Neron Wars

The sound of exploding metal and the sonic boom of Neron above my head sends me ducking for cover beneath the trees, as if they could offer any protection. Turning my eyes skyward, I see blue waves of energy rippling across the sky, and the fire that follows stains the clouds red and orange. Huge chunks of debris go spiraling through space, rocketing through our atmosphere, peppering the landscape in the distance.

Another day, another battle in the sky.

It’s a jungle here. The temperatures on Kaelea are always warm. It rains every morning just before the sun rises, which means everything grows at an out-of-control rate. Everything is lush and green. The trees are so thick the entire planet looks like a forest until you get to the ocean, and there’s plenty of that.

Only somewhat confident a thruster isn’t going to fall from the sky and land on my head, I step out from the trees and head toward the hillside, to where I can just barely see a nearly invisible door. Grabbing the handle, I pull, and step into the dimly lit cavern.

The space was carved right into the mountainside. Fifty feet deep and eighty feet wide, I don’t know when Valen felt the need to create this space, but it was here before he and I arrived.

It’s filled only with two long tables and dozens of cots pushed up against the gray stone walls, and standing in the center of the room, at those tables, are five men and women.

Valen was looking toward the door before I even entered, as if he knew I was coming. Lazarus Riot hardly even glances my way, neither does his daughter, Cyra. Harp and Andreas both slide over, giving me room to stand beside Valen.

“Looks like Raze just took down another ship,” I say, looking down at the screen displaying on the tabletop. “Debris landed about fifty kilometers to the east.”

Valen nods and taps the screen. A new display expands and I get to watch as Raze’s ship darts around the other ship, firing away. The other ship explodes, breaking into pieces.

“The man’s a maniac, but he gets slag done,” I say in an exasperated breath. “Everything else holding up okay?”

Harp nods. “All six of our ships are at ninety percent capacity, or higher.”

“The next onslaught of ships is five days away,” Lazarus says, looking over his own holotab, displaying where all the enemy ships are.

“Good,” I say, my eyes automatically hopping from one screen to the next, my brain running a million kilometers a minute. “My father and Edan will be getting here tomorrow.”

Everyone’s eyes jump to me. “We got communications through just an hour ago. They’re nearly here.”

Really, their arrival does little for the cause. They’re just three humans. Nymiah is with them as well, and as a Nero, she’s invaluable. But in the grand scope of things, they won’t do anything to tip the scales.

But everyone at this table knows what those four people mean to me.

They’re the second largest part of my world.

“Let all the ships know to anticipate their arrival,” Valen says, looking to Lazarus and Harp. “Their ship is called The Corsair. No need getting everyone on edge and blasting allies out of the sky.”

They each nod and speak into their connect-links, getting word to their people.

Another day, another battle.

As I look around, I marvel at this small miracle. This blinding ray of hope.

Valen and I arrived at Kaelea within an hour of making our announcement to the world that we were going after Dominion. Traveling on the fastest ship in the galaxy has its advantages.

But we knew our declaration would come at a cost. We had to rally anyone in the galaxy willing to stand up to Cyrillius. It also put a galaxy-wide target on our backs. On our ship. On Valen’s planet, Kaelea.

We were prepared to spend all our time defending the planet. We were ready to fight. Because we knew Cyrillius would send as much force as he could to destroy us.

But in the end, we weren’t alone.

Within two days of arriving on Kaelea, we received a message. It was from a man named Lazarus Riot. He and his family, and about fifteen thousand others, lived on a cluster of three planets named Korichi, in the same K Sector Kaelea is in, and they were offering to help. They were offering half their army, miniscule by planetary standards, but enough to change the game.