Revenge (The Resistance Book Two): The Resistance, #2

By Nathan Hystad

The Rift has opened. The aliens invaded. The Eureka is on the other side.

Flint, Wren, and Ace, along with Charles, are now members of the Eureka, a state-of-the-art vessel heading for a world in the far reaches of a new galaxy. Sixty years ago a colony ship was sent there, along with someone close to their benefactor.

But when they arrive, they find getting to the surface isn't as easy as they thought. With a crash landing, and news that shocks the entire crew, they must collectively find a way to get the Pilgrim off-planet, and into the fight against the Watchers.

One of the crew leaves from orbit, spelling betrayal, and the others know time is against them. They must create a virus and bring it to the enemy's home world, but not everything is as it seems.

Join our heroes as they fight for the future, knowing an all-out war awaits them back home, on the other side of the Rift.

Revenge is an exciting tale of comradery, risks, infiltration, and surprise twists by Best-Selling author, Nathan Hystad.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nathan Hystad
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223398103

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Copyright © 2019 Nathan Hystad

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Cover art: Tom Edwards Design

Edited by: Scarlett R Algee

Proofed and Formatted by: BZ Hercules

1

Flint

Let’s bring the kid. I hear he’s quite the pilot, Flint urged as they neared the hangar.

What do I need two pilots for? Fairbanks asked.

He had a good point, but Flint wasn’t one to let his foot off the pedal so easily. He’s going to be bored up here. He’s lived on the streets since he was ten. Then he joined the Earth Fleet, and only a month later, he’s flying a Shift drive fighter through a Rift in space. Let’s cut him some slack and do something special for him. Flint laid it on a little thick, but the sigh from Fairbanks told him he was winning the argument.

Fine. Bring the kid. Fairbanks nodded to two guards outside the hangar. You. What’s your name? he asked the tall female guard.

She seemed surprised he took an interest. Bree, sir, she said.

I’ve seen you around. How long have you been with me? he asked.

Six years. I started out with you on Europa, she said, standing proudly.

Very good. I thought I recognized you. How would you like to join us on a trip to the surface? Fairbanks asked.

I’d consider it an honor, Bree said.

Flint was surprised Fairbanks didn’t have a personal bodyguard. Maybe when you were surrounded by hundreds of loyal crew, you didn’t need the extra security.

Flint took the time to put his earpiece in and call Ace’s private line, using the mini-processor strapped to his forearm. It sat on the outside of his crisp black uniform. He couldn’t believe he was wearing a uniform again. It felt strange but oddly comforting to be part of something bigger than himself, his ship Perdita, and Kat. He missed his ship: the smells, the feeling of his favorite boots stepping down the familiar corridor to the bridge.

The boy answered straight away, and Flint pushed thoughts of his old life to the side. Benson had told him Perdita would be safe, but with the invasion taking place, nothing was safe back home. He’d probably never see her again, and he had to come to peace with that.

Flint? Ace asked.

The one and only. How would you like to join Fairbanks and me on the surface? Flint asked.

I’m there. Which hangar? Ace wasn’t able to hide the excitement from his teenage voice.

I’ll ping you the location now. Flint tapped the processor, and the bay site transferred to Ace.

I’m coming. Don’t leave without me. The call ended, and Flint couldn’t help but grin. He liked the kid and was glad to have him along for the ride.

Flint followed the guard and Fairbanks into the hangar. This was the councilman’s private bay, and two fancy landers sat powered down. There were crates of supplies lining the walls, stretching upward, halfway to the forty-foot ceilings.

Flint let out a whistle as he approached the lander Fairbanks pointed to. She’s a beauty. What’s her name?

I don’t see how that’s relevant, Fairbanks said, and Flint raised an eyebrow in a who are you kidding gesture. It worked. "Her name’s Leona." Flint could see a hint of memory flash over the old man’s eyes and didn’t press the subject.

