manuscript tells the story of what purports to be some events happening approximately 250 years in the future. The people (or entities), who sent the container also sent a cover sheet with the manuscript, indicating that they had used a reverse time capsule procedure to send the container back to our time and place. There was no further explanation for how this was done. However, all the circumstances and aspects of the reverse time capsule seemed to indicate to the specialist examining it that it had been assembled and sent in great haste and urgency.

There was also a brief note on another loose sheet of material—it said that a substantial amount of effort had been spent on trying to translate the contents of the story into early 21st century American linguistics, including words, letters, numbers, sizes, distances, locations, ideas, and concepts.

The original manuscript itself has been modestly redacted and revised by American governmental authorities, but the copy contained herein is substantially complete, accurate and true to the original. It seems obvious that the manuscript is some kind of a warning, and that the warning is very simple:

WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Book One

Part One

Chapter 1

(Present day)

They came from the darkness—the deep, dark, blackness of near impenetrable interstellar space. Their ships were specially coated and treated with light and energy absorptive materials to conceal their presence. Little or no light or electromagnetic energies were allowed to escape from their ships’ surfaces. Their ships’ engines were baffled and muted to resist detection.

All communication with their mother ship was done with directional burst transmission, and then done very infrequently. They traveled in darkness; they traveled in shadow; and they traveled in silence. They were present and past masters of near-invisibility. That was their job and they did it very well.

But there was more to it than that, much more. It was not just that their ships came from darkness. They came from darkness as well. They were psychologically dark people inside—everything they did was dark. Their activities were dark. Their thinking was dark. Their humor was dark. Their interactions with others were dark. Their hearts, minds, spirits and souls were dark. They liked the dark and felt comfortable in the dark. They particularly liked, even loved, the anonymity and shadowy nature of darkness. They liked being able to do and get away with just about anything, and the fact that no one would even know what had happened or who was responsible or that they had even been there.

They called themselves the Darmen, and they considered themselves to be very tough and powerful—and indeed they were—at least by any normal standards. Even so, they were just from the darkness. They were ever-mindful of their Overlords, those enigmatic entities who directed and planned all activities, and who were of the darkness itself. The Overlords were considered to be all-powerful, and anything or anyone who got in their way was enslaved or destroyed.

The Darmen served the Overlords faithfully, partly because the Overlords brought them wealth and power, partly because they were born and bred to fight, and partly because they had no choice in the matter.

Now, the Darmen were in this unknown system, way out in the middle of nowhere. They had been instructed to do an in-depth survey of the system, check it out and report their findings back to the Overlords. So that’s life, another day, another job and another pain in the ass.

It had been evident from the preliminary survey that the system was inhabited. The Darmen’s present assignment was to determine more details concerning the inhabitants, especially their technological level of advancement. They had also been directed to conduct their investigation with the greatest of secrecy, but obviously they would do that anyway, since it was in their nature as a matter of course.

Consequently, they explored the outer reaches of the system first, and then slowly and carefully worked their way sunward. The inhabitants had built several observation stations and military bases in the outer parts of the system, but it was rather easy to slip by these stations without being detected.

As the Darmen moved deeper into the system, however, the observation stations became more numerous. Additionally, it became evident that the inhabitants had also built military bases as well. These military bases were not nearly as powerful as Darmen bases, but they were still substantial, possessing several weapon systems, including missile and beam weapons, as well as moderately powerful shields.

But of more significance was the fact that the Darmen were able, for the first time, to obtain a substantial amount of information concerning the inhabitants themselves. This was quite a shock to the Darmen, for the inhabitants were humanoid, and indeed, were nearly identical to the physiology of the Darmen. The DNA of both species was very similar.

Thinking about this similarity, the Darmen concluded that their Overlords probably already knew of it, and that was likely one of the reasons why they had sent the Darmen here in the first place. It was always good to not underestimate the Overlords. Why there was a similarity to begin with was not the business of the Darmen—their job was just to do what they were told and not ask too many questions. Darmen who asked too many questions had a habit of not being around too long.

The Darmen also learned additional bits of information. These humanoids called themselves ‘Humans’, and there were a lot of different types, backgrounds and races of them, and they were not centrally governed or organized. There were a lot of different types, backgrounds and races of Darmen too, but they had their Overlords to coordinate and rule over them. The Humans did not have any central leaders like the Overlords. The central command structure of the Darmen and the Overlords gave the Darmen a significant advantage over the Humans.

The Darmen were the military arm of the Overlords. They enforced the laws and rules of the Overlords and saw to it that all of the Overlords’ subject peoples and star systems complied. Any subject peoples or star systems that disobeyed the Overlords would be punished severely, even unto death. The Darmen were recruited from many of the subject peoples when very young and were trained to be cold and efficient military personnel. And they were very good at their job.

The Darmen observed that there were approximately 150 various governmental organizations throughout the Human system. Their main planet was called Earth, and their system was called Sol. Also, there were a lot of these Humans—nearly ten billion of them. The Darmen just shook their heads in amazement. Governing the Humans once they were conquered would be a total mess.

