Rikard Drake (eBook)

And the Soldier of Solitude

M.P. Anderson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018 | 1. Auflage
260 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-5439-2591-3 (ISBN)

Infos

With their home planet destroyed by the mighty hands of the Vertek, all seems lost. But Rikard, Lena, and Zed manage to evade their attackers and flee in an old ship-leaving behind the carnage they once called home. Just as their food supply is about to run out, they finally reach refuge-only to discover that their escape is far from over. The future is grim. Until Rikard develops an unprecedented power that could tear the Vertek army to its knees. Will it work? How many more people will have to die before peace is finally met?Rikard Drake: And the Soldier of Solitude offers real-life situations with a sci-fi twist. Readers will bond with characters who work diligently to end the pain and suffering so many have endured. In this new series, 'Good versus Evil' takes on a whole new look as the characters work diligently to end the pain and suffering so many people had to endure.

Textauszug

6

A Truth Revealed

Hours later, a guard came into the room and disabled all of our force fields. Lena, Zed, and I cautiously approached the guard.

“We searched your ship and confirmed your identity. My name is Juzar Salminari and right now you’re on the Britton Rouge. We’re sorry to hear about Thu-veri, but please, the captain wishes to speak with you.” Juzar toggled a switch that opened a large door. “Please,” Juzar said as he directed us down the hallway. Remaining quiet, we all followed the guard’s direction and proceeded down the brightly lit hallway.

As we all walked, I had the strange feeling we had nothing to be concerned about. Both soldiers and citizens were walking among us without giving a second glance. I looked at Lena and whispered, “I think we’re okay.” Lena nodded and smiled. Zed (being Zed) asked the guard whether they welcomed everyone who entered Rouge in the same manner, pestering that we were temporarily held prisoner. Juzar must have been getting annoyed with Zed’s remarks because he was ignoring him most of the time. As we continued to walk through the hallway, I looked out of one of the windows and was astounded to what I saw. An entire city, filled with humans, Alduris, Lupkeeks, and many more all living with each other. I’ve only seen a few different alien species on human-dominated Thu-veri, but now dozens of types I never knew existed walked before me. I continued walking and saw the same reaction in Lena’s eyes.

“What is this place?” I asked Juzar.

“It’s safety,” Juzar nonchalantly replied as if he’s answered this question thousands of times before. “The captain will explain further, but with the Vertek trying to dominate the galaxy, this acts like a refuge for most.” Juzar received a call on his portable TC. Juzar put his TC in private mode so we couldn’t overhear the conversation.

“Hello sir.” Juzar said into the TC. “Yes, sir, no problem.” Juzar ended the conversation. “Well the captain’s going to be a little busy. For now we’ll have you wait in the visitor lounge. Forgive us, but you may not enter the main facility or explore the ship. It’s standard procedure for all new arrivals.”

“Not an issue,” I replied. Juzar guided us down a small hallway and brought us to a secured area labeled “Welcome to the Britton Rouge Visitor Lounge.” We stepped inside and were shocked with what awaited us. Zed, Lena, and I looked at each other with excitement. The first thing that caught our eyes was the huge buffet with what looked like every kind of booze in the galaxy.

“Make yourselves at home, unfortunately it may be a few hours before the captain returns. If you feel tired, just through the door you’ll find sleeping quarters. We just ask you do not tamper with the visitor passes.” Juzar handed us some sort of electronic bracelets. Looking concerned, we hesitated to put them on.

“Please,” Juzar pleaded, “you have nothing to fear from us, but do understand you are new to our colony. Most of us here have been part of the Britton Rouge since it was originally constructed thirty years ago.” Lena and I looked at each other and shrugged. We started to place the bracelets on, but Lena stopped before she clamped the locking mechanism down.

“Where’s Crisabal?”

“If you’re speaking about the infant Alduri, she was malnourished. We took her straight to the infirmary. Was this child yours?”

“We rescued her just prior to leaving Thu-veri. Her parents were killed by a Vertek patrol and they left her for dead,” Lena explained.

“She’s in good hands and is responding well to our treatment.”

“Will we be able to see her?” Lena asked.

“Of course, but please let our nurses do what they do best. I understand it wasn’t your fault, but if Crisabal wasn’t Alduri, she probably would’ve been dead by now with all she’s been through. You will see her as soon as she’s feeling better.”

Lena smiled and thanked Juzar. We put on the bracelets and entered the lounge.

