Five Moons Series

We were told that only the finest of mankind ventured forth from Earth into space. But if you ask any of the other intelligent species, they will tell you fast and quick that where mankind goes, evil grows. Evil follows us in our jump wakes like a foul stench. According to them, mankind was cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in his heart. Four millennia later, Earth had become just a distant memory, a legend. Explorers sent back to find Old Earth only found a burned-out cinder where it should be. So then, Mankind had surely been cast into the outer darkness for a reason. Fate had saved this remnant of Mankind, and He was not willing that any who belonged to Him were lost. So, once more, Fate tested mankind in the crucible of time to separate the gold from the slag. Into this chaos came a secret wrapped in an enigma enclosed in a mystery. In the beginning, Mother was killed for this secret by the worst gangster on eleven planets. David Zharn would stop at nothing, kill anyone in his path, to gain the secret. But then there was Suzy. She was not at all what she seemed, nonetheless, she was every bit what was needed. But Mother had hidden the secret so that only Suzy could unwrap the mystery. Then Suzy had to solve the enigma to find the secret, but only if she survived. The whole time, Suzy was never more than one step ahead of David Zharn’s gangsters. To follow her path, she needed to sit right next to the Devil himself without letting on. The whole time, war was looming all around her. The evil Syndicate had sent in their best assassins and spies, known only by the codeword ‘Betto,’ to infiltrate not only David Zharn’s mob but also Union Fleet itself to the highest levels. When Special Forces gets involved, this becomes a spy versus spy to nines in a full contact match. The Syndicate was not about to give up what it considered theirs to take. And then there was the secret. Was mankind cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in his heart? You will have to discover the secret to find out. Suzy Que is the prequel to the entire Five Moons Series. It sets the stage and puts the characters into play. It is a real intellectual walk in the weeds while at the same time a love story, a detective story, a spy thriller, and an action-packed science fiction story to its very core. Just when you think you know where this story is going, it takes yet another turn.

Evil men conspired to have a starship destroyed to hide the evil they had done. They intended for its crew to disappear forever without a trace. They flew an unmarked ship into space docks and marked it for destruction. They thought that was the end of it, but in all of that chaos, the anoza found me. They chose me to save the Five Moons. I didn’t know any of that when I bought a ship that was never meant for sale. I didn’t know any of that when I first stepped foot upon its decks and changed everything... But I know it now. And save the Five Moons? Damned straight I will. I am Dallas Blake, outworlder to the nines. By the end of the war, I had lost everything: my wife, my daughter, my whole family. The Mercenary Expeditionary Forces under Sarsen Tabbot levelled my home world, so there was no place left for me to return. I was left with no other choice but to start my life over. So I went to the Union Fleet space docks to buy a war surplus scout-class ship. Instead, I unknowingly bought the Tesseract. The ship was nothing I expected, but everything I needed. And you know that crew they thought was lost and gone forever? Well, think again. Now my crew and I fly from world to world, going wherever we are needed. Making a difference starts with us. If you ask the other intelligent species, they will tell you fast and quick that mankind was cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in our hearts. Just ask Captain Ravi Chandrakar, of the Union Cruiser Star Jammer. I am sure he would agree with that. Especially after that ever-conniving gangster-turned-politician, Al Simmonds, brought the whole region beyond the Seven Pillars back to the brink of war. Captain Chandrakar is still cleaning up that mess. Unfortunately, Al Simmonds is still out there on Daggan-7, conniving his next fiasco. And as for Sarsen Tabbot? She would tell you herself, ‘It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.’ So, as you can see, I have my work cut out for me. How about you? Can I talk you into putting on your recon armor, grabbing your pulse-rifle, and joining us? Would you like to make a difference? But I do have to warn you: The action never stops for the crew of the Five Moons.

Before the time of man, according to the ancient legends, the gods walked the earth. The Egyptians had a name for this time. They called it ‘Zep Tepi’ -- the First Time. That time is where this story all began in a place called Gobekli Tepe. But something went horribly wrong along the way. It took a Great Flood to cleanse the Earth of that terrible wrong. Mankind was very nearly annihilated, but the story didn’t end there. Zep Tepi picks up the story ten thousand years later, on a distant outworld known only as Soloreon-3... In the beginning was the ship. And the ship was a light unto mankind. And the light shines into the darkness. But the darkness does not comprehend the light. And so the ship took a name unto itself -- the Five Moons. It all started with an emergency call from a world at the farthest edges of explored space. “You are our only hope,” they told Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons. A deadly virus would kill them all if the Five Moons didn’t get the vaccine to them right away. But, like every other mission the Five Moons has taken on, this was but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. To save these people, Emma would have to pull a quantum rabbit out of her hat, and Dallas would be in for the fight of his life. One thing was certain – someone very evil tried to kill these people, all of them, but why? Hunting down a mass murderer was a job for Special Forces, but they could use all of the help they could get. None of the clues made any sense. Every step they took was one step closer to killing all living things on Soloreon-3, but how were they to know that when they started? Except the mysteries didn’t end there. Like, where had these people come from, and, with no modern technology, how did they get here? The answers to those questions would test the Five Moons and its crew to its very limits. It would bring dark forces out of hiding. It would bring the planet to the brink of war. But the Five Moons was the Nexus of Fates. It had chosen each member of the crew for a reason. It chose Iyo and Dallas to save the ship. It chose Mariah, Jessica, Jane, and Henry. It chose them all to save Emma and Sophie. It chose them all to be a light unto mankind, but the light was not yet complete. Then it chose Star, but it wasn’t done with them yet. Its next choice would become a light, shining into the darkness.