He extended his arm to the tall guard. Hello, Bree. I’m Flint. Flint Lancaster. Nice to meet you. She glared at him, her face impassive for a moment, before she cracked the slightest smile.

Good to meet you, Flint. How long have you known the councilman? she asked.

Flint glanced at the man and shrugged. What’s it been? Four…five days? He laughed, and could tell Bree didn’t know if he was kidding or not.

Enough chit-chat. The ship’s loaded with supplies. It’s time to go. Fairbanks shouldered past Flint and opened the door to the lander. The vessel was only thirty feet long and twelve high. The door hinged open with a hiss, and Flint stepped in after the other two had already entered.

This is so cool, Flint.

Flint hadn’t heard Ace in the hangar until he spoke. The boy looked better already; the deep purple bags under his eyes were starting to fade away. The uniform he wore still swam around his small frame, but Flint knew he’d start to fill out soon. He’d been much the same way at that age. One day he was a skeleton, the next he was wide and strong. The miracles of youth.

Flint entered the ship, glancing toward the rear cargo hold, where stacks of crates sat untouched. Planning on being there for a while, Jarden? He used the man’s first name, checking to see if he’d be reprimanded for it. Thinking of him as the councilman or Fairbanks was getting cumbersome. When Jarden didn’t admonish him for the personal use, he decided to keep it up.

You don’t get where I am by not being prepared. Come on, let’s go. The colony awaits us, Jarden said, taking the left front seat. Flint took the pilot’s seat to his right, leaving Ace and Bree to sit on the bench behind them.

He powered up the ship, feeling the light rumble of the lander as the engines purred to life. The dashboard lit up, a soft green glow against his face. This was luxury. Flint had flown numerous ships in his time with the Fleet and even after, working for countless corporations as an in-system freight hauler, but never had he sat in a seat quite as soft and comfortable as the one under him now.

I like your style, Jarden, he said, tapping the hangar wall open. It slid apart, exposing the containment field on the other side. The controls were all familiar, nothing there to surprise him, and he lifted them off the hangar floor with ease. Ace was behind him, watching with interest.

I didn’t ask for your opinion, Lancaster, Jarden said, but when Flint glanced over at the old man, he saw a sense of pride in his face.

Noted, sir. Prepare for takeoff. Flint urged the lander forward, and in moments, they were crossing the blue energy field, entering space. From the wide viewscreen three feet in front of them, Flint saw the distant nebula. It was an amazing sight.

Below them, the world became a real thing. Somehow seeing it from the lander, instead of from the viewscreen on the Eureka’s bridge, made the realization that they were in another galaxy, hanging over a world none of them had ever seen before, hit Flint like he’d been slapped.

No one made a sound as Flint lowered them toward the world. The lander jostled as they entered the atmosphere, the inertia dampeners keeping them from being tossed around the vessel.

The signal is weak, but it’s there, Jarden said, pointing to the holomap on the dash.

It’s over a body of water? Ace asked from behind them.

It appears that way, Flint answered.

What about the life sensors? Ace asked again. The kid was inquisitive.

Jarden answered this one. The atmosphere appears to have some quality that prevents accurate readings, but there’s plenty of life down there. We just can’t hone in to see if it’s human.

Flint knew the lander didn’t have that feature either, so they had to go about this the old-fashioned way. The rough ride was over, and Flint lowered them toward the target. It was still two thousand kilometers away. He would have preferred to wait until they were nearer with Eureka in orbit, but Jarden hadn’t been patient enough for that.

The lander was quick, and they hurtled toward the distant lake. Flint took the time to scan the landscape below. It felt oddly similar to Earth. After seeing his own solar system for so long, this didn’t seem real. The moons and planets where they came from were death traps, but here, there was an abundance of water. And where there was water, there was life.

They raced over mountain ranges and peaks, pushing high into the sky above thin clouds. Flint watched as Jarden took it all in. The old man’s hands appeared to be shaking faintly.

I heard about your family, Flint said, broaching the secret subject. I hope we find them.