One other fact became very apparent. These Humans liked to build ships, and lots of different types of ships. There were hundreds of ships and dozens of types of ships. And lots of the ships were obviously military ships—some of them were very large and crammed with weapons and defensive shields. The Human ships were not nearly as powerful or advanced as Darmen ships, but there were a lot of them.

The technology level of the Darmen, however, was substantially higher than the Humans. The humans did not even have star drive. The Darmen’s technological superiority would allow them to conquer the Humans with relative ease. Even though the Humans had a lot of ships and bases, the Darmen ships would make short work of them, smashing the Human bases and destroying the Human fleets.

The Darmen set up their automated receiving and transmission mini-stations to continuously monitor the Humans and transmit the information back to the mother ship. Then they slipped back to their mother ship very carefully in order to not alert the Humans. The Darmen wanted their first attack to be a complete surprise. The Darmen main squadrons would be arriving sometime soon. All the information obtained so far would be analyzed by the fleet master planners and a plan of attack would be developed. Then the attack would begin.

And then the Humans would start to die in great numbers. Only a few would be allowed to live to serve the Overlords as slaves!

Chapter 2

(Present day)

The 14-ship Darmen squadron approached one of the outlying asteroid bases of the Humans with reasonable caution. After all, they were not sure of the Human capabilities. The Darmen squadron consisted of 8 destroyer-type ships and 6 slightly smaller frigate-type ships. They had no fighter cover since no carrier was attached to the Darmen squadron. They also had no cruisers or battleships because it was thought by their superiors that no heavy ships would be needed.

They had been briefed to expect little opposition, but they were still Darmen and had been trained to expect the unexpected. Attached to the Darmen squadron was a small troop transport carrying 120 Darmen troopers, who would land on the asteroid after the Human base’s defenses were neutralized. The Overlords wanted the Darmen to take the base without damaging it too much and they wanted Human prisoners to interrogate.

The captain of the Darmen troopers gave his men their final orders and added that if they didn’t give the Overlords some prisoners to question, they would all be food for the converters. The men quietly shivered as they contemplated their fate if they failed their mission. The energy converters reprocessed just about anything—including people—into stored energy for later use when needed. Failing the Overlords nearly always resulted in a terminal visit to the converters.

Before the Darmen fleet came within range of the Human base, however, the Darmen sensors detected an approaching Human fleet of approximately 45 ships. The Darmen ships immediately went on full red alert and maneuvered for battle. It was evident to the Darmen commanding admiral that the Humans had been expecting them and had set a trap.

Perhaps the Humans were looking for additional information on the Darmen as well. Just how the Humans knew that a Darmen fleet was in the area was unknown. This caused the Darmen admiral a moment’s pause—but only a moment. That was a question for the Overlords. His duty was to defeat the Human fleet, perhaps capture some of the Human ships, take the Human base and also, if possible, capture some of the Humans themselves.

The actual battle was very one-sided. The Darmen technology advantage was decisive. Their shields were substantially stronger than the Human shields and their weapons were much more powerful. The result was that Human ship after ship was pounded to death and destroyed, while the Human weapons inflicted only modest damage on the Darmen ships.

The Darmen admiral did have to acknowledge that the Humans fought very well and bravely with what they had, but what the Humans had was nowhere near good enough. Courage and bravery were good attributes to bring to a battle, but one also needs the wherewithal to fight. The Humans were seriously short in the wherewithal department.

Half the Human fleet was smashed and destroyed before the Humans finally called it quits and quickly retreated. The Darmen admiral did not pursue since most of his ships had also received some damage as well. Only two of the Darmen ships were completely out of commission and would have to be towed back to base. Also, he had to concentrate on his original mission, which was the Human base. Therefore, he had his fleet continue their approach to the base.

His staff officers informed him that the base appeared to be abandoned, so no firing was ordered. The transport troopers were ordered in to investigate the base, but when they arrived, his troopers found that everything had already been removed and no Humans were present. The Overlords would not like this turn of events.

At that moment, his sensors detected some type of electronic activity, and a few moments later, there was a terrific series of explosions that tore the base apart, killed all of his troopers, and caused shock waves to buffet his fleet. At the same time, hundreds of missiles launched from around the area of the base and tore into his ships. Even though his fleet was still on high alert, his ships could not withstand the overwhelming number of missiles and his fleet suffered huge damage.

Most of his ships were destroyed in flaming balls of nuclear fire, including the two previously damaged ships. Only his flagship and two other ships were still marginally operational. Everything else was debris. This was a complete disaster. He ordered his flagship and the two other remaining ships back to base. The Overlords would not be pleased.

On the way back to base, the Darmen admiral retired to his quarters. Several hours later, his assistant found his dead body—the admiral had committed suicide. The Overlords would really not be pleased.

The remnants of the Human fleet detected the explosions coming from the area of the base. They smiled a grim smile of vengeance, but it was a cold smile. They had lost over half their fleet and most of their remaining ships were heavily damaged. Additionally, their crew losses were over 75 percent even in the remaining ships. None of the crew personal in the destroyed ships survived at all. The surviving Human fleet ships proceeded to limp back to their base.

