Homeworld (Odyssey One)
Read Homeworld (Odyssey One) Online
Authors: Evan Currie
OTHER TITLES BY EVAN CURRIE
Odyssey One series
Into the Black
Heart of Matter
BOOK 4 (forthcoming)
Warrior’s Wings series
On Silver Wings
Valkyrie Rising
Valkyrie Burning
The Valhalla Call (forthcoming)
Other Works
SEAL Team 13
Steam Legion
Thermals
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2013 Evan Currie
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by 47North
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781477808832
ISBN-10: 1477808833
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013940226
To Wynn Currie, my mother, who never doubted that I would eventually succeed in my writing endeavors. Without her support, I would never have made it as far as I have.
Thanks, Wynn.
CONTENTS
PLANET RANQUIL, PRIMINAE CONTROLLED SPACE
CENTRAL COMMAND, MONS SYSTEMA, RANQUIL
PRIMINAE WARSHIP
POSDAN
, NEAR SIMANTH COLONY
DEEP SPACE, THREE LIGHT-YEARS FROM GLIESE 581
NEAR PREVIOUSLY UNCHARTED DYSON OBJECT
P.L.A.S.F.
WEIFANG
, INTERSTELLAR SPACE
P.L.A.S.F.
WEIFANG
, INTERSTELLAR SPACE
P.L.A.S.F.
WEIFANG
, EARTH ORBIT
N.A.C.S.
ODYSSEY
, ON STATION INSIDE SATURN’S ORBIT
IMPERIAL DESTROYER
DEMIGOD
, APPROACHING HIVE
CENTRAL COMMAND BUNKER, MONS SYSTEMA, RANQUIL
IMPERIAL DESTROYER
DEMIGOD
, PRIMARY MAINTENANCE SLIP, THE HIVE
COMMAND BUNKER, MONS SYSTEMA, RANQUIL
PLANETARY SPACE, APPROACHING MARS
IMPERIAL DESTROYER
DEMIGOD
, DEEP SPACE NEAR SOL
PROLOGUE
Star Gliese 581
THE STARSHIP BARRELED into the system, rapidly losing speed and attempting to catch the gravity of the red dwarf star in an additional breaking maneuver. The retro-rockets erupting from nearly every forward surface of the ship strained against the inertia it had built on its voyage. With the help of the localized CM or countermass fields, they slowly succeeded in bleeding away the rest of the relativistic velocities until the ship was under positive control.
The People’s Liberation Army Space Force vessel
Weifang
was one of only a half dozen
Mao Tse
class ships that had been reconfigured with fourth-generation counter-mass generators in order to permit faster-than-light travel. Since the success of the North American Confederacy with their much vaunted
Odyssey
, the pressure was on the Eastern Block to show the flag in this new space race, and the
Weifang
was the ship selected to do just that.
Captain Sun Ang Wen unstrapped himself from the acceleration bolster and drifted slightly as he pushed himself out of the chair.
Thanks to the effects of CM, they weren’t being crushed by the massive deceleration forces the ship was technically experiencing. But the system wasn’t perfect, so some of the impulse of negative gravity was still felt.
“Chart plotted, Captain,” the navigator said, turning his head but not clearing his own restraints. “We’re precisely on course.”
“Excellent. Locate Gliese 581 D,” Sun ordered. “That is our primary goal.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The Eastern Block Alliance had chosen Gliese 581 specifically because it was the home of one of the closest Earth-type worlds ever to be located. Why the Confederation had chosen to fly off in an entirely different direction with their first test, Sun didn’t know. It was possible that their transition system used principals different enough from the more conventional designs the Block used that their choice of destinations would somehow make sense.