Jarden remained silent for a moment, then slowly turned his head. Thank you. I believe we will find them, well and happy.

The man was unflappable in his confidence. He’d obsessed over it for most of his life and had done whatever it took to end up at this moment sixty years later. Flint couldn’t imagine loving something so much that he could spend that long with such a single-minded focus on it. He loved Kat as family, but even now, he knew it wasn’t the same depth as what was coursing through Jarden’s veins day in and day out.

What do you expect the colony to look like? Ace asked.

The colony ship was enough to sustain them for years, but they also had supplies in the lower half of the ship that would allow them to begin a colony village. Wood, metal beams, fasteners of all shapes and sizes. They even had mining tools. There were dozens of tradespeople, each with unique skills. Project managers, city planners, healthcare workers; everything needed to start over. Jarden spoke with calm assurance. He fully expected to arrive in a city sixty years in the making. It would be impressive if it was half of what Jarden seemed to think they were arriving into.

Sounds like the Earth Fleet really planned this out, Flint said.

They did. My wife was on the Board. She was on Ganymede when it was all going down, but she was supposed to stay behind. I was there that day, you know, Jarden said.

I saw the video, remember? You were a commander, watching the colony ship leave, Flint said.

And I had no idea she was on the colony ship. I still can’t believe… Jarden cut himself short and looked around, as if forgetting where he was. Anyway, they were given everything they needed to survive. As long as they weren’t attacked by the Watchers, I believe they’ll be thriving down here.

Flint wanted to ask about the dim signal they were getting from the bottom of a lake but held back. They’d find out soon enough. He glanced at the dash, seeing their target was nearing. They were only a hundred kilometers away, and the distance was shrinking quickly.

Sixty years is a long time, Ace said from the back bench.

Jarden nodded. Don’t I know it. They had Extenders. I suspect my wife will have used them as I have. Jarden looked to be in his late sixties, if Flint was a judge of age, but he knew the man was well over a hundred. His children would be in their seventies. He didn’t think it was going to be the reunion Jarden had likely replayed in his head a million times before.

Fifty kilometers left. Flint began to lower them toward the surface, which had leveled out, becoming foothills instead of the massive peaks and valleys they’d first encountered. A few lakes splattered around the landscape as he descended under the clouds. The view was filled with green, and Flint spotted forests which, from here, looked much like they did on Earth.

The lander’s alarms began to ring out with a ferocity that made Flint want to cover his ears. What the hell is that? he asked. Bree was holding a gun, which would only help if she could find the source of the alarm and blow it up.

Flint saw an incoming shape on the radar, and it was closing fast. We’re being attacked, Jarden said, yelling over the alarm.

The shape was ethereal, flowing as if it were a million individual pieces linked together by invisible thread. Then it hit him. It’s a horde of something. Birds… maybe insects. It’s moving as a swarm.

They might not attack! Maybe they’re just curious! Ace suggested loudly.

Flint hoped so. His heart raced as he kept lowering the lander toward the ground. They were still twenty-five kilometers from their target, but he had no choice. The horde didn’t stop beside them; it rushed the lander, surrounding it. The viewscreen turned black as tiny insects blanketed the ship.

The lander lurched as the engines cut out. We have a problem! Flint yelled, trying to get the engines started again. They were dead.

He checked their altitude. They were five hundred meters from the surface when he made his decision.

What are you doing? Jarden asked in a panic. Hit the chute!

Flint didn’t respond. If these things killed his engine, who knew what else they were capable of? He had to time it right. They were falling now, dropping like a rock, and he watched the meters turn to one hundred and fifty. The dashboard went dead, the ship’s interior black, with the exception of some dim backup lights.

Flint slowed the ship, found the manual chute button, and slammed his fist into it, feeling the ship catch air as the parachute opened wide. He lurched against the seatbelt, and they lowered to the ground, setting down softly.

See. Perfect landing, Flint said.

Jarden turned to him, the dark shadows cast over his face making him look like the living dead. "Tell me you sent Eureka a mayday on the way down."