On the way home, the Human admiral sat brooding in his command chair on his flagship’s bridge and thought over the details of the battle. He realized that his fleet had attacked too soon. He should have allowed the base explosions and missiles to do their job first, then brought his fleet in to clean up.

The admiral realized that he was responsible for the massive damage to his fleet and the huge loss of life of his fleet personnel. After a while, he retired to his quarters. Several hours later, his assistant found his dead body—the admiral had committed suicide too. His superiors would really not be pleased either.

Consequently, this first battle of the Human Darmen war did not go according to the plans of either side. The so called fog of war had taken its toll once again.

It has been said that few battle plans survive the first few moments of battle. It has been true in the past, it is true in the present, and no doubt, will continue to remain true in the future!

Chapter 3

(Approximately

19 years earlier)

His name was Johnny, and he was nervous.

Not scared, but he was a good bit nervous. He had received a substantial amount of training and education, so he was reasonably well prepared for what was going to happen today. But still, there would be a lot of new things happening today and they could be unexpected and surprising.

It is always helpful to make a good first impression, and sometimes, the first impression is the one people always seem to remember the most. He had gone by his new training facility several times to check it out and his first impression of it was its huge size. And today would be the day his new training would commence.

He was nervous, but he was also excited. This would be a new adventure; perhaps he would meet and make new friends, have different and exciting experiences, and learn many new things. He would keep his cool, be friendly, learn what he was instructed to learn, and try not to make too much of a fool of himself.

As he stood by the side of the road waiting for the transportation vehicle to arrive, all these thoughts and more ran through his mind. Still, he was not as nervous as he could have been because he had some moral support by his side holding his hand.

Some kids were not very lucky in the parents department. Maybe they had no parents, maybe they only had one parent, maybe one or both of their parents were not so good, and maybe their parents just had little time for their kids. But in the parent lottery, Johnny had come up aces. Sure, his parents were not perfect, and they were no saints. But they were in the top percentile of parents. And that was for sure.

He stole a glance and looked up at his mother. As usual, she was cool, calm and collected. She always seemed to know what was happening, what was going to happen and how it was going to happen. She had been number one in her high school class and one of the top students in college. Not only was she smart, but she could actually do real life stuff, such as house and business activities and projects. She ran her own consulting business and did very well.

But today, she was here with him holding his hand and Johnny was very thankful and appreciative of it.

She was going into work late in order to be with Johnny on this, his first day of first grade.

She owned her own business so she would not get into trouble for being here with him. She would not go with him to school, of course, but her being with him now meant a lot to Johnny.

In the years to come, Johnny would remember the fact that she was there with him, holding his hand—he would remember this for a very long time. This and many other things, times, and activities imbued Johnny with a strong sense of family. He had developed a strong sense of family at an early age. He considered family to be pretty much sacred, and as far as he was concerned, ‘sacred’ was a lot more than just a word—much, much more than just a word.

Family was heart and soul, guts and courage, honor and love, and kindness, compassion, mercy and consideration... And the greatest of these was love!

In the future, and along life’s pathways and adventures, Johnny would gradually expand and modify this definition of ‘sacred’ to be ‘good family, good friends and good allies’. But for now, his thoughts mainly centered on his family.

So here he was, standing by the side of the road as the transportation vehicle pulled up and opened its door. Johnny kissed his mother goodbye and got on the bus.

His life, of course, would never be the same!

Chapter 4

(Approximately

19 years earlier)

Johnny had received substantial training before going to the first grade. His father and many other relatives were or had been in the military, one branch or another, and had taught Johnny a lot of basic physical calisthenics and given him martial arts training. Johnny was big for his age, healthy, strong and good looking, which was not surprising since his family and ancestors were usually above average in size, brains and looks.

Additionally, Johnny’s family was substantially way above average in smarts, including practical ideas as well as more intellectual concepts. And so, Johnny found that he could learn things—even very complicated stuff—rather faster than most.

But important as these things were, the ladies of the house had also taught him some of the more polite social ideals, skills of life and social interaction, and kept him in touch with the more humanistic side of life—including general manners, table manners, how to interact in a polite society, self-sufficiency, dressing and grooming, and respect for others and other people’s differences and customs.

They also taught him a reasonable and tolerant concept of God and religion, after all, there were very few atheists in foxholes, and many of his family and ancestors had been military and had been in a good number of foxholes.

Despite all that Johnny had learned and all his capabilities, he was not particularly conceited or arrogant, but was reasonably confident. After all, he was growing up in a household of way above-average people, and he was, in a certain way of looking at things, just average.

He also was lucky in the sibling department. He had a brother, who was 5 years older and was quite cool and accomplished, and a younger sister, who was probably going to rearrange the entire world when she grew up.

His father had completed an excellent and distinguished military career and was now a senior assistant to a top military officer. And his mother was a very successful business lady. He also had some cool aunts and uncles, as well as a good number of cousins, and they were no slouches