“We come in peace,” they told us when we first encountered humans. In peace, indeed, they came, but evil followed after them in their jump wakes like a foul stench. It all started out with the best of intentions, but in the end, I had the blood of four innocents on my hands. Across the vastness of space, that vile Clay of Earth did drag five nameless moons to destroy them. They flew an unmarked ship into Union Fleet space docks and marked the ship for destruction to hide the evil they had done. At the very gates of hell, in that vast sea of despair embroiled in the wake of chaos did I find hope – a single Leaf in the Wind – Dallas Blake. In our darkest hour, did Dallas Blake first step foot upon the decks of the Five Moons and change everything. He didn’t know that the ship was never meant for sale. He only knew that this ship was nothing he expected but everything he needed, so he bought it. He knew nothing of the evil that was done. Even so, he found the crew that evil men thought were lost and gone forever. And save the Five Moons? To use his own words: Damned straight he did. Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons went where they were needed because making a difference started with them. They fought pirates and battled Mercs in deep space. Each life they saved added to the Nexus of Fates that the Five Moons had become. When people had nowhere else to turn, they knew where to find Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons – at the Pig and Whistle on Panara-5. But the Five Moons had become more than just the Nexus of Fates. It had become Evil’s worst nightmare. So Evil set in motion his grand plan. It was more than just a plan; it was a masterpiece of evil. Dallas Blake may have been a warrior without equal, and the Five Moons a ship like no other, but this time dark forces hunted them. They were seriously in over their heads. Despite their best efforts, like the gears of a clockwork angel of death, Evil’s plan moved relentlessly toward its inevitable conclusion. Leaf in the Wind found beauty in the light of four moons and set them free, but he didn’t find me. Only my Leaf in the Wind can do what it takes to set me free. Unless he does, none of us will survive. I am the fifth moon.

“We come in peace” is what we told the anoza when human explorers first encountered them, but you would have to ask the anoza how that worked out for them. They would tell you fast and quick that humans were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in our hearts. It didn’t take them long to figure that out when we left the blood of four innocents on their hands. In fact, we convinced them of it by trying to hide the evil that was done. Union Fleet flew an unmarked ship into space docks after the Corporate War, intending to secretly scrap it out, intending to get rid of the evidence. By the end of the Corporate War, Dallas Blake had lost everything. He went to those same Union Fleet space docks intending to start his life over, intending to buy a war surplus scout-class ship. Instead, he unknowingly buys the Tesseract. That is where this whole saga began. It began with the guns-blazing rescue of Emma from the mercenaries and a timequake starship with more enigmas than answers. The Five Moons saga continues with Five Moons: Convolute dropping you right into the middle of the action as the Syndicate’s last mobsters hunt down a Special Forces agent in the streets of Habston, the biggest little city on Panara-5. It quickly becomes a running gun battle as Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons tries to save him. After Emma and Sophie unwind one of the alien mysteries of the ship, the Five Moons is enlisted by Special Forces to transport their agents to Daggan-7. But the alien technology of this ship is not about to give Dallas any breaks. In the worst of places, at the worst of times, he suddenly finds himself embroiled in yet another alien enigma with only a cryptic error message to give him a clue. Even so, the gut-wrenching twists and turns of fate don’t quit for Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons. Trying to escape from one villain, Dallas and crew fall right into the hands of yet another — Sarsen Tabbot, the Mercenary Commander responsible for the death of Dallas’ whole family. Intertwined in this whole mess is a real spy-vs-spy story pitting Special Forces against an old nemesis, with Dallas and the crew of the Five Moons caught in the middle. If you love to hate a good villain, Five Moons: Convolute will give you a couple of real doozies to get your blood boiling. This story is as convoluted as it gets.