Flint swallowed through his dry throat, annoyed that Jarden was barking at him. The curtain of insects began to dissipate off their viewscreen, and they watched as the horde of bugs took off in a cloud, in search of another target. I had other things on my mind.

They were twenty kilometers from the signal, and the system’s star was heading beyond the horizon. Night was commencing quickly.

2

Wren

Wren had been so blinded by her training when she was on Earth. She scanned over her three years of study on the project and found there was hardly anything usable. It was as if being away from the field for the last two years had cleared her mind and given her a new focus that was unattainable before.

Why are you deleting those files? Charles asked. They sat in the office at the far end of the lab, side by side, going over the data. He was proving to be valuable. Unlike the android assistants she’d had in the past, he could do more than just retain information provided. He’d done all the research he could on biology, microbiology, vaccines, viruses, and any other relevant topic he could find in Eureka’s database.

They’re useless. I traveled down the wrong trail and didn’t notice it. She could see it all in her head now, and understood why all the results had failed. When the pathogen entered the cells, it died and didn’t replicate. The cells she’d been given as samples were living, kept in a sort of stasis, but they hadn’t been a good enough medium. If given a proper chance, the virus would have done what it always did: reproduce as it killed the host, which would ultimately be its own demise. It was a tragic parallel to so many aspects of existence.

Now she had one of them, a living host. A Watcher. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing the blue glowing cell, and felt sympathy for the creature. It had only been a few days since she’d been just like him, a prisoner to humans. Still, if they were going to help humanity survive, they needed this virus. Fairbanks had made it clear there was no way to win this war with guns.

But Fairbanks wouldn’t know that for sure. Maybe the ships battling the Earth Fleet on the other side of the Rift had been their entire fleet. They just didn’t know. Every thought about the outcome of that war was speculation, and as a doctor and scientist, speculation wasn’t something Wren liked to rely on.

Do you think you can create a functional virus now? Charles asked.

She nodded, keeping her voice quiet. I do. It’ll take time, but I think we can do it.

We?

You and I. We’re a team, right? she asked Charles.

He seemed to consider this. Agreed. We are a team, Wren.

Wren knew Charles was struggling to find his place in this new existence. He’d spent his entirety as a guard at the prison, and now he was bypassing the programming inside his neural chips.

Very well. What do you know about a virus? she asked him, expecting a scientific response.

A virus is an infection of the cell matter, where it replicates, spreading the strain throughout the organism. For a case such as this, we want to terminate the recipient, so we will need to create a form of lethal viral pathogen, such as Ebola among humans. Or the H19N4 virus, which wiped out half of Asia and a quarter of the Earth’s population in 2230. Charles stopped and looked at her, his eyes glowing softly.

As a biologist, Wren had studied most of the deadly viruses that had plagued mankind since the dawn of time. Most were a thing of the past, the vaccines bred into everyone now, but nature always took hold, and viruses adapted and evolved like everything. That specific strain of avian flu was the largest single attack on the human population to date, and over six billion had died. Many had theorized it was created by the Earth Fleet as a population control measure, but Wren wasn’t sold on the idea. Viruses were terrible things and were almost impossible to regulate.

I’ll have to create a vaccine as well. Wren hadn’t been hired to do this originally, and she’d keep it between her and Charles.

What’s the purpose? Charles asked.

What if we’re wrong? What if we can form an alliance with the Watchers? If it was up to anyone but the gun-toting Earth Fleet, maybe peace would have already been reached, Wren said.

I hadn’t considered that.

There’s another reason. There have been cases of a virus adapting quickly by itself, and latching on to another source. We might create something that ends up affecting humans. I’ll do everything to prevent that, but we need to be prepared. The more Wren considered what she was doing, the more she wished she were back in her condo in New Dallas, reading a book on a Sunday morning. But that life was far away, and never to be hers again, so she pushed the thoughts aside.

That wouldn’t be good, Charles stated.