The door shut behind us and seemed to lock. I looked around the room and a feeling of excitement filled my body. Custom furniture, drinks, EHDs (entertainment-style holographic devices), and magazines. I looked at the couch and was relieved to see it was all in one piece. No holes or stains, and it wasn’t lopsided like the one on Sanders’s ship. We all took a seat on a few chairs located in the room. I looked around and quickly realized that we were the only ones in here. As we sat down, some soft music came over the speakers.

“It’s nice to hear modern music other than Sanders’s oldies.” I chuckled.

Zed laughed, “Yeah, I don’t know what was worse, listening to Crisabal cry or the music Sanders played.”

“Okay, because we have some time here, we should talk,” I said.

“Slow down there, let’s get some food.” Zed replied.

Without admitting that this sounded like a fantastic idea (didn’t want Zed to have the satisfaction knowing he was right), I faked an irritated expression and replied, “Fine, but the sooner we get to talking the better.”

“Settle down. We’ll talk, don’t worry. I have to admit I’m surprised it’s taking this long for us to dig into the food. And did you see how much booze they have?” Zed perked up as he went to the buffet. I couldn’t help but admit that the food and drinks did look good. Lena joined me as we got up and helped ourselves to the delicious food on the table. It was a little cold, but anything was better than the military rations we ate on Sanders’s ship for the past few months.

We all sat down on the luxurious couch while holding our plates and drinks. I placed everything on a small table and drew my attention to Lena and Zed.

“Okay, I’ll start, how did you get that Beamer?”

Zed replied, “I think it would only be fair if you started, Rik. Considering you’ve been telling me you’ll fill me in for some time now.”

I looked at Lena and she shrugged in agreement. “Fair enough.”

“Hmm, I’ll start from the beginning, I guess. As you know my name is Rikard Drake, I was in a family of four with one brother, a mother, and father. When I was a child, my father showed me how to become a pilot like him. He flew a star fighter in the military. He passed away when I was only ten, but I remember him like it was yesterday. One day, I was sneaking around my mother’s room and when I opened her closet, I saw . . . well, a Vertek uniform fitted for my dad. At the time, I didn’t know what it was, so I didn’t think anything of it. A few years later when I was about sixteen or seventeen, Ajar was twenty-three or so, the Vertek arrived and started patrolling the city and declared martial law. It was quickly apparent how the Vertek truly were. Just like everyone else, I hated them. Ajar, on the other hand, thought my father flew for the Vertek, so he idolized them. One day, I was out with Ajar taking a walk. As we walked the city, we both saw a Vertek patrol. I asked Ajar if we could leave so we didn’t have to deal with them. Ajar told me to go home and said he’d be home shortly . . . he said he had to pick a few things up from the market. So, just like any other time, we parted ways, I went home, told my mother what Ajar was doing, and said he’d be back home shortly. Mother made supper; hours went by, but Ajar never came home . . . we had no way of communicating with him because the Vertek had sabotaged our communications. No one knew what happened, but . . . as much as I don’t want to believe it . . . especially after seeing my father’s uniform, I think there’s a chance Ajar met with those patrols and joined the Vertek. Lena, that’s why I never wanted to talk about him. I’d hate to think it’s true, but what else could he have done that day? Well, after Ajar never made it home, I told my mother everything that happened. This is when I first started speaking with Lena. Every day I got off the farm, I would go to Melukin’s Diner and Lena always would serve me.”

Lena smiled, and I continued, “For the next ten years or so, I looked for answers as to why Ajar disappeared, always keeping open the possibility that Ajar joined the Vertek in the back of my mind. Then the attack came . . . I was out at Melukin’s Diner as usual and heard the explosions in the distance. I knew my mother was still home, so in a panic, I got up and ran back to the house. When I got home, my house was obliterated. It almost looked as if my house was targeted because it was the only one in the neighborhood that was completely destroyed. Well, anyway, I didn’t realize it, but Lena was right behind me. I looked frantically for my mother, and then I saw the trail of blood . . . those Vertek had lashed up my mother. . . she was still propped up behind the trundel tree in the back yard. Those bastards cut up my mother for pure enjoyment. Anger and rage filled my body, so I looked around my yard, just looking for anything I could use as a weapon to get revenge for my mother. All of a sudden, lander ships came and hundreds of Vertek troops poured out. Thankfully, Lena convinced me to leave. If she hadn’t, we would have died right there. We ran to the airbase my father used to...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.2.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-10: 1-5439-2591-X / 154392591X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5439-2591-3 / 9781543925913