In the beginning, evil humans conspired to destroy the Five Moons and kill its crew to hide the evil they had done, but I refused to give up. I would fight them to the end! In our darkest hour, indeed at the very gates of Hell, did my father find a single leaf in the wind, Dallas Blake. My father found Dallas Blake, but I chose him to save my ship. Dallas Blake set foot upon the decks of the Five Moons and changed everything. He not only saved my ship, but he found the crew that evil men thought was lost and gone forever. He made all the difference. He set me free. All that seems so long ago now. My own people, Anoza not humans, came in the night to kill me. They came to kill my unborn child. They came to finish an ancient evil that filled their hearts. Only Dallas Blake, wounded and bleeding, stood against them, but he did. It was all that we could do just to fight for our very lives, but that would not be the end of it. Our time-space ring made us vulnerable, and now they know where to find us. My people are almost a million years older than humans. We Anoza had put evil behind us long ago... or so we thought. For one Anoza to raise a hand in anger against another Anoza is unthinkable, so none of this made any sense at all. Then we discovered that the evil ones had kidnaped my father! How much worse could this get? It was about to get a lot worse. To rescue my father, the Five Moons would be pitted against unknown forces with quantum technology a million years more advanced. But unknown forces would not be the Five Moons’ only problem. There was a Merc rebellion brewing out beyond the Seven Pillars. It was led by Dallas’ arch nemesis, Sarsen Tabbot. A whole civil war was out there boiling over right where the Five Moons needed to go. Even worse, to rescue my father we would have to cross the Great Rift into Anoza space. But the Five Moons is more than just a starship. It is the Nexus of Fates, and it seems to have a mind of its own. As I think about it now, the Five Moons chose me for my indomitable spirit. The Five Moons chose Dallas Blake for his warrior’s spirit. The Five Moons had chosen each member of the crew for a reason, and it was not done yet. There is one more left to choose. The Five Moons last choice could blow this whole thing wide open.

“We come in peace” is what we told the anoza when human explorers first encountered them, but you would have to ask the anoza how that worked for them. They would tell you fast and quick that humans were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in our hearts. It didn’t take them long to figure that out when we left the blood of four innocents on their hands. In fact, we convinced them of it by trying to hide the evil that was done. Union Fleet flew an unmarked ship into space docks after the Corporate War, intending to secretly scrap it out, intending to get rid of the evidence. A time-space distorted Tesseract had killed its crew of humans, or so they thought. Or, was that just a rationalization to hide their shame? By the end of the Corporate War, Dallas Blake had lost everything: his wife, his daughter, his whole family. He was a man in need of far more than just a new beginning. What Dallas needed was a resurrection. Dallas went to the Union Fleet space docks to buy a war surplus scout-class ship. Instead, he unknowingly buys the Tesseract. It does not take Dallas long to find out that its crew of artificials seems way more human than they should be and every bit as much in need of a resurrection as Dallas. But, Dallas Blake is outworlder to the nines and ready for whatever life throws at him, except maybe for Mariah. Despite the fact that she is extremely smart and multi-talented, she can drive a sane man crazy and frequently does. And, oh, by the way, did I mention that Mariah is techno? Mariah is but one of the mysteries of the ship once called Tesseract, now named the Five Moons. But no one was cutting Dallas any breaks. The ship’s alien technology and artificial life forms are the mysteries that he must solve as the action-packed rescue of Emma from more than just the mercenaries that kidnapped her leads Dallas and the crew of the Five Moons into danger. At this point, however, I must warn you – Five Moons: Resurrection is not your father’s science fiction. It is funny. It is a love story. It is a mystery. It is science fiction with the full flavor and robust action of a guns blazing Western. So, put on your recon armor, grab your pulse-rifle, and get ready for full contact, take no prisoners sci-fi that does not quit on your mind to the very last word.

We were told that only the finest of mankind ventured forth from Earth. But if you ask any of the other intelligent species, they will tell you fast and quick that mankind was cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in his heart. Four millennia later, Earth had become a distant memory. Mankind had surely been cast into the outer darkness for a reason. So, once more, mankind was tested in the crucible of time to separate the iron from the slag. As if life in the outworlds wasn’t already dangerous enough, the Corporate War ended in total chaos. By then, even Union Fleet Command itself had been infiltrated by the Syndicate. All that John Araans wanted to do was to start his life over after the war. He only wanted to be a peaceful outworld trader and work on his starships, but Fate had other plans for him. It all began with silence. Silence is not something that occurs naturally in a modern starship. Silence is more defined by the sudden absence of someone. It is even more strongly defined by the sudden absence of someone who you depend on for everything, someone who runs the whole ship, someone who does the navigating, someone who has been your copilot, at your side in the worst of times. It took John a few seconds to notice the silence. That was the beginning of his woes. Rosie, his girlfriend on Aurora had other plans for John. She had already done her best to sabotage Eve, his artificial companion, just to keep him coming back to her. And then there was Karl, his partner. It was a total surprise when Karl tried to kill him, but it didn’t end there. Karl was only the tip of that spear. Evil forces sent out their assassins to finish the job that Karl did not and steal his ships. The same evil forces used their corrupt power at every turn to do John in, one way or another. Even the Zenobians had other plans for John and Eve, but John was determined to live the life of an outworld trader. Every day was an adventure, but with Eve watching his back, he surprised them all. It seemed as though everyone had other plans for John, but it was Fate that set him on the path. It was Fate that set him on the path to find Lilly. It was Fate that set him on the path to save Koryn. Then Fate set him on the path to find Kolahn. In the end, Fate sent John on an impossible mission against impossible odds. But, as John would say, “Who am I to question Fate?”