No. No, it wouldn’t do us any good. Wren was almost ready to get to today’s work.

What will you do with the virus? Charles’ question was a good one.

I’m not sure. There’s no easy way to get it onto one of their warships. I expect we’ll find their home world. Wren cringed at the idea of unleashing a species-ending strain against anyone, even the Watchers.

Charles didn’t comment. Maybe the idea of genocide didn’t offend the android, or he knew better than to talk her out of creating the virus.

Enough of this. I have samples to gather. Wren got up, stretching her back. She didn’t realize how long she’d been sitting there until she started to walk, her left leg half-asleep. Charles was there to help stabilize her as she stumbled. Thank you, Charles. Already proving your worth as my partner.

Is there something faulty with your legs? he asked, his voice monotone as ever.

She laughed. It was just asleep. He stared blankly at her, but she absently waved the concern away.

The Watcher was still unconscious, drugged by an injection placed hours ago. She was told it would stay under for eight hours once the drug was administered, and she checked the time, making sure it wouldn’t come to while she stood over it drawing vials of blood.

I’ll go in. You stay on this side of the barrier, Charles offered.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll do it this time. If we have any cause for concern, I’ll let you handle it next time. Wren stepped to the cell and entered her code. Before tapping it off, she watched the alien’s chest slowly rising up and down in a consistent rhythm and pace. He wasn’t conscious. She hit the key and the blue energy barrier vanished, leaving nothing but a three-inch glass wall between them.

Wren used her fingerprint to open the door, and it clicked open. "Leave it latched. Don’t let anyone in or out. And whatever happens, do not let this Watcher leave this cell." Wren directed this at Charles, who nodded, wordlessly accepting the charge.

The Watcher was sprawled out naked on the floor. She wondered if they wore clothing or if they were comfortable being nude. She wished she had that information. It was easier to think of it as an animal, but they were obviously an intelligent race, capable of more than humans. Their Shift drives were far more advanced than the Earth Fleet’s technology, so who knew what else they had?

Maybe she could learn their language. Charles might be able to assist with that. Anything they could learn from the Watcher would be imperative to winning the war. If Fairbanks was thinking of the Watchers as an afterthought to this colony, then someone here needed to step it up.

Wren didn’t have anyone back at home she missed. She’d been an only child, and her parents had died from a contagion on Mars when she was a little girl. It was the reason she’d become a biologist in the first place. Now she was trying to create her own virus, and the irony wasn’t lost on her.

She scanned over the hulking frame of the Watcher now. This was the closest she’d been to it, and she slipped on gloves before running a finger over its stomach and chest. The arms were long, hanging below its knees, and they had small suction cups on them, making her instantly think they were related to cephalopods. The end of the limb formed into a sort of hand with two thick digits splayed out, each the same size, a much smaller opposable thumb stuck out between them.

The arm was thin, but Wren could tell this creature had once been well-muscled. Years of captivity had weakened it dramatically. Its head was shaped much like a human’s, an oval with two wide closed eyes. She’d already noticed the Watcher had a nictitating membrane, an opaque third eyelid. She used her fingertips to open it and saw a milky film covering the shape.

This Watcher had a slight protuberance in the center of his face, with two nostrils opened under it. It was a small nose and would likely serve the same function as a human one. Below it sat a wide-spread mouth. The lips were non-existent, dark gray skin folding inward. She opened the mouth to see at least a hundred miniature sharp teeth.

What kind of diet do you have? she asked it quietly. She scanned its neck for gills, or something else to prove it was semi-aquatic, but couldn’t see anything of the sort. They fed it a concoction of vegetables and oats, and it seemed to process them just fine.

She glanced back at Charles, who, for an emotionless android, looked worried about her. I’ll be done soon.

Wren had already reviewed the body scans and wasn’t surprised to see most of the organs one would expect in an animal. It also had exposed genitalia, letting them know it was a male, or what humans would consider a male. She had no female to compare it to, so in the meantime, the Watcher was a he in